I fished with my buddy Frank & Gilles today on two different lakes. The first lake saw water temps as high as 50 degrees and a boatful of enormous perch. Most of these fish were in the pound class and some were closer to a pound and a half. There weren’t too many bass landed, but a few were caught in the same areas as the perch. We tried several places looking for more of the bass only to come up empty or with 1 fish. The water temps were mostly in the low 40’s with the exception of the 50 degree area that the perch were being taken. Winds have been from the north causing the water to cool instead of warm for this time of year. On the second lake we were looking for lake trout and came up short once again. Out of a possible 7 or 8 followers, only one was actually hooked into. Unfortunately, the fish came off before it could be netted and we left the lake empty handed. Here the water temps were mostly 37 or 38 degrees and one small area actually saw 40 degrees. With the ice only coming off a few days earlier, the fish are still in the winter mode and the best is yet to come.

I fished with Alain and Cindy today on Lake Champlain for Landlocked Salmon. It was the second trip of the year and the results were significantly better. Only a few days earlier I had gone 3 for 4 with just 4 hits all day. Today’s water temps were only registering 45 degrees at best, but the fish were plentiful if you knew where to look. We began trolling the shallows with only 1 fish in about an hour and moved out to deeper water afterwards. This was where we were to finally get into them good! Both Cindy and Alain had many salmon grab hold of the baits and fought numerous fish for the next hour or so before it all went silent again. We trolled shallower as well as deeper trying to locate what we had been on before that even produced the first double header of the season with little success. All we cold find was smaller browns and an occasional rainbow. These fish were so plentiful that I had to actually leave an area because too many of them were hitting our lines. We picked a fish here and there until a little later in the afternoon when we got into them once more. Alain even managed to fight a nice brown of around four pounds in between more salmon. Cindy caught the first salmon of the day and while we were clearing all the lines at the end of the day grabbed another rod that fired to fight the largest salmon as the last fish of the day. This fish was a nice salmon of about 4 pounds making all the fish in the livewell, quality sized. All the salmon were between 18 & 20 inches, which is not the norm for Champlain. We had all lost track of the total count but were sure it was close to 25 fish for the day with at least 15 being salmon. This was an excellent day by anyone’s standards!!

After a lengthy period of cold weather, we finally saw a break in the weather enabling us to fish for steelhead again. Jay had been thinking of catching more silver bullets since our last trip some three weeks earlier and couldn’t wait to get back. We decided to arrive the night before and take advantage of the two mild days forecasted before the cold settled back once more. The morning saw temperatures in the upper 20’s with even warmer temps soon to follow. Sunshine and no wind was an added bonus we could definitely live with as well! Float fishing with fresh roe would definitely be the ticket needed to entice these chrome beauties I thought and just how right, I was soon to find out. Jay was soon tight to a fish and well on his way to having a day of incredible action. Many more fish were to follow as he hooked fish in every spot we were to fish. Most of the steelhead were dime bright, but a few of the larger males were putting on their war paint in anticipation of the spawn soon to come. Jay got to hook into 15 fish today with the largest landed going around 12 pounds. As usual, there had to be a couple of fish that were too big to handle that just got away! He even landed a beautiful brown trout of about 5 pounds as an added bonus fish! In the end, Jay was to go 11 for 15 landed today. What an incredible day for lots of action. Day two saw the weather changing considerably with clouds and dampness in the air. There was a wind from the S/W at 5 to 10 knots as well making line control a little more challenging. The fish weren’t as cooperative as the day before and Jay had to work for every bite he was to get. Some smaller steelhead were eager to take the egg sacs as he landed a couple of skippies before hooking into a decent sized fish. Unfortunately, it was to be short lived as the steelhead just came up to the surface rolling and then pulled off. I believe it was to have been around 7 or 8 pounds, but we’ll never know! A little while later, Jay hooked into anther monster of a fish and was soon about to see just how quick this fish could move. In less than a minute, the fish covered so much water back & forth that it was almost impossible to keep up. Soon he tucked in behind some larger rocks and rolled on the surface, breaking the 6-pound leader. I estimated this one to be in the 15- pound class when we both got a pretty good look at the beast. Too bad, as it would have been a personal best! After a quick lunch I thought we would try a little walk into an area that might have untouched fish. It was to prove to be very interesting! Along the way, Jay stumbled and stopped himself from taking a header by submerging his arm in the water to the elbow. He had the rod & reel in the same hand too! It was a partial baptism, but a baptism nonetheless that usually follows with some sort of reward. It wasn’t long after we regained our composure that Jay was once again locked up on another large fish. I decided that the net wasn’t needed with this long hike and was beginning to second-guess myself when I saw just how powerful the fish really was. Fortunately, Jay had played with enough fish this trip to be able to muscle her out of the current into a slower pocket of water where I was able to tail her with a glove. She was a little darker than hat we had been seeing, but had a beautiful purple lateral line that made her just spectacular. I knew that the day was not to get any better and ended it on a high note! In the two days of fishing Jay had hooked into 21 fish and landed 15 of them. Our timing was bang on once more! I can’t wait to get back there again and tangle with more of these special winter steelhead myself!

Part 1: Although this was to be the first report of the New Year, there have been several successful Steelhead trips already. This time however, Jay was to have his first experience with the silver bullets of Lake Ontario tribs! We managed to intercept a window of weather that was to play into our hands just perfectly. Prior to today, there had been a 5-day period of extreme cold temperatures both during the night as well as the day. When conditions are like that, the fishing is just not very easy! We timed our drive to the river so that we would arrive around 11:00 AM & the previous nights temps would have had a chance to warm up a little more. Some of the slush ice would be gone too making our drifts through the holding areas 100 percent. Before noon, we were wetting a line with sunshine & air temps above freezing but feeling more like Florida to us after the last few days. I worked with Jay for about 15 minutes explaining most of the details required to work a float effectively and where the fish would be holding at this time of the year. When I felt that he was ready, I put a fresh egg sac on his hook and coached him some more. Several minutes & several casts later, it finally happened! The float went under and Jay set the hook into a real beauty. The fish came up to the surface shaking its head violently as I thought to myself; this wasn’t going to end well. It was in the 12 to 15 pound class and probably too much for him to handle for his first fish. Line was coming off the reel at an alarming rate as Jay tightened the drag a bit to try and slow the fish down. He played the fish for over 10 minutes like a tug of war. Every time he managed to gain some line, the beast took it right back out. We actually had to chase it down the river a ways just to get back some of the distance between us. Just when I thought he was making headway, the fish decided to turn, bolt down river through some shallow rapids and break off. Jay was left with an unbelievable look on his face that should have been photographed. He had just been spanked by the best! Although the battle hadn’t ended well, he just didn’t seem to mind. Fighting a fish with this much power in the middle of the winter was just too good to believe. I retied his leader, put him back to work in the same area he just fished and told him there were probably more to be caught. He eventually had another encounter with a fresh silver bullet as the float disappeared under the surface once more. This time when he set the hook however, the fish was a little more cooperative. Jay was able to fight the steelie and bring her close enough to be able to be landed. Several times he had the float at the tip of the rod and that is considered a landed fish when you don’t carry a net in my eyes. I tried a couple of times to grab the tail with a glove but she was never quite close enough to get a good shot. With all the cold temperatures lately, the river had created shelf ice along the shore and as luck would have it, the fish decided to go under one of the ice flows. Another mishap was about to occur as she cut the leader just above the hook. Although this didn’t end with a picture, it didn’t really matter, as she would have been released anyway. Jay had hooked into two of the most powerful winter fish he had ever had on and was happy just to play with them for a while. I was pretty sure that his luck was soon to change and we moved to another run nearby. After explaining to Jay where to drift his presentation, he was off to the races. Several minutes passed and then it happened again, “Fish On”! Immediately after lighting his cigar the fish hit and he was tight to a nice steelhead once more. He had plenty of open water to fight this fish and I was able to get a grab on the tail for his first picture. She was a beautiful fresh steelie of about 7 or 8 pounds and returned immediately to the river to fight again. This was to be the last fish Jay was to get into today, but it was still more than he ever expected it to be. By being able to catch fish like this in the middle of the winter with a rod & reel should make someone think twice about ice fishing. It really has to be experienced in order to be believed! [attachment=0:2ah4x4c5]Jay Tailing Steelie.jpg[/attachment:2ah4x4c5] [attachment=1:2ah4x4c5]Tailing a Tiger.jpg[/attachment:2ah4x4c5]

Part 2: After having such a big meal last night, we both decided to skip breakfast and head to the river instead. I opted for a different section in pursuit of fresh, untouched metal heads as we hiked into an area that was free of fresh footprints. I thought Jay was going to hit fish in every spot he fished, but to my surprise that was not to happen. It took over an hour and several holes before he finally had a take and was “Locked Up”! It was another beautiful, fresh steelhead and one hell of a battle before I grabbed the tail of an 8 or 9 pound fish. With a very light, pink stripe down the side of this fish, I couldn’t wait to take a few pics. Once more, the fish was released unharmed afterwards to fight another day! Jay was definitely getting the hang of this and I thought it was time to relax on the instructions and see what he could accomplish on his own. In the next spot, I showed him where the fish generally hold under this water flow and backed off to be one with the trees. Although it was hard for me not to continue instructing him, I knew it was for the best. It was even tougher seeing his float go under in the holding area and not react. Fortunately, he was paying attention and set into what was to be his personal best of the trip. This was a big male and he had other ideas in store for Jay. I knew he was about to have the fight of his life as line peeled from the reel and the fish headed down river. I just had to coach him a little bit to try and gain the upper hand before another disaster occurred. As he started to gain some line, the fish took even more out and we were almost forced to follow him down. Fortunately Jay was able to turn the beast and began to reel him back up stream to where I could manage a shot at the tail. I made sure that I was only going to take one attempt and made it count with the glove. What a relief when I got my hand around his tail and cradled the front of him to show Jay what he had just caught. This was a spectacular fish of between 12 & 13 pounds and definitely worthy of a few pictures before being released. Jay was happy before, but once he realized how big this fish was, he couldn’t have been happier. At the beginning of this trip, he would have been just glad to get to play with a couple. He never imagined that he would land a fish of this size on his first trip. Once we calmed down and re rigged his line from the fight, he was ready for more. I thought he had learned enough to be able to fish on his own after this and set up my rod to show him what a Center Pin float rod could do. Somewhere along the way, he hooked into another silver bullet and fought what I like to refer to as a “Skippy”. It was a steelhead of around 3 pounds and just went ballistic. We didn’t bother to take a picture this time, as his last behemoth of a fish was more than enough! I finally got to wet a line after that and 6 casts later, I was tight to a real chromer. This fish had all kinds of power as he literally went mental! There was nowhere for him to go as I easily turned the fish and took control. Minutes later I was beaching & tailing an 8 or 9 pound silver bullet on the ice flow nearby. I took a moment to show Jay the fish and carefully released him back to where he belonged. We fished a little more before getting out of there all together to try another section of the river. We actually decided to go back to the same area we had fished the day before and see if we could get into a few more before we headed back home. I had to retie my setup due to frayed line and left Jay alone once more to do this. A few minutes later, I heard a voice call my name and looked over to see Jay’s float tight up at the tip of his rod. I thought he had a problem and went over to see if there was anything I could do. Apparently all he wanted to do was show me that he had touched the tip of his rod because there was a fish on the end of his line. He had managed to land a beautiful steelhead of around 4 pounds and needed no help in doing so. I had created a wise guy! I just unhooked her and released the fish without a picture once more. After I was finished setting up my rod, we shifted a little further upstream and hit another section nearby. I instructed Jay to where he needed to run his drift and waited in anticipation. It took a while, but eventually his float went down with authority. I was sure that this was a good fish as it just went crazy! Long runs with violent headshakes were followed with 180-degree turns and charges straight back at us at rocket speed. This fish was pissed! Just when I thought things were calming down and we were getting to a position where we would eventually be able to land this thing, it happened. The fish shot upriver then down almost at the same time and over a deep ledge, all the while never slowing down. Something had to give and it was the leader as the rock edge cut the line. The not knowing is always the worst and we had no idea how big this thing actually was. All I know is that at this time of year, the fish usually don’t act that way unless they’re huge. It definitely would have been nice to get another pic of just one more and that was the one. I made a few more casts with Jay before we called it quits and landed another skippy chromer of about 3 or 4 pounds. This was to be the last fish as we were ready to roll. It had begun to snow quite heavily a little earlier and I knew the drive home wouldn’t be easy. All in all it was a great trip with Jay finally learning why I go back time after time in pursuit of these beautiful fish. He got to play with 8 and managed to land 6 of them the first time out. That’s enough to make him want to go back! I know I will be there as well.