MJL

Congrats on getting your first pike and walleye!

Interesting hold on the pike...For a few moments I thought you had fingers with superhuman gecko-like adhesion.

Great report and pics!

Pike fishing without pliers...That made me cringe...Sounds like a recipe for disaster. Anyone who fishes pike with me knows I have a phobia when it comes to multiple treble hooks and toothy (and also very slimy) critters. With that said, I wouldn't mind having a go at the big mamma that took a few chunks out of that little one

Great catch Kelfun.

Always nice getting a quiet stretch of river to yourself...When I'm alone, I always seem to find myself in a zen like state listening to nothing else but the birds, the river, and the wind while keeping a close eye on the float as I trot it down a current seam - That moment I find freedom

Fantabulous report Mike. Perhaps one of the greatest reports I’ve ever read on this forum. Fantastic photos too from both of you.

Still have yet to catch a brookie but your pictures are certainly an inspiration to get out and try for them (sans the 2km portage).

Really?? Average?? That's actually the smallest carp I've ever caught.

If you're using boilies, that could be a reason why. Generally boilies sort out the larger fish (At least in my experience). Some swims also just seem to attract larger than average sized fish during the year. At one point in time, a few swims in the Kawarthas produced an average size of 22-25lbs and a few places in Hamilton always used to produce fish of at least 18lbs.

If you fish almost every other lake, river, pond or creek, you're bound to get something smaller.LOL

Big Congrats

Beauty piece of steel...You never forget your first one.

Now you've gone and done it...You just dropped the C-bomb on me! Great catches for the both of you

Cliff, you've been spoiled with all the monsters you've caught in the past...You do realize that a 26" carp is the average size of carp in Canada.LOL

Looks like I'll be cooking up some bait real soon...Hopefully I'll be out in your neighbourhood during this week if I get the car.

Thanks guys for the comments

mike, where were you when we got there...Jet told me you were on your way back but I never saw you..haha

We were waiting for you guys for ages on the path...Not sure what path you took down river...Were you even at the right river? LOL

Great report and thanks for sharing. Can't imagine what it must be to live around all that gorgeous scenery with mint wild fish like those. I'm so tempted to pack my things and head north for a spur-the-moment road-trip

That's a fantastic week by any standard. Gorgeous fish! I know a couple other anglers (myself included) itching to get down to Hammy harbour for the big girls.

The giant corn has worked quite well for me in most places I fish too. Fish just love it.

Left the house at 6:30am…Pulled out of the driveway and got to the end of the street…Did a u-turn back home to see if I remembered to close the garage door…The garage door was closed but have you ever had a feeling that your mojo was running close to empty? I sure did…

Hit up one trib this morning for a couple of hours. From the start I was plagued by a massive run of 6-10 inch salmon smolts heading down to the lake. It didn’t matter which pool, run or riffle you drifted in - They were there. It also didn’t matter if your bait happened to be an 8 inch pink worm as thick as a pencil – They took it. I landed 2 small bows in between the whack of mini salmon.

First bow of the day which fell to an 8 inch pinky. For size comparison, the reel in the pic is 4 inches in diameter…She was 1 greedy bugger.LOL

Decided to check out another river to see if I could escape the voracious salmon smolts. Hopped into the car and off I went. Got to the parking lot at trib #2, popped open the trunk to get my stuff…Closed the trunk. Hopped into the car to head back to trib #1 to get my net which I left leaning against a tree at one pool.

Picked up my net at trib #1 and went back to trib #2. 2nd drift in with a white rubber worm and presto, Fish On! Fought a large chrome hen for about 2 minutes and then the hook popped out…Crap! Drift #3 yields the same result of a big chrome fish spitting the hook after a short fight. Spent 3 hours fishing and banked 2 small bows and a bucket-load worth of smolts.

In the afternoon I hit up river #3. Water was low and clear. Seems most of the fish were flushed further downstream from the rain we had during the week – That’s OK, I’d definitely settle for a brown or a brookie which also inhabit that particular stretch of river. It’s also quite scenic too and the trilliums (I think) were in full bloom.

Are these fiddleheads?

I walked 2.5km down the river to see if I could tempt at least 1 more fish before I left for home. Found some deeper pocket water and first drift in, FISH ON! It turned out to be a jumbo creek chub that smashed my fly - A beadhead mylar shell-back nymph (Don’t know the official name for the fly but that’s what I call it). On 34 drifts, I managed 34 creek chubs – A new personal record

The magic fly

The 35th drift yielded a quite different result. Float goes down in the same spot it always had before and I set the hook into something very solid…Snag?...Feels like it…It’s moving! A beast of a steelhead took the fly and for 6 minutes it leaps, bull-dogs and tail-walks across the surface. It starts going down river and I follow it…

Wait for it…

INTO THE RIVER! I slipped on an algae covered rock only to find myself on my ass with water slowly seeping into top of my waders. Soaking wet, I reel the fish in, bend down and tail the beast…Doing so, I hear a “kerplunk” & "Splash"…Yup, my cell phone and a spool of Drennan fluoro fell out of my jacket and made their way down to the bottom of the river – Got both back in the end.

Snapped a quick picture of the beast before it swam off

I spent the rest of the afternoon drying off and basking in the sun. Semi-nude, I managed 2 more bows (approx 5 & 7lbs) – I didn’t take pics of these…This is a family site. To put things in perspective, GCD wears more clothes in his reports than what I had on

On the way back to the car along the path, I ran into fellow OFNer, Jet and chatted with him and the 2 lady anglers that accompanied him – You lucky dog you.LOL Andrew, It was great meeting you.

Finally got back to the car and made my way home…Stopped at a red-light, I see a sign for cheap High-speed Internet…Being the nerd that I am (addicted to the daily Jumble), I try finding words that can be spelled using the letters found in “INTERNET”…There’s “In”, “Tern”, “Teen”, “Rent”, “net”… “NET!!!”

10 minutes away from the river, I pulled over to the side of the road, popped the trunk open and you guessed it…No net. Drove back to the river, walked 2.5km through the bush to get it and walked 2.5km back to the car.

Tired as ever. Cell phone is drying out (hopefully it will still work). Waders + wading jacket + fleece jacket are drying out…I need a drink

Hope you enjoyed

Nice fish. Good job on the spinner.

I'll be dreaming of riverworms, riverfloats, river this and river that, don't you worry

Riverwoodies? From thinking about scantily clad lady anglers in waders using 13'6" float rods and custom centrepins

Beautiful fish and great pics! Love the colours on those fish.

Funny you should mention the bird-songs early in the morning. On one river I fish, you can fish from 12am till the birds start singing (anywhere from 4:30am to 6am) and not get a hit. As soon as you hear the birds start chirping, the steelhead start hitting. It's uncanny.

On another note, do you have or have you ever played around with a polarizing filter on your camera? A lot of the pics I tried taking similar to yours usually have copious amounts of reflection off the water making it hard to see anything underneath the surface - Even if it's just a few inches deep.

Nicely done. Looks like a fun day out.

The Rapala J-13 is one of my favourite lures to use. I've caught salmon, pike, big brown trout, steelhead, big smallies and even a suicidal rock bass on the firetiger colour.

Congrats stout fellow...Great pics and very nice fish

Especially love the release shots.

Those are huge grayling

I've always wanted to try fly fishing for them and getting one on a dry fly. Even with the bridge in the background, the scenery is pretty sweet. Those fish are absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for sharing

Sweet fish Stonefly...Great pics too. Congrats

Dude! That's awesome! Great report and pics. Those are super fat fish.

That action shot of the pike jumping is worthy of being in a fish-porn calendar of some sort.

Awesome job! I only started fishing the Niagara for steelhead last year and was amazed at how hard those fish pull. Certainly different than what I'm used to fishing. Have the minnows started coming in yet? I was awestruck at how black the water was with them. Never seen anything like it except on the Discovery Channel with sardines and anchovies.

Mike: “Silvio, what’s that smell?...Nooooooooo!”

 

I don't know why, but I can't stop laughing BAAHAHAH!!

 

DOU fill us in!!

 

cheers

HD

Here's the full conversation

Mike:

“Silvio what’s that smell?....Nooooooooo!….”

“Can’t breath……Must….Open up….Window…”

Silvio:

“I think you’ll find opening up the window to be quite impossible”

Mike:

“Noooooo!…Damn you Silvio and your power windows!...[gag] I can taste it now”

Great orgy of Chrome! Great fishing with you this season.

With that said, I'm asking for a formal apology for what you did in the car the other day...You know what I'm talking about.

The rainshadow is mine till I get one

LMAO

Seriously though...I didn't think humans could make that smell...

Next time, can we find a place to park for the night without drug dealers or peeping-toms

Steelheading for the most part has always been part of my life in some form or another. I started bottom bouncing and spinner fishing for them at a young age. Moved onto float fishing for them a few years after and then picked up fly fishing when I was able to save enough Birthday and Christmas money to buy my first combo. I remember being a quiet, anti-social hermit when it came to my fishing – Polite and courteous nonetheless to other anglers. I fished mostly by myself away from the crowds and always had an ultra-competitive drive to catch fish regardless of the time or conditions – This could explain my on-going fascination with Gore-tex and polar fleece.

This is my first real steelheading season in about 4yrs. I’ve mellowed out a bit since then. I find myself waking up later, leaving the river earlier and spending more time chatting with other anglers while eating almonds or a granola bar. I’m actually enjoying my fishing more because of it...And yes I do still catch some fish in the process.

Pre-opener

I almost forgot how much I love fishing in February through to April. No exams, assignments or homework to worry about this season

First steelhead of the year

Biggest steelhead of the season

Some other pics

I also had the pleasure of meeting Kemper and JDMLS on the river. JDMLS and I got into a double header one morning

The last few months, I managed to run into fellow OFNer’s, Efka, Okuma Sheffield, Joeytier and Kelfun on a couple of the rivers and I got to see Anton land his first ever steelhead. I also fished with Victor, Silvio and BBnotty quite a bit this season and had a blast.

Opener 2009

It’s a yearly tradition for my dad and I. We’ve hit the same river and fished for steelhead for as long as I can remember fishing the opener. This year Victor tagged along with us hoping to get his first steelhead on the pin’.

Victor managed to catch this fish twice on the same bait within the same hour.LOL

My biggest fish of the trip

I managed to go 4/10 - 2 small bucks and 2 hens. Unfortunately my dad blanked. A few people we talked to did a bit better but the majority of anglers left the river a little disappointed. Certainly far less fish around than what we’re used to seeing on the opener. For me, it was more satisfying watching Victor land his first fish on the pin than actually catching loads of fish myself. Quite funny to hear him say “my arm is sore” after only 2 fish

Despite the crowds and the lack of fish, I fell in love with the river almost 20yrs ago and still love the scenery and atmosphere when I’m fishing it.

Post Opener

Road tripping with Silvio (Apr 27-28)

Spent a couple days fishing with Silvio. The plan was to hit up a few rivers and camp out in his truck. BBNotty and his son Brendan joined us the first day. The fishing was slow to say the least. The rivers we fished got pounded all weekend and the low clear waters didn’t help. We put in lots of footwork during the trip and re-tied a heck of lot after getting either snagged up or broken off in the wood. The fish we did end up landing made us appreciate them a little bit extra. Here are some pics I took during the trip – Silvio has the others on his camera (not to mention the beauty hen that Brendan landed).

A welcomed surprise - It couldn't resist a cobra-sized dewie.

A dropback hen that stayed out of the wood

Sausage-fest

Centrepin in stealth fighter black – The fish can’t detect it on their radar.LOL

Other memories from the trip:

- Cooking chicken burgers in the middle of a plaza parking lot in the middle of the night.

- Mike: “I think the GPS wants us to drive across that lake over there”

- Mike: “Silvio, if you cast behind that rock and keep that drift, you should be able to get one”... “FISH ON!” (His first drift of the trip too)

- Silvio: “Berge [bBNotty], you should’ve seen Mike go all ninja turtle on that steelies @$$”

- Silvio: “Are you really that scared to camp out here for the night?” (crazy redneck guy screams out in the bushes)…”Ok let’s go somewhere else”

- Mike: “Silvio, what’s that smell?...Nooooooooo!”

It was an awesome and very memorable trip which won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

I plan to do a few more trips for steel in the coming weeks before totally switching over to carp for good - I guess you could say I’m making up for some lost time. I enjoyed the fishing and the time spent fishing with others whom I met this season. It’s also my first steelheading season in a long (very long) time where I didn’t destroy a camera [knock on wood] – hence the reason why you folks can see pics today. Hope you enjoyed the journey through my 2009 spring steelheading season.

Cheers

There should be a disclaimer for the diabetics on the board...That brownie is super sweet

The markings on that fish are gorgeous. Congrats!

Beautiful piece of steel there. If you had to end a season on a fish, that would be a perfect fish to do it on - Love the rosy cheeks on it. Hopefully your son will get better soon.