The weather finally warmed up and off I went to Steelhead fish once more! Four days on the river would surely be enough time to quench my thirst for these silver bullets, I thought. I had the misfortune of breaking a $400 float rod on the first day and had to buy another one in order to continue fishing. At $150, it would make a good spare and off I went back fishing. First cast out, I was into another fish, but this time it was a brown trout of about 5 pounds. Nice way to test a new rod I thought and continued fishing. By the end of the day I had landed 2 browns and 3 steelhead, up to 7 pounds. Day 2 proved to be the same with another 2 browns and 3 more steelies added to the total. Both days saw the weather quite pleasant with little to no wind and air temps in the mid to upper 40’s. On the third morning, we began with temps over 50 and winds around 20 mph. I was going to be meeting Dave & Jeff around 10:00, so I thought I would fish for a couple of hours before they arrived. Within 15 minutes I had hooked into a brown trout of about 4 pounds and realized that everything was changing. The air temps were dropping quickly and the winds were really getting stronger. I took a drive and spent about 90 minutes just looking for places that we would be able to fish. The winds eventually got up to gusts of over 70 mph making over 90% of the river impossible to fish. I would have my work cut out for me trying to initiate these two into steelhead fishing. By the time they got to fish, the temps had fallen to 28 degrees and the winds were at full strength. I think the wind chill was about 20 below! We spent over three hours in one area that had the best protection from Mother Nature, but came up just cold. I decided that we needed to warm up and headed back to the truck and Dunkin Donuts. We fished for another hour or so in the second area and had three hookups only to have Jeff land his first steelhead of about 2 pounds. Dave had a good one on, but unfortunately lost it when the hook pulled out. Tough day to say the least! The next morning we met for breakfast at 6:30 in a freezing cold blizzard. Air temps were a chilly 8 degrees and wind chill had to be more like 30 below! We met back at 8:00 and headed out in slightly better weather when the snow & wind calmed down. The ice freeze up on the guides was so bad that we had to warm the rods up as well as our bodies a couple of times during the day. Dave managed to land a small rainbow around 2 pounds, but lost a couple of beauties in this miserable weather. With no fault of his, they just came off! At least one of them was over 10 pounds and as fresh as they come. Too bad he didn’t get at least one of them to the net for a picture! The weather should begin to warm back up again soon and I will be back out once more. These steelhead are just too addictive to not want more!

With the unbelievably warm weather pattern we have had, I decided to head back out for steelhead in the U.S. For three days I fished in temperatures between 50 & 60 degrees. If this isn’t Global Warming, I don’t know what is! The snow is all but gone and the rivers are spring like in flow. Unfortunately the water temperatures drop when all this is in motion, causing the fish to sometimes become more lethargic than usual. It’s sort of like putting ice into a drink to make it colder! The first day Jim & I had to travel plenty in order to get the 15 or so hits we had. Most of them were smaller than we had hoped for, but fun never the less. The largest fish landed would have been a brown trout over 5 pounds. As usual, the largest steelhead never gave us a chance for a photo as they managed to get off somewhere along the fight! On the second day I fished with Tom & Jim and the fishing was even tougher with Tom landing his first steelhead minutes before dark. A few browns were caught during the day and several hits were missed along the way as well. Jim had a brief encounter with a screamer that schooled him immediately! The third day had me making even more changes as we decided to take a long walk to areas that are usually less pressured. After about fifteen minutes into the fishing day, Tom locked into a real giant of a steelhead. This fish would have gone close to 15 pounds if we ever actually landed her. Unfortunately she was dime bright & full of energy and had other intentions. I had to travel a long way downstream with Tom to try and gain back some of the line she was spooling from the reel, but eventually the leader just gave out. Minutes after Tom was back fishing, he was into another fish and tight to battle once again. Another big steelhead and seconds later, gone! He finally managed to land one but it was rather small by comparison. This went on for the next 45 minutes with Tom hooking into about 7 or so fish, all chrome. I managed to get in a few casts during this ordeal and landed a brown trout & lost another steelhead. The rest of the day was spent traveling up river to try and intercept some of the fish we battled unsuccessfully. Hindsight should have had us stay put and work the area completely as we never touched another fish for the balance of the day. Migrating fish are always tough to locate and with the low, colder water lately, even harder. All in all, it was a good trip, but the landing ratio could have been somewhat better with most of the fish hooked, getting off. I can’t wait to get back and get even!

I headed back down to the states to steelhead fish once again as the weather was just too good to pass up. The air temps were in the mid to upper 30’s with occasional winds from the S/W gusty at times. A light rain began sometime after noon and lasted for the balance of the day. Jim & I fished hard to get the 12 or so bites that we received, but it was well worth every minute on the river. The largest steelhead landed probably went 6 or 7 pounds but as usual, the bigger ones just got off! Day two saw a light rain in the morning that just lasted all day long! I contemplated heading home early, but was glad that I decided against it. I felt like I had the river to myself, as there was literally no one around where I fished. On my third drift I was locked up with a beautiful steelhead that went ballistic as I drove the hook home. After landing the male of almost 6 pounds and letting him go, I set up for another drift and immediately was tight to another fish. This time however, it was a spawned out brown trout of about 4 pounds. Too bad, I needed the eggs! A couple more hook-ups and released fish later I decided to try another pool nearby. First drift through, the float went down and I was temporarily locked into another steelhead until she cut me off quite high up the leader. Another cast and another immediate hook-up! This was the way it was to be for about three hours, as I must have hooked into 15 or 20 beautiful chromers. Most of the fish were above 7 pounds with a few going over 10 pounds. I even caught one of the 4 or so fish that broke me off right on the hook-set. It seems that they were engulfing the sacs so far into their throat that my line was getting cut off when they closed their mouths. A six-inch piece of fluorocarbon was protruding from the landed steelhead as I released her back to fight again. To experience this type of day was unbelievable, but to be there alone was unheard of! By 2:00 P.M. I had enough and headed home. What an excellent day this was to be fishing!

The Christmas holidays have always been a good time for both my wife, Christiane & I to head back down to New York State & fish for Steelhead. By arriving around midday Tuesday, we only had about three hours to actually fish. Fortunately, we started in the right spot as we intercepted a small school of fresh fish & caught a bunch of them. Probably 12 or so fish were hooked and many of them were landed up to almost 4 pounds. These fish put up an incredible fight, as every last one was dime bright. As usual, the largest one did manage to get off when she bolted down river through the rapids. The second & third day were no different as we managed to get into more steelhead and even some brown trout on both occasions. One of the best battles occurred on the third afternoon as a fresh fish of at least thirteen pounds gave me a 15-minute fight. When the float went down the fish went crazy as I slammed the hook home. I can’t count how many jumps & long runs she made and had to follow her down river to another pool just to land her. A few quick photos and back she went to the depths of this hole to fight another day. Each of these two days were seeing about 6 to 10 hookups not counting all the juvenile par that wouldn’t leave the eggs alone! We must have caught over 30 of the small rainbows in the 6 to 8 inch size. I even landed a small Atlantic Salmon of 12 to 14 inches amongst them. On the final day we hooked up with Randy Jones, a drift boat captain & had a great time floating & fishing our way down river. Randy has been a guide on the Salmon River & local tribs for over 20 years & had a lot to teach us about specific areas that the fish winter over as well as transitional holding spots. He is incredibly knowledgeable on various techniques needed to hook & land these fish from the fall through the spring. To sum him up in just a few words, I would have to say he is a gentleman & an educator! The detail that he delivers in all his explanations can definitely benefit those of us willing to learn. I know that I have even more confidence now, by spending just one day with him. We hooked into about 8 fish during the day on fresh egg sacs as well as skein. Both browns & steelhead were once again caught with the best being saved for last. This was the second incredible battle in the last two days that was to last almost 15 minutes. For anyone that doesn’t think these fish fight that hard when the water is barely 33 degrees, you are sadly mistaken! Once more, the jumps and runs were spectacular as she went airborne at least 5 times and burnt probably 100 yards of line from the reel. I actually had to leave the boat and chase her just to gain back some line in the process. Fortunately, Randy was there with the net as we finally won the fight. A fresh, female chromer of at least 11 pounds was what we were rewarded with. After a couple of shots with the camera, she was returned unharmed. Catch & Release has become a huge part of why these fish provide so much pleasure to the angler and Randy really promotes it as well. Hats off to him for fulfilling a dream while educating others in the process! You can contact him at www.yankeeangler.com for more information as well as a booking date. He will definitely make you trip a great memory!

I was back out Steelhead fishing for the past 4 days in New York State when I heard that the weather would be too cold to fish for smallmouth bass. The first couple of days I fished with Keith and the last two days I fished with Serge & his father, Raymond. The air temperatures were well below freezing most every day with 25 to 28 being about the warmest. Water temps were around 35 degrees and it snowed practically every day as well. The fishing was a little slower than I had hoped for, but we still averaged 4 fish per day. Egg sacs accounted for the bulk of the steelhead but flies caught a few also. Egg sacs drifted below floats were definitely the best choice as over 75% of the fish were caught with this method of presentation. Most of the fish were smaller than I expected but we had a few between 5 & 7 pounds that put up quite a battle. As an added bonus, several brown trout were also mixed in with the steelhead that we caught. They also averaged 5 to 7 pounds and supplied me with some well-needed eggs for tying! The largest Steelhead may have gone around 10 pounds or so, but as usual the biggest one got away! All in all, a pretty good trip with all that Mother Nature had to offer!