Freakish Wind Doesn't Deter My 1st Spring Outing To The PT ~ Great Day With Five >19" 23Mar22

The Nature Center section saved the day as my AM was bountiful on the Town section, just without any prodigious sizes. I caught a dozen before 1pm in Town; all cutbows but all <15". Flows have been rocked on the PT recently but it had several days of stable 120cfs or so. Despite the 40mph winds ~ resulting in 3 rig rebuilds in the morning ~ I headed down after a dusting at Blodgett last night. All the bugs worked today in Town (egg, blood midge, black MH zebra, awesome, purple reign) but just fooled smaller fish. Perhaps it's my (lack of) familiarity with the town section, or the crowds, or my dogshit casts in the wind.

Today I wielded the mighty Rodfather Colorado ~ I was thinking the wind might require stout and I gotta find the spot for this weapon. I tweaked its setup to throw an Orvis 6wt from the smooth af Orvis MIrage III reel. Much better match to this very strong "5 wt." The update makes it aggressive and powerful, but better balanced and more accurate. Plus, it lands fish other 5 weights cannot... I found that in the afternoon on some snagged or wrapped big 'bow; all  day I fired through the gale NP.

At 1pm I stepped out of the river and spoke to a guide in camo neoprene whose clients caught modest fish too - but with similar sizing. I guess the spawn and accessible bigs have moved upstream so I did too. At the Nature Center section I was nearly alone and headed straight to the farm and stream opposite. I slayed some nice fish in both of these spots as well as at the hook weir. Despite the added heft of the Mirage III and 6wt line, the setup allowed sharp accurate casts and mending to dead drift well ~ I've found it's niche: wind & big fish. The best was the 21" alpha male @ the farm; he was resting and feeding behind a rock in the 'hood... but there were many others.