Fall report: Fish 2, Me...0

I managed to race home from work today and get some much needed time on the river. Water temps are definitely dropping and the river is still full of king salmon. Some are beginning to die off, while the moldys still spar and tail around each other in large pods.

I had a good smack a few casts in on the Quillayute. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of lifting the rod and pulling the fly out of the fishes mouth.

The sun dropped below the horizon and I switched it up to a white craft fur EP style bait fish which I ran grey prismacolor down the back of to mimic an alewife or shiner. My very first cast and I felt a tremendous tug on the rod followed by rapid head shakes. I figured it to be a smallmouth and began stripping the fish in... it was then that I felt the true weight of the fish. The fish took about 40 yards of line out as my click pawl screamed. The line went tight and I finally started to gain on the fish and it surfaced with a few big splashes. It looked to be a decent brown trout. It took another small run and began shaking its head fighting in one place, like brownies usually do. I side stepped to the bank on my left and began reeling the fish in when all of a sudden *tink!* my leader broke off. The loop connection failed. It didn't matter though. It was my first evening on the river and it just felt good to be swinging flies and casting to fish again. I know what I will be working on at the vice.

As Promised....

As promised, here is some eye candy from Dec 17th. My buddy and I worked slowly through this run, he cashed in about 20 yards ahead of me with this fiesty hen brown. She absolutely crushed his pink intruder. Congrats dude!

Lake Michigan Tribs have been fishing well in Wisconsin.We have had a very moderate fall/early winter, but it looks like cold is finally here to stay. Dropping temperatures means the rivers will inevitably lock up. Until then, it will be weighted flies, sink tips and bright colors kept close to the bottom to wake fish up. So far this season has been quite productive, with good numbers of large Steelhead returning to the rivers. Lots of Browns are still in the system, some will winter over, with others returning to the harbors.

 Although this report is a few days late, here are some shots of recent fish. The Steelhead was a Thanksgiving Day bonus. The brown was brought Dec 3rd using the same fly with a great assist on the landing by my good friend Adam.