I've been wanting to get out and give it a try. I just dont like fishing it in higher flows, so have been looking forward to this weekend knowing that the flows would be way down. Also knew there were a fair amount of fish in. The steelhead collection at the separator has been pretty good and knowing that 302 steelhead got recycled during the week. (Recycling is going from 3000 a year to 6000 this year) would mean we would have a pretty good chance of getting into some fish.
I'm sure you all have heard the old song, "Waitin On A Woman". Well thats me! 😄 But its worth it. My Suzyque is the best fishing partner I could ever imagine. She doesnt like getting up too early. So when I talked about fishing Friday and she asked me what my plans were I told her I would like to be on the water by 8 am. I knew that was pretty optimistic and didnt really care because In my experience steelhead arent too particular about time of day to bite.
I'm always an early riser. Usually out of bed by 6 or 630, on my days off. So I went out and got gear ready etc. and milled around waiting for her to get up and get ready pack snacks etc. To tell the truth come about 9 am I was getting pretty antsy, but tried not to show it.
Finally about 930 she was in the truck, and ready to roll. So we didnt make it in time for the 8:00 clock bite. or the 9:00 clock bite. But we were on the water and fishing through the 10:00 clock bite, Well, that didnt happen either! But the 11:00 clock bite happened. Suzyque said her rod tip was acting kind of funny. Just bouncing up and down and going around in circles. Not that rapid action you get running a diver and **** shrimp. I told her to reel it up and see whats going on. She started reeling and had a fish on. It kept coming towards the back of the boat and she couldnt catch up with it to put any pressure on it. When she finally caught up, it went crazy and came way out of the water 2 or 3 times. Exciting stuff! What a hot little fish! She was finally able to get it close enough for me to get a net under it and get it in the boat! A nice 7 pound or so opercule punched fish.
We made a couple more runs through that slot without any takers, so headed to another drift. No luck there either. Moved again and after a short drift Suzyques rod started acting funny again. She started reeling up and sure enough, its another hot fish. She gets some pressure on it and the acrobatics were on! That fish jumped over another line before we could get it in. Thought we had a big mess but it stayed clear. Was finally able to net it and get it in the boat. A nice 8 pounder for the 1:00 clock bite!
We made a few more drifts with no luck so started working our way down stream again hitting a few holes that are usually good producers. Had a pretty long stretch of nothing, so told Suzyque we would hit 2 more slots on the way back to the launch, then head in. We were working towards the tail out on the last slot when I saw a steelhead surface a couple times. I told her I was going to work our way to where I saw the action and we would be able to get it to bite. Couldnt tell you how many times Ive targeted surfacing steelhead and they will bite almost every single time. They are really aggressive. Sure enough, I get backed down close and my rod buries, comes back up and buries again. I grab it and start reeling. My line comes up tight and barely moves. I put more pressure on it and its solid. I'm thinking for a second. Am I hung up? Do I have a sturgeon on? Then it starts moving again and I'm thinking maybe I hooked into a springer. This fish isnt acting like a steelhead. Its staying down and pulling hard. No quick runs or acrobatics. After a bit I start gaining on it and getting it closer to the boat. I finally get a glimpse at a really nice bright steelhead. Suzyque grabs the net as I bring it close she reaches out but it decides it wants to go for a run. After about 3 short runs I finally get it close enough for her to get it in the net! I grab the net and start lifting it into the boat. I dont know what happened but man I have a tangled mess and the fish found a hole in my net and is about 1/3 of the way through it!
It ended well though, with a dime bright 10 pounder!
When we got off the river I started the filet job. Both of her fish had beautiful meat. Mine was the brightest fish and the filets were really pail looking. Ive never seen a steelhead filet this pale. I'll be curious to see if I can tell a difference in flavor between the fish.
