Keith and I woke up this morning at 5am eagerly waiting for the sun to rise. We drove out to one of our favorite spots. Our rods were all rigged up and as soon as the sun came up, Bang! The river was loaded with slush. Yup, too slushy to even fish. I think the temperature was 13 degrees or something. Then Jason, who flew in from Utah the night before, pulls into the parking lot. “Dude, tons of slush.” I said, “yup.” So, we all drove to another spot and fortunately there was no slush. We pounded water up and down stream. The sun was shining and as morning progressed things were warming up. I stepped into one run, and I just had a feeling that a steelhead or two would be holding behind a certain rock. I casted upstream and tried to keep my drift in the slower part of the run. Wham! A beautfiul buck steelhad with nice colors had taken my chartreuse egg pattern. Jason and Keith helped me to land the fish and life was good. I got situated again, casted upstream and began to make the same exact drift. “There she is!” A bright silver hen took my fly. We landed that fish and then things slowed down a bit. Joey showed up from Maine and he and I worked our way upstream. Jason, Keith and Dan spread out a bit and worked upstream behind us. Jason, was just watching the river. Looking for the perfect spots and trying to figure out the dynamics of the river. He then saw the tale of a nice steelhead slightly rise from the water. She was nosed up right to a small waterfall type ledge. He got himself in perfect position and casted an orange egg patter. The steelhead actually chased it down and tried to eat. Jason switched up flies. He tied on apink egg pattern. The fish chased the fly down two times. Finally, Jason put on a chartreuse egg pattern and made the same drift. The fish ate the fly. Jason set the hook and the battle was underway. Jason landed this beautiful fish, Keith snapped a photo and our first day of fly fishing had come to an end. A very good first day. We are hoping that Joey, Keith and Dan tie into a few chromers tomorrow. We all just ate some pizza and wings. Joey and Jason are rigging up some reels with new line and I am exhausted. Good night.
Book
- Alaska
- Guide & Fisherman
- Guiding: Choosing Your Guide And Choosing Your Customer
- Guiding: Do It Yourself With A Guide
- Guiding: Evolution Of A Guide
- Guiding: Freshwater, More Than Meets The Eye
- Guiding: Friends For Life
- Guiding: Know Where You Are
- Guiding: More Than Just A Fisherman
- Guiding: Mystery Of The Fisherman
- Guiding: Payment
- Guiding: Saltwater, A Different World
- Rough Fish
- Fly Fishing For Rough Fish: Why Do It?
- Introduced Rough Fish: The Carps & Other Invasive Species
- Methodology: Gear & Tactics For Pursuing Roughfish On A Fly
- More Roughfish: Bullheads, Whitefish, Goldeye, Burbot & Drum
- Rough Fish Environments: Where To Look For Rough Fish?
- Rough Fish Species: The Suckers
- Rough fish: A Lifetime Of Learning
- Rough Fish: Fishing For Dinosaurs (Gars & Bowfin)
- Rough Fish: What Are They?
- The Hook: Some Common Rough Fish Fly Patterns
- Spey
- Spey: Applications, Where Can You Do It?
- Spey: Atlantic Salmon, A Significant Fish
- Spey: Defined And Demystified
- Spey: Gear, The Nuts And Bolts
- Spey: Lines, They Are That Important
- Spey: Steelhead, New Traditions & A Modern Movement
- Spey: The Energy
- Spey: The Flies
- Spey: The Swing
- Spey: Two Critical Casts
- Striped Bass
- Striped Bass: Fishing Rocky Shorelines
- Striped Bass: Fishing The Beaches
- Striped Bass: Fishing The Flats
- Striped Bass: Fishing The Reefs
- Striped Bass: Fishing Tidal Rivers
- Striped Bass: Flatwing Swing
- Striped Bass: Fly Line Options & Choices
- Striped Bass: Gear, The Nuts & Bolts
- Striped Bass: Migration Patterns
- Striped Bass: What They Eat
- The Art Of Escape
- Fly Fishing: A Natural Drug
- Fly Fishing: A Validation Of Freedom
- Fly Fishing: Don’t Fight The Current
- Fly Fishing: It Is What It Is
- Fly Fishing: Socialization For Asocial Individuals
- Fly Fishing: The Allure Of The Fish
- Fly Fishing: The Art Of Escape
- Fly Fishing: The Simplicity Of It All
- Fly Fishing: Time Flies
- Fly Fishing: Times You Remember & Try To Forget
Nice work up there guys and beautiful steel!! I’m sure the next couple days are going to be great. The day time highs will be in the low 30’s. I’ll see you tomorrow!
Look at the chrome on that beauty!!! Iam jealous, sort of. I think next week I’ll come out and give it another stab. You might as well just waite there.
Great story and fish guys, this is a great time to be fishing for steelhead! Many people say that these fish dont move this time to take a fly due to (water temps) but it just shows you what a fresh steelhead will do to an egg pattern drifted thru there house!
Man, I thought I took too many days off to go fishing. I’m jealous.
That fish is as fresh as they get. I think I saw it cough up some lake water. Great fishing with you. I had a blast!