Monday, December 1, 2014

Money in the Bank


A Mid-November Winter Wonderland

A planned retreat brought my girlfriend and I to the shores of Lake Ontario. We met up with some friends to stay at a lakehouse and fish the Salmon River for a few days. Faced with the first lake effect snows and plunging polar temperatures we had our work cut out for us, but our trials and tribulations were money in the bank for future steelhead trips…

Part of the appeal of the Salmon River is that it does not give up its fish willingly. Even locals and regulars have fishless days interspersed between days of greatness. It is also a river, not a spate creek where hundreds of fish are sitting in a toilet bowl someone can jump across. This gives the fish a lot of room to spread out and find holding lies away from angling pressure. For beginners, the river and all the water can be intimidating. If anyone happens to fish the river when the water temperatures drop eight degrees and the fish are transitioning from their early Fall to early Winter holding patterns, they can be in for a good ole ass kicking. After a fresh round of snow and plunging temperatures, the six of us gave it our best shot and came up empy handed.

Most often fishing trips are defined by the fish you catch. Others tend to remember the finer moments of the days we spend on the water. For example, the canopy of stars over the river as one awaits the coming of dawn. The frozen, still landscape that looks like a painting on a wall if not for the steady stream of water flowing through the middle of it. The river smoke hovering over the landscape signally a major temperature difference between the air and water. The way the sun breaks through the morning cold and offers a minuscule amount of warmth that can keep off a chill. Or simply, a bird of prey flying overhead looking for the very same thing your trying to hook via rod and line.  Sometimes it pays to put the rod down and look up, especially when the fishing is rather slow...

Although the lack of action was disappointing, it proved to be a great few days to learn the river, some fishing techniques, and to check out some of the lesser trafficked spots. Hopefully, the fruits of our labor will be harvested at another point in time...


Cross S1 6110-5 


Sun piercing through the clouds for a brief moment...


Maybe we should have matched the hatch...


Swinging a seam...


Red tailed hawk in winter plumage.


Next...






I even nymphed a little bit...











Images courtesy of: Katie B.

2 comments:

LQN said...

Well put Mark, the Salmon is such a humbling river. And when you finally get one, it's such a sweet moment. Glad you enjoyed the trip. Awesome pictures. See you on the river one of these days!

Ms. Erdosy said...

Great photos (as always!)