Ending On a High

The weather was looking just too good today to pass up, so I gave Norm a call and as luck would have it, he was willing to hit the water again for more fly rod action. We arrived about 9:00 and with the S/W winds of 5 to 15 knots, began the troll. Water temps ranged between 42.5 all the way to 48.5 depending where we were. Sunshine and high temps of the mid 80’s were what we eventually received and it felt more like August than April. It took quite a while before we had the first hit and oh what a screamer it was. It had to peel off at least 50 feet of the backing on the light action fly reel before it stopped. I thought we had a giant as Norm battled the fish and I turned the boat around trying to get some of the line back onto the reel. As our luck would have it, the lengthy battle ended in disappointment when I saw that it was a northern of at least 7 pounds. Good fight, bad result! This was the second pike with 3 other perch that we had caught and it was about to get even worse. When the next reel fired and the line wouldn’t stop going out, we were sure of what was attached and put more pressure on the fish not too be worried. Sure enough as expected, another 5 pound northern! I figured that there were only pike in this area and started to head for deep water when another reel started screaming, but it stopped quicker than expected and showed signs of headshakes. When it took to the air and we saw silver I think we were both a little relieved. Eventually, a 17 inch salmon was soon in the net and the skunk was out of the boat. Unfortunately, this was to be the last of its kind for this area and after about another hour we relocated. I guess it was a good move because in less than 3 minutes in this area, the first reel screamed once again and another 16.5 inch salmon was leaping like a fool behind the boat. Number 2 and more to follow! When the next reel fired, simultaneously another one also started to scream and a double header was on. Too bad one of them decided to jump over and tangle another fly line and came unpinned in the process. We lost the salmon and landed the brown instead! The action continued for about 30 minutes longer with us landing a few more and missing a few others as well. The largest was a brown of almost 4 pounds and oh what a fight it was. We finally called it a day around 5:30 and headed home. A rather slower than expected day, but it finished with a bang!