It is 10:00am, looking out the window the flag is hanging dead still, not a breath of wind. Very low overcast with low hanging clouds five hundred feet up, ambient temp. 37*, the river looks like glass. it is a perfect day to try for that elusive Steelhead.

Today is Barb's hair day, goes to her hair saloon and gets the stuff done that they do there. She has agreed to go with me if it isn't raining ( says it will make her hair wilt if it gets wet ), I assure her that it probably will not rain, and if it does she can stay under the canopy.

It is 12:30pm, I get the coffee ready, the boat hooked up. the leaders have been checked, the hooks sharpened, so with the boat and Barb in tow we are on our way to the gravel boat launch above Buffalo Eddy.

Get the boat launched, head upriver about two miles, pull it off plane and get every thing set up for a slow back troll on the Idaho side of the river. We have not fished this spot for some time, but it has been productive in the past. The shore line is speckled with a lot of big boulders, judging from the boils in the water thre are some big boulders on the bottom, there's a couple of small coves with sandbars, and small back eddys. The current flow is very good for a fairly long run, it starts at about 12', shallows to 6', then to 8', 10', 7, end of run at rapid.

Start a back troll, going from side to side, I really believe it is more effective to come at them from the side, it makes them move, and provokes a strike, if you are going back in a straight line they may lay there and let it pass. So much for that, the Steelhead are the only ones that really know. Right from the start I think we are going to get one on any second, every time the rods take a sharp pull from the current I think it's a fish, all conditions are right. About half way through the drift my rod bangs down, three feet of line strips out and it's gone, no hookup. Finish the pass and cannot wish a fish on, we pull the lines in and head for another strip of water on the Wash. side of the river.

This shoreline is littered with small river rock, small coves, and a good current seam to follow. I am on the back deck, it is starting to rain so Barb is under the canopy protecting her hair from wilting, she tells me she may not come out if she gets a fish on, at this point in time I'm thinking that we may not catch anything today. The rain really starts coming down hard, I have water proof stuff on so it dos not bother me, the temp. is now over 40*, and pretty comfortable. I am looking right at Barb's rod when it takes a sudden violent bend, with a Steelhead on the other end. I yell "Fish On", but I didn't need to, Barb is scrambling for her rod with hood over her head. The rain is coming down hard, the Steelhead is stripping line out, Barb is trying to keep her hair dry, what fun, this is one we will remember. Well this one hugs the bottom, no jumps, makes several long runs, then lays on her side and I net her, she had a healed wound on her side from something that was trying to get a meal. Took a picture and released her, she was very healthy, wanting to swim away as soon as I put her in the water, I held her for about thirty seconds to make sure she was okay, then we watched her swim away.

We put the lines backin, it is now raining even harder, it is 2:30pm, looks almost like night time it's getting so dark. After about ten minutes Barb thinks we should go in. I've got a lot of clean up to do when we get home, so I agree. I pull the lines in while Barb pours us coffee for the trip back to the launch. This has been a lot of fun today, believe it or not Barb's hair did not wilt after all. Ken & Barb

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