Weather report stated rain throughout the day. Glad we decided to ignore the weatherman. We had overcast much of the day although the showers held off until 5 pm. Steelhead feeding frenzy for the first few hours after day break. Overcast day proved to be a blessing as the fish were on until 3pm. Found a pool holding what seemed to be at least 50 steelhead and another that was holding a couple of hundred. Minnows by the thousands, you could see them jumping out of the water when we were landing fish. After 3pm the bass took over, almost to the point of becoming annoying, every fourth cast. Definitely not complaining. White tube flies with olive or blue backs were the key. Any minnow representation would have been successful today.
Tom hooked into this female, hit at the bottom of the swing, you could see the drastic tug and strained rod immediately, she was out of water a couple of seconds later 10 yards up stream, then 20 then 30 screaming drag off the Sage Reel. Then she decided to go back to Lake Erie screaming drag and taking him into his backing. We were enthusiastically counting the number of times she jumped - 7 leaps in all.
You can see the spawning scars as many of the Steelhead we caught today were drop backs. Angry drop backs I might add. Surprisingly there were still a few filled with eggs working their way up.
Can't wait to get out again. Perfect day!!!!!Labels: Cattaraugus Creek Stream Report |