My first experience with Steelhead was a rough one as far as fish go. That was fine with me because I got the chance to meet up with a bunch of guys from fliesandfins.com. Jeremy, Whippa, Austin, and Greg. Jeremy looks much taller in pictures.:) Anyway, it was very easy to fit in and feel welcome in a group of fly fishing addicts.I met up with the crew at about 9-10am on Thursday as they were already well under way on there pursuit for Steel. Austin was tied into a big Steelhead which gave him the slip and hung him up on a rock. This gave me hope seeing people hooked up already. We did some walking and fishing with no results, and ended up back where we met up. I hooked up a little further up river with a small female…maybe a couple pounds. I could almost see my reflection in her sides. A little while later I hooked in to a male, maybe ten pounds by Whippa’s estimate. What a fight that was! When he started thrashing in the water I knew I had a big fish on. My heart was pumping. Then some dude broke him off when the fish ran around his legs. It was my fault really I told him to go down and scare him up river or else I could have lost him as he ran down the rapids. All in all it was a fun battle while it lasted.
Day 2:It was pretty much a wash for everyone. I think Jeremy did land one. It was down right cold and windy. Not a fish in sight. We worked the entire river almost. This was a day for diehards. If you fish in these conditions, you have sickness. We ended the day with some wings, bad chicken parm sandwich, and a buffalo wings style pizza. I think Jeremy and Austin ate 3 pieces of the entire pie…maybe half. We departed ways as they were setting out for Maine in the morning. I was sticking it out for one more day.
Day 3: I was on the river by daylight. Snow began to fall hard. I felt like I was on some remote river in the mountains. I could almost hear the snow hitting the water. I found myself silently talking in Snoopisms. I don’t even listen Snoop Dog…or rap for that matter. I didn’t see anyone for 3 hours or a fish. I decided to try a new tactic. I switched my reel over to my sink tip with a small stone fly. This gave me a small confidence boost. This is going to work. I drifting and hiking for about an hour until I finally got a hit bringing a rainbow to hand. Not the monster I was hoping for, but at least a fish. When checking my rig after release I made the mistake of putting my reel in the water. I noticed it had frozen solid after I had hiked another 5 minutes. That and the mounds of slush floating down river made my decision to call it a day and head for CT.
yo caddishead – nice fly fishing with ya… i will tell you what – i will remember your steelhead hook up for some time. i keep playing the hook up and the agony of defeat over and over in my head. fisherboy and i were directly across river from you. i remember a long spell of no action then i heard the sound of line ripping off the water and the splash of a pissed off steelhead. then i saw you set the hook and watched as that hot steelie tore line off your reel… i said to fisherboy, “wow, he’s got a good one.. fresh from the lake too.” from an outside perspective it seemed as though you had the battle won — fisherboy and i were like, “wow, he’s gonna land it.” then we noticed somethign very strange – whippa got in the water below the fish and we though to ourselves, “oh no.. that is disaster waiting to happen.” we watched as you battled the fish. the fish regained its strength in the current and as dave stood downstream of the fish… then it happened. the steelie turned his head and ripped downstream. he ran right into whippa’s legs and then we saw the fly line go slack and the painful agony of defeat expressions on both your faces… fisherboy and i stood across stream feeling the pain too – cuz we wanted you to land that fish, especially since you had won a large part of the battle… but it didn’t go that way… the steelhead won and tricked us all.. and that is why they are master escape artists… i always get most worried when it “SEEMS” as though the battle is over – cuz that is usually when they trick me and get into a tree or between my buddies legs or under some shelf ice or behind a rock… and it amazes me how they do it time and time again and they always seem to do the impossible and find someway of escaping….
that was a beautiful fish though… i am sure you will be reliving that first blistering run for a long time as well as the agony of defeat…. and that steelhead will probably be solely responsible for a lifetime of steelhead addiction……..
Caddishead, I enjoyed meeting and fishing with you, it’s always fun meeting people on the river you know on line and this happens more and more. Those were a few rough days of fishing but meeting people on the river and fishing together made it more interesting and a good time. Except for Fisherboy, I don’t think any of us caught the fish we were looking for but we all caught fish and that ain’t bad. Nice meeting you.
We will do it again sometime. I will be up in April…still working out the details.
Caddis, it was cool to hit the water with you, we will do it again I’m sure. Next time I’ll stay on shore untill you tire your fish out a little more. I’m still laughing about your wife’s brokeback river joke.
Peace
Hey Caddis, nice fishing with you. It was a great time. I liked the pizza but the wings are just so filling. Hope that kid enjoyed it………
can’t wait to fish with you again soon
Austin