Boise Steelhead

[Bardic]

I can't help but notice no one has mentioned anything about the Steelhead being released into the Boise river. If I'm exposing some big secret, I appologize. I had heard the 16th, so I don't know if people were spreading mis-information to keep the first stocking to themselves, but anyways...

Fish and Game will release the fish—each weighing in at between 6 and 12 pounds—at five locations along the river between the Glenwood Bridge and Barber Park.

[url "http://www.boiseweekly.com/Cobweb/archives/2011/11/09/steelhead-to-be-released-in-boise-on-thursday"]http://www.boiseweekly.com/Cobweb/archives/2011/11/09/steelhead-to-be-released-in-boise-on-thursday[/url]
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[hulapopper]

no secret ! i just drove past the americana bridge hole it's elbow to elbow.
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[Bardic]

Right next to BSU is the same. I don't think i'm social enough for this, maybe i'll come back at midnight with some glow beads.
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[chrome_junky]

do it! you should do well.
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[nijimasu]

i've always had fun on steelhead dump day in the past, and always defended it when it would get negative press on websites- but I can't after today. I can definitely vouch for the fish being plenty big and fiesty though.

Fishing when the truck pulled up, I had a reasonable amount of room for a drift from a short flyline, like I expected- but as soon as the truck pulled up three middle agd, professional looking guys, that I would have assumed to be normal human beings if I saw them on the street, converged on my 20 yard stretch of river. I hooked a really nice fish right off the bat, and it immediatly went on a screaming run- meanwhile, other fish were porpoising around me and my fish. These guys started casting over my rod, my line my fish, etc. and immediately tangled with me. I eventually got the tangles out, and backed into the shallow water- after quite a tussle with the fish- it was crazy strong- and just as I reached down to tail it, of course it did one more flip and spit the hook. Looked to be 8-ish lbs. I fished continually until dark and almost everyone had left, and finally hooked another, bigger fish. It ran into my backing and snapped my 12 lb tippet in, like, 5 seconds. That was pretty awesome.

There should be plenty of fish left- I saw relatively few landed.

Tie your knots well, gentlemen.
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[hizah]

I've done good using a baitcaster with jerkbaits and small trout rapalas. Bonus if anyone cast over me or gets tangled I'll win. I don't keep any I just like to catch them and release them in front of everyone.
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[Bardic]

Well, here's a pic of the fun. I did see a few landed, we ended up heading to Parkcenter Pond where my wife outfished me, then dinner, and then I was too full to want to fish anymore. There were still a few people down by the water with headlamps.

I think I will try to get down there tomorrow during the day or after dark. Any word on how spread out they get from the initial dump spots?

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[nijimasu]

Couldn't decide what to do today... drive to Riggins and fish? Try and get my 17 year old out of bed to chase deer with his bow, or maybe pheasants with a shotgun on a WMA or something? Heaven forbid I do yardwork. My wife said I should go back down to the river in town and give it another shot, since I'd been whining about the fish i lost Thursday night (read my entry above).

Why is my wife always right?

I had my flyrod ready to go, but I also had a bobber rig on a spinning rod I'd tried to figure out. I thought I'd just check and see if I could get the depth right with it for a few casts, then go back to flyfishing, since I know how to do that. I really didn't think I could catch anything with a spinning rig cause I kinda suck at it.

I tried some jigs I had tied, but I had tied them on regular wire jig hooks, and after seeing how bent the hooks got just from pulling snags free (toild you I didn't know how to get the depth right) I figured I'd better switch to a store-bought jig on a stout hook.

I jacked around with the depth until I was barely contacting the bottom once in a while, and then I decided to see if I could make the extended downstream drift work. I was just starting to feed some line for a downstream drift when the bobber hung up- which pissed me off because I really thought I had the depth dialed in. I tried to pull the rig free, but it felt like I'd hooked the bottom pretty solidly. And then the bottom started to shake its head.

Even with my spinning rig the fish gave me a nice tussle. I led it up to the bank and let it beach itself- just in time because the poor fish's gum wore out just as I got him there and the hook fell out. A nice 30 inch buck.

I'd been all alone when I was fishing, but people came out of the woodwork when I caught the fish- one lady even pulled off the main road from the bridge into the park to talk to me. Nobody ever told me that all I have to do to make friends is catch big fish. When I turned around, some guy had come out of nowhere and was fishing right where I had been. What a crack up.

By the time I'd finished taking pictures, retieing my knots, and (loudly) bonking my fish over the head, the guy had moved out, and I resumed fishing. I figured the fish was just a fluke, but that I might as well give the bobber a few more casts.

I adjusted the depth a few times, and tried to get the depth right again. I tried fishing a little closer to myself, just for fun, but the darn thing got hung up again.

This fish went ballistic- run after run ater run. Turned out I had my drag set perfectly. After I got him in and was working on getting the jig out of his mouth- I saw a broken off a fly in his mouth. I started chuckling to myself. Yep, I caught this big 'ole fish that some loser couldn't handle.

I know you guys won't believe me-but you probably already guessed where this is going. It was my fly from Thursday night. If you look carefully at the headshot below, you can see the red and black jig I caught him on in the top of his mouth - and the apricot egg pattern I'd tied on a salt-water hook stuck in his lower jaw. I don't blame you guys for not believing it. I couldn't either. A 33 inch buck.

I figured I should get my flyrod going since I'd brought it- and then thought to myself- "what, are you crazy? you could catch a limit for the first time in your life!" I retied my bobber and jig rig, and re-adjusted my depth again until it was right. And the damn bobber got hung up again.

This fish was a major jumper. Good thing the hook was in solid, because he jumped at least ten times, shaking his head like he had a piece of metal rammed through his face or something. A guy who was fishing with his dad down the bank jogged over with his net and helped out, once I'd led the fish to the shallows. This buck was a "little" 27 incher, but was much more silver than the first two.

The guy who netted the fish for me asked if he could bring his dad to my spot, since I was done- I gave him the last of my salad shrimp and showed him how I was rigged. It felt funny, since I really don't know what I'm doing... but I guess I had caught some fish. I hadn't seen another person touch a fish the whole day- fly guys, spinner guys, bobber guys, nobody. Maybe I just get lucky once in a while? Anyway, glad I did what my lovely wife told me to do today.






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[drowning_flys]

ha ha great story [cool]
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[Kodiak1]

Welcome to the world of spin fishing!! Sounds like you might be a convert! Great story, nice fish, and you saved a ton of gas money so you can go buy some more of those red and black jigs. Mike
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[iwantabuggy]

Cool story! Thanks for sharing and congrats on your first limit!
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[mikkfin80]

Congrats man! Sounds like fun. Pretty cool you caught the fish that broke you off a couple of days earlier.
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[hulapopper]

good job ninjimasu
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[forgiven]

Great Job! Almost makes me want to go elbow to elbow!

Almost...........
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[Jimbojump]

Ok then...going for it today...any thoughts on the best place to go at em???
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[Westslopecutt]

Awesome post, one of the very best I can remember in this forum. Thanks for sharing and the chuckles I got while reading it!
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[Jimbojump]

Any word on todays stocking actually happening?
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[hulapopper]

i would say it definitly happened. on the way back to my shop and saw the americana hole elbow to elbow again.
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