Friday, November 27, 2009

Methow Steel II

What better way to spend "Black Friday" than fishing for steelhead in the almost pitch black early morning hours? I took Katie (Anderton) and her friend John (Maughan) up to the Methow as they wanted to go fishing. After warning them that some people fish for several years before catching their first steelhead, John proceeded to hook and land about a 24" wild steelhead within about 5 minutes of his first cast! I'd like to say it was the quality of the guiding service, but we know that's not true. He lost another one a short time later. Both of these in the hole above the bridge (if you have a need to know, you know which bridge). We moved downstream, where I hooked and briefly fought a nice one in the hole at the bend before losing it. It was a gorgeous morning, a great day to be on the river, and a very memorable one for John. And Katie did a pretty good job of handling a fly rod, too! Great job!



Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Search for Steel on the Tucannon....

was unsuccessful. Spent 4 hours at a stretch of the Tucannon I had visited before. Caught a 15" bull trout in the first hole on a purple egg-sucking leech (sorry, no photos). Landed a couple 10" rainbows later, and turned a couple more. Pretty slow morning. The river has changed quite a bit from when I visited a few years ago. Not nearly has many holes, several new channels. I don't think there will be a repeat trip here this year.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Methow Steel

A quick early morning trip to the Methow was rewarded with a small non-clipped steelie to hand and another of unknown genetic heritage fought and lost within the first hour. Thanks for the photo, Dad. Then dweebs showed up in the downstream river, cutting off my access to additional water. So we packed up and came home. Caught on pegged bead - thanks, Tom!