loganmike
12-20-2008, 02:14 PM
I left the bay area around 10 on Thursday, I did not have to give another final until Saturday morn which meant I had 1.5 days to fish and get back in time to torture my students one last time.
I arrived at the river of the sasquatch around 1 pm and walked up river to a few runs that I have been advised to fish on the swing. I had my old dog sit down, stepped in at the head of the run, and proceeded to whack away. And whack away i did, and whack some more, wait there was a roll cast, and then whack some more. Taking about 5 casts until I stepped down river about 3 feet.
Alright, 2 hours at this run and I figured I had scared everything away for the next week at least. Hell, those fish had to be putting their fins on over their eyes at the site of this. UH-GE-LEY.
I gathered the old dog and walked down river a mile or so. I remembered good water down there. I got down to the run about 4:15 and was too tired to proceed to hump a basketball again, so we walked back to the parking area. Now it had started to rain, and rain good.
I stopped at a run near the parking area and figured what the hell, it is very narrow and REALLY fast but i had nymphed out of here a year ago, that and I could probably cast to the opposite bank being it is only 15 feet away. I was right.
Well, 5 casts later, and now it is getting REALLY dark. I had about 5 m,inutes before I had to be done fishing, at least that is what I called it, an observer would not call it that, when tuggy tug tug, and then RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIP. LIne out, 50 yards down stream, fish jump once, twice, three times a lady. I was told by my friends that on the swing you do not set the hook, the fish hook itself. SO I watch my reel for a solid 6 seconds and think, well WTF am I suppossed to do now. I gently lift the rod and decide I need to put the breaks on.
I bring the big girl close and get her to hand, I have no way to measure so set her next to the spey rod as I am waist deep in water and from tail to nose she is half an inch short of the end of the cork on the handle. Come later to find out that she was about 24 inches.
Should I cast one more time. nope, to the car, PBR and bag of chips, then off to a friends for the night.
We ate at hooters and I ate far too many 911 wings budweiser, and vodka. my butt burned the next day!
We arrive at the river around 9:30 the next morn and hike WAY up river. My buddy Ryan gave me some pointers and after 2 hours of flogging the water I finally hit utopioa. I was casting a spey rod, I was even shooting line, it was freaking unbelieveable!!!!!
I was casting all day, notice; not catching, but casting. Until the last run. Then I almost fell in the river. But I perervered and at the end of the run where I put the fish down the day before TUG TUG TUGGITY and RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIP. Same scenario, I decide the fish is hooked and put a little pressure and 3 back flips and a few tail walks later I have a 24 inch bright chrome hen near me again. NOW, let me give you a pointer, don't pull the fish up river when it is close to you, angle the rod down and towards the bank, cuz what happened is this fish was about 14 inches from my hand, the rod was up stream, Ryan asked where the camera was, I cursed at him for saying the C word, almost like saying the N word when the fish is still swimming.
Well, this second steelhead on the swing heard the word camera, felt the misplaced rod, flipped it's middle adipose fin at me, jumped about chest high and spit the hook really hard at my face.
All I could do was laugh.
LIFE IS GOOD.
PS The rio windcutter comes with a floating tip as well as the sinking tips, you need to take that floating tip off before putting the sink tip on to get it to cast anywhere, I learned that on day 2 when Ryan told me that he has seen gorillas hump basketballs more gracefully than my spey cast. Well, once the floater was removed, I was the one humping basketballs.
WAIT a minute... ahhh, whatever, life is good and I am learning how to spey cast:)
me
I arrived at the river of the sasquatch around 1 pm and walked up river to a few runs that I have been advised to fish on the swing. I had my old dog sit down, stepped in at the head of the run, and proceeded to whack away. And whack away i did, and whack some more, wait there was a roll cast, and then whack some more. Taking about 5 casts until I stepped down river about 3 feet.
Alright, 2 hours at this run and I figured I had scared everything away for the next week at least. Hell, those fish had to be putting their fins on over their eyes at the site of this. UH-GE-LEY.
I gathered the old dog and walked down river a mile or so. I remembered good water down there. I got down to the run about 4:15 and was too tired to proceed to hump a basketball again, so we walked back to the parking area. Now it had started to rain, and rain good.
I stopped at a run near the parking area and figured what the hell, it is very narrow and REALLY fast but i had nymphed out of here a year ago, that and I could probably cast to the opposite bank being it is only 15 feet away. I was right.
Well, 5 casts later, and now it is getting REALLY dark. I had about 5 m,inutes before I had to be done fishing, at least that is what I called it, an observer would not call it that, when tuggy tug tug, and then RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIP. LIne out, 50 yards down stream, fish jump once, twice, three times a lady. I was told by my friends that on the swing you do not set the hook, the fish hook itself. SO I watch my reel for a solid 6 seconds and think, well WTF am I suppossed to do now. I gently lift the rod and decide I need to put the breaks on.
I bring the big girl close and get her to hand, I have no way to measure so set her next to the spey rod as I am waist deep in water and from tail to nose she is half an inch short of the end of the cork on the handle. Come later to find out that she was about 24 inches.
Should I cast one more time. nope, to the car, PBR and bag of chips, then off to a friends for the night.
We ate at hooters and I ate far too many 911 wings budweiser, and vodka. my butt burned the next day!
We arrive at the river around 9:30 the next morn and hike WAY up river. My buddy Ryan gave me some pointers and after 2 hours of flogging the water I finally hit utopioa. I was casting a spey rod, I was even shooting line, it was freaking unbelieveable!!!!!
I was casting all day, notice; not catching, but casting. Until the last run. Then I almost fell in the river. But I perervered and at the end of the run where I put the fish down the day before TUG TUG TUGGITY and RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIP. Same scenario, I decide the fish is hooked and put a little pressure and 3 back flips and a few tail walks later I have a 24 inch bright chrome hen near me again. NOW, let me give you a pointer, don't pull the fish up river when it is close to you, angle the rod down and towards the bank, cuz what happened is this fish was about 14 inches from my hand, the rod was up stream, Ryan asked where the camera was, I cursed at him for saying the C word, almost like saying the N word when the fish is still swimming.
Well, this second steelhead on the swing heard the word camera, felt the misplaced rod, flipped it's middle adipose fin at me, jumped about chest high and spit the hook really hard at my face.
All I could do was laugh.
LIFE IS GOOD.
PS The rio windcutter comes with a floating tip as well as the sinking tips, you need to take that floating tip off before putting the sink tip on to get it to cast anywhere, I learned that on day 2 when Ryan told me that he has seen gorillas hump basketballs more gracefully than my spey cast. Well, once the floater was removed, I was the one humping basketballs.
WAIT a minute... ahhh, whatever, life is good and I am learning how to spey cast:)
me