My wife's first Steelhead

[brshooter]

Maybe the luck is starting to change. The last couple of trips to the Columbia have resulted in zero takedowns, while watching everyone else have the fun. The wife and I launched Saturday morning at Chinook Landing and headed up to Camas. Found our spot, anchored, and read the Saturday morning paper until the tide change. Lines hit the water about 8am. About 9 am, I get a nice takedown. Landed and released a nice native. About 45 minutes later, my wife has a takedown and the fight is on for her first steelhead. She gets the fish near the boat several times and the fish makes several hard runs on her. As I try to get her to work the fish to the side of the boat where I can net it, she allows the fish to take the line around the kicker motor shaft. Say goodbye. The wife was bummed, but still thrilled at the tremendous fight she had. We drop back in line and within a half hour, my wife gets another takedown. She lands what looks like it could be a steelhead jack. It was about 18 inches and built like a football. It had a adipose fin so we released it. We found out later from the fish checker at the dock that we could have kept it as a trout. No big deal. That was all the action we had for the day, but it was nice to at least touch a fish or two. We did see four other fish landed and one lost by the boats near us.

The wife and I went out this morning with our friend, and fellow ifisher, Pete. We hit Frenchmen’s Bar bright and early in Pete’s boat. We trolled spinners for an hour while we waited for the tide to change. Lines hit the water around 8am. About 10 am, my wife gets bit. With some excellent coaching from Pete, she lands her first steelhead. What a thrill for her. I think I enjoyed it almost as much just watching her. Pete had a nice takedown a couple hours later, but the fish spit the plug back at him. That was all the action we had for the day. I think we saw 5 other fish landed this morning. Thanks for the fun trip Pete.

Now I have to put up with my wife while I listen to how she got to bonk a fish this weekend, and I didn’t. That’s OK with me. She has the fever so bad now; I don’t think I will have to twist her arm too hard to go fishing now. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[ 08-05-2001: Message edited by: brshooter ]

[Chris Nordling]

Excellent! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Glad to hear of her success. I too have a wife with "the fever". Thanks for the report, we were thinking of playing hookie on Wednesday, and heading towards Frenchmans. Anybody pull in any chinook? Any possible heads up on the lure or bait of choice? Much appreciated info.

Tight lines all,
Chris [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]