My guess your huge splash and fin was made by a king. If it had happened to
grab your stim, you probably would have at least had .2 seconds of
adrenaline rush before he snapped you off. :-) Some of the List guys will
call bullsh_t on this, but sometimes, although very, very rarely, a king
will take a surface bug. About 6 years ago a friend of mine caught a 24
pound king while my friend was fishing dries in the fall for steelhead.
Richard Embry
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brenden Portolese" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2001 10:33 AM
Subject: Beckler River/NF Stilly Report
>
> Fished the Beckler River last saturday about mid-day.
> First time on that stretch, the water seemed extremely low, although I
have
> nothing to compare that from.
>
> Caught 3 fish in the 6-8" range. Two after my dry fly got plunged, only
one
> on top.
> Lots of boulders. Beautiful scenery. For the most part this is the type
of
> water I like best. Had my 5wt. Should have thrown the 3 wt in the car,
> would have been a better fit. (Was throwing all sorts of flies, elk hairs
> were the only thing I caught any fish on)
>
> There were some FF on the lower sections, so I headed up and fished just
> below the first one lane bridge. (Where the Gravel starts)
>
> Drove over the gravel road to the other side where I ran into "troublesome
> creek". Fished it for an hour or so with nothing. Again, more beautiful
> scenery. Talked to some hikers and they said they saw a couple "ugly red
> fish" a few hundred yards down. Near "San Juan campground".
>
> Decided to drive to the Stilly for the evening rise.
> Lots of little ones rising, was standing mid-river (like an idiot) tying
up
> a stimi when I heard this huge splash. First I thought it was a beaver.
(It
> was that big) I just caught a glimpse of a silver back and a huge tailfin
> roll back into the water. This was not more than 15ft away from me. I
froze
> for fear of spooking him, and gently started to cast. I tried to ease
> myself out of the water and got 2 casts in before I caught my boot on a
> piece of rebar sticking up from the river bottom. I was sent splashing
down
> backwards. Turns out it was some measurement device, didnt get that good
a
> look at it, it was about the size of a $.50 piece zip tied in a 4" piece
of
> PVC with holes drilled in it. The rebar stuck about 18" straight up. I
put
> some large rocks around it to hopefully save the next angler from such an
> event.
>
> Caught three in the 8" range on an orange stimi, in the same vicinity.
>
> Back to the salt for me...
>
>
