Cleveland Steele Part 2

Getting back to my previous post, the team at Scott were really helpful in getting my rod back to me in time for the day my buddies and I were set to spend on the Chagrin River.

Since getting it back, I've been able to spend two days out there: one being the first trip and the second just a morning on my own.

The first trip was great. Our guide Bob met us in a Little League complex parking lot alongside the river and set Chris and Tom up - waders, boots, rods, etc. Chris had gotten Tom this trip as a birthday present and they were both coming out for their first fly fishing experience and were kind enough to let me tag along.

Bob, Chris, Tom, and I made our way from the ball fields to a side street and down to the river to get our lines wet. The temps and water levels were both low and the bite overall was really slow. Tom landed his first fish on the fly ever - and a nice specimen at that - and that was pretty much how the day went. One fish between the three of us and not much action at all. 

Tom on the bite

Bob and Tom after Tom landed his first fish on the fly and the only fish of the trip 

Not discouraged though, I went back out when the temps warmed up a bit - the same weekend Dr. Steelegood and Clark had their day. The results were much more promising. The spot I originally wanted to plant myself was where Tom, Chris, and I first went; but there were three guys and two dogs headed there just as I got to the parking lot. So I audibled and hiked a little bit downriver to another pool.

After the sun rose, I spent about an hour in one pool, not having much success. Changed to a white woolly bugger pattern with a multicolored egg pattern trailing behind and moved to a spot that had just cleared out. Spent about 30 minutes here and finally got a fish on...and I'm still not sure what it was - definitely not a trout. 

So I keep throwing this pattern out for about 10 more minutes and FINALLY I realize what I'd been missing out on for all these years. Landed a nice-sized bit o' Cleveland Steele: 

Moved along up the river to a small set of rapids where I lost one fiddling around trying to get to a spot where I could safely land it. But all in all, I was stoked on the day's results. 

Planning to go back out one day this week as the water levels are rising due to some out of season rain and warm temps. Will report back with some updates.

That Road West...

Here in the Northeast it's been a long, cold winter, cold enough to reduce a man's testicles by half and long enough to send them fleeing into his body in search of warmth, to drop only at the sight of the bluewater in July. Let's just say we are all glad to see the winter release it's death grip, God help us come December 2015, moving south may soon be the only option...

In light of warmer weather, Dr. Steelegood, Albanian Steele, and myself found the road west to Pune'taski. The release was a robust 1250 cfs at the dam plus any additional runoff. A tic more water than we'd like but spirits were high nonetheless - we were going to be fishing again, on open water, can't knock that!

Day one produced some solid action...

...even a double here and there...

...Albanian Steele's shimmering brown was a fine finish to the first day!

Day two brought on fish of a slightly better size class.

While setting up with the owner of Fox Hollow, we learned that the dam discharge schedule had changed - the fishable 1250 cfs was set to spike to 2750 cfs overnight. Our trip was going to be cut short by one morning of fishing but with over 20 Steele to the net and a few browns in the mix, who could complain. 

Tight lines to all pursuing open water as spring settles in, and congrats for making it through the winter. It was a tough one!

Be Steelheaded

Wild Steelheaders United from Trout Unlimited on Vimeo.

There's some pretty awesome stuff going down at Trout Unlimited in regards to wild steelhead.  Take a look y'all:

http://www.wildsteelheaders.org/take-the-pledge.html

In case you missed it, here's the recent update from the initiative:

We want to bring you up to speed on developments since the Initiative’s launch, lest you think we’ve been kicking back waiting for good things to happen. This is the first of many newsletters for Wild Steelheaders United Supporters.  

Here’s a snapshot of progress in the first three months of the Initiative:

We have opened dialogue within the broad community of steelhead anglers to find common
ground on how to manage wild steelhead in a way that provides sustainable
recreational fisheries. It is unfortunate that battle lines are too often drawn
between different factions of sport anglers without first having a conversation
to find common common ground prior to discussing divergent viewpoints. We don’t
want to make that mistake with Wild Steelheaders United.  

To that end, we have had several meetings with opinion-leaders, agency officials,
conservation leaders, industry representatives and decision makers within the
steelhead angling community to explain the Initiative. We have had productive
conversations with top fisheries brass in Idaho, Oregon and Washington and will
meet soon with officials from California Fish and Wildlife.

Additionally, we are reaching out to all types of anglers. As stated in our credo, it matters
not your fishing technique of choice - what matters is how you care for the
fishery and doing that will require unity amongst all types of anglers.

As you probably know, Trout Unlimited members are predominantly fly anglers. With that
in mind, we have focused on meeting with prominent individuals who are known
for their expertise in using conventional tackle to fish for steelhead. These
meetings have revealed that we often agree on many more things than we
disagree, including the need for all anglers to better handle wild steelhead starting
with keeping fish in the water prior to release.   

Perhaps the most important thing we have gleaned is a need to educate anglers --
specifically, things they should know to both enjoy the sport and take care of
wild steelhead. To that end, John McMillan, Science Director of the Wild
Steelhead Initiative, has teamed up with filmmaker and wild steelhead advocate,
Shane Anderson, to produce a series of  short videos on topics including
how to handle and release if you are fortunate enough to bring a wild steelhead
to hand, and the importance of maintaining genetic and life-history diversity
to abundant wild steelhead. We will be releasing more information on those
soon, so stay tuned.  

Last but not least, we continue to make steady progress improving wild steelhead
habitat.  

Here is a sampling of recent accomplishments:

Tongass National Forest, Alaska

Three Tongass steelhead systems and their tributaries were placed in watershed scale
conservation status and portions of two additional steelhead streams have been
granted wide conservation buffers along their headwaters. Although the
conservation of approximately 210 total miles of steelhead habitat certainly
represents progress, we still seek congressional action to conserve the
remaining 9,000+ miles of high-value steelhead and salmon habitat we’ve
identified in our Tongass 77 proposal.

Oregon Coast

This yearmarks the beginning of one of the more ambitious habitat reconnection efforts
ever attempted in Oregon, with major implications for wild winter steelhead.
Over the next 10 years TU will be working as part of an unprecedented
partnership to reconnect 178 miles of habitat in the Tillamook-Nestucca
Subbasin, which  includes the Miami, Kilchis, Wilson, Trask, Tillamook and Nestucca
rivers. When completed, 63 passage projects will reconnect 100 miles of
steelhead habitat.

Washington’s North Central Cascades

TU recently received a $1.9 million federal grant to improve instream flow in three major
summer steelhead rivers east of the Cascades.   TU will work with
irrigators to modernize irrigation systems.  Low flow during the late
summer and fall is a major factor limiting wild steelhead in these rivers.

Upper Salmon Basin, Idaho  

TU is working hard to restore steelhead habitat in the Yankee Fork and Lemhi Rivers
in the Salmon River Basin. This year wild steelhead were observed spawning in
newly accessible habitat that was reconnected by TU in the past few years.
 (see youtube videos of spawning steelhead in project area).

California Coast

TU was recently awarded more than $5.5 million in grants from California’s Fisheries
Restoration Grants Program  to restore wild steelhead waters from the Big
Sur River to the Mattole River in Humboldt County. Altogether, this funding
will deliver more than 20 miles of improved or decommissioned forest roads,
prevent more than 52,000 cubic yards of sediment from entering streams, restore
fish passage to ten miles of habitat, and remove or mitigate more than 170
barriers and instream structures.

Upcoming Events:

April 2nd, 6:30pm International Fly Fishing Film Tour @ Tini Bigs in Seattle to Benefit WSU get tickets here http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1360742

April 4th, 9am Occupy Skagit @ Howard Miller Steelhead Park, 52804 Rockport Park Rd, Rockport, WA 98283

April 27th 7pm, Wild Reverence Film Showing and WSU Event, Odd Fellows Hall, Salmon, ID

April 28th 6:30, Wild Reverence Film Showing and WSU Fund Raiser, NexStage Theater, Ketchum ID

May 9th, 9-3pm Steelhead Science for Angler Workshop – UW School of Fisheries Auditorium, Seattle, WA

All the best,

Wild Steelheaders United

Revival

Pyramid Lake in Nevada is one the greatest stillwaters I have ever fished. This lake also has a great story, a story that is usually always the opposite of what we are used to hearing. This fishery was completely fished out in the beginning of the century and the Lahontan Cutthroat trout fully extinct by the beginning of the 1940's. In the early 1970's the original fish that was thought to be gone forever was found in the Pilot Peak mountain range located on the northern border of Nevada and Utah. Through more than 30+ years of working with the strain, making sure it was completely genetically pure, and with the Paiute Indian tribes blessing they were reintroduced into the lake in 2006.

According to the local biologist these fish are now thriving like they did in the past and growing at a faster rate than anyone could have ever imagined. Fish that have only been in the lake 5 years are already reaching well into the 20 pound class. Ten pound fish are as common now as catching the 4 and 5 pounders just five years ago. And the 20+ pound class fish seem to be the new bench mark that was 10 pounds for all anglers just a few years ago. 

First light on Pyramid Lake

The finer techniques that I used to catch these fish were midging and throwing streamers. As you can see I didn't connect with any of the 20+ pounders but, did find a few smaller ones. Definitely looking forward to fishing this stillwater more in future and witnessing this once lost fishery now thrive in its original home.

Hiked a few miles with my float tube to one of my favorite backcountry lakes in the Eastern Sierras. 

I also fished the American River and a few of its smaller tributaries in Northern California. Right now  the kings are at the end of the spawn, while the first few early steelhead are moving into the river. 

Who would have thought that a king would eat a red copper john.  

Trial & Error

Tried this one a couple weekends ago.  It didn't work.

Will try this one in a few days.

 

In The Cages

Some time ago, Dr. Steelegood and I, after an encounter-less day on the Salmon River in upstate New York, came up with an analogy for swinging flies for steelhead.  It goes, swinging flies for steelhead is like being in a batting cage trying to get a hit, but you're blindfolded and also the pitching machine doesn't actually throw balls every pitch.

That's the glass-half-empty take on the whole endeavor, and exceptions certainly exist, but there are some valid comparisons in there:  both the batter and steelheader take 'swings' in attempts to achieve their ultimate goals; a fundamentally sound cut with the bat and the picture-perfect cast may be, and often are, unrewarded; the batter and the angler are all alone in their areas of work - the batter's box and the river. 

Of course we can debate what the "ultimate goal" is.  I'm pretty sure any big leagues hitter loves seeing the ball fly over the fence, but I bet they also love the sound of the crowd as they near the box, the feel of the dirt under their spikes and the intensity of staring into a pitcher's eyes.  Thankfully my own contract doesn't depend on the number of steelhead I tail each season. 

With so much going on in the river and in my mind, I sometimes over-analyze the situation when I'm "in the cages."  For sure, confidence catches fish, so a restless mind must be quieted.  I have asked myself, Just what exactly are we doing out here?  Sometimes answers to the simple questions can help quiet the bigger ones. 

A couple months ago, I took a steelheading trip.  Before I made my first cast, our guide gave us his expectations for our fishing.  He had answered my question before I could put it into words.  It's nice to know what you're doing out there.



Self-explanatory, perhaps.  Good to know, surely.  Easier said than done, oftentimes.

It'd be hard to envision a better trip.  The river was prime, the scenery stunning, the camp-life superb, company top-notch, the fishing awesome and the catching even better.  Between four of us, over four days, we touched 30. 

 



Getcha fish on, fisha.

Sun goin' down.  This spot is known as Chukar Flats.  It was the last hole for us that day and the bait would be a Waller Waker.  Cast after cast I watched that helpless, black bug skate and skip around that run, into and out of currents, speeding up and slowing down.  I saw her take it the first time, but it didn't stick.  Two casts later I only heard it, then she was off running. 

I get by with a little help from my friends.

I get high with a little help from my friends.

Deuces!

I can't recall the name of this spot, but I hooked two here.  My guide was just finishing the sentence, "Right about there is where it happens," when I got yanked.  I lost that fish, after which he said he had never had a second encounter in the hole.  Five casts later I got grabbed again.  I wonder if he was lying?

Willa, boat dog.

 

Feast in there.

Fish dat.

At the end of the whole thing, we broke the gear down and prepared for our run of The Narrows.  Aptly titled.  Only on a steelhead river will you find such a spot.  1000 CFS crammed into an 8' wide chute.

Swing, batter, batter, swing...

Pop that cherry...

You always remember your first steele and my buddy and fellow Bates alum - Gabe - landed a real chrome beauty this past weekend!

Stockholm Syndrome

As I approached the tailout I could feel my pulse start to quicken, my Steele sense tingled. A tension settled over me, my muscles taught with anticipation, nerves like a string of Black Cats with the wick sizzling expectantly. It looked soo good. It swung soo beautifully there's no way it wasn't going to happen there. My physiological reaction was merely the byproduct of this greater realization - there are times when you think a fish should be somewhere, and there are times when you know a fish is somewhere. I trusted my accelerated heart rate as the latter.  I made the motions deliberately, mended all the way to the fly, and let the current guide it down along the seam and into the trough. I hardly had to do anything else it fished so well. Next cast, same routine, the anticipation building. Another cast. Then another cast. And another. And another. I could clearly discern the shape and color of the rocks on the bottom, and if I could do so then there was no way any fish in the tailout would've missed all 462 casts I made after that out of desperation, unwilling to let that feeling go, unyielding to the passing moment.

It was a false-positive. An affirmation that you are doing everything correctly and so well that you just know that you're about to catch a fish. Only you don't. The moment builds just like every other one before it, ripe with promise and potential, then passes cold and tasteless. Is it me? Is it the fish? Is it my fly? Is it the weather? The flows? The cloud cover? The aspect of the Sun to Mercury in a Taurus house after a waning blood moon?? All I knew was that it was beyond me, that no matter how hard I tried I was still doing something flagrantly wrong to the fish. My humble and desperate pleas to the fish gods fell on deaf lateral lines. People around me hardly even caught fish, so I really started to wonder if I wasn't the jinx, if I was bad juju for the people I fished with. I still don't know.

I do know that I spent 33 days on the water between some local rivers and half a dozen excursions to the coast. I landed five fish in total, and lost only two. Of course the two I lost were the biggest, freshest fish I have encountered to date, but sometimes that just how it goes. I only saw three other fish hooked by people I was with, and two of those were landed. I spent some quality time getting to know new people, and I spent more than my fair share of time on the water for someone's whose understanding wife supports the household. I know that I love the woods and the waters that Steele haunts, and I love knowing that somewhere out there waits a fish for me next season, next trip, next cast.

Here's a brief synopsis of those excursions, accompanied by a few images from each.

Trip I - My job ran out, my buddy from Montana drove out, and we went fishing. Along the way we picked up a weathered soul, that dirtbag with dreadlocks from the Trout Bum Diaries, Ryan Davey. He's a good dude.

Trip II - I had plans to cruise out to Seattle and hook up with Ryan again, until someone pulled fifth wheel and tagged along for the adventure - Clyde. It was with Clyde that I landed my first fish on the swing, a hatchery kelt. A victory nonetheless! Later that same afternoon I swung up my first bull trout, too.

Trip III - Six straight days of floating with Capt. Davey. We each landed one fish, we each lost one fish.

Trip IV - Ariel and I tagged along with Jesse and a couple of his buddies from Santa Fe. We camped and fished and ate and drank and were merry all the while.

Trip V - Some very serious late-season swinging was done. Doug found a fish. The springers were also starting to show up, which can make it frustrating when you see three fish roll in the run but still proceed to touch nothing. I'm warming up to the cold shoulder now though. 

Trip VI - Mr. Robbins extended an invite to fish with him and another mutual acquaintance. I accepted. We drove out, went fishing, got rained on, got wet, built a fire, got drunk, fished some more, then went home. 

I'm not so sure how much more of this game my feeble mind can take, but at the same time, I can't tear myself away.