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Fished the Calaveras river on Saturday. Walked up to a great caddis hatch... possibly the first of spring. Not many risers and definitely really really low water levels. My buddy hooked into a couple right off the bat that were 14 inches. As the sun hit the water the fish disappeared. We fished the rest of the day with no luck.
eep
Next day decided to hit the moke. I fished the 'hopper, copper, dropper' rig. Didn't see any fish in the shallow runs. Caught 4 wild half pounders in a deep hole after about an hour of fishing. All of them hit the size 18 zebra midge. Hit another hole like that down the river after a beer break. Hooked into what felt like the biggest fish i'd ever caught. Saw a glimpse of it after about 5 minutes. Was that a steelhead??? I got overly excited and snapped it off of my 5x tippet. I hammered that hole for another hour. finally my indicater dropped below the surface. Fish on again! This one felt bigger than the last one. It sulked in the 5 ft deep pool for what seemed like a life time. I was determined not to break this one off. Eventually the acrobats began. It was a full grown male steelhead. My first confirmed steelhead since i began fly fishing over 3 years ago. so sweet! I carefully worked him into the shallows, but everytime he got close to me he'd rip line off and head back to his hole. Eventually he wrapped around a log and although i still had tension on the line and i could see him still hooked, there was nothing i could do. I didn't want to lose him, but didn't want to kill him trying to find a way to bring it in. I cut the line regrettably.
It was definitely the most exciting moment i've ever had watching this fish jump into the air. I really don't like the mokolumne all that much. It was the last place i expected to catch my first steelhead, but now this river will hold a special place in my heart. It was so awesome!!
Both the calaveras and the moke have mud snails. Gear was cleaned.
I seriously cannot figure out how some of you are able to pull in fish that big. I think if i had stronger line i would have been more confident in bringing him in. The problem was that i just didn't expect it and wasn't really fishing for fish that big.
Saw several salmon in the river
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