At last

Started the day below town hoping to but a pod of steel.
No go on that front.
Did have a king to the stones when he popped me on a rock and a coho that lasted 30 seconds before it cut me clean.
More people than fish and lifters outnumbered fisher 10 to 1.
Other than meeting two nice guys from Maryland it pretty much was a waste of the first hour and a half of the day.
Went upriver looking for PA and Tunsis but I don't know the way to where think they were and the other side had 17 cars parked where 1 other guy and I fished last week.
So I bagged the idea of walking down to yell at them from across the river and went to the lfz.
Least crowded place on the river from what I saw.
Borrowed Clints rock for a couple of interesting hours.
Hooked 7 or 8 fish fair as can be.
Smashing grab and head shakes.
Ran them around the hole for a while but its a tough place to land them with the new stonework and no gillie.
Finally managed to get this one tired enough to lead him around the top of the new rocks into the back eddy.

Same fish close up for Mr DeMille
And this is the flie I told you about Tuner if I had to eat upriver salmon or die.
By the way hook point from inside to outside on the near side of the fish for anyone who cares about things like that.
(Luckily most peeps on this site)

Making it hard to tell a story.
Then the spool falls out (must have hit the release when palming ) and into the river.
If I was even 53 not 63 I would have skipped down and grabbed it but as it stands now I pulled the line until it finally looped itself and I pulled it up.
Problem was that that was after 2 back to back running lines and a couple yards of backing hand unspooled.
I had hoped having it in the water would help but not a chance.
Biggest birdsnest you can imagine.

 
 

The price one pays for glueing cheese in place rather than swinging a hammer all day

 The end.
 
PS`  the secret it appears is to go back and edit.
It allows you to add things that way

Nice TB, believe me swinging a hammer all day is really not that great especially with winter coming. Love where that fly is,  with the salmons its all about the take, steel I want to hold!

Usually spaghetti makes me burp not cry, but in this case the water flowed freely. Thanks for the effort of multi pic/posts.  I enjoyed the tale, especially the catching and hooking- I know yours are the real deal and get me excited. Thanks.

3fan don't get me wrong I won't be getting in the line to swing a hammer any time soon.
Just whining about the casting blister because of my baby soft skin.
 
Fichy if you have read the board the last couple weeks you've seen that I have even touch a fish till now.
People around me rippin it up and me wearing the skunk like underarmour.
Unless the fish are moving so thick you can't avoid fouling them most of my stickums are clean.
 
I should mention I had a king in the tail in the morning and 2 hooked somewhere other than the mouth in the lfz.
 
Dime your spot?
Reallly?
Young pups like you were only standing on top of my cleat marks!
PS where the sand hill used to be was where my son hooked and landed his first SR steel.Roll casting a couple bbs in the crowd of running line cannonballers one afternoon and he lit it up.
He hooked and landed 3 fish by himself at 8 years old.
The other umm cough cough flyfishers had about the same between a dozen of them.
Spent his time between fishing climbing the hill.
 
I like do like mouth shots of kings since all the experts are sure they don't bite.
In this case I was trying to show Tuna the fly I mentioned to him (and said i was going to post a pic of)
that is my go to anywhere above 2a.
Thanks for the kind words all and PA and Tuna sorry I didn't see you guys.
 
 

Also I should say that at least where I was in the zone people were pretty much fishing.
Most were using too much weight killing their drifts.
A few were using way too much weight on sray poles and lobbing too far upstream.
I did see 2 or 3 #2 tin shot on this skinny water.
Nobody was doing the classic lob weight and when it touches bottom sweeping it out.
I would say most were no nothing as opposed to intentional lifters.
It was a much more pleasing experience than several years ago when I fished there last.
Some pretty loud experts pontificating (mostly BS) that I could cleary hear the conversation 50 yards downriver.

great report
i usually collect a couple fly lines up there every year, most still on fish :)

Nice freakin early steelface Jack.
I envy you.
Ya I did't see the antics but when I saw 7 lazy twats parked at the closed lot because its too hard to walk in like everyone else I knew it was a waste of time there.
 
Glad you boys had fun.
 
 
Bear you won't find that line.
it is a ball of spit in the back of my car.
The most I left is a 6 inch piece or to of backing that may have gotten down in some cracks.
 
PS  back to the original for you Rich.
 

Well call me a twat (lol) but I was parked there because that is supposed to be where we are to park.. Not on the side of the road like the signs say and lazy twats did, do....
It's not closed, it's just not completed .. Why ?
Lazy we were not, we walked a few miles each day :)

Nice way to put a chrome shine to your salmon trip, Jack!  Last year Jack and I watched a fat numb guide talk his client in the UFZ through the rigors of battle  with a dead , moldy  salmon. It was freakin' hilarious. That one he should have kept and been forced to eat.
The rope and camera excuse may be the all time f'head move, though. I've almost come to blows a few times up there, I hate it and love it- you guys know exactly what I mean. Great fishing and water to rival Canadian salmon rivers, and aholes that ruin things with arrogance and ignorance.  Thanks for the pic and report HT.

So it seems we have fished together afterall DB.
I fished the whole of the lfz the day it opened and spent the bulk of it across from there in iveterans pole.
Used to love that water for swinging before every jackhole with a running line showed up.
 

Gerry, my memory failed me- Rich reminded me- we we're all up there . Hope to see ya up there again sometime. Get some brown down quick so some chrome time can be had.
 

Pardon me but it looked to me that while yes it is incomplete it has been exactly the same for  several years.
Gate closed and locked with some kind of signage that doesn't look like the ones at the open lot.
I guess I am wrong but I thought they didn't secure rights to the river from there.
Probably a rumor I picked up in Altmar and after a while became reality in my head.
 
I know you aren't a lazy T and anybody 11 years older than me ythat gets around like PA certainly isn't.
Clint or DB can you find the story on that lot.
After my post I'm afraid Jack will start parking in the upper lot and skateboarding down the road to the lower.
 
By the way I was looking for the union sticker as I drove by and in the upper lot but guess I missed it as I idled past.

Nancy has gone to church there twice while I fished. She personally thanked them and gave good donations in the collection plate.  This prevents lightening from striking me while parking there. I may fall down those   stairs, or a fish may yank me off Clint's Rock and drown me, but bolts from the sky, no. The congregation seems to be long time resident families and are very welcoming, good people.  Maybe their prayers can alter some of the rabble below.