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Picture Of The Month



SD2OR with a trophy fall walleye

Topic: NKI - Falling Down  (Read 2462 times)

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Tinker

  • Sturgeon
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  • Kevin
  • Location: 42.74°N 124.5°W
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3304
There are no kayaks involved in this tale.  We need a lot of rain before anadromous fish can enter my local rivers, and - quite ironically - when the water is finally deep enough for the fish to get in, no sensible angler would dare put a kayak in them.  So, since I am a sensible fellow, fishing locally is for banking or drift boats - and I own five kayaks, but no drift boats.

I've been tying steelhead flies lately, which proved to be more of a challenge than I'd expected because all of the best steelhead fly patterns these days seem to be for big, fluffy intruders - spey-casting flies - and I have to downsize them by about 40 percent to use them with a single-handed rod.  When one has spent the year tying big saltwater and salmon flies, then starts tying marabou on much smaller hooks, it's an arduous, painful transition.  My hand wanted to keep stroking the marabou back a full quarter of an inch further than the hook is long, no matter how many times my thumb was reminded where it would find the point of the hook.

So why don't I spare my thumb and take up spey-casting?  Have you seen these rivers?  Just setting-up for a spey cast would put the fly far up on the opposite bank, and I already lose enough flies to random trees using a single-handed fly rod, thank you.

Anyway, yesterday, I went fishing.  It's a bit too early for Winter steelhead, nevertheless, bolstered by irrational optimism, I went after steelhead.  The morning was chilly, but not cold, and there wasn't a cloud to be seen.  The river was up and moving, and the water was more brown than I'd like, but irrational optimism knows no bounds.

I fish this river for trout, so I'm pretty familiar with the bottom composition - where it's sand, gravel, or rock, or any combination of the three - and I know its contours, but when the river is up, I need to again get familiar with what a bigger fly feels like when it's tapping the bottom.  See, the flies I don't lose to shrubbery I usually lose by setting the hook on a rock, so I like to start out using my Grade C flies; the ones I don't get too upset about when I lose one.

Third cast, first lost fly - and I didn't know what snagged it.  Fifth cast, second fly gone, but this time I could tell it had been a rock.  Eighth cast: another rock.  Ninth cast (and my first Grade A fly) and tap-tap!  "Hey! What was that?"  Cast again, same drift, but this time, just as the fly started its swing across the current, a tug... and I set the hook.  I take no chances when I'm steelhead fishing, even when it's too early to find a steelhead.

Line ran through my fingers - this was a decent fish - and the rod tip bobbed and jumped around.  The fish was in the current and heading for a snag downstream while I was keeping pressure on it and cranking line back on the reel.  I don't usually fight a fish on the reel, but it's easier for me to palm a fly reel to put on a little more drag than it is to keep consistent pressure with just my fingers, especially with a hot fish in fast-moving water.  When I pump the rod, I'm tightening my grip, and that puts more pressure - drag - on the line.  I've been watching steelhead-catching videos and I reckon at least 14 of the 21 steelhead I haven't caught were lost when I did something that stupid, so, this time, I was going to get the fish on the reel.

The fish was moving towards the snag faster than I was reeling in line, so I shuffled towards the bank (I was wading at the time) to add some sideways pressure.  I stepped on my own foot and down I went.  Happily, even in a seated position, the water was only a bit deeper than my belly button is tall and I could keep a firm, but not excessive, grip on my rod and the line.  Sadly, I don't use chest waders; I use wading pants that only come up to my belly button, and icy-cold water was now trickling over parts of me I prefer to keep warm and dry.  Not a lot of water, mind you, but you know it doesn't take much, so when that most unpleasant sensation finally sank in, instinct took over and I scrambled to my feet, simultaneously loosening my grip on the line and letting the fish reach the snag.

On my feet again, I headed downstream, hoping to still be able to land the fish, and since the shock of already being wet had passed, I went through water deep enough to remind me how unpleasant those little trickles can feel.  I might have surrendered -  no one would have blamed me if I had - but I could still feel the fish shaking it's head, and I was proud of that fly.  There was a chance I might get both fish and fly out of the snag and have a fine tale to tell - one very much like this one - about the adventure.

At the snag, all the line in, leader in the guides, I couldn't see the fish.  Following down along the leader, my hand reached the fish... except it was a branch.  And not one of the branches in the snag, but a floater I'd hooked as it drifted past, and had then played all the way to the stupid snag.

That's the problem with a river running high and fast - it throws sticks at you.  And if they're fresh sticks, still covered with needles, they'll give you a fine head shake when you set the hook.

I'd rather it had gone to steelhead 22:Tinker 0 than to have sat down in a river just to catch a stick.
« Last Edit: December 25, 2019, 11:56:00 AM by Tinker »
I expected the worst, but it was worse than I expected...


C_Run

  • Sturgeon
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  • Location: Independence, OR
  • Date Registered: Apr 2011
  • Posts: 1214
I hate it when that happens.


DWB123

  • Salmon
  • ******
  • Location: Seattle, WA
  • Date Registered: Aug 2013
  • Posts: 841
I relish every one of your fish ta(il)les. What a great read. Happy holidays!


surf12foot

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  • Location: North Bend Oregon
  • Date Registered: Nov 2011
  • Posts: 480
Becoming a full fledge "Steelhead Junkie"
Scott


hdpwipmonkey

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  • Location: Cornelius, OR
  • Date Registered: Nov 2014
  • Posts: 1481
Do you have any pics of this fish-stick?  Was it a keeper?   ;D

Merry Christmas Tinker
Ray
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Tinker

  • Sturgeon
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  • Kevin
  • Location: 42.74°N 124.5°W
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3304
Do you have any pics of this fish-stick?  Was it a keeper?   ;D

One treats sticks as if they're pike and smallmouth bass - if you catch one, you're supposed to toss it up on the bank and get back to fishing, so no, no photos.  Trees, now... trees are another thing.  I'm planning a trip down through the redwood groves this year to see if I can set a new all-tackle world record.




(I don't toss smallmouth on the bank, and pike are tasty.)
I expected the worst, but it was worse than I expected...


[WR]

  • Sturgeon
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  • Location: West of Auburn, East of the Sound
  • Date Registered: Jan 2008
  • Posts: 4716
Tanker, if you're catching fish sticks, maybe you should audition for a Gortons Fisherman ad....... :o
Why so many odd typos ? You try typing on 6 mm virtual keys with 26 mm thumbs....


Tinker

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Kevin
  • Location: 42.74°N 124.5°W
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3304
I'm planning a trip down through the redwood groves this year to see if I can set a new all-tackle world record.

I may have to re-think this... the trees have started falling on people: Massive redwood tree falls.
I expected the worst, but it was worse than I expected...


 

anything