Paulus

sweet fish... yikes! Look out for that Oshawa Luck Charm! Somebody's bike lost a part! lol! :lol: p.- p.s. keep your chinooks for roe, most of them are stocked at least, and it works just as well (caught this one with chinney roe last weekend http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/paul...hn/PICT0194.jpg )... steelies get help only from you and me on this side of the border...

Mike, you kept me waiting but you didn't disappoint. With all those little shakers, it almost looks like a fish fry was in order. Ah, the streamside fishfry... yum! I have a pose for you to try... p.-

37"! crikey! That beats my pb by at least 3! Well done, indeed. You might have missed those others, but obviously they were a warm up for this one. Good job landing the monster http://www.myoan.net/fishing/weight_calc.html according to the fish weight calculator, if it had a girth of 20" then it was in the 18.5 lb range. I hate to tell you, but it's all downhill from here - your only good chance at bigger than that is out west! lol! p.-

Great post and pics, Silvio. It was nice meeting another OFC'er, on Saturday. Glad to see you getting out! p.-

Good stuff, guys That's a gorgeous, healthy looking fish. I always prefer our wild, self-sustaining fish over the stocked cookie-cutters of our brethren to the south. They are stronger, faster and more attractive. I don't think 8:15am was too late for this time of year, for the weather conditions. Most likely, you missed out on 2 hours of freezing your tush off, for the steep cost of extra sleep in a warm bed... not a bad deal, really . When it's as cold as it was last night, the fish often don't turn on until the sun has warmed the water a bit anyway. Allow me to propagate the good luck : as Bly wished me earlier, I predict that this is the first of many that you'll get in 2009. Hold onto your seat! And your rod! p.-

Hey thanks! It's always nice to receive the adulation of one of my "fans" ... You know, I thought of other titles for my blog, like "The Rube Fisher" or "I'm All That and a Bag of Roe" or even "The Awesome Beer Drinking Steelheader," etc... but it was all missing that "je ne sais quoi." I don't know what. "The Average Steelheader" seemed to make sense, especially when you consider my usual results... p.-

I can't lie to my wife. I tried and died, because the forgiveness part was long in coming. I changed my ways. Now I say "I am going, ok?" and if it's not ok, she lets me know. If it's ok (which is more often now that our kids are 3... twins) then, it's ok. Much easier that way, because I don't have to try and remember ... "now... was that the time the car broke down, or was that the time I got out to put gas in the car and a car splashed mud all over me.... or was it the time when.... " p.-

I couldn't agree more. Heading out for topwater bass action, at sunrise when the water is glassy calm, the aim on my first cast is always a little iffy . p.-

Thanks for the nice comments Yeah, I get you Bly. I do the same thing. I'm a forgetful person at the best of times, but when Steelhead are in the offing it's often a wonder I can function at all. I forget really important things... like.... let me think.... my passport! Yes, I actually forgot my passport once when I went to the States, to fish with Solo... yeah. Yeah... and my driver's license which I had taken out of my wallet because.... funny... I can't remember now... Luckily the border guard had a sense of humour that time p.-

I stole an hour today, between leaving work and getting home. The river was a lot dirtier than I expected, but I still managed a 5lb male. He took the bait minutes before my self-imposed "getchyer erse home, dhere buy" deadline, and seconds before I started wondering at the wisdom of fishing at all on this cold, wet, miserable day! Darned fish nearly made me late ... Almost got me in trouble with the missus With only an hour's fishing, there's not much else to tell about my first 2009 chromer, other than it gave a good account of itself & partially cured me of the shakes. When Spring rolls around, and Steelhead start making their way up-river... I get the shakes. Seriously. Winter lasted so long this year, I thought this day might never come! p.-

Thanks for the report, doodz. I love that river, too, though I haven't fished it in years. Gorgeous fish! Thanks for sharing p.-

Fast and dirty can be a good combination, but rarely when you're talking about a river You were doing the right thing by going with a big, bright roe bag. Hopefully you were also fishing with a larger than average float, with lots of weight, to slow down your presentation. On days like today, you don't need to worry too much about finessing them, and you can spread out your shot to within inches of your bait. Targeting slower water (eddies, tail-outs, boulders etc...) can produce well on days where the fish are present but the water is dirty and clearing (in my opinion, it's always better if the water is clearing - if it's getting murkier, i just don't have the patience anymore... ). It's like trying to catch a football in a thick fog for them. You could be bonking them in the nose, but if you're in the faster water they don't even have a chance to react. Regardless, Steelhead have very sharp senses of smell and sight, so if you give them time enough to see/smell your bait, there's a much better chance that they will react in the way you want them to. i.e FISH ON! That creek is relatively small and very heavily fished, so please release most of your catch! p.-

Christie'd belle truite, Môssieu! I liked the shot of the wolf/sled dog, too. That's reality in the Wild. Looks pretty cleaned up... When you said that there was some gore in your post I thought you meant that you might be touching the fish's gills in the pics or something Spring is here, or close enough, so......... p.-

C.H.R.O.M.E. S.W.A.T. --- Join the TEAM! p.-

I remember that stretch of water well & used to fish it from shore. Well done, and nice pics! p.-

Yes, in my experience. This is true mostly on overcast days. The brighter orange lens creates a better colour contrast. If ever I lost the Maui's I have now, I'd settle for nothing less. p.-

I agree 100%. Get an amber lens, too. Infinitely better on cloudy days. p.-

I can't agree more. In fact, lessons at any time, no matter how (in)experienced you are, are a good idea. I started skiing at 11, and although I had lessons at the beginning, I didn't try any new lessons until I was 25. I had accumulated several bad habits that, when removed, made me a much, much better skier. The best skiing East of the Rockies is in Quebec, IMO. Mont Sainte-Anne and Le Massif are the best. Tremblant is ok, but it's owned by Intra-West (the same people who over-charge for lift tickets at Blue Mountain), so I avoid it. I shouldn't say "avoid." I haven't been skiing since 2002 - which is when I came back from living in Switzerland for 2 years. I'm still suffering from the withdrawal; and now that I have a little family of my own... well... you know the drill Anyway, some advice: Take lessons, start with ski's (not snowboard... can be very hard on your wrists), don't be afraid to fall... in fact, fall sideways on purpose a few times to get the hang of it (it helps to know how to direct your fall, and getting up after a fall can be a skill in its own right), and take a break when you're tired (best way to avoid injury). Don't wear jeans or anything like that, as you just get wet and cold: gore-tex snow pants and coat etc. Enjoy a couple of beers at the end of the day, too. For whatever reason, they taste better ONLY on a hot day, fishing... go figure. p.-

http://www.break.com/index/amazing-new-wat...d-jet-pack.html You can really get a good vantage point with this thing, to help you see those fish from high up p.-

beer. p.-

I agree. What I find irksome in all of this is that we have to appologise for being Canadians and having our own traditions. This makes me sound intolerant, but I'm the farthest thing from it: I'm proud of Canada's multi-cultural history. But Confederation was brought about by two founding nations - both christian and european; not by any other (the aboriginals were here first, but that's beside the issue at the moment). So it follows that we would have christian values, traditions, celebrations, christian cultures etc... Why should this surprise anyone? For example: why do we say "Happy Holidays"? I don't know that anyone in the world would think that this phrase could stand in for Hannukah or Ramadan or Chinese New Year... I'm very doubtful about religious institutions in general, but what's so bad about calling it "Christmas"? That's what I call it, because that's what it is. It's not "Holiday": it's "Ramadan" or it's "Hannukah" etc... or it's "Christmas." So I think it's a mistake to let our traditions be put into question, even in the manner that Canada Post has done. At the end of the day, are you Canadian? And what does that mean to you? Does it have ANY meaning whatsoever??? p.-

Thanks for that bud. I think I've watched it about 20 times now. And I don't even fly fish!!! lol! p.-

HAHAHA! Loved it! Brilliant! "cross-handed-tiger-style grip" rofl!!! Thanks for that! p.-

I agree that he's probably talking about fly fishing. But that said, in reference to spin or centrepin fishing, I wouldn't say "never" cast upstream, but I would say that you can add it to your repertoire. Next time you're out, try casting up river the way you normally do, then on the next drift cast down river at a 45 degree angle more or less. Depending on the way the current is moving, your float may follow a different path in the stretch that your fishing. Although there are always exceptions, I generally find that upstream casts tend to drift in closer to me, while downstream casts are easier to keep adjacent to the opposite bank. To me, it seems reasonable to fish as many downstream lines as you can find in any given pool, seam, riffle, whatever. If you do it methodically, you'll get an occasional surprise: "holy frig! I would never have guessed that there was a fish there!" Also, in general, water at the bottom of the river is moving more slowly than water at the surface. If you are just letting your rig dead drift in current, your float is probably ahead of your bait most of the time, so it pays to hold onto it a little (or "trot" your float), in order to let your bait catch up to and precede your float in the water column. This is why a lot of people use centrepins, since they allow you to control the float much more smoothly than with a spinning reel, presenting the bait or fly at a more even and thus more natural speed. This is especially effective in medium current... in slow water it doesn't really make all that much of a difference. Another advantage of holding up on your float for a second or two is that it sometimes helps your bait get down faster. You can easily observe this in clear water conditions. I do this all the time when the spot I want my bait to get into is fairly small. I hope this helps! p.-

Nice! I read both your posts. Thanks! p.- p.s. kudos to you and the rest of the CRAA team. You guys are doing absolutely scintillating and awe-inspiring work! Keep it coming!!!