Closer Steelehead Report

[ctranter]

Another fantastic day on the riverbank. I was ready to go 6AM sharp, or at least I thought it was 6AM. Turns out I accidentally switched AM to PM on my crackberry and the alarm that was set for 6AM didn't go off at all ! Good thing my excited nerves woke me up at 7, and I met up with my bud (better late than never!)

 

Today we were hoping to find some active steelehead, but we knew it would be a challenge because we were fishing a stretch of river that 1) closes tomorrow, and 2) is a good distance up from the lake. Sure enough the heavy rains over the past few days kick started a few chromies, and I after switching to a black and orange nimph (the steele's and jacks were feeding heavily on nymphs) this guy slammed my line, and sprinted around the pool for a good 10 min.

 

-First steelehead on my new spey rod (Thx DMASSE)!

-First steelehead of 2010!

 

 

Watching crimson leaves drift downstream can sure make you proud to be Canadian ,

 

 

 

Then the big "LOL" of the day...

 

About 30 feet upstream of the pool we were fishing was a large rocky beach area. My friend and I were heard a loud SPLASH and THUD, and we jerked around to see what the commotion was about. To our surprise, a HUGE male chinny had beached itself on the shore, and was flopping around in about 1" of water. I'm all for natural selection, but I felt bad sitting back watching this beast die, so we rescued it and released him back to the deep water, but not before a quick pic!)

 

(this fish was beached, not caught. It swam away right after the pic)

 

All in all a fantastic day with a good friend. It was a relief to pop the cherry on my new rod, and it's a big confidence boost to make educated decisions about fly choice, and be rewarded with a target catch. More chrome reports to come!

[timmeh]

Great day man. That leaf is a nice touch in the second photo. Might as well help the chinny out, if he's made it that far on his own. No need to worry about natural selection for chinnies in the great lakes

[MJL]

Very nice Chris. I’m actually very close to clicking the submit button on an online order for a new switch fly rod blank. I’m hoping to get into the double handed experience. What line system are you using with the spey outfit?

[ctranter]

I have S/A fly line on. I'm new to the world of flies so my technical knowledge is limited, but I'm soaking up everything I can like a sponge. As far as I know, this line is unique because it has a very heavy head, more so than the average spey line. It only took 2 outtings to be able to fire this bad boy 50+ feet on a single overhead roll cast. I have only used the floating tip thus far (probably won't change it until next bass season)

 

Here's a link to the line for more specific info.

http://buy.scientificanglers.com/lines/spey-lines/classic-spey-taper-multi-tip-with-loops-dark-willow-orange-html.html

 

It's weird not palming the reel and letting the reel's disk drag do the work, but the extra casting precision from two hands is neat, and the control with 2 hands is unlike any other.

[muskeybugged]

Great pics and nice rescue!

 

Photoshop a bottle of Canadian....You could sell that pic to Molson's.

 

Thanks for sharing

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Nice fish and nice set-up! Yup, gotta love the red leaves!

[Leecher]

Nice chrome ctranter

Good on you for the rescue mission

Thanks for sharing

Leechman

[Dutchy]

Good on you for the rescue mission

 

I concur with Leechman, sometimes they need a little help to get to where they are going.

 

Nice chrome as well.

[Guest jaeteriusZero]

geezus... what a beautiful rod.

[bare foot wader]

I'm a recent big fan of Amundson myself...you picked up one of their best blanks too...just one problem, you got your reel setup on the wrong side..ha....be careful with the spey, it's can be very addictive

[TC1OZ]

Awesome report.

 

inb4anglingmethods

[baironhorse]

nice catch!!!!!!

[Kwan]

what an awesome job on the canadian picture. God bless you for rescuing that fish