The Curse Is Broken

I was beginning to think my new fishing hat was bad luck.  After getting a new fishing hat, I have lost several fish.  Last week I broke a fly rod trying to land a steelhead.  First time I've ever broken a rod.

Well, if there was a curse, it is officially broken.

Pick up your beer cans

Yesterday, I fished a coastal stream I hadn't fished before. It was a pretty creek and full of steelhead smolt and small cutthroats. I kept thinking there had to be steelhead around, but hadn't caught anything over 6 inches. As I pushed further downstream, I still was hooking tiny fish left and right (luckily with barbless hooks if you let slack into the line you can get the fish off without even having to bring it in). So, I decide to head upstream. I noticed some beer cans where I parked, so I picked them up and threw them in the back of the truck. I headed upstream fishing anywhere that looked inviting. Still no luck. I finally reached a little bit of a canyon. There was a really inviting run that looked like it had to have a fish. First cast and I appeared to hang up on the bottom. Then, as sometimes happens but not as often as I'd like, the bottom started to move. (I'm not sure why steelhead seem to be slow to react to getting hooked sometimes. Maybe it's only fish that are used to being hooked that react right away, I'm not sure.) After a few headshakes the fish ran upstream, racing to get under a rock ledge. Knowing that this almost surely meant my line snapping on the rock, I pulled back. I felt the line go limp and thought the fly had come free. To my surprise I saw him leap clear out of the water towards me and then head across the stream. Somehow he was still on. I managed to get below him in some soft water and went to tail him. As I went to close my hand he realized the situation he was in and bolted downstream. I raced down after him, hoping not to trip or find a deep pocket of water. I managed to get my line back reeled in and finally tailed him. It was an exciting capper to a good morning on some new water. (For the record, there are no pictures since the camerawoman was asleep in the truck. EDIT: She did help pick up beer cans.)

When I got back to the truck I realized there were more beer cans that I hadn't picked up. I apologize because I'm about to get a little preachy. I have no problem with people drinking beer in the woods or shooting their cans in the woods as long as you're safe about it. BUT, if you are going to do this, please pick up after yourselves. There were probably 20 beer cans in this small area that we picked up. Next time they go out there to do this they will probably realize someone picked them up. They will probably think one of two things. 1) "Looks like we have a maid who cleans up after us, let's just leave our trash out here again." OR 2) "Looks like someone picked up our trash. Maybe we should do that ourselves this time." I guess we'll see, but I'm hoping there won't be a pile of shot up beer cans next time.

(For some reason almost surely was the phrase of the day yesterday. Sometimes math just creeps into my head and takes over I guess.)

Chrome

Here are my first two underwater shots with the new camera. It's a little difficult taking pictures of bigger fish by yourself (especially with no net), but I thought these were pretty good. Also, here's a scenery shot.

Steel

Today was a good day. I caught some fish and enjoyed one of my favorite places in Oregon. It's a race with steelhead between me and them to see if I can get my camera out before they revive. So, I only took a picture of one. I also took a picture of a steelhead that was hanging around with me. He decided to take up the spot of the bigger fish I caught vacated. He was pretty ragged, so I don't think I was helping natural selection but I think I made his day.

Small Stream Getaway

Last winter I made it out to fish for steelhead four times and caught one fish and lost another. I thought this was a pretty good record, especially since I caught one my first time out. I tried my hand at summer steelhead only to lose several fish hooked. Then, this winter I have struggled and only had fish on for about 5 seconds. I don’t view fishing for steelhead the same way as trout fishing. I can have a great day trout fishing and not even come close to catching a fish, but for steelhead it’s a different story. The crowds wear on me and there are no hatches to match.
I feel different about small coastal streams where the crowds are nonexistent and the fish (the few there are) are wild. Any time you combine small creeks with few people and big fish there’s a good chance I am going to love it. So, I headed to this coastal stream in search of steelhead and better yet solitude. Luckily, I found both. After managing to spook a few fish in the clear water I hooked into a nice male. At first he was happy running upstream and so was I since this was easy to control and I figured this would tire him out. This wasn’t his plan though and he bolted downstream. I “sprinted” down after him treading water and trying not to fall. He was headed straight for a downed tree. I figured this was the end but ducked under the tree where there was a big enough gap between tree and water. The run had stopped and I feared that I was hung up on the tree. Then he bolted straight downstream. With the reel screaming and me trying to chase after him I prayed that this would be the one to end the drought. After such a long run I could see he was tired and I pulled him in and tailed him. My first native steelhead! I wanted a picture. Of course this meant the camera didn’t want to work. By the time I had the camera ready so was my fish. I let him go without a picture in hopes that in a couple winters I might be able catch one of offspring. I felt satisfied and this gives me an excuse to go again.