I walked down the trail to the creeks edge with new conviction. The previous Sunday on this stretch of water did not treat me so well. Hooking fish wasn’t the problem, landing them was. There were dime-bright steelhead in every run, slot and seam, exactly where they were in seasons past and will be in seasons to come. For some reason or another I could not seal the deal. Broken knot at the fly, swivel, bad loop connection so on and so fourth. It adds up to one thing, five chromers lost to bad rigging. This day would be different. It was blustery at first light, clearing ice out of the guides every third or fourth cast. We hammered some of the best water for two hours and nothing. Kranes took a water temp and it was 35.
We decided to check out some runs that had a softer flow that we thought would accommodate the sloth like metabolism of our quarry. That was the ticket. The drift was painfully slow, the indicator barely moved as it inched its way down the run in perfect unison with the bubble trail, then the serenity of the run was shattered half way through the drift as leaping chrome erupted at the end of my fly line! A stunning hen brought to hand to get the skunk off, redemption at last. We found a nice pod of steel that was willing to take our offerings with reckless abandon.
Most all of the takes were on the outermost edge of the current seam right at our feet. Once we were dialed in, the fish came to hand one after the other. I must admit I did lose a bruiser of a male right on the shore. When I beached the huge buck after a solid ten minute battle the hook popped out instantly and away he swam back into the depths. None of the fish I hooked that day broke any of my terminal rigging.
I went over every inch of my leader set up with a fine toothed comb every once in a while and it paid off. That is why I love these fish, they keep you on your toes. Just when you think you have them all figured out they always throw you a curve ball. An old timer up on the river once told me “some days you pitch some days you catch.” Today I caught!
Alright boys- Glad to see you with some steel. Its nuts how one fish is bright chrome and the other is in full color. Both beautiful fish. Looking forward to throwing some line with you again. Well done.
whippa and kranefly,
those are beautiful fish. very well written article, whippa. i really enjoyed reading it. i especially liked what the “old timer” told you – and also how you were constantly checking your rigging. i know how hard it can be to do. laziness is totally understood while on the water. NOBODY ever feels like changing leader, tippet and checking knots etc… but, i have learned the hard way – that it is soooo painful when i walk 2 miles, make a thousand casts – finally hook some steel and only to have him break off from a bad not or a frayed leader. of course, it still happens ALL the time – but i certainly take more caution in fixing any imperfections in my rigging before the STEEL fixes it for me.
thanks for a great read.
Whippa, great fish! Love that top fish
Did the cold water make the fish fight better or worse?? Either way it sounds like they ripped!!!!
Austin
Nice fish Whippa, great story too. There’s a lot of good info in there to take away.
great story whippa. hope to get out there soon and take a shot at these fish while they are still hot. 35 water temp seems to me the fish will be getting lethargic soon.
Looking forward to getting out with you this winter Pat. Just let me know a little in advance so I can try and set some time aside.