Natives on the Sandy
February 17th, 2008
Brought to you by Sal Monid
Dusty and I did a late start on Sunday to float the lower Sandy. It was a bad sign when Dusty called the shuttle folks and found out they were totally booked for the day. We did not leave the launch til around 10 and there were still boats putting in.
The river level looked good and the water was a tad bit too clear. We worked the water hard plugging and fishing down riggers. Several times we had to tie up and let the other guys go through runs we wanted to work. The wind was blowing pretty good on many stretches and that made the plugging a tough go.
Nobody was doing much and by early afternoon most of the lightweights floated on through for an early take out. We kept banging away. About 2/3 of the way down, I asked Dusty to pull over and try a run that was classinc steelhead water. Hard to believe since nearly all the others went bombing right through it. We pulled over and worked off the bank with bobbers. I had the spinner going under a dink float.
About the 5th cast the bobber took a dive and my line went singing out for about 50-60 yards. I was thumbing it the whole time. I saw the flash of a big guy and immediately started walking downstream to retrieve some of the line.
About 15 minutes late we netted a truly big native. It was a good 17 pounds and a gorgeous fish. When we got ready for photos, we found the camera out of commission. We spent lots of time admiring the fish and then let it blast off back into the current.
It was a fine way to finish off a gorgeous day on the river. Next time we will have a backup camera.
Sal