Your First Steelhead

[Douger]

I was up with some friends on the Notty yesterday. We hit the water at 6am. The fish started biting after lunch and were hitting hard! Most were drop-backs in the feeding mode, but there were some late fresh ones too. I managed to get a wicked fighter on but lost it, then when they really started to hit it was tangle after tangle for me . We had an awsome time but I did leave feeling a little frustrated.

 

I began steelheading in the fall. I've been doing my homework and putting in the miles walking the tribs, trying to learn the characteristics of each. With a full time job, wife and a kid on the way, I can never get out as much as I like, which is good in that each day on a trib becomes a special event.

 

Since the fall, I've managed to get a few on, and landed a nice male one wintry morning on the Ganny. Each time I get a hit I get a real adrenaline rush so when I landed my first one this winter it felt like a real achievement.

 

I know it takes time to get the hang of it all, and I'm curious to hear from other steelheaders about their first and thought it would make for some cool stories.

 

Doug

[Douger]

My actual first rainbow trout, if I'm remembering correctly, was caught in a pond when I was 8 or 9 years old.

 

In London (ON), in the south end where I grew up, there is a forest and a series of 5 or 6 ponds, each the size of a small lake. One of them has a fish & game club, who stocked the pond each year with rainbows.

 

My dad signed us up when we were kids, and it must have been Easter (1980?) because my uncles and cousins were visitng. It was an awsome day for us kids because we each caught at least 3, my little brother being the winner with 6. My rod was a cheap, transluscent-red beauty from the sports department at Woolco. Reel: late 60s - early 70s Mitchell 300.

 

We still talk about that day.

[canadian_copper]

MY FIRST TROUT EVER WAS WHEN I WAS AROUND 8 I BELIEVE!!!

MY GRANDPARENTS OWNED ALOT OF LAND OUT IN ACTION AND HAD A HUGE POND THEY STOCKED AS WELL!!! MY MOM ALWAYS TELLS THE STORY OF ME BEING OUT THERE FROM SUN UP TILL SUN DOWN AND SOMETIMWES ONLY CATCHING 1 FISH ALL DAY!!! NEXT DAY OUT THERE AGAIN BEFORE EVERYONE WAS UP!!!LOL

[silverstreak]

Douger

I remember fishing the Boyne River at age 3 with my Grandfather.

I still have the picture of my first fish.

Now at age 42 I have been chasing steelhead ever since.

I will let you in on a little steelie secrete......That adrenaline rush you mentioned whenever you "get a hit" will never fade, at least it hasn't for me anyway and it probably never will.

Here is another little secrete, be sure to take your children fishing.

I take my God girls with me whenever I can and can honestly say it is a real pleasure watching them learn and Grow.

All the best.

[Canuck2fan]

My first rainbow I caught in a stocked pond years ago, the second I got opening weekend at a local spot where they are very rare.... back when I was 17. A long time ago.

 

However, I when I started to learn how to seriously fish for chrome, in the fall of 05 the second night I went out I caught 3 in a row in about 45 minutes around dawn, after freezing for 6 1/2 hours thinking that every twitch the long rod made from the wind was a bite LOL. I have been obsessed ever since. In fact I am taking my first holiday in 13 yrs to go up river fishing for steel for the next 3 days.... I can hardly wait!!!

Edited April 29, 2007 by Canuck2fan

[Rizzo]

Sportsman's show in Toronto when I was a kid. I wasted all my money fishing in that stocked tank to catch that one big trout swimming around with all the little ones. Cost me a fortune but I finally got him. Only wild one I ever caught was a big shock, caught in a golf course pond!

[lunkerbasshunter]

i was 10 fishing for bass at the mouth of the credit with family. hooked into a chromie that was a few pounds using worms. Remeber how excited i was to this day!

 

CHeers!

[ccmtcanada]

Great thread Douger! Well...I started trying for these guys back at the end of December 2006. I went out probably 10 times and had only one fish on...but lost it...and only a few hits. I then enlisted the help of our resident steelhead master, CANADIAN COPPER. He took me out to a spot on a CCCCOLD -28C January day and there I landed my first steelie...on his rod, terminal tackle and roe. He pointed to the spot to begin my drifts and within a few hours I had one on....a nice little scrappy female. He netted it for me...here's the pic!!

 

 

From there I've learned a lot from this board, and frankly just going out a trying spots, trying different setups, leader depths, roe bag colours, seeing what the tribs are like when waters are clear and low vs after big rains. I read the board very closely to see what ppl are using in those conditions and then I try them out myself. It's a lot of learning and trying and failing, but once you have success, the good times begin to roll.