Eastern Tribs - Steelheading, Fishing Report Dec 28

[admin]

It's been awhile since my last outing. The holidays and family stuff took priority. I know the river has been fishing well in the past week -- so I decided to give it a try today. James (Xiaolu) came out as well and we met npeterson and hubby at the river. At first glance, I knew it was going to be a tough day, water was low and clear again and heavily iced up along the banks and in some spots, completely iced over. Apparently yesterday it was open, but it froze over night with all the added slush from the snow storm. We tried a few pools, with no luck. No bites, to hits, no sniffs... Nothing at all.. I did see one fish at one of the pools but it was unwilling to move, I don't blame it, it was COLD... Lines, floats, spawn and eyelets kept freezing up. A few guys out fishing, but they said the same thing, nothing doing.. We fished until noon and called it a day.. I will be shifting gears now getting ready for ice fishing... Although I never put the noodle rod away, because you never know..

James was a real sport, toughing it out in the cold icy conditions. Not ideal for newbie steelheaders, but we gave it a good try... Nothing like last year at this time, when we enjoyed a very mild Dec day on the river...

Here is James "ice fishing" for steelhead.

[admin]

River is completely iced up in some spots..

[admin]

We drifted roe in the few open sections we found..

[admin]

This pool looked promising..

[admin]

Looks like steelhead water..

[Fishsniffer]

Beautiful photos. Nice water condition's for steel heading . I like the green tinge to the water .

Maybe the storm shut them down . Could be the high Barometric pressure.

[admin]

Yes, spoke to a guy on the river and he said the same. The changing weather/pressure in the last few days may have shut them down. O well...

[Fishsniffer]

Jerry ,


Try fishing just before the storm loll.

[npetersen]

Good report Jerry. I decided not to post anything as we really didn't fish much. About 1/2 hour with guides and line freezing up with every cast, especially with regular braid and metal guides but I learn something every time. I have to get a container of Vaseline for the guides and different line when fishing below freezing temps.

Too bad you couldn't hook into any fish but at least you tried. Wow, the creek sure shushed up further down.

Come on safe ice!!!

P.S. Love the pictures.

[Bayliner]

Did James have his nuclear insoles at maximum reactor output?

It looks Cold!

[admin]

Hi Nicole,
It was nice to see you and hubby fishing in those conditions. Can't catch a fish if your line isn't in the water.

Although the vaseline is not the perfect solution for ice in the guides, it does help and extends the time bwt ice clearing. Which I still have to do every 15 mins or so. I have extra containers for the vaseline and some extra mini-plyers - I will give to you next time I see you (I finally organized my fishing gear in the basement & found stuff )...

FYI I like to browse the craft section at Dollarama, all kinds of little containers and goodies there.

Yes, always learning.. I'm not 100% happy with my cold weather steelhead setup, and will keep tweaking until I am satisified.. I might go back to mono, the siglon as suggested..

[admin]

haha.. John, I told James not to bring his nuclear boots, since it is quite mucky and dirty in spots along the river and I didn't want him to get his pretty boots dirty. Also you need 100% waterproof boots incase you fall in, like I did when we tried to cross a small frozen creek, which wasn't so frozen and I fell in to the knees... Some nice cold chilly water in the boots and on the toes.... I shrugged it off and kept fishing...

[Longshank]

Full moon.........need I say more.

anyhow, nice to see you all getting out for some air and such

[npetersen]

Hey Jerry, thanks. I looked in a few dollar stores for the mini pliers but did not find any so that would be great. We are going to Bass Pro tomorrow to look for a fanny pack as well as some different line as our braid iced up too quick. I love Christmas gift cards.

Today didn't seem too cold and we would have stayed out longer but when you are trying to untangle frozen line and unfreeze guides every cast, it no longer becomes fun. Hopefully with new line things will be better. I also read online that you should be using glycerin instead of Vaseline because the oil can damage your line. Do you know if this is true?

It is suppose to be 2° on Monday so we may try again in the early afternoon but it is also suppose to be windy. I'll keep you posted.

[admin]

hmm. I never read that about the vaseline.. It's a petroleum product which might dissolve some types of polymers (fishing lines) I guess. But at -5C I wouldn't expect much dissolving going on..

Yes, not all Dollaramas are created equal. Some have more and better stuff - not sure why. Anyway I haven't seen those mini-plyers - maybe stock ran out.. That's why i'm giving you one of my pairs.. I bought about 5 or 6 when I saw them last..