Saturday was a COLD early day. Headlights were turned on by 5:15AM, and we were river side by 5:20. It was like Blair Witch Project walking through the woods with only head lamps on. Often, noises in the woods reminded you about the bear boxes we saw driving in…where the locals keep their trash.
Me, Mike, John, and Mike were making our first drifts by 6:30, and John was the first to tie into a nice fresh King who gave him a fairly good run to start things off. The first spot was a nice long hole that made a bend…allowing us four to fish it. After that, we moved up stream to pick out a few of the smaller holes. All along the way, we watched fish shooting up the river. Two high notes of the day was watching a single steelhead push up with the salmon, and also watch a King Kong Brown pick off eggs that a salmon was dropping. This brown had to be 26”-27”. Just insane.
I then moved up, and proceeded to miss one king before I had my first dancer of the day take me a good 50yds down stream. Trying to turn a fresh salmon is not an easy task…especially on 8lb floro…but as long as you can trust your knots, the rest is all in the play...After a few minutes, I had him stream side and I was officially hooked on salmon fishing…it was just amazing.
We managed a few in the morning session…and then turned to Debbie’s for a quick bite to eat. We then ran out to a different location for the afternoon session. Here in particular, the holes were filled with more fishermen then fish. After a little separation between Mike & Mike…and John and I, we were able to meet in the middle, where a deep hole was holding a decent amount of fish…
I managed one more fish from this hole before the end of the day. The primary patterns were Egg Sucking Leaches…with a few egg patterns and Stone Flies picking up the rest of the fish. It certainly wasn’t non stop action, but there was enough going on to keep us all on our toes.
The hardest part of the weekend was trying to keep warm. Both mornings, we were hit with temps at or below 30 degrees. Ice on the line guides made the second morning particularly tough. One more fish for the two Mikes and myself before we were back on the road in search of gas and McDonalds.
It was an amazing trip with some amazing guys. I learned a lot, and was able to pick up on some different types of fishing fairly quickly. Thank God Mike was a little patient with me…I did learn some great tips and secrets, as well as some good information on the salmon fishery, as well as the area (Pere Marquette). Overall…it was crazy fun…would do it again in a heart beat.
Here’s some of the action…
More Pics to come when I get Mike's CD...
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