72 hours of Steelheading mayhem

[Paulus]

Every year, I like to take a couple of days off in November, so that I can enjoy at least a day or two of fishing for rainbow trout dawn to dusk. This year, I was really lucky and had most of 3 days. On the 3rd day, I had some family business to attend to, but it merely delayed my arrival and didn't diminish my results very much.

 

I traveled quite a bit, going north, west and east, fishing with such notorious characters as Solopaddler, BillM and Wallacio. Each day had its successes and learning experiences, and I'm much better off for it. There's a lot to be said for spending time where the definition of "stress" is how much pressure fish are exerting on your line, "late" is a missed hookset and "angry" is an apt description of a fish's strike!

 

Without further ado, here is a pictographic exposé of my three day chromer holiday:

 

Day 1: Fish were present in the system we fished, but the only person I saw consistently slamming chrome was Solopaddler himself. I got a chance to try spin-casting for them, although with less effectiveness than him. I managed two good, solid hits, and the second one literally tore the swivel open and made off with the lure. Houston, we have a problem! I wasn't lighting them up much with the float fishing setup either, until he actually told me "stand there" and "fish that seam"; and when I did so I went 2 for about 9 within an hour. The bonus was that the 50km/h winds that had been forecasted never materialised. Instead, we had calm weather with the occasional shower - PERFECT for steelhead .

 

 

 

Part of the fun of fishing with Solo is the parade of chrome that you get to witness. He's posted some of them already, but here are my 2 favourite shots of the bunch:

 

 

 

And this sweet hen he caught float fishing (with Nanofil spooled on his reel):

 

 

 

Day 2: This was probably my favourite day of all three. It was certainly my most productive. It included Wallacio and BillM, cigars, deadly hiking, deserted river banks and many silver bullets. The fish were not as big as Day1 or Day3, but they were the most energetic as a group by far. Hooking into these fish was like getting into a fist fight with berserking psychopaths. The instant you set the hook into these beauties, they launched like wacked out rockets, jumping numerous times, changing directions in unpredictable and incomprehensible fashion, and generally leaving you breathless. At one point, I hooked a good sized fish in a section of river where I didn't really expect it. Our battle see-sawed for almost 10 minutes before the hook pulled. Wallacio and I got to see enough aerobatics and chrome flashes to satisfy us, despite the lost photo opportunity. Here's a collection of the ones we landed.

 

A beautiful specimen caught by Wallacio:

 

 

Same fish, different view:

 

 

BillM releasing the biggest fish of the day:

 

 

 

And a couple of mine (including an elusive glimpse of my MOvember MOstache)

 

 

 

 

 

Day 3: This was the day where family obligations kept me close to home. At first, I was a little disappointed by this since I expected very little success. There hasn't been much rain at all in most of southern Ontario for the past week and a half, and this was going to be a relatively windy day. And unlike on Day 1 when the forecasted gale never showed up, Day 3 pretty much lived up to its gusty billing. My first choice for the day was a big time let-down. Some anglers were catching fish, but they were pretty much shoulder to shoulder and it was nearly impossible to get in on the action. To make matters worse, if you fished anywhere else on the river, you were looking at a dead float, fighting off sleep - or envy, if you could see those other guys getting fish off in the distance.

 

Destination 2, which I expected to visit for less than half an hour, was the exact opposite. Despite the low, gin-clear conditions, fish were present and they were everywhere; all you needed to do was pick a spot and be patient. Here are the two that fought the hardest:

 

 

Same fish, different shot. I wish they made point-and-shoot digital cameras that could capture the spectrum of colours that this fish presented. This is only the barest approximation. It was just a jewel of a wild Lake Ontario fish.

 

 

This fellow was about 32 inches in length, comfortably over 10lbs. He gave me the longest fight for the three days, excepting perhaps the fish I missed on day 2.

 

 

I was blurring the background for this picture, and I thought I should also blur my gigantic frenchman's nose... just for fun

 

 

... almost makes me look better...

 

p.-

[ChrisK]

Looks like everyone got into some steel this weekend. Great job Paulus and love yer new nose

[BillM]

Paul, was an awesome day! Thanks for the cigar! I wish I could have stuck around a bit longer!

[rocheleauc]

Awesome report, thanks for posting, Love the pictures

[Victor]

There's a lot to be said for spending time where the definition of "stress" is how much pressure fish are exerting on your line, "late" is a missed hookset and "angry" is an apt description of a fish's strike!

 

Never thought about it that way, well said!!!

Enjoyed the read/pics, thanks for sharing.

 

Mike (solo) - don't tell me you have 2 of those reels!? Or you just changed the center-cap to black? I'm loving the black on black!!!

[wallacio]

That was a great day boys...let's get out there again soon.

[Moosebunk]

Was wondering when I'd see the man in the red hat again.

 

You guys are so lucky to have those fisheries and one another to share them with.

[spinnerdoc]

Looks like an awesome three days

[solopaddler]

There's a lot to be said for spending time where the definition of "stress" is how much pressure fish are exerting on your line, "late" is a missed hookset and "angry" is an apt description of a fish's strike!

 

Hooking into these fish was like getting into a fist fight with berserking psychopaths.

 

HAHA! That's perfect buddy.

 

Fabulous stache btw.

 

 

Mike (solo) - don't tell me you have 2 of those reels!? Or you just changed the center-cap to black? I'm loving the black on black!!!

 

Good eye. Same reel different center cap.

[Rod Caster]

An ideal holiday to say the least!

 

 

[msp]

Nice handlebars. Nice fish too !

[Paulus]

Was wondering when I'd see the man in the red hat again.

 

You guys are so lucky to have those fisheries and one another to share them with.

 

He cometh when thou least expectest... Thou shouldst pick up thine House and move thine down here...

 

HAHA! That's perfect buddy.

 

Fabulous stache btw.

 

 

Thanks buddy, it's been a lot of hard work... especially the stage I'm at now, when the slightest facial movement provokes itching... All I need now is a Harley Davidson, a leather vest, blue jeans, black cowboy boots and an old WWII german helmet (preferably with bullet hole). Throw in a tatoo, and I'm all set.

 

p.-

[misfish]

Nice looking fish and your guests arent half bad either.

 

Thanks for sharing.

[ccmtcanada]

Stellar report and pictures!!! I'd love to share a drift with you one of these days! You always seem to find the fish....me....not so much lol

 

Great friends and great fish. Thanks for the report

[Bassnbows]

A great couple of days, good job. Some nice chromer's, is'nt it the best when they come leaping out .

[MJL]

Very sweet Paulus

 

Great report and pics...Thanks for sharing

[Paulus]

Stellar report and pictures!!! I'd love to share a drift with you one of these days! You always seem to find the fish....me....not so much lol

 

Great friends and great fish. Thanks for the report

We must - but I seriously lucked into some of them. I can only claim the skill necessary to follow the recommendations of my benefactors. Sometimes, you just have to let yourself be guided .

 

p.-