I got to fished all day on the Skook with Nate. After hitting Cabelas for some gear, we arrived around 11ish with the plan to fish the afternoon into the evening. Nate took me hiking into some very cool areas that were far from the crowds at the terminal fishery. We fished various methods but unfortunately didn’t see or touch a fish. So around 3 or so we hiked back out and drove down the hatchery holes. The first spot we tried had fish holding. Nate was fishing the tailout and could see the fish better than I. He caught a nice hen on a corkie that took him down into the next drift. When he returned with his fish, he suggested I try a plug which proved to be very effective. My first strike I missed and the second brought a huge buck fully out of the water and he promptly spit the plug. My adrenaline was flowing as I hooked a third fish and brought it to shore, another huge, but moldy steelhead. Now don’t laugh at my picture! It’s the first steelhead I’ve caught in a while and I’ll take it (but I did of course release it back).

The remainder of the day we tried farther down by the big bend, but although there were a lot of fish in this section we were unable to find any biters. All the same, I had a great time and really enjoyed hiking back into the areas that don’t get so much attention. The Skook is a great river and I’ll be sure to try these spots again next year.

Special kudos to schu7498, she was fishing downstream from us and returned a lost plug to me. Good karma for you!

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