Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Holiday Steel


A holiday well spent...

With Christmas in the rearview mirror, Adam and I escaped north to swing for some steelhead. We were intent on landing some silver before ringing in the New Year. Over the course of three days, we experienced several types of weather but all resulted in some fish...

Day one was great steelheading weather; cloudy skies, slightly sub-freezing temperatures, and biting wind. Dressed correctly, this was not a problem. Armed correctly, we only spent a few times clearing ice from our guides. We thanked our longer lines and recoil guides for saving us the inconvenience. However, the 33 degree water created some sluggish takes and combined with frozen fingers, I failed to get appropriate hook sets into my first two fish of the day. The first grab came at the tailout of a famous run. It shook free of the hook after several jumps and gator rolls. The second came way upriver in a shallow, super fast run that I reluctantly decided to step down. I went light with a crayfish pattern and an intermediate tip. It got caught crushed by a chromer. I hung on for about a minute before it ended in the same fashion. With that, I thought my day was doomed, but as the magic hour approached, I went big with a Senyo A.I. and swung it slow and deep. A big pull came at the sweet spot, and a chromer hen gave good meaning to the phrase, "the third times the charm". 

Day two granted a solid morning swinging a favorite run. We gave it our best shot but came up with nothing to show for our efforts. Another downer were the blue bird skies that featured heavily throughout the rest of the day. The action was slow and we found ourselves creeping upriver looking for players. Even fishing familiar runs over fish, we could't entice one to move too far. It wasn't until the last hour when two more fish came to the fly and both failed to stay on for long. 

Lake effect snow was forecasted to bring 5-8 inches of snow to the region overnight. We awoke to 20 inches covering the landscape. We laughed at our fortune and decided to go for it anyway. The Subaru Outback was a complete champ, backing out of its parking space and then plowing through the snow to the road that was also unplowed. One lane had been driven through by a truck so we turned out onto the road. A mile closer to the river, a pickup pulled up next to us with the driver shaking his head. A truck was stuck on the upcoming hill. We backed up to a plowed driveway and turned around to head back to our motel. As we got into the parking lot, the first snow plow came roaring down the road plowing us into our sleeping quarters. We grabbed some coffee, awaited the plow from the deck steps, and enjoyed the sunrise.

When we finally reached the river, we had an opportunity to swing a few spots that are usually shoulder to shoulder. We took a few casts before retreating to more familiar runs as the crowd moved in. The snow continued throughout the morning adding several more inches to the winter wonderland. We were the trailblazers for several popular sections of river and thankfully the early bird got the worm. Our frustrations from the prior two days were forgiven as Adam swung up three fish from the same section of river. Downriver, I tagged two of my own. 

In the afternoon, we headed downriver looking for a fresh fish or two. I took the lead and made the hike into a popular spot. I arrived drenched in sweat and immediately de-layered. I switched up my  frozen fly to a fresh, naturally colored option. Adam let me have the head of the pool, while he took the belly. Conveniently, a fresh chromer obliged in the transition zone at the head of the run. It was exactly what I was hoping for to put a nice exclamation point on a great few days on the river...



Adam probing a long stretch of water


Landed hen after missing my first two fish of the day...



Over the course of the Fall, hundreds of soon to be "dead" steelhead were seen floating, swirling, and swimming erratically in the river. This has been chalked up to a Vitamin B deficiency. Thankfully, it seems the worst part of the "plague" is over. Over three days, I only saw one such fish. However, I saw six dead Canadian Geese and a dead duck in an eddy. Hopefully, the two situations are not related...


The beginning of anchor ice


I hate blue bird skies...


The wonderful rigs you find laying in the middle of the trail...


Spey is the way...




Getting his swing on...











Fat hen...


Snow mattress...


Blazing trail...







Wait, I love blue bird skies...

2 comments:

RM Lytle said...

That is a lot of snow on the car! Nice steelies too.

Eric said...

Nice post. The Canada appears to be "breasted out" meaning it was probably discarded by a hunter