Your hotttest steelhead yet: Steelheader.net- Steelhead, Salmon and trout fishing

Well I've gone back to the archives to my most memorable steelhead, my first big hot buck to the beach:

"Slick and I left our 20lb packs on and stripped line and he cast first, falling short of the slot by two feet. My longer cast landed just upstream from the tree’s overhanging branches, and Slick called out “Good cast, Brad.” My response was a grunt as I set the hook hard on a steelhead.

The fly assassin came to the top, spooking his large companion and then turned and screamed downstream 50’ before I could palm him to a stop. (Had the water been 6” higher, the game would have been over that quickly: he would have tangled me in the sweepers for certain.) The red buck thrashed in the shallows, line clear of the limbs just above it. The fish turned and made a porpoise-leap on the way back upstream. This fish was hot! I tightened up the drag and reeled like crazy as the big buck ran towards me. Suddenly he jumped 3+ feet out of the water turning and twisting. Splash! Both Slick and I were hooting and laughing at this point, as the jump had been only 25’ feet away. I started backpedaling for the far bank, trying to put clean water between the fish and me. After the initial frenzy we settled into a slugging match with the steelhead in the light current and shallow water 20-30 yards downstream.

For most of the fight I'd had this premonition that this fish was not meant to be. It was so big part of its back and top of its tail were visible in the foot-plus of water that characterized the run. I couldn't really exert a lot of leverage on it as it was just about sitting on the bottom of the river, down current like a piglet with fins. Eventually I wore him down and brought the fish up above me several times, seeking each time to follow Slick’s advice and try to swim him downstream into the shallows where he could essentially strand himself. All around a great place to beach him with fine gravel underfoot and no logs to dive under. Slick did a fine job, too, once the fish beached itself in 4" of water. He grabbed his tail with both hands and held the fish motionless. I raced to the scene and pulled out my tape measure, eyes bugging out of my head and scarcely believing that he was mine at last.

The 38.5" red and green winter monster most probably was 18-19lbs. In my excitement I measured him twice but neglected a girth measurement. He was thick as a Virginia ham, and gasping away as the water covered his gills. I pulled the Minolta free and rushed to unhook him. (I didn’t want to lose or break my flyrod if he were to squirt free and still be hooked up.) I reached for the leader and pulled on it to bring the fly under tension so I could unhook him. That extra pressure was enough to remind him of his plight and he gave a sharp headshake. True to my fears the 8lb leader had worn down in his mouth to the breaking strength of strong sewing thread, about 3 lbs., and it popped. Rejuvenated he began to wriggle and despite Slick’s best efforts he couldn't hang on to the buck’s thick tail wrist. (Steve’s two hands around the base of the tail looked like a midget massage parlor girl trying to gratify the late John Holmes.)"

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This was and remains my most memorable steelhead. The hottest buck ever was in BC a couple of years ago, but I'll save that story for another day.

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Skeena Fall 2009 trip already booked, so I guess I'm going no matter what!