Where to begin….. It’s been a while since I was able to write a post, the past few weeks have been crazy at work and I’ve been trying to get a few things lined up for New Zealand. None the less I was able to get out with a few fishing buddies and get some much needed time on the water. I got the call late Friday night from my buddy Steve asking if I wanted to get out and fish for steelhead up in Pulaski NY, without a moment’s hesitation I said yes. With all the rainfall over the past week and the higher temperatures I knew it would be tough fishing but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to chase some NY Chrome (steelhead).
For those of you who don’t fish, a Steelhead is anadromous rainbow trout which means it makes a run, usually from an ocean, however in our case a great lake, up into the river to spawn. These fish are much bigger, and fight much harder than a rainbow you would typically find in a stream. They are often times referred to as the fish of a thousand casts due to the difficulty they present when attempting to catch one. I’ve had a few dealings with them in the past, however I was unable to take a picture due to someone, who will remain unnamed, dropping my fish back in the river before a photo could be snapped.
So at about 8 o’clock Friday night I was doing what I always do before a big fishing trip which is check all my gear and layout whatever I think I might need. Now I am normally the type to bring all my fishing gear because “you never know”, but this trip I decided on two rods and reels. I brought my 13’ two handed rod, in case we decided to hit the main river and a 9’ single hand rod for hiking it through the back country.
The Salmon River has always alluded me. I have visited it well over ten times but it always seems to get the best of me. Its harsh and unforgiving in the sense that even if you do everything right there is no guarantee you will succeed. Yet I still find myself drawn to it. As we were driving up I felt different than I normally do, I felt quietly confident. I was riding a wave of positive things happening in my life and thought this weekend may be the weekend to break the streak.
Steve and I headed out around 6:00am Saturday morning discussing tactics as we always do. With the water being as high as it was (about 6x higher than normal) we knew the main river would be unfishable. The plan we settled on was to cover a lot of ground and fish to spotted fish. We got on the river around 9 and immediately we could tell it was going to be a tough weekend. Even the smaller streams were running fast. We covered a lot of ground in the morning with, changing streams several times throughout the day, and finally ending up where we started around dusk. We had already covered a lot of the water we ended up at but there was a fork in the river that had yet to be explored. I went one way Steve another. As I moved up the stream I was beginning to lose hope, it had been a tough day and up until this point there had been no fish. I walked around a bend and saw what I thought was a shadow but wasn’t sure. I waited for a few minutes to see if it was just my eyes playing tricks on me or if it was in fact a fish. After a few tense moments I saw the shadow move again. It was a FISHHH! I was ecstatic and immediately my heart started racing. After 8 miles I had finally found a fish.
Steve had gone up the other side of the river and I didn’t want to take my eyes of the fish so I waited patiently for him to realize I might be on to something. After about 20 minutes he came strolling up the banks and saw me staring fiercely into the water. After a quick glance at one another he knew what was happening. With light fading we were rushed in our approach and made a few casts but ended up leaving the river empty handed. I was crushed, another opportunity spoiled, and the Salmon River once again getting the best of me.
We headed back to the truck discussing what went wrong and headed back to the hotel to wait for our other buddy Dehmer who was on his way up to meet us in Watertown. After discussing the day over a few beers and explaining to him the grim conditions we were facing we decided to get to bed early in hopes of getting an early start.
Back on the River at 7am hitting some different spots from the day before. It was a lot of the same. Lots of water, no fish. It was becoming a bit demoralizing, lots of great water but no fish. Nonetheless we pushed on and after trying out a few more spots decided the best chance we had was to revisit the only spot we had found fish.
As we approached the fork, I had that positive feeling start rolling up on me. For no other reason than pure hope, I thought we would see the fish we had seen the day before. We were walking up discussing how we would go about casting to them today IF they were there and Steve stopped dead in his tracks. There they were! This time there were 6 of them slowly swimming in and out of the current. We got down and crawled up to make a cast, the first was too far right, the second a bit short, the third….. Right on the money! Within a second the fish took off, sending my reel screaming! Line was ripping off as the fish turned and headed down river. As all of this was happening Steve popped up and put a cast on another fish who willingly took the fly. In the blink of an eye two of us had hooked into some nice fish! After 10 minutes of fighting both fish were brought to hand. I couldn’t help but smile, it was my first photographed Steelhead! All the hard work payed off and in an instant all the hardships faced that weekend just melted away.
As quickly as our day took a turn for the better, our buddy Dehmers took a turn for the worse. After helping land the two fish and snap the picture there were still two fish holding above a tree. We worked our way up to them stealthily and he made a few casts. They were already somewhat spooked so when the fly landed a bit too close they turn and headed down river. We waited for a bit but they were long gone. Having felt he missed his chance we decided to take the long way back to the car and walk up river JUST in case there might be a fish or two on the way. Much like the day before we made a turn around a bend and there they were. Two big steelhead slowly swimming in and out of the current. We were well downstream and made a quick game plan then moved into position. After a few casts they were still holding strong. After a few more once again the fly landed a bit too close and sent them swimming. It’s tough to swallow losing those types of opportunities and it’s a situation I think almost every Steelheader can relate to. You work so hard and even when you do everything right, there is no guarantee that you will catch fish.
Moral of the story is, sometimes you can put in all the work, do all the right things, and still not get the outcome you want. However, if you keep at it and get back up every time it knocks you down, eventually you will persevere. Steelheading has always been a game of odds, which is generally not in your favor and it makes catching one of these amazing fish that much sweeter!
Till next time, Keep em tight!
-Will
GoodWillFishin 