Following is a list of different reason that have caused me to miss out on numerous fishing opportunities. I’m sure many of you will also be able to relate to this list. The first few items are rather obvious, but extremely important.
Patrick Hollinger (owner of Eagle Bay Lodging & Fishing), Tim Reilly and Fred Contaoi with a Rogue River Spring Chinook.
Reason 1: Gear Not Ready
This has happened to me more than once so far this season. A friend calls at the last minute and wants to meet the next day to hit the pond first thing in the morning. Often, it’s well worth the effort because your friend has first-hand knowledge that the fishing is going to be epic. Plus, it would be great just to get out and get away from real life for the morning or day.
As I grow older, I seem to have more and more excuses—especially since I’ve become a single, 50 percent of the time, dad. My ex-wife, bless her heart, signed the kids up for every possible activity known to man. Since I live on the edge of the school district, it takes at least 30 minutes, each way, to take the kids anywhere. That alone wipes the better part of two weeks of the month out. I’m not complaining, and actually enjoy the games and concerts very much. They are both excelling at sports and music. Frankie is in the School of Rock and getting better and better. Ronnie plays the drums, and basketball year around. They seem happy and well adjusted, considering….
I digress. What happens is on these “unplanned” quick trips you really need to have your gear ready and handy. You would think that after all these years of fishing I’d have all of my stuff ready to go at a moment’s notice. Most of the time, depending on the fishery, I’m close. But it only takes one thing to turn a go into a no. For example, my go-to boot foot waders are always hanging near the front door. I tore a hole in the boot and they were out for about a week (until some fresh “cement” arrived). In one case I didn’t have a proper spinner rod ready for a quick trip. Recently the springer bobber bite has been on and I’ve passed on some early morning action due to lack of sandshrimp, and before that just not being rigged for the morning.
I could go on and on, but the point here is simple. If my gear and clothing was firetruck ready, I probably would have gone on some of these last second trips. And guess what? I would have caught more fish.
Reason 2: Early Season Burnout
This happens every season and at times I fall for it too. You get so excited about steelhead, salmon or trout season, you hit it really hard early in the season. The high of scoring early season fish makes it well worth it. But I see so many anglers just give up to do other things by the time fish actually show up in force. If you’re like most fishermen and not fully in tune with things like some of the guys who are out there every day, it’s easy to get quickly frustrated and give up.
Reason 3: No Game Plan
It’s really easy to give up quickly if your plan is instantly ruined upon your arrival at your early-morning fishing destination. For example, you daydream all week about hitting a special steelhead hole early in the morning. Maybe, set-up a Saturday afternoon trip with the kids to fish for planter trout. How about a fly fishing trip for fall steelhead… And everything quickly goes bad wrong. What do you do? Well if you turn around and go home, you definitely aren’t going to catch any fish.
You will definitely have more action if you fish from daylight to till dusk.
After hiking for 20 minutes down a beautiful trail early Saturday morning to hit your favorite “and secret” steelhead drift, to your horror you find three guys are already there. Worse yet you know one of them. He is friends with one of your other friends who you confided in. A guy who had never even been to this spot. He told his other buddies and they figured it out. Your stomach turns over and you consider calling your mom. You make a note to self to never, ever discuss fishing or morel spots with this guy. The solution is simple. Erase this event from your brain. Don’t let them see you, because then the spot will be verified. Don’t give up but lick your wounds at another spot, or find a brand new secret spot.
It’s early afternoon. You’ve loaded up your chairs, Power Bait and Roostertails. The kids are excited and away you go to your favorite reservoir. Upon arrival you read a sign that says it will be closed for the next three years. Well isn’t that great. Fortunately, you know another nearby reservoir. Here, where you normally go, the gate is closed for no apparent reason. Great. Next spot has 100 people fishing and 1,000 people swimming. Give up. I don’t think so. Over the guardrail we go, dragging all our gear and finally work our way in to a tiny slice of paradise—with 10 of our new buddies who also had the same idea—and we caught fish.
The master plan was to do a little late summer steelhead fishing, back when there were lots around. After a long drive we arrive to discover that the river is out. And I mean all the way out. A tributary was spewing enough glacial melt to instantly end the day. We could have turned around and headed back home, but instead explored a few somewhat nearby rivers and pleasantly found success.
Reason 4: Not Changing For Conditions
Another way to catch more fish is to be ready to adapt to conditions. Two weeks ago you went to the coast and had an epic day. In your favorite couple of spots you tied into a springer and two summer steelhead. One summer got away after along battle, but you got lucky and limited out with a hatchery springer and a hatchery summer steelhead. Pumped out of you mind you arrive at the same spot expecting the same results. Sadly, the water was way down and the river temperature was way up.
Quickly discovering your favorite holes were not holding fish it was time to make a decision. Head for home or explore. To your delight you find a summer steelhead that wanted to play in a fast riffle under a tree. It was the fight of your life, and in a spot you almost didn’t fish.
Reason 5: Not Grinding It Out
During May of this year I experienced some of the best springer fishing the world has to offer. We spent two days fishing the lower Rogue River, just above tidewater. You can watch the video on our YouTube channel (Salmon Trout Steelheader). We put in 16 hours of fishing the first day and 12 hours the second day. To be honest I wimped out the second day, because some of the boat members didn’t want to quit till dark. Because there was a morning and evening bite this strategy makes sense for the extremely hard-core angler. We probably doubled our catch by fishing so long and missed out on a few because we quit early the second day (if calling it after 12 hour is wimping out?).
Any more I find that I’m more impressed with myself by getting the job done in 4 to 10 hours of fishing time. But if you have the drive you will definitely catch more fish and learn more about the fishery if you fish from daylight till dusk.
MORE GREAT ARTICLES FROM STS:
PREP FOR WINTER STEELHEAD SPEY FISHING - MARK BACHMANN
