February 5, 2023

CFS at the dam started at 750 this morning, but (as advertised) was dropped to 350 around noon - CFS at the Pineville gauge started high, at 971, and was recorded at 525 as of 4:30 PM - air temperatures started at 23 degrees, slowly climbed to our high of 48 degrees around 2 PM, and just as slowly dropped to 39 degrees as of this report - we had overcast skies all day, with variable, sometimes gusting, winds - a total of 11 guests joined us today, arriving from 6:45 AM through mid-afternoon, with our first guest leaving the run just after 8 AM - he reported that the river was choked with ice - this guest went upriver to fish, where he experienced some success, until the water was dropped, which shut the bite right down . . . he came back to the run at 12:30 PM, and fished until 3 PM in the upper section without success - he mentioned that although the slush had cleared up, there were icebergs in the river, and anchor ice breaking free, which complicated angling - our second guest came off the river around 8:30 AM, stating there was too much slush (he bottom bounces egg sacks exclusively) - our first bit of good news was a brace of guests who came off the run at 12:15 PM, reporting four Steelhead for one of them, drifting pink egg sacks - these two reported that the morning slush had cleared up - at 3:45 PM a single guest came off the run - he had drifted beads and egg sacks under a bobber, in the upper section, without success (although he noted that other anglers were successful in that area), and went 1 / 4 Steelhead in the middle section - he stated that slush cleared up fairly early, however crumbling shelf ice, and uprooted anchor ice icebergs, complicated drifts - another guest came up at 4 PM, reporting 1 / 1 chrome Steelhead in the middle section, drifting egg sacks under a bobber - three guests came off the run just afterwards - two of them had tried fishing the very uppermost section of the property early this morning, without success, before coming back to the Welcome Center and accessing the run - subsequently one struck out swinging flies (!), the other went 0 / 1 drifting beads under a bobber in the middle section - the third member of this trio had been here earlier (reported four fish the first time), left, and came back, reporting a couple more Steelhead, again drifting pink egg sacks under a bobber in the middle section - one of our Canadian friends came off the run at 4:15 PM, and reported seven Steelhead (pictures were of darker fish, some with a little color, in the 8-10# range) drifting a 10mm pinkish frosted bead under a bobber at a specific section in the middle section - he stated that fishing was very good until 11 AM, when the icebergs started coming downriver . . . we still have two diehards out on the run - the evening forecast is: Light rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. A few flurries or snow showers possible. Low 31F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70% - the forecast for tomorrow is: Morning clouds will give way to sunshine for the afternoon. A few flurries or snow showers possible. High 34F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph.

42° / Clouds

Sunrise: 7:16am

Sunset: 5:20pm

525 CFS Pineville Gauge

350 CFS Dam Release

Clouds