I fished the lower section of Diamond Fork River this afternoon and I was surprised to find it was quite muddy from runoff.

The fish were deep and fly fishing was difficult. I tried nymphs along the bottom and midge patterns on top but could not get any takers. Kevin, fishing with me, had much better success fishing worms slowly along the bottom. He caught several small trout.

Kevin kept a couple for dinner and we checked their stomach content. I was surprised to find both fish had been eating large stonefly nymphs. I didn’t realize the stonefly nymphs were that big and obviously active at this time of year. I will definitely add some to my box for next trip.

We drove up to Three Forks and found the water was clear up there. That area had considerable snow on the ground in shady areas. Farther down all of the washes had snowmelt pumping muddy water into the stream.

We’ve had several warm days in a row and that has obviously triggered runoff at lower elevations. That will slow as the next storm comes in but will pick up again with the next warming spell.

Runoff is coming early this year. The snowpack is low this year and runoff is not expected to be extensive. Most streams will probably never be blown out by runoff like they are some years.

I expect runoff will start early, be light and end early. When water is high and muddy fly fishing will be challenging but bait fishing may still be good. I have a friend who fishes Rapalas on streams and he claims to have his best success when the water has a little color.

I heave a rule: when the weather is nice then go fishing. Today it was and so I did.

It was a delightful day and I had great fun fishing, event thought action was a bit slow. The air temperature was warm, the sunshine felt very nice and it was very nice to get out.

I choose to fish Diamond Fork, which is just minutes from my home. The level was low and the water was crystal clear. Before starting to fish I walked to the middle of a bridge to survey the water. As I paused, I saw a nice fish scurry for cover. The fish was about 50 feet away, and I had walked softly, yet it sensed my presence and disappeared into overhanging brush.

When I saw that I knew it would be a hard to catch the skittish fish. It is almost impossible to sneak up on them, and very difficult to fool them when they know you are around.

I saw a few midge flying above the stream but no bugs on the water and no fish rising. I considered fishing small nymphs along the bottom but finally elected to try some minnow imitations. I had several fish bump my hook but they failed to hang on. The fish were lethargic and strikes were soft.

My nephew, Kevin, fished worms slowly along the bottom. He used enough weight to keep his offering bumping the bottom in the deeper holes. He reported several light bites and he managed to hook and land a few browns and one cutthroat. He said the fish took the bait so softly you could not feel the strike. He kept his line tight and watched it carefully. If the line stopped or moved funny, he lifted it up and sometimes felt the weight of a fish.

The stream was accessible with little snow of ice. It felt like late March, not mid-February. A cold storm is expected tomorrow but I suspect unseasonably warm weather will return quickly. I suspect we are on the front edge an early spring. Conditions will probably be even better within a couple weeks, and I suspect at that time we will start seeing decent bug action. I'll looking forward to an early spring.

It was nice to get out, nice to find that my waders still fit.

- Dave Webb