TR: Another Maitland story

A short one . . .

Went back to the Maitland.

Fished my brown trout weamer all day.

Used my new Daiwa Lochmor 14'6" 10 wt. spey rod and my new Airflo
Delta multi tip.

Got smoked by a steelie about 10 minutes after first line wetting. It
ran the full 120' of fly line and about 40' of backing before it
jumped and went bye, bye.

Burned my fingers twice on the line.

Bubba Bait Bucket didn't help by casting over my line and snagging it
during the fight -- this was after I yelled a warning that I had a
fish on -- a warning that he heard as he looked up and saw me with
some severely bent graphite. Wasn't deliberate, I think his one
functioning grey cell was occupied with something else. Afterward, he
mumbled something that sounded like "Sorry", after asking if it was
still on, and then left shortly after.

Landed four smallies and lost three others. The smallest was about
16" and 3 lbs. The largest landed bent the 10 wt. to the cork. The
largest not landed -- it broke me off -- 10 lb. test. 2X.

The wind was brutal -- again!

Had my licence checked by a pleasant CO.

Had a very nice day.

I now know where I'm going smallie fishing this summer. . . .



Peter

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"Peter Charles" wrote in message
...
A short one . . .
...............
Got smoked by a steelie about 10 minutes after first line wetting. It
ran the full 120' of fly line and about 40' of backing before it
jumped and went bye, bye.

Burned my fingers twice on the line.

...........
Landed four smallies and lost three others. The smallest was about
16" and 3 lbs. The largest landed bent the 10 wt. to the cork. The
largest not landed -- it broke me off -- 10 lb. test. 2X.

................
I now know where I'm going smallie fishing this summer. . . .



Holy cow, I suggest you pack a shotgun instead of fly gear. Those sound like
monsters!!

Nice TR.
--riverman

On Sun, 25 Apr 2004 16:44:14 +0100, "riverman"
wrote:


................
I now know where I'm going smallie fishing this summer. . . .



Holy cow, I suggest you pack a shotgun instead of fly gear. Those sound like
monsters!!

Nice TR.
--riverman


I've never run into smallies like this before -- big ones, yes -- this
tough -- no. It's something to realize that you have a 10 wt. 14'6"
fast action, spey rod in your hand, designed to subdue 20 lb. Atlantic
salmon and that smallie, hunkered down in the current, has the thing
bent to the cork.

The steelie -- well, it's typical of a streambred fish with enough
generations beyond its hatchery days to put the "wild" back in it.
There's no comparison between hooking into one of these and a lame,
hatchery football. RW likes to talk about faux steelhead -- I don't
think any Left coaster, or Idahoan for that matter, would turn his
nose up at this fish. I was stunned to see it jump so far downstream
and realize that this fish was attached to my line (for a few moments
longer).

Peter

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Wow! You fished near a "Bubba bait bucket"? You poor, elitist, wretched
soul!
Sully

Peter Charles wrote:
A short one . . .

Went back to the Maitland.

Fished my brown trout weamer all day.

Used my new Daiwa Lochmor 14'6" 10 wt. spey rod and my new Airflo
Delta multi tip.

Got smoked by a steelie about 10 minutes after first line wetting. It
ran the full 120' of fly line and about 40' of backing before it
jumped and went bye, bye.

Burned my fingers twice on the line.

Bubba Bait Bucket didn't help by casting over my line and snagging it
during the fight -- this was after I yelled a warning that I had a
fish on -- a warning that he heard as he looked up and saw me with
some severely bent graphite. Wasn't deliberate, I think his one
functioning grey cell was occupied with something else. Afterward, he
mumbled something that sounded like "Sorry", after asking if it was
still on, and then left shortly after.

Landed four smallies and lost three others. The smallest was about
16" and 3 lbs. The largest landed bent the 10 wt. to the cork. The
largest not landed -- it broke me off -- 10 lb. test. 2X.

The wind was brutal -- again!

Had my licence checked by a pleasant CO.

Had a very nice day.

I now know where I'm going smallie fishing this summer. . . .



Peter

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On Sun, 25 Apr 2004 14:51:56 -0500, Sully wrote:

Wow! You fished near a "Bubba bait bucket"? You poor, elitist, wretched
soul!
Sully



You've obviously never fished for steelhead in Ontario or you'd
realize how ****ing stupid is that remark.. I only call 'em that when
they cast over my line while I'm fighting a fish. What would you have
called hiim? Or would you've just blown him away and saved on the
verbiage.

I don't give a **** what they fish with as long as they do it with a
bit of consideration for the rest of us and the resource. "Bubba Bait
Bucket" refers to a particluar attitude, not a social class, nor the
equipment used.


Peter

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On Sun, 25 Apr 2004 19:20:12 -0400, Greg Pavlov
wrote:

On Sat, 24 Apr 2004 20:28:39 -0400, Peter Charles
wrote:


I now know where I'm going smallie fishing this summer. . . .


Are you sure that these aren't fish that have run up
from the lake to get ready to spawn ? In both the upper
and lower Niagara River a good number of very nice-sized
smallmouth appear at just about this time of the year to
spawn, as far as we can tell, because they're usually
gone within 3-4 weeks, not to be seen again until the
following year. Either that or a lot of us are really
bad at catching the large ones in the river at any other
time :-)


Well, after I mentioned it, the comments came back, "Ya, the Mailtand
has some good sized smallies." The Deputy CO/biologist said it was
too early for the spawn.

Here's hoping . . . .

Peter

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Are you sure that these aren't fish that have run up
from the lake to get ready to spawn ? In both the upper
and lower Niagara River a good number of very nice-sized
smallmouth appear at just about this time of the year to
spawn, as far as we can tell, because they're usually
gone within 3-4 weeks, not to be seen again until the
following year. Either that or a lot of us are really
bad at catching the large ones in the river at any other
time :-)


Well, after I mentioned it, the comments came back, "Ya, the Mailtand
has some good sized smallies." The Deputy CO/biologist said it was
too early for the spawn.

Here's hoping . . . .

Peter

Peter,
This is not much use to you I know, but when I fished the Maitland in
'88-'92 I caught a lot of very nice smallmouth in the summer both on top and
with weighted flies. I doubt I ever caught anything that would have put a
bend in my rod like the one you suggest but it held a lot of good fish. I
think of all the rivers I have ever fished the Maitland must have been one
of the richest. There were times I thought there was a crayfish under every
rock.

I caught my 2nd ever steelie there fishing for smallies and I got the fright
of my life when a 9lb hen rainbow leapt out of the water in front of me -
the first one was from the Thames on a curly tail jig while fishing for
walleye, not exactly my proudest moment but it was the very first fish I
ever caught in Canada. I guess the Maitland is not the best river in your
area but I have very fond memories of it.

Vaughan

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 09:12:12 +0200, "Vaughan Hurry"
wrote:


Peter,
This is not much use to you I know, but when I fished the Maitland in
'88-'92 I caught a lot of very nice smallmouth in the summer both on top and
with weighted flies. I doubt I ever caught anything that would have put a
bend in my rod like the one you suggest but it held a lot of good fish. I
think of all the rivers I have ever fished the Maitland must have been one
of the richest. There were times I thought there was a crayfish under every
rock.

I caught my 2nd ever steelie there fishing for smallies and I got the fright
of my life when a 9lb hen rainbow leapt out of the water in front of me -
the first one was from the Thames on a curly tail jig while fishing for
walleye, not exactly my proudest moment but it was the very first fish I
ever caught in Canada. I guess the Maitland is not the best river in your
area but I have very fond memories of it.

Vaughan


Greg could very well be right that theses fish may return to the lake
after spawning. I'm not up on smallie spawning migration habits to
know one way or the other.

When I went back to the car to eat a sandwich, two float fishermen
walked by then stopped to chat. A few minutes later, the Deputy
CO/biologist also stopped by and we ended up gabbing about the state
of the river and the steelhead fishery. One of the float guys has
fished the river for 35 years and we talked a bit about the fishery's
history. The CO mentioned that these smallies were not spawning --
too early, but though the thought crossed my mind, I didn't ask him if
they were resident or migratory. I'm impressed with the river and
despite it being a 2 1/4 hour drive, I think I'll fish it more often.

Peter

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On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 06:20:52 -0400, Greg Pavlov
wrote:

On Sun, 25 Apr 2004 19:37:30 -0400, Peter Charles
wrote:


Well, after I mentioned it, the comments came back, "Ya, the Mailtand
has some good sized smallies." The Deputy CO/biologist said it was
too early for the spawn.


It's definitely seems too early (and probably too cold) for them
to actually be spawning now. Looking at a few notes I have, mid-
May is about the right time in the Niagara. My one problem with
believing that the fish you caught are residents is that unless
you're exaggerating the size :-) those are at 8 - 10 year old fish,
and it's hard to imagine that many surviving that long given the
pressure that stretch of river gets. And why wouldn't you have
run into a much larger range in sizes ?


Ya, that ran through my thoughts too. I did get a bunch of pulls that
could've been from smaller fish. These fish were definitely grouped
into two pods. The first pod was in the same location as arse-end
Charlie that I caught the previous week. This is where I picked up
the steelhead too. The other was right in the middle of the main
channel, downstream of the bridge. Outside of these two areas, I got
nada.

Peter

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"Peter Charles" wrote...
A short one . . .
snip
.. . . but a nice one. Thanks.

Had my licence checked by a pleasant CO.

The pleasantness is usually a reflection of both parties involved.
--
TL,
Tim
------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj