Smith River on Monday

[Langenbeck]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/gordonl/Salmon6Dec2010.jpg

Went to the Smith on Tuesday. Running about 5,000 cfs. Fished near Rowdy Creek and Piling Hole. Virtually nobody there. We ran into some chrome bright fish with sea lice. My neighbor and a friend are shown with females of about 18 and 27 pounds. I hooked a beast of about 35 pounds that towed us around for 20 minutes before the hook pulled out. It was chrome as well. All taken on gold comets with black tails on either Type III or IV heads. Very, very late in the season to see chrome fish like this. We hooked a total of 5 fish.

[dbrosier]

Those are brutes, Gordon!

Single-handers with shooting heads from a pram, or were you all wading?

[Langenbeck]

single handed 10 wt rods, shooting heads out of a drift boat

[Larry S]

Great job, Gordon. Thought you were going to tell us that they were caught on that
Rogue River beadhead nymph!
Any talk of steelhead yet on the Smith?
Thanks,
Larry S

[Langenbeck]

Larry: talked to a couple locals and they said a tad early for steelhead.

[Bruce Berman]

Nice, Gordon! Sounds like a great day.

[Rick J]

it was this time last year that we were up there and had such great fishing - though we certainly did not have the many storms by this time last year to help send fish up-river

[Darian]

OK,.... The photo's of those bright, gorgeous Salmon got my attention. :eek: Been many years since I fished the Piling hole, etc. Missed the timing this year due to a lengthy recovery from my Baja escapade. Time I hauled out the ol' pram and got it ready for next fall. :nod:

A gold comet with a black tail.... That kinda sounds like the Golden Goose that enticed many a Salmon in rivers.... :D

[Rick J]

Darian - you should go now - I have been hearing that the population of jacks is down this year which may indicate a significant drop off in the salmon runs next year

[Ed Wahl]

Darian you have a pram? Where 'ya been hiding that thing?

Ed

[Darian]

Rick,... I'd love to go up there but I'm stuck around here 'til I get a release from the orthopedist (mid-January). Paying the price for all of the fun I had in La Vantana.... :D

Ed,.... I've had a TPL pram (same as Jay M's) since somewhere around 1976. It's been maintained all that time but now the fiberglass is getting old. I took it over to Keaton's to see what if anything they could do. He says it would cost just as much to repair as to build a new one. Maybe I'll donate it.... :confused:

[dpentoney]

Great looking fish......
Three things.......

A friend once took a mint bright 40 lb. salmon on the Smith in February. He told me he was never so disappointed to catch a big salmon as he thought he had on a record steelhead.

We used a lot of comets with black tails in the Eel in the '70s.

I saw two steelhead, 8 and 12 lbs., on the South Fork of the Smith at Thanksgiving
this year.