Thursday, February 19, 2004

Steelhead Marathon Enters Day Two On our way out of town this morning, the Walla2 steelhead caravan stopped at John's Wheatland Bakery, at 1828 E. Isaacs (509-522-BAKE), where owner/baker John Heard helped us load up on carbs for a day on the water. (John also serves breakfast for those who want a sit-down start-up meal.) Then it was off to the Blue Mountains again for another go at the amazing steelhead that make their way over 300 miles upriver from salt water, where we try to give them one more thing to think about before they spawn and head back to sea. First stop, Darver Tackle Shop in downtown Starbuck (pop. 250, if you count dogs and livestock, according to Verna Foley, who runs the shop with her husband, Darcy Linklater). Verna told us what we wanted to know: who had been fishing where, and which rivers were "out" or "in." (See yesterday's blog entry for the in/out on western rivers.) They cater to steelheaders and Snake River sturgeon anglers, an unlikely combination, but that's what's available out here in the high desert. Then it was off to the sign-in box for landowner-issued permits and on the water. For two hours, we leap-frogged each other from hole to hole, skipping some pretty nasty blowdowns that were probably full of fish, but where it was impossible to drift a fly. No sooner had I said "We're wasting our time; let's eat lunch," than Jon whooped "Got one!" The rest of us sloshed upriver to the deep hole where he had hooked a nice steelie while we had been trying to decide where to sit and eat. After a good tussle, Jon slid a six-pound hen onto a gravel bar and I grabbed her for a couple quick photos. This was a wild fish (no adipose clip), so we had to release her, but no one was complaining! Now we all ate lunch with gusto. Mucho gusto. We had all caught a fish and it was tie-breaker time! A few holes farther upstream, Dale worked one of his Dr. Third Eye eggs through a promising run to no avail, then turned to Pat and told him to pinch on another split shot and tie on a Streetwalker, one of the gaudiest steelhead flies I've ever seen. Well, you guessed it. First cast and "Whammo!" Pat is into a fish. Another wild hen, this baby jumped several times before we corraled her, took her picture and let her go back to business. Two more hours of tough upstream fishing yielded nada, so we hopped into the shuttle car, headed back to the put-in and then back to the scene of yesterday's successful start for the last half-hour of daylight. As often happens, the day ended with a flurry of action. Jon nailed steelie No. 2 of the day, a dark, hatchery-raised male, who decided his own fate while we were debating keep-or-release and I was trying to snap a second photo. The buck slipped off the barbless hook and scooted back into the hole. Aw, we were gonna release him anyway! Now, with light fading fast, I worked back upstream and saw a fish jump about 50 yards up. Three drifts later, I was into a nice wild buck, my first wild Western steelie, this one on an orange egg pattern with a sparse Krystal Flash hackle. Jon came up and took a photo, then we put him back. Now Jon and I were getting greedy! The fish were snapping and jumping even, so we fished the last light back to the car, and I slipped and went for a wet ride while trying to save Jon's snagged fly. Lost the fly, shipped water into my waders, but who cares! Jon had the camera, so there was no permanent damage. Ran the heater full-blast all the way back to Walla2. As I write this, my wet clothes are spinning in the Henrys' dryer. I'm bushed. Jon's ecstatic. "Remember what I said this morning?" he reminded me. "I'm gonna catch two today." Damned if he didn't! One more day of this is about all I can take, so we're going to give it a half day tomorrow morning, then drag ourselves back to Seattle. This is more fun than even I anticipated, but you figured that out already, eh? Later... 11:00:22 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2004 Dan Small. Last update: 3/5/04; 7:35:08 AM.