After freezing my arse off yesterday and finding no steelhead that wanted to play, I decided to try a different river today. I fished one of my lesser known streams that hosts a modest run of wild winter steelhead hoping to find some willing participants. The weather was much nicer today, around 50 degrees and just a slight breeze. The rain yesterday added just a hint of color to the water, and I was hoping that the little freshet might just perk up any steelhead that may be iin the river. On the third cast into the first hole I came to my float dipped quickly once and then disappeared, I was ready, pulled the trigger and was into a fiesty winter steelhead. This first fish was a wild buck around 10 pounds and had quite a bit of color, but fought very hard. I released it back into the river and proceeded working upriver.
My plan for today was to cover a lot of water to find out if there were many fish in the system. With the water low and clear I knew holding water would be limited on this small stream. I covered about a mile and a half of river with a pink worm fished on a jighead beneath a float. With no other takers on the worm, I switched over to a #2 Mor-Tac silver spoon and started working my way back down to my truck. I had two hookups in a shallow current seam, but missed both of these fish after a couple of quick headshakes. I only saw one of these and it was a chromer!
After reaching my truck I drove upriver a couple miles to a stretch of river I found last winter that I thought might be a good bet in the low water conditons. Starting with the pink worm again I walked upstream to the first good piece of holding water. My float was drifting along at a perfect pace when it quickly disappeared into the green water. I was ready and set the hook hard. At this point all he** broke loose as this wild steelhead bolted upstream about twenty yards before turning on a dime and running right back at me. I was reeling as fast as I could to catch up with the fish when it went airborne with a magnificant leap, my line finally came tight only to go slack again as the fish spit the single barbless hook. I stood there in awe, trying to comprehend what had just happened!
This twelve pound native hen absolutely cleaned my clock! This is how steelheading should be, much more fun than those little six pound hatchery brats I have been finding on the local river.
After I regained my wits, I moved upriver slightly and made another cast. Once again my float was pulled under and I was into another crazy winter run. This fish displayed the same blazing speed as the previous fish, but refused to put on an arial display. Instead it made several line burning runs and then bulldoged me for a bit before coming to the beach. This fish was a slightly colored wild buck around 10 pounds, which I gently released after a couple of quick pics.
I continued upstream wthout any other hookups on the worm, so back on went the silver Mor-Tac to work back downstream. I swung the spoon through some terrific water without a bump until I got to the spot where I hooked the first crazy fish. My first cast with the spoon was intercepted right in the heart of the hole with a heavy headshake. I set up and before I could gather any line the fish was gone. Another cast into the same spot and WHAM! another solid take. I set up and pulled this fish to the surface where it rolled wildly before spitting the single siwash hook back at me. OK the third time must be a charm right? Another cast into the hole and this time the spoon swung all the way through the hole before it was inhaled by a bruiser near the tailout. I set the hook hard and line was immediatley burning off of my Quantum 1310 as this large fish took off downriver in a blur of fury! Just as I turned this fish around he too came unbuttoned.
What just happened!
..... In less than thirty minutes these wild a** fish left me completely speechless. I had to sit down and light up a swisher to ponder the situation. At first I was upset at missing all of these fish, but then it hit me,...... this is why I fish for steelhead! What I just experienced in the last thiry minutes will be etched in my mind forever. Even though it would have been nice to land each of these fish, I would not trade this experience for anything. This is the type of thing that keeps me coming back to the river year after year. This is why I truly love our native steelhead. This is why I release wild steelhead, so others may get to experience what just happened to me.
What a wonderful day it was to be on one of the rivers of our great state chasing steelhead. If I don't hook another fish this winter I will still be satisfied with my season.
Here's the only good pic I got today:
