Ricky strikes again

I was sitting at the vise tying a few hairwings, when Ricky calls. He tells me its his birthday and he wants to go fishing. I said "Fine bud, we'll go somewhere. Be here in 30 minutes and we'll go out for a couple hours."

The first run we fished has been a known producer for me with the present river conditions. I got grabbed, but the only bite that stuck were the mosquitoes that were all over me. We reeled up and moved down river. I only had 35 minutes left to fish before I had to depart for highly coveted 9:15 softball game. The run we planned on fishing was occupied. On a whim, we tried one other spot. Ricky's egg sucker got bit and the ACR's mojo I'd proclaimed was corroborated once again.

Old guy, new trick

I commissioned Rick to help me out over the past year with some projects around my house. He helps me, I help him. I'm not sure there is a better return on investment that bringing in your first steelhead on the swing.

I thought our opportunity had passed as he fished several promising pools with no grabs. I had a short lived hookup behind him, but that was the only action we'd seen. The last run we fished was too deep for Rick to fish it effectively, or so I thought. Wading tight to the bank and chopping some line out, I was pretty sure it was a lost cause. I was about ready to wrap the night up when Rick stars yelling that he's got one on. I figured it was a trout, but the large splash and roll on the surfact confirmed it was a steelhead. After adjusting his drag and soiling his drawers, Rick worked the fish in and allowed me to tail his first on the two hander!

Now this feels better

I hadn't caught a steelhead since March until last week. I couldn't remember why I liked swinging flies, what the takes felt like, or what it was like to see the backing on a big reel. I now remember.

I squeezed in a session on last week between work and my softball games. We play double headers on Thursday's. To appropriately match the theme, I hooked up and beached two hens. One was a dud and the other was the Ashton Eaton of steelhead. She jumped high, took shorts sprints, long runs, did it all like the Decathlete himself.

Bernie got in on the action this weekend with a couple fish of his own. I can freely admit, he picked my pocket clean on one of them.

Below is a shot of the 5115 CF Burkheimer Bernie has been using. The rod is fun to fish with and handled a 7lb'er just fine.

Back to some fishing

This bird was hit at cruising speed and somehow managed to stick. It is pretty much an accurate description of how I felt all spring.

I haven't posted in forever because I haven't been fishing all that much. With the local rivers running twice their normal flows, a guy is suddenly more motivated to work on the yard and complete those unfinished projects. With my early local steelhead season pretty much blown, the focus was geared toward some quick spring salmon trips.

One feat of note was that I did manage to catch a Ling Cod off a coastal jetty in the morning and a Springer on the Umpqua later that evening. Not sure how often that happens in Oregon?

Small springer

One fish from a pretty decent salmonfly day.

I had an hour to kill after work last night.........

Springerfest 2011 Part 2

Well, we had hot fishing for an hour and a half. The weather started to cool and so did the bite. We moved up river to what is now referred to as the "Otter hole". We didn't hook anything that night, otters or fish.

The nights were cold, especially the 2nd, where the low was set to drop to 34 degrees. Not a welcome temp when you are worried about cold water. The next day pretty much went like the first. We got up early and waited.......and waited. Nothing. By 11am, the sun finally broke over the canyon walls and the water started to get warmer. Just after 2, on of our rods went down and another hatchery fish was in the cooler. It is amazing what 1 fish can do for the mood in the boat. The feeling was eerily similar to a winter steelhead trip where 1 fish makes you feel successful.

The pressure was off for the day and we hooked up a half hour later 1 final time for that day. Luckily, we were running into hatchery fish, which always makes family and co-workers happy back home. The weather that night was predicted to rain, so we decided to break down camp a night early and go sleep in a dry hotel. We were not going to repeat our soaked camp experience like last year.

In the middle of the breakdown, Chad's buddy Ron came up around the corner in his boat. We thought he'd be around, but hadn't seen him either day. After he gave us a profanity laced hello, we agreed to meet up with him later and fish until dark.

We came up empty in the evening session and left Ron to spend the night on the water in his favorite corner. Chad and I got to the boatramp as the sun went down and decided we should just transfer our gear to the car and sleep on the boat. It all seemed like a great idea to idle downstream until we realized that it was not only dark outside, it was really dark outside! Luckily, my little headlamp was bright enough that alternating shots of each bank kept us safe. We got positioned next to Ron, who was just finishing up a bottle of wine. Listening to him tell his stories was ten times more entertaining than any basketball playoff game we would've been watching at the hotel!

The last morning, we scored first with a small hatchery fish. While Chad was fighting that fish, Ron got ripped across the river by a busty native. After that, nothing. Chad and I tried a couple of other spots, with no luck. We loaded our gear up and went home. My only regret was that we missed the fight later that day between Ron and an 8 foot sturgeon!

In the meantime, its back to the 2 hander for me. I even did some dry line casting last night!


The Camp

Ron hooked up in his sweet boat.

Springerfest 2011 Part 1

It was time to put down the 2 hander for a brief moment and get down and dirty for Spring Salmon. The levels were on their way down, water temps appeared to be moving higher, and the weather looked good. Chad and I carved out a little time away from work and hit the road with high hopes. I even brought my spey rod and chunky flies................

As soon as we got the boat in the water, the rains came in and got us a little wet. We were able to find a decent camp and get things set up quickly. Thankfully, one of Chad's neighbors hooked us up with a rain canopy. It kept our kitchen and firewood dry.

No luck on the first night. Water temps were colder than expected and the weather was predicted to drop into the mid 30's at night. Not a great outlook. We woke up the next morning to rain, but it eventually the clouds parted and the sun was hitting the water. I swear we probably checked the water temps on the depth finder no less than 36 times. We tried a few different spots and eventually settled on a previously successful area.

Around 2pm, the water temp started to climb a little. Then we had a good line bump. Then, one of the rods buckled and it was on. As we pulled off anchor and were giggling like school girls about being hooked up, Chad noticed the float that holds our anchor rope was actually floating down river with us. Uh.........not a good thing. How were we going to get our anchor back? Chad's face looked like someone just stole his lunch money. He couldn't even enjoy our first fish. We netted and bonked the hatchery fish and had 1 in the cooler.

Luckily, I was keen on getting a Springer on the fly, so I had brought my waders. I slipped them on, waded out into the off color water and probed the bottom with a rope hook. Low and behold, I found our anchor and rope and we were back in business!

Over the next hour, we hooked and landed 2 more fish! It was game on. The hot bite didn't last long, but we were fully content. The sun was out, fresh salmon for dinner, and we still had all our equipment. More to come.........



Fresh fish and freshly recovered anchor

Love these tails

Terrible picture from Chad, but excellent fish. Back in the water to do its deal.

You bet it was good

You might have a winter steelhead problem if....

While at work, you look down and notice Blue Arctic Fox remnants on your suit sleeve. People just don't understand. That is all..........