Winter steelheading

[kush]

Ya gotta love it,

This is on Vancouver Island December 30th ... it was beautiful - but alas - no friends were found

[flytyer]

Tyler,

That is what the upper Skagit and Sauk have looked like since Monday, including similar results with fish.

[doublespey]

Yes, there are days in winter when you have reasonable chances to catch a steelhead on a swung fly . . . . BUT . . .

I generally count any outing as successful if (1) I was able to fish some good water without being low-holed (2) I didn't fall in and end up freezing my a$$ off and (3) avoided stranding my truck in deceptively deep and slippery snowdrifts (dammit Leland - stop snickering ).

That being said, it's kinda cool to be standing in a river with snow coming down and watching little icebergs bobbing thru the riffle above you. I remember these days well, as I do those crazy enuf :eyecrazy: to be out there with me.

BTW - I'm sure glad we're past neoprene. They're hard to walk in when frozen solid.

Happy New Year, my fellow Winter Steelheaders! May the river gods be generous to you this year.

DS

[North Island]

The car looks great. How was the river? And which river were you on?

[kush]

North Island,

You should recognize it - it is the "American" (I mean Gold River ). It was quite low and it is not exactly the best suited river for swinging a fly. Never-the-less, we had a look before making the slip-slide back across the Island.

[North Island]

I had to take long look at it. Oh yeah, bjg bend. How do you like the lodge? Today there is 4 to 5 ft. more coloured water in the same spot

[kush]

I didn't get a real close look at the Lodge, but from the road it looks rather posh! I'm not sure how I feel about 6 rafts working the river on a daily basis - but I'm sure it is good for the community - it can definitely use the input of $.

It has been a number of years since I would consider myself a "regular" on the Gold, but every few years it is cool to drop in and look around. Maybe one of these days I'll get really motivated and hike into some of the spots that you can actually swing a fly through.

[North Island]

I believe some of those rafts are also working the Burman R and the Megin R via fly in. Yes it is rather posh isn't it. Fortunately there is alot of river not accessible by raft. You know , grade 4 +. Maybe we'll see out there sometime.