Friday, October 03, 2008

Salmon trip number one was a success and a failure at the same time. I only hooked two fish, but one made a twisting leap that was pretty spectacular. That leap made it worth losing that fish. The other fish I hooked rolled over down deep and popped off, all I was was the white belly when it rolled. So while I didn't land a salmon today, I really enjoyed the afternoon of fishing. I nymphed current seams, and it didn't take me long to get into the rhythm associated with nymphing. Cast upriver, mend, take in line, high stick, swing it out...water load and start over. It also rained the entire day, which I loved. I was all snug in my gear, rain pounding on my hood while the river went by. Occasionally a salmon would roll or shoot upriver, but not often. The fish were not moving much despite the rain. To top off the enjoyment of the fast moving river and thrill of the rain, I took a swim today. I slipped off of a big rock and landed in the main channel I had been fishing. I was under water for a couple of seconds and spluttered to the surface only to float downriver a few feet. I stood up and despite the fall, the cold water, the slightly bruised ego...I had a big smile on my face. It takes a certain type of person to enjoy standing in the pounding rain, landing no fish and taking an impromptu swim..I guess I fit the bill.

13 comments:

Fenwick said...

Awesome...glad to hear you came up with a smile.

Unknown said...

the salmon were baptizing you.

go get em.

Wendy Berrell said...

Although I've never fished them, what you describe for some reason hits me as good "salmon weather." Sounds like a great day.

GFP said...

It's always best to come up, the smile might be optional, but above water is not. Glad to hear you made it out with a smile!

Feather Chucker said...

I FINALLY hooked a nice carp today. I need your advice about fighting them. I fought him for about 8min or so and he still made decent runs. He finally broke me off. This was on my 8wt with a 7lb leader. I think the fish was maybe 12-15lbs. He took me to my backing twice. I tried torquing him and turning his head, he won the battle. I will have a vid of the last minute I had him on my blog. I hope you're having a great time salmon fishing.

John Montana said...

Only advice I can give you on fighting big carp is to beef up the tippet and hang on. Bottom line, a big carp will do whatever the heck it wants to do. You won't steer it or stop it unless it lets you. Use heavy tippet (1x minimum) and let them run and wear themselves out. If they are serious about winning that battle they probably will.

Feather Chucker said...

John, thank you for the advice, the tippet was 3x, I have the video up on my blog if you want to check it out, I know one problem was I got too impatient. Here's the link if you want to check it out.

http://fishwithkev.blogspot.com/

John Montana said...

Good video! You'll get the next one...

I've 6 flyrods fishing for carp (the same rod 3 times though...).

Unknown said...

I would like to send John a private email does anyone have an address?

Wendy Berrell said...

I don't know apistobob - seems like John Montana retired after catching that 30 lber. We just passed the two-month mark for his prolonged blog-silence.

John Montana said...

2 months...ouch. I feel kind of bad. I haven't touched a fly rod in that span of time, which makes me feel even worse!

I'll get something up soon...a best of 2008, find some new pics or something.

John Montana said...

Bob, put up your email address and I'll shoot you an email!

I can't seem to find you through your blogger ID.

Anonymous said...

John,

Please send me a message at bob@stopans.org

thanks