Chrome for Christmas

Last night while tying up some flies I got to thinking that it had been a week and a half since I'd been on the water....and of course this disturbed me. I quickly checked the weather for today, and seeing that it was looking pretty decent, decided to take a vacation day and go fishing to start my holiday early. My Dad and I decided to try a small trib that we haven't been to in a long time. This is the type of hit or miss spot that can really mess with you. Somedays its loaded with fish, others its completely void and you leave with your tail between your legs. Christmas came early today, though, because there were plenty of fish around and we both managed to get in on the action. Overnight temps in the low teens made for some nasty morning fishing conditions, and we spent the first few hours probing the depths without so much as a bump. Persistence paid off though, and as the sun warmed the 34 degree water the fish suddenly woke up. I struck first fishing dangerously close to some submerged wood. When the indy dropped I assumed I was stuck once again.....but much to my surprise my hookset was met with headshakes! I landed the fish after a few minutes of tug of war trying to keep the fish out of the wood. This fish snapped an 0 for 8 streak........thank God!

About an hour later, just before breaking for lunch, Dad and I had back to back hookups, both of which were very short lived and ended in a slack line.
After some lunch and thawing out in the Jeep we set back out to see if we could find any more players. It didn't take Dad long to get a solid hookup and get revenge on his previous missed oppurtunity. This chromer smacked a copper john fished way down deep. Winter steelheading tip proven.....when in doubt, add another split shot!

Excited to have gotten rid of the skunk Dad went back to the same spot.......and within 5 minutes he had another nice fish on! This fish was as chrome as a bumper and acted more like an early fall fish than a winter steelie. It made several strong runs and made a great acrobatic cartwheel right in the center of the run. I was finally able to tail him in the shallows and fish number 3 of the day was in hand. Damn, that water was still freezing!!! Notice the slush on the fish in this picture, haha........

Another victim of the copper john.

Seeing the action Dad was having I quickly changed up my flies hoping to get another fish to hand before calling it a day. It didn't take me very long to get a take on the copper john and I was into another cartwheeling chromer. Unfortunately his leaps threw the hook and I was left, yet again this year, wondering what I could have done differently? Just to add some salt to the wound, Dad hooked yet another fish on the copper john and had it in the shallows for me to tail in no time.

Dad with 3 fish to hand was pretty much done for the day and spent the last little bit of time out warming up his hands. I had a score to settle, however, and desperately wanted to find one more fish to play with before calling it quits. After a few fly changes and adding some more split shot I finally connected on a hot butt hex pattern I tied the night before. I got the better of this fish (thanks to 2x tippet) and soon had her beached on the sandy bank. A great way to end an excellent winters day.....

Released to re-join her friends at the bottom of a mega deep pool........

Merry Christmas to everyone.....................

Greetings to You, Mr. Winter

Blizzard Warning. 40+ MPH winds. Temps in the teens.....wind chills at 0 or below. Snow piling up and showing no sign of stopping. As I look out the tying room window its official, winter has arrived in west Michigan. Things have certainly changed in the past week, and its now time to separate the men from the boys. The cozy late fall steelheading has given way to icy cold water, stinging wind, blinding snow, and steelhead that hold PhD's in "Screw You". Still, those with the addiction refuse to give in to mother nature and the quest for chrome continues. So was the case this past weekend when my father and I headed out to brave the elements. I always get this crazy feeling during the winter, somehow finding the challenge of the fish and the weather exhilarating. Stoked to be playin' in the snow once again......

Play we did, catch we did not. Not surprising though, when water and air temps drop that rapidly the fish usually lay low for a few days trying to get acclimated to their new winter lies. We tried everything from dead drifting eggs and nymphs to swinging large streamers, but it just wasn't meant to be. Still, we didn't see another sole all day, and the falling snow created the ultimate backdrop for us to pursue our obsession. Dad high sticking a particularly sweet run......

We stayed out for longer than expected and my toes were begging for mercy by the time we finally reeled it in. I continue to be a glutton for punishment this time of year, feeling more and more righteous the more I endure. Steelheaders are a funny breed, to other steelheaders you come across as a stone cold bad ass....while the rest of society views you as someone who must have recently escaped from the looney bin...........................

November Wrap Up

It sure is hard to believe that its December already and Christmas is just 3 weeks away. November was an excellent month overall, providing the best fall steelhead fishing I've had since living in Michigan. Just before leaving for Georgia for Thanksgiving I was able to get out for a few hours with Matt. After 10+ days of sunny weather we had a beautiful cloudy drizzly morning.....just the weather you want to temp a steelhead into crushing your streamer. Crush them they did.....but unfortunately we weren't up to the challenge and got our asses kicked by some big bad chrome fish! Matt had a hookup not 15 minutes into the day on his new sculpin pattern and it provided some aerial displays and strong runs before it threw the hook while heading for a wood pile. After a couple more runs it was my turn to get beat up. At the tailout of a particularly sweet run I had a hookup with a solid chrome fish on a big flashy sculpin. After a couple big head shakes and one fast run I stopped him and gained some line, thinking I had beat him. Of course as I got him 15 feet from me he threw another massive head shake and alligator roll and that was the end of that. A few runs downstream, I got thumped by another fish.....this one being a BIG chrome fish. Immediately I was thinking of getting my revenge, but that thought was short lived. He immediately cleared the water, and to Matt's surprise it was nearly at eye level for him. Landing with a splash the fish raced for a log jam, and found it before I could get enough tension on him to steer him away. Steelhead 3, Rich and Matt 0....AGAIN. In case your counting, thats 7 straight steelhead I have lost in the past few weeks!
A few days later down in Georgia I met up with an old pal back from my Bass Pro Shop high school days. Joe owns some property in north Georgia that gives him access to about 2 miles of private trout water. This water is some of the prettiest I've seen in the southeast, and its fish are truly incredible. With limited fishing pressure, and virtually all fly fishing/catch and release angling, the fish grow to large sizes. The average is 14 to 15 inches, with several upper teeners around, plus the occasional bruiser that can grow well over 20 inches. I decided to fish my new Oyster bamboo....not because it was the right rod for the conditions, but because I simply wanted to put some fish under its belt and i knew I wouldnt use it for many months here in Michigan. It did not take me more than about 5 casts to put a serious bend in the new rod. This fat rainbow ate a pink san juan worm and felt massive on the 4wt cane.

That fish was the perfect way to break in the new rod.....but at the same time, made me a little uncomfortable thinking, "what if i hang a truly big fish?". Meanwhile, Joe was upstream swinging flies on a sinktip and hooking fish left and right. This rainbow was all colored up and crushed a wooly bugger.

After a few more fish Joe asked if he could try the Oyster....and it didnt take him long to not only hook a fish, but hook a big fish. Joe proved that if used properly, the rod could handle some very sizeable fish. Look at the bend....and the smile....

This should be the new cover shot for Oyster bamboo rods.

After seeing that I too wanted to put a 20 incher on the new rod, and surprisingly it didn't take very long. A few casts later this guy drilled a bugger as it dangled below me.

What an amazing start! We had been fishing not much more than an hour and put 4 fish between 17-20 inches into the net, 3 of them on the cane rod. We broke for lunch a while later, and I switched over to my 5wt Winston LT as it really was the more suitable for for heavy indy rigs and big fish in fast water. As luck would have it though, the fishing changed drastically. Not the numbers of fish, as we were raking them in hand over fist most of the afternoon...but we just couldn't find anything bigger than about 15 inches. Here is a bright kamloops bow taken on a Y2K in mid afternoon.

We caught fish of this size literally at will all day long....with must of the fish hitting large buggers as the drift was swinging out. Here I am eyeing up a sweet bend in the river.

Trying desperately to find one more big, photo worth fish, we stopped it at our starting spot with time for about 45 minutes of fishing before dark. After 15 minutes or so we had hooked a few, but nothing of any size, and were about ready to call it an amazing day. However, Joe's friend and neighbor, Carl, came down by the river and told us to try a run upstream a few hundred yards that he has seen some big fish in. After hooking and landing a few more 14 inchers I set the hook on something that had some weight. It took me down to the tail of the run and bull dogged me for several minutes. I told Joe it was a good one, and when we saw him I said it was over 20 for sure. Finally, with an aching wrist, I netted what has to be the fattest trout I've ever caught. 22 inches long and nearly as wide, this beast weighed 6lbs or more. This is Georgia's equivalent to a steelhead and came on a dark olive and burnt orange bugger.

And being released back to its deep woody lair.....

Knowing we couldn't top that fish, we reeled in our flies and called it a day. What insanity we had, we hooked right around 100 fish, and landed around 75 between the two of us.
Two days later, I was heading north to fish with an old pal and fish some water that I fished religiously when I lived there. The morning was cold and windy, and it felt more like Michigan weather than I was expecitng. The sun coming up over the north Georgia mountains, however, is always something to look forward too.

We decided to hike downstream a ways and then fish back up towards the car. The fishing was surprisingly slow for this creek, which can be outstanding for numbers of fish sometimes. Today though it was quality over quantity, and thats never a bad thing. Here I am working a small bank.

Here is Zach high sticking a small pothole.

And one of the bows Zach found on his rubber legged nymph.

At the tailout of the same hole I saw a fish flash on the far side behind a big logjam. I tried a few casts with no luck, so I switched to a small BH golden stone. First cast through and I was connected to the fish of the day. This chunky brown was the only brown we landed, although Zach lost one that was about this size.

And released with the cane rod as a backdrop.

Moving upstream I got this cool shot of Zach moments before he hooked and lost a good sized bow.

We fished for another hour or so, picking up a few more small fish, before calling it a day. It was fun getting out together again, and we caught enough fish to keep things interesting.
Once back in Michigan, of course I needed to hook up with the guys and get out after some steelhead. Long story short is that it was brutal on Sunday, and between 4 of us we got the big fat skunk. The only hookup between us came at the very end of the day, with just a few minutes of light left. I got a solid grab on a big grapefruit leech and buried the hook hard. I got a few headshakes and then a partial run downstream before the hook pulled out......thats now 8 straight lost fish!!! A few days later though, we got out for the little bit of light, and although things were slow again, we did get one dime bright hen in hand. Matt hit this fish on a Psycho Sculpin from the tailout of a deep pool.

And a closeup of the fly before being released....

That was it for the day, but anytime you can get a steelhead to hand is a good day in my books. I went out one more time since without any luck, and its looking like winter is finally here. We got our first snow last night, putting about 10 inches of powder on the ground, and it doesn't look like we'll be breaking the freezing mark anytime soon. This wont stop me though.....I'll be out tomorrow looking for the first "winter fish" of the year swinging big leech patterns..........