Third times a charm!

I was at work yesterday and hear that the Reds were finally starting to run on the Russian River. I checked the counts and sure enough...they went from double digits a day to 1200 fish on Tuesday and 1800 on Wednesday. So I had today off and I decided to give it another shot. I woke up at 3am and borrowed Rose's car and drove the 100 miles to the river. I got there at about 5:30 and made the 2 mile hike up the river to the spot I like.

I didn't see many fish on the way up, but I finally did see fish in the river. I also saw a ton of filleted fish carcasses floating down, which was a good sign that people were catching them. I made my way up, stopping at a few spots and making some casts. But, ultimately I knew where I wanted to be.

I arrived and immediately saw fish hanging in the middle of the stream. Then, I saw more on the other side in some slower water with their dorsal and tail fins sticking above the water. I made many attempts and was there for a while before I was rewarded with my first hook-up. Out of know where I had line stripping out and a fish running. I set the hook and knew right away I had a foul-hooked fish. I got him right in the back near the dorsal fin. Yet I was determined to finally land one of these buggers. It took a couple minutes but I finally got him and set him back to the river, as it's illegal to keep foul-hooked fish.

Later I hooked into another, this time right in the tail. Boy did that fish take me for a ride. Hooking them in the tail really gives them the opportunity to run like hell! I landed him and let him go also.

After a long while of fishing and a few failed hookups I was beginning to loose hope that I'd be able to bring home some Salmon for Rose (She's beginning to get impatient with me). I finally hooked into a fish again and saw that I had him in the mouth! I just wanted to get this fish in and after a short battle I landed my first Alaskan Salmon on a fly rod!

By now the fish had really pushed up river and I could see quite a few laying up in the fast moving water. I almost immediately hooked into another fish and played him for just a bit, more like he played me, for not being very big they are pound for pound the toughest fighting fish. I finally got him to where I could grab him and my rod snapped. I got the fish, but just as things were heating up I was unable to continue fishing. I looked up and there were I think three other guys with fish on.

It was a good day and I had fun and even learned a bit. I'm unhappy I broke my rod but I should be able to get it replaced as it has a warranty. Tomorrow I'm headed back down to float the Kenai with my landlord. Stay tuned for another fishing report.