Sandy river story today

Space · 12-30-2003, 04:57 PM

Woke up this morning to find the keyed lock on my fishing shack was frozen, with my rods still in there. A little WD-40 and I was back in business. Then I thought, ahhh, maybe I better check the outboard on the sled. Yep, just what I was afraid of. It had the same problem. Ok, now the key works but, the shifter is froze solid as well. It won't even start unless it's in the neutral position. More WD. Still won't budge. Too late to worry about it now. I have to be down to the Lewis & Clark launch by 8:00am to meet up with Tuna Breath. I take off praying that the water on the shoe will solve my problems. Sure enough, between the WD and river the problem was solved. Tuna and I were the only sled on the river today. The river level was at 9 foot 4 today. In not sure the name of the hole that is two turns of the river down from the Stark St Br., but it gets reallllly skinny there. I had to stay as far to the right(going down river) as I could stand it. I'm not sure how skinny it was, but I know it was well under a foot. Needless to say the pucker factor was definitely in effect. I'm sure some of you know the very spot I'm talking about. The water was 36 to 37 deg. and green in color with about 5ft visibility. I spoke with three drift boaters who fished hard. They didn't even get a sniff. Neither did we for that matter. The weather was cold but very nice. No wind to speak of. This is the second time this week I've fished this area and gotten the same results.

Is it too early to fish this area?
Is the water too cold?
How low have you run the Sandy in your sled? (without leaving parts of your shoe in the river)

I'm thinking if it gets to 9ft I'm back on the sticks and floating down.

THANKS, BE SAFE.

SPACE

Angler of Repose · 12-30-2003, 05:18 PM

Space said it all; we used every combination in the book and nothing brought on a nibble. Well if it wasn't for the good weather and good company, one might have said it was a waste of time. But old Space can spin those yarns all day long, and when the conversation got slow, we picked on Grant Zadow (the wormy @###!!)

Day Late Fishen · 12-30-2003, 06:59 PM

Grant Zadow is the reason i have so much fishing time and so litte money . His brother stniks to !!!! ( Deep breath ) Sandy is all broodstock this year on try back in a mounth. Good luck 48 bro.. :smile:

ANDYCOHO · 12-30-2003, 07:07 PM

It may be early for the Majority of the run, but there are definately some fish in there

I have always had better luck fishing the Sandy when the water temp. is 40 deg. or higher....

When the water temp is that low, I like to put out the Diver and Bait and backtroll slowly....I mean really slow....

I have run the Sandy when it gets below 9', you just need to get familiar with the water...I have also seen some sleds sitting on rocks at 10'

[ 12-30-2003, 08:10 PM: Message edited by: ANDYCOHO ]

DAB · 12-30-2003, 07:11 PM

Fished the Sandy Sunday talked to 1 D/Boater and they had 2 Hatchery fish they got just below the boatramp in Ox-Bow.I didn't fish that long and didn't get any thing. ................DAB

Space · 12-30-2003, 10:52 PM

Hey DAB, were there were two guys in that drift boat? Was it a very old style white fiberglass boat? If it was, then they lied. The state police officer checked that boat and found no fish or evidence of any that had been caught. They hit the dock a moment before I did. They told me that they hook up a couple as well.