April Fishing with the "Sickness"

 

Catching chromer's with your buddies is what Winter Steelheading is all about. Today I had the chance to slay with my best bud Jason sickness Cichy. We each got a couple natives that were worthy of fish porn. More to come.....

'CHROME HUNTING' - The original motion picture

March and April: Steelhead, Rock Cod, and Red Bows.

Jesse Yonally came into town from Tavres, Fl for some late Winter action and caught some "toad" natives. On the right, Scott Allred with an Alsea chromer that he poached from above the deadline. He and I fished a couple times a month over the course of the winter and seem to always do well.

Jesse fished for 2 days on the Alsea with his Sage SLT 4wt before his 7wt arrived. He landed 8-10 steelhead with it including this deep, chrome native.

Scotty and I battling for numbers on the Alsea!

Newport has been killer at night. I have been frequenting the Rogue Brewery and slaying Rock bass all night. I have been averaging around 30 of these beauties per trip in hopes of something over 4lbs..... They are a good tug of war on an 8wt and a rippin tide.

I find the white clouser with lots of body and a stinger hook work the best!

The rainbow fishing in Eugene has been typical with good hatches of March Browns. I have been doing well with buggers and baitfish patterns fished on a sink tip or sinking line. This has been a fun alternative to fishing nymps under an indicator.

Winter Steelhead '09

Winter steelhead came early this year with fish showing up during the salmon run. In yrs. past I had experienced random coincidences such as this but never a multiple in one day. Fishing was good in that I didn't have many skunkings provided I put in a full day. I caught fish on many new southern rivers in the early part of December.




The December avg. was usually around 1/day, but proved rewarding for exploring new systems. After getting back from Fla. and fresh off of knee surgery I started to get hot and it continued through the rest of the winter with Native fish becoming a common occurrence.

This Steelhead is still the greatest thing I have ever landed on a fly rod. It measured 41.5in x 21.5in in girth - I will always remember this fish!!

Big Fish were around this year and I felt fortunate to have landed the ones I hooked.

This fish took an egg pattern briefly before coming off due to lack of a good hook set. I gave it a break and tied on a cotton candy which he proceeded to chomp on the next drift!

Fall Salmon = the best ever!

This was an early winter steelhead that was found mixed into the coho & chinook action. Another native came that day while swinging a comit on a type IV shooting head and 10wt rod.

Right around the corner from some pretty sweet fall steelheading came the most epic fishing in Oregon I have ever seen. My friend Jason & myself had many a 30+ fish day while dead drifting comit's, egg patterns, and even green worms under 10ft 9wts. We were either on the fish, or else we were on the move trying and discovering new areas where the fish were stacked.

We made it down for some succesfull south coast fishing where hatchery chinook seemed to dwarf the native runs. I had tried these fisheries in years past with minimal success. This year was different, I think in part to the fact that we had paid our dues in learning where and when to fish. We had already caught (or at least hooked ) salmon in the hundreds from due dilligence on our home rivers so this kindled the confidence needed to get'm elsewhere.

This beautiful native was caught and promptly released after being wrestled out of a sea lion's jaws. I had the advantage with an 11' Ron Arra Surf Pro and some big hardware.

Both Jason and I hooked some on flies which I felt could be way more effective in close. As far as covering water, gear gave you the upper hand with the high tides we were dealing with.

Erik caught this beauty on a Daredevil spoon.

Jason Cichy hooked this chromer on an A-leach and shooting heads. We could only get one shot of this fish before the camera died... It was one of the last fish of the day and proof that persistence pays off.

Back from AK - just in time for fall steelies

McKenzie steelhead make Eugene

This fall when I returned home, from Rainbow King Lodge in Alaska, I made the usual rounds for early October steelhead. This had been a steady ritual for the past four years of college. Gradually, the buzz faded thanks to a friend who took me to some hotspots in search of fall salmon.

Florida Redfish & Bahamas

Kate & I hitched a ride to the West end of the Bahamas on a sick cat. We traveled 60 miles off of West Palm Beach where we trolled & dove during the daytime and stayed on anchor at night fishing all night, most nights.

The boat we were on for 4 days was a 50 foot catamaran that our friends had custom built.

We caught a fair share of wahoo trolling around during the day...

The night fishing was like scratching lottery tickets. A black/blue clouser was the ticket for a variety of species including Grouper on a sink tip and Barracuda on a floater.

A late night anchored above an old ship wreck.

We fished for hours catching Barracuda, Horse-eye Jacks + Bluerunners. It wasn't until 3am that we were both lucky enough to hook and land feisty Bull sharks. I went about 1 for 30 on Sharks. It took Jesse landing one before we could identify what we kept hooking and breaking off. The sharks would usually be hanging off the stern of the boat just out of the boat's lights. I would cast my 12 wt with huge poppers for whatever was out there (usually Jack's), but every once in a while a shark would chase it and usually end up short striking the fly. I did see a shark come up, eat the popper, and then turn, sawing off my leader and $6 popper.

A small Bull Shark that ate a live Blue Runner and proceeded to dump over 200 yds of 40lb braid.

In addition to slaying above water, I also got the chance to dive and spear fish in 40-80 ft of crystal clear water. The targets consisted of Grouper and Hogfish which were usually pretty wary when approached by a descending scuba diver. I would have to say this was probably my favorite part of the trip, and one that keeps renting space in my head : )

A burly Horse-Eyed Jack that fell for a 5 inch popper on a 12wt. The avg. time it took to land one of these bruisers was 10+ min. even on a big rod.

Kate was "over it" after having to land one of these hell spawn.

2 days at MOSQUITO LAGOON, FL Dec. 15-16. 2008

Best fishing ever... perfect days on the flats. Casting with the 6wt for redfish + trout.

a quiet morning in the lagoon - reds tailing everywhere...

Even though you could see fish, once you got within 50 yds they had the innate ability to sense even the smallest pressure changes and disappear. We called it their "cloaking device", and it was the result of years of fishing pressure. When the fish were happy you could see every movement they made in 18 " of water.

Went out with Capt Bryan Pahmeier in mosquito lagoon for some prime winter flats fishing.

A large speckled trout that came blind casting with a blu/whte streamer.

A small red that was hanging with the trout

A sweet red that couldn't resist a green crab pattern