Great weekend on the Trinity meeting with good friends sharing the river. The fishing was tough, and that's probably an understatement. The water is low and clear and very cold 40-41 degrees and heavy frost both mornings. Which has cut down on crowds a bit. But makes catching pretty tough. While there are still lot's of fish in the system, they have been pounded, and the river desperately needs rain.
Weekend Details:
Fished Friday in several spots from DC to JC and beyond. One nice hen to about 8 pounds to show for it. Fished a run with quite a few fish in residence, but they sure weren't interested in my flies! In one part of the run I could see several fish holding right in front of me, and watched them slide out of the way everytime my flies drifted through. Guideboat drifting by were consistenly sharing the same story of tough conditions. Met up with Dawn and Greg at Arttus Friday night. They fixed an excellent dinner of Calzones, with a spot of Red wine to wash it down. Awesome! Jet and Joey arrived late after dinner. Some months back I sent Joey a bunch of hooks with a request that he tie me a fly for my collection. When Joey and Jet arrived, Joey presented two plastic boxes stuffed full of streamers, and salmon flies and many others. Wow! That kid has a bright future as a fly tyer!
Got up early/late Saturday morning and dawdled getting out. Salman stopped by early to wake us all up. By the time coffee was brewed and gear packed in the truck, we were 15 minutes late getting to the run of choice. So headed for a back-up. Five of us hooked one Saturday morning. We returned to the house and warmed up, had lunch and then headed over the hill below JC. A long tough afternoon that yielded no fish, despite hitting a couple very good runs. Greg had several takes and pricked a couple of fish, but did not hook up. We returned to Arttus about 5:00, cold and shivering. The river banks were frosty throughout the day and never did thaw, and the water was cold, and leak in the right foot of my waders only added to the romance of steelheading!
Saturday evening we had a feast for kings. We had Salman and the kids, Joey, Jet, Greg and Dawn, and a special guest who is trying to establish residency in California during the steelhead months, Arizona Bruce. We had a nice dinner of duck and goose, risotto, asparagus and some more red to wash it down with. After dinner, Arizona Bruce gave an excellent slide show on his recent trip to British Columbia to fish for Steelhead in the Skeena drainage, on the Bulkley river. It was an awesome show and we finished the evening late and crashed into bed, knowing the steelhead alarm would wake us early.
This morning, Joey and Jet headed out at 5:45 to meet up with Arizona Bruce at the Bakery for coffee before heading to a favorite run somewhere over the hill. Joey or Jet have not caught a steelhead before and we are
hopeful they had success today. We've not heard a report. Greg and I headed to another favorite run and worked it hard for three hours. Both of us pricked a fish, but no hook-up. We finally gave up and headed back to the warmth of the house mid-morning to pack and begin the long drive home. Heading over the pass this afternoon it was snowing heavily and the north state appears like it is going to get pounded with rain. That will sure be welcome, as the river needs it!
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