Thanksgiving river salmon on fire
- Matt
- Posts: 929
- Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 2:52 am
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Thanksgiving river salmon on fire
Holy smokes comes to mind when thinking of this morning. I left work early yesterday and got in some time on a Champlain trib. Someone was there already, working the water I was going to hit. No worries - moved to another spot and stuck a nice 24" hen with tons of fight in her while nymphing.
Took a pic of her in the net and sent her on her way. An hour later I had two fish shake off and then ran out of light so I hopped in the car and hit another spot. Got on fish immediately with light fading quickly. Throwing a big streamer through a deep pool and I had 3 fish chasing it - with one grabbing it. I landed it quickly and went for a quick picture and he flopped out of my hand.
For the next 20 minutes I had fish chasing, boiling, and hitting my streamer. Two more fish landed, one being a really pretty silver female. Third fish wrapped around the tip of my rod and snap....yikes!! Called my friend who wanted to fish with me this morning and we met up at sunrise to fish before I had to call it around 11 AM. From 7 to 11 we had an absolute blast!! I ended up landing about 11 salmon, and he managed about 8 himself. I was using my 4 wt rod with a click-and-pawl style reel We both had follows of some PIGS, but they never did connect with our flies. Average size of the day was about 20" with a couple around 23-24". Super aggressive fish that were swinging at flies multiple times per cast...wow!
What a perfect way of spending Thanksgiving morning! Didn't get pictures of all my fish, but most. Back on the rivers tomorrow, this time with a change of scenery!
Very silver fish!
Took a pic of her in the net and sent her on her way. An hour later I had two fish shake off and then ran out of light so I hopped in the car and hit another spot. Got on fish immediately with light fading quickly. Throwing a big streamer through a deep pool and I had 3 fish chasing it - with one grabbing it. I landed it quickly and went for a quick picture and he flopped out of my hand.
For the next 20 minutes I had fish chasing, boiling, and hitting my streamer. Two more fish landed, one being a really pretty silver female. Third fish wrapped around the tip of my rod and snap....yikes!! Called my friend who wanted to fish with me this morning and we met up at sunrise to fish before I had to call it around 11 AM. From 7 to 11 we had an absolute blast!! I ended up landing about 11 salmon, and he managed about 8 himself. I was using my 4 wt rod with a click-and-pawl style reel We both had follows of some PIGS, but they never did connect with our flies. Average size of the day was about 20" with a couple around 23-24". Super aggressive fish that were swinging at flies multiple times per cast...wow!
What a perfect way of spending Thanksgiving morning! Didn't get pictures of all my fish, but most. Back on the rivers tomorrow, this time with a change of scenery!
Very silver fish!
Re: Thanksgiving river salmon on fire
great job matt. love those pics. looks like you stayed afloat to. if my leg is okay in the morning you might run into me.
Re: Thanksgiving river salmon on fire
It is a Happy Thanksgiving
Matt would you Slap those fish and please tell them to get back to the lake to play with us.....Kissing and loving time in the river is over and it is time to get the feed bag on or you are going to be one thin fish come spring
Matt would you Slap those fish and please tell them to get back to the lake to play with us.....Kissing and loving time in the river is over and it is time to get the feed bag on or you are going to be one thin fish come spring
Fish On!
- tamiron
- Posts: 1317
- Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:11 pm
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Re: Thanksgiving river salmon on fire
Hey Matt:
Definitely impressive! Great job./Jim
Definitely impressive! Great job./Jim
Lures designed by fishermen for fishermen
- fishingmachine
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- Species: salmon,Lake trout
- Location: Rutland
Re: Thanksgiving river salmon on fire
yes Matt,chase them back into the lake so us ol'timers can get after em
- Matt
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Re: Thanksgiving river salmon on fire
Great day on the water today a little further from home. 4 landed and some pigs at that. My friend started with a 26.5 and I ended up finishing off with a 26.
Re: Thanksgiving river salmon on fire
i didnt catch up to you when i got there but i landed 2 small browns. you covered lots of water today. wow. i had a difficult time throwing that fly against that wind. glad you got a couple of hogs.
Re: Thanksgiving river salmon on fire
that is a nice male hog.
- WildFisherWoman
- Posts: 655
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- Location: NorthWestern, VT
Re: Thanksgiving river salmon on fire
Nicely done... as always!
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived"
- Matt
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Re: Thanksgiving river salmon on fire
Sunday was chilly so I waited a while before heading out. Still below freezing when I got to the river. Threw streamers for a few hours and did pretty well. Netted about 5 fish mostly average size. Just as I was leaving I did a farewell cast and got a nice 25+ that did about 5 cartwheels!! Looks like I should be getting the steelhead and hard water gear ready !
Re: Thanksgiving river salmon on fire
Matt wrote: Looks like I should be getting the steelhead and hard water gear ready !
They're definitely to be found....
-
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- Location: Willsboro/ CT
Re: Thanksgiving river salmon on fire
Great pictures and nice fish. Great way to start a Holiday. What river were you fishing?
Re: Thanksgiving river salmon on fire
a nice looking steelie z.g. reminds me of the rainbows i catch in the ponds.
Re: Thanksgiving river salmon on fire
My buddy caught it while we were fishing a champlain trib this past weekend. Pretty beautiful fishfishy1 wrote:a nice looking steelie z.g. reminds me of the rainbows i catch in the ponds.