I headed back down to the states to steelhead fish once again as the weather was just too good to pass up. The air temps were in the mid to upper 30’s with occasional winds from the S/W gusty at times. A light rain began sometime after noon and lasted for the balance of the day. Jim & I fished hard to get the 12 or so bites that we received, but it was well worth every minute on the river. The largest steelhead landed probably went 6 or 7 pounds but as usual, the bigger ones just got off! Day two saw a light rain in the morning that just lasted all day long! I contemplated heading home early, but was glad that I decided against it. I felt like I had the river to myself, as there was literally no one around where I fished. On my third drift I was locked up with a beautiful steelhead that went ballistic as I drove the hook home. After landing the male of almost 6 pounds and letting him go, I set up for another drift and immediately was tight to another fish. This time however, it was a spawned out brown trout of about 4 pounds. Too bad, I needed the eggs! A couple more hook-ups and released fish later I decided to try another pool nearby. First drift through, the float went down and I was temporarily locked into another steelhead until she cut me off quite high up the leader. Another cast and another immediate hook-up! This was the way it was to be for about three hours, as I must have hooked into 15 or 20 beautiful chromers. Most of the fish were above 7 pounds with a few going over 10 pounds. I even caught one of the 4 or so fish that broke me off right on the hook-set. It seems that they were engulfing the sacs so far into their throat that my line was getting cut off when they closed their mouths. A six-inch piece of fluorocarbon was protruding from the landed steelhead as I released her back to fight again. To experience this type of day was unbelievable, but to be there alone was unheard of! By 2:00 P.M. I had enough and headed home. What an excellent day this was to be fishing!

The Christmas holidays have always been a good time for both my wife, Christiane & I to head back down to New York State & fish for Steelhead. By arriving around midday Tuesday, we only had about three hours to actually fish. Fortunately, we started in the right spot as we intercepted a small school of fresh fish & caught a bunch of them. Probably 12 or so fish were hooked and many of them were landed up to almost 4 pounds. These fish put up an incredible fight, as every last one was dime bright. As usual, the largest one did manage to get off when she bolted down river through the rapids. The second & third day were no different as we managed to get into more steelhead and even some brown trout on both occasions. One of the best battles occurred on the third afternoon as a fresh fish of at least thirteen pounds gave me a 15-minute fight. When the float went down the fish went crazy as I slammed the hook home. I can’t count how many jumps & long runs she made and had to follow her down river to another pool just to land her. A few quick photos and back she went to the depths of this hole to fight another day. Each of these two days were seeing about 6 to 10 hookups not counting all the juvenile par that wouldn’t leave the eggs alone! We must have caught over 30 of the small rainbows in the 6 to 8 inch size. I even landed a small Atlantic Salmon of 12 to 14 inches amongst them. On the final day we hooked up with Randy Jones, a drift boat captain & had a great time floating & fishing our way down river. Randy has been a guide on the Salmon River & local tribs for over 20 years & had a lot to teach us about specific areas that the fish winter over as well as transitional holding spots. He is incredibly knowledgeable on various techniques needed to hook & land these fish from the fall through the spring. To sum him up in just a few words, I would have to say he is a gentleman & an educator! The detail that he delivers in all his explanations can definitely benefit those of us willing to learn. I know that I have even more confidence now, by spending just one day with him. We hooked into about 8 fish during the day on fresh egg sacs as well as skein. Both browns & steelhead were once again caught with the best being saved for last. This was the second incredible battle in the last two days that was to last almost 15 minutes. For anyone that doesn’t think these fish fight that hard when the water is barely 33 degrees, you are sadly mistaken! Once more, the jumps and runs were spectacular as she went airborne at least 5 times and burnt probably 100 yards of line from the reel. I actually had to leave the boat and chase her just to gain back some line in the process. Fortunately, Randy was there with the net as we finally won the fight. A fresh, female chromer of at least 11 pounds was what we were rewarded with. After a couple of shots with the camera, she was returned unharmed. Catch & Release has become a huge part of why these fish provide so much pleasure to the angler and Randy really promotes it as well. Hats off to him for fulfilling a dream while educating others in the process! You can contact him at www.yankeeangler.com for more information as well as a booking date. He will definitely make you trip a great memory!

I was back out Steelhead fishing for the past 4 days in New York State when I heard that the weather would be too cold to fish for smallmouth bass. The first couple of days I fished with Keith and the last two days I fished with Serge & his father, Raymond. The air temperatures were well below freezing most every day with 25 to 28 being about the warmest. Water temps were around 35 degrees and it snowed practically every day as well. The fishing was a little slower than I had hoped for, but we still averaged 4 fish per day. Egg sacs accounted for the bulk of the steelhead but flies caught a few also. Egg sacs drifted below floats were definitely the best choice as over 75% of the fish were caught with this method of presentation. Most of the fish were smaller than I expected but we had a few between 5 & 7 pounds that put up quite a battle. As an added bonus, several brown trout were also mixed in with the steelhead that we caught. They also averaged 5 to 7 pounds and supplied me with some well-needed eggs for tying! The largest Steelhead may have gone around 10 pounds or so, but as usual the biggest one got away! All in all, a pretty good trip with all that Mother Nature had to offer!

I was back on the water, both yesterday & today in search of that 6 pond smallmouth bass. Unfortunately, most clients find this too cold & too late in the year to actually go fishing so I headed out with a friend of mine. It felt a little strange to be out in warmer weather compared to my last sub zero outing with snow that had me searching for open water to launch the boat. Both today & yesterday were comfortable with air temps in the low 40’s and overcast skies. Little to no wind was present as we fished about 4 hours each day. The bite was really slow, but the fish were all really big! Most fish caught were above four pounds with a few over 5 as usual. By slowly dragging tubes, we were able to get several takers each day. Unfortunately, more bass were missed or lost, than landed! For some reason, they were biting light and didn’t always have the hook in for a solid set. When the bites are slow like this, every single one counts and missing just one becomes a frustrating affair. We had a kind of “Multi Species Day” today with a couple of pike and a bonus 5 pound Walleye as well. Whenever you are doing this type of slow fishing, there’s always a chance that you will hookup on something other than what you are actually fishing for. A slow presentation can be quite boring if you don’t have the confidence & patience it requires. Big fish don’t come easy and this is definitely one of my preferred methods throughout the year, not just during the cold water period of late fall. The overall size of the bass are definitely better than average when you fish as slowly as this. I like to refer to it as “Watching Paint Dry”! I hope that there is still a couple of weeks left in my bass season and only Mother Nature can help me there! As long as there are smallies biting and the weather allows me to fish, I will be out there looking for that Trophy. Give me a call it might be you!

I was back on the water again today with Tim, for his final day in Montreal. With all the weird weather we had through the week, I wasn’t sure what we were in store for! Heavy snowfall & incredibly cold temperatures had most areas already frozen over on the lake, but we still managed to find somewhere to launch the boat anyway. Snow was the theme for today as we drove in it as well as fished in it. From the time we left home till the time we returned around 6:00 P.M. it was snowing! The air temps reached a balmy minus two as the high and ice formed in the guides throughout the afternoon as we fished. The water temps went down below 40 degrees to almost 38 in just a few short days. To say the fishing was slow would have been an understatement! Although we only managed to fish for the last 4 hours of the day, ten or so bites wasn’t what I had expected. These fish were holding tight in the deeper water and seemed like they only wanted to mouth the tube presentations we were offering. Equipment failure was responsible for losing most of the fish today as only a few bass were actually landed. Between line tangles, ice formation on guides and frayed fluorocarbon leaders everything seemed to go wrong. Tim lost one of the largest smallmouth of the season near the boat as his leader broke from Zebra Muscle frays. It was nice to get out on the water, but this wasn’t going to be the day that the bruisers were going to cooperate. There’s still time left in this season to get that elusive 6-pound smallie if you’re willing to endure these late fall conditions! With the changing weather forecasted for this week coming, I anticipate better fishing ahead! A warming trend with air temps going up to & over 50 degrees will make these last few days feel like Florida.