I got up at the ungodly hour of 7:30, and made it to the fly shop by 8:00. We agreed to delay the start an hour as all of the other guides go out at 7, and we would be competing with them for spots. I was fortunate that I was the only client on the drift, so the casting and the fish were mine, all mine.
Evidently, most of the guides are geared for catching local trout. I told Marty, my guide, that I was up for catching anything, but did want to catch Red Salmon. We floated, trout fishing, for about an hour when Marty put out the anchor and told be to look over the side. There was a black streak in the water, about 20 feet wide, and about 15 feet from out boat. The streak were lined up Red Salmon moving up river.
Marty pulled out a 10 weight rod set up with monofilament for flossing the fish (casting out across the fish, dragging the weight and fly through the fish, and then ripping the line through them hoping to hook one in the mouth). I lost a couple at first because I was lifting my rod up like I’ve done for every fish I’ve ever caught. Marty then took me on as his “young Padawan” and explained to me what I needed to do: 1) Feel the fish; 2) reel like mad until the fish goes crazy; 3) keep the rod tip down by the water and let the fish run; and 4) reel in madly when the fish takes a break from running. The key is putting pressure on the fish with the rod tip down.
My second fish brought to the net was a female (picture above), actually hooked in the mouth. These fish are strong. My arm ached and I was out of breath after the second fish. I dialed in the required methods and hooked fish a minute or two apart. I wanted to keep doing it all day, but I was too warn out after netting 4 fish, with three of them released for foul hooking. I had to stop fishing for them as I was out of breath. These fish just don’t quit. However, I had interacted with at least a dozen fish.
Marty wanted to see if I could hook a male as all the fish I had “caught” were female. Just then, I hooked a male, right in the stomach, and it never really knew it was hooked. We got it to the net then it went crazy. Marty told me that if the fish had realized that he was hooked, we would have had to pull anchor and follow him downstream.
After being totally exhausted, we continued the trip trying for trout. I would have liked trying for more salmon later, but all the spots downstream needed one to stand in the water. All the spots were full of fishermen from other guides, and I was too wiped out to do combat fishing out of the boat.
We never did catch a trout. However, we talked to another guide, with two clients, who only fishes for trout, and they didn’t catch anything. So, it wasn’t me LOL. I wish I could have taken a nap for awhile after exhaustion from the Red Salmon, and then try to catch more Red Salmon. However, there was no room on the boat to nap, so we continued on.
Marty was an excellent guide and was appreciative that there was only me with him, and that I sort of knew how to mend a line. It was a good day and I have filleted and vacuum sealed Red Salmon in my van’s refrigerator. Now, just need to figure out how to cook.
Tight Lines!