Spring steelhead

After playing tug'o'war with a couple of big browns on opening day, Chris and I made plans for some early steelhead the next weekend.  The water was about average for the time of the year - high and stained.  Still, we showed up before sunrise and fished in almost complete darkness to start off the day.  We ran big and bright egg patterns to help counter the poor water clarity, which paid off quickly.  High sticking the seam paid off, and I was hooked up in no time.

Fighting a fish with minimal light is an awesome experience.  When fighting a fish in the daylight, an angler has many things he can rely on visually.  Where the fish is running to, where his line and leader are, and what kind of obstacles are in and above the water.  The only thing I could go on was the faint silhouette of my fly rod and the direction of the pull. Come to find out, it was just a big white sucker!

A 25" Master Class white sucker. 

While it wasn't what we were targeting, I was still happy to catch a nice sized fish.  In the high, swollen water, it was quite the fight!  We both hooked into a few hot fish that didn't stay on long enough for us to gauge the size, but they definitely felt like steel.  We switched flies and presentations before I finally landed a small steelie just as it was getting light out.

We knew we were in the right spot at the right time, and it was only a matter of fooling one of the big boys into eating.  Finally, a drag screamer was on the end of my line.  Besides the fact that it flew out of the water, I could tell it was a bigger fish than the first.  It did what I was hoping it wouldn't - ran downstream. I remember hearing the ticking sound of my nail knot connecting my fly line to backing zip through my guides before I decided I'd chase it down.  It hugged the opposide side of the river, and I made the decision to wade towards it while Chris would be my net guy.  It ran from pool to pool...upstream....downstream...I was getting antsy, but this is exactly the kind of excitement we were there for!

Chris scooped the fish up, we high fived and then headed to the bank.  It wasn't the huge 10 pounder that I was hoping for, but a 24" buck had me smiling from ear to ear.

Notice the gil plate - it is a birth defect.  Something I've seen quite a few times. 

I took a few to soak in the good morning of fishing I was having while Chris did his best to hookup, but no dice.  Once the sun was out, the cars and anglers started to pile on the river.  It was crowded before 10 AM, and we decided to head to a river with less pressure.

We got there and was pleasantly surprised to see only one angler - an old timer fishing worms under a bobber.  We chatted, and he'd told us there was not much going on all morning.  We figured we'd give it a try anyway.  Boy, are we glad we did!  We both hooked up in a short time, but couldn't stay connected.  Shortly after, I reeled in a beautiful chromer!

Chris broke off a slab of a steelie later on that left us holding our heads in shame.  Broke 3X fluoro like it was a strand of hair....NOT a happy fish!

We took our time and explored a bunch of water above a waterfall that the fish MAY be able to pass, but we struck out after walking almost a mile of river.  No signs at all, which was surprising to me considering how high the water was just a week prior.

I got a few nice fish to the net while Chris was the long distance C&R type.  Overall a great start to Spring steelie fishing!

Finding the groove

After my last day on the ice, I had a few weeks of downtime to wait for the rivers to open and drop.  It was a good opportunity to replenish my steelhead boxes, along with some big meaty brown streamers for the opening day of trout season.

After monitoring the water levels of a few Champlain tribs, I decided it was worth it to take a quick trip after work to one of them.  The water was high, and off-color.  The temps were nearly below freezing and a light drizzle turned into a whiteout by the time I was back in the car - I loved it.  I knew fish would be out of the main flow and more towards the banks, so I focused on getting a good drift by high-sticking the slower sides of the confluences.  A subtle, "bump" followed by a thrashing fish had proved my point.  He dug down for the first minute before turning and running downstream.  If he went too far down, he was a lost cause because of the high flows.  I put the side pressure on him and pointed his nose to the bank and swooped him up in some shallow water.  A nice heavy-bodied steelie! 

Don't let the water clarity fool you in this picture.  There was only about 7" of visibility.

One other fish later on decided he would gator roll his way off my line.  Still, landing one fish brought me plenty of joy - especially high sticking in high and dirty water.  Having brushed the skunk off, I started to prepare for the trout opener the following weekend.

I decided to chase big browns on opening day and was on the road before light.  While I rarely see anybody fish this particular river, it always pays to be there first regardless of where you go.  I had a box full of big, meaty streamers and a few different sink-tips to go along with them.  The flows were high, and very hard to wade, but the clarity wasn't too bad.  I stuck to fishing some of the, "safer" water and was bummed that I couldn't get to a few honey holes I knew were holding fish.  I managed to cover some water, and it didn't take long for a grab from a hungry, broad shouldered brown.  I had the fish right in front of me, (21-23" fish) and right as I pulled my net off my sling to net him, he rolled a few times and swam away - leaving my streamer on the bank.  Well........OK....

I smiled it off, knowing I was on the right track.  After changing spots via car, I bushwhacked my way into a run and kept at it.  Just a few casts later, I thought I was hung on since I hadn't even started to strip my fly in yet.  Come to find out, my snag was moving away from me!  Wide headshakes and a long run lead to heartache.  He ran me right into a snag in the deep pool.  I could feel my line wrapping around something right before the gut-wrenching feel of a, "weightless" fly line slinging back at me.  Cut me off, that tricky bugger..

I tried hard to get another take for the rest of the day, but couldn't make it happen with what water I could access.  I took a mental note of where these fish were hanging, and already had a game plan for the next time I would visit this river!  It was only a matter of time.

Hard water 2015

While many fly anglers spend the Winter filling up fly boxes and chasing the elusive Winter trout and salmon, I take advantage of the hard water!  Admittedly, I did hit my local river a few times without anything to show for it. 

After getting a new Ice Armor floating suit and a flasher(LX-7) I was eager to test them on the ice.  The first few trips out on the ice like most trips (for me anyway) didn't yield much of a catch.  A few fish here and there, but nothing to brag about. 

My good friend Drew decided it was time to target fish through the ice the year prior and we targeted early walleye to try to get his Master Class entry.  While we didn't find one 25" or bigger, I did jig up a 20"er that I decided to take home for the dinner table!

 

A small pike, some jumbo yellows and one walleye later and we decided to call it a night.  He decided a Master Class walleye will be a Spring thing, and we called it quits for eyes through the ice.

While he was searching for the very rare whitefish out on the Lake, he ran into one of my favorite species to target through the ice - white perch!  I was home on a brutally cold Saturday when he shot me a text of a white perch and said he's marking a bunch of them.  I loaded the car and met him on the ice less than 45 minutes later.  They were suspended in DEEP water and my LX-7 came in handy.  For white perch, the fishing was slow, but I managed almost a full bucket of nice sized fish.

 

The perch were on the move, but my friends and I stuck with them for almost a month.  It wasn't a steady bite like late 2014, but some of the fish were BIG!  They were also super fun reeling up in 40-60' of water.

A hog that was over 14"

We were raking in 1-2 buckets of whites per day when we could get out(the temps were dangerously low on some days along with 20+ MPH winds)  Eventually the bite tapered off, and it was time to covering water elsewhere in search of some big yellows and/or whites. 

I took my brother Nate out for a day on the weekend in search of jumbo whites and yellows in some water that produced early last year.  We seemed to have covered almost 2 miles of water before eventually finding fish.  Most of the fish were decent sized yellows with some whites mixed in. Nate was hooting and hollering after pulling up a hog of a yellow that was just over 13"

We didn't quite fill our buckets, but the action was steady and it was a blast!  We ended up leaving that spot with a few hours of daylight left to try to find bigger schools, but we struck out.  Overall, an awesome day out with my brother.

 The next day I decided would be a good day to check out my local river for some steelhead action.  Little did I know, the ice was covering much more water than I thought.

Still, I fished what water I could and enjoyed being on my favorite river.

I got a text from Drew saying he'd been whacking lakers through the ice for a week straight and I immediately wanted in.  Catching lakers through the ice is something I've always wanted to do but never put any effort into learning for some reason.   We headed out that following weekend and he showed me where he'd been getting them, how and on what.  Having a flasher made things 100 times easier, and I was addicted after reeling up the first laker.

It was such a blast reeling up the fish on 4 lb line and a light rod.  Watching it flail around 15' below the clear, black ice was unforgettable!  Drew and I both got into more fish, but the first one was the biggest of the day.

Over the next few weekends, I got the OK from Drew to take my girlfriend and a few others out for lakers to enjoy the fun.

Katlyn and I took a day off of work and were joined by Chris for some laker action.  We walked out to the area we'd been getting them and after showing Katlyn what to do, I started to drill a bunch of holes in the area.  After finishing the second hole, I could hear Katlyn yelling - holding the rod high in the air and reeling.  She was already hooked up! After a lengthy fight, I pulled the laker out through the ice and we all celebrated.  I was so happy for her!

A 28" laker that she decided was going on the dinner plate, hence the blood

The action continued throughout the day, being mostly sporadic.  We were marking a bunch of fish, but only a few would eventually hit.  Chris had his limit by the end of the day, and all of them were over 25"  Katlyn and I had to leave early and I'd only landed a few smaller ones before then.  Still, even the 20" lakers put up a great fight in deep water.  We all had a blast, and I had given Chris the laker bug. 

The following week I took a day off of work again was joined by Chris and Nate.  It was a beautiful day, and the action was HOT!  Nate started the day off right by landing his first laker through the ice, ever!

The action stayed hot throughout the day, and we all ended up using the same lure and presentation for the rest of the day (even for the rest of the year!)

Chris had landed the biggest fish, which were around 30".  We even had some fish that were whacking our jigs right below the ice in 70' of water....we couldn't believe it!  We ended up icing 9 out of about 18 lakers we hooked into while jigging.  I set up half a dozen tipups very close to where we were jigging and didn't get a single flag all day - go figure!

Chris wanted his friend Erik to get a laker through the ice, and since I didn't want to keep blowing up a spot that wasn't mine to begin with, I did some research and looked at navionics on Champlain for a while.  Eventually, I had a spot picked out that looked like it would be a great place for lakers to hang.  The only problem was that access to the ice was very difficult and required a LONG walk......We all met up and dragged our sleds almost 2 miles on the ice to the spot.  After pinpointing where I wanted to be on my Navionics, I drilled a few holes.  After finishing the 5th hole I dropped my jig down the first and all of a sudden had 3 fish show up on my screen, wow!  I started jigging and got hit immediately but missed the hookset.  Two of the fish took off but the one left wasn't going to leave my jig alone.  He chased it up and down for about 10 seconds before whacking it.  We'd been there less than 3 minutes and I was already reeling up a fish, we were mind blown!

A smaller laker, but a very good sign!

 After landing that fish, we were all giddy.  We cut holes zealously and couldn't wait to start jigging.  It didn't take long for us to ice about 7 fish in a few hours with many follows and many others getting off the hook.  The action was the best we'd seen so far all year, but it seemed to have died off by Noon.  We struggled to stay on the fish, and were forced to spread out to hook up.  The fish definitely moved out somewhere, we just didn't know where.  We all walked off the ice with smiles on our faces that day.  We'd hooked into about 15 lakers and iced 7 or 8.  It was a great feeling after picking the spot myself and then doing a 2-mile walk without knowing what was in store for us.  We all took a chance and it paid off big time!

Chris and Erik went back the next day in some crazy wind, but managed to catch some nice lakers, one being over 30" in just a few hours.  They were blown off the lake quickly, but they still had fun.

I decided I would take a drive on the ice to a honey hole for late season yellows.  My buddy Wes and I had fished it a few weeks prior and almost filled out buckets with some nice yellows and a few whites.  They all group up during pre-spawn in deeper water in the bays that time of the year.  The wind was brutal and the cold was just as bad.  Even with my full suit on with handwarmers, I fished out of the side of my car with the heat on almost the entire time - limiting my ability to cover much water.  Still, I found some nice yellows.

Some of the bigger yellows.  13.5", 13.25" and a 13" were the biggest.  Plenty of 12"ers!

I topped off my bucket with jumbos and decided to call it a day.  I was freezing and the wind was relentless.  Never thought I'd be, "glad" to leave a hot hole of yellows.....but the weather was just THAT bad. 

I'd planned on returning to the yellows the following weekend, but I got a text from Wes saying the white perch had moved into the same spot they were in last year.  He took the day off from work and pounded them for an entire day.  A few pictures later, and we were making plans to hit it together for the weekend.  The fish were in 12-18' of water and were constantly on the move with big schools sometimes staying under us for hours.  We sat in his shanty with the heat blaring - living the good life.  The action only slowed a few times throughout the day, and we were filling bucket after bucket...

Chris and his friends joined us later in the day and decided to take a walk over to the even shallower water to see if they were in there as well.  Wes had to call it a day a few hours before sunset, so I decided to haul everything over to see what they were up to.  Erik and his girlfriend Kelly were just leaving.  Chris and his friends were hammering the whites pretty steadily - and they were BIG!  I decided I couldn't pass up the hot action and started fishing with them.  The fish were not only bigger than where I'd come from, but way more aggressive.  I'd filled two buckets up in less than an hour.  I even had to borrow an extra bucket from Chris by the end of the day!  I was packed full....I had no more room for fish!  I walked off the ice, dragging over 150 lbs of fish with a big smile on my face.

Chris and I went back the following weekend after meeting up with someone who'd driven over 7 hours to get into these huge schools of whites we'd been hitting.  The bite was slower and the fish had moved quite a ways but we did end up finding them.  At the end of the day, I had about 4 buckets worth.

The sun was doing quite a number on the ice, and the shores were starting to flood with water.  6" holes were turning into 10" by the end of the day, and my time on the ice was almost over.  Wes took a weekday off a few days later and got his biggest haul ever - over 270 lbs by himself!  I couldn't believe it and took the day off to hit it the next day as my final day on the ice.  I took as many buckets as I possibly could - along with my old Jet Sled Jr in case things got sketchy getting off the ice. 

The action was the hottest I'd ever seen.  I only changed holes half a dozen times until I left.  I had to leave by 2 PM because I was COMPLETELY full!  Every bucket I had was packed full, even the Jet Sled Jr was full of fish.  I was in disbelief.  Definitely the most fish I've ever caught through the ice in one day.  I ended up losing count of fish that were over 12".  They were in 9-11' of water, throughout the entire water column.  At one point I was sight-fishing them 1' under the ice, picking only the biggest.  I didn't even have a need for the flasher because the fish were in so thick. 

I'd filled another bucket after taking this before before being completely packed full. 

Couldn't have had a better last day on the ice....it was truly amazing and I loved every second of it.  I'd caught over 250 lbs of fish from 7:30 AM to 2 PM!  While I could have gone out a few more times, I decided not to take a chance and packed away all of my ice gear and prepared my river gear.  2015 will be one of my favorite years on the ice for so many reasons!

Pre-ice steelhead

With ice on Chamlain quickly approaching, it was about time I started to unpack all of my ice fishing gear.  Some fly anglers take a break from fishing during the Winter and tie flies, but I take to the ice when the rivers are locked up.

I had just told my buddy Jerry about the two explosive weekends I'd had fishing for salmon, and he wanted in.  I only had one day to fish that weekend, so we hit the spot early.  We were greeted with 30-40 mph winds, and muddy water.  The water was blown out from rain, and even I could barely throw a line in the wind.  I was bummed, but we had other options.  Jerry wanted to catch a salmon on a fly, and I had just the spot.  While it's a popular spot that gets heavy fishing pressure, I knew Jerry would have a shot if we had the spot to ourselves.  We got there to find a few anglers wading in the water - usually where the salmon are holding.  We were bummed, but didn't have many other options because of a time restriction.  I geared him up and we walked down to the water.  I showed him the basics of where the salmon hold, which direction, etc.  He stood and practiced casting while I waded out deep in the water and threw some long casts with a streamer on, not expecting much since there was another guy 30 yards from me doing the same.  Surprisingly, my line stopped dead and I set the hook...a fish?  Head shakes confirmed!  A beat-up old male that deserved an underwater release, he'd been through enough.  After that fish, the other anglers that were there packed up and left.  I got out of the water and had Jerry do the same for a little while.  I knew the fish would go back to their original holding spots once the water was left undisturbed.  After 10 minutes, I lead Jerry to the edge of the water and pointed out which seam to fish.  It took a few casts, but he got the flies where they needed to be.  We were both surprised when the 4th or 5th cast had a salmon on the end of his line!  I was standing there and watching him cast - the fish grabbed the fly almost immediately after it hit the water!  Not a big salmon, but fun on a flyrod for a beginner!

After this fish, our time limit was up....and that weekends fishing had come to a close.  It wasn't the action or destination we expected, but he avoided the skunk!


With cold weather in the forecast, I put my time in on the Winooski the weekend after for steelhead after the salmon fishing had dwindled.  Rarely have I seen much of a Winter steelhead crowd on the Winooski, which makes picking and choosing spots a breeze.  This year was no exception.

Needless to say, I had the whole area to myself on the first morning.  It was already cold, and snow was on the ground.  The rivers edges were already lined with ice and it wasn't even December yet! As I walked up to my usual run, there was some slower, shallower water I usually overlook.  I figured since I had most of the day, why not take my time?

It was an easy high-stick and my hunch paid off immediately.  I'd hooked up on the second drift into chrome!

Second and third drift after that fish...no luck

Fourth drift, whammo!

Fifth, sixth, seventh...nada

Eight drift, whammo! Followed by tail dancing before throwing the hook...damn!

Talk about hot action!  I fished for the rest of the afternoon before hooking into and landing the final fish of the day.

This fish had been through a lot already

I walked back to my place with a smile on my face, that's for sure!

The following day, after checking flows on other tribs, I chose to make the drive to a smaller, less-known steelhead river.  It was that day that was full of frustration. The water was fairly cloudy, but not too bad to go home.  The water level however, was perfect!  I knew a few holding spots in this river and focused on them.  I don't know how, but for the 6 or so hours I fished the river, I'd managed to hook into 6 steelhead and lose every single one of them.  It got to the point where I was checking my hook points before every drift!  What sucks even more is that at least 2 of the 6 were well above 22"  I never did run into another angler though, which was pretty relaxing in itself.

The next weekend it was back to my home water.  The ice was getting worse, and the slack water was freezing already.  I had the same game plan as before - but this time the water was a bit higher.  I started off plucking out 2 steelies right off.  Great start!

A tagged fish that I forgot to write down.

The hot-headed fly was a huge producer for me

After a few hours, it was time to switch it up.  I walked around to the other side of the river and began fishing a huge whirlpool-like pool.  Drifts were tough, and streamers were even tougher.  All of the conflicting currents made it difficult to tell exactly where my flies were.  I ended up finding a, "sweet spot" by drifting with an indicator in 7-9 FOW.  If I kept enough line off the water, the drift was endlessly circling the big pool.  I remember thinking to myself, "this is friggin cool!" before watching my indicator go under.  I set the hook, lost about 20 yards of line from a hot fish and then slack - it was off.

Good news though!  It meant that there were indeed fish in this big pool.  I continued to fish the same way, almost zoning out while doing the, "endless drift".  It took about 15 minutes before another take, this time the fish wasn't as lucky. 

 

A great way to end the day!  The next day I was back at it, this time hopping from spot to spot which eventually paid off!

A 

Bank fishing with jeans on in December for steel!

The following week was frigid, and the smaller Champlain tribs were just getting over being blown out.  I drove to another trib the following weekend to find very difficult conditions.  The water was stained, a little high, and the loose ice chunks made it nearly impossible to drift anywhere.  Still, I'd made the drive and I figured why not give it a shot?  I started with the well-known spots first without even a bump.  It wasn't until I moved downstream to a "rock" I like to fish that I finally hooked up!  It took me by surprise, and it was actually very tight to the bank when the fish hit.  It was one of those, "might as well try here" kind of drifts.

Good way to test a new reel!

The next day I decided to make a last trip for salmon of the year, and somehow found a salmon that was still aggressive!

That turned out to be the last productive trip of 2014 for me!  I'm already itching to get back on the rivers soon!  Looks like the hard water fishing will hold me over until then though. 

Back at it

After catching so many fish in NY, you think most people would take a break from fishing....well not me. 

I was back at it the next weekend after arriving home in November.  The salmon were all duking it out for spawning rights, the steelies were putting feed bags on for the Winter and the hunting season put less pressure on the rivers.

Since I don't hunt, I took full advantage of the lack of pressure on the rivers.  I don't know why, but I felt the urge to get a fish to hit a swung streamer.  I had a ton of extra flies from weeks of tying in preparation for NY.  I had a dozen big, heavily weighted orange slump busters that looked very fishy.

The water was still pretty low, but I knew there were steelies roaming around - a friend of mine had landed a few and lost a large one a few days prior.  I don't think I was more than 5 minutes into swinging this big, ugly slumpbuster before it got whacked by a feisty steelie.  One of my favorite takes is from swinging, whether it be mid-swing, or at the end of it.  

While it wasn't a big fish, it put up a great fight, and it fulfilled my need for a fish on the swing!

Went in for the kill but ended up with a mouth full of metal!

Not long after landing this fish, I was in the mood for hitting some different water.  I know they say don't leave fish to find fish, but I just had a feeling.  The spot I ended up I've known about since I started spin-fishing, but have only fished a few times.  Just hard to fish new spots when I was so close to such good water!

I had no clue what was about to unfold - it was pure mayhem.  There was nobody there, which is about normal for this spot.  It's known by many, but it doesn't get much pressure because it's relatively close to another spot on Champlain where the salmon stack up in front of a hatchery brook.  Anyone that knows anything about salmon fishing will know where I am talking about of course.  This is another spot I've known about for a while but really have no urge to fish it for more than one reason.  I geared up and walked down to the water to find it was very low and clear.  The fishing was phenomenal to say the least.  I was able to sight fish many salmon, a few of which were close to or over 7 lbs.  The first fish came in minutes.  It chased down and inhaled a white slumpbuster - the same fly as the steelie grabbed earlier in the morning but a different color.

Off to a great start!

In the next few hours, I'd landed another 10, yes TEN salmon and losing another 3.  I couldn't believe what was going on.  These fish were going nuts for a simple black bugger with a generic orange bead-headed nymph.  The current made for perfect high-sticks through the slot I was fishing. I was lucky enough to watch fish react to my flies, and even witness them grab my flies.  For some reason, they were all over the two flies I had on.  I don't even think I changed them all day!

A few hours into the fishing, I had to call my buddy Chris and let him in on the action.  He was eager to catch salmon, which he hadn't had a ton of luck doing so far in the year.  It was a tough year for a lot of people.  I kept catching fish while he came to meet me, but as he got there, I set him up and showed him how to drift the flies through to get the fish to take.  Funny thing is, why I was giving him a quick demo with his own rod, I had a fish take and handed him the rod to land it.  We both got a kick out of that.  For the rest of the day, we both continued fishing, and Chris had hooked into and landed a few fish which I was very happy to see. 

I had no idea I'd be landing so many salmon in one day....it was just insane!

After the hot action on Saturday, I went back on Sunday morning and got into even more fish!  One thing that I was noticing was that these fish did NOT want to be handled at all.  I had half a dozen fish that slipped away before I could snap a quick picture, and even some of the ones I got pictures of turned out pretty bad.  No worries, I've got the memories of the ones that got away!

A big, 26" hen!

Hands down the most salmon I'd ever landed in one weekend in VT!

Western NY

After the close of trout season, the salmon fishing had slowed, but not by much.  November is usually a month when salmon search out gravel bars, suitable for spawning.  But this also means the males and even females are very very aggressive towards almost anything, even a tiny nymph!

Since the days are shorter in the Fall, I wasn't able to get out after work anymore, so my fishing was limited to weekends.  Kenny and I had made plans to go to NY for the middle of November, just for a weekend.  I fished for salmon for a total of 3 days before Kenny and I took off to NY to chase some truly monstrous browns, and then steelhead. 

The fish were much harder to find than usual, but I found a few that were willing to play, including one of the biggest for the year, and probably the fattest salmon for its length I've ever landed. 

It was around 27", a very respectable fish for Champlain, but the girth on it was ridiculous as you can see. 

Over the few days I fished, I'd seemed to have lost more fish than landed, but was happy with the outcome!

A perfect example of a salmon in disguise.  It looks very similar to a brown trout!

After getting into more salmon, I was ready to rumble for NY!  I met Kenny at his house in NH after work on a Friday, and we spent the night driving over 8 hours to NY.  When we got there, we met up with his friend, "Steelhead Steve" and a friend of his.  Steve was an awesome guy, and very easy to get along with.  He lived just as far away from the rivers out there as we did, but probably spent more time on them than most!  He really knew his stuff, and I'm very grateful he could share his valuable information with us.  Huge browns and steelhead are not uncommon for Great Lakes tributaries, and that's what we were after!

Kenny and I had an incredible experience, and while the weather wasn't very cooperative for mid-November (it was below freezing for two of the mornings) we landed a TON of fish!  We started at sunrise, and I immediately hooked up into a huge resident rainbow on a small tributary of Ontario. On the first day, we fished this particular river pretty hard, walking upstream quite a ways.  We found fish at almost every pool and slot.  The best thing?  Compared to the Salmon River in Pulaski, this river was getting barely any pressure.  Sure, there were guys out there fishing, but we ended up stopping at a stretch of river where we barely even saw anyone.  We caught fish after fish, and it was just amazing.  I don't know how many times Steve caught a fish in water that I would walk by! 

The second day, we hopped around all of the place, trying to find BIG steelhead.  We probably visited over a dozen rivers, fishing almost all of them.  It seemed like the big Fall run of steelies hadn't quite come in yet, and we struck out.  Kenny did hook into a big steelie on an Erie trib, but it quickly popped off.  We were on the move constantly, trying to find which river had the most fish.  Towards the end of the day, however....it was clear that the steelhead fishing was very slow, and we actually headed back to the Ontario trib where we'd caught all of the browns, resident bows and steelhead on the first day.  While we didn't find any 12+ lbers that we were looking for, the numbers easily made up for that!  I have no clue how many fish all of us landed, probably well over 50!  We fished until sunset, changed clothes and grabbed a bite to eat before making the 8 hour journey back home. 

One thing is for sure, Kenny and I are definitely planning for a Spring trip out there, along with a week-long Fall trip next year.  The fishing was amazing, and I can't wait to feel the pull of a 20 lb steelie. 

Fish on within the first 5 minutes!  A fat resident rainbow!