The Christmas Presents

As we traveled further north, it snowed harder. It was December 27th, only two days after Christmas and the temperature was 28 degrees yet dropping as we slowly moved north. The plow trucks hadn't even come out yet and the roads had a layer of snow on them. We passed through many small towns that were dark and quiet; it almost felt like I was home in Maine , but I wasn't. My brother in-law, Jon and I were heading north of Toronto , Ontario, to find some steelhead.

We pulled into the town of our destination as the sun was coming up. There was a nice elderly woman crossing the street so I asked her if the river was nearby and if there was a Tim Horton's in town. She knew where both were, so we headed to Tim Horton's for coffee and sandwiches for lunch on the river.

Our next step was to stay away from fishing in town as there were already guys fishing from the banks at 7 a.m. So we got the map out and started heading up river.

We traveled through neighborhoods and big fields and kept the river on our right until we came to a dead end. There was a trail that leads right down to the river; we had hit the jack pot! After quickly getting our gear together we followed the trail down, where it met this beautiful looking pool, not a soul around.

We spent the day exploring the river. Every pool was a new opportunity to catch that exciting fish. To be honest this was the first time in a long time I just didn't care if I caught a fish. I knew this place held wild fish, there was no one around and my brother in-law took the time out of his busy schedule to come with me. The exploration was very exciting and fresh.

The water was beautiful it had a slight green tint to it, so it made it just too cloudy to see any fish. Most pools were no more than waste deep. We could easily cast across them. The river was wide open with fist size rocks covering the banks, so we had no problems with our back cast. Each pool held its own challenge, even for being so small. Some would have big boulders in it or a shale bottom. Some would have fallen trees or be fast or too slow but we felt no rush or pressure to move on.

This one pool started out with some heavy current and boulders, it looked deeper than the others and was wider. Where we were wading it had a muddy bottom and the tail off the pool went from waste deep to ankle deep. It eddied back right in front of us so made the drifts difficult. I was fishing a 9' Sage XP six weight with a 9 weight SA Quad tip floating line( I know this sounds crazy but it felt almost like a shooting head and would throw the flies and indicator out nicely) and a 6 pound trout leader.

At every pool we would switch from top to bottom taking turns. At this particular pool I was at the tail end but it just didn't feel right so I tried the middle of the pool. I shot out a long roll cast and the flies actually landed on the far bank and fell into the river. It only drifted a few feet when a steely rocked out of the water! This fish was full of energy for it being so cold out. It continued to jump two more times and scream all over the pool.

I slowly worked the fish to shore where I was able to grab its tail. I was surprised how quickly I was able to land this fish. It was in the 5 to 7 pound range. Jon quickly grabbed my camera and started shooting. After I released the fish we were full of smiles and high fives.

I was able to hook one other fish in a different pool but didn't bring it to hand. I hooked what I thought was bottom. It raced up river at a high speed and just when I had control it came straight at me. I instinctively turned and ran from it with rod in the air and tried putting a bend in the rod and reeled like crazy until I felt tension again. I turned and had control again but in all the chaos, the fly must have come loose and the fly popped out. It was exciting just to hook another one.

I would have to say those two fish were probably the most memorable of the year; the whole process it took to get there, the 4 am mornings of tying flies, researching, looking for the spot and having the river to ourselves. Just as much as it is about the fish, for me it is about the adventure and I look forward to my next.

To plan this trip I went to www.hipwader.com, to get some local river conditions. I also went to www.mnr.gov.on.ca/MNR/pubs/pubmenu.html#fish, to get fishing regulations for Ontario . Another resource I used was www.maineflyfish.com forum to get an idea of flies everyone is using for steelhead.