Sort of a late post but I finally found some time post up. For almost a year now Ive been trying to get into salmon and steelhead fishing. I got my first taste during last year's pink season and it was a blast and now I'm anxiously waiting for next year's run. But then I wanted to get a REAL salmon and a steelhead, something to make those pinks look more like dinks. I tried a little for some fall chinook run but with archery season I didn't make it out much and had no success. Tried my luck at winter steelhead but also no luck, meanwhile my buddy next to me was able to land one. No time for springers this year.
I was able to make it out for some summer run steelhead on the columbia. First time out 2 weekends ago fishing on the bank plunking I had one bell ringer but it was a swing and a miss. Went out the next day and I missed another one but my buddy was able to connect and landed a nice one.
Last weekend after waiting all week to get back out there saturday. We catch the tide at 4am ish and get the kayak out with the lines. After a few hours of fishing I get a good hit and connect. I get it halfway to shore and it jumps out of the water and with a good shake of its head it pops the hook. Felt like that kid in P.E. who never hits the baseball but then one day gets a solid hit only to get thrown out on 1st base. Same day my buddy gets a swing and a miss.
Next day I got both my kids out of bed and nestled into the rig at 345am.
After a slow morning. It's a decent day out, my son and daughter are playing with my friends son in the sand, rig parked with the tailgate down and music playing....
We reel the lines back to shore for fresh bait. We get strung up and he runs my line out. I told him just to drop it where it feels good. So he does, and as he makes it back to shore for his line and starts running it out the bell goes off on the other rod. I throw the pole in the holder as fast as possible and nail the other rod. Felt like a solid hit. As the kids notice the action I tell my daughter to grab my cellphone out of my jacket and make a video. She did manage to get a pretty good picture too....
With some coaching from my good friend on the right I was able to land my very first steelhead of my life! After a lot of swings and misses I felt very accomplished and the best part is it was a hatchery fish so it's a keeper! And even better than anything was the fact that my good friend and kids were there to share the experience!
The obligatory long arm. Sorry I'm not very good at it, I guess it's due to lack of practice holding these things up.
Me and the youngest. He absolutely just had to touch the fish as soon as it was out of the water. I told him to let his mom sniff his fingers when we get home
All in all after gutting it weighed 7.7lbs on the scale. Good enough for me! Sorry for the long winded story! Hope you enjoyed!
