It dosen't get any better than this, barb and I say that so often that it becomes repetition, looking up at the multi colored canyon walls, watching the Bighorn Sheep doing their mating ritual, the Eagles along the shoreline, and catching Steelhead, I've got to tell you, we feel so lucky, it's hard to even describe.

Today we launched at Couse Creek about 12: 30pm, the sun is shining, there is a slight breeze, ambient temp. is 46*, but feels much warmer. Point the boat down river,put it on plane for about four miles, and settle down on a beautiful stretch of water that should produce a Steelie for us. We decided to get away from the marinated shrimp on dropper hook setup today, and instead just pull the old reliable Wiggle Wart with two treble hooks and some Smelly Jelly applied to the under side.

On the Idaho side of the river we start a backtroll, slowly working the boat from side to side, and inching our way down river trying to hit the good holding spots. About thirty minutes has passed when Barb's rod slams down, she yells "FISH ON", takes her rod out of the holder while the Steelhead is stripping out line, headed down river he finally stops, then makes a run toward the boat, he gets about ten feet from the boat, we can see a really nice fish surface, then runs out sixty feet and starts to roll, Barb pumps the rod, working him toward the boat, he continues with a rolling motion, and is tangled in the leader. Well he finally gives up near the boat, lays on his side, I then net this big beautiful Steelhead Buck, take a quick picture, and put him back in the river. We then just float down the river being thankful for all of this, after ten or fifteen minutes we head for the start of the run to try a repeat.

We apply new scent to the plugs, and make another pass, I get a couple of quick bumps that looks more like a little Bass than a Steelhead, then Barb gets a hard take down, but did not hook up. We go up for another pass, again after thirty minutes of trying to wish a fish on, Barb's rod bends double, with another Steelhead stripping line out, the fight was pretty much a repeat of her first fish, with a lot of rolling, in fact she was so rolled up in the leader that I cut it from her to avoid harming her, she was really a beauty, and flipped us a splash of water as she swam away.

We have been out about three hours and decided to quit after the next Steelhead, so we tuck the gear away and head for the launch, another beautiful day in Hell's canyon.

Ken & Barb

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