I fished the Skookumchuck for the second time this season on Saturday morning, still in pursuit of my first "real" Steelhead for 2015. After becoming somewhat convinced over the past two months that my new Seahawks hat was bad luck, as well as one of the two knifes that I take with me fishing, I decided to bring both along today and see if I couldn't exorcise those demons of mine. It proved to be a good decision, because that hat and that knife where badly in need of some redemption.

I got to the parking lot by the red gate just a bit before sunup and was to my starting hole for the day shortly after it was light enough to do everything I needed to do without the aid of my headlamp. As I got my drift rod ready, I looked across the river to the hole I had selected as my first target for the morning, and I was greeted with a wonderful sight; two ghostly steelhead shimmered into view from out of the cloudy depths, and I my excitement immediately began to rise. My first offering was a single size 12 white glow corky, to which I feel the fish may have had some attraction, but perhaps not enough to completely commit. By this point I could tell by the amount of fish activity (fish rising and sinking, running upstream, running downstream, even a single roller) that there were probably at least half a dozen sitting in the hole. As I drifted through I could see them move along with my line, sometimes it looked as if they wanted no part of my offering, and other times it was very clear that they were following it.

Deciding that this setup wasn't the key, I downsized my leader to 8# and my hook to a size 1, put on a single size 12 pearl pink corky along with some shrimp oil, and got back to drifting. The fish were definitely interested in this setup, and before long I felt that slight pulse of a fish accepting my offering. I set the hook, and immediately a bright chrome slab rocketed from the depths, broke the surface, and then took of downstream with a vengeance. I feel fully confident that I could have had that fish on the bank, unfortunately, as it booked it downstream my line got tangled with another angler's, and in his ensuing attempts to cut his line away, he cut mine as well. I would like to give him the benefit of the doubt that he didn't mean to do it, but seeing as he didn't say a single word to me, I will never know. It seemed that my bad luck was back, and with a vengeance.

I retied that same setup, but by this point the light had come up enough that the fish were clearly starting to get spooked, or had moved on, and I was never able to hook into another one in that hole despite many things tried. Eventually I abandoned that particular spot, working my way back downriver to my car and what I hoped would be a more successful afternoon in the fields.

After a quick lunch I headed out into the fields, fishing my way down the river to a spot that has produced for me in the past. As I rounded the corner to my intended location, fate would have it that two anglers had positioned themselves at the top of the run in an inflatable boat (first time I have seen that on the Skook) and appeared to be backtrolling through my intended run. Obviously I was going to need to rethink my strategy. As I stood there contemplating, I looked across the river at a spot I have passed by numerous times without a second thought, only to see this time that with the current water flow there was a perfect slot formed on the far bank, almost an under cut ledge; more beautiful small river bobber and jig water would be hard to come by.

Deciding to take full advantage of this newfound piece of prime steelhead real estate, I tied on an 1/8oz Nightmare jig that I had tied the night before, and began working my bobber right up against the ledge, adjusting my depth as I went in order to find the bottom of the hole. After finding the ideal depth, I continued fishing without any luck and was getting ready to move on, when my bobber lazily slid under the surface right at the end of the drift. From the way it went down it looked like a snag, but this was most definitely no snag. I set the hook and immediately this new aquatic contender darted downstream in the direction of an overhanging log jam. However, this fish was to prove to be the redemption for my unlucky fishing gear, and I was able to get it back into the center of the pool where I played it out, got a hold of it, and carried it safely ashore. And what a fish it was too, a beautiful hatchery hen, coming in at about 11.25# and just shy of 33", which officially put it just a hair over my previous personal best steelhead.

I had broken my curses, landed my personal best steelhead, and nailed my first fish on my own tied jig after a long day on the river that started out with some much promise and so much disappointment. These are the types of fishing trips that you remember.

On a side note, after landing that fish I moved to a slot just downstream and while drifting a single 8mm rose colored bead, I had a vicious take from what turned out to be a little trout, about 9" long. As I got it close to me, I could clearly see that it did not look like a Cutthroat or a resident Rainbow, its adipose was still intact, and everything about it screamed "wild steelhead smolt." Just curious, has anyone caught resident Rainbows out of the Skook? This thing was very silvery, with fairly large spots (as compared to a normal Rainbow) and not a touch of pink, but definitely in the shape of a trout, not a salmon smolt.

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