solopaddler Posted April 6, 2010 Report Share Posted April 6, 2010 (edited) After last Friday's fantastic day on the water with BillM and our buddy Ferg, Monday's outing was greatly anticipated. This particular trip was special as it afforded an opportunity to finally get out and fish with Justin Elia from the board. Justin is an outstanding angler and a pleasure to fish with. He's joining us on our June trip to the Attawapiskat and I already know his presence will be a big plus. On to the fishing. Conditions for most people on the river were tough. High, heavily stained water made for a unique challenge. The key was presentation. Ultra long leads in the neighborhood of 13', large floats, heavy tippet and tons of shot from top to bottom. Obviously large bright baits were key as well. In addition many many years of fishing this system have taught me there are certain key holding areas that will always produce. We started at a favoured zone in the middle river and after a bit of tweaking were soon on to them. To a T they were all recovering dropback fish. Voracious hits and acrobatic jumps were the norm. I have a whole bunch of shots like this, but I'll just post a couple to avoid being redundant. A handful of our fish were much cleaner and more photo worthy: The afternoon was incredibly hot and sunny and things slowed down a bit as we hopped around to a few different spots. Ultimately I made a decision to fish a holding area very low in the system. Generally speaking this time year you get good numbers of bright chrome non spawning fish that poke their nose in now and again for a feed. I call 'em egg eaters and they range in size from 2 to 3lb's up to 6 or 7. They're pure chrome, solid muscle, incredibly aggressive and a TON of fun to catch. We capped off the day nicely with a good number of these hard fighting beauties: The only fish that were kept were a couple of these LOL! The coarse fish are starting to show up and Justin kept a couple to use as cut bait for catfish. We did get a couple of strange looks from fellow anglers as we walked by. All in all a truly golden day. I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with Justin and am looking forward to the next trip. Cheers, Mike Edited April 6, 2010 by solopaddler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danbouck Posted April 6, 2010 Report Share Posted April 6, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy Posted April 6, 2010 Report Share Posted April 6, 2010 Ok, before you were just bragging a little but now you're getting downright obnoxious! Great report Mike....thanks for that. Glad you have a new fishing friend as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syn Posted April 6, 2010 Report Share Posted April 6, 2010 Great job and very beautiful fish pics! You guys kicked ass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pike n' whities Posted April 6, 2010 Report Share Posted April 6, 2010 niiice! im thinkin its time for me to finally get one thats over 2 lbs tomorrow haha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solopaddler Posted April 6, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2010 Ok, before you were just bragging a little but now you're getting downright obnoxious! Great report Mike....thanks for that. Glad you have a new fishing friend as well. Thanks Roy, my goal is to be as obnoxious as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillM Posted April 6, 2010 Report Share Posted April 6, 2010 STOP RUINING THE SUCKER FISHERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dude, I can't wait to get my hands on the new reel, lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDunn Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 (edited) Amazing stuff Mike! Tons of beauty fish. Once I get the hang of my new pin, I might have to take a trip south for some steel! Fantastic report and pics TDunn Edited April 7, 2010 by TDunn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiel Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Sucks to be you! No, that's not right, sucks to be me! Nice rod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solopaddler Posted April 7, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Sucks to be you! No, that's not right, sucks to be me! Nice rod. Should have mentioned my 13.6 CTS was recently rebuilt thanks to the combined efforts of Spiel and a mutual friend. I picked up the finished rod at Chris's house Sunday and couldn't be more pleased. (In case anyone was wondering Spiel does some very nice rod work. Thanks buddy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scuro2 Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 The English guys are going to be on you about using Carp for bait!!! I liked your post, lovely eye candy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splashhopper Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Thanks Roy, my goal is to be as obnoxious as possible. Can you teach me how to get that obnoxious too? I am a natural at being obnoxious... but not having any luck the past 6 months for bows! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douG Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Another clinic from solopaddler. Well done Lads. I can see by the goofy grin you guys had a blast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ThisPlaceSucks Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 awesome stuff stuff as always. some optimum conditions province wide and i'm stuck inside trying to put a package together for a job application. doh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJQ Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Awesome report as always! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin elia Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 It was an absolute pleasure to fish with you Mike. Im glad we got the opportunity to do so before our trip. Looking forward to Part II of that adventure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tibbs Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Great Job! I haven't gotten out steelhead fishing for a long long time. Hopefully i'll be able to fish in the next week or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Shirley Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Awesome day on the river boys. You're reports are killin' me Mike.. I haven't got my waders wet yet this spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rock34 Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Mike, Fantasic job as always! You understated how difficult the conditions were. I was there on Sunday and the fishing was tough. 2 guys, 1 bow and 1 HUGE sucker is all we managed to scratch up. I saw one other fish caught the entire day. Keep in mind that I am not nearly as experienced as you Mike but it is clear that you are head and shoulders above most fisherman when you can produce numbers like that under those conditions. Excellent post as always! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carp Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Some sweet trout in those shots. Very nice report and pics Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulus Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Sweet post, O obnoxious one. Looks like you got the last good day on that system for a while, too. Good decision to fish it on Monday, as that is not your norm. That chromer looks like it was a good deal of fun to catch. Are you sure you didn't get your pics mixed up with some older ones from March??? p.- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJL Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Great report as always Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solopaddler Posted April 7, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Thanks for the replies everyone. Mike, Fantasic job as always! You understated how difficult the conditions were. I was there on Sunday and the fishing was tough. 2 guys, 1 bow and 1 HUGE sucker is all we managed to scratch up. I saw one other fish caught the entire day. Keep in mind that I am not nearly as experienced as you Mike but it is clear that you are head and shoulders above most fisherman when you can produce numbers like that under those conditions. Excellent post as always! Rob please That chromer looks like it was a good deal of fun to catch. Are you sure you didn't get your pics mixed up with some older ones from March??? p.- Nope didn't get the pic's mixed up but I have caught him before. I trained him to hit my bait on demand. I call him Jeff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin elia Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 I trained him to hit my bait on demand. We were working a little voodoo magic at the end of the day, making about 2 or 3 fish hit on demand as well as jump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solopaddler Posted April 7, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 We were working a little voodoo magic at the end of the day, making about 2 or 3 fish hit on demand as well as jump. I had forgotten that. We were calling the shots on a few of those fish. If anyone's wondering Justin is a witch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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