youngsteelheader
Member
post some steelhead pictures and stop ranting you old farts...lol
Steelhead fishing with a casting rod?
- Thread starter cooper99
- Start date
Dave H
Well-Known Member
After using most methods known to man including once "guddling" a steelhead, I came to fly-fishing for steelhead, initially in the Charlottes. Some success in the Yakoun, the Copper, the Deena and other places not needing to be named encouraged me and so it came to pass that when I came back to Campbell River in 1990 I was mostly chasing steel with flies.
New pals met through the Steelhead Society introduced me to the Tsitika transplants in the Campbell and finally came the day when I and two pals headed for the Tsitika itself, in pursuit of those sometimes large summer-runs in their natal stream.
Picking out a likely looking piece of water I laid out some line to which was attached a fly given me by Van Egan.
I made a couple of mends as the fly worked down the slot, let it hang a bit at the end then slowly recovered line as I brought it in for another cast. To my great surprise a large dark shape was in hot pursuit of the fly and in the end chased it almost to my feet before turning off and scooting back downstream.
After starting to breathe again I quickly put the fly back out and drifted it through.
Nothing.
Third cast brought nothing but the fourth found me strongly attached to a silver bullet that fought wildly for a short period then abruptly weakened.
I had a 10 # test tippet on my eight weight and with a few hundred steelies to my credit beforehand I wasn't babying this fish at all so quickly had it near enough to see, to my abject horror, that it was gushing blood.
My buddy Harold was at hand and helped me as I guided the fish into reach whereupon we discovered that somehow the fly must have come out of its jaw or from wherever it had been initially hooked and had then wrapped around its gill rakers, causing a huge bloodletting.
I held that fish upright in freezing water for 20 minutes, long past the time the blood flow had stopped, before it weakly swam from my frozen hands. I saw it tip a couple of times as it entered deeper water with more current but by then all I was able to do was wish it well.
Sometimes the best of intentions don't pan out for sure.
Not the big trib of the Fraser but similar enough of a story methinks.
Take care.
New pals met through the Steelhead Society introduced me to the Tsitika transplants in the Campbell and finally came the day when I and two pals headed for the Tsitika itself, in pursuit of those sometimes large summer-runs in their natal stream.
Picking out a likely looking piece of water I laid out some line to which was attached a fly given me by Van Egan.
I made a couple of mends as the fly worked down the slot, let it hang a bit at the end then slowly recovered line as I brought it in for another cast. To my great surprise a large dark shape was in hot pursuit of the fly and in the end chased it almost to my feet before turning off and scooting back downstream.
After starting to breathe again I quickly put the fly back out and drifted it through.
Nothing.
Third cast brought nothing but the fourth found me strongly attached to a silver bullet that fought wildly for a short period then abruptly weakened.
I had a 10 # test tippet on my eight weight and with a few hundred steelies to my credit beforehand I wasn't babying this fish at all so quickly had it near enough to see, to my abject horror, that it was gushing blood.
My buddy Harold was at hand and helped me as I guided the fish into reach whereupon we discovered that somehow the fly must have come out of its jaw or from wherever it had been initially hooked and had then wrapped around its gill rakers, causing a huge bloodletting.
I held that fish upright in freezing water for 20 minutes, long past the time the blood flow had stopped, before it weakly swam from my frozen hands. I saw it tip a couple of times as it entered deeper water with more current but by then all I was able to do was wish it well.
Sometimes the best of intentions don't pan out for sure.
Not the big trib of the Fraser but similar enough of a story methinks.
Take care.
Last edited:
Dennis.t
Active Member
Okay,here a few.
Attachments
Cuba Libre
Well-Known Member
Me too-- but it appeared to be stress.. Fishing broodstock for the Puntledge hatchery below the fence. (back in the day when DFO did culture steelhead before the "wild at any cost" nonsense from MOE came into effect. ) Hooked up to a slightly colored doe about 17 lbs. Played her quickly and got her in a vinyl tube. Everything seemed good---- Checked her 1/2 hr later---- DEAD! Felt like crap..
Derby
Crew Member
Yup... Had a few in my day do the samething... I believe some of them have "Heart attacks"... but if you look at the over all mort... very small and if there was a full on kill fishery a whole lot more would disappear...... sure hate when it happpens.. my 2 bits ...
Summer Steel
Member
Know how ya feel......I've lost a couple of fish over the years broodstocking on the Stamp, Nanaimo & Big Q. Fishing is a risk/reward scenario. Every time someone makes a cast, they must weigh the possible harm they could be doing to the fish verses the personal reward they seek by hooking/playing/landing said fish. Sometimes, you can do everything right, and things still turn out bad. I remember a fish I caught in the Nanaimo River one winter.....Took a stroll down to Thatcher road to see how the water looked after a big rain. It was running high and pretty dirty, but I figured, since I was there already, I would take a couple of casts. Put on a rather large chunk of orange & chartreuse wool and fired it out. About 10 minutes in, the float just buries. I set the hook and proceed to land a nice chrome sea lice 5-6 lb buck. As I am getting it close to shore where there is only about 2-3" of visibility, I see that it is bleeding profusely. I quickly slip the hook, forgo the picture and release him. Took off like a shot, but I sure saw a lot of blood for a small fish. Did he make it?? Who Knows.....but that is the chance we take with EVERY cast. Everyone's comfort level and ethical standard is different, but one thing that binds us all is, every time we take a cast, no matter what method we are fishing, we are all agreeing to accept the consequences of our actions.....no matter what our intentions.
