Hi Mike and All, Just to keep Your Steelhead Fever going I thought I better pass on a day that I managed to escape to a Small Westcoast Stream on Haida Gwaii last week. There had been a good shot of rain and we were in a set of Giant Tides. Putting the two together thusly pointed to fresh Steelhead moving in to their rivers.
Now of course Steelhead fishing is Amazing, this Fish is Mystical, Beautiful, Full of Wonderment. A Searun Rainbow Trout that if it stayed in its home river it would be 10-12 inches, maybe one pound fully mature. But this Rainbow Trout after spending the first 2-4 years of its life in the river all of a sudden decides to become a Steelhead and heads downstream and out to sea. Not just to Sea but to way out in the Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, most normally 1500 miles out to the end of the Aleutian Chain, on the Russian/Japan Boarder. They feed years, up to 7 and more years and then return to their natal stream to spawn. They come back as a Rainbow Trout on Steroids, a Steelhead of 10-20 pounds and bigger and full of energy, power and elegance. Back to the fishing as You probably already know all this but as You can tell I get somewhat wordy when on topics I love. I only Fish for Steelhead with the Fly as I want the experience of this Fish to be the most special I can make it. Summer Steelheading is a truly magnificent but there is something special about Winter Steelheading. The Fighting of the elements, like the time my Friend Brian Mose lost the feeling in one foot while out for a day on the river with me and now has permanently no feeling in three toes on that foot. I always tell him he has seven to go and what a great reminder of the wonders of life when He is sitting in a Stressful meeting and He needs to think of something beautiful. The Cold, the Elements, the Fish are Spooky Smart. And in the Cold Water and Fast Currents, they are Immensely Powerful, especially when they are Fresh from the Sea.
That brings me to my day last week on Haida Gwaii. I arrived at the stream estuary, tide water, at High Slack, 2 30 pm. Huge Surges were coming up into the first pool where I had never before seen Salt this far up. I fished there hard then moved up to the next pool. This is a very good pool with a riffle coming in at the top and two guts separated by two large rocks. Fishing with my newish singlehanded “Sage One” 5 weight and a good sized Orange Marabou Fly with a little pink and flashabou with a small trailing hook. I fished my way down from the top all through, past the two rocks, and down to the tail where a small logjam started that grew into the next pool. When my fly was about to hit the first log it was absolutely hammered by a Steelhead Maximus. She Bolted across the Stream, I had to hold Her hard to snub a dive into a logjam then she Stormed up River Streaking by me, my line whistling through the water to the top riffle fifty feet above me. With me reeling like mad trying to catch up with Her, then across and then charging back down past me to the logjam again one hundred feet below me. Then in and out, me constantly trying to snub Her and bring Her to Hand. After what seemed an eternity She slowed down and I wound down to Her and walked her back up stream to inside the two rocks to a little flat spot to unhook her. I tried a couple of pictures that didn’t come out well as You notice probably due to the low light at this time of year in a Rainforest River Valley. Measured She was thirty inches of Fresh Run Steelhead Maximus and I was Shaking as She swam away. I fished no more that day exploring upstream till too dark to make it safely back.
I spent the evening warming my Body with close friends, My Spirit and Soul already Warm that lasted for Days afterward.
