My friend and I had been talking about fishing this creek for the better part of at least three years. Recently it had become quite the topic of conversation during prior outings. Something was brewing here, it may have been subliminal but it was brewing none the less. The creeks we “planned” to fish were exactly what the USGS gauge said they would be, muddy and raging. The stage was set, the nod was given and before we even said anything to one another, we already knew our destination. The Delorme Gazetteer was removed from its resting place and we plotted our course with extreme enthusiasm. We got a little off course and had trouble finding the public access. We stopped at a local hardware store to see if there were any kind souls to steer us in the right direction. As luck would have it, the kid running the register was a player in the local steelhead scene. Tight lipped at first he gave up the goods and put us on some killer drifts (thanks hardware store dude). Upon arrival we did the normal things people do when they are fishing a spot for the first time. Walk out onto the bridge, look both up and downstream, look into the pool below the bridge so on and so fourth. Nobody was here, that could be good or bad you never know. The water level looked prime, although I’m really not sure because I have nothing to compare it to. The land on the upstream side is posted which could be a good thing. We laced up the rods and walked down to the first pool with great anticipation. We covered a good amount of water with no takers. We were now about 100 yards from Lake Ontario. I could see the sets of rollers working into the mouth of the creek and that was an unexpected surprise. A few drifts later and I hook into an absolute beauty. I yelled for Kranefly, he came down and snapped the shot. We worked the run down to the open lake and the wind was brutal. Both of us agreed the posted water, upstream of the bridge, looked fantastic and devised a plan to knock on the door of the farmhouse that stood watch over it. The woman who answered the door was smiling and gracious to us. “No problem, you can fish here whenever you want boys”. We were stoked, practically running through her backyard to get to the water. We managed a couple more bent rods and another rocket-ship from the property. Just when the doldrums of winter hit and I start to doubt my obsessive pursuit of this fish, a day like this comes around the corner and blind-sides me. Our dedication to forge ahead and explore some uncharted territory really paid off this time. The fish gods were definitely on our side today.