Friday, February 20, 2004

Steelhead Marathon ends with another flurry Jon and I said good-bye to our freinds in W2 and headed back to the Blue Mountains for our last hurrah, arriving at the river late in the morning. The day was sunny, breezy and cool. The water showed a little greenish snowmelt color, just enough to obscure the deeper runs. We went straight to the run where I hooked two steelies and landed one on our first day, but there were no takers. Jon worked upstream to the next run and soon hooked a fish on the orange Krystal Egg I caught my fish on last night. He was using my Cabela's Stowaway rod today, as he found the Cabela's FT model he used yesterday a bit stiff for these fish. I brought all 8-weight pack rods, to facilitate switching reels without worrying about lines matching rods. I went back to my St. Croix Legend Ultra, which has enough backbone for any fish we would encounter, yet enough midsection flex for flipping three splitshot and a fly. I had just caught a whitefish when he hooked that steelie, so I released the whitie, dropped my rod and headed upstream to lend a hand. Like a dope, I whipped out my camera as Jon worked the fish toward shore, hoping to snap a few action shots before grabbing the fish. I got one photo, but the fish slipped the hook and swam back to safety. Bummer! Jon shrugged and went right back to the run. "Where did you get it?" I asked. "Right about THERE!" he said, as another fish took the fly in exactly the same lie. This one was clearly a male, its dark stripe flashing in the sun. The first had most likely been a hen. They were probably a pair. Twenty seconds later, fish number-two broke the leader when it turned and went downstream. My fault, actually, as I had not retied the fly since last night! We clipped the leader back, tied on three feet of 10-pound Maxima, then a Skykomish Sunrise, the closest thing to that last Krystal Egg. The hole that had produced Jon's second fish last night showed us nothing, so we broke for lunch. Faced with a five-hour drive back to Seattle, we fished one deep hole that ate the Sunrise, then decided to give our last half hour to the spot where Jon hooked those two fish this morning. He worked that lie for ten minutes, while I fished the run below him again. Then, we swapped runs and damned if he didn't hook another fish on a Dr. Third Eye, right where I had been! As he worked this dark-striped buck close to shore, I could clearly see its intact adipose: another wild steelie! Before I could grab it, tho, the fish shook free. Three fish hooked in less than an hour, and nothing to show but one action photo. Jon drove my rental Mitzu Endeavor all the way back to Seattle, while I dozed off and on, waking only to check out the 1-800-HAY TARP sign at the big hay storage facility on I-90, and of course to gaga at the Columbia when we crossed it. Jill Wood had invited us to check out the art gallery in the Starbuck Cafe and Saloon, but I'm afraid that will have to wait until next year. Don't worry, we'll be back! Final tally, for anyone who cares: 11 steelhead hooked, 7 landed. Fly score: Dr. Third Eye: 6; Krystal Egg: 3; Streetwalker: 2. Tomorrow, I'll be going solo somewhere on the Olympic Peninsula, assuming I can find a river that is still open! Stay tuned for the big wrap-up tomorrow. Later... 3:23:07 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2004 Dan Small. Last update: 3/5/04; 7:32:19 AM.