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Date: May 06, 2009 at 09:24:40
From: Sean Ransom, [ip68-9-35-100.cl.ri.cox.net]
Subject: Skeena Spey Week Fish Story


I led a spey trip up on the skeena river system in British columbia last week and here is a little report...

Well overall the fishing was tough with temps in the 70s most of the week and low clear water meant fish just were not pushing into the river. Still it was a pleasure to fish some of the greatest winter steelhead rivers left on the planet. The rivers seem to have been built with spey casters in mind.

To the fish story...

So the first day we fished hard all day without even a nibble. Things were looking grim as we headed to the last run of the day. I had tried everything in my box and this run we had our guide follow us through just to get another fly in the water. Myself and Zoltan got through the top part of the run with nothing to show and Scotty hooked up behind us on a green/blue fly called the sea dragon invented by Brian Niska for use with king salmon. An intruder type fly and the fish just nailed it. About 10 minutes later he lands a high teens buck and I suck up my pride and ask Scott for a fly as I did not have that color combo in the flies I tied for the trip.

So lo and behold 5 casts later towards the tail out I hook up. Fish takes off and we are not sure if it is a king or a steelie. I get through the first run and get the fish back to about 30 feet away. He takes off again with a 80 foot run that is about the fastest run I have had a fish take. I go to palm my bougle to slow him down and the screw that holds the spool on falls off into my hand and falls into the river. I look down and see it in the water and yell for Scott to grab the pieces of my reel falling into the river.

Without that screw when you palm the side plate off comes the spool. Now I am standing in the river holding my spool in one hand and the rod in the other. Feck. I figure this fish is gone and shove the spool back on and decide to start strip fighting the fish. A good time to be fishing 15lb maxima. So I start stripping and give the fish line when needed. I keep looking down to make sure I do not step on my line so I can feed it back out when the fish runs.

Lucky for us the fish cooperates and I am able to fairly quickly get the fish in the shallows. The fish is still green and I tell Scott just jump on it. He gets a hand on the tail and we get the fish!

Turns out to be a 20lb buck according to the measurements and the fight goes about 5-10 minutes due to just having to muscle him in due to the reel problems.

My screw had actually sheared off and will need professional repair but in the meantime I have a new use for the winding plate...steelhead pacifier

The pic does not do him justice but he was so green he really did not want to calm down at all so it was hard to get a good shot. Soon after was back in the water taking off upstream. A little colored up but a lot of skeena bucks seem to get color fast. Caught way low in the river and a good solid healthy fish.


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