Sunday, September 26, 2010

Big Trib

We headed North this weekend to the big Lake Erie trib in the hopes of getting into some big Steel. It turned out to be a pretty good day in the end. We got there early, and there were only 2 other cars parked there. We saw one group of guys walking upstream, and another couple fishing upstream, a good bit away from where we start. At this point, we were hoping there were fish while we practically had the place to ourselves. So, we got down to the creek to see that it was low, yet perfect green color. The excitement was building for me the whole walk to my first stop. I drifted a few areas, heading downstream gradually, with no luck at all. So, I decided to walk another quarter mile or so, to a spot I've fished only once or twice. When I arrived at this spot, it looked beatiful. There was a tree limb hanging in the water, and right below it was a prime drift. Within the first 15-20 minutes, I hooked 3 fish and landed only one. There were fish rising and jumping everywhere! It was a spectacular show! I radioed my buddy and told him he better come down and it was on from there. I hooked fish for the next couple of hours, managing to bring 2 more to hand. One of them was a bonus Brownie that was fresher than fresh. The other was a nice big Steelhead. Every fish fought like crazy, which made it even better.
After a few hours at this spot, we moved to another spot a couple of miles downstream for the last half of the day. It was extremely slow. In the time we were there we only saw 3 fish hooked and 1 landed I believe. It was nice though, because one of those was a 10lber that I landed. This was a nice colored fish. Its cheeks were an awesome bright pink. We saw a couple bald eagles during the day too. My buddy even saw one swoop down and grab a small jack out of the water for an afternoon snack. Unbelieveable! We fished until a couple hours before dark and called it a day. A good day in my book. Here's some pics for you to check out...








Monday, September 20, 2010

Early Steel

Yesterday a buddy and I ventured North in hopes of finding a few early Steel that made the upstream journey. I figured there would be some fish, but not any big numbers. We checked out a few places without finding any fish. At about noon, we came to another stream that was pretty full of fish, considering the water level and clarity (low and clear). We fished there for a few hours, and right before the end I hook and land a nice fish. It was my first Steelhead of this season too.I estimate it was over 30in and around 12lbs, fresh as ever, with his bright chrome colors. He jumped and cleared the water at least 10-15 times before I landed him. It was an awesome fight. I then got a picture and released him to fight another day.
After this, we made our way to another stream near us, and found some more fish. They were not anywhere but 2 holes pretty high upstream. As I found out after a nice scouting walk. So, I went back up to the 2 pods and fished them with my buddy for a while. We ended up pulling a few each out of this creek and made our way home. All in all it made for a great day. My buddy and I got into our first Steel of the year, and we had a fun day doing it as well. Good luck to all and please practice some good fishing etiquette this year.
Here's some pics for ya...





Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Soft Hackles

A Hare's Ear, Pheasant Tail, and Copper John with soft hackle that I whipped up for this upcoming Steelhead season.