Hopes dwindling and patients running thin, I was thinking about calling it a morning and laying my head back on my pillow before it even began. This being my first summer fishing for Steelhead, I wanted to have the thrill of my first bobber-down so I got myself up.

After being skunked a dozen times this year I was not sure even sure if I remembered how to catch a fish. Anyways, I started fishing at 6:00am on the hatchery side. It was just another day on the river, other people were catching fish right in front of me and I was thinking I was going to walk out empty handed. Then at 6:45 I hooked into my first Steelhead, after 10 min of battling and 5 jumps out of the water I landed my first one. Nerves trembling from the excitement I rushed back out to try my luck again. About 15 min. later my fishing buddy asked, "how far out were you fishing when you hooked that last one?" In the middle of my drift I replied, "about 3 feet closer than... (bobber-down). Another great fight and landed my second of the day. Excited to finally mark up my card, and become a Steelhead fanatic. Hope there are more posts to come...

---