Russian river Steelhead

[Carl Blackledge]

Hey guys,

I just received a post from King's on the Russian river that they had fisherman that caught Steelhead today and they even posted a picture...The River should be in decent shape this weekend they said.

Carl

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

King's web site:

https://kingsrussianriver.wixsite.com/kingsrussianriver



King's FaceBook page:

https://www.facebook.com/kingssportandtackle/


It is only about 2 hours over to Guerneville from Sacramento?


Jeff Putnam told me that those Steelhead are a mix of hatchery and wild but all fight really well because they are close to the ocean.

[Jcolin]

There has finally been some better reports of big adult fish finally moving up the past few days. My brother got a nice hen, his first steelhead, this morning in Monte Rio, we’re going to float the river tomorrow and see how we do. It was very funny as I've been trying to get him into steelhead fishing for years, and he is not a real serious fisherman. He was messing around under the bridge with a spinning rod and a little Cleo, and hooked and landed after a 10 minute fight a good 8-9 lb wild hen on his second or third cast. Sent me a picture with a smug expression like “whats so hard about this?” I was mostly stoked for him but a little pissed off. Don't know how to post pics but will try to do so.

[Rossflyguy]

There has finally been some better reports of big adult fish finally moving up the past few days. My brother got a nice hen, his first steelhead, this morning in Monte Rio, we’re going to float the river tomorrow and see how we do. It was very funny as I've been trying to get him into steelhead fishing for years, and he is not a real serious fisherman. He was messing around under the bridge with a spinning rod and a little Cleo, and hooked and landed after a 10 minute fight a good 8-9 lb wild hen on his second or third cast. Sent me a picture with a smug expression like “whats so hard about this?” I was mostly stoked for him but a little pissed off. Don't know how to post pics but will try to do so.



Did he catch it on the fly or on conventional gear?

[Darian]

Your question was answered in the middle of the paragraph, "He was messing around under the bridge with a spinning rod and a little Cleo,...."

[Jcolin]

We floated from Guerneville to Monte Rio today, didn't hook anything but a sucker. Saw a couple fish roll. Only fish I saw hooked or heard of was one hatchery buck from a drift boat, gear fishing. Was told by several boats that the mouth had closed. Water visibility is good.

[Jcolin]

Hope this works.

[Jeff Putnam]

My favorite time to fish the Russian is on MLK day. I had a epic day with a friend below Austin Creek where we watched a school of about 40 adult steelhead swim over a tailout into the run we were fishing. No seals or fisherman around. We saw v wakes everywhere that even swam within 20 feet of us.
I landed a 13 lb adult that I hooked in 2 feet of water. It kicked my ass and showed my the color of my backing within seconds of being hooked. It was bright chrome and covered with sea lice just out of the salt. I hooked and landed 3 more fish and broke off one. My friend landed 2 around 10 lbs then his father fished behind us and landed a fish close to 15 lbs! These days are not common however, being at the right place at the right time sure helps! Good luck!

[Jcolin]

Nice jeff that’s definitely being in the right place at the right time. Had a pretty demoralizing morning today at johnsons beach, fished for an hour before work, got lowholed by a guy float fishing and stepped out of the run to go below the seasonal dam and the guy proceeded to hook two adults in 5 minutes right where i was going to swing my fly. At least theres fish in the river.

[Carl Blackledge]

Jcollin,

With all due respect, If your looking for respectful and courteous fisherman on the Russian, you just might be fishing on the wrong river? When I fish the Russian river I have NO expectations of respect from fellow fisherman bait or fly. About 30 years ago I sorta re-framed my attitude to knowing in advance i would have other people cast over my line, walk in front of me and just about anything else that would piss me off, Now when I go down there I just laugh at all the crazies and don't expect anything to be any different then just "RUDE behavior" I am not saying I like it, just the price you pay to have a lot of fish in one place and be fishing with other fisherman who just don't know any better or don't care, Just expect the worse and knowing in advance perhaps it won't wreck your day? Just saying.

Carl Blackledge

[Jcolin]

Yeah that pretty much sums it up Carl. You have to have low expectations. Floating helps you get away from it quite a bit, especially on a week day. I didn't mean to sound like I was surprised by it, grew up in Sonoma county and have fished the Russian for years and am used to it. I generally don't mind it, and enjoy the camaraderie and conversation during the shad run with everyone lined up at Johnson's, but today it just sucked because I was right on top of fish. Etiquette aside, it's also really irritating when a gear guy pulls a fish out of a run you've been swinging a fly through on his first cast, definitely not the first time that's happened to me ����