Fishing at Scott Access again...

So, yesterday, I went back down to Scott Access to try fishing the 'right' place. I am really liking this place. It has the same problem in that there is only one real place to fish with another small one - almost like DaHole in Bliss. The problem is that they are full a lot of the time. There is a 'professional quality' fire pit and you can bring the car right up to the fishing location. The water is slow enough there that the scent works well.

I was there from 6:30am to about noon. My morts (trout) were frozen so it takes a while to get them 'normalized' and fish ready. I caught my first fish, another 5'er, about 10am. I was reading the paper and heard some banging around and looked up to see my beloved casting rig in the water and heading south... Luckily, I have these 25' nylon ropes on my rigs that I attach to some local immovable object with these metal snap clips. I grabbed the rope and was able to recover the rig and fight the fish. I have seen two other folks rigs 'disappear' last year and after seeing that happen and just contemplating the power and dynamics of the situation, developed these ropes and have used them ever since. This is the first time they have saved me one of my rigs. I would have been realllly bummed if I would have lost it as I have a lot of money and labor in it with all the custom mods and all...

The fish was a feisty fighter for a 5'er. It jumped 4 times, and even ran a bunch of line off of the heavy AVET LX drag.

Then, about an hour later, I hooked up again, this time on my Penn 9500SS spinner rig, and landed another 5'er. It was not as much of a fighter as the first one, but the spinning rig is lighter and actually took longer to bring in, which was fun.

Then, about another hour later, about noon, I hooked up with a much bigger fish on the casting rig. This one ended up being a 7'er. And, the hardest fighting fish I have caught all year. They seem to all be good fighters there, but this one was special. It jumped 3 times, and just screamed line off the AVET drag a number of times. It would run out about 200 yards of line and I would bring it back in, fighting all the way, to my topshot which is about 80 yards or so, and it would take off again. I am not sure why it would take off again when the topshot started on the reel, but that is how it went. Maybe the connector knot in the line, going through the rod guides, bothered it under all the pressure put on the line.

Anyway, this went on for three or four trips. I had my back harness on which is really great. While I was fighting the fish, with the help of the harness, I was able to bend down and bring in my spinner line so it didn't get all messed up during the fight - which ended up going back and forth, up and down river a few times. It would have got the two lines all messed up for sure. I was worn out after that 7'er...

One thing I noticed yesterday - both 5'ers had weird side fins. The first one had both side fins messed up and were sorta like knobs instead of fins. And, the second one had one of the side fins split down the center with the other one good. I will have to keep track of that. The first two I caught the other time seemed OK, as I didn't notice any problems with their fins. The little baby 2'er I caught a couple of weeks ago at the Lower Salmon Dam had one side fin all knobbed up also... I don't know of this is a by-product of their food gathering techniques or something else. I don't remember noticing soo many fish having such problems before...

So, all in all, this Scotts Access place is working out great. It is beautiful with all the waterfalls and I have caught 5 fish in two trips there. And, with today's gas prices, going 10 miles is much better than 80 miles for a day fishing trip. The road getting down the canyon wall is crazy, but the Jeep handles it well. You just have to go slow and watch where you are going and what you are going over. I am going to have to get some hedge clippers and clean up the road shrubs though, as I now have scratches all over the Jeep from them.

I am still looking for those big fish down there and they are there. I have heard too many stories about them from many sources. Its just a matter of time and effort, I guess, as are most things here in DaHo...