Fishing Report

” A Day to Rember, October 10, 2007″

I had a good day on the Salmon River today. Hooked 10 steelhead and landed 6; several on surface flies. Fished three days in a row and never touched a fish until today. That’s steelhead fishing.

I probably saw 50-100 fish roll and porpoise on the river that day, as they were on the move upstream, and I was fishing a long flat just above a rapid. It was overcast and drizzling rain, and that must have stimulated the surge up river. I’ve been flyfishing for steelhead since 1972 and finally had one of those “red-letter” days we dream of which bring us all to these steelhead rivers in the fall. I was introduced to this sport by Winston Moore when I started training his hunting dogs for him in 1971. Shooting heads and green butt skunks and only wild fish in our rivers in those days. Times have changed for sure, but the passion hasn’t. One would have to have been in BC back in the 70’s to see what I witness in a short 6 hour period Wednesday. These moving fish were chasing anything in their way as they topped the rapid and skating an October caddis across the surface finally worked for me. This is the first time I’ve caught a steelhead on the surface. Always before I have only taken fish in the water’s film with a spey fly or with a sink tip line and a wet fly. They were very bright and fresh 2 salt fish, 28-30 inches, and totally aerobatic once in the fight.

The previous 2 days were sunny, so fishing was only good in the morning until about 10 and then in the evening from 4 until dark. I never got as much as a pull those 2 days.

Bob Farris