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Nick Rowell

Christmas Island

November 9, 2017 By Nick Rowell 2 Comments

 

This June, before summer steelhead season really got going I was able to go on my first saltwater trip. Lucky for me this trip happened to be to The Ikari House on Christmas Island. Even luckier, I went there with my girlfriend, Kelsey and her dad, Dave. Dave has been several times and was kind enough to take Kelsey and I along to one of his favorite fly fishing destinations. Over the years I’ve heard countless, epic tales of the fishing on Christmas Island. So, to say I was excited, was a bit of an understatement!

Being my first saltwater trip, packing and prep seemed crucial.  Having friends that’ve been on every trip known to man, and a good relationship with a kick ass rod company (Beulah, obviously) made this part much less stressful than anticipated. I took 5 rods for kelsey and I, about 10 dozen flies, extra fly lines, a bunch of tippets and leaders, clothing and lots of sunscreen. All the rods were Beulah Opals (8, 9, 10, and 11 weights, plus the 9/10 two hander) matched up with either a Hatch or Nautilus reel. Of the 5 rods we took, we really ended up only using 3 of them. Kelsey, a first time single hand caster chose the 8 weight as her weapon of choice. It ended up being perfect… lightweight enough for her to cast all day, but enough backbone to fight bonefish, a big trigger, and a pretty much constant wind. I ended up using the 9 weight for my bonefish/trigger/milkfish rod, and always had the 11 weight close by for Giant Trevally. The rods kicked ass to say the least!

 

I could easily go on and on about the fishing, the lodge, the people, the guides, etc…. I think instead I will keep it short and sweet, and let the pictures do the talking. I’ve attached a small photo gallery with captions, below. All photos were taken by Kelsey Kilhefner, Dave Kilhefner, or myself. Hope you enjoy the photos… I’ll be heading back to Ikari House as soon as possible, can’t wait!

dropping in on Christmas Island
Heading out in the morning from the beach at Ikari House
Dave fishing a typical “pancake” flat in the lagoon

Christmas Island bonefish
Kelsey and Pete hunting bonefish on the edge of a flat
Not a bad way to get around! Photo: Dave Kilhefner

Opals ready for action
Kelsey and Dave enjoy the shade on the boat during lunch
Getting worked by a milkfish while a black tern investigates

Milkfish… these things pull hard!
Opal and a milkfish motor
Opal 8 weight korked on a big trigger!

Kelsey and Pete with the catch of the week
Pete ready to tail my first GT
Saying goodbye to a fish I’ll never forget!

11 Weight opal and solid GT
Heading to the Korean Wreck
Average bonefish at the wreck

Swallow tail at the wreck
Camp at the Korean Wreck
Opal 11 weight and Bruce’s baitfish pattern. The GTs couldn’t say no!

GT Double!
There are no words to describe how hard these things pull!

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Summer Steelhead Update

October 10, 2014 By Nick Rowell 1 Comment

As the summer transitions into fall I catch myself reflecting back over the bulk of the summer steelhead season, and looking forward to what the winter might bring. But, before that I enjoy what I think is one of the coolest times of the year to be out and about in Oregon.  The leaves turning from green to all different shades of yellow, orange, and red and the heat of long summer days giving way to the crisp foggy mornings of fall. In the Deschutes canyon the days get colder and shorter, the october caddis come out in clouds, and the Big Horn Sheep start making their presence more and more known. It is not uncommon to see rams squaring off with one another and smashing heads for the right to mate. No matter how many times I  see this, it never fails to amaze me.

This season so far has been a bit of a roller coaster ride as far as fishing success goes. We’ve had some excellent fishing as well as some real tough fishing, but overall the size of the fish has been awesome. I’ve seen a couple of monsters hooked this season, and even had a couple real good ones get landed. Though I think there are more productive times of the year to fish for summer steelhead, the fall is my favorite. Not just because of the beautiful scenery. The fall tends to bring out some of the biggest summer steelhead of the year, also there tends to be more wild fish around. With this seasons fish size seeming to be a bit bigger, I can’t help but wait to see what the fall will bring us. You may have to search a little longer and harder to find the fish, but it can be well worth it!

Here’s a couple of random photos I thought were cool from the summer steelhead season so far…. Enjoy!

Golden canyon lighting

joe1

Joe with his first steelhead, and a good one!

photo-2

Perfect looking fish, not a scale missing

image

A skater eating steelie on my new favorite set-up. The 13′ 1″ 6 weight Onyx and the 6/7 Aerohead. If you haven’t tried it, you should!

Catherine Bell boobs

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Don’t Forget About the Short Cast

March 14, 2014 By Nick Rowell Leave a Comment

Something I see people do consistently while steelhead fishing is forget to fish the short cast. A lot of the time while guiding, I see people step into a run and immediately start peeling all sorts of line off their reel before they make the first cast. Usually their first cast is at least the length of shooting head plus the sink tip or leader they are using. That means the fly is fishing at least 30 to 40 feet out from the angler on the first cast, leaving the water closer in completely un-fished! Just because your fishing a spey rod doesn’t mean you have to instantly start launching casts out into the middle of the river. I know the urge to bomb it out there is strong, but don’t forget about the water right out in front of you.

photo 1

Erik hooked into his first ever spey rod steelie on a cast of about half the skagit head he was using.

This winter I’ve seen several steelhead caught with no more than half the skagit head out of the rod tip, and 2 fish caught on the very first cast of just the sink tip! Sometimes this is the only fish of the day. If we hadn’t started short, we would have never found these fish. Which can be the difference between success and a skunking.

Alex got this cartwheeler on his sink tip length cast!

Alex got this cartwheeler on his first sink tip length cast!

When steelheading it’s important to remember that the fish can be just about anywhere. Sure, each run has it’s sweet spots or “buckets”, but steelhead (especially winter) are on the move. Obviously there are times of resting or holding, as well as times when they are more likely to be moving around than others. But, in general they are on an upstream migration until they reach they’re spawning grounds. I’ve heard a couple legendary steelhead guides say things like, “they are where you find ’em”. To me this means that where one fish decides to stop and hold isn’t necessarily where the next fish will hold in that same run. So next time you head out to the river and step into your first spot, remember to fish all the water in the run you can. This starts by not forgetting to fish the short cast, you never know where you might find your fish!

photo 3

The Reward

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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