by Kevin McKay
October 2005
October 22, 2005
I laid against the hill all bundled up because it was only 3:30 in the morning and only 38 degrees out. In New York you can't fish until sun up and that is at 7:30 am, so I had 4 hours to wait. I dozed in and out but was awaken by the activity of very large fish moving their way up the river. After resting in the pool right in front of us, they moved up through the shallow run and usually this causes some commotion because these fish were between 20 and 40 pounds and the water was only ankle deep. I could barely see Kim sleeping against the bank but I doubt the noise woke him because he can sleep anywhere.
As the sun came up we were amazed at the number of people on the river; just across from us there were around 10 guys at least. Brian, who lives in the area and was our host on this trip, has put us in a great spot. Our side of this pool can only really hold three guys and that is Kim, Brian and I. Brian has great knowledge of this river and the fish activity. He gave us some of his favorite flies, egg patterns and buggers. The morning started off a little slow, but it wasn't long before I was into fish with Kim soon after.
I was able to land over four fish. I had some big ones on but if they ran below a certain point, I broke them off because I would have had to chase them downstream through 20 or more people. Kim had a bunch on but only got one small fresh salmon to the net. Brian caught a few fish but we did not get a photo of him with one. The flies of choice were eggs and black nymphs.
My First Salmon
Me With Another Salmon
Brian Trying To Hold One of My Catches
Kim's Fresh Salmon
I would like to point out a few things. Just because you get one of these kings on a fly doesn't mean you will be able to land them. The first day Kim and I hooked a bunch of fish but Kim only got one to the net or "the equalizer" as Brian called it. I was able to land four, but had well over 10 fish on, I just couldn't land them. There was a ton of fish swimming by and a lot of times they hooked themselves on your fly. As soon as we could tell, we would break off fouled-hooked fish, so we went through alot of flies. If it wasn't in the "chop shop" (mouth) they were broken off. You also need to watch when landing the fish that you don't just grab the tail because there could be a hook in it. Plan on having a 9 weight or don't plan on landing any of them.
October 23, 2005
Brian lets us sleep in a little because we won't see many fishermen where we are going. Today we spent the morning looking for steelhead but overnight there was a lot of rain. Brian was concerned the rivers would be blown out and he was right, they all looked like chocolate milk. We convinced him to try one of his spots for steelhead even though the conditions are weak. We have a great time talking and exploring. I hooked a steelhead of about 12 inches but could not land it and Brian had a couple of tugs.
Kim and I
Brian and Kim
After lunch, we headed back to chase kings and see if some browns had moved in. The kings run up the rivers to spawn and the browns follow to eat their eggs and spawn on the king's beds. The browns are running behind because of the low and warm water. There are no browns but a ton of kings. We walk right into our spot and Kim hooked one the first cast. It's a monster but the problem is we both drop down in rod sizes; me to a 7 weight and Kim had an 8. It took a little longer but Kim was able to get it in. Brian has forgotten the equalizer and has to tail the fish, this was a monster, well over 30 pounds. I am able to get one fish out of the three I hooked and it was a monster close to 40 lbs, the biggest of the three days. Brian tried to net it using a small net from another fisherman and it was too small. Brian tried to get the head in the net and in doing so he hits the fly and off goes the fish. The flies of choice were eggs and black nymphs.
Kim and Brian with the Big One
Kim was on fire as every time we looked he was into another fish. I was able to hook three fish but just couldn't land them with the 7 weight and 6 lb tippet. I think Brian was able to hook a couple but this was definitely Kim's day.
October 24, 2005
Kim and I were on our own because Brian had to work. Again we slept in and arrived at the river at 7:30 am. The parking lot was packed and we were concerned that we had made a mistake getting here so late. As we picked our way up river, there were around 20 people but no one was in our spot but across from there were about ten people. As soon as we hit the spot Kim was into a fish, first cast on a surf candy! This was the only fish on that fly, it was very cool.
Kim and I were into fish all day but we just couldn't land them. I hooked a fresh king over 30 pounds and made the decision to chase it down river. It took me a quarter of a mile down with me yelling, "Fish on!" and guys stepping over my fly line. It was a lot of fun but the fish started to head back to the lake so I broke it off.
Around 3:00 pm, browns started to move in, the guys across from us caught a few. One was around ten pounds. They were catching them on eggs so we switched up and had no luck until Kim yelled to me he had a small brown, what a pretty fish.
This was a great way to end the trip.
Brian, thanks for a great time and taking time away from your fishing to net all those fish for us. I know between Kim and I, we had you running up and down that river!