Umpqua summers: Steelheader.net- Steelhead, Salmon and trout fishing

After having spent the last two weeks perched on the banks of the N Umpqua in pursuit of summer chrome, I find it hard to get excited about work, so I may as well share the results of the trip with you all. This was an average year for me, but a little bit slower than what I would have liked. Oh well, that's fishin...

7-2 was an 0 fer, not even a touch so I was starting to

7-3 things were lookin up as I got things started with a nice 31" native buck that couldn't resist an orange bead/chartreuse yarn combo around 6 a.m. A few runs and a nice jump before a couple pics and he was back on his way to somewhere else. "Things can't be all bad if this is how my day starts" I thought to myself.

About an hour later I switched to

and a 30" 'nook couldn't help but gobble them down. After a few minutes of tug of war, I won and so the first mark on my 2007 tag was inked into history.

Another 45 minutes passed before a nice jack took a corkie/worm combo and found his way to the stringer also.

Somehow I missed two other opportunities and went 3/5 for the day- much better than the previous day!

7-4 Well days like this are hard to beat and 2/2 is alright in my book. Things were good right away as I put a nice 5.5# hatchery buck on the stringer at about 5:15 a.m. You guessed it-luminous corkies

Then around 7:15 a.m. a nice 30" buck tore into my corkie/worm offering and was giving me a run for the money and was trying every trick he could come up with to come unbuttoned. Not so fast, as my good friend of 20+ years Chris was nearby and gave him a "swiftwater scoop" when the time was right.

Gotta love a limit by 7:30

7-5 wasn't as good to me as I went 0/1

7-6, 7-7, 7-8 were all spent in WA on the Cowlitz and lets just say the fish won that round as the wife and I were

. At least the company and food was good

.

7-9 1/1 with a 24" steelie that couldn't resist a puple/grey scale corkie/worm around 11:15 a.m. Even more enjoyable was the fact that my wife, JJ, was the one to land it- her first fish this year.

7-10 0/1

7-11 0/1

7-12 1/2 I managed to lose a fish around 8 a.m.

Boy things had really changed in favor of the fish as the last three had come undone. Oh well...

About 11 a.m. I switched to an orange bead and a fresh sand shrimp and dropped it into a nice little seam where I know fish hold. First pass...nada. Second pass...I felt that old familiar chomp and reeled up until it was firm then a quick pop and it was game on. I gave a quick yell to JJ and had her come take the hand off as it's much more fun to me to see her battling a good fighter. Little did she or I know, but this fish was simply a great fighter. Several line peeling runs (which isn't hard when your drag is set as light as mine) and aerial displays that made me smile, all the while JJ is giving her best effort to land this crazy fish. After the fourth screaming run, she regained control and we scooped up a nice 27" steelie.

7-13 Oh no Friday the 13th right? Not to be as I went 1/3 in the morning. I lost a nice 'nook about 8 a.m. on a peach corkie/yarn.

30 minutes later I landed a 33" 'nook that ate a sunburst corkie/worm.

I'm glad that Gami hook was buried in his snout because the runs and jumps this fish made were very impressive. I think anytime a 'nook is four feet out of the water the chances for disaster are high, but not so this time.

After another 30 minutes or so, I hooked into a nice steelie that took orange beads and should have gone about 26", but the hook came out about four feet from the net

Oh well...

All in all it was a good trip and I can't wait for the next trip home. I will get the pictures up in the next couple days, especially JJ's pics with her successes.

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