New to Ifish

rivermaster · 02-10-2004, 09:57 PM

As a new member i understand i need to share a story. First I want to commend all of you who share your wisdom on this forum as it is great to see other outdoor enthuist.

First I will give a little background on myself. I am a southern oregon(medford area) transplant to the big city about 15 years ago. My younger years were spent fishing the rogue, chetco, smith,and klamath rivers to pass the time of day. Some times I thinK I spent more time in the drift boat with dad than i did at home. Well here goes the story (true tale)

My fishing buddy and I just got to one of our favorite fishing spots on the chetco. It was one of those days where you knew we would be catching some nice winter steelhead and after the 2nd cast my buddy caught a nice 15# buck. The next fish hooked was mine and as I started down the bank since he was stripping line like crazy and as he jumped i saw a monster steelie. I now started to run as fast as my waders would go until I hit a deep spot and went completely under water. The current was fairly fast and I started going down river still keeping my rod up because when your young you only think about catching that fish. I yelled back to my buddy and he just hit the same hole and he was comming to my aid just as soaked as me. 1/4 mile down we finally made it to the bank and some how my steelie was still on. We landed it in another 10 minutes a nice 20# hen. Since it was cold and we were both soaked we headed back up to get his fish and being young and unprepared no extra cloths in the truck just a couple of beers. We decided to head for the laundry in brookings because we had to get dry and back to fishing. we ended up stripping everything off and sitting in the laundry mat with just our coats while our clothes dried. once dried we headed back to the river and limited out without any further casualties.

On our way back to medford we thought I bet we can catch fish in the smith river today the way our luck is. So we headed up the south fork and sure enough we both limited in california all nice steelies in the teens. It was one of those fishing trips you think will never happen but
you just never know.

Fast Water · 02-10-2004, 10:07 PM

Way to hang in there. :shocked:

Great story and welcome to Ifish.

:smile:

BigFishFever · 02-11-2004, 05:36 AM

Great Story!

Welcome to a great site!!

Pete · 02-11-2004, 05:41 AM

I'm sometimes surprised when I see a new moniker. Some of them, like yours, are excellent and seem surprisingly overlooked by the 7000 or so folks that have already registered. It serves as a reminder to me that there are things we don't know, haven't heard before or have overlooked that will add to our enjoyment and understanding of our sport. Thanks for joining us and thanks for thinking up a great moniker!

SPAZZ · 02-11-2004, 06:39 AM

Welcome aboard

Silver Eagle · 02-11-2004, 06:40 AM

Welcome aboard..........You'll love this site...

SHOUGALNITE · 02-11-2004, 07:06 AM

WELCOME

Grantspastor · 02-11-2004, 07:09 AM

Welcome rivermaster! Great story and HOORAH...we have another Southern Oregon ifisher!

Straydog · 02-11-2004, 07:18 AM

Welcome! Another Southern Oregonian is good!

Your story reminds me of many great trips to the Chetco with a very good friend when we were young and adventerous. Walking the sled over gravel bars on the way to Eagle Creek was a real treat!