03-23-2010, 07:03 AM
Chromejunky, Vern, Vern's wife, and myself headed up to Salmon bright and early Sunday morning at 3 a.m. Our first destination was to be the dutch oven hole. I had never been steelhead fishing before so I did not know what to expect. We arrived at dutch oven at about 6:17 a.m. or so and it was still dark outside. Once we got out of the car I learned that we would be mountain climbing down this rock slope to dutch oven in the dark. That was a fun experience and I didn't even fall.
Chromejunky and Vern got their rigs all set up and then taught me how to get it set up. Once the sun barely came up over the canyon the fishing was on!!! I threw out clear across the river for the first time. On my third steelhead cast ever, BAMMMM!!!!! My rod was bent in half! I yell fish on and they bring the net over. We get the fish landed and it's a keeper!! My first steelhead ever!!! Wow!! I got hooked right then! Those fish are SO strong!
Just as a side note, sorry if I am not exact on what actually happened with all of us...we fished for almost 14 hours and did wander a bit.
We kept fishing for a while. I watched as the older guys next to us caught fish and watched Vern catch a nice steelie. The morning went on and I seen fish being pulled out of the water all along the hole. It wasn't one after another action but it was fairly consistent I'd say. I can't remember exactly what time we left dutch over, but it was around 11 or 12.
We then headed up river and hit several holes on the way back up to Salmon. By the time we got back up to the Subway at Salmon, I had caught 1 steelhead and 1 "squawfish"...Chromejunky had caught 1 steelhead, and Vern had worked his way up to 7 steelhead!!
We wasn't sure what to do next, but we decided to head to Challis to finish off the day. We went to deer gulch (I think that's what it's called)...We went down to their hole and fished for a while. It started out fairly slow but then it heated up! We all mostly fished this same hole and then BAM!! Chromejunky gets a very nice fish on. He fights it for a while and we get it landed. It's a 27-28" inch male! Definitely a keeper. We keep fishing for a while and then BAM!!!! Chromejunky gets another fish on! This one is significantly bigger than anything we caught all day. He fought it for a solid 10-15 minutes. He finally gets it landed and it is a very solid 30-31" inch B run female! It was definitely the biggest fish I had seen in a WHILE! We keep fishing for a while and then I get a monster hit!!! Vern wades out to the middle of the river in his jeans and nets the fish for me. It's another nice male...about 25" inches. My second steelhead ever! I am definitely hooked on steelhead fishing now! I can't believe I have never done it before!
I also caught a big sucker around that hole. Overall it was a GREAT day! I learned SOO much and I owe it to Chromejunky and Vern! They definitely produced another addict!
Attached are a few pictures from the trip. Sorry about the image size, I have a Mac and don't know how to make them smaller!
Josh
[signature]
Chromejunky and Vern got their rigs all set up and then taught me how to get it set up. Once the sun barely came up over the canyon the fishing was on!!! I threw out clear across the river for the first time. On my third steelhead cast ever, BAMMMM!!!!! My rod was bent in half! I yell fish on and they bring the net over. We get the fish landed and it's a keeper!! My first steelhead ever!!! Wow!! I got hooked right then! Those fish are SO strong!
Just as a side note, sorry if I am not exact on what actually happened with all of us...we fished for almost 14 hours and did wander a bit.
We kept fishing for a while. I watched as the older guys next to us caught fish and watched Vern catch a nice steelie. The morning went on and I seen fish being pulled out of the water all along the hole. It wasn't one after another action but it was fairly consistent I'd say. I can't remember exactly what time we left dutch over, but it was around 11 or 12.
We then headed up river and hit several holes on the way back up to Salmon. By the time we got back up to the Subway at Salmon, I had caught 1 steelhead and 1 "squawfish"...Chromejunky had caught 1 steelhead, and Vern had worked his way up to 7 steelhead!!
We wasn't sure what to do next, but we decided to head to Challis to finish off the day. We went to deer gulch (I think that's what it's called)...We went down to their hole and fished for a while. It started out fairly slow but then it heated up! We all mostly fished this same hole and then BAM!! Chromejunky gets a very nice fish on. He fights it for a while and we get it landed. It's a 27-28" inch male! Definitely a keeper. We keep fishing for a while and then BAM!!!! Chromejunky gets another fish on! This one is significantly bigger than anything we caught all day. He fought it for a solid 10-15 minutes. He finally gets it landed and it is a very solid 30-31" inch B run female! It was definitely the biggest fish I had seen in a WHILE! We keep fishing for a while and then I get a monster hit!!! Vern wades out to the middle of the river in his jeans and nets the fish for me. It's another nice male...about 25" inches. My second steelhead ever! I am definitely hooked on steelhead fishing now! I can't believe I have never done it before!
I also caught a big sucker around that hole. Overall it was a GREAT day! I learned SOO much and I owe it to Chromejunky and Vern! They definitely produced another addict!
Attached are a few pictures from the trip. Sorry about the image size, I have a Mac and don't know how to make them smaller!
Josh
[signature]