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Spring Steelhead Report from Steelhead Heaven BC Canada 2009
We started week 1 of our guiding season with a bang as our clients from Vancouver landed some very large Steelhead this weekend. Rod Toth of Bent Rods showed us that his jigs are the top producers when it come to fishing for Steelhead. Rod landed a 21.4lb Steelhead, a 19.5lb Steelhead and a 17lb Steelhead not to mention other small males and fresh females arriving from the sea.
Rod felt very confident in his jigs and the nice thing is that they are all made in the lower mainland by his family and friends. When you tie thousands of these a year you need extra help. Rod fished different varieties of jigs with his float, centre-pin reel and 13.5 ft rod, his magic colors were pink, green and olive. We concentrated on the deep pools some as deep as 19.5ft, yes! And this was where the big boys were holding. Attached are some of the monsters Rod landed.
His fishing partner for the trip was Wes the Bass Pro Master, well versed in Eastern Canada Steelhead. This young lad was as organised as any fisherman I have ever guided. His style and technique was flawless and a great tip I learned was that the guys would use fly floatant on the line approx 25ft of it, to ensure the dead drift they wanted to present in the water was always there, with little or no drag on the surface of the water. Wes tied the most amazing Tarentino bags, as he calls them to keep his secrects close to his chest, moms the word with me. Wes hooked some large males during the trip and some he landed and some were long line releases. One of the fish Wes landed had sea lice on it so that day we did catch allot of fresh chrome hen Steelhead. Attached are a couple of Wes's catches for the trip as well a close-up of a beautiful BC freshie.
Spoonman and Billy Bob were partnered with Bark Bark, these guys hooked some very nice Steelhead and Spoonman fished with the metal his entire trip and fished some of the nicest spoons, all special ordered and in various weights and size. Billy Bob is pictured with one of the chromers the guys landed that day, a fresh run for sure.
With the spring melt soon to happen, we fished very cold water conditions at 36F and some of the lowest river levels all year. As April arrives and the sun melts the snow off the mountains we should get a nice bump in water levels and a push of fresh Steelhead, so anglers can expect some excellent conditions in the next week. All photos of our fish from this past week are located in the Steelhead photo gallery, tight lines.
Tracey John Hittel
Kitimat BC Canada
250 632-9880 hm.
250 639-4277 cell.
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