Jumping Steelhead

Indiana - November 24, 2010


 An early morning visitor

I got an early start and arrived at my destination well before the sun began peeking over the horizon. After parking my car and getting my gear ready, I began walking into the darkness of the woods. The ground was very muddy which only added to the hazards that make the trip along the creek a treacherous one even during the daylight. The path was littered with sticker bushes and downed tree limbs, not to mention the washed out spots that can send you tumbling down the embankment into the cold water if you're not careful.

Stopping to say hello



As I got to the first spot I wanted to fish, a deer appeared in a small clearing just across the creek. He stopped to watch me for a minute and quickly decided I was not a threat to him. A few seconds later, a second deer joined him. They watched me for a little bit before they went on their way. For me, it's always a neat thing when I come across a creature in the wild and they decide I'm not a threat to them and they go about their business. Sometimes they run away when I pick up the camera, but these deer watched me as I set up my two Steelhead rods. They seemed curious about me.

My first Steelhead of the Fall

I began floating wax worms down the creek. I felt a bite right away but knew instantly that my bait was being harassed by the smolts - which are small 4 to 8 inch Steelhead that have yet to make their way out to Lake Michigan. I reeled the bait in and made an adjustment with the hope that I'd have fewer smolts attacking it. Sure enough the bobber went under and stayed there and I knew I had a good bite.

 Trying to get a grip

The fish made one powerful run as the line screamed off my reel. At the end of its run it made several high jumps out of the water. I moved down the creek towards the fish as I reeled in more line. I found a good spot to land the fish and as I knelt down in preparation to bring the fish in, it jumped again and hit me square in the chest. I thought for sure the line would break but it held and the fish landed in the water right in front of me. A few seconds later I was able to scoop it out of the water.

Still not cooperating

I made a couple of attempts to get pictures using the self timer but the fish still had a lot of fight left in him. He kept squirming and I wasn't able to get a decent shot after two attempts. I figured that he had been out of the water long enough so I turned around and lowered him close to the water so he wouldn't have far to fall when he broke my grip.

Resting before heading back into the current

The fish swam off but turned around stopped about 5 feet down from where I released him. He stayed there for a minute or two before swimming off into the deeper water and out into the current. I made a few more drifts in that area before throwing a spinner that I had made. With no luck on the spinner I moved off to another spot.

 Low water level

The mud made finding a safe spot to fish very difficult. There would have been more options for me if I would not have minded standing in the slop, but I decided to stay out of the slop and on drier ground for this trip. I tried two more spots with no luck before I wound up at my last spot.

Steep embankment behind the trees

At my last spot I wound up catching several smolts very quickly. I had to re-tie a few times after snagging in the brush that is all over the bottom of that creek. Eventually I felt some resistance when pulling back on the line and I had another good fish on. This fish was a couple pounds smaller than the first one and much darker. I managed to get it out of the water but I still had about 4 or 5 feet of mud to either walk through or drag the fish through. I got the fish about halfway and the hook pulled free. Since the fish was still just out of my reach, I turned the rod around and gently rolled him back into the water. He swam off with a burst and I decided to call it a day. There was freezing rain on the way and I did not want to be stuck in the holiday get-a-way traffic in an ice storm.

A Slow Start

Braidwood Lake - March 15, 2009

http://www.catchphotorelease.com/03152010.htm

A Cold and Windy Morning at Braidwood

I was outside with the dog listening to the birds starting their morning songs well before the sun came up on Monday morning. All the early morning activity made me hopeful that the fish in Braidwood would be active too. A little later I was putting my gear into Al Bernicky's boat and we were on our way to the lake. The forecast was for partly sunny skies and temperatures in the low 50s. When we got to the lake it was still in the mid 30s, cloudy, and the north wind was blowing about 10 mph.

An Island at Braidwood

Our goal was to figure out a couple different ways to catch fish because Al has a tournament coming up there in the near future, and except for my last trip there, the fishing reports I've been getting haven't been that great. We took off for our first spot. I asked Al to stop in one spot well off a bank and he replied, "out here?". A couple casts into that spot and I had my first fish of the day on. It was good one but the fight didn't last long at all. He got away before we got a good look at him.

Another Deer on one of the Islands

We continued to follow the bottom contour without another bite. We threw everything we had at them and nothing worked. We soon gave up on that area and headed for another. All we found was more of the same thing. We made cast after cast with no fish to show for our efforts. Eventually I put the first one in the boat. It wasn't the smallest fish in the lake but it was nothing to brag about. Al eventually caught one too and it wasn't much bigger.

First Fish of the Day

We moved on and fished a few more spots with no luck before returning to the area where we had caught our two fish. We managed to put a couple smaller fish in the boat but they were still nothing that we were interested in catching. A short time later we found ourselves fishing a spot I haven't fished in years, and since we didn't get anything there it'll probably be a few more years before I fish it again.

Off to our next spot

We started fishing again in a new area. By this time I wasn't expecting much until Al said "Fish On" and pulled back on the rod. In no time flat he had a nice Largemouth in the boat.

Al releases a nice Largemouth Bass

On his next cast he set the hook and his rod doubled over again. This fish was a little better than the last.

Al puts another one in the boat

I was throwing a different lure and it didn't take me long to hook one. I was surprised the fish hit as it did because it had a huge shad in its throat. I put the fish and the shad back in the water and off it swam.

My first nice fish of the day

I didn't get a hit on the next cast like Al did. Instead I had to skip two or three before I caught my next fish. It was even better than the last.

Another nice one about to be released

We were happy we had finally figured out a way to catch some fish in those conditions. This trip was the total opposite of the last trip were we started out great and it slowed down the later it got. In this case, fishing was miserable until about the last hour. Al even caught a Bluegill on one of the Bass lures.

A Bluegill

We continued moving and manged to pick up a few more fish. I alternated between two different colored lures and caught fish on both of them. Al was throwing a few more things and also caught a few more fish.

Another one about to go back in the water

As Al began to put some of his rods away, I hooked one last fish and it turned out to be my best one. Al snapped a picture and the fish was quickly put back in the water so that he'll hopefully end up in Al's live well on tournament day.

My last and best fish of the day

As I started to get my gear in order for the trip back to the ramps I noticed it wasn't quite as cold as it was earlier. Not that I was anywhere close to being warm, but I had stopped shivering. The sun never showed up and it never got out of the 40s, but the fact we ran into a few nice fish helped make it a memorable day.

Best Fisherman on the Lake