I just spent the last couple days on the Wilson with some great guys, it was so much fun.
Thursday I fished with John and Aaron. Of the nine fish we hooked that day two of them are going to stand out in my memory for a long time.
One of those was a bright, 20+ hen chinook that John hooked up on 12# line and an 8-12 GL2. John got it to the boat twice only to have it run clean across the river and then down into the tailout. We figured we were either going to presure that fish back to the boat or break it off trying. Man, I never knew those rods could take that much presure! After around 20 minutes the leader finally parted. To say the least I am very impressed with that rod.
Several of the fish we lost were due to the heavy flows, which caused for much belly in the line and therefore lots of slack to set the hook through.
Aaron did great for never catching a steelhead before. He lost a few fish because of poor hooksets-he didn't expect them to be fish. I always say," expect it to be a fish then if it isn't you're not out anything". A lot of guys in my boat lose steelhead becuase they're not expecting a fish on each cast.
By later in the day Aaron had learned a few pointers and he was rewarded with his First Steelhead!
A first steelhead is a special thing that will be remembered for a lifetime. And on my boat it's one of my favorite things to see.
John and Aaron after a great day on the river. Aaron's first two steelhead ever!
Aaron later told me that when he hooked that fish it was drifting along and he felt something tick, he thought he should have set on it and then he got a couple more light tugs so he set the hook and it was fish on!
Here's something interesting. In the spot he caught that fish there were two boats before us. They were just moving on as we were drifting into the hole. When I cleaned that fish it had eaten and swallowed 4 sand shrimp and some eggs from other peoples hooks. Seems like someone had been feeding the wildlife and didn't even feel it before we got there :shocked:
Yesterday was filled with laughter and smack talk as C&E and Spooled joined me for Bernie's 40th Birth Day.
Now I'm sure we would have caught more fish if it wasn't for Bernie's slowed reflexes-every time we yeld to him that he had a fish on he didn't hear us :shocked: :grin:
I'm just kidding of course, we all had a blast and although it was pretty slow we did manage to hook into a handfull of fish and put two in the box.
Bernie and Troy with a couple winter steelhead hens.
We finally got the Birthday Boy a fish just above the takeout as it was getting dark.
[ 12-21-2002, 01:14 PM: Message edited by: David Johnson ]
A couple fun trips down the Wilson.
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