Rising water hookup

[ChezJfrey]

Have never had much luck fishing rising water; never hooked into one. Until last night.

Went out after work, fished around and even spotted a couple, but no takers until it really started pouring.

Everyone in the area had bailed but me and at 6:45 or so, got a taker on the spoon. Was angling a good section of a flat spot just outside a seam created by a large, mid-river boulder. Cast into the middle of the flat spot, spoon drifts into a seam, starts to swing, which happens to coincide with a trench/ where the flat spot dips and water picks up speed (nice place for a fish to hunker and sit below the accelerating current). A very subtle bump, strike back and steelhead on! Fish was a bit confused about where to go, raced up, out, back down, back toward me and I'm thinking with a fairly open bank, it's in the bag. Well, until it decides that 'up' is the only option left. Fish leaps, shakes and zoom, my spoon slings back toward me...fish away.

Ugh! Back to square one on the rising river steelhead game.

 

[hobster]

Al least you got to play a little. Man, you've been killin it this year! You'll get the next one. I've hooked a few in rising water, I think its a myth they don't bite in rising water. Not nearly as much, that's for sure, but you can still get lucky.

 

[bran_man]

Nice! Sucks about the loss though. One of my best steely days was during a steady rise...

 

[rippin fish lips]

Good report chez. Summers love biting in rising water. A nice steady rise that is. I havent caught a steelhead in about a month and a half or so again. Might be time to make 1 last ditch effort for one on my river. Bess chasing them salmon around.

 

[Casting Call]

Hi CJ! another entertaing lost fish episode. Thanks Tony

 

[Tinker]

I think you should stop offering any encourageent to me, CJ. I'm grateful for everything I'm learning, but I worry that my peculiar skills with steelhead might be rubbing OFF on you... Sad to hear you lost this one. The Lords of Fishing know how well I understand that feeling!

 

[ChezJfrey]

I think you should stop offering any encourageent to me, CJ. I'm grateful for everything I'm learning, but I worry that my peculiar skills with steelhead might be rubbing OFF on you... Sad to hear you lost this one. The Lords of Fishing know how well I understand that feeling!

Hehehe, how wrong you are. Long before you arrived, my steelhead landing ratio for 2012 was 62% landed for amount hooked. This year, it's at 58%, so not too much different. Hooking them is only half the equation...they are escape artists