Still trying...

We went out this morning from 8 - 10:45 in our local ditch. At 8am there were tons of cars in the parking lot as well as along the road but we gave it a go anyway. All the pools we passed had people on them until finally we got to a bigger one that only one fisherman was at. A bit mucky by the shore but I had rubber boots so I gave it a go. We were not even there 10 minutes and the other fisherman had a nice rainbow on. At least the fish are here. That was his first fish after being there for an hour. After a quick battle he brought it up on shore but it was too big that he didn't want to keep it (about 6lbs) so he called his other fishing buddies at another pool and they came running to keep it. Now we are 5 people on this pool and they kept drifting into our area and beyond. I think they finally got the message we were ticked off and pulled in once they got in front of us. About 1/2 hour later another fish was caught and this one was about 8lbs but they still kept it. One other smaller fish was caught but lost. After getting my boots stuck too many times we decided to head back to see if we could find another pool free.

The fallen log pool where I fished with Jerry two weeks ago was free so I tried there for about 1/2 hour but no fish wanted to bite so we called it a day. We might try tomorrow before heading out to the in-laws Christmas party and/or Christmas morning as we don't have kids or commitment until boxing day. Hopefully we will have the river to ourselves.

Hi Nicole,
I'm glad you got out there and saw some fish. I knew the rain would bring some fresh fish into the river, unfortunately this also attracts the hordes. I didn't think the cold or wind would keep those guys away, they are fanatics...

Also, cell phones are the death of tranquil steelheading everywhere, the hordes come with buddies and when one guy gets a fish, he calls his buddies and a pool that had 1-2 guys and some fish, quickly turns into 10-20 guys and no fish very quickly. Then they all disperse and find another hole with a few and the whole networking thing gets started all over again...

Yes, some of these guys can be pushy and try to force their way into your area and drift. When pinheads (sorry guys.. ) see you have a spinning outfit, they assume lack of skill, & they will long drift in front of you and try to push you out... I like to push back, you actually have a slight advantage with the spinning reel... You can cast farther and more accurately... When they drift in front of you.. Cast way up river over their lines and feed that bobber right in front of them, it makes it harder for them to retrieve their lines that way.. They usually get the message.. I have other offensive tactics but I'll leave those out..

BTW I only push back when, someone blatantly tries to push me off a spot.. A long rod also helps to secure and maintain possession of river property on days like that. Anyways... I'll let you know when I can get out again.. Don't get frustrated & keep at it, you will get one soon..

Did you tie up some of the spawn I gave you? I forgot to tell you, buy spider thread it's much easier to tie the roe bags. You want to make sacs anywhere from dime to nickle sized.. Chartruese and Pink..

Hey Jerry, thanks very much for the roe. I did tie up about 10 bags last night and went thru 7 of them today. A few of them had the eggs fall out which I assume that I cut the mesh too close to the knot. Guess its a learning curve I tied up another 10 tonight but may have made them too small (about 8 eggs)? I was trying to have the roe go further but if the fish don't want them that small then I guess I'm wasting them on snags. So far I have just tied with sewing thread and I think the ones I did today are much better but I will see once we get on the river. I wrapped it about 3-4 times and then tied them. If I still have problems, I will get the spider thread.

I think red or pink was the colour they wanted today but so far I have only bought chartreuse mesh. Hopefully we can get out tomorrow around noon for a couple of hours and then Christmas morning. That will be it for us until Thursday afternoon. So far I'm not discouraged and hoping Santa will bring me a nice steelhead on my line The worst part is just trying to find a pool to fish that doesn't have a bunch of people there already. It is definitely a different style of fishing than what I am use to but still enjoy doing it. It passes the time until the lakes freeze up which will hopefully be soon.

Yes you can tie with just thread, that's all I am using now, ran out of spider thread. Yes wrap 3-4 times and I knot it twice and leave a bit of the mesh to secure the knot and adds colour as well.. Make them the size of nickel or a bit bigger for high water, dime for lower water. I make a few different sizes when I go.

FYI when it's busy --- you know the big pool downstream of my brown pool, go to the tail end of it, that spot inbwt the 2 trees. Stand in the middle of that one.. No one can move in on you, the trees block them..

But I may try! LOL

haha.. Ok for guys the size of Bob, I would make an exception...

Thanks for the advice, hopefully there won't be too many people out there today/tomorrow and we can have some space. Just another question... would it make sense to tie chartreuse mesh with red thread to give it two colours?

this is the main reason i quit fishing the rivers,rude people and fishing dont work well togeather.

Yes, sounds good. I never pay much attention to my thread colour, i'm bad when it comes to details... But a very popular bait for rainbows is the blood dot bead. I have never used them, but steelheaders swear by them..

Good Luck Today!

Hi Nicole
I also just started river fishing and I'm loving it. Tonight I tied my first roe bags with some rainbow roe that Fishsniffer gave me. I used that majic thread and it was incredibly easy to work with. You can wrap a 2 inch piece around about 20 times, then just cut the mesh. Done. good luck tomorrow and hopefully the crowds will stay away.

Thanks Jerry, I might do my next roe bags with red thread and see how that works.

Yakfisher, I am liking the river fishing and can't believe I haven't really tried it before since the creek is so close to home (about 5 minute drive). I guess I just needed someone to show us the ropes which Jerry did about a month ago The only problem is the hordes of fishermen out there but I guess when the fishing is good, why not fish.