Thanksgiving Weekend Steelhead

If there was one thing that was consistent about this weekend it would be the rain.  It started sometime early Saturday morning and continued on into Sunday.  As a matter of fact, it changed over to snow when I convinced myself I should just go home.

I knew the weather was going to be miserable but even though it was going to rain I knew that the area wouldn’t be blown out.  With the gates controlling the flow it wasn’t going to matter how much rain we got.  Unfortunately, the October rains gave an estimated 2 trillion extra gallons to Lake Superior.  All that water has to go somewhere so the gates were wide open.  The concrete berm I normally stand on to fish certain runs was completely under water.  Not that it mattered, trying to wade to it was completely out of the question.  I got spun around more than once by the increased flow and not so sure footing.

Knowing all this I still went out.  I have yet to catch a Steelhead here and I definitely won’t catch one sitting in my hotel room watching the Wolverines get their ass handed to them.  I figure one of these days my timing will be perfect and I’ll catch one.  As it turns out it would not be this weekend.  I could see fish rolling around and I saw a few swim by me both they were all salmon.  I figured they were either Atlantics or small Chinook.  Around noon I managed to hook one as I was stripping line in for my next cast.  Based on the color I thought it was a small Atlantic.  I was wrong.

Wasn’t expecting a coho but there she was.  Nothing like the ones I caught in Alaska but it was still better than nothing.  After I released her I waded back to shore to let my legs thaw out for a bit.  While I was there I talked to a local angler who was also taking a break and smoking a “Recreational Cigarette”.  He told me that the Steelhead have been slow but there were a lot of salmon in the area.  He had also caught a couple of Coho and an Atlantic.  He also told me that the gates will be turned down on Dec. 10th.  He told me that he expects the fishing to be good for a few days after that, even if gets any colder.  I doubt I’ll drive back up though.  I may stick to the Alley or some west side rivers.  I like fishing this area but those 6 hours drives get old after awhile.  After a 20 minute break I waded back in and resumed fishing.  I was joined by another fishermen who set up downstream from me.  He was chucking a pink spoon and I watched him catch one Steelhead and about half a dozen salmon.  The fish are in but they were in a pool that I couldn’t reach.  If the levels were down a couple of feet I could.  Then again the fish might not be in that spot as well.  After about 6 hours of 40 degree water and rain I packed it in.  A warm meal sounded better than subjecting myself to any more abuse.  Besides, I still had tomorrow morning to try again.

Well I tried again Sunday morning.  I should have known something was up when I arrived and I was the only vehicle in the parking lot.  I tired for a couple of hours but when it started snowing I decided to give up.  I was going to have a long drive home and I wanted to get ahead of the storm that was expected to arrive later that night.

I did manage to catch one fish, lost a couple of flies and I was able to stay dry for most of the weekend.  One of these years I’ll catch it just right.  I’m not going to hold my breath until then though.

 

 

Weekend Report 11/3-11/4

Originally I planned on going walleye fishing Saturday and Steelhead fishing Sunday.  Recent rains though blew out The Huron so that left me with walleye on The Detroit River.  As it would turn out I would accomplish both.

I started out Saturday morning just after sunrise.  The river was filthy again and the current was a lot faster than I expected.  I checked the gauges later and it was reading 262,000 cfs.  Higher than normal and the NW wind wasn’t helping any.  Eventually I switched to a heavier weight just to help keep contact with the bottom.  Trying to maintain a decent speed was difficult as well.  There where a few times I found myself going downstream instead of up or across.  I fought through it though and managed to catch a couple more for the freezer.

The next morning I was back out after sunrise again, an hour earlier thanks to the daylight savings crap.  Water was a lot cleaner today.  Yesterday there was less than 6 inches of visibility and today it was about two feet.  Light winds out of the SE and a current that had dropped by over 20,000 cfs made for almost ideal conditions.  Didn’t catch anything in the first half hour but the next half hour proved to be a different story.  I caught one walleye and quickly followed it up with another one when I trolled over the same spot where I caught the first one.  I stayed in the area for a bit and then I had another hit.  It felt like a decent fish at first but it just gave up.  Figured it was a small walleye until it got to the side of the boat and I quickly realized it wasn’t.  I saw that white belly and green back and got very serious.  I started to go for the net but changed my mind and just flipped her in.  I said I was going to go steelehead fishing and I did.  Just not in the river I planned too.

Normally I would have let her go but she was bleeding out so I just put her in the cooler.  After that fishing was pretty uneventful.  I managed to catch a couple more and actually lost #5 right at the side of the boat.  I could have stuck it out a little longer but the winds were picking up and I was supposed to meet some friends for breakfast and to go see Bohemian Rhapsody later.  I was running out of time so I just packed it in.

While I was fishing I did get to watch a Bald Eagle swoop in and grab a fish of the surface.  I watched him fly off and land on a nearby telephone pole and eat his breakfast.  I saw a pair yesterday flying around.  I assume he was one of the pair.  Don’t know if their nest is on Humbug or Grosse Isle but I’m sure I’ll spot it eventually.  Unless they are just migrating through or waiting for the gizzard shad to show up.

Headed north next weekend to get my Mom’s house ready for winter.  While I’m there I plan on hitting the AuSable for some Steelhead and Atlantic action.  Hopefully the Steelhead I caught Sunday was a sign that I should switch gears and concentrate on them instead of the walleye.

Hope so.