Opening Day Report

[justin elia]

Decided to hit a local trib for some good old steelhead action Saturday morning. Couldnt ask for better weather, no wind, bright moon and mild temps. It made for a nice comfortable night fish. We trecked up to our normal opening day spot just before midnight to find fish rising constantly so we knew we were in for a fun day. During the first few hours we hit numerous fish in the dark which was really cool to see the silhouette of a steelhead jump and cartwheel around the pool under the moonlight. The fish pretty much shut down after about 15 or 20 hookups until first light when the breakfast bell rang and it was fish after fish. Unfortunately, with low clear water and fish running and zipping around the pool the fast and furious action didnt last long. By 8am the pool was shut down. It didnt help when 3 guys showed up casting shadows into the pool and wading in creating wakes. Some people dont get it, but it was ok! We all got our fix of opening day steelhead and had a blast.

 

I was trying out some trout beads that I'm working on a review for and Im very impressed with the outcome. Here's one of a few caught on trout beads that night.

 

 

I decided to take Sunday off; with the baby only 7 weeks old I'd much rather spend time with her than catch ABC fish that have been spooked the day before. On Monday I canoed the Credit with a friend from Heritage Road to Creditview in hopes of drifting for some fish that havent been pressured. We ended up bumping into Joseph which was a nice suprise and we got into a nice handful of fish. The highlight of that trip was definately this beautiful wild brown that gave me a few good jumps during the fight.

 

 

 

 

So at about 10:30am, we're about 5km into a 20km canoe ride and my friend looks at me and says, "hey, I want to be off the water by 12:30".....Im like what the hell!!??!! If you know that strech of river it takes 3 or 4 hours of straight paddling just to get through it WITHOUT fishing. If he told me that was the case at the beginning of the day, I wouldnt have canoed, I would have just walk another stretch of river. I guess it was my fault assuming we were fishing a 20km strech of river over the whole day.LOL! But what are you going to do, I caught fish with a good buddy and it was a beautiful day so I cant really complain.

 

It was a great few days on the water but I think I'll be giving the droppies a rest for a while. Time to take the boat out for a spin

[solopaddler]

Wow gorgeous brown for sure bud!

[MCTFisher9120]

wow, ive seen a few cruising around...would be great to catch a biggin like you did.

 

Great job,

MTBF

[asdve23rveavwa]

Another beauty brown...seen quite a few in posts from the weekend...supposed to be windy this Saturday, maybe I will park the boat. You guys are giving me the inspiration to try out a couple of spots I haven't been to in awhile.

[Rustic-Fisher]

Nice Brown!!!!!!!!

[rock34]

Amazing man! I dream of a brown like that. I got a decent 16-17" tonight but nothing ever like that. This is the year I hope.

 

thanks for sharing

[jonc]

That is one beautiful brown.

Congratz!

[Leecher]

Love the colors on that brown Congrats justin on that beauty

Leechman

[Spiel]

 

 

That's a magnificent brown Justin, nicely done.

[tonyb]

Ditto on the Beauty Brown comments!

 

Did you get it on the trout bead as well, or something else?

[justin elia]

Ditto on the Beauty Brown comments!

 

Did you get it on the trout bead as well, or something else?

 

The brown was caught on roe.

[bucktail]

Beautiful fish!!!!!