It must have something to do with my DNA but I’ve been a morning person my whole life. When I was a kid, sleeping in never happened. During my college years, I was the guy who loved 8:00AM classes. When I took up golf, I always wanted one of the first tee-times, at the crack of dawn. When I started to run, it was between 4:00AM and 6:00AM. So, when I got back into fishing seven years ago, being on the river early was a no-brainer. It worked out well, especially during the summer. You can’t beat fishing for smallies at 5:30AM, just when the sun is rising, and the air is the freshest. And I also thought fishing for steelhead should follow the same schedule, adjusted for the time of the year. But, whether it’s old age, or some moment of clarity, I’m beginning to think differently about fishing for steelhead. Let’s call it being flexible.
This time of the year fishing for steelhead is often affected by the weather. If it’s dry, the water levels are low and fresh chrome can’t make it up the rivers. Extreme cold like we had several years ago will ice up the rivers early. Too much precipitation, and the rivers are blown out. So far, this December has been mild. After a blow out rain storm late in November the water levels are low but fishable. There have been some frosty mornings, but slush hasn’t shown up yet. But that’s about to change. A major cold front is coming through. Snow, and an extended cold snap will make it feel like January came early. I wanted to get out before the cold front so yesterday was my target day. Unfortunately I had a family commitment in the morning. On the ride back home my wife said “why not fish this afternoon”? I started to tremble and didn’t know if it was a panic attack because I’d have to change my schedule or because it was a great idea. It ended up being a great idea.
Frosty mornings are a given this time of the year.
(Click on image for a larger view.)
After inhaling a sandwich I hit the road and almost immediately realized things were a little different. Morning drives to the river are easy and fast with very little traffic. Yesterday it was agonizing. There was a lot of traffic and everyone was moving at a snail’s pace. Hey people, don’t you know I’m in a hurry to get to the river. A 15 minute drive seemed to take an hour. But, once on the water, all that was forgotten.
It was surprising that the stretch of the Grand River I fished was so open. There were only two other fishermen, so fighting for a pool was not going to happen. I made my way to a spot where there’s always a fish or two to be had. But the catching started slow, just like the drive. Swinging a white woolly bugger didn’t interest anything. So I made my way to another spot and thankfully after a few casts I got hung up on a log and had to break it off. That forced me to change to a smaller, tan bugger. Two casts later and I felt that tug. All of sudden the slowness of the day stopped as the fish moved all over the pool. A couple minutes later and a nice, 22” hen was brought to net. After releasing the fish my only hope was the pool wasn’t toast from the fight. I continued to cast toward the downed tree on the other side of the pool and let the woolly bugger swing through the middle. Three casts later and another relatively fresh hen took the bugger and moved around the pool just like the first one. After landing this one I couldn’t believe how similar the two steelhead looked. Both hens were roughly the same size, and had some color in the gillplate, but also had that fresh “chrome” look.
On the way back to the car I ran into a fisherman who was fishing the Grand for the first time. He said he was not having any luck. I’ve been there more times than I care to admit so I told him to move around the bend and fish the pools with casts that have to be close to the downed trees. I hope it worked for him. It did for me.
This hen was a twin of another fish caught several minutes earlier.
I had to look close to make sure it wasn't the same fish.
So, am I going to stop being a morning person? Nope. Will I fish later in the day? Maybe during steelhead season. Just don’t ask me about changing during the summer.
Go out and fool a fish!
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