Elk Creek Weekend
10/11/2014 10/12/2014
It doesn’t get much better!
There is nothing that comes close to early steelhead fishing. The fresh, wild, exuberant steelhead that makes the run into a trout size creek each year is one heck of an experience to be hold. Just to see them staging in semi-deep holes, along shallow ledges or in a tumbling riffle gets me excited. To hook into one is an experience you don’t often find in a fresh water creek.
The speed of a fresh steelhead that will rip line off the spool in a matter of seconds and possibly into your backing! The quickness of them in changing direction and the force is incomparable to any freshwater stream fish. The sight of a steelhead exploding out of the water within feet of where you stand, watching it display beauty and acrobatics is worth the sight if for only once in a life time. Its chrome sides glistening from the sun flashes before your eyes before its body slams back upon the surface. You better hold on because there isn’t much of a pause before it quickly dashes away constantly trying to throw the hook. Can you keep up with an onward charging steel right at you? Your hand winding the large arbor reel trying to keep tension on the line as you keep the rod up and flexed with the other tightly gripping the cork handle.
You find you’re never sure when you got him tired out. As you get him closing in he turns abruptly for another try at escaping. You keep the drag too tight and he’s sure to break you off, too loose and he’ll take all the line you give him.
You don’t necessarily need a hunk of sticky skein or live bait in the form of egg sacks. Sometimes just a single egg. Fly fishermen will use the same patterns they use for everyday trout fishing in the form of Woolly Bugger or streamers.
One on a Woolly Bugger
One on a streamer
One on a hand tied sucker spawn
Great looking fish...this has to be a great time of year for you guys , with steelhead and salmon running upstream and trout putting on the winter feedbag , oh the choices! Love those steelhead though , one of these years I'll have to swap out my annual Driftless trip for a steelhead trip up North.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Yes we got plenty of choices for fresh water fish up this way. the fish commish start stocking project area trout streams this time of year also. You always got an invite to share a drift for steelhead with me.
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