COUPLE LIL ROE MUNCHERS-SMALL FISH/BIG APPETITES

Hit the river late this morning. Woke up at 0700 and felt the frostiness outside. It was enough to scare me back inside for a cup of coffee.

I must be gettin' old. I used to live, thrive, run, play and laugh at ice, snow and sub freezing temperatures but now my bones get chilled by 40-degrees.

I managed to get my saddlebags packed and my steelhead horse mounted by 0900 hours.

Got down to the river to see all the usual suspects... The action was 'fly-flossin' at the 'crack-pipe'... not really my cup-o-tea so I worked the drifts above and below the crowd.

I had several hits but no sticks. Down to my last skein or two of steelhead roe, I was using quite conservative amounts on a size #6 and then #8 Daiichi single egg hook.

Big George hooked the nicest couple of fish I saw early on. He came down to say hey. George is a giant but one of the gentlest and kindest souls on the river once you get to know him. He also has ethics and skills and knows how to get the steelies to bite.

He left the hole to go home and take care of his doggy and I stuck around.

Ole-man Bruno came down sometime shortly thereafter with his usual smiling face and cheery demeanor. He's another regular on the river that hooks fish. He not only hooks fish, he falls in love with the whole experience and each new fish he connects with is as magical to him as the first. Bruno embodies the spirit of everything good on the river we all share and love.

It didn't take long for Bruno to hook a steelhead but it had other plans than coming to hand... He landed his next fish but it was bright orange with a down-turned bugle for a mouth.

Bruno said he had something for me and asked me to grab a bag out of his fishing vest pocket. The 1/8" diameter pencil lead weight I can never find in stores. Bless his heart. The man is always thinking of his friends.

I placed the lead in my vest for later and moved a ways above Bruno to float some roe in shallow seam water. My bobber stalled up and went down slowly but I came up with a hook stripped of all but two eggs embedded in saggy slink of skein.

As soon as I turned my back on Bruno, I heard a splash and craned my neck to see his flyrod doubled over and his mouth creased with a that Big Bruno smile. I reeled up, put my hook in its keeper and grabbed the Nikon to catch some action shots.



As I approached him, Bruno put out his hand and said something about his heart and handed me his rod. Bruno had a pacemaker put in last year and though his spirit is strong as an ox, his heart sometimes beckons his caution. We traded rods and I tried to play catch up and run the big fish down but after many fast steps and a few knuckles busted I knew the fish was foul-hooked and so popped it off.

We took a breather together and then walked back up to find another willing and hopefully, more cooperative fish.

What the hell... go for broke... I fished out the biggest, juiciest wad of roe I could find and folded it over three times under my roe loop. As soon as my bobber hit the water it went under and one fast swoop of my rod tip sent a semi-ripe hen leaping out of the water.

I landed the fish in pretty short order, snapped a couple happy snaps and turned her back to do her business.







A few minutes and a couple of casts later my bobber sunk again and a smaller, brighter hen showed herself. She was a pretty scrappy lil miss for her stature of only 2 pounds and change. Once at my feet, I could see her eyes and throat were bigger than her stomach.



She'd managed to suck my hook through a gill raker and in to her gullet.



I'd intended to harvest a hen today and this wasn't the one I was looking for but she'd have to do. I retrieved the hook from her gut, bled her and walked out with Bruno.



Bruno must have been a Boy Scout cuz' the man is definitely a firm believer in the BE PREPARED! motto... He afforded me a bag for my fish, some sav for my dried out hands and a even hooked me up with a bag of extra baked goodies his wife packed him for lunch.

Thanks Bruno!

Hopefully, I'll get up and out to the river tomorrow early enough to fish a bit with you and Ray.