Steelhead Fishing

Rich Stedman, one of my committee members, invited me to go steelhead fishing with him during their spring break. I didn't get to go up then, but finally made the trip this past week. A friend of Rich's joined me in Centre Hall at 4:45am on Friday morning, April 4th and we drove the three/three and a half hours up to Ithaca, NY to pick up Rich. After a quick tour of their new house we headed out to Auburn to pick up another friend and grad student of Rich's, Kieth. Another hour or so in the car and we were looking at the Salmon River, north of Watertown, NY. Rich had fished this river extensively while in grad school (15 years ago) so we drove around quite a bit trying to get our bearings and decide on the best place to fish.
It is an incredible stream and unlike anything else I've ever seen or fished. There is a large reservoir upstream so the flow is irratic and often there are dam releases that fill the river to its banks and beyond with raging, but crystal clear waters. So was the case on Friday - the water level rose all day, getting harder and harder to fish, but stayed clear, tricking you into believing the fishing should be good :)
There is a fish hatchery a few miles down from the dam which raises rainbow and brown trout and salmon fingerlings. These fish are released from the hatchery and make their way downstream to the lake, live for a few years and then make their way back up their stream, returning to the hatchery where they were released. We visited the hatchery and the "entrance" to the hatchery from the river was chock full of steelhead anywhere from 20 to 40 inches. Huge fish.
We started the day at a bridge just downstream from the hatchery. Kieth and I fished near the bridge while Rich and Lou headed a bit downstream. Despite throwing a number of streamers, egg patterns, and nymphs, the only action I had was watching an angler downstream lose his footing and swim downstream 100yards or so before he got his footing back. Lou, on the otherhand, pulled a nice 25" fish out of a side hole downstream. Rich caught a couple suckers out of the same hole.
Long story short, we fished in the pouring rain and rising waters from about 11am until 8pm. Lou's was the only fish, but we were all exhausted from fighting the current, walking to various access points, and casting with the hopes of hauling in a lunker. All went well, save for our inability to find the "sportsman's hole." We parked at the access point and walked down the trail toward what we thought should be the water, only to find ourselves back on the road with no sign of a trail leading anywhere but back to the vehicle. So, we walked back to the vehicle and went to a different spot! There were a few guys around who caught fish, but for the most part, it was a slow day given the high flow. Many guys said, "Oh, yesterday was amazing." That's what we get for fishing only one day.
It was really good to get up there and see steelhead fishing first hand. I'd been with Paul once to Erie, but the season was all but over and although we wrestled (literally) one fish from Walnut Creek, I didn't get a chance to witness true steelhead fishing. Big rods, big reel, small stream - and big fish. Crazy combination. It was amazing to see guys roll casting massive weights on fly rods: a small flick of the arm and these weights fly upstream, splashing into the current and quickly sinking to the bottom, where the fish look for food. Others had huge spey rods stripping streamers across the current. Spinner rods throwing huge bobbers dangling egg patterns.
It was also nice to spend some time getting to know Rich better and meeting Lou and Kieth. I don't get to spend much time with people who are true academics and true sportsmen. It's a good combination - one that I've tried to make with my life and it was refreshing to see others who have successfully made the merge :)
Now that I know where this place is and have a sense of how to approach the fishing, I suspect this won't be my last steelhead trip. It's probably an hour's drive from Aunt Suzie's house and may make a great holiday excursion - the fishing is best from late October until late March. Hopefully, I'll pull one of those monsters in sooner rather than later.