Did you get the memo?  Its March and that means winter steelheading is officially over!  Didn’t get out much in Dec, Jan, or Feb?  Too bad, you missed it.  Steelhead are known to be a calendar driven fish.  Don’t expect much from here on out.

Will didn't get the memo

Idylwilde man,  Will Govin, who’s wife is expecting their first child any-day is trying to pack in as much fishing before the life changing event happpens.  Will and I got the memo.  Regardless we decided to see if there were a few non conformist winter steelhead still making their way into Oregon’s coastal rivers this past weekend.

What we discovered?  Most anglers have gotten the memo.  The angling pressure was light especially considering it was a weekend.  There was the odd person poking around here and there.  We rowed from one run to the next not having to pass by any water we had hoped to fish.  On weekday fishing I’m rarely that lucky.  Good thing the winter steelheading season is over.

As it turned out the fish hadn’t gotten the memo.  Will got rocked while fishing a Silveynator Red and Orange.  Reliving the fight Will was heard saying, “I haven’t had a grab like that in a long time.  I really needed it!”  According to Will the fish hammered his fly and kept going.  A few jumps later and some fine rod work by Will and a nice winter fish was landed narrowly averting tragedy.

When fishing areas without much soft water and no beach it is preferable to have a partner assist in landing the fish.  Will put his trust in me and deftly led the fish into the shallow water.  I grabbed the fish’s wrist.  Amateur hour.  I did not retain fish, fish goes crazy, fish gets purchase with tail, fish sheds my weak grip and makes a crazy adrenaline powered run and only fate kept that fish attached to the line.  Many fish are lost in the final step of the landing process.   In most cases if 1st attempt at tailing is not nailed, its time to say Aloha!

A million things can go wrong,  line tangles amid shore debris or anglers’ body parts.  Hook pops out when tension is released as the fish is tailed. Fish is not quite “ready” to be tailed. Grip on tail is lost and fish swims away. Etc…  The only bonus of losing a fish during a landing situation is the angler can invoke rule #5.

Composed Will leads fish in for "landing"

Rule #5:  If angler should lose fish in the landing process caused by:  angler error, fishing partner error,  poor technique, bad luck, dull hook, bad hook set, poor choice of landing spots etc… The person holding the rod may invoke this rule.   Angler is given absolute right to claim the size and weight of lost lost fish.  Note: Claim may be made definitively as if fish were actually landed and measured. Or the claim made loosely where the angler may choose to define a size range of the lost fish.

1. -a.  In the  steelheading community it is common and widely accepted to claim the lost fish as “being in the mid to upper teens”.
2. -b  In trout circles it is common and widely accepted to claim the lost fish was 20 to 25 inches.

In Will and I’s particular situation it turned out that rule #5 would not be needed.  Will, ever the thinking angler, pulled a glove out of his pocket and insisted I wear it during the next attempt.  I found this to be a good idea as well as an effective one.  Fish was landed and all was good in the world.

Fish or no fish it was a nice day to out there.

Will did not get “the call” while we fished.  The only remaining question is how many more days of winter fishing will happen before the new Govin arrives and the traditional fishing moratorium will go into effect?

This entry was posted on Monday, March 5th, 2012 at 12:48 pm and is filed under Uncategorized and the tags Advice Environment Flies Funny news Oregon Photo Rainbows reports Steelhead Technique. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response.