Steelhead Video

My last outing for steelhead was not a good one since I didn’t have the proper mindset for steelhead that day. I just wasn’t feeling it or more importantly not believing that there were any fish to be had even though I did hook a few and saw my buddy crushing them. It’s funny how my inner beliefs manifested themselves in the “real” world even with evidence to the contrary. Steelheading is like that for me as is life. I am at my best when I have the proper mindset at the start of a trip. For me the proper mindset is that I believe with every cell of my being that I will hook a fish on each cast. It doesn’t matter that it doesn’t work out that way but that I believe it. As my fly moves through a piece of water I am consciously inviting a fish to take it. In my mind I am picturing where they are lying and working those spots very intently and when I get a hit that spot is forever etched into my picture of that piece of water. The truth to the whole matter is that I have complete control over my mindset. My problem is that I forget this every so often and need occasional reminders. Since my work/home schedule is very busy and it being prime steelhead season with no fishable days for three weeks I decided to play hooky and make a run to the river.I did my usual pre-trip internet search and noticed that Waterwhippa had stated on his website (www.salmonriverspecialists.com) that he had an opening that day for clients. Whip and I had been emailing, PM-ing and phoning trying to fish for steelhead, trout, and carp without it working out. So I emailed him on the off chance that he would be free and surprise he didn’t have any clients that day and was going to be on the water. The stars were lining up so that we could finally work some water together. I hit the water just a dawn and whippa and mooncaster were at the stretch where we were going to meet. We were all optimistic and after greeting we started rotating through the run each of us working the water intently. On my first pass into the heart of the pool a fish rockets out and across the water before I can even set the hook. Fish on, game on. When that fish came to shore and was released my little brain was like oh yeah ya gotta believe. On my next pass into the heart of the pool the river lit up as I hooked three and landed one. Then things slowed down. As we all worked the water my personal weakness as a steelheader came out, itchy feet. Whip also wanted to hit another piece of water so we broke the rule of don’t leave fish to find fish. We fished that water briefly and Whippa said, “I’m not feeling it” and we hightailed it back to our first spot. Luckily for us some other people were there so we started fishing the adjoining water that we hadn’t touched earlier and all of a sudden whippa got white hot. Every time I looked over he had another fish on. It was crazy. We all renewed our focus and kept working that water. It seemed that whenever a pod of fish would move up stream we would get a little run and then it would slow down again. We stayed put and worked that water all day. I lost count of how many fish we hooked or landed, but it felt so sweet to be in the right spot at the right time.