Steele Happens

Landed some nice steele over the weekend and had some good times with some great friends. While the bite wasn't hot and the weather was cold, it still felt good to be out on the water. I believe 21 steele made it to the net in total including a couple rookie's steele encounters. As always, many more were hooked than landed. Rather than get into the nitty gritty details of a steele trip that I would classify as "a slow pick", I'll summarize it in the following the words- "Eggs. Indicators. Patience. Persistence." And then I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story...

Gavin's (Long John Steeler's) first steele was also his first fish ever hooked on a fly rod on his very first day fly fishing. Not bad! By the end of day one he was casting the indicator set ups better than the average angler. A natural.

Zan an Endri put on an early clinic bagging five steele on Day 1 including this dark male that Zan caught twice in the fridge.

The clinic continues with Steelie Zan torching chrome

Steelegood had a few steele encounters throughout the trip including this big male

Albanian Steele proved the evening bite was just right with a bright chromer

Rumple-steele-skin got to see what combat fishing is like in the lower fly zone

After a marathon midnight run with Steele Talon, OO tasted steele early

Happy steeleheaders await first light

A nice chromer for steelie Zan

Steelegood found a pretty chrome female after exploring the papermill pool

A gentleman on the river gave Long John Steeler (Gavin) a cigar. At the SR, sharing is caring.

OO Steele does what OO Steele does, and that is steele...

There is nothing like fresh chrome, and the chrome was on fire at the SR, with epic battles the norm, not the exception

Friends helping friends net chrome

Rumple-steele-skin's first experience with steele, a 15 + pound chrome male that dominated him, taking him 250 yards downstream before wrapping him in a tree and earning freedom underneath the Altmar bridge

Refrigerator chrome that hit while the fly swung out at the end of the drift

OO battles a strong chromer

A nice 31 inch chromer that went all nutty in the refrigerator hole

Sometimes a man yearns for more than chrome, and a fresh 20+ mud shark helps pass the time

First chrome of the trip for Dr. Steelegood

Second chrome of the trip for Dr. Steelegood

Brian persevered through a slow day to best this 31 inch chrome male after an epic battle that took him well down river. His first steele on  his first day at the SR. I bet he'll be back.

OO likes his fish long lean and silver

A male that couldn't resist the old doctor's sucker spawns



Drags were burning on the SR.

Not to be forgotten, Steele Talon landed his first steele in two trips to the SR. A hard fought steele victory

In exactly one week and 4 hours, Many of us will be headed back to the SR for more steele. God help us all.