Saturday, May 4, 2013

A quick look back

I've seemed to have decent luck these past few years fish wise.  I haven't gotten out as much as I'd want to lately - but work is a pain like that and I've usually only been seeing water once per weekend.
Last Fall was almost all on the Winooski, with a few trips over to some other LC tribs.  The Fall fishing for landlocks was great!  I found quite a few fish in some shallow water that were willing to play, even a laker(who almost beached himself chasing a streamer seconds after he saw it....crazy!) and some steelies mixed in!  I caught salmon in the river all the way until mid December!









My usual spot, the Salmon Hole, wasn't very kind to me (although I didn't fish it that much in the Fall and Winter as usual) My first 6 landlocks were all long-distance releases...even one pig I'd say was easily over 8 lbs.  When I finally did bring one to the net, it was a nice 26.25" hen that I ended up getting footage of!



Throughout the Fall, I didn't land as many steelhead as I thought I would, but I did end up getting a few as you can see in these videos.



I only managed to get one "big" steelhead at the Hole last Fall but it was a real fat healthy fish...I wish I could have gotten more time on the water like I did in 2011 but things just seemed overall slow at the Hole compared to the year prior.

As things started to get colder, and anchor/shelf ice started to form all over, I did what I could to bring a few more steelhead to my net but it just didn't happen.  I had many fishless days, walking to the car in below freezing temps barely able to feel my feet, nose or hands.  Fishing in blizzards, downpours....leaving home without even a memory of fighting a fish or even getting a take either swinging or nymphing.  But when I finally did hook up, even for only a few seconds....it was all worth it!!

I ended up visiting some other Lake Champlain tribs in search of steel as the Salmon Hole closed and the ice started to melt.  It seemed like every trip I was able to bring fish to the net!










Every person I went with usually got into fish as well(I love taking/going with people and helping them get on fish!), so it was a good transition for me into Spring of 2013. 

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