Success for coho anglers on the Icicle River varies at lot from day to day. I got a text with a photo from a friend that showed two four-fish limits on the bank. That got me excited, and I had to give it a try on Sunday morning. Surprised to only see four other anglers on the Icicle, I found room at one of my favorite spots. I almost didn’t stay. The wind was howling, and it was raining pine needles. The water was covered with them, and big mats of needles covered the surface of the water. Oh well, I was there so I sent an hour casting the Rock Dancer jig that produced for me earlier. Nothing would hit it, and even switching to a larger, metallic blue jig didn’t work either. I thoroughly covered a good stretch of the stream: casting and moving slightly and casting again. There were some fish rolling and I saw a couple scooting up and down the river, but none of them were hitting. I had hoped that a big bunch fish would have moved into this area of the river, but apparently not. Hey, it’s still early. Fish show up soon.
If you look closely at the photo you can actually see that the sky is filled with pine needles.