Well this saturday we had an adventure. I fished the Skookumchuck with Britannia and Miguel, two newcomers to the river fishing scene. The river was high and colored, with about two feet of visibility and running a little warmer than in the past.

We started fishing a few of my spots in the lower river, where we started to learn float fishing and plunking with bait. This was Brittania's first time fishing ever and she was determined and learned how to cast and tie knots like a pro, and fish a float effectively.

Within the first half hour we had a bobber down, but we were working on recognizing bite vs. bottom, so we were a little late on the hookset. By the time the hook was set, the fish had drug the bobber across the river and into some sticks, and while we could feel the fish pulling, we could not get it out and it broke off.

We missed another fish, we were working on line management and reaction times, with a little practice I think that we'll get it down. We fished a few other spots and plunked some bait, with annother subtle strike on plunked roe and shrimp.

Took a break for lunch, and debated on whether or not to fish the rest of the day. The weather was crazy! Snow, sun, hail, sun, rain, sun hail! With the wet and cold, these guys were troppers. Miguel, determined to hook and hold onto a fish, fished with me in the big bend hole. After the intitial intimidation of joining the experienced anglers, he was fishing like a pro and getting several chances to bring in a fish. We had five bites on dark colored jigs with red or pink highlights of rabbit fur, tipped with prawns or nightcrawlers. This was tough fishing, but there were a decent number of fish in the river.

With the amount of anglers fishing, the fish to bank ratio was adequate, but these fish were not easy biters, so I would not call l it lights out. One very nice angler passed on this very nice 15.2 pound buck to our persistent first timers, although it had a few marks from seal attacks, the remaining meat was very nice quality.

After a feild dressing and filleting demonstration, we called it a day. If you're interested in learning to fish for steelhead, now is a great time to get started! I have some opening in the next few weeks, so let me know and we can get started!

NateTreatFishing.com
Official WashingtonLakes.com Sponsor

---