The weather report for today looked like a good day to try for a Steelhead, some rain, temp 40*, and a light breeze. We hooked up the boat just as it started gettind daylight and headed upriver on Snake River Rd., we launched a short distance above Buffalo Eddy, there's a rocky launch there that is pretty rough, but after a few launches it's not too bad.

Barb powered the boat off the trailer when I backed it into the water, I park the Jeep and trailer, she picks me up at the shoreline, we get the boat on plane and head upriver to Billy Creek. There's several good drifts in this area that can be very productive.

The stretch of water we chose to fish starts out at at about 15', then shallows up abruptly to 10', slowly shallows to 5', then deepens to 10', at the end of the drift there is a deep 17' hole that is very good at the tailout. We get the lines in the water at 6:45 and start a slow back troll. Barb pours us a cup of coffee, we are watching the rods getting a lot of action from the lures. In about fifteen minutes Barb yells "Fish On" center rod, (Idaho two pole permit) the rod is bent over and throbbing with a Steelhead on the other end, I jerk the rod out of the holder and feel a heavy tug, it makes a short run then heads toward the boat, then the line goes limp and it's gone. Now we are really pumped, have only traveled a short distance on this drift so we put the lines in and continue the drift. In about ten minutes my rod slams down, about six feet of line strips out and the fish is gone, we continue the drift.

We are wondering if loseing fish will continue for the day, I have put a single siwash hook on the belly position of the plugs, and am beginning to think about putting the treble back on. We are about thirty minutes from the last take down when my rod takes a violent jerk, and bends double, I take the rod out the holder, give a firm tug to make sure the hook is set, then this Steelhead comes out of the water about three feet, beautiful sight and I'm expecting to come unhooked any second, it makes several runs before I get it to the boat and Barb slides the net under it, I lay it on a towel, then take a picture and release it. This fish was really hooked solid with the single siwash, and was much easier to remove than the treble, plus it does not get tangled in the net as bad.

So it's back to the start of the drift again, we are about half way through it when Barb says "Fish" and scrambles for her rod, she says "did you see that" as the fish came out of the water, the Steelhead Hen took a run downstream, came out of the water again, then ran toward the boat, we were near a sand bar so I guided the boat onto the bar, then got the net ready, in about five minutes Barb brings the steelie in on it's side and I net her, take a picture and release to maybe catch catch again.

We go back for another pass, we have gone about a hour without a bump, and nearing the end of the drift when my rod slams back really hard, I take it out of the holder, line is stripping out as the fish runs down stream, I get back about forty feetof line and it takes another run, it then begins a tug of war, he never jumped, but put up a good fight, it was about twenty minutes or so before Barb netted him, what a gorgeous fish. took another quick picture and released him, he splashed water on me when he took off.

It is now 10:00am, time for a break, we guide the boat into shore and tie up. Our little English Setter gave the signal that she had to go. We get that done, fill up the cups with coffee, have a snack, and talk about the morning events. The canyon is really beautiful now, with the fading Fall colors and some snow on top, it would have been a lot of fun even if we had not touched a fish. We decide to call it quits for the day and head for the launch, it was a pretty exciting three hours.

Day was overcast with showers all day, river temp 46F, ambient temp 40F, light wind gusts at times, water clear.

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