First Steelhead of 2012

This past weekend was only my second time on the water in 2012 and my last chance to get a January fish in the bag. The weather didn't look overly encouraging with temps in the mid 20's, high winds, and several inches of fresh snow, but hey.....thats winter steelheading and you go when you can. We took our time getting up to the river on the icy roads and didn't start fishing until around 1pm. There were a few other people around but as expected the pressure was pretty light and we had our pick of whatever water we wanted. Our first spot didn't produce any fish but was incredibly scenic and made our decision to fish on such a cold day seem like a good one.

After a solid effort there with nothing to show we hiked upstream aways to a spot that is often over looked and has provided quite a bit of action this fall. Jeff hit a pretty little brown right off the bat on a parr pattern.

After a few more casts he broke off in some wood and it was my turn to give it a shot. With the water being up I tried to fish in close first and it payed off right away. I set the hook on a big fish and then proceeded to get worked over for the next several minutes. The fish was heavy and had alot more energy than I expected for a fish in late January. Finally after a close call with a downed tree and a few missed tailing attempts Jeff was able to get ahold of this big buck. He ate a hex nymph fished way down deep....

Gnarly looking mouth that looks more like a bruiser brown than a steelhead....

That fish made my day and marked my first of 2012...not too shabby. After a couple nips of bourbon and a few minutes to warm up our hands it was Jeff's turn again. He made a few casts and was asking where exactly I had hooked my fish. When he hit the inside seam just right I said "right there" and on cue he got clobbered by another heavy fish. From the hookup to the tailing of the fish it was literally an exact instant replay of what had just happened a few minutes earlier. The only thing different was this guy ate an egg instead of the nymph. Another gator....

Later dude....

Needless to say we went back up to the run to give it another try but it had already given up all that it could. We hiked upstream aways again and got in at a spot that I hit a handful from earlier in the year. It didn't take many casts for my hex nymph to get eaten again and immediately I was running down river in pursuit of another hot fish. This fish got me in trouble really quick. It took me around a log sticking out of the water and then under a deeply submerged log at the head of a deep pool. I tried my best to untangle the fish and even got the line free from the first log but it soon became obvious that this was a loosing battle. I could still feel the fish on but it had pulled alot of line out and there was no way for me to get the line out from under the log. It broke me off soon after but I didn't care...2 great battles on a frigid January day is about as good as you can get. Jeff fished that run for another half hour or so and then just as we were ready to leave he hooked up again. This fight was really short and sweet and within 1 minute he had a fresh hen beached on a sandbar...again eating the hex nymph. Unfortunately the fish wiggled out of his hands before I could snap a photo and headed off for the depths. We both just laughed and said it really didn't matter, our day had been made earlier and anything else was just icing on the cake. We fished one more run and then called it a day. I got a sucker on a nuke egg that I thought was a nice brown until I saw the bougle lips coming up through the water but that was it.

What great winter's day and an awesome start to what hopefully will be a great year of fishing. With a week of warmer temps ahead I hope to be back next weekend with my Dad and see if we cant find a few more.