Day 5 Picky picky fish!

Day 4 was taken off by yours truly to do some laundry,(was running out of socks and shirts that didn't smell to high heaven!) take a quick trip to Cabelas and Best Buy and most of all visit with my mother in Yarmouth I haven't seen in weeks.

Set up a meeting on the river with Steve AKA Blackghost from MFF  a great fly fisherman and fly tyer.
I arrive on the river at about 6:20 am and see another friend already in the pool, (didn't recognize him at first it was dark Gary Slipp AKA "Slippery")  fishing the head and the honeyhole of this particular run, still a bit early he was not getting any tugs or boils.

So I go down to the lower run to see if there is any life below, Montreal lady of the night goes onto the leader, 3 casts and retrieves later get a big boil but no tug on the line, fish did not return for a second look.  I rest that fish and go above Slippery to see whats going on in Pool one, Montreal goes into the run and I get nervous water behind the fly on the swing, there is fish here obviously, still fairly dark out and slippery has gone down to the lower pool so I fish the main run,....

No action for Miss Montreal this time, they ignore my offering through the entire run.
So I change flies to my second top dog the Beadhead Hellegramite.  I first created this fly 3 years ago and fished properly it is a killer on fall salmon, I have even caught salmon in the lake on it.
This river is full of these mean looking nymphs of the Dobson fly.

It is a time consuming/difficult fly to tie, 30-45 mins. for yours truly to tie, which is why I don't dead drift  them but swing them and strip retrieve them like a mini streamer.  Overhanging trees and bank hangs take enough to really irk me to no end.

Anyhow on goes the Dobson nymph for a dip in the drink.
go through the head and nothing, swing the fly and step down each time nothing,..Mid pool up comes a fish and a large boil, recast smaller boil (losing interest?) recast and solid hookup this time and its a nice fish, 3.5lbs. thick fresh hen comes out of the water and puts on a show, fighting the fish as Blackghost arrives and sees the tail end of the battle, he takes a pic or 2 and we release her back where she belongs.  A fuzzy pic!  Camera lens was damp due to my soaked musty fishing vest,...DOAH!

We chat for a bit about the fishing and I tell him to get into the pool and see what he can bring up...
Puts on one of his faves and swings away.
Raises a fish mid pool but not solid customers. then goes to the lower run to give that a try.
I try a couple other patterns with no success,...then go to the beadhead Kaufman's golden stonefly with white black striped rubber legs, AKA the secret weapon, # 3 in my box.

Swing it through the pool a few times with no takers, then swing it 3/4 down the run and big boil followed by a hookup, this one is also a nice salmon and jumps like crazy, bulldogs for a bit and into the net, a solid 4 lbs. buck, probably only been in the river for a few days as he was still bright.

Black Ghost was fighting a salmon in the lower pool which we didn't get a picture of unfortunately, I was tied up trying to release this fish which was slimy as an eel.

The fly pattern I used to catch the fish Kaufman's golden stonefly beadhead with banded rubber legs(centipede legs)

Rest of the day was fairly slow, a few chases here and there but they certainly shut off big time, it was fun to fish with good people and share a few fishing war stories and ideas....Blackghost got to see some really nice salmon water... He's certainly and expert fisherman and a fantastic roll caster...it's a tough river to fish and these guys can be tough to fool most of the time, but put in enough time and there can be a good day or 2 to be had...I have been fishing this river every fall for well over 20 years, the first 5  I was lucky to hook a single  fish in a week, and I put in long days believe me, I learned certain techniques and flies from those that knew the river much better than I and were kind enough to show me the ropes.
This river is as close to actual Atlantic salmon fishing as it gets, the fish are smaller of course as a rule but they respond to the same presentations that work well for the sea runs...SWING THOSE FLIES!
As soon as I learn how to use this new Gopro camera I have on my head I will post hopefully some clips of salmon takes on the swing, the perspective this little camera gives is incredible, vid quality is awesome as well, cannot wait!

Off for the weekend to spend some time with the Lady and relax,...back at it on Monday.