Trout opener is a special day, it marks the start of spring and softwater fishing. The fish thought they had made it from the danger when they passed the exception limits, just sitting in the pools, unknowing that soon there would be an army of fishermen barreling down at them, throwing as much roe as they could eat passed their faces.
Our day started at 4am, on the road by 4:30 and at the river by 5. The sun was still hiding behind the trees but there were already as many anglers as you could count on the river. My favourite pools had at least 20 anglers on them but the fish didn't care, 5 casts in and I landed just my second lifetime steelhead, measured 27" on the tape and put up one hell of a fight.
After that the anglers flooded the pool and we decided it wasn't worth it to try and battle for casting room, we headed to the next river instead. The water was high and fast, a few people got fish but it was tough fishing overall, so we headed upstream to the spawning grounds. We found good numbers of fish, but they were easily spooked and casting room was at a premium. One person that we asked caught a fish, possibly because now the sun was high in the sky, so we broke for lunch to look at a map to decide where next. On the way back we met a very kind man who directed us to 2 spots, one was strictly fish watching as the property was private, the other turned out to be heaven. But first, here's the view on the no fishing pool
Viewing pool
Once we had enough of that (took a while) we headed to the second spot, this is by far the most fish I've ever seen in one spot, so instead of bait fishing I pulled out the fly rod. Started by nymphing pocket water with wooly buggers, maggots and stoneflies, got a few takes but couldn't land any of them. So I switched to leeches and spey flies and swung them in slower water. It was easy to see the fish, and if you made a good cast easy to catch too. This was the first of the evening.
Should've taken the stupid hat off!
and the second fish
And the third
Finished roughly 4 for 10, had at least 30 takes that I missed, I'm hooked!