We've had the pleasure of meeting our guest blogger, Alex Blouin. Alex and his cousin, Brian, came to fishing creek for a few days a couple summers ago and we thoroughly enjoyed their youthful outlook on life and fishing. In the near future, we'll hear about how Alex went from being a kid in New England to ending up at Sage/Redington in Seattle, but for today we want to share with you one of his fishing stories.
I do have a bit of a story to share with you from this past weekend. A friend of mine and I took a trip out to the Olympic Peninsula this weekend to scout the rivers and practice our techniques for when the wild steelhead start showing up. I was casting a 7126-4 One rod with a Skagit Max Long head and iMow sink tip finished off with a small un-weighted streamer that I had tied back in New Hampshire for Landlocked Salmon. I really wasn't expecting to even hook a fish;
I was more focused on making a good cast and swinging the fly properly. Towards the end of the day on Sunday we had made our way to a lower section of the Bogachiel River and found a run the looked perfect for practicing the spey casts and swinging flies. We started at the top, myself in front, and Brett following behind. As the sun started to dip below the trees, I made my final few casts through the end of the run. Just as I was letting my fly settle below me, I felt my line go tight and I thought for sure I had snagged bottom. As I moved downstream to try and get un-snagged I noticed my line slowly starting creep upstream. I pulled hard on the rod and to my surprise I felt a head shake like I have never felt before. I don't think the fish realized it was hooked until Brett tried to go for the tail. As soon as he touched it, the fish took off downstream on a blistering run and peeled line off of my reel like I've never seen. She continued to do this a number of times until she finally submitted to Brett's hands. I could not believe my eyes when I saw what was attached to the end of my line. This was by a long shot the largest fish I have ever landed on a fly... and it was wild. My first thought was that I was completely ruined for steelhead fishing, but later a few co-workers told me that they believed it to be a large Chinook Salmon. I have never seen a more steelhead-like salmon or a more salmon-like steelhead... I got different answers from everyone and so I have sent a few photos to WDFW to see what they have to say. Regardless, this was certainly the fish of a lifetime and a memory that will stay with me forever. As you can also see the weather was just beautiful. The water was also very murky, with visibility at barely a few inches. This really was one of those occurrences that just shouldn't have happened. -Alex
P.S. WDFW later confirmed that is is a beautiful wild hen Chinook Salmon.
Here's our 2016 Trip Schedule
Jan 7-18 Coyhaique River, Chile (trout)
Feb 2-16 South Island, New Zealand (trout)
Feb 28-Mar 10 Tres Valles, Argentina (trout)
Mar 8-24 Patagonia, Argentina (trout)
April 4-14 Campeche & Grand Slam ,Mexico (tarpon, bones, permit)
June 13-21- Ion/Fish Partners, Iceland (trout)
July 8-18 Ireland (trout/castle tour)
Aug 5-12 Reel Action, Alaska (silvers, rainbows, char & others)
Aug 20-27 Bighorn, Montana (trout)
Aug 27- Sept 3 Bighorn, Montana (trout)
Sept 23-Oct 5 Eg/Ur Rivers, Mongolia (taimen)
Oct 13-20 Pyrennes, Spain (trout)
Nov 25-Dec 5 Tres Valles, Argentina (trout)