Chris Laskodi
03-08-2010, 08:20 PM
I've fished the San Lorenzo River in the Santa Cruz Mountains off and on the past three years. I finally landed my first adult on the river Saturday night. I probably averaged at least 5 trips/year during steelhead season, although this season I only managed to get out there three times.
I decided to make a run Saturday afternoon and was pleasantly surprised at the lack of crowds. The water was the highest I had ever fished it ~350 cfs. Water color was perfect with about 2-2.5 feet of visibility. I think the high water levels scared off a bunch of people but it actually made fly fishing easier since the traditional holes were more like runs. I walked about a mile in from where I parked my car at a popular hole. It looked great but no one was home.
With these high water levels, swinging flies is quite possible, the normal holes that were usually 50 feet long were now runs that were 50 yards long, perfect for swinging. Unfortunately didn't have any of my versileaders or a line that could turn over a big fly so I stuck with the indicator.
I made my way downstream noting the areas that I normally fish were ripping with flow 3 times what I normally fish. I made my way to one of the most popular holes on the river, if not the most popular. I started my way at the top and worked my way down. I got down to where the rocks dumped into a deep hole and this would have been the end of the line. I fished this hard since I knew if there was a fish in the river it would be here.
I finally got a good drift along the far seam and my indicator slowly dipped about 50 feet below me. I set the hook and a there was a huge swoosh in the water. After being skunked so many times on the river I was sort of in denial of an actual adult fish hitting my offering. I knew what it was but I still didn't believe it. I kept on saying it was a smolt but my 7 wt was bent way too much for that.
The fish didn't really fight much at first. It acted like it didn't even know it was hooked. I got it almost to the leader when all hell broke loose. The fish saw me and made a run downstream almost into the rapids below. I put the brakes on figuring I'd either break it off or stop it. Well in case you were wondering, I stopped it. But once I did that it zoomed upstream jumping into an overhanging tree upstream of me. I thought for sure that I had lost the fish due to the huge belly in the line from the fish. It was awesome seeing my line and rod bent 45 degrees downstream and the fish jumping 45 degrees upstream of me.
That was the biggest scare of the fight. The fight then turned into a tug of war with the fish making a few more runs towards the rapids but I stopped it each time. I slowly brought the fish in eventually it turned on its side, meaning it was done. I now had another problem. The rock I was standing on where I hooked, fought, and then had to land the fish was on the edge of a huge hole with nowhere to go. It probably took me 5 or 6 tries to slide the fish into an area where I could tail it.
I finally put my hand around its tail and saw my rig firmly embedded in the top jaw of the fish. It looked to be in the bony part of the mouth, that fish wasn't going anywhere with that hookset. After taking a few pictures I let the chrome wild hen go. She was right around 27" and about 7 or 8 pounds. A perfect fish to end my 3 year drought.
Apologies for the pictures again, taken with my cell phone.
I decided to make a run Saturday afternoon and was pleasantly surprised at the lack of crowds. The water was the highest I had ever fished it ~350 cfs. Water color was perfect with about 2-2.5 feet of visibility. I think the high water levels scared off a bunch of people but it actually made fly fishing easier since the traditional holes were more like runs. I walked about a mile in from where I parked my car at a popular hole. It looked great but no one was home.
With these high water levels, swinging flies is quite possible, the normal holes that were usually 50 feet long were now runs that were 50 yards long, perfect for swinging. Unfortunately didn't have any of my versileaders or a line that could turn over a big fly so I stuck with the indicator.
I made my way downstream noting the areas that I normally fish were ripping with flow 3 times what I normally fish. I made my way to one of the most popular holes on the river, if not the most popular. I started my way at the top and worked my way down. I got down to where the rocks dumped into a deep hole and this would have been the end of the line. I fished this hard since I knew if there was a fish in the river it would be here.
I finally got a good drift along the far seam and my indicator slowly dipped about 50 feet below me. I set the hook and a there was a huge swoosh in the water. After being skunked so many times on the river I was sort of in denial of an actual adult fish hitting my offering. I knew what it was but I still didn't believe it. I kept on saying it was a smolt but my 7 wt was bent way too much for that.
The fish didn't really fight much at first. It acted like it didn't even know it was hooked. I got it almost to the leader when all hell broke loose. The fish saw me and made a run downstream almost into the rapids below. I put the brakes on figuring I'd either break it off or stop it. Well in case you were wondering, I stopped it. But once I did that it zoomed upstream jumping into an overhanging tree upstream of me. I thought for sure that I had lost the fish due to the huge belly in the line from the fish. It was awesome seeing my line and rod bent 45 degrees downstream and the fish jumping 45 degrees upstream of me.
That was the biggest scare of the fight. The fight then turned into a tug of war with the fish making a few more runs towards the rapids but I stopped it each time. I slowly brought the fish in eventually it turned on its side, meaning it was done. I now had another problem. The rock I was standing on where I hooked, fought, and then had to land the fish was on the edge of a huge hole with nowhere to go. It probably took me 5 or 6 tries to slide the fish into an area where I could tail it.
I finally put my hand around its tail and saw my rig firmly embedded in the top jaw of the fish. It looked to be in the bony part of the mouth, that fish wasn't going anywhere with that hookset. After taking a few pictures I let the chrome wild hen go. She was right around 27" and about 7 or 8 pounds. A perfect fish to end my 3 year drought.
Apologies for the pictures again, taken with my cell phone.