my first steelhead.

I caught my first steelhead… It rained on & off for the past few days, so I didn’t expect much, but I figured that with increased water – there’s a chance they might push up the river. I headed out to a familiar river, but to a new spot my friend suggested. As I walked the bank, I see a sizable fish holding in the water and my heart starts to race. I cast and land the fly right on top of the fish and the fish gently glides back into the deeper pool. I can still see the fish moving in and out of the darker pool so I make another desperate cast, and the fly lands right in the branches above the pool … okay, reset. I move further downstream and throw the fly into some pools that look promising … quiet. Then by luck, I spot this fish, behind the edge of the gravel … ready to pounce and push up the river. I make three careful casts and on the third cast I see the fish turn away and I wasn’t sure if the fly was in its mouth …. then the hard tug. I scramble to set the drag and reel in the slack line. So far so good … by this point I am in that half sqat “I’m gonna land this fish no matter what” position. She makes a break downstream and the rod starts to pump. I think “please don’t go under those nasty looking branches on that fallen tree…” I push the rod sideways towards open area and fortunately she follows. She dashes away two or three times then starts to settle down in the shallows. I attempt an awkward motion to net the fish then decide that I’ll just keep the fish in the shallow area. For some reason, even after the fish was landed, my heart continues to race so I release the fish in a hurried fashion. I sit on the bank, have a victory smoke, and think about what just happened. I smile and think “mrlee, this one is for you bro”.

The dead deer was freaky but, it's just all part of the life cycle...