Well, I missed opening day due to work. I was hoping to make up for it on Tuesday, April 28th, my first day off. A friend of mine, Jack, got me into flyfishing a couple of months ago. He offered to take me to a "Lake Armstrong" out by his place. He said we could try out an old wood boat he had recently purchased. He has a foot in a splint and has been unable to work as he can hardly walk. I told Jack I didn't want to go to "any Lake Armstrong" as I had "never heard of it and it's probably lousy fishing". He told me it was in the "Top 10, buddy" and I had to go there. He said it had recently been stocked with 5000 trout and had reportedly been good for bass. I told him I wanted to go to Martha Lake (in Lynnwood) where I had grown up, as it had been stocked with 8000 trout and I knew how to fish it. After much argument and a lot of reservation, I agreed to meet him at his place at 7am and try his Lake Armstrong.
Tuesday dawned clear, cool and calm. The weather report was for the mid 70's, so I packed my shorts and sun block. I was 8 minutes late to Jack's place and boy did he let me know it. We drove through Arlington and out to the lake. Lake Armstrong was surrounded by woods and had a light fog coming off the glassy smooth water. We loaded Jack's boat into the water and I commented on how "gross" and brown the water looked. I was going to ask him if he was sure there were fish in the lake, until I noticed all the fish jumping. Jack advised me that as the "boat guest" I was going to be doing all the rowing. We dropped anchor in the middle of the lake around 8 and started casting out different flies. The fish were jumping everywhere as the sun tried to burn off the cloud cover, but we couldn't figure out what they were feeding on. Some of the fish were pretty big and Jack started to give me a hard time. He said the reason we weren't catching any fish was because "Splash" was scaring all the fish away with his awful casting. I told him to lay off as I had only started to learn a couple of months before. After about an hour, I tied on a streamer pattern that I had been designing over the past few weeks. The first cast and strip resulted in a hit. The next one landed a nice 11" rainbow. A few casts later I got another hit, but this one took off. My rod was bent over and for the first time ever my drag came into play. I started hollering and Jack told me to "be quiet" as there were "other people trying to fish". About 10 minutes later I landed the biggest fish I had ever caught, a 16" rainbow. I told Jack he could be quiet as I was sure my fish was the biggest one that would be caught on the lake for the day. Reluctantly, he agreed. After another hour of fishing, Jack started to get frustrated. He decided my new name was "Splash" as I was breaking up the water with my poor casting. I argued that the fish I was catching didn't seem to care. You see, I had hooked and landed several more fish and Jack was still waiting for his first. We decided to name my streamer the "Wolfy Wonker". We spend the next 5 hours tossing out flies and getting sunburned. By 1 pm the count was "Splash": 13 hooked and 9 landed (Washington State flyfishing regulations allow catch and release until you retain 5), Jack: none. Obviously Jack was moaning and groaning about my "beginner's luck", so I was ribbing him about his being such and "expert" caster and catching none. In the end, I took off the "Wolfy Wonker" and let Jack start hooking up with fish. We left the lake about 4 pm as it started to get crowed. My streamer looked beat, with most of the hair gone At 5:30 the lake was crowded and Jack could hardly find parking. After 1/2 an hour, Jack tied on an gaudy streamer pattern on a #14 hook, as he was having no hits again. Suddenly his line had a hit. The flyline shot off his reel as the fish dove. It seemed as though a "Monster" had taken his fly. Jack started to pray that his 5x tippet would hold. After 20 minutes, most of the boats on the lake had gathered round to watch Jack and the Monster. People were yelling hints and everyone had quit fishing to watch. Jack's arms got sore and he wasn't sure if he could keep up the fight. Suddenly, the fish shot skyward and everyone let out a howl, as it was a Monster fish. Jack's adrenaline shot up with the fish and the fight was renewed. Another fisherman close by offered Jack the use of his net as his was too small. Every time Jack got the Monster close to the boat, the fish would take off again for deep water. After a 45 minute battle, Jack was able to get the fish into the boat. The Lake Armstrong locked Steelhead measured 30". The weight scale would only show the fish weighed over 6 lbs.. Jack released the fish after a 5 minute revival and a photo shoot (We use our cameras to retain our trophies, that way the fish will be there for others to catch and release). We went home sore, but happy. What a day. As Jack later said, it was the catch of a lifetime.
*And here's the son's story:
I'M JARED, THE SON OF JACK JESSUP, THE MAN WHO CAUGHT THE 30" STEELHEAD AT LAKE ARMSTRONG ON TUESDAY APRIL 28, AND I THOUGHT I'D GIVE MY 2 CENTS ABOUT THE FIGHT. WE GOT TO THE LAKE AT 5:30 PM THE PARKING LOT WAS JUST FLOODED WITH CARS AND BOAT TRAILERS. WE LOADED ARE BOAT INTO WATER, IT WAS MY FIRST TIME IN OUR NEW BOAT, SO I WANTED TO ROW THE BOAT. MY DAD HAD BEEN IN IT EARLIER THAT DAY, HE CAME BACK TO THE HOUSE TO PICK ME UP SO I COULD GO FISHING A LITTLE. I ASKED MY DAD WHERE TO GO, " HE SAID TO ROW OVER TO WHERE THE REEDS WERE. WE STARTED OFF A KIND OF ZONKER PATTERN I HAD TIED TO LOOK LIKE ROD WOLFINGTON'S WOLFY WONKER. WE EACH HAD ON A WOLFY WONKER ABOUT 15 MINUTES. THEN I GAVE HIM A BLACK CAREY BUGGER PATTERN, 10 MINUTES LATER NOTHING, SO HE CHANGED TO A #10 TAN SUPER FLY. AROUND 5 MINUTES LATER, WHILE I WAS STILL FISHING MY DAD SAYS HE'S GOT ONE. I TURN AROUND, AND SEE HE'S GOT ONE. AT FIRST I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST A 10-12 INCH FISH, BUT I WAS WRONG, ABOUT 8 MINUTES LATER I SAW, THE BIGGEST FISH I HAD EVER SEEN IN STILLWATER, IT SCARED ME SO BAD, IT WAS A HORSE! I SAID, "DAD, DID YOU SEE THE SIZE OF THAT FISH? YEAH IT WAS HUGE"!!! IT WAS HARDLY PUTTING UP A FIGHT UNTIL MY DAD UPSET IT. THE FISH WAS GOING ALL OVER THE PLACE, I WAS SHIFTING SIDES OF THE BOAT CONSTANTLY TRYING TO BE IN A POSITION TO NET THE BIG FISH. HE'S BEEN FIGHTING THE FISH ABOUT 25 MINUTES, AND IT GOES AND JUMPS COMPLETELY OUT OF THE WATER, AND MAKES A SPLASH LIKE A BOULDER, AND I HEARD ALLOT OF PEOPLE ON THE LAKE YELL, "DID YOU SEE THE SIZE OF THAT FISH?" HE WAS TRYING NOT TO MUSCLE IT OUT TO MUCH BECAUSE HE HAD 5X TIPPET AND A BARBLESS HOOK, AND HE DIDN'T WANT TO SNAP THE LINE AFTER ALL THAT TIME. A FEW MINUTES LATER WE GET IT NEXT TO THE BOAT TO NET IT AND THE NET ISN'T BIG ENOUGH, ITS HEAD IS AT THE END OF THE NET AND ITS ONLY HALF WAY IN SO IT SLIDES OUT OF THE NET, AND STARTS FIGHTING AGAIN. SO WITH THERE BEING ABOUT 30 BOATS OUT ON THE LAKE AND BOATS AROUND US WITH THERE POLES PUT UP, AND JUST WATCHING US. SOMEONE PROBABLY HAS A BIG ENOUGH NET THAT WE COULD USE. SURE ENOUGH SOMEONE DOES, ITS A HUGE SALMON NET. ABOUT TEN MINUTES LATER WE WERE READY FOR THE FISH TO COME OUT OF THE WATER. THE FISH WASN'T REALLY READY BUT MY DAD GOT IT NEXT TO THE BOAT. I NETTED THE FISH AND PULLED IT OUT OF THE WATER, AND PEOPLE ALL OVER THE LAKE WERE CLAPPING AND SAYING "NICE JOB". I GOT THE FISH IN THE BOAT AND MY DAD JUMPED ON IT SO IT WOULDN'T JUMP OUT OF THE BOAT. I GOT THE HOOK OUT, AND TOOK FOUR PICTURES OF IT, THEN PEOPLE WERE YELLING "LIFT IT UP" SO MY DAD LIFTED IT OVER HIS HEAD AND THE PEOPLE ON THE LAKE CHEERED SOME MORE. WE WEIGHED IT AND MEASURED IT WITH THE THING I HAD WITH ME AND IT SHOWED 6 LBS., BUT I CAUGHT A PINK SALMON IN AUGUST AND IT SAID 6 LBS., THEN TOO, AND THAT ONE I WEIGHED ON ANOTHER SCALE AND IT SAID 10 LB. SO THAT STEELHEAD WEIGHED ABOUT 9 OR 10 POUNDS. MY DAD PUT IT IN THE WATER AND HELPED IT BACK, AND RELEASED IT. THE FIGHT WAS AROUND 45 MINUTES LONG. MY DAD ASKED ME IF I WAS READY TO GO BECAUSE HE WAS EXHAUSTED. I TOLD HIM NO, I WANT TO CATCH A FISH NOW. IT WAS GETTING LATE SO WE LEFT. I'LL NEVER FORGET THAT NIGHT, ALL THOSE TIMES WHERE WE DIDN'T CATCH A THING AND THIS WAS WORTH ALL OF IT. TIGHT LINES, JARED JESSUP