Didn't fish saturday because of the bad weather, so today took a day off to venture out for half a day. Spent 1.5 hours around Peach from the quarry side, with nothing to show, and no one had anything. Heard of one hooked there earlier. Left around 2:30 to the lower run where I had 2 fish last week.
Tried the log jam to no avail. There were only 2 guys on the other side of the gravel bar. Moved up about 20 ft above the log jam, to tried the top of the log and nothing. Also casted out to cover the main flow to no avail. Then I spotted a submerged rock extending from the shore diagonally for about 4 ft into the river. With the water clarity about 3-4 ft, I could not see bottom from the tree side of the run, and it is likely steelies can sit close to shore. So I casted real close, and pull the drift to within 4 ft of the submerged rock. The float went down, literally a few ft from my rod tip. I hesitated. Made the mistake like most steelheaders drifting close to shore would make by thinking we snag into rock. Made a half hearted hook set and the whole thing moved upstream. Fish on! It was not a long battle though, a small hatchery of about 8 lb was right at the shore. Then, as the fish was laying flat, I reached forward to tail the fish up. However with the line tension off, the hook popped out. (Why I didn't double set???) There went the only hook up for the day. It is quite hard to land a fish on the tree side fishing alone, although I did land a wild fish there last week.
About 20 minutes later, one of the guys across landed a hatch which he bonked. No really hot fishing considering the rain and rising water. Where did the fish go? Was it good in the morning? I hope steelie run is not fading, we still have 1 month to go.
Water condition was perfect. When I left at 6:00, the water had a touch of grey but still clear with at least 3' visibility. Go get them.
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Topic: Vedder 21 (Read 4895 times)