Centerpinning - Day 2

What a difference 1 day and a little practice makes. Today's trip to the river yielded much better results in terms of my technique and the result. Having gotten a grip on casting, I was able to concentrate more on line control and my drifts.

We started the day on the lower part of the Salmon river. The action was good enough to keep us there for most of the day. At the first hole, this brown nailed my skein and nearly jolted the rod out of my hand.

















It was nice to get one early in the morning. Now I was getting my head into the game.

Here are a few more photos of steelhead I landed, and a few by my friend Aaron:

























I don't know that I'll invest in a rig just yet. It is very effective to say the least, but it is not as relaxing to fish with as the fly rod. Maybe it's just that I don't have enough time into it yet.

Going to give the SAlmon river a rest for now. It's possible I may go up in the springtime for drop backs. I can definitely use the fly rod then.

Centerpinning - day 1

Wow - what a learning experience. My new signature line for emails will be "Centerpinning is NOT easy!" I have a new appreciation for the guys who go out there with the CP reels and make it look so effortless. It took me half the day to figure out just the casting alone. Then, it finally clicked. Line and drift management are going to require some more time.

The thing with centerpin reels is that they are free spinning and have no drag. This setup just invites tangles and backlashes if you're not totally on top of your game (or have many days on the water working with this reel), or a complete greenhorn like me.

Aside from that, properly done, it is incredibly effective as my friend demonstrated to me today. He landed a bunch and I was lucky enough to land the one I did hook into. Thank God is was not a beast or I surely would have lost it. The other thing about it is the bait; skein sacks are really really really smelly and sticky. You get that smell on your hands and I think it could stay with you for days, if not weeks!

All said, I'm glad I tried it and we'll see what tomorrow's day on te river brings... hopefully some chrome or gold into the net.

Salmon River - mid winter bedlam

I'm currently up here in Pulaski NY at the famous Salmon river. Going to hit the river Saturday and Sunday, trying something new for a change: centerpinning with egg sacks and skein. This will be my first time with a centerpin. My friend Aaron met me up here and we think we're going to do some major damage on the chrome. There are supposedly lots of fish in the river right now and the reports have been good.

Weather forecast is for cold and snow. Morning low forecasted for a whopping 7 degrees, but it should get into the 20's by midday. Extreme steelheading - I love it! It's amazing - coming up through Syracuse, there's only a little snow on the ground, but as soon as you get close to Pulaski, it's like a snow bomb went off. Hopefully, it'll keep a lot of anglers away from the river and we can have some spots to ourselves. Brought a couple pairs of snowshoes (thanks Torrey!), so that should be a big help. We should be on the river by 6am, hoping to be the first ones there.

Hopefully, I'll have lots of photos for the website by Saturday night. Stay tuned...

Farmington River 2 weekends in January

Yes, it is mid winter, but that doesn't mean it's time to stop fishing. In fact, winter can be a GREAT time to fish. The masses stay home (unless it's an exceptionally warm winter day) and you can enjoy the peace and solitude of the river to yourself. We've had some really nice weather here in Connecticut this January, thus far. So when it does cooperate, you have to make the most of your opportunities.

The first group of photos below are from January 5th. I drove down to the middle of the TMA and got 5 browns. That is a REALLY good day for me, since I admittedly, haven't had very good luck overall in the winter. There were ice shelves lining the river in spots and I found that by standing on them like a casting platform, it helped me to reach fish that I would normally have a hard time effectively fishing to. Not a recommended technique if you're new to winter fishing, since there's always the chance of falling through the ice. The biggest one in the last photo went about 17 inches and was a very chunky well fed animal. Enjoy the photos!

































This past weekend, my friends Dave and Aaron came up from New York City and New Jersey, respectively, to fish the Farmington. These guys are pretty hardcore and we fished all day long on both Saturday and Sunday. We were on the first ones on the river at 7 am. We all hooked up, with the best action coming in the early morning. Aaron, caught a behemoth rainbow, shown below. We estimated it going 24 inches and about 6 lbs. Once you catch a fish like that, you might as well stop for the rest of the day, but we fished till sundown.

Here are a few photos:

Thanksgiving Steelhead

Wow - it has been a LONG time since I put anything new up, so it's time to pony up.
Not a lot of narrative here, but just a quick recap. Andy, John and I made a somewhat impromptu trip up to Erie-land on thansksgiving weekend to fish for steelhead. Apparently, every steelheader in PA and NY had the same idea, because there were so many people there, it was hard to find a place to fish.

We did fish Chautauqua and Elk, with Elk being the most productive. Here are a few photos: