Steve@BBT
04-04-2005, 08:21 PM
Got some time to post, so figured I'd skip the link. Here's the same report from my page...
Well, I'll start with the news you'd want to hear... The water has come down 14 inches since it's peak on the 1st and is continuing to drop. It's dropping a little slower now however as the swamps are breaking up as well with the warmer weather. Looks like we are expecting a little more precipitation between now and next weekend, possibly tomorrow and Wednesday. Well just have to wait and see what we get before we'll know what it's going to do.
The weir, supposedly, has passed around 1105 Steelhead as of yesterday, but I'm still not certain how they're coming up with these numbers. The last I heard there is no 24 hour presence anymore with a guy just sitting there, counter in hand. The videos, last I head as well, are only fully reviewed after the weir is shut down. If anything it's more I guess, they must have at least counted the ones they're claiming...
I did wind up going out on Friday after my last post with Stuart and Gerrick just for fun. While Stuart did manage to hit one Steelhead briefly the rest of the catching part was a bust in the blown out water. My big accomplishment for the day was stepping out of the boat and shifting my weight the wrong way. Seeing your knee bend in a sideways direction is not a pretty sight, besides the fact that it hurts like hell!! Luckily, we had run into some other friends who had the Captain on hand so I was able to add Coke and temporarily medicate the pain.
I did twist or sprain it pretty bad however and am probably off the river for another week. I've been laid up ever since Saturday and it does appear to be getting a little better, (I can bend it some now and put a little weight on it.) but I'm getting real tired of missing all this river time!! To top it all off, I've got a cold that's beating me down as well. The only good thing is that with any luck I'll recover from both about the same time. This just hasn't been my spring...
I have been talking with a few of the guys after they get off the river and it doesn't sound like I'm missing a whole lot at the moment. Most are reporting anywhere from zero to one or two hookups an outing. There are a few exceptions I've heard of, but from what I can tell, "most" of those are camped out on a few fish working a bed somewhere and beating the heck out of the same fish all day.
I'll fish redds myself in water like we've had, but there's just no way I could camp on 'em like that unless it was an entire flat to myself with more fish all over it than there are currently in the system. Usually they'll bite at first, but once you've hooked 'em good once, the rest is all target practice unless they've been left alone again for quite a while...
John and Heather went out for a while on there own on Sunday and got one skipper and a few trout including a nice Brown to the boat, most others they spoke with were doing about the same with a fish here or there. Here's a shot of John's brown...
John with a nice Brown...
http://bbt.steelcity.net/04-03-05-1.jpg
I spoke with several different groups that came off the river today with varying results. One group pulling plugs got into some nice silver fish in the mid/lower river landing a couple of them, another group mid river hit a couple of Steelies on flies along with a few trout and yet another in the same stretch only hit a few trout pitching hardware.
The best I heard of from the bug water was a friend of mine who landed two and lost a few others with some bonus trout tossed into the mix, others reported one or two. There was, however, some exciting news! There's been a Golden Rainbow Trout running around a certain area of the fly water since mid-winter for sure and it's been caught a couple of times I know of by a friend, but never when a camera was available to him...
Well, it was finally caught again, only this time photographed as well and we all get to see it! I say Golden Rainbow only because after consulting another friend he is certain that's what it is. (Unlike the Golden Trout from higher elevations.) Could be something else I guess, but either way, it most certainly escaped from a pond somewhere and it's cool that these guys caught it for the third time I know of in as much as a few months. After confirming the area I thought it was from the first two times, it was only about 100 yards upriver of there this time. Check it out...
In the water...
http://bbt.steelcity.net/04-04-05-2.jpg
...and out of it for just a brief moment.
http://bbt.steelcity.net/04-04-05-3.jpg
The angler that caught it this time was Bob Hawkins while fishing with friend Al Bullock out of his boat. The previous two times (And I'm sure he thought that we thought he was crazy, but we didn't.) was Eric Hoeksema from Debbie's Sportsman Lounge.
I guess I don't have much to add right now, so I'll sign off for the time being. I'll be trying to keep up to date thru conversation with others and the occasional ride to the river between now and Thursday or Friday, will post what I know sometime on Thursday night or before the work day is out on Friday. In the mean time, tight lines to you and yours, I'll be keeping the couch warm...
Steve
Well, I'll start with the news you'd want to hear... The water has come down 14 inches since it's peak on the 1st and is continuing to drop. It's dropping a little slower now however as the swamps are breaking up as well with the warmer weather. Looks like we are expecting a little more precipitation between now and next weekend, possibly tomorrow and Wednesday. Well just have to wait and see what we get before we'll know what it's going to do.
The weir, supposedly, has passed around 1105 Steelhead as of yesterday, but I'm still not certain how they're coming up with these numbers. The last I heard there is no 24 hour presence anymore with a guy just sitting there, counter in hand. The videos, last I head as well, are only fully reviewed after the weir is shut down. If anything it's more I guess, they must have at least counted the ones they're claiming...
I did wind up going out on Friday after my last post with Stuart and Gerrick just for fun. While Stuart did manage to hit one Steelhead briefly the rest of the catching part was a bust in the blown out water. My big accomplishment for the day was stepping out of the boat and shifting my weight the wrong way. Seeing your knee bend in a sideways direction is not a pretty sight, besides the fact that it hurts like hell!! Luckily, we had run into some other friends who had the Captain on hand so I was able to add Coke and temporarily medicate the pain.
I did twist or sprain it pretty bad however and am probably off the river for another week. I've been laid up ever since Saturday and it does appear to be getting a little better, (I can bend it some now and put a little weight on it.) but I'm getting real tired of missing all this river time!! To top it all off, I've got a cold that's beating me down as well. The only good thing is that with any luck I'll recover from both about the same time. This just hasn't been my spring...
I have been talking with a few of the guys after they get off the river and it doesn't sound like I'm missing a whole lot at the moment. Most are reporting anywhere from zero to one or two hookups an outing. There are a few exceptions I've heard of, but from what I can tell, "most" of those are camped out on a few fish working a bed somewhere and beating the heck out of the same fish all day.
I'll fish redds myself in water like we've had, but there's just no way I could camp on 'em like that unless it was an entire flat to myself with more fish all over it than there are currently in the system. Usually they'll bite at first, but once you've hooked 'em good once, the rest is all target practice unless they've been left alone again for quite a while...
John and Heather went out for a while on there own on Sunday and got one skipper and a few trout including a nice Brown to the boat, most others they spoke with were doing about the same with a fish here or there. Here's a shot of John's brown...
John with a nice Brown...
http://bbt.steelcity.net/04-03-05-1.jpg
I spoke with several different groups that came off the river today with varying results. One group pulling plugs got into some nice silver fish in the mid/lower river landing a couple of them, another group mid river hit a couple of Steelies on flies along with a few trout and yet another in the same stretch only hit a few trout pitching hardware.
The best I heard of from the bug water was a friend of mine who landed two and lost a few others with some bonus trout tossed into the mix, others reported one or two. There was, however, some exciting news! There's been a Golden Rainbow Trout running around a certain area of the fly water since mid-winter for sure and it's been caught a couple of times I know of by a friend, but never when a camera was available to him...
Well, it was finally caught again, only this time photographed as well and we all get to see it! I say Golden Rainbow only because after consulting another friend he is certain that's what it is. (Unlike the Golden Trout from higher elevations.) Could be something else I guess, but either way, it most certainly escaped from a pond somewhere and it's cool that these guys caught it for the third time I know of in as much as a few months. After confirming the area I thought it was from the first two times, it was only about 100 yards upriver of there this time. Check it out...
In the water...
http://bbt.steelcity.net/04-04-05-2.jpg
...and out of it for just a brief moment.
http://bbt.steelcity.net/04-04-05-3.jpg
The angler that caught it this time was Bob Hawkins while fishing with friend Al Bullock out of his boat. The previous two times (And I'm sure he thought that we thought he was crazy, but we didn't.) was Eric Hoeksema from Debbie's Sportsman Lounge.
I guess I don't have much to add right now, so I'll sign off for the time being. I'll be trying to keep up to date thru conversation with others and the occasional ride to the river between now and Thursday or Friday, will post what I know sometime on Thursday night or before the work day is out on Friday. In the mean time, tight lines to you and yours, I'll be keeping the couch warm...
Steve