Krankem
05-04-2003, 07:53 PM
Seems almost like I was fishing a different place than Ausable_Steelhead and Steeldrifter....I didn't think the fishing was all that bad up there...sounds like maybe all the fish had just been worked hard by the time you guys got there maybe? I had a nice (but brief) trip - ran into Backlash (the guy who broke his foot at the highbanks this past fall), who I've met before on the pier. Started slow Friday evening. Got there about 1 hour before dark - fished about halfway between the two sets of stairs - two guys that had only been there an hour had landed three fish about 10 feet from where we set up. From what I heard, Friday had been a decent day - saw a lot of fish on stringers when we got down there.
After about half-hour, my wife landed a really nice hen on a spring wiggler pattern fly (Her first landed at the highbanks). I went 0-1 on a quick hookup. About 1 hour after dark, wife went to sleep and I fished through the night: SUCKER CITY for me all night long - I didn't hook a single steelhead all night - Not that they weren't in there though...guy about 20 yards down from me at the stairs hooked and lost plenty and had his limit by 3 am. But, I had the sucker drift all night long...You all know how that goes.
Saturday morning turned out better...1 hour before daylight, I switched my flourocarbon leader back to 5lb maxima, and first drift: FISH ON, a decent buck ~6lbs. Wife came down just before daylight, promply put a 9lb hen in the net, then fished for a while longer and decided to quit while she was 2-2 (She took it easy the rest of the morning relaxing and reading while I fished). I landed another steelie - 9.5lb hen, then took a break and went to check out a few other spots. Stopped at the boyscout camp for 20 minutes and watched 3 steelie hookups / losses. The whole river was pretty much packed with people, so just went back to the highbanks to finish off the morning. Fished again at the stairs from 10am till 11:30am...saw some idiots drift into a kid's fish accross the river, causing him to loose it. Landed and realeased a 6lb hen, and 8-9lb buck, then headed for home at 11:30.
All in all a decent Evening / Morning for us. Not a ton of hookups, but we ended up 6 for 7. All the fish we caught were chrome, most caught on egg pattern flies, which they were actively taking (all our hookups were buried solid in the inside of the mouth...in the past, a lot of my fish at the highbanks have been lined). The hens were dropping eggs. Didn't see many hooked on the shallower beds - Most of the action was in the deeper greenwater.
Hope the MS Outing goes well for all that attend...I'll be hanging up the waders and getting the boat out of the garage for the rest of the summer...See you out there again in the fall!
-Krankem
After about half-hour, my wife landed a really nice hen on a spring wiggler pattern fly (Her first landed at the highbanks). I went 0-1 on a quick hookup. About 1 hour after dark, wife went to sleep and I fished through the night: SUCKER CITY for me all night long - I didn't hook a single steelhead all night - Not that they weren't in there though...guy about 20 yards down from me at the stairs hooked and lost plenty and had his limit by 3 am. But, I had the sucker drift all night long...You all know how that goes.
Saturday morning turned out better...1 hour before daylight, I switched my flourocarbon leader back to 5lb maxima, and first drift: FISH ON, a decent buck ~6lbs. Wife came down just before daylight, promply put a 9lb hen in the net, then fished for a while longer and decided to quit while she was 2-2 (She took it easy the rest of the morning relaxing and reading while I fished). I landed another steelie - 9.5lb hen, then took a break and went to check out a few other spots. Stopped at the boyscout camp for 20 minutes and watched 3 steelie hookups / losses. The whole river was pretty much packed with people, so just went back to the highbanks to finish off the morning. Fished again at the stairs from 10am till 11:30am...saw some idiots drift into a kid's fish accross the river, causing him to loose it. Landed and realeased a 6lb hen, and 8-9lb buck, then headed for home at 11:30.
All in all a decent Evening / Morning for us. Not a ton of hookups, but we ended up 6 for 7. All the fish we caught were chrome, most caught on egg pattern flies, which they were actively taking (all our hookups were buried solid in the inside of the mouth...in the past, a lot of my fish at the highbanks have been lined). The hens were dropping eggs. Didn't see many hooked on the shallower beds - Most of the action was in the deeper greenwater.
Hope the MS Outing goes well for all that attend...I'll be hanging up the waders and getting the boat out of the garage for the rest of the summer...See you out there again in the fall!
-Krankem