Far North Report

[John H]

I got some drought relief recently with a trip north. It was my first time fishing for steelhead north of about Rogue so I did not know what to expect. We found a lot of rain and some snow but thankfully found the rivers in good shape. We found an abundance of anglers of almost every stripe - two handers, one handers, pluggers, side drifters, boondogglers, plunkers and gill netters. We found they all got along pretty well with the exception of the gill netters. We found something called a plunker shack which is sort of like a fishing hide out. We found a hole in our raft but also found a back up raft. We found the parking lot of the motel full of angler vehicles on Saturday night. We found a good bakery and a good bar & grill. We found point and shoot cameras stink in low light. Most importantly we found a few fish. Not a lot but enough and some nice ones.

A couple of river shots.

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa22/jhodgson55/OP/Float3.jpg (http://s203.photobucket.com/user/jhodgson55/media/OP/Float3.jpg.html)

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa22/jhodgson55/OP/Float5.jpg (http://s203.photobucket.com/user/jhodgson55/media/OP/Float5.jpg.html)

A few of the fish. I would not be surprised if the marks on the first one are from a gill net escape.

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa22/jhodgson55/OP/SH4.jpg (http://s203.photobucket.com/user/jhodgson55/media/OP/SH4.jpg.html)

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa22/jhodgson55/OP/SH10.jpg (http://s203.photobucket.com/user/jhodgson55/media/OP/SH10.jpg.html)

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa22/jhodgson55/OP/SH8.jpg (http://s203.photobucket.com/user/jhodgson55/media/OP/SH8.jpg.html)

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa22/jhodgson55/OP/SH7.jpg (http://s203.photobucket.com/user/jhodgson55/media/OP/SH7.jpg.html)

Raft injury at the put in.

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa22/jhodgson55/OP/photo.jpg (http://s203.photobucket.com/user/jhodgson55/media/OP/photo.jpg.html)

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I am glad that some still are going on the long trips north for wild winter run steelhead.

Great report and smoken' hot photos of really fresh run sexy steelhead too.

Thanks John....



**I have been lucky in my life time to catch some large fresh wild steelhead on a fly.

Today it is mostly just old memories but they are still very vivid.

I am so happy that Spey fishing has brought back the classic methods of swinging flies for Steelhead.

.

[winxp_man]

John great report and seems like you to had some success :)

Also yes that is gill net marks on that fish. I'm super surprised that they even allow gill netting during this time on rivers up there! Either way yes they are least most anglers of any type of gear get along with!

Thanks for sharing!

[Larry S]

John,
All in all, sounds like a pretty good outing. Sorry to read about the raft. Fixable?
Nice looking fish. Curious; where are the nets located?
Best,
Larry S

[WinterrunRon]

I could spend all weekend on the run in the first pic. Classic stufff. Very solid looking fish. Pacific Northwest fishing... the dream is alive.

Thanks for posting.

Ron