Georgia Steelhead Coalition (Part 4)

The Thursday before Thanksgiving my buddy Alex and two of his friends (Brad and Vandy) came up to Michigan for a 5 day steelhead bender. Alex came up this past spring and had such a good time he couldn't wait to get back, while Brad and Vandy were both knew to this game despite being avid anglers down south. The first night Jeff and I met up with the three guys we nicknamed the "Georgia Steelhead Coalition" over some mexican food and talked about the plans for the next two days of fishing. For the first day we decided to head to some smaller, easy to wade water not too farth north that was holding solid fish numbers. In the parking lot we took our time and with bluegrass music blasting went over the full blown steelhead indy rig setup.

Once everyone was properly rigged with bugs tied on we made the hike down to the river and more or less leap frogged and split in to groups picking the holding water apart. It didn't take too long for some action but things just weren't clicking. First Jeff lost what was either a decent skip or a solid brown. Next Alex lost 2 trout in a row. Then I proceeded to hook and loose a big steelhead, and then a few casts later, an upper teener brown. The next run downstream Jeff hooked and lost another nice chrome steelhead. A few small trout were landed but the majority of the morning was spent checking hooks and wondering what we were doing wrong?
Our spot for the second half of the day was farther upstream and it didn't take long for the bad luck to continue. Right off the bat in the first run we fished I hooked a hot fish that immediately ran me into a log jam, jumped, and snapped me off. Moments later though Jeff finally landed our first nice fish of the day....not a steelhead, but a fat resident rainbow.

While Brad and Jeff continued to work that run I moved downstream to a small narrow chute and on my first drift through I had a explosive take. I set the hook and was immediately met with a cartwheeling chromer at near eye level. I was alone with no net so I really didn't think I had any shot of landing this fish. It took me out of that pool, over some shallower gravel, into the next pool and then started to go around the bend. Finally I was able to stop this gal and clumsily tailed her with my rod tucked under my arm. What a gorgeous fat fish! Unfortunately being alone all I was able to do was get off one quick "fish on bank" picture being letting her go.

That fish made my day but I really wished that one of Georgia guys could have hit it. We fished our way downstream back to the truck and things quieted down until the last run of the day. In one small chute I first hooked and lost (without ever seeing) what I believe to be another steelhead, and then what I believe to be a BIG brown. That was all she wrote....if we had landed half of what we hooked it could have been a banner day!
The next day was very different. The GSC (Georgia Steelhead Coalition) rented a drift boat and we got out on to some big water. The three of them were in the one boat while me, Jeff, and our buddy Dan were in Jeff's Hyde. A true motley crew, already a few nips of bourbon deep, dropping in.

Despite the river fishing pretty well this year and holding a good amount of fish we really got our tails handed to us. Jeff got the only hookup for the day in our boat and it lasted all of about 2 seconds. A big fish rocked his sculpin from a productive run and with 2 head shakes snapped his 12lb tippet like it was 7x. Neither Dan nor I even had so much as a pull....at least not confirmed. Luckily the GA crew came through in the clutch! After being a ways apart for an hour or more they came floating passed us and I'll be damned if Brad didnt come tight on a fish right in front of us fishing an indy rig. The next few minutes were tense as hell and would have been a riot to watch. In our boat it was full on blow by blow coaching, and in there boat it was nervous excitement as 2 of the 3 had never seen a steelhead before. Doin work on the big water....

When Vandy got the fish in the net after a couple missed swipes both boats started going nuts and we both pulled over for some photos of the trophy. You'll always remember your first and I'm sure Brad will never forget this stud that smacked a small egg pattern.

A group shot....

And the release to complete the experience....

A small celebration ensued and the bourbon took several passes through the group. Brad with shaking hands toasts a hard earned fish. Cheers bud!

That was ALL she wrote....other than an excellent grilled streamside lunch by Mr. Cole there wasn't much to talk about for the rest of the float.
I had to leave the next day to head to GA for Thanksgiving but the guys bummed around for a few more days a little farther north on yet another stream and had a good time. A few more steelhead were hooked and lost (everyone hooked at least one), a few coho's were landed, but Brad landed the only other fish giving him 2 for the trip.

All in all the whole experience was alot of fun. One of my favorite things about being a flyrodder is the awesome people you meet along the way. In general fly fisherman are just really cool down to earth guys and Alex, Brad, and Vandy were no different. Nice fishing with you dudes and I'm sure we'll have some more laughs and good times in the future.