Wednesday, October 19, 2011

October Trib Trip

We embarked on our yearly journey North on Sunday Oct 9th in search of lake run Trout and Salmon. It was a little early for Trout action in my opinion, and boy was I wrong!
We started our trip on the biggest Lake Erie tributary in NY. We fished there 3 days, all of which were beautiful weather, and some productive fishing. We met some nice folks from Canada and shared a few beverages a couple of the days. It was an awesome time with unbelieveable sights. We stayed those nights in a friend's camper along the Lake Erie shoreline. There were beautiful sunsets every night which was more than we could have asked for.
Then, we made our way up further to the Lake Ontario Tributarties. There was a good bit of King Salmon (Chinook), but I really like to fish for the browns. Just so happened that there was a great early run of mostly male Brown Trout. I was totally pumped! We fished 2 streams while up there, 1 of which was too loaded with grass for us so we didn't fish it long. Good thing the stream we fished the most had more Trout than Salmon present for the first 4 days. We all caught a bunch of fish. We also met some great folks and had a lot of laughs as well. It was a great time had by all. Awesome friends, food, drink, stories, fish and fun to be remembered for the rest of our lives. Enjoy the pictures!


















The view from our cottage.



















Someone wanted to fish so bad that they drove their rig, and parked it right in the fisherman's parking lot!







Monday, October 3, 2011

Steel

Went on my first Steelhead outing of the season on Friday, and the second on Sunday. Friday, we came up to find very low and clear conditions. There were fish present, but there wasn't enough moving water to even find any type of drift. Still though, my buddy and I were persistent enough to find a few willing participants to take a well presented fly. All in all, we only ended up bringing one fish to hand a piece. Regardless, a September Steelhead is always a good thing. The best part about these early fish are that the water is still warm as compared to the Winter months. This gives them more energy for battle, and it is a battle for sure. Some of these fish are clearing 3 and 4+ feet of water when they jump, and they are as fast and strong as a speeding train when they're ripping drag from your line (love that sound!)
So, after some much needed rain up North on Friday night and Saturday, another buddy and I decided to try our luck on Sunday. It would be my buddy's first Steelhead adventure as he just recently started fly-fishing. The water conditions were way better, good flows, and nice green tint. So we started on a middle section of a creek I fish a lot, and found fish immediately. There were fish on near us right off the bat, and I lost 2 within the first 20 minutes. We walked around and found fish in just about every piece of holding water. I hooked a few and landed a couple before we moved on. We then went to a smaller stream closeby that I know very well, to try and put him on some willing fish. We got to the first run, and I could see at least 20 fish in it. So, we started drifting, and I got one to hand and released her quickly after a picture. My buddy hooked a fish here, and played it until it got pretty close and snapped his line with one quick burst. I told him at least he was able to experience the speed and power of this great fish. I ended up hooking a bunch of fish following this, and landed one here and there.
After this, we checked out 2 other spots. One of which we fished for 5 minutes and left due to the wind and rain.
We then went to try one last spot. The parking area wasn't empty, but it wasn't full either, so I was optimistic. We walked uptstream and I found a nice run after about a quarter mile walk. I threw my first drift and hooked a crazy fish. She wasn't huge, but was fresh and tough as ever. She made about 4 jumps, tailwalking along the surface of the water. I finally landed her, took a pic, and released her. I then let my buddy alone to try this run which I was pretty sure held a good bit more fish. I proceeded to walk at least a mile upstream, to find barely any fish holding. I fished a few spots, and then the rain and wind really started to get bad. I walked back and found my buddy, and we got the hell outta dodge. I told him the weather we had was a pretty normal thing to expect when Steelhead fishing and that he'd better get used to it haha! Enjoy the smudged pictures! It rained on us all day pretty much and I couldn't keep my glasses, or the camera lens clean.