so lets hear
was it your first day
your first fish
a day spent with someone no longer here
your last day fishing
what was your most memorable day on the river?
 

    I'd have to say it was a 2 day trip last year. My son was bugging for years to go up and fish but mom was nervous so I talked her into it we did a overnight trip and had a great time plenty of fish he landed around 5 or 6 fellow fisherman handing their poles over so he could reel their fish in we had a great time. Now I can't leave home without him or pass Ponderosa without saying he's hungry. we did it again this year and now he's like the 12 year old expert out on the river but not a moment goes by that were not having a good time and for those that have had a child fly fishing we know they can make some real nice tangles. I hope its a tradition they will go on for some time. Now if I'm fishing and see a young angler I'm the first to hand off a rod to see the joy and excitement in their face as they fight a monster fish.

nice
one of my most memorable involves my son(he was 14)
we were up on 20 mile, the hole looked like a hatchery
it was cold, windy and spitting snow/ rain
the fishing was awesome, he had landed over 20 steelies
he turned to me and said....dad, i can't feel my hands, i'm cold
and i really hate fishing, i'm going to the car.....
the last time he touched a rod, now he's 21 and he still won't go fishing with me

That's a tough one. I've fished for steel out west and Atlantics on the Gaspe' but was turned off by the SR in the 80's. My loss.  Finally, I decide to return 4 years ago  and try for winter  steel. It took a few tries,   but I finally had a day where  lots  came to the net, some in double digits and the addiction went full bloom.  I couldn't believe how much fun it was to fight incredible fish with a backdrop of snowbanks and the branches glistening like diamonds in their sheath of ice. Even though it was cold, I could have been in a t-shirt and not felt a thing.  The only person around was my wife. Could have been in the wilds of B.C.,  I can't think of anything better. Last Tues. was an absolute great one. Fishing with Pafisher and both of us  staying attached to Kings for dam near 9 hrs. straight was a little off the charts.  That'll stick with me for a few. New Year's morning 2011 I landed by 8:30 in order- an 8 lb. brown, a steel of about the same size, a freakin' unicorn! an Atlantic of about 5 lbs. and a domestic of 18 inches or so.  Last New Year's morning ,I landed 3 steel in 3 succesive casts not long after 3fan and Dime past me in fan's boat.  There's been other wonderful days and hilarious ones and ones that are very odd in how they worked out, days with good friends and days meeting people you 're glad you met and hope to see again. And  the days alone freezing your azz off, beating the water for a few little taps and on-offs, and dealing with thawing your guides every third cast. Every one makes me want to come back and do it again. And again. I really ain't that much for forums, but I do like this one by virtue of its subject and the good people here who appreciate what a place the SR is.   Thanks for the topic, Bear.
 
Charlie

thats what its all about charlie
hope to wet a line with you one day myself :)
 

I was one of the early explorers back when there were not supposed to be any fish coming back in the early 80'S.  That got the bottom into my head, and got me used to the trek from Town to Port Ontario.  It had to be about '84, we had a memorable season , meeting two jerseyites, Andy and Ritchie, who were fishing the lower river, and the four of us had the school bus almost to ourselves.  High the next couple of weeks on Tuesdays and Wednesdays with all the fresh chromers,  flies in the AM and eggs with Keith Smith and a few others in the lower clay in the PM when the water went up, and then WB and I headed up for our annual 10 day trip, set to end on Halloween, when he had to tarbend at night.  During that one, we guided Francis Betters, the Smith Bros and their sons, Bill Flick and, one day, his Dad, Art, and got that whole crew into chrome.  But the best day of the trip, and my best since, was the last day, when WB and I met Keith and Gary Chimenti in  the long pool below the wall below little black ( maybe the glide now?) at dawn, and in the early Saturday light it looked like somebody had dumped an 18 wheeler full of torpedoes into the run.  We could not buy a fish early, while Keith and Gary went through 6 dozen egg sacks.  The they switrched over to color, and Keith actually caught one on a cigarette filter, while we started to score on Glo Bugs.  By 0900 they wanted wet flies with red, especially a Royal Coachman, and we caught fish until our arms wanted to fall off.  You would drop a coachman into the water, it would sink about three inches and you'd see the swirl, if you missed another fish grabbed it, like being in a pool full of hungry brookies, but you are the size of a chipmunk.  WB came to me at about noon and said we could leave then and make his wife happy, or I could keep us there by providing flies. His box was MT!  I broke out what I had left and we caught another dozen or so, and finally packed it in with enough time to get home before dark so he could get to work.  I got a call from another fisher that night, and went back up in the AM with him, and the run was empty, we got one fish all morning.  We played easily over 100 steelehead's that day, average fish was around 10, and a few were pushing 20.  I've seen some good days since, but never one pool with easily 500 fish in it all day.  Like dying and going to heaven!
 
L13 

I should prbably also add that Keith Smith is no longer with us, the plaque up by the boat launch lot in Altmar reminds some of us of what great loss it was for him to pass.  A better friend the river never had!
 
L13

I had a few days I think back to as a kid where I hooked up alot, that was back in the snagging days. Best day on the river was my first steel and then I got sick and threw up 3 times on the way home due to food poisoning or something.   Most memorable overall would have to be a day up in Quebec on a reservoir way out up there.  In the AM we got into the eyes landing several in the 30 inch range.  Mid day got a 44 inch northern and towards the evening I got into a school of Sturgeon  catching 4 in a 2 hour span Smallest being 36 inches and the largest being close to 60 inches.  The thing actually broke water several times jumping.  No clue what it weighed, but we never got it in the boat.  Got it to the side measured it with a paddle removed the Jig  and off it went.  Took over 20 minutes of fighting.  Sad thing is that only one polaroid was taken and it is long gone.

Lucky that was a great day with great people!
Since you took it I suppose another great day with kieth and yourself comes to mind.
The 3 of us alone all day at the bus with nearly constant doubles and many triples.
kieth fishing his noodle and bags while you and I fished old school west coast steelhead patterns.
Late morning Jimmy Rusher wandered down and asked how we were doing.
Told him it was on fire with a lot of fish in the 12 pound range.
He asked us to keep one for the scale because he thougfht we were underestimating their size.
So keep one we did .
bring it to the store and he hangs it on the scale.
Doesn't it weigh 17 pounds.
We hadn't gone out of our way to keep a big one just another fish.
How many fish that size and larger the three of us had I can't fathom.
 
I miss Kieth every time I fish the SR.

There were so many great days that I could n't pick one.Among the many were the day three of us were at the Joss Hole years ago and had FRESH Kings and Coho on on every cast for 10 hrs,had to quit because we were too tired to fish anymore.
Recently I had a great time fishing with HT last year for four days late in Oct.,we caught every species of trout/salmon.I love sharing the water with someone that has the same passion for it as me.
Just this year Fitchy and I had a epic day with mostly Kings,but many were still fresh way up river.Talk about passion.....Fitchy has it and I really enjoyed sharing it with him.
I've had some good days Steelheading on the SR but the truly epic days were out west on the Erie tribs,at times it was like a dream with 50-75 fish brought to hand,20 a day were common.
So i've been fishing the tribs for 30+ years and will continue to do so as long as I'm able.