Thanksgiving chrome...

My wife, Sage and I just returned from a great Thanksgiving visit with our families in Western NY. Before gorging myself with turkey and pumpkin pie, I spent a couple of days fishing one of my favorite Lake Ontario tributaries. The weather was unseasonably warm for this time of year, with afternoon highs close to 50 degrees. Tuesday was overcast with a bit of drissle...perfect fishing conditions! I arrived in time for the sunrise and took my time slipping on my waders so that I could finish my hot cup of Starbuck's finest. After strapping on about 20 pounds of gear I was off to the water. The creek was woefully low due to an extensive drought that this area of the country experienced this summer. I was pleased to see a few fish holding in some of the deeper pools of the creek. I noticed that there were several Chinook Salmon still spawning in the shallow areas above the pools. I figured that the trout were likely having eggs for breakfast (salmon eggs that is), so I tied on a trusty glow bug. About ten minutes in, my fly line pauses while drifting through the pool. I set the hook, and I am in to my first steelie of the year. The fish ran quickly towards some rocks at the head of the pool. Luckily I was able keep the rod tip high enough to avoid the rocks. After a few minutes of great runs and leaps a nice 5 pound chunk of Lake Ontario chrome was landed. Throughout the next few hours I was able to hook about 4 more fish which included two nice Brown Trout.

Day two started out in much the same way as the first...one can't begin fishing without the eye opening pleasure of a hot cup of java. This day found the weather a bit more rainy with a cold front pushing through which would lead to a couple of inches of snow the next day. The first fish of the day did not take long...about 10 seconds into my first drift! It wasn't a large steelhead, but very feisty. Two other fish came in short succession. My hopes were high...three fish in less than 30 minutes! I had another steelhead that was much larger take a blazing run that ended quickly as my six pound tippet was sliced by razor sharp zebra mussels that coat many of the rocks in this creek. I had one mre small brown fall victim to an egg sucking leeech pattern before the cold front brought wind and driving rains that sent me to my car.

This was a wonderful trip full of great memories of family, friends and some great fall fishing.