On the first day of my recent week on the Salmon River I was fortunate to be able to meet up with the Flies and Fins crew. It was great to see Jeremy, Joey and Pete again, and to finally meet Waterwhippa and Kranefly. They are all top notch fishermen and great guys to boot. While I am not new to fly fishing, I am new to fly fishing the migratory runs of Great Lakes trout. As we fished together that afternoon, they were all very generous with pointers and tips which would later prove to be crucial for my success.The Flies and Fins crew were on a mission, in a word; Steel. I was also on a mission, to “crack the code” and catch some of the sweet brown trout that seemed to be so abundant in the river. So, for the rest of the week Jeremy, Joey & Co. were off on their quest for steel, and I was off in another direction on a quest of my own. It didn’t take long, armed with the information garnered from these excellent fly fishers I was soon into some very nice browns. It turned into a fantastic week, the weather ranged from bluebird skies to violent thunderstorms with torrential downpours, and even a day with snow showers. Each day was punctuated with many beautiful fish landed, with many more hooked and played, a few memorable steelhead were even in the latter category with their spectacular leaps and heart stopping runs. All in all it was an unforgettable week. Renewing old acquaintances, making new ones, and world class fishing. Like the man said, “it just doesn’t get any better than this”.
rick – sweet trout. a beautiful female. there was certainly a code to crack in that run. we saw so many guys fish it and not catch a thing. then waterwhippa would step into the run and trick ’em with ease. i learned alot from waterwhippa and cranes – in fact – i remember a day that i did not have a fish on the board yet and waterwhippa was hooking fish after fish. i stepped into the same exact spot he was in, but nothing for me. so, i asked, “hey dude, help me hook into one of these.” he responded with ..”step back cuz you’re standing right where the fish are, cast much further upstream, and look at the water – you will see the fish moving back and forth.” so, i stepped back, casted further upstream and BANG! a nice brown trout hammered my pink egg pattern. it was amazing really and that is what i love about fly fishing. most of the time, if not all of the time, the difference between success and no success is found in the very small details. though it may look like 2 flyfisherman are doing the exact same thing, a closer look will reveal huge differences in presentation, drift and other such things. cracking the code is essential to having success on the great lakes river systems. and the best part is that the codes change with every new location – so it really is a life long learning experience – so glad to see you cracked the code and caught those nice fish – great pic too.
great looking fish Rick. I like you would be more then satisfied with a chance at those tremendous browns. I appreciate the need for steel because jeremy introduced me to it a year ago, but a day of landing “many beautiful fish” would fill my appetite.
Great article.
Pat,
I’m sure the steel will be there later in greater numbers, for now I was very happy to play with the browns. Jer and Joey had their reasons to target steel. For me this was very satisfying and a great learning experience.
Rick glad you got into those browns- It was tough to leave that run but when you got steel on the brain you have to chase them around. We’ll be back in a month or so we’ll have to try and crack to code on some steelies. Take care.
j-
It was a pleasure meeting and fishing with you, Rick. Glad you got a chance to hook some beautifull browns. Nice story and a great shot!
Nate