solopaddler Posted January 7, 2016 Report Share Posted January 7, 2016 Just before New Years Dave Orr and I were set to drift the Salmon River in NY in pontoons for a couple of days. Well horrible weather and a huge rise in water levels put the kibosh on those plans. With the desire to fish still strong and a free pass from my wife to go, we needed to figure out an alternative quickly. I have a friend with a jet boat in Grand Rapids Michigan. I called Shawn at virtually the last minute and miraculously he had the time off and wanted to fish. Perfect! We headed in the other direction and made the drive to Newaygo in record time. They had their own dose of foul weather over there. Just prior to our arrival they were hit with a pretty big snow and ice storm dropping the water temps into the high 30's fahrenheit. What this did was really shut the fish down, but as I always like to say "if they're there I'll catch them!". We slowed things down and concentrated on the deeper winter holes where the fish were stacked up. Lighter fluorocarbon tippet, smaller beads in the 8mm range and most importantly fresh skein was the ticket. In colder water a glob of fresh skein will release a ton of scent compared to more mature roe and the fish seemed to like it! We didn't set the world on fire but we caught a bunch of nice fish and shared a lot of laughs. I rarely see Dave anymore so it was pretty cool to fish with him again before he headed back to Yellowknife. My buddy Shawn is another friend I rarely see, so from that perspective alone the trip was a success! Here's a bunch of photos and a short video highlighting the action... Cheers, Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joeytier Posted January 7, 2016 Report Share Posted January 7, 2016 Looks like a nice strain of steelhead in that river, no snub nose mutants. Great fish Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solopaddler Posted January 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2016 no snub nose mutants. For sure! The knuckle dragging snub nosed bank mutants seem to like fishing the east tribs. I avoid those people at all costs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRIFTER_016 Posted January 7, 2016 Report Share Posted January 7, 2016 For sure! The knuckle dragging snub nosed bank mutants seem to like fishing the east tribs. I avoid those people at all costs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highdrifter Posted January 7, 2016 Report Share Posted January 7, 2016 Oh man that is just ubersweet!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joeytier Posted January 7, 2016 Report Share Posted January 7, 2016 For sure! The knuckle dragging snub nosed bank mutants seem to like fishing the east tribs. I avoid those people at all costs. Lol! There's a degree of truth to every joke eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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