Wet and Wild

Wet and Wild

11/09/2018

 

 The once lifeless Autumn fallen leaves, that littered the forest floor, now came alive as the wind pushed them easily down the cliff side and onto the flowing water. Rain fell from the gray clouds that hover above. The cold temperature increased with the wind as I gripped the cork handle with my wet hands. At times I could hear the raindrops upon my hooded raincoat so I would turn my face away from the stinging wind.

My indicator dipped facing up creek and I yanked the rod up, as I pulled in slack line with my left hand. The line tightened and cut through the surface water as the steelhead raced down creek. The two fellows, to my right, brought in their lines quickly at my verbal warning. The steelhead turned toward the middle of the creek and exploded from the surface. In midair it twisted and wrenched the line with its head trying to release the hook from its mouth. It reentered the creek with a spray of water and darted downstream further as I palmed the spool for additional drag. Without notice the line went limp and the rod shaft straightened. Mt tippet looked abrasively cut as it hung below my top sucker spawn.

I stripped off a short piece of fluorocarbon and knotted this to the top sucker spawn. I look through my fly box for another treat and knot this to the end of the fluorocarbon and proceed.

With the two guys to my right I felt my best choice of hooking up to a steelhead was to fish the rough water upstream from them. They both had caught a few in the tailout and just down from them the water was shallow and appeared no fish were holding the calmer shallows. I left Jeff in a section down creek a ways from us that looked like a good section of deeper water. He had forgotten his fly boxes, when we switched vehicles, so I lent him an extra fly box of sucker spawn and gave him a few streamers. I hadn’t seen him catch anything yet but I was sure he was in a good spot.

My next few casts were in the shallow riffle that entered the turbulent water. One of my casts creased the far edge of the pool and the indicator shot towards me and dropped. I yanked the rod upstream and felt the resistance immediately. In an instant the steelhead pulled away and than darted towards me from beneath. I pulled the rod back over my shoulder and backed up a step to keep tension on the line. The steelhead turned down creek and I gave a warning to the two fellows to my right. The steelhead creased the edge of the shallow water in front of the fellows and then continued on down creek. I cautiously followed the steelhead down creek, in front of the two fellows, where I played the fish without troubling the guys any further. The steelhead had no plans on giving up as we both fought against each other trying to take control. During the struggle the line went limp and again I was left empty.

I looked down creek and saw Jeff landing a steelhead. At least one of us was able to land a fish!

I went back up to the rough water and knotted on another sucker spawn combination. As I cast out and watched my indicator for any sudden abnormal movement. As the indicator funneled into the deep outflow it dipped down and again I lifted the rod tip for the hook set. The steelhead took off down the center of the stream before I could give warning. The two fellows lifted their rods as I walked beneath their rods following the fish down creek. I was determined to land this one and not give him as much leeway during his runs. I kept pressure on him a little tighter then the others as we struggled for control. My cold wet hands kept a tight grip on the cork handle with the butt of the rod in my waste. The rod arced out towards the fighting steelhead and the line kept taunt with every pull and tug of the fighting fish. He struggled and tugged fiercely about churning up water when he rose towards the surface. I was able to finally get the fish to the bank and the steelhead laid helpless on the wet bank side. 

 

 

  As the day wore on we all hooked up now and then but it wasn’t as if it was one after another. The two fellows missed a few also and I landed another before one of the guys left. I moved down into the vacant spot and fished the tail out in calmer water. While I was biding my time Jeff appeared behind me and told me he was hooking up quite often and needed a few more streamers if I could lend him a couple. I handed him a couple and he offered me to join him. I told him I’ll be down soon enough. After another caught steelhead I spent another half hour before heading down creek with Jeff. He pointed to the section where he was catching the steelhead. I slowly waded out and could visually see the steelhead holding near the bottom of the creek floor. I tried a few different offering but had a hard time getting one to commit. I believe they were pretty spooky by now with Jeff hooking up earlier but I continued to tease the fish until one finally took a Triple Threat. The water instantly churned as the line tightened on my hook set. Oblong shapes scattered beneath as my hooked fish scrambled about disrupting the others calm presence. There was a lot more room to work the steelhead and I didn’t feel pressured getting him in as I did upstream with the other two guys being near. After getting the steelhead somewhat tired out I was able to get him to the bank trouble free.

 

 Jeff and I fished the rest of the day with a few more hook ups and wildly fighting fish.   

 We both wanted to get back to where I picked him up at before dark. Late afternoon we called it quits and headed towards my truck. It was a relief to get out of the wet bulky waders and out of the cold wet weather. On the drive back we talked about getting together again and where we’d be hunting deer at. I dropped him off at his truck in the Walmart parking lot. He opened up the tailgate of his truck and reached in for a bag. Sure enough he found the fly boxes he had intended to use on our steelhead outing. He thanked me again for letting him borrow some of my flies. We parted ways and I headed home.

 

 Somewhere on route 62 I took out a rewarding cigar, lit it up and enjoyed the rest of the ride home.

 ~doubletaper