Lake Ontario Steelhead & Brown TroutLuke and I have been fishing together for a good number of years now. We first met at a local sporting goods store were we both worked part time. He was just getting into fly fishing then, and was asking lots of questions on just about everything. He is now one of the best fly fisherman I know!Rich is also a guy I met at work. He is retired and has been fly fishing pretty much his whole life. He is someone that I go to for info on our local trout streams. Yet another great fly fisherman.Fast forward to April 2nd 2009 – Today we all met at a favorite Lake Ontario tributary. One that has provided some fantastic memories and lots of fish. But, not when we have fished it together. In fact the fishing has stunk when ever we have gotten together. A skunk was following us where ever we fished together – at least that is how we looked at it. We even joked that we should just go by ourselves. That way we would at least get into some fish. And for the most part it was the truth. Until today!Rich and I arrived at the bridge right around 9:30 am. We got our gear together and headed downstream to meet up with Luke, who had already been fishing since daybreak.When we saw him walk around the bend, he was wearing a big smile. I asked if he had a good morning, he replied “It’s been a great morning!” He then showed us some photos of a steelhead and brown that were both close to 10 lbs. He also said he had hooked a few more fish that shook free after a few seconds. This is exactly what we wanted to hear. And the water conditions could not have been better.We walked a little further downstream until we found a good run, and began casting our flies, hoping for a take. We continued to cast and work our way down slowly, covering every bit of water. Then Luke said he saw a fish in a run he was fishing just downstream from us. The fish had come out and followed his fly but didn’t take. He said I should take some drifts through it. Who am I to argue! A couple of drifts later my indicator dipped and I set up on a fish that went crazy! Head shakes, cartwheeling jumps and strong runs was the name of the game. And a few minutes later I slid the net under a super bright hen steelhead of about 9 lbs.Next Rich stepped into the run and started drifting his fly to a few more fish we spotted. He stayed at it for a while with no takers. I was leaving soon, so when he stepped out of the run to pick out a new fly, I gave it one last shot. I made drift after drift until I got a fish to take. But, this fish didn’t fight like the first fish I had caught. It fought down and dirty. This fish stayed in the run and did not want to be moved. Soon I realized it was a big brown of at least 10 lbs. I worked the fish into the shallows where I tried to put a net under it, but as I was sliding the fish in, the hook popped out and he or she swam downstream. Oh well….that’s the way it goes.It was time for me to go so I shook their hands, said goodbye and left them to hook into some more trout. Rich worked his way back into the run and as I was walking around the bend, he hooked up with his first lake Ontario tributary steelhead. The fly he picked out worked! He carefully played his first steelhead perfectly and soon Luke happily put the net under a beautiful 7 lb. hen.This is what we were waiting for, a day where we could all enjoy “catching” fish together. It may have taken a while for everything to come together, but it was worth it! We were truly blessed today. And we got rid of that horrible skunk!