Float_down
Well-Known Member
This whole last week I have been anxious, half sleeping, dreaming of floats dropping and reels screaming. The desire and anticipation of fresh chrome coursed through me as if it had replaced my blood. After asking for a couple of days off, my boss laughed and said no. Bastard. So I made plans to head east and stay the weekend thinking I was going to be smashing more steel then a black smith.
Friday night was a sleepless one to say the least. I kept waking up and thinking I missed my alarm. Finally 2:30 rolled around, had a couple coffees and left around 3:30. I live in Muskoka and run the distance for chrome.
On the way down, my mind was racing. What if it's still blown out?? What if there's a hundred guys? What if they've all moved up?! I drove my self crazy as... I drove to go crazy! Pulled up to big east trib we all know holds an amazing run of fish, and an amazing crowd of anglers. 12 vehicles at 5:30, got out of my vehicle, looked at the water, and said a word that started with F and ended with UCK. Fast, high and stained.
Okay, id rather fish a smaller trib anyways.
So I called my buddy who lives down there and made a gameplan. Went to the next trib. Said a word that started with S and ended with HIT. Okay, I'm going to fish it anyways. Blown. With less then a foot of vis, i started off with a nickel sized roe bag. Fished until 10:30 close to the mouth with one lossed fish and only two landed by other anglers in the vicinity. Hmmmmm.
Time to get technical.
Up to the faster shallower water we go. First drift, small white roe bag. Fish On, fish off. We ended up hooking and losing 4 in 30 minutes. Now I have something figured out. We worked the river hard til about 1:30. I landed two small shakers, lost 5 bigger fish, one being the fish of a life time, I giant dropback buck easily over 15 pounds. When it jumped it stopped my heart, it looked like a Skeena river steely, brilliant colors, huge tail and huge kype. The image of that fish will never leave my mind.
My buddy wanted to take me to another trib that's overlooked by so many and close to one very popular one. So off we went. My head was hung low, discouraged and exausted. But I lifted my head anyways. The creek, and I do mean creek... Was small, overhanging trees everywhere, undercut banks with root systems that I was sure had as many hooks on them as bass pro shops has in stock. Nightmare for any steelheader. I made a drive through a small Channel that ran through a beaver darn, and said out loud "I'm going to hook a fish in there and probably break it off in the sticks." guess what? Yah it happened. I ended up landing one and losing two.
BY FAR! My most successfully unsuccessful day EVER on the river 3/10. Bad hook sets, bad conditions, lots of lost gear... Ugh.
The next morning, (this morning), redemption was in order. Fished for about three hours went 2/2 thank god! The morale of my story... I've been spoiled rotten. Since chasing steel in November until now, I've only had one skunking back in december, on an average of fishing at least three times a month. One discouraging day will not break me, to me, Saturday was a bad day of fishing, only because I lost 7 big fish. I hate losing fish, especially tanks.
Here's the only pic I got, I left my iPhone in my car and luckily my buddy had his BB. this mornings fish, courtesy of a home tied black bead head bugger.
Friday night was a sleepless one to say the least. I kept waking up and thinking I missed my alarm. Finally 2:30 rolled around, had a couple coffees and left around 3:30. I live in Muskoka and run the distance for chrome.
On the way down, my mind was racing. What if it's still blown out?? What if there's a hundred guys? What if they've all moved up?! I drove my self crazy as... I drove to go crazy! Pulled up to big east trib we all know holds an amazing run of fish, and an amazing crowd of anglers. 12 vehicles at 5:30, got out of my vehicle, looked at the water, and said a word that started with F and ended with UCK. Fast, high and stained.
Okay, id rather fish a smaller trib anyways.
So I called my buddy who lives down there and made a gameplan. Went to the next trib. Said a word that started with S and ended with HIT. Okay, I'm going to fish it anyways. Blown. With less then a foot of vis, i started off with a nickel sized roe bag. Fished until 10:30 close to the mouth with one lossed fish and only two landed by other anglers in the vicinity. Hmmmmm.
Time to get technical.
Up to the faster shallower water we go. First drift, small white roe bag. Fish On, fish off. We ended up hooking and losing 4 in 30 minutes. Now I have something figured out. We worked the river hard til about 1:30. I landed two small shakers, lost 5 bigger fish, one being the fish of a life time, I giant dropback buck easily over 15 pounds. When it jumped it stopped my heart, it looked like a Skeena river steely, brilliant colors, huge tail and huge kype. The image of that fish will never leave my mind.
My buddy wanted to take me to another trib that's overlooked by so many and close to one very popular one. So off we went. My head was hung low, discouraged and exausted. But I lifted my head anyways. The creek, and I do mean creek... Was small, overhanging trees everywhere, undercut banks with root systems that I was sure had as many hooks on them as bass pro shops has in stock. Nightmare for any steelheader. I made a drive through a small Channel that ran through a beaver darn, and said out loud "I'm going to hook a fish in there and probably break it off in the sticks." guess what? Yah it happened. I ended up landing one and losing two.
BY FAR! My most successfully unsuccessful day EVER on the river 3/10. Bad hook sets, bad conditions, lots of lost gear... Ugh.
The next morning, (this morning), redemption was in order. Fished for about three hours went 2/2 thank god! The morale of my story... I've been spoiled rotten. Since chasing steel in November until now, I've only had one skunking back in december, on an average of fishing at least three times a month. One discouraging day will not break me, to me, Saturday was a bad day of fishing, only because I lost 7 big fish. I hate losing fish, especially tanks.
Here's the only pic I got, I left my iPhone in my car and luckily my buddy had his BB. this mornings fish, courtesy of a home tied black bead head bugger.
haha Enjoyed the report, thanks for it.
