Fishing on the Little Salmon has been spotty this year one day it seems the fish are moving and the next day you just can not buy a fish.The weather this year I believe is the biggest factor as it will start to warm up and then the next few day it turns off cold. Friday night we received 8″ of snow we should be receiving rain this time of year. Here it is almost April First and this morning when I got up it was 10 degrees below 0 this is more like winter steelhead fishing.

I know there are a lot of fish waiting to come up the river as Monday I went down on the Main Salmon below Riggins and Steelhead were rolling out in the river pretty much all day long. Although I saw maybe a hundred fish roll I was only able to hook into four fish and I fished hard four six and a half hours.

I wish I had better news to report but for now fishing is just going to be hit and miss. I plan on fishing hard this coming week and will keep you updated as to conditions. When the fish do start moving they are all going to be coming at once and it will get hot for a while when they do start moving.

I’ll let you know as you will want to be on the river when they start coming through

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Ok well now as Paul Harvey would say for “the rest of the Story.”I need to tie up again; now maybe it is because I’m cold or maybe it’s because the gremlins decided to come fishing with me but I have not been able to tie a knot on the first try all day finally on the third try I have my hook tied on. I go to slip on a piece of lead and someone has stolen my rubber tubing I say stolen because I would not have forgotten to put this on I’m an experienced fisherman. I cut the hook off and slip on the rubber and corky and then tie on the hook guess what for the first time today tied on the first try.

I thought about building a fire to warm up a little but that thought quickly passes when I go to light-up a cigarette and realize that I have lost my lighter some where along the way. Now just to be safe I look around to see if I can’t see one of those pesky gremlins hiding in the trees, or some where among the rocks, I’m convinced that they are the ones messing with me today.

Well for the next hour every thing goes pretty smooth but still I have not had a hit yet, the wind is still blowing and I’m starting to really feel its bite. I decide that today just is not the day for me to be fishing and after reeling in for the last time I go to pick up my tackle box and head back to the truck. About half way back to the truck the handle on my tackle box decides that it would be a great time to break off and when the box hits the only rock in the trail for fifty yard in any direction it explodes open and it looks like the 4th of July with corkies, yarn, hooks, and beads flying every where. I must have spent the next twenty minutes gathering up my equipment and chasing down the yarn that was dancing in the wind down the trail.

I finally make it back to the truck and put what’s left of my tackle box, gear, and rod in the back and go to get the keys out of my pocket, keys in my pocket? Man I must have lost them when I took the tumble earlier so I go to where I fell and start searching after looking for what seemed like days I decide to go to the truck and get out of the wind for awhile. You know that just getting out of the wind feels much warmer and I’m starting to feel a little better. I must have sat there for twenty or thirty minutes when I look down at the steering wheel and do you know what is hanging from the ignition yep the keys. Okay I should have looked earlier but I never leave my keys in the truck.

When I arrive home my wife asks if I had any luck. Well I gave her a strange look and was to telling her about my day she just smiled and said well maybe tomorrow will be a better day. Seems like I have been saying that more and more often lately but I can now say that it was a better day. The fish are in and they are starting to hit pretty good if you can keep out of trouble.

Have you ever had one of those days while fishing where every thing just seems to go wrong? Well yesterday was one of those days for me. I decided to run down on the river for a couple hours of steelhead fishing and I should have stayed home with a good book or just took a nap.It started with the trip down when I had a choice of running over a rock that rolled down into the highway or taking on a semi that was coming the other way attempting to do the same, needless to say I decided the rock was much smaller and was not charging at me at 60 MPH, while I tried to keep from hitting it with the tires I some how managed to do so with the front but the back tire hit it square and there went a $95.00 tire. Changing the tire gave me some time to think about all those steelhead that should be in the river now and I once again feel that rush of excitement and anticipation of hooking into one of these fish.

Ok so I go on down to my fishing hole only to find that instead of being full of steelhead it is full of steelhead fishermen. Well there is another hole down stream about a half mile so I grab my rod and gear and take off. When I stepped of the edge of the road way and started down the bank my feet go out from under me like someone just pulled the Rock out from under me and of course when I look up there are six other fishermen starring at me wondering what and the h___ I was doing. Well now I’m covered in mud and my back side feels like I just stood under Niagara Falls but I keep thinking about those steelhead laying in wait just down stream so I pick up my gear and continue down to the hole.

Now I have been fishing and tying knots for well over forty years now but today for what ever reason it takes me forever to get a knot tied that does not break with the first tug. The river is still running a little lower then normal so I cut a small chunk of lead and slip it on and my first cast end up catching a branch that is sticking out over the river I swear some one tied it to the branch because it will not come off and I end up breaking it off and starting over.

While tying up for the second time the wind starts to blow and of course being soaked makes it that much more enjoyable. I make my second cast now and I can feel it bouncing along the bottom when it suddenly stops and I set the hook and have tied into one of the biggest rocks in the river and that is where my second rig stays.

I have to go Now so Check back tomorrow for the rest of the story my luck did not get any better.