October 2, 2006Jackson Brown
My column about our trip, which ran in Sunday's paper, prompted a call from a reader who said he was also on the river Thursday. Using streamers, he caught a brown that dwarfed ours. He said it was 22 inches long. He didn't have a camera and the only witness was his black lab. But there's no reason to not believe him because those fish are in there. September 8, 2006Hook in the nose
August 31, 2006Missing the WestI had to laugh when I got this e-mail from friend Scott Martin, who lived in Idaho before taking an economic development job in Franklin County a few years ago. "Posting the steelhead pictures was uncalled for. I remember in Boise they used to release the excess salmon in the Boise River for a “false” season. It was a short time deal, but it was a trip to see guys out with huge rods and reels chasing 30 lb salmon in the center of town. Think we could do that for the Roanoke River in town?" August 28, 2006First steelhead
I was using two-fly rig, with a tiny pink egg trailing behind a big weighted stonefly nymph. I was able to use the weighted fly because we were fishing below the river's fly-fishing only stretch, where weighted flies are not allowed. The fish hit the egg. Steelhead highlight vacation
My brother, Greg, and his friend Will Hope had scouted the river -- fished it, in other words -- a couple of times before I got there and found some steelhead stacked in a certain hole. Greg wanted to go my first morning there saying I would probably never have a better chance of catching my first steelhead. After a long day of travel I wasn't too enthusiastic but I relented. Sure enough the fish were still there, and they were happy. The first morning I hooked three, including two bruisers pushing 10 pounds. I managed to lose them all. Our dad hooked one and their friend Will hooked two. They lost them all, too. Things went better -- at least in terms of landing fish -- on our next trip, on Aug. 22. About 15 minutes after we got there I hooked up, and managed to land a wild 6-pounder. The fish wasn't very big, but even on an 8-weight rod (a Scott STS) the fight was amazing. Now I know why Greg and Dad are obsessed with these fish. Will also hooked one, a hatchery buck of about 6 pounds that popped off right at the bank. But it was Greg who had the fish of the day, and probably the season. The fish didn't jump, but had some blistering runs. It took Greg about 10 minutes to land the chrome-bright 31-incher pictured above. He was using a 7-weight rod (a Sage RPLX, if you care). We estimated the fish's weight at 11 pounds. I got most of the fight on video. When we watched it back later you can see the fish quivering in Greg's hands when he posed for pictures. But it wasn't the fish that was shaking, it was Greg. He had every right to get "shook." Summer steelhead don't come much better than this one. |
About this blog
While growing up in rural Southern Oregon, Mark Taylor developed a passion for the outdoors while he and his younger brother tagged along with their father on fishing, hunting and camping adventures. Graduating from Northwestern University in 1988, Taylor spent four years as an officer in the U.S. Navy based in Norfolk before moving into journalism. After five years writing about the military for a Norfolk-based publishing company, he became the outdoors editor at The Roanoke Times in 1998. He lives in Roanoke with his wife and twin daughters. .....Advertisement.....
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