10-05-03 - Salt Creek; looks like all the other IN Tribs if you ask me :) Oh, and quit your complaining about pictures of the streams...if you recognize this spot, and thus know where I fished, then this report is just that much more useful to you.

10-05-03 - Indiana Fish are conspiring against me!

Waters Fished: Salt Creek
Fish Caught: 0
Outing Date: 10-05-03
Weather: Sunny and some breeze
Air Temp: Warmer? Maybe 60F?
Water Temp: didn't take it
Water Level: purportedly low
Water Color: slightly stained, pretty clear with some sediment suspended
Fish Species: Chinook Salmon, Coho Salmon, Steelhead
Pattern Fished: Wolley Bugger, Tucker Nymph
Pattern Color: Wolley Bugger in Red / Black
Fishing Quality: Extremely disappointing

Not much to say here about the fishing. However, I did stop by Dave @ Creekside Outfitters today to say hi, join in the Anniversary festivities, and pick up a TICA spinning reel for my harbor rod. Well, I have to say that he convinced me to try my had at "Fly Rod Golf™"; a course consisting of nine staged casts. For example, the first cast was a 40 foot...pretty straightforward. Hole #5 was a cast of about 35 feet into a narrow 2-3 foot gap between two bushes (darn tough with the strong winds blowing my casts around). Hole #7 reminded me a lot of fishing Paradise Springs, as did #8. However, #9 took the cake...a 60 foot cast with a narrow backcast lane, a line of trees along the right, and when I got there, a good 10 to 15 mph wind coming straight at me, just a touch to my right. ULTRA TOUGH CASTING situation...the wind would just kill the line at the end of shooting it; heck the wind would often turn the leader back over towards ME AFTER I had laid out a nice one. Or even worse, go low and the wind pushed your fly line straight into the ground! I have to admit, this was far more challenging and fun than I had expected! My round? A 28 (I think). The best round? I believe a 23?!

So after all this, I did manage to check out a spot that CS had talked about. I had wanted to fish Salt Creek, things sounded pretty good, so it was worth a shot. Well, when I got there at 5:30 I found 4 other anglers working and most of the water was not "holding water". No biggy, I can manage, but the real kicker was that there were very few fish! First sighted a Coho just running up and downstream...like it was looking for a place to hide but couldn't find one. As I moved downstream sighted a steelhead holding behind a log, but on the first cast the fish shot off upstream, totally spooked. Actually, for the record, I crouched down after sighting it, and then stood back up to cast, and the STANDING spooked the fish. It came back for a moment and then a large male Chinook chased it upstream.

I probably did more talkin' than fishin' today; while sitting we saw a Coho pass upstream. Kept going downstream and only saw one other Chinook pass by while I was working the holes and logjams. As it got dark I walked back upstream and didn't sight a thing. So, for the record, only sighted 2 Coho, 2 Chinook, and 1 Steelhead during my time on the water.

So, once again, I am STILL skunked, FOR LIFE, in Indiana. I left around 7:00 after contemplating nightfishing...I spotted for a while with a 2 million candlepower spotlight, but didn't sight ANYTHING. I wasn't going to waste my time fishing to fish that aren't there.

  MP