10-26-2009, 11:40 PM
Headed to Salmon area this weekend looking for steelhead. Two went up on Thursday and set up camp. Another went up Friday morning. That day the new guy caught a hatchery steelhead that was then released (beginners luck). The next day we started out heading down past owl creek and and managed to have a blow out on the rear tire of one of the rigs. Fortunately we had a full size spare so the only thing lost was time. Once we got to our planned site the new guy again got a solid hit right off. However being new to the whole concept he has his drag extra loose and the fish was just ripping off line. Once we got it tightened enough he dropped the rod tip and the fish threw the hook seconds before he could be netted. Live and learn I guess. After a while there we packed up and headed back up to the gorge area to fish there most the afternoon with no action at all. Saw a few fish here and there through out but no big numbers landed. F&G didn't even have their usual check point set up. Ended up fishing tower rock for a while before heading into town for dinner.
The next day we hooked up w/ a nice guy and his son from I.F. that we picked up hitchhiking the day before and they offered to teach us spey casting and show us some holes on the river. By now we were down to just 2 of us so it worked well w/ the boat. We ended up floating red rock to dead water, stretching it into a full day float. They weather was perfect. Light breeze, blue sky, and golden leaves falling w/ a high temp of around 50. I did land 2 suckers that day to keep the skunk off. My buddy had one solid hit from a probable steelie, but no real way to tell. The gentleman showing us around landed one. Had another on for about 10 seconds and had one about 3 feet from the net before it threw the hook, then who knows how many hits. Definitely made me a believer in flies on that river.
Despite no fish the knowledge gained yesterday alone was well worth the trip! The fish are there, just weren't real aggressive at the time.
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The next day we hooked up w/ a nice guy and his son from I.F. that we picked up hitchhiking the day before and they offered to teach us spey casting and show us some holes on the river. By now we were down to just 2 of us so it worked well w/ the boat. We ended up floating red rock to dead water, stretching it into a full day float. They weather was perfect. Light breeze, blue sky, and golden leaves falling w/ a high temp of around 50. I did land 2 suckers that day to keep the skunk off. My buddy had one solid hit from a probable steelie, but no real way to tell. The gentleman showing us around landed one. Had another on for about 10 seconds and had one about 3 feet from the net before it threw the hook, then who knows how many hits. Definitely made me a believer in flies on that river.
Despite no fish the knowledge gained yesterday alone was well worth the trip! The fish are there, just weren't real aggressive at the time.
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