Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Hammer Down Excursions
Launched the boat off gravel bar above Buffalo Eddy at 3:00 pm, sun was shining, and just a slight breeze, water temp 51*. Boated down river about a mile to a nice drift, but a boat was already there so I decided to try the opposite side. While I was getting my lines ready the folks on the other side landed a Steelhead. Well I got the plugs all scented up and started a slow back troll, after about ten minutes I got a violent hit on the rod closest to shore in about 7' of water, after about ten or fifteen minutes I pulled her into the net, and secured the net in a pole holder. well wouldn't you know it, I had left the other line out and another steelie was on, now I had a situation to resolve, I was fishing alone, the landing net had a steelhead in it, and I had one on the other rod (Idaho two pole permit). My grand plan was to beach the boat, then land the fish on shore. All of this was to no avail, the line suddenly went slack and it was gone, isn't steelheading great. Made another pass, got a bump but no fish, the boat on the other side of the river pulled out, so I decided to make one pass over there and head for home. Started a back troll in about 15' of water and it quickly tapered up to about 9', in about thirty minutes a steelhead came sailing out of the water about 30' behind the boat, I looked at both rods and one looked like it had milfoil on it, I pulled it in, put it in the rod holder, and looked at the other rod, it was doing nothing, no plug action, no pulling. Well I picked the rod up and reeled in some slack line, and you guessed it a steelhead was on, this one turned out to be a great fighter, came out of the water five or six times, I slid the net under it and took the barbless hook out, and released her to continue her journey. It was around 5: pm and getting pretty dim in the canyon, so with that I picked up and headed home. Great Steelhed fishing trip, but they all are, even when you don't catch anything. The picture that is attached is a self portrait, the camera is attached to a hand rail on the boat, and I set the camera for a 30 second time delay, if I had not spent so much time doing that, might have caught another fish. Ken