12 replies to this topic

[NOTTA STEELER]

Our story begins at 12:30 p.m. Saturday ,April the 14th.

Get to the river around 1 p.m. ( the afternoon shift ) , first drift with a 6 inch long dew worm and the float vanishes ... set the hook and we have lift off . A three pound steelie rips the surface and clears the water by 4 feet easily . Quick pic and release . Three more drifts = three more takes and lost 'em .
Fish are in the faster moving water , fish the deep holes and no one is home . Ray hits two more shakers and I connect with a White sucker.
On to another location where the river has rapids and faster pools ... fish the rapids , the eddies and come to a medium depth hole and that's where they all were .
Missed so many hits with the worm , then Ray connects with a beauty small male with a nice spot pattern and colour . He hits another drop back , this time a hen . Sunday , April the 15th. Cloudy and mild .Began fishing at 7:30 a.m. , started the day at a long hole on a bend in the river . After an hour of drifting we started hitting some fish , Ray caught a nice hen drop back which almost looked like a fresh fish .
We were amazed by the amount of small steelhead hitting , 6 inches to 14 inches in length . If you dropped your float at your feet it would start bobbing .
Moved down river to a large deep hole , figuring we would find some larger drop backs holding there . Using our preffered bait , the dew worm we started our drifts , down goes the float and I've got myself a 6 lb. silver redhorse sucker , beautiful yellow eyes and fought with power .
The river has dropped to low levels for the Notty and fish are more concentrated in the deeper sections of the runs, very clear conditions and water temps still very cold .

Here's the Naughty ... Naughty part of my weekend . This day at this very same location , I had an unbelieveable take down ...set the hook and I swear I had the bottom .
Then the bottom started moving ever sooooooo slowly up river , my rod in a complete big C , first thought " sturgeon " ... then with alot of effort I managed to raise it a little .
Since the water was so darn clear , as I raised this fish that was in total control of me , my buddy James and I had total shock on our faces when we realized what indeed it was ...
Ray , who could not see on the angle he was on , looks at us and says " what is it " ??? Well , it wasn"t a sucker , it wasn"t a carp , it wasn"t a sturgeon ...
It was a 14 inch steelhead that nailed my dew worm ... then the Naughty fish nailed my steelhead ... as I sit here I swear the Naughty fish was a 40 inch Musky and at least 15 pounds .
He had my steelie broad side in his mouth and just as the video cameras came out , he spit it out and vanished . My poor steelhead was pretty mangled but alive .. Naughty Musky !!!
So , I drop it back in to see if it would return .. two seconds and the water errupts .. not the Naughty Musky this time . This time it was a larger and scarier looking Northern , it had to be ten inches deep , it made me jump back a couple of feet on the bank. It took a shot at the trout jumped out of the water and vanished along with the other Naughty monster , Mr. Musky .

[salmotrutta]

All I can show you is my badly ripped steelhead ...

Wow, no kidding eh. Those are serious teeth marks!

[frozenfire]

Amazing report.

I had no idea that muskies ventured into the Notty. I've seen pike further down though.

Incredible!

[Swing4Steel]

how far up was this? seems weird in that smaller water. cool still

[Float down]

Poor little bugger!!! I had a similar experience in parrysound, a big musky grabbed a two pound bow, and would not drop it!!!

[NADO]

Top quality report! And I was going to say that even before the Musky/Pike story. I was at the Geen on the weekend and a guy fishing beside me hit into a musky on roe! Broke him off right at shore. I guess the large predatory fish look forward to these runs as much as we do...

[Knuguy]

Note to self: Never go skinny dipping on that river!

[Spinninreel]

What a Notty story. With those fish biting, it means the water is getting warmer. Good stuff.

[Graham Bristow]

I noticed those 6 to 12" little steelhead every year start showing up around this time. that's good to see. I think they're either filtering out of the tribs to head to the lake or being pushed out for their own safety to get away from the hungry drop backs. And they always seem to be more in the faster water.,..

Yep, the Notty has Pike, Bass Musky, and even walleye in it, not to mention huge sturgeon.. I've seen 3 and 4 lb steelhead raked from big pike or musky, fresh wounds to so I'm pretty sure it's happening in the river.. I have a buddy that throws spinners a lot in early fall and he see's and catches the odd musky and pike. I've caught pike all the way up to Nicolston dam.

Did the musky that ate your little trout look like this....Maybe when I'm out guiding for musky I should start using lures that look like steelhead....lol

[GoodenTight]

thats crazy that kind of stuff happens in rivers the trout run

[MichaelAngelo]

Did the musky that ate your little trout look like this....Maybe when I'm out guiding for musky I should start using lures that look like steelhead....lol

Now THAT'S a lake monster.... *shivers*

[Brian]

Great post Notta; looks like you had a blast...

[tallow]

Great Report Notty...just wondering what sections of the Notty are open year round...thought most of river was not open til end of month.