AR STEELHEAD IN BETWEEN RUNS-SCRATCHED ONE OUT~12-22-08

Got a late start today.

I had to go rescue a friend who needed parts for his truck.

Stopped by the post office to pick up an army issue parka my brother in San Marcos sent me for Xmas.

Twas a nice surprise inside the box to go with the foul-weather gear.

Dan knows I'm a spoon man and damn if he didn't come up with a shocker!

It's one thing for a bro to lay some free tackle on ya'. Even cooler that said bro would send you something 101% practical right in time for steelhead season...

But this one goes way above and beyond in the kickass gift department.

Take yourself back to the 1960's when manufacturers were trying to innovate in the hardware department... a time when the tackle dealers actually put some thought and craftsmanship in to their lure designs.

So many oval/oblong, smooth-finish spoons flooded the market... and the same company which still corners the spoon market some 50+ years later... introduced the wide, tear-drop-shaped, hammered-finish wobbler with a name no one could forget.

The innovatorer was ACME TACKLE CO. of Providence, R.I. and the spoon was the STEE-LEE.





I was stoked to get these. I thought about keeping them in collector condition but that thought only lasted a second. I popped the plastic and removed 2 of the cryogenic candies from their cardboard backer. In to my already-way-over-stuffed box of RVRFSHR and BC Steele spoons they went.

Orange/Gold isn't my go to color on a typical American River day but after it rains and the water gets stained, this is the spoon to have. The bright orange and gold show through the murk and the many facets of the spoons hammered finish reflect light in a thousand different directions.

I pitched one a few times today and I was amazed by the amount of flutter and thump it had for a 1/2 ounce, thick and fat-bottom spoon. Unfortunately, I didn't take the time to swap out the original, stock treble for a siwash and so I donated my first spoon in 4 trips to the river-rock-lords...

I look forward to hooking a chromer on one of these new-old stee-lees; Thanks Dan!

I continued the day fishing a channel slot/hole below a chute and had a couple of missed grabs on the Gold and Silver spoons.

I could tell a lot of newbies have been showing up and fishing these runs recently by all of the new snags I found. I started fishing this water hard in early November and until today, it had remained nearly snag-free. Now there are snags above, across, in front, and down-river such that if you don't make the perfect cast and.or mend your line several times... you're going to get hung.

I finally caved after an hour or so of hardware and broke out the roe. In hindsight, as much as I hate float fishing... today would have been the day to do it.

At some point, the fish went on a pretty ravenous bait bite but all the takes were subtle and soft. Sneaky lil bastards kept picking my eggs off the hook. I finally sunk my #6 Gami' in to something solid but she leaped out of the water twice, shook her head once and spat said Gami' back in my face minus the eggs.

This went on for a while. I at some point decided to try worms. Roe is at a premium and I hate wasting a whole skein on finicky, smart or smaller fish so out came the crawlers.

Getting the right drift was still a challenge so I made a few adjustments. I swapped spools from 8# to 6#, cut my weight down to about 1/4 oz. and walked further down river in to some softer water.

It didn't take to long after that to snag up again. DAMN! Where did THAT ONE come from? I questioned... and then I felt a head shake. No jumps, no flashes nor boils just bulldoggin' and musclin' its way around and pulling a bit of drag along the way.

She wasn't the fish I was looking for but at least I got to touch one and redeem myself for the others I failed to set the hook on.



This hen had obviously been hooked before as she sported a sore and a growth on the corner of her mouth. My hook placement was rather strange too... from the inside of the mouth out and from top to bottom.



I don't recall ever having hooked a trout this way.

Aside from the strange hook set and the maxillary growth, this fish also had a cropped lower mandible which gave her some serious overbite and a funny looking face. Maybe her stunted lower jaw predisposed her to get hooked the way she did...







I thought about how sweet these lil orange-meated hens are to eat and also about the fact that I have a large adult chromer in marinade on deck for the smoker...


so I kept my hands clean and turned her back to the river.

I continued fishing for another hour and had a few hits, one more dropped steelie, and I landed the perfect (striper-bait) sized squawfish which I also showed mercy towards (and didn't kill).

I was back to my truck before dark and all of my windows and doors were intact.

Reflecting on the day as I drove home, I was carrying a bit of disappointment at the fishing. But then I looked at the bright side... I had a nice day of exercise, solitude, a little action and I landed a beautiful 3# resident rainbow trout. Yes, the fishing could have been better but it could also have been much worse.

Thanks for the spoons Daniel.

Thanks for the fish and peace of mind river.

Until we meet again,
Mark