Wheel'n and Steel'n

[rock34]

I got home from the fly fishing show in Burlington on Saturday evening ready to relax for the night and have a nice chilled out Sunday morning with my wife and daughter before I had a family dinner in the afternoon.

 

Of course the first thing I do is jump on OFC to see what’s new in the fishing world within the last few hours that I missed . Hey, I’ve got a PM, cool! Its Solopaddler "Hey, I’m heading out in the morning, conditions are too good not too, want to head out with me?". Now the wheels are spinning, all the plans I had to relax, spend time with the family and of course the darn family dinner that was on Sunday afternoon. I paced around the house for about 10min trying to decide what to do .....then my wife says "just shut up and go!!". That’s all the encouragement I needed to start packing my gear for the next morning. There was no way my family would let me miss dinner so I had to be back by 4:30 and I had to drive seperatly.

 

After a sleepless night, I hook up with Solo at Tim Horton's at 4:45am, another truck pulls in with us. Hey, its BillM. Right on, the more the merrier! I didn’t know the exact spot that we were going to drop into the river so we decided that if we got separated we would meet at a certain gas station. Well, we got separated and I got to the gas station thinking I was behind them but they were nowhere to be seen. So, I parked and waited for 5.....10......15min. Ok, now this is weird, was I in the wrong parking lot??? I drove out to the road, look back and there they are on the OTHER SIDE of the gas station the entire time. Brutal!! I just cost us some fishing time

 

We threw on our gear and off we go!! Oh crap...while waiting for me with the headlights on in the car Solo's battery died. Out come the jumper cables and within a few more minutes we were finally on our way to the river!

 

Now I had never fished with either of the guys before but honestly, who on here hasn’t seen their steelheading posts?? I knew that I was in for a fun day and a great learning experience with a couple excellent fishermen and more important, good guys.

 

We parked the cars and off we went! Of course we start the day having to wade waist deep across the river...

 

 

We walk past lots of fishable water on our way to what we hope will be an awesome spot. Turns out we were right!! (By we, I mean Mike and Bill )

 

Who would have guessed it, my second drift of the day and BAM I hook the first fish of the day!

 

 

I thought to myself, hey if I leave right now I can say that I have fished with Solopaddler and BillM and out fished them both .....before I had even gotten my fish back in the water Mike was into one

 

 

Then Bill took his turn right after!

 

 

Within the next few drifts I hear "Fish on!" from Mike, then "Fish on" from Bill. Double header!

 

 

For the next hour every time Mike hooked into a fish, Bill would as well but one of them always lost their fish so there was never another landed double header of steelies.

 

The next fish somewhat suprised us all for this time of th year. A beauty smallie landed by Bill.

 

 

We continued to hit steelies out of this run for a while.....

 

 

After watching Bill and Mike come so close to multiple double headers I was getting the itch. I was trying to double up with one of them but couldnt seem to make it happen. I hooked into another steelie and then I hear Mike again "Fish on"!! Im pumped, double header steelies, this would be my first ever. As Mikes fish gets to shore we realize it will not be a double header of steel but...

 

 

We continued to hit fish here and there throuout the morning. It got to 1:30pm and I knew I had to get going, darn family dinner. We all knew this feeling of depression was going to come over me when it got to this point in the day but it was well worth it.

 

Gentlmen, it was a pleasure fishing with you yesterday and I look forward to doing it again soon. You both answered my million and one questions and helped guide me to my best steelheading day ever. I am sure you had a very successful afternoon once I left so feel free to add to this report.

 

Here are some more pics from the day

 

Edited April 12, 2010 by Rock

[bassman87]

awesome, thanks for sharing

[solopaddler]

Nice write up Rob, thoroughly enjoyed meeting and fishing with you.

 

Obviously it was an exceptional day.

[MJL]

Great reportage and pics rob...well done

 

That water looks absolutely gorgeous...My Mikey senses are tingling!

[Kinger]

Nice fish doods!

[rock34]

Great reportage and pics rob...well done

 

That water looks absolutely gorgeous...My Mikey senses are tingling!

 

Thanks MJL. Its always fun to write a report after a fantastic day!

[laszlo]

FRESH FISH!!!

[vinnimon]

Thats awesome, fresh fish with a couple of ofners.

[solopaddler]

Not sure if Laszlo is using a new hip-hop steelheading lingo.

 

As in: "Yo, those fish are fresh bra!"

 

Or if he really thought they were fresh.

 

Vinnie, (and maybe Las ), for what it's worth those weren't fresh run fish.

They were all super charged recovering dropbacks.

 

Many of these fish totally engulfed our baits. The strikes were so vicious our baits were often burried deeply in their throats. Needless to say a wee bit of surgery was required on occassion.

 

They were in a mood to jump and most cleared the water multiple times. Quite a

show.

 

Doesn't matter how many times I do it it's still a thrill.

 

It was especially gratifying feeding off Rob's enthusiasm.

[discophish]

See what happens when they tell you to "shut up and go!!!" ???? That's music to your ears, right?!! From now on, just take her advice before she even has to say it!!! Be careful though ... the ones with the f-bombs mixed in may have you think twice. It's really all a mind game, isn't it?? haha!

 

Great job on the river!

[solopaddler]

See what happens when they tell you to "shut up and go!!!" ???? That's music to your ears, right?!! From now on, just take her advice before she even has to say it!!! Be careful though ... the ones with the f-bombs mixed in may have you think twice. It's really all a mind game, isn't it?? haha!

 

Great job on the river!

 

 

I can relate to that statement.

 

The f-bombs are a definite sign not to go.

[limeyangler]

awesome stuff you guys..dont really know what else to say....but i love reading the steelhead posts...never done it....but looks like a blast!

 

Thyanks for posting

[rock34]

See what happens when they tell you to "shut up and go!!!" ???? That's music to your ears, right?!! From now on, just take her advice before she even has to say it!!! Be careful though ... the ones with the f-bombs mixed in may have you think twice. It's really all a mind game, isn't it?? haha!

 

Great job on the river!

Amen to that!!

Im one of the lucky guys however who's wife is very encouraging and understanding of my fishing addiction.

[Twocoda]

Amen to that!!

Im one of the lucky guys however who's wife is very encouraging and understanding of my fishing addiction.

 

i think ive said that in two past relationships before ...third time is a charm though ...so im not saying it anymore ...

 

nice report good on ya all

[laszlo]

Not sure if Laszlo is using a new hip-hop steelheading lingo.

 

As in: "Yo, those fish are fresh bra!"

 

Or if he really thought they were fresh.

 

Vinnie, (and maybe Las ), for what it's worth those weren't fresh run fish.

They were all super charged recovering dropbacks.

 

Many of these fish totally engulfed our baits. The strikes were so vicious our baits were often burried deeply in their throats. Needless to say a wee bit of surgery was required on occassion.

 

They were in a mood to jump and most cleared the water multiple times. Quite a

show.

 

Doesn't matter how many times I do it it's still a thrill.

 

It was especially gratifying feeding off Rob's enthusiasm.

 

Steelheading Hip Hop. LOL!

 

Beautiful fish though. I didn't know drop backs were that bright.

After all...it is my first spring fishing for Steel.

[BillM]

Awesome day boys!! Rob, we'll have to hit that sneaky spot for browns this spring with the fly gear.

Edited April 13, 2010 by BillM

[Aaron Shirley]

Very nice drop backs WTG boys

[Paulus]

Great post Rob . Mike & Bill are great guys to fish with. Looks like you fit right in!

 

p.-

[rock34]

Great post Rob . Mike & Bill are great guys to fish with. Looks like you fit right in!

 

p.-

 

Thanks Paulus. They would pretty hard guys NOT to get along with.

 

I always say there are 2 pieces to finding out if someone is friend worthy or not:

 

1. fish with them

2. Drink heavily with them

 

Mike and Bill are in for a morning headache at some point!

[solopaddler]

Thanks Paulus. They would pretty hard guys NOT to get along with.

 

I always say there are 2 pieces to finding out if someone is friend worthy or not:

 

1. fish with them

2. Drink heavily with them

 

Mike and Bill are in for a morning headache at some point!

 

 

But...but we didn't drink anything on our day out.

[rock34]

But...but we didn't drink anything on our day out.

 

I never said at the same time....although that is bound to happen time to time