12/8/14 frostbite river fishing updated 10/31/2017

[fishy1]

12/12 started fishing the river for browns and salmon at around 10 am . not much room to fish lots of anglers so i went up river a ways and found a small spot to fish. was there for about 45 minutes when i felt a sharp tug and my drag singing fish on but it didnt last long off he came. the more anglers were coming and i was pretty much surrounded now but i kept casting. sometime before noon i had a fish on which was heading upstream despite me trying to bring him across the river to me when i noticed why a fly fisherman also had my line and was yarning it up river. needless to say i lost the fish and the guy apologized sort of and unhooked my line. i decided i had enough and went christmas shopping and then back to the lake for lakers. supposed to meet matt up there in the morning and then i think will make the trip back down to the lake before were done. i forgot the great part an angler quite a ways above me held up a nice salmon he landed . gave him the thumbs up and he yelled down and said it was 30 inches. thats a beast.

[fishy1]

12/13 met up with matt at around 7:15 am to fish a river that was restricted to floating lures flys and single hooks only with no weights leaders snap swivels but you can use natural bait. matt was all set as he is a fly fisherman and jack lv uses live minnows but didnt have anything even my wooly buggers and pheasant tails were weighted so i used my nightcrawlers i always bring along with a snell hook. met up with jack lv and started fishing approx 7:30 am or so. before i could even start looking at how im going to set up matt says got one on. i beleive it was his ist fly cast. a nice salmon. wasnt soon after i get set up i land a salmon but it was foul hooked. then awhile later matt has a pretty good one on and loses it but he said it was foul hooked to. then a fisherman came out of the river and came over to talk to me and it was a freind who showed me some spots last year for browns. introduced him to matt and jack lv and we talked for awhile and didnt fish. then matt went out where ron was fishing and lost another nice salmon. lost track of time by then and matt said he was going to go up river and fish some spots since he had waders. he no sooner got out of sight and i had a fish on lost it. went back at it and fish on again this time i landed it another salmon . then around an hour or so went by with no hits my line took off and missed it. threw it out again and it took off up river and missed again. about 5 minutes went by and i kept pounding that on spot just above a fly fisherman with waders in the water and fish on lost it. then after a few misses and loss of time again landed another nice salmon. jack lv at this time with live minnows only missed 2 and didnt have any other hits jack said he was going to lunch and it was noon already wow. let him know i was leaving shortly to and might head for the lake before going home. the river was starting to get crowded to but had another hit and landed a nice chunky salmon before leaving. had a great time on the river with matt jack lv his freind wayne and also getting to talk to ron. talked with matt before i left and said he would email me his catch. matt landed 6 salmon lost 3 and missed several. i landed 4 salmon lost 2 and missed several also. i havent heard from jack lv at this time.

[fishy1]

heres matts ist cast on 12/13 on the river. and matt shortly after .

[jack lv]

Morning there are maybe 2-3 bites. No hook on. Afternoon start at 1:30 ,within 1 hours landing 3. Including this "huge" one. I think it's my record small salmon ever landing. then slow, miss 2-3 bites. 3:00 PM Nobody there except me.

[fishy1]

me with a salmon. and here is jack lv on top of a tree in his fishing spot all to himself. lol left click on the pic of jack lv for a better look.

[Registered Kayak]

You guys got after them today! I cant wait to get out tuesday

[Matt]

That was a fun day for sure. Didn't expect to hook up so soon! Those fish were all mad at everything that moved. I had most of the upper part of the river to myself too! Lots of hookups and shake offs and also alot of swipes.

[fishy1]

12/15 got to a river at 7:15 to meet jack and as i walked down to the river i noticed there was at least 6 fisherman in that honey hole. jack was fishing at the end of the hole not his usual spot so i fished next to him on the end of the pool where the water is swift. going to be tough spot to fish with just a hook and a crawler. 4th or 5 th cast had a nice one on and lost it. then nothing for the next hour. the 3 in the middle of the pool left so jack and i took their spots. we didnt fair well though as i had 4 or 5 hits and no takers. saw about 6 or 7 nice salmon surface but they wernt interested in anything we had on. asked jack if he wanted to test new waters up river where matt fishes with waders. said yes so off we went going blind you might say. went up river about a half mile i think and came to an area with a little bit of space between 2 trees so i told jack i was going to set up here. jack went just above me about 25 yards or less with not much casting room either. well my 3 rd cast as my crawler was drifting down i saw a fish surface my line stopped and fish on. a small but at least a salmon. released it threw my worm up stream and saw jacks bobber coming down river towards me and a nice salmon chasing it. reeled in my line and threw out and almost immediatly fish on. that salmon inhaled my crawler. a nice 21 inch salmon. then approx 10 minutes later i had another make my little bobber dissapear and i missed it cleaned the whole crawler. it wasnt maybe 2 minutes or less jack yells down to me fish on and a big one. grabbed the net ran up just as i got there the fish came off. i was dissapointed as much as jack was. jack said he was going to lunch i told him i would search for new water until 1 pm and head home. very brushy searching new water and found a little spot where it wasnt to deep to walk across the little rocks and fish. was there about 20 minutes and fish on a real nice one doing its thing dancing on the water. came off just short of the net. kept casting up river and had 4 or 5 more hits and all misses. went home and had a great day. waiting to hear from jack on his afternoon run after i left. couldnt post pics said file exceeded.

[jack lv]

Back to river at 1:40. There are 3 Canadian still stay on the best position. So I fishing down next to them. maybe 30 minutes late one of them use nightclaw get on. Then 5 minutes later, another he get another fish. All salmon,be kept. I'm envying. But I found my bubble down soon. I set hook. no on. It's a pity. I tried to cast next to the same spot the fish bite. Soon, bubble down. Fish on. Good fighting. Landing a nice brown. Maybe 22''. Soon the canadian get the 3rd salmon, small this time. He released this one. With in 30 minutes they 3 only him get 3 fish. Then never bite again.

[fishy1]

Back to river at 1:40. There are 3 Canadian still stay on the best position. So I fishing down next to them. maybe 30 minutes late one of them use nightclaw get on. Then 5 minutes later, another he get another fish. All salmon,be kept. I'm envying. But I found my bubble down soon. I set hook. no on. It's a pity. I tried to cast next to the same spot the fish bite. Soon, bubble down. Fish on. Good fighting. Landing a nice brown. Maybe 22''. Soon the canadian get the 3rd salmon, small this time. He released this one. With in 30 minutes they 3 only him get 3 fish. Then never bite again.

I can't upload picture too. Maybe later.

thanks jack those crawlers seem to be hot right now. hope you can post the pic of the brown i would love to see it. browns are my thing and i just cant seem to hook up in the rivers as well as the lake.

[Matt]

Can't fish Saturday but I'll be back at it on sunday!

[fishy1]

Can't fish Saturday but I'll be back at it on sunday!

im heading up there in the morning and also cant go saturday. going to try real hard to make it sunday it will be jacks last day he will be going back to china monday.

[fishy1]

12/18 met up with jack at the intended hole with fish surfacing everywhere as we thought it was a good sign but we were wrong. ist half hour a lost a small salmon. nothing for awhile so jack moved down river a little and as he started away from me my line and drag started singing and fish on . a real nice salmon flew through the air then 2 more times and the 3rd time spit my hook and away it went. estimating at least 5 lbs. took out some donuts to eat and i suddenly had company in the water right close to my feet a male and female mallard so i had to share. jack and i decided to go up river with one fly fisherman there and hogging the only place we could cast from shore so left and went down river out of the restricted zone. not much doing there talked to a freinds son and he didnt land any all morning. jack went home for lunch and stayed approx 1 hour more and had a nice brown take my offering around 22 inches or so. no pics had an emergency call from my wife saying my brother had a heart attack but was fine so i hurried and released the brown and headed for home.

[fishy1]

12/20 met matt and edin on the river around 7:30 am or so and had a freind and his brother already on one of our favorite holes. went down visited with them for a while then headed up river to meet up with jack. i wasnt expecting to much this morning with this cold front and a 19 degree temp and a little snow on the ground. started fishing with jack and he hadnt had a hit yet. so i made an adjustment with his live bait and replaced it with a crawler. i lost a nice one right off and then missed one shortly after so it convinced jack to put on a crawler. wasnt to long and jack yells down to me fish on . went up and netted it and took a pic. got back down to my spot and a short while later fish on landed a nice 20 inch male salmon. then a few minutes later a miss. jack is getting no bites at all now. now we go dry for awhile then i have another thundering hit and salmon has my hook in him and flys at least 2 feet through the air goes down and twists the hook out and goes on his way. approx. a 4lb salmon. then jack says goodbye to me and heads down river looking for a freind. jack didnt even get out of sight and fish on landed another male salmon. shortly after another fish on and landed yet another male salmon . in the net it was oozing out its milk and released the same as the one before it. took pics and can see the milk in one pic but not the other before releasing them then before leaving for lunch and going home i missed 2 and lost another decent salmon. no browns again. heard from matt and he didnt do as well as last week . said he got tired of foul hooking fish on one side of the river and crossed over and finally landed 2 and lost some. he said the water temperature was 33 degrees. jacks last full day here in america and heading back to china tommorrow. a fun guy who loves fishing and will be missed especially by wayne and i. have a great safe trip jack and keep in touch on lake champlain united. in the pic where i turned the males salmon over there was no milk but you can see some spots of it to the right of the pic. the 3rd salmon before being released also was oozing out milk when i took this pic.http://s25.postimg.org/5qqdnpdsr/jacks_last_day_on_the_river_001.jpg[/img]

[Matt]

Fish were stacked in one stretch like cord wood but every strip of a streamer or drift of a nymph found its way into a salmon everywhere but the mouth. Foul hooked more fish yesterday than all year combined!!!! Crazy how that can happen. Found aggressive fish across the river luckily. That were chasing swung streamers and nymphs. Overall good day on the water.