Christopheraaron Posted March 25, 2014 Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 (edited) November was an exciting month, when you're forced off the rivers because your waders are freezing solid and you can't take it anymore you know it's going to be a good winter, and it started off that way. However, by the end of December it was starting to get old, freezing rain, horrible driving conditions and already having to drill through a foot of ice, it wasn't shaping up to be as great a winter as we'd hoped. Now we're still ice fishing and running vehicles on the ice in late March, I was just about ready to buy a one way plane ticket to Mexico, but then it finally happened, temperatures climbed above zero and the ice is now on it's way out. Open water means only one thing in March, STEELHEAD! So this morning at 6am I loaded the car and headed east. Today I was fishing a new to me trib, there was a supposedly a lot of open water on it and the water levels looked good as well. I fished a few pools down, in the process foul hooking one fish before it got off and seeing several others, this was getting me very excited for the day. At the next pool I spotted a small ice flow along the shore and found this fish resting under it, she actually let me touch her tail and didn't move, which was strange because it didn't appear to be spawned out and looked fairly silver. This pool was perfect in every way, it had 2 currents meeting, it was long, deep and had a good number of large boulders in it, but I could not see or hook one fish in it, so I packed up and started following the trail downstream. Before I had passed the tailout of the pool I noticed that just before the pool turned to a small rapids it got very deep and had a large boulder right at the end which was just begging a fish to rest in front of it. I figured it was worth a shot and proceeded to make about 10 drifts to this area before hooking this brute, my first open water fish of 2014. Downstream a ways I did get a savage hit from another fish but missed the hookset, next time! Here are a few random photos. This guy was a VERY welcome sight. And a couple rod shots. I hope to add to this report this weekend or next week Edited March 26, 2014 by Christopher k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Locnar Posted March 25, 2014 Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 Dude, kudos on the fish! Being ambitious pays off eh. I've been trying to organize some of my gear, might try to get out this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manitoubass2 Posted March 25, 2014 Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 Saweeet:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misfish Posted March 25, 2014 Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 This guy was a VERY welcome sight. Ok,what is it? Nice outing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davey buoy Posted March 25, 2014 Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 Wtg Chris.Nice early start.Looking forward to further reports!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillM Posted March 25, 2014 Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 This guy was a VERY welcome sight. Ok,what is it? Nice outing. Stonefly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopheraaron Posted March 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 Stonefly. Yup, that's what I got the fish on as well, stonefly nymph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJIG Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 When I try to take pictures of fish under the water, from above the water like this, I always get way too much glare on the water surface in the result. I've been disappointed trying to photograph spawning fish in the past. What's the secret to success in doing this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moxie Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 Nicely done Christopher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillM Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 When I try to take pictures of fish under the water, from above the water like this, I always get way too much glare on the water surface in the result. I've been disappointed trying to photograph spawning fish in the past. What's the secret to success in doing this? Circular polarizer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopheraaron Posted March 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 Circular polarizer. Yes, but this was just my iphone, make sure you're in shade and get close lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 Awesome Chris, well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pairofgreenhorns Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 Great start to all the open water reports that im sure are in our near future. Beauty fish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4x4bassin Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 Way to go CK , Nice bows ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAW Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 Nice Chris! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 Nice fish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve1991 Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Awesome report, sweet fish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joeytier Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Complaining about ice in late March? Welcome to what it's like every year in the rest of the country!! Lol I'll be drilling holes for another month yet so I enjoy the trib posts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Shirley Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Very nice. It is starting! Love the shot of the early season stone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jds63 Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Well done Chris , great to see your report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msp Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Well done. Stone flies can be killer at ice out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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