Tangling With Steelie VideoHi Speed Only

“Try below the tree on the other side of the river. You can wade across from here. You’ll see the hole. I wish I could stay a little longer.” Those were the words Jeremy left me with as they headed out on their long journey home after a very successful trip to the Salmon River. I had a few hours to fish before heading out myself so I cautiously waded across the river getting into position just below the tree. It was the kind of water we had been concentrating on all weekend. The goal was to have your indicator just barely moving with the current with the telltale sign of your fly ticking along bottom. I had chosen to fish with a length of monofilament fastened to my fly line above the indicator and leader. It is an approach with a few benefits and a couple of major drawbacks. The mono has a much narrower diameter allowing it to slip through the icy guides without having to stop to break away the ice every five minutes. It also gives you the option of removing the indicator to get down deep when needed. However, as you’ll find out it is what nearly cost me my one and only shot at a steelhead this trip. I am guessing the boys were just barely out of their waders when the fish took. A couple of rod bending headshakes and the fight was on. He slowly moved down towards the tail of the pool. I heard my reel begin to give line. Suddenly it stopped and the fishes weight grew heavy on the rod. My mind started racing. Had I accidentally dunked the reel causing it to freeze, was the line frozen on the reel, will this fish make a run and snap me off? I quickly reached out to strip line off the reel. The reel gave up two feet of line before locking up again. I began stepping my way down towards the fish to relieve some pressure from the tippet before accessing the situation. Fortunately the fish was content with holding in the pool giving me time to take a closer look. It was slightly better than a frozen reel but not by much. The mono had become wrapped up over itself and the fly reel. I started with the obvious by trying to rip, pull and tug on every twisted looped. Nothing. Reality sets in and I begin thinking I am in a no win situation. I was left with very few options so I started to back away from the pool thinking my only chance is to try to fight the fish with what little line I had out. I fought the fish to the edge of the pool before it decided it didn’t think to highly of Plan A. So now it is time to come up with Plan B. I grab the line the fish is on, holding it securely in hand I bite through the line. With my other hand I feed the tag end through the loop on the rod meant for holding your fly. I tie three or four overhand knots while keeping just enough pressure on the fish to keep it on without giving it cause for leaving the pool. I can now focus my attention on working out the tangle on the reel. So I start chewing threw line like a plate of spaghetti at Fatso’s. Ripping, tearing and pulling. Finally the line is free. I leave about two feet of mono above the fly line and bite off the line tied to the fly loop. Fighting the fish with one hand I cross the two tag ends to tie a blood knot and reconnect the fish with the fly reel. I trim the tag ends and we’re back in business. I fight the fish for another 5 minutes in the pool (while capturing some video just to document my experience in case I was to lose the fish now because who would ever believe such a story!) before slowly working my way back across the river. A few minutes later I brought the fish to shore, took some photos and retuned her to the river. Not the kind Steelhead experience you dream about but surely a fight I will never forget. The moral of this story is never tangle with monofilament when you’re out to catch Steelhead on the fly.