Sunday, December 9, 2012

Rumor has it ................



I have not been out in a while but rumor had it with the recent rain the water was up and some fish were in. I went to my my first spot of the day 15 minutes later than normal which provided the competition(5 other vehicles) a head start. My second choice for the day displayed that the flow data always doesn't match the real time conditions. Instead of finding the water up and green; I found it low and mostly clear except for a few spots. I was shut out from success and called quits a little earlier than normal. Tim Horton's was my best catch of the day. I took my large black with one sugar and went back to my cave.

Until next time..........

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

I have been slow to post.....



Well Hurricane Sandy  brought havoc to the Northeast and her remaining effects brought high winds and rain to my part of the world.The result was after along wait the small to medium tribs rose to fishable levels and were productive for about two days then returned to their low and clear levels from earlier in the season.

When the big creek came down the fish were spread through out it's 34 miles of water. I lucked into a few good days with some numbers when I found them. The last two days we have had high winds and rain last night should have brought up the creeks again.

We shall see............

Monday, October 15, 2012

A little bump.....


In all honesty I didn't think I would be fishing today. The weatherman called for winds in the high twenties with gusts to fifty miles per hour. I knew Bill and Frank were coming down but the thought of watching my float move upstream in epic winds wasn't my think. I though for sure my vacation day would be spent lounging around.

But as things played out I received a text from Bill that he had made in to the creek and I decided to brave the conditions. The winds were bad early then periodically blew up on us but as long as you found good flow you were in business.

The rain over night and the high winds crashing the shore line bumped up the flow and colored the water enough to bring in new some new fish. We had all had some success and a wasted day turned out to have been the best of the fall.

Bill good luck in B.C. this week.

Until later..........






Sunday, October 14, 2012

Slow and slower..........






I got out this weekend a couple of times. Saturday was a solo trip with no results just nice fall scenery. Today Tom and I a put in a few hours with one fish to our credit. We hope that the projected rainfall overnight would kick things into gear but the rain was less than forecasted.The lone fish was caught in deep slow water on a stonefly imitation.

Just not much going on recently.

Until later............

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Not Quite There...............

 Hit the water before daybreak yesterday morning. The turbidity of the water wasn't quite where you want it but it was on its way down. The crisp 37 degree air temps this morning put a slight hovering mist over the water as the sun moved upward over the horizon. Today was the first morning that my old fingers felt the sting of the cold as they palmed the cold black metal of the reel.

There wasn't much competition on the stream early and it felt good to be in ones element without  hoards of others storming the water. I managed a coupled of decent fish but that was it. As I fought  one fish a father and his teenage son walked by and observed me bringing in the catch. He commented that it was a nice fish and went on his way. Ahhh finally at peace again. Ummm maybe not so much, as my head turned to my left his teenage son/ twenty something with fly rod in hand low holed me and took up residence in my tail out where I just caught the fish. I could have got angry, I could have used it as a teaching moment but that is his father's job. I decided just to take a deep breath and move on there was light pressure today and 50 other places I could fish on the flow.

Until later.............







Monday, October 8, 2012

A little bump..........


The rain Friday into Saturday bumped the creek up a little bit early in the day.  I caught a couple of fish  and by the evening into Sunday the creek had come up and turned brown. Sunday I lasted 45 minutes on the big creek fishing the brown water then poked around a few other places on the way home.

We shall she what the bump bring for this week.
 

Monday, October 1, 2012

Tough Sledding..........


Flows continue to decease from where they were a week or so ago. It's a guessing game right now. Whole sections of stream can be  a barren waste land  and then you can turn the corner to one small pool and then your in business. As for me , I am  wearing the skunk today. Bill and Frank had a little more luck but I would assume not as much as they were hoping for. I asked Bill to do a rain dance but as he stated dancing is not one of his better talents.....That leaves steelheading and the consumption of chicken wings.

A couple of Bill's fish.



Frank doing battle.




Once again extremely greatful to share the day with these good souls.


Until later....

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Early Morning Run.................



The Commander and I got out yesterday for a few hours. We hit the water early as the weekends mean more bank traffic and if you don't plan and execute early you get stuck in a track meet to prime water.

We both had enough action to make the outing worth while but a freshet of rain would really get things going again. Thing slowed to a dead stop by mid morning so we packed it in and called it a day.

Until later.........

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

10 Feet From Freedom....................


I hit the water Tuesday with Bill and Frank for our first outing of season together. The water had
 color and while the flow is still considerably down it bumped up over the last few days. We meticulously worked over a few  sections of the creek and were rewarded for our efforts.

We came into contact with  some of those crazy skippers that hook set launch themselves acrobatically into the air cartwheeling their way to freedom via a mid air release.

We  all had success and enjoyed a good day on the water.

The only low light  was Frank's and my decision to follow our resident Billy Goat and navigator into a proposed short cut. The result  was three blind mice circuitously following deer paths into the brush and bramble. Every path lead us to a dead end just 10 feet from the main path but that 10 feet was impenetrable brush and vines.

After a while we thought it better to just back our way out and take the longer and less frustrating route to our vehicles.






Frank bringing one to shore......


 A fresh chromer.............
Bill's new toys a Black Kingpin R2 and custom CTS produced for him by Spiel.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Communication break down.....




Posting no picture today is fitting as I trashed my smart phone while attempting to take a picture stream side on Saturday morning. Out of my hands dropping three feet then bouncing off a boulder into the drink.

Such is life.....

I put in some time Saturday and Sunday and was rewarded with some success.
The rust is slowing  wearing off my old bones and the muscle memory is coming back.

Saturday night's rain bumped the flow up  and increased turbidity but there were still some fish around if you worked for them.

Until later.......


******The SD Card was saved

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

A New Season Beckons.......



Well hell people, a new season is upon us and I have to say I'm excited for some some tributary action. I haven't been around much. I pretty much burnt myself out in last Fall's season and took a steelhead sabbatical for the spring season. So to say the that there is a light covering of rust upon my old skills is an understatement.

All it took to get me to get going was a few emails from Bill and Tom and I'm ready to roll. The vacation days have been set in stone for the fall so hopefully on my many walks up and down the stream I will find that special excitement we only get when we are placed in our element. On those special cool cloudy days when the stars align  and where the steelhead , the stream and I become one.

Until later old friends.............