12 years ago as an 8th or 9th grader I fished the Cowlitz River with my dad. I haven't been back since, and avoided it because of the horror stories of combat fishing, and the long drive. With everything up north not worth my time I had to give it a try for myself. Arriving at 6:00am I found a trail and took it down to Blue Creek. Looking up river I noticed a line of guys along a bank. Usually a good sign of a spot worth trying. I chose however to start on a little beach just above the beaver pond all by myself for about 20 minutes. On my third cast I hooked a big but a little dark steelhead. It was an awesome fight taking line and heading down river in the strong current. I was using a small peach corky and yarn. Spent a little more time at this spot, and then decided to use some time scouting other areas, familiarizing myself with the spots at Blue Creek, Barrier, and Mission. In the end lots of steelhead hooked at Blue Creek. Saw one very very very dark king caught at Barrier, and only trucks / trailers down at Mission. I had to leave by 12:00pm to beat traffic back north through Tacoma and Seattle.

---