How it all started. My Intro.

I can’t remember what prompted me to fish… I was 16 when I first started fishing and was not really engaged, I left it shortly after …and turned my attention to playing music. Every free minute was spent experimenting with my first Acoustic Guitar. Fast-forward ten years and five or six Guitars, I found myself watching a fishing show, an episode on fly-fishing.  I was completely enthralled. The casting strokes looked so neat, and the tightening of the line when a fish would hit was awesome. I was interested to say the least. A seed had been planted. It would be a couple years later when the seed would sprout and  I would pick up my first fly rod.   I spent the remainder of that summer and fall easing my way back into fishing.   My Wife had family living in Port Franks so Lake Huron naturally became my practice grounds for chucking hardware for Salmon off the beach.  I  spent many mornings fishing and watching the gulls work schools of baitfish . One morning I caught my first Coho off the beach.   The sensation of fighting this fish was awesome and having an excellent hold on the fish I finally beached it. That fish was so beautiful, its iridescent hues seemed to glow against the water soaked sand. That experience was stuck in my mind and lit a fire inside of me that would eventually burn out of control.   I spent every spare second researching fishing and fishing techniques. I was travelling to that beach every chance I had.

  I eventually ran into some others on the beach one November morning and two medium sized silvery fish lay on the sand… My first experiences with Steelhead were about to begin.   The two older gentlemen fishing were very kind and answered every question I asked.  I studied how they fished and watched as they launched egg sinkers with spiralling spawn sacs following through the air and into the middle of the channel, a spot I had only dreamed of reaching.  We became friends and I spent the next fall dead setting an 11ft noodle rod off the beach for Steelhead.

The next Spring I found myself on a river float fishing with my 11ft noodle rod and spinning reel.  It was a whole new ball game and I quickly fell in love with the sights and sounds the River had to offer.  While fishing one morning I watched a man cast his fly line down and across the current, following his line with his rod tip he repeated this procedure many times working his way down river till finally the rod bent with the pressure of a fish. That was it for me; I was going to learn to fly fish.  I purchased my first fly reel and rod and chaos followed.  One season in and no fish… I stuck with it.  More research and casting practice in the backyard prepped me for the next season, when I finally hooked and landed my first Steelhead off the Beach in Port Franks.  Once again I returned to the river and found moderate success.  I was well on my way.

This has brought me to the present now.  I have just finished fishing several Huron Rivers for the year.  I have five years of fly-fishing experience now, and out of  those five years fishing, this has been the best season for me.  I’m not sure if it is the returns, or the learning curve, perhaps its both.  Regardless this season is going down in the record books.

   Over the last couple years my Steelheading and Resident Trout Adventures have morphed into a form of meditation.  I’m addicted to this meditation and look forward to relaxing and unwinding to the tune of the River.  Getting lost in the "what’s around the next bend" mentality is a perpetual habit I couldn’t break this season, and it took me to some very "fishy" water I would learn and do well on. 

 This season really didn’t feel like "Winter Steelheading" to me.  Only several outings had the  trademarks associated with these fishing conditions, bad roads, non-stop icing up of  guides, slush etc.

 I still somehow managed to have stellar outings on these days.  This season also yielded some personal best’s for me, and days when I would experience spurts of non-stop action.  A first for me.

  I am excited to share in this Blog my future outings and to finally document my experiences fishing the Rivers and Creeks I love. I hope whomever reads this Blog will enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it! Cheers!