02-22-2010, 03:58 AM
We got to my spot about 20 miles bellow shoupe at about 6:30 am and it was to dark on the way in to see how much of deadwater was still frozen over. I brought my longtime steelheading partner Vern and my neighbor who is a member of the forum his name is martin his screen name is mr. bigs. martin has been steelheading quite a few times but has never hooked one so i was excited to see if i could change that for him. we piled out of the car like kids going to the fair. it was cold it was only 12 degrees where we were and the sun doesnt make an appearance until 11:30 am. we grabbed our gear flipped the boat over and rowed across the salmon river to the other side where we would be bothered by as many people. we all already had our gear ready to go i have fished this area since i was a little guy so im even pretty good at getting the size of my pencil lead right before i even leave idaho falls. vern set out on the main point of the begining of the tail out we were going to be fishing, martin went to the middle and i stayed with vern and alternated casts vern and i fish very well togather we can litteraly fish right in the same hole niether of us ever miss a cast or mess each other up. vern was using a black and red helgie with a silver corkie, martin was using a black and brown helgie and a florescent pink corkie. and i tried something new i havnt tried before. four inch black worm with a chartruese tail you pinch it off to about three inches and fish it bellow a corkie.. alot of steelhead fisherman have told me to use them but i never got around to it. well i picked a pack when i was at sportsmans warehouse the other day and thats what i tried. about verns eighth cast boom fish on great little battle and i net it for him a naice male right around 5-6 lbs while he is unhooking his fish i step in and same spot next cast boom fish on but its not a steelhead its a sucker. well we go about 20 minutes with no more hits between the three of us and martin and i switch spots and i go lower on the tail out first cast fish on i hold him for a minute he comes up and jumps and my hook come flying right back at me. so i fix my worm and cast again in the same spot boom FISH ON!!!!!! she fights hard holds deep i thought she was alot bigger than she was but she just didnt want to come up off that bottom finally she gives and comes to where vern was waiting with the net. nice little wild hen!!!! those wild fish fight so hard. while im unhooking my fish vern steps in the same spot and casts boom FISH ON!!!!!!! vern said it was like reeling in a wet t-shirt it was a hatchery male and he had no spunk at all he just layed there until i netted him he was fat and looked healthy even though he fought like a turd. i walk over to martin and tell him to go step down into that part of the hole and to cast out about 20 feet he goes down and starts fishing i have to get another worm cause the hen i landed trashed it. while im threading on my plastic worm i here a huge splash from over in martins area and i look over at him to see his pole is doubled over and his mouth is wide open it was the best first moment with a steelhead i have ever seen. vern runs over with the net and after a short but awesome battle martin lands his first steelhead ever i nice 6 lb hatchery male that even gave him about 3 feet of air on the jump. seriously makes me feel so good to get people into fish especially steelhead. things calmed down for about another 20 minutes vern and i move back to the top of the tail out and martin stays on the lower end. vern hooks another one in the top of the tail out fights it and i net it another nice hatchery male then i here martin say hes got one we look over and see martins pole doubled over and getting line peeled off vern takes off down the bank with the net and martins line just goes limp he was 
but started fishing again. shortly after that i decide to try a shorter cast than normal right at the end of the drift i get railed i mean this fish hit with the fury of god!!!!! i set the hook and fight another nice hatchery hen to the net. while im taking the hook out i here martin yell FISH ON!!!!! vern goes running with the net again and helps martin land his second steelhead ever. we all give high fives and man hugs and go back to fishing a couple of casts later vern hooks a fish fights it for a second and it comes off he immediatly casts again and boom hooks another one and lands it another hatchery male im in the same spot i hooked my last fish i hook another one fight it land it another hatchery hen. i get her off and very next cast in the exact same spot i get hammered again set the hook the fish runs to the middle of the channel and my line goes limp i reel it in and my leader broke right above my hook. i forgot to check its quality after the last fish. silly rookie mistake. well we all stop fishing and decide it was time for lunch and that we are going to gather up our stuff and head back across the river so we can drive up to the dutch oven hole and see if we can find some of our buddy's there. well while we are picking up we see a steelhead start rolling about 20 feet off the bank vern still hadnt put his rod in its case so he tells us he is gonna try to catch that fish he cast perfectly up stream of it his line drifts to where the fish was roling and bop bop bop he hooks it we all busted up laughing out loud i grab the net and land a pretty little wild hen for him. then he decides to put his rod away and we go back across. we stop at dutch oven find our friends talk for a little bit then we decide we were going to drive back into salmon and fish the lemhi hole and sewer hole we did fish them both for about an hour but never even turned a fish in either hole. it was a great day of steelheading the kind of day that makes me keep doing this over and over again. i cant wait till next sunday. you guys probably want some pictures huh? well here you go. all of the fish were A-run and yes there is a picture of a fish getting away from me and slapping me in the face!!!! lol!!!!!!!! sorry i wrote a book about it.
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but started fishing again. shortly after that i decide to try a shorter cast than normal right at the end of the drift i get railed i mean this fish hit with the fury of god!!!!! i set the hook and fight another nice hatchery hen to the net. while im taking the hook out i here martin yell FISH ON!!!!! vern goes running with the net again and helps martin land his second steelhead ever. we all give high fives and man hugs and go back to fishing a couple of casts later vern hooks a fish fights it for a second and it comes off he immediatly casts again and boom hooks another one and lands it another hatchery male im in the same spot i hooked my last fish i hook another one fight it land it another hatchery hen. i get her off and very next cast in the exact same spot i get hammered again set the hook the fish runs to the middle of the channel and my line goes limp i reel it in and my leader broke right above my hook. i forgot to check its quality after the last fish. silly rookie mistake. well we all stop fishing and decide it was time for lunch and that we are going to gather up our stuff and head back across the river so we can drive up to the dutch oven hole and see if we can find some of our buddy's there. well while we are picking up we see a steelhead start rolling about 20 feet off the bank vern still hadnt put his rod in its case so he tells us he is gonna try to catch that fish he cast perfectly up stream of it his line drifts to where the fish was roling and bop bop bop he hooks it we all busted up laughing out loud i grab the net and land a pretty little wild hen for him. then he decides to put his rod away and we go back across. we stop at dutch oven find our friends talk for a little bit then we decide we were going to drive back into salmon and fish the lemhi hole and sewer hole we did fish them both for about an hour but never even turned a fish in either hole. it was a great day of steelheading the kind of day that makes me keep doing this over and over again. i cant wait till next sunday. you guys probably want some pictures huh? well here you go. all of the fish were A-run and yes there is a picture of a fish getting away from me and slapping me in the face!!!! lol!!!!!!!! sorry i wrote a book about it.[signature]