Weekend Steelhead report

[Originalfive]

I would still like to be ice fishing but my wife has decided to put a stop to my hard water season even though there is still plenty of ice out there. This year I decided to do more ice fishing instead of steelheading so it was good to finally get out this year and land some chromers.


Sat March 23rd

After a night out partying (I'm getting old but still feel young at heart ) I woke up at around 10am (I know it feels good to sleep in lol) and contemplated on where I was going to fish. I decided to try a place on the West side and arrived at the location at around 1:30pm. I strike up a conversation with a nice young gentleman and his teenage grandson if they had any luck and apparently there was no fishes caught while they were there since the morning. I talked to them about my set up, the fishes, places to fish and etc and the teenage grandson seemed to take notice on the advices I was giving. Not to sound mean or anything but I knew they weren't going to catch with their set up even though I've never seen it personally. I hope the little advice I gave them will help the young teenage boy hook up some fishes in the near future as it looked like he was eagerly waiting patiently for some fish action.
Shortly after our conversation both of them decided to pack up and leave.
I take my sweet @ss time rigging my set up and first cast out...tap...tap...set the hook and fish on! The fish starts peeling my line instantly so I knew it was a nice decent fish on the other end of my line. After a 5 minute battle back and forth peeling my line I was able to land the fish. I don't carry any measuring tape, nor weight scale but from my estimate the fish was at least 10lbs and beautiful chrome colour! Took a quick picture and released her on her way to hopefully a successful spring spawn.
After releasing the fish I totally forgot that a family friend had wanted some fishes so I decided that the next fish I catch I would bring for them. I normally don't take fishes home and especially bigger fishes so I was hoping my next fish would be in the 5lbs range.
30 mins later I get another bite and set the hook and fish on! The 2nd fish didn't even put up a fight as I was able to quickly land the fish within 30 seconds. As soon as I looked at the fish I swear it was a doppelganger of the first fish that I had caught but after looking closely both gills were clipped (stocked fish?) I decided that I was going to keep this fish cause I just had this feeling I wasn't going to get another hit while I was there. Sure enough 2hrs later and no hits I decided to pack it in for the day.

Overview: 2/2. Bright sunny day with winds. Water clarity was good with slight stain.


Sunday March 24th

Woke up late again after a failed attempt to try and catch the Northern Lights that was never going to appear in the first place. I decided I was going to head out to the East side and try my luck there. Arrived around 1pm and there was quite a few people fishing. I spoke to one older gentleman and he mentioned to me that it was a slow day fishing. I re-rig my set up using the float set up and soon realize that pretty much everyone else fishing there was using the float set up so I decided to re-rig for bottom bouncing. After fishing for like an hour and a half or so with no hits so I decided to reel in my set up within 15ft from where I was standing. Only a few minutes goes by when I felt the tap...tap...tap tap tap...I set the hook and instantly the fish starts splashing on top of the water...fish on! I didn't bring my net with me as my original plan was to wade a different river but luckily a gentleman fishing close by me offered to net the fish for me. (Thank you to whoever you are for netting the fish for me. I really appreciate it and if you're on this forum give me a shout!)
The fish obviously didn't want to stay on land and was flopping all over the place getting dirty. Forgot my phone in the car and I quickly went to grab my phone and took a quick picture. As I was trying to lift the fish and throw it back in the water the fish starts flopping like crazy and fell out of my hands and fell back into the water for hopefully a successful spring spawn. My estimate about 5-6lbs. I fished til 4ish with no more hits and decided to call it a day.

Overview: 1/1. Overcast and windy conditions. Water clarity was stained with a few inches visibility.


It was a great weekend to get out and finally land some chromers. I'm hoping to get out again next weekend on the rivers that I normally fish as I am just waiting for the water levels to drop back down to fishable conditions. Good luck and tight lines to everyone fishing.

[Originalfive]

First fish

[Originalfive]

2nd fish

[Originalfive]

3rd fish

[rosscow]

Sounds like a good weekend.

[sniperlee]

Nice fishies! Thanks for the report.

[stevepod]

Looks like the chrome with one eye lost this battle. Nice catch

[Originalfive]

Thanks guys! Feels good to be able to bend the noodle rod haha