It was mid october, and the water teperatures had dropped dramatically on the Lamprey. As I stepped out of my car, and began suiting up for the cold weather, I noticed that there was only one other person there. I said hello, and headed down to my favorite spot on the river. A few hours past, and no one had caught a fish, a few others came and went with no luck, but I was determined to catch one. It was a weird day, and every so often a fish would come barreling out of the water, go about two feet up, then dive back in. I really couldn’t tell what kind of fish they were, but I had an idea. More hours passed, and I worked my way around one particular stretch. I was tying on a knew fly about 15′ from some uncut banks, when a fish came barrelling out of the water, and litterally scating across towards me, only to dive right by my leg. As soon as my senses came to me, I looked down, but of course the fish was gone. I was still kind of dumbfounded, but I continued to tie on my fly. Within five minutes, the same fish jumped again, only this time in the other direction. Now this time I got a better look at the fish, and it was giant! I fished the gravel lay that it came out of, but no response. As time passed I got aggrevated, and waded closer to the shallow area. The water was very dark, and I couldn’t get a good view of where I thought the fish were. Conveniently, there was a tree growing out of the water beside me, that had a three way spilt about 5′-6′ up. As I set my rod in it, I began to haul myself into the little seat. As soon as I got situated, I looked down and saw THREE Giant Atlantic Salmon, all at least 25-35 inches, and all scarred up. I had been right, it had been the Atlantics trying to spawn! As I dropped my fly into place, I got no response. I fished and fished, no luck. I climbed down to get another fly, and then back up. I was fishing for about ten minutes, when all of a sudden I hear a loud CRACK!!!!! Before I realized what had happened, I was underwater with all my gear submerged. I quickly surfaced and rushed to the shore. When I got there, and took off my vest, but had to keep on my soaking sweatshirt, because it was so cold out. My cell phone had drowned (now I always put it in a zip lock baggy) and I was freezing. But, I still had to get one of those fish! As I began fishing this time from the ground, I got no reply. After about an hour of trying everything in the box, I decided that I was ready to go, and began to wade across. Now in order to get back, I had to cross the gravel lay where the Salmon were. This made things interesting. Still fishing, I waded over untill I was about 1′ from them. I could have grabbed one! I let my Woolybugger drift downstream aways, and then I just stood there in awe of the beautiful creatures. After 15 minutes of watching them, I got a call from my step dad telling me that he was there waiting. I couldn’t believe that my cell phone had worked, but it did. As I was reeling up my line, I felt something, and set the hook. WHAM!!!! something big had it now! I faught the fish for what seemed like hours through a very fast stretch of water, finally to bring a beautiful 18” bow to net. I had gotten my fish.
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
Good story! I have always wanted to fish the lamprey my girlfriend goes to school at UNH so I have thought of sneaky a few casts in while visiting. It a bummer when you fall in the river it happens to all of us. I fell in last oct and killed my cell phone. these are the prices we pay chasing fish around.
Sweet story, Fishking! There is something mystical about getting your fish “as the clock runs out.” There have been times like that for me, when “one more cast” does get the fish. Icing on the cake. Good one! ~Mike