Two times two

I was coming Saturday night from Lebanon so I passed by Franklin Falls Dam, to see if the salmons are in. They were, and jumping, but the fishermen told me the water dropped drastically that day and they weren't biting anymore.
But my mind was set. I tied at night a few streamers. I also had some from last time I went up in Pittsburgh. I never fished streamers before except for a few casts with no results. To wake up 6 am on a Sunday is painful if I would have to go to work, but for fishing it's a breeze. So here I am, scraping the ice from the windshield at 6:30 and then heading for the pool below the dam. I got on the left side of the river. When the water is low enough, you can wade in the middle of the river and have room to cast.
Somebody was already there, fortunately not in the place I wanted. The water was not too cold, but outside was freezing, especially after stripping the wet line with bare hands. I was thinking: " I hope the action will start soon enough, if not I'm gonna freeze to death."
The salmons were raising sporadically, one every 5-10 minutes. Fortunately the rainbows were there and ready for the battle. In the first half an hour I caught 4 of them on a streamer I've tied last night.







Then they stopped and I changed the streamer. The new one was going a little deeper because the materials were not so buoyant. And it managed to dig out a bigger rainbow, around 15 inches and pretty fat. I've even hooked a nice smallmouth bass, but lost it in the drill.





You can see here the streamer. It doesn't look too good when wet, dry looks like a brush, made from angel hair and black marabou on top. And I've wrapped the hook's shank in red wire. Very easy to tie, except the angel hair is a pain in the butt to work with.


The sun came out and more fishermen started to gather on the river bank. All targeting the salmon, but I think they got pretty disappointed. Although I've seen the salmons in the water and jumping around, they weren't interested in our flies. Only one of the guys that were spinning managed to catch a couple. They almost caught me too. I wish I have seen some Fish and Game officers around, cos I'm not sure they were using single hook point lures. The regulations around salmon fishing below Eastman Falls Dam seem a little weird to me, but I'll discuss this with another occasion.



I switched on nymphs since the streamers stopped catching fish and I'm not surprised, with the big spinners cruising around. Suddenly, surprise: a double. I was fishing with two nymphs and this happened to me before, but I didn't get the chance to take some good pictures. First time it was a couple of small brookies, this time it was a brown and a rainbow.

Than some more fish, including some really nice rainbows










Soon enough i got a second double. two in the same day it's insane! this time a couple of rainbows were sharing the meal.



Then more fish....










after I lost a couple of flies on the bottom I decided to switch back on the "brush" and I hooked another brown. This one took the fly in full speed, I was retrieving as fast as I could.



That was it. The last fish of the day. No salmon but I don't regret it. It was 11 o'clock and there was some more stuff to do. Like a visit at the Castle in the Clouds, which I've promised my wife since last week. I'll post some pictures from there too. Nice place!!! If you get around it, don't miss it!!!!.