Karma Steelheading

[MJL]

I don’t consider steelheading a sport...For me it’s purely a religion. As such, my steelheading religion is controlled by a super hot, incredibly attractive steelheading goddess – I call her Chromira . Why do I think so?

 

1) For one, steelheading during the uber tough times can be insanely maddening but highly compelling

2) You gotta spend some time trying to figure them out in order to get in some lovin'

3) The steelheading goddess really digs guys (or gals) who are observant and pay close attention.

4) The steelheading goddess appreciates good deeds and as such, no good deed goes unrewarded – Essentially good Karma

 

My buddy KelfuN also agrees…As he put on his MSN screen name “steelhead are like women, only if I do everything right will I get one”…Unfortunately for Kelfun, he’s not as good looking or as charming with the ladies as me …But with that said, he’s on the right train of thought.

 

I managed to get the car today for 4hrs this morning. Dropped my sister off at the train station and I boogied off to the river. I was really surprised to see no cars in the lot when I arrived. Looking at the water, it was truly prime without another angler in sight. I hit one pool and tossed in my rig. Considering how tough the fishing was during the weekend and how light the fish were biting, I paid close attention for any odd movements on my float. The first 6 drifts I knew I had steelhead nipping at my bait. The float would stop dead mid-drift, twitch or just shoot down. Each time I’d set the hook and come up empty – Just like during the weekend my bait would be gone, ripped in half or torn.

 

The 7th drift I tried one trick my friends and I stumbled on for short biting steelhead. We originally called it the “Kristin Kreuk is So Hot!” hookset – But of course there are many different variations (As seen below). It was discovered by accident during one of those many manly (and often politically incorrect) conversations on the riverbank where my buddies and I were chilling and chatting and not really paying attention to our floats drifting downstream. Anywhoo, the whole premise of the “Kristin Kreuk is so Hot!” hookset is to say it out-loud first and then set the hook after you see the float go under in times where the fish are just nipping at the bait rather than smashing them…It gives the fish time to take the whole bait in their mouth. I must add that doing this every time in a crowded pool will make you look like someone suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder…or a pervert

 

7th drift I used a variation of the special hookset…I used the “April Vokey is so hot!” hookset and drove my hook into a solid fish. For those who don’t know who April Vokey is, here’s one pic .

 

 

Fought the fish for a pretty intense 5 minutes and pulled it from the clutches of an evil log jam which violated me 2 weekends ago. Even after the delayed hook-set, it was barely hooked in the upper lip.

 

 

For the rest of the session, the action wasn't amazing but fairly steady…With no one on the river, I went from pool to pool looking for active fish and resting the ones I knew had more fish sulking around on bottom. In between the steelheading action, I lashed a couple plastic bags to my backpack and picked up whatever pop-cans, coffee cups, beer bottles, empty packs of pinkies, etc I could find on the bank. It was pretty amazing to see how much junk there was after the ice and snow melted - Ended up with a few bags worth of trash + 1 free pack of unopened riverwood pinkies & a few floats . Binned it all at home

 

 

Seems the steelheading goddess was pleased with my deeds and blessed me with some pretty good karma…I ended up landing 13-14 beautiful pieces of bright, silvery chrome in the 7-10+lb range and lost a few when I got too trigger happy on the hook-sets. My hands were getting shaky from lack of food and the bite was dying down quickly with the sudden drop in temperature around 11:15am – I ended my day early on a high note and went home for lunch. It was a definite (but very welcomed) change from the last few trips which were much slower. Fish mostly took flies in various styles but also got hits with the plastic trout worms, micro tubes and live worms. Really enjoyed today out…Haven’t seen the river this peaceful in ages. Now if only I had April Vokey’s number…

Edited December 16, 2009 by MJL

[Twocoda]

you are without a doubt one kewl dude ! and the karma is well deserved...excellent write up !

[rock34]

Right on man.

Congrats on this fishing and great job with the garbage clean up. Imagine if we all did half of that everytime we went out......

[TDunn]

Good things happen to good people.

Very good read.

 

TDunn

[Joeytier]

I'm getting the shakes reading your reports.

 

...Only four made days of hell.

[Swan_Dive]

I often fish with a back pack like that and I have never thought of strapping bags to it but I will definately try that out. It always bugs me when you see all the trash that people leave behind. As for April, she is definately a hottie!!!

[Leecher]

You the man Mike

Got to love the steady action of chrome on the river bank all to yourself

and like TDunn said "Good things happen to good people."

I understand why you want "April's" phone number now

Awesome job Mike and thanks for sharing

Jacques

Edited December 15, 2009 by Leechman

[frozen-fire]

SWEET!!!

[msp]

good job on the trout...........and the garbage.

[laszlo]

“April Vokey is so hot!”

 

Yes she is!

I'm just imagining the faces on 'the guys' fishing the river when they see her come walking by.

 

Priceless.

[douG]

I've met a woman before who does hair, nails and makeup before steelheading. Alas, she is taken.

 

Great report, MJL. I guess the 'one steamboat, two steamboats, three steamboats' chant just doesn't have the same cachet.

[HTHM]

I've met a woman before who does hair, nails and makeup before steelheading. Alas, she is taken.

 

Great report, MJL. I guess the 'one steamboat, two steamboats, three steamboats' chant just doesn't have the same cachet.

Yah, but she's married to a guitar player and you know what they are like......

[StoneFly]

Nice Work!!! Looks like a good day out!!! and Thanks for cleaning up after the pigs, sometimes I really cant beleive the crap people leave behind.

[Victor]

[Cudz]

Nice fish

Good job with the garbage!

 

and.. Wow to April! Checked out her site. Crazy.

[okumasheffield]

Damn, i thought my 'Hold, hold, hold NOW!!!' trick stolen from the movie 'Braveheart' was good

which the best day was 6 fish

 

If you dont mind, MJL, I will use yours from now on!

 

oh yeah, HOT!

[young_one]

Nice Fish MJL! Good for you on the garbage pickup, hopefully I'll see you out there, now Im done with school.

[Whitespinnerbait]

. For those who don’t know who April Vokey is, here’s one pic .

 

number…

 

 

PhotoShopped......

[trapshooter]

Great story, thanks for sharing. Nice to see someone leading by example and cleaning up the mess that others leave behind.

[solopaddler]

Excellent write up grasshopper.

It appears as though you have indeed become one with the fish.

Pic #2 is a classic portrayal of the "crouching tiger - leaping steelhead" pose.

 

Edited December 16, 2009 by solopaddler

[lhousesoccer]

More pictures of April ....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[trapshooter]

 

Not2baaaaaad!!!

[highdrifter]

Nicely done homay!

 

Yeah she's alright.. I guess.

 

Fighting those monster steelies must be a good workout.. Someone call a plumber. Those pipes are about to burst!!

 

cheers

HD

[Raf]

brunette > blonde

[basketclam]

brunette > blonde

 

 

I concur.

 

And it's darn nice to see that someone's taking some ownership of their rivers and cleaning up someone else's garbage! I can't stand fishing most of the GTA tribs because the mess just turns me right off. (That, and the crowds)