Well how can I sum up my annual coastal steelhead trip? I think the best way to say it is that I got my butt royally handed to me. I guess that is just part of chasing the grey ghost. I went a long ways to catch a glimpse of only a ghost. Here is a little summary of how the trip went.
On Monday Greg Schuegar from Napa and myself decided to fish the S.Fork of the Eel. The clarity of the river was awesome with about 4 to 5 feet of visibiility. We started fishing around noon and got off around 5. We floated from Richardson Grove Park down to Bear Creek off of Benbow Drive. Greg hooked one fish about a mile into the drift. Take note that I was at the oars when this happened. The fish looked to be around 8lbs but she managed to throw the hook as she rolled just beneath the surface of the water.
Tuesday we once again decided to float the S.Fork of the Eel hoping to go a little higher to find some more fish. We floated from Piercy down to Bear Creek (about 8 miles). The conditions on Tuesday were even better on Monday. Once again Greg hooks a fish about a mile into our drift. This time the fish was around 6lbs and she threw the hook as she flew out of the water extremely pissed about the hook in her lip. Once again I am at the oars! After that fish we didn't manage to get another one. Can you see a trend starting to progress.
Well after two tough days of fishing on the S.Fork of the Eel we decide to go and check out the Matolle River on Wednesday hoping to run into a couple more fish. Neither Greg or I have ever fished the Matolle so we were fishing and floating completely blind. The conditions on the upper river were great, but the lower river only had about a foot of visibility. We ended up floating from Honeydew down to Lindley Road. For those of you who have never fished this river it looks like a gem. Perfect size for the fly rod. Well to keep in our trend Greg hooks and land about a 8lb hen about a mile into our drift. Once again I am on the oars. We continue down our drift working over each run diligently with no prevail. Third day in a row with our one fish routine.
So here are a couple of observations I have made from our last trip. Maybe we should have floated the first mile of each drift ten times! Im thinking ten drifts ten fish. Second observation either I am a great rower to get Greg into fish, he is a much better fisherman than me, he is a crappy rower who cant get me into fish, or I am a crappy fisherman. You know a man begins to wonder after three days of going 0 for 0.
To be directly honest I was just stoked to be out there with one of my great friends. And for those of you that fish the coast for the grey ghost you know that they always dont show themselves. I go into each coastal trip with no expectations and that is exactly what I got.
I hope this helps for those of you thinking about doing some steelhead fishing in the near future.
Ryan Johnston
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