I was excited to finally fish again on this beautiful west side river and what a day it was!! After hearing mixed weather reports on what to expect, was pleasantly surprised on the drive down at 4am to see some stars up above and no rain and even more surprised when we put in the boat at 7400 launch to find no ice or freezing weather!

It was already busy so were 3 boats behind before we could get into the water but by 7am were gliding down river anxious to see our 1st 'bobber down'! We passed a few boats and some pretty fishy water without a bump but as we were coming up on a nice slot, I botched a cast so Ron was able to place a perfect cast into the seam and was rewarded with the 1st bobber down! It was a scrappy fish that was reluctant to come to the boat. After about 3 good runs and 2 jumps out of the water Ron finally was able to get it the side of the boat and into the net! A nice looking hen a bit over 10lbs so after a quick photo shoot and punch card filled out, we were back in to go after number 2!

After a few more drifts we came into some water that called for plugs, so switched out our rods and worked our way down through a real nice hole. Just as we were almost to the end, my rod just about rips out of the rod holder and it's a beast!! I could feel right away that this was a big fish as he hunkered down and just started moving upstream. I was able to keep him around but it took quite a while to finally get him over to the side of the boat and when in the net was amazed at the trophy steelhead I had just landed! What a HAWG!!! 40" long with a 21" girth and the biggest hatchery steelie I had ever caught in my life! This called for another Kodak moment so after a few photo shots on the bank we went back to it.

Now it was getting busy on the river so did leap frog with a few boat and passed by white bridge with little action; but as we fished 'coho corner' had a couple possible bobber downs. Couldn't get them to stick so we were on our way back to our take out at Wishkah bridge when we decided to fish the last rock out crop before calling it a day. Just as my bobber passed the rock pile, my bobber disappears and I pull back and wham! Fish on!! Yea baby, will I actually limit out today? Well, not according to this fish as he didn't want to have anything to do with us and was trying to get wrapped around some snags before we could net it. Finally I eased him up to the side of the boat and whoosh! into the net he goes and an exclamation point to a glorious day on the river!!

Fished from 7am to 4pm with 3 for 3 on the boat and some breathtaking scenery and even had a bald eagle swoop down by us on a bend in the river! Not exactly sure of the weight of the fish but a couple guides at the take out put it at 22 lb's according to length and girth so will be happy to call it a 20 lb fish and stay with that!!

Hope to get out and chase some cutthroat and kokanee soon but will fishing the Cowlitz on March 14th so hope to keep the mojo going for a while more! Oh, also got a pontoon boat this week so hope to get that out too on some water!

See you on the water!

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