Well after an unsuccessful journey to a northern Quebec lake for niche yesterday, the « Holy Grail » was not found. Norm & I had our first skunk ever! Apparently there’s a lot more nothing when searching for trophy landlocks too! Today however I was back on home water with great expectations for a much better day. Frank & Stephanie were joining me for a couple of days and boy did they pick them! Bluebird skies and temps that reached 70 degrees were joined by no wind making this feel more like May. With water temps in the upper 40 degree range I was sure we would score with the flies & locked up in a mere 10 minutes. Frank battled the fish for a while as I cleared the other lines and somehow it came unpinned right near the boat. A nice salmon of at least 18 inches was soon a memory. I couldn’t even return to see if there were more as the boat traffic was just insane. Hook up and they flock like flies to %$@#! Many more hours passed with us just washing flies and nada. We relocated to another area and after unsuccessfully hooking into only bass, we returned to the scene of the crime to try again. Fortunately all the traffic had cleared and I was able to troll the fly rods like I needed and my favorite reel went off. The 5wt. had managed to hook a real beauty and Frank was awakened from a dead sleep to battle another one. What a fight too as it made plenty of leaps and several screaming runs before I was finally able to net this 22 inch beauty. She was all of four pounds and the skunk was officially out! Unfortunately this was all we were to see as the day finally ended. The second morning saw similar conditions with slightly cooler air temps at the start, but in the 60’s by the end. Franks son David joined us along with Stephanie once again to try for more salmon. We began in overcast skies, but sunshine soon greeted us as the day progressed. The best thing however was the absence of boats. The pack had really thinned out today allowing us a more comfortable troll. North winds of 5 to 10 knots and water temps in the lower 40’s began our day and it was slow. We were marking plenty of hooks and piles of bait in certain areas but nothing was moving. After several hours of this and just one drive by I decided to change up our location as well as the tactics. We casted smelt like jigs to deep sand edges and rock shoals and it didn’t take long before a nice lake trout was hooked. It may not have been the salmon that we were targeting but at least it was a trout and we were all happy to see it. As with before, it was to be our last hookup other than those brownies and we headed out once more. It was also going to be our last trout of the day as we went back to washing flies once more. Several more hours of marking bait and hooks and no more takers! Although it wasn’t the most successful 2 days of fishing, at least it wasn’t painful. The weather was just spectacular for the end of April and we actually caught a few fish. Who could ask for any more??

Well, they say the third time is a charm and I guess they were right! I hit the lake for the 3rd attempt at salmon fishing this season and had a blast. This was Norm’s second time out after a rather slow day only 4 days earlier. We had managed to get into just one 18 inch salmon, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. I covered so much water looking for warm temperatures and must have hit a half dozen areas in the process. We finally got the fish in 6 feet at 38.5 degrees. The second attempt on the lake was Saturday with my wife Christiane and it wasn’t much better. Sunshine and flat calm conditions had everyone on the water, but who could blame them, it was 80 degrees out! We managed to find a small pocket of water that was 43.5 degrees and went 2 for 5 in a football sized section. One fish was a salmon of just over 17 inches and the other was a fat brown trout that was at least 3 pounds. All fish hit the high lines in 5 to 7 feet of water. I knew with this warm weather that it could explode any day and really was excited about Monday’s prospects when we arrived. We had overcast skies all day with a high of 68 degrees. Can’t complain about that as it’s only the beginning of April! Water temps were between 42.5 & 47 degrees in the warmest areas but our best success came from 43.5. I knew with these conditions that the fish would remain deeper and focused in the 15 to 20 foot range. Within minutes the first long line fired and Norm was into a five minute battle from a 20 incher. The fish was quite powerful even in these colder temps and made many blistering attempts at getting off before I slipped the net under her. Nice way to start the day! Almost immediately after we reset the lines, another high line fired and a second acrobatic bullet was beating him up once more. This one was a little smaller at 18 inches but we welcomed her just the same. Throughout the day we had plenty of rods firing but most of them were white perch and really annoying. We did however have many reels go that were salmon, and ended up landing five between 17 & 20 inches. Just before we were ready to head home another high line went off and the game was on once again. This one turned out to be a beautiful, football of a brown and fought like a champ. We grabbed a few quick pics before releasing her back to where she came from and were on our way. Things are really starting to pick up and despite the fact that we are barely into April, it’s an early season. The weather and water temps are much higher than usual and the fish are feeling it as well. Hopefully, it will continue and I will be able to take advantage of the Quebec opener in a few weeks on local waters as well. Great start to the season and an early one too!!

Here’s a quick update on several of the steelhead trips that I have taken over the last couple of months. All were productive with great end results! By monopolizing on the windows of opportunity during the winter, I was able to pick & choose which days to be on the water. Warming trends after a cold period were observed along with the water levels to ensure multiple hookups. Winter tends to have the fish in a lethargic state most of the time and by concentrating on the slowest of water, we were able to increase our hookup percentage. Couple this with a precise drift by using a center pin float rig and quality roe and you increase your odds even more. Although these fish are migratory and spring spawning has them travelling great distances to their preferred bedding areas, winter has them holding in some of the deadest water around. This is not to say that they don’t move at all, just that a higher percentage of them reside in deep pools and softer water along current seams. Trout beads were used in the not so dead areas to imitate single eggs and any active steelhead fell victim to these offerings, while covering water. With milder weather ahead, this will surely bring out more people to the better know areas of the rivers inhabiting these chrome beasts. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different presentations such as jigs or even flies below the rig when pressure has the fish turned off. This has accounted for extra hookups on several occasions when nobody was doing anything. You can also try moving around and fishing places with less pressure close by where some of the fish may have moved. Although my steelhead fishing hasn’t come to an end quite yet, the thoughts of dropping the boat in the water have me excited for open water fishing. March will have me moving around on multiple rivers in search of the mother load entering for the spring spawn. I know there will be plenty more chrome caught & released before the fly rods come out and the niche season begins and can’t wait to get back out again. There’s just too many fish and too little time!!!!

Early thoughts of spring fishing had me entering this report for the 2010 season, after remembering a couple of forgotten ones from last fall. I would like to wish a « Happy New Year » to all fellow fishermen & women and tight lines to everyone for the upcoming season. Although we are still under 20 plus inches of ice on most lakes, open water isn’t too far away. Ice fishing and river steelhead fishing have satiated my appetite for the last couple of months but hopefully in the next 4 or 5 weeks, the boat will be floating once again. Landlocked Salmon will be the species targeted along with brown trout and an occasional laker thrown in just for kicks. Fly rod trolling for these little silver bullets is the technique I use and on most days, it out produces all other methods. With the Quebec season opener for trout set to begin mid April, booking a trip in advance would secure prime dates. From late April right into late May, pound for pound these salmon fight like some of the strongest fish that swim. As long as the water remains cool, they will stay near the surface and attack anything that resembles the preferred smelt diet that they gorge on. For those of you that have already experienced this, you know what I mean. For those of you that haven’t, you don’t know what you’re missing and should give it a try. I expect this season to be equally as good as all past ones have and anticipate many, many double digit days ahead. I hope to be busy throughout prime time and strongly urge everyone to give this a try. Niche season comes early and doesn’t last long, so don’t hesitate to book a date! Tight lines and screaming reels are just ahead!!!

Wow, next season came quick! I headed out today with Norm before calling it quits again, for this year. We didn’t get an early start due to the overnight temps but were fishing by 9:30. With 35 degrees expected as the high today, we knew we wouldn’t get a better opportunity for one more kick at the can! Intermittent sun with clouds and a light wind from the SW of 5 to 10 knots were what was forecasted, but as usual they were wrong. The part they always mess up is the wind and today had 10 to 20 knots with higher gusts thrown in just for laughs. Boat control was a real treat too, when the winds switched to the west in the afternoon. We didn’t get on the fish quickly but when we did, they were good ones. One of the best smallies came from a deep hole and went almost 5.5 pounds by slowly moving the baits. Hits felt more like weeds rather than actual fish and you didn’t have long to react before they would spit out the jigs. I’m sure we missed plenty of fish with the winds not allowing us to keep the lines tight, but we also caught quite a few as well. In one area we found a mix of bass and walleye and if the drift was just right, you could hook up on every other cast. There was even a small Muskie of 38 inches landed on light spinning tackle as a bonus. We kept fishing this area catching more walleye than bass and eventually moved out in search of that elusive 6 pound smallie. Late in the afternoon when the conditions got worse, we even contemplated heading back. Just a few more casts and it would be done for this season as far as the boat goes. On Norm’s last cast he hooked up on what we both thought was another walleye only to find out at the boat that it was a huge smallie. A last cast fish is always a good thing but it’s even better when the bass weighs more than 5 pounds. We decided to end it on a high and after a few pics and a quick release; we packed it in for yet another year. Norm had landed his last five pounder for the season, but what a way to end it. I believe it took him all year to get just one last season but he more than made up for it this year! I guess we’ll have to satiate our appetite for fishing by changing gears and pursuing some chrome steelhead from now on. Just « Living The Dream »!!!!!