Metal

Well my birthday present came early this year. Here is the reader's digest version of the story. Friday night mr.kristof & I, rolled in to chrome camp late-ish after a six and a half hour drive. We set up the tent, had a night cap, and went to bed. Woke in the pre-dawn hour and it was still dark. Looked over to tent just next to us, and who is it there, none other than Grizz & Slayer. We started cookn’ up some joe. A few minutes later into my tasty dark roast, he offered up a float. It took us, oh about .2 seconds to accept the offer. A few minutes after that we had packed up & were on our way to the put in.

We got on the river at about 0 dark thirty. After putting in at the ramp Grizz rowed his RO to a nice run. I tied on nice little purple pronghorn spey and started prospecting for chrome. While I was out there with some steel veterans, I was a noob at this game.

The First to get the things started was Slayer. He landed a HUGE chromerer and wild too. Leaped & and jumped, and went all over the place. Man was that a hell of a fish.

Next Kris got one. A Wild Hen as well, Just strong! Bulldoged him down. I jumped into the soft water and in one shot netted this beauty.

At this point I was anxious and hopeful but not sure if I would lock into a steelhead or not, I was hoping that lightning would strike and it did.

After about 30 or 40 casts, I felt a strike and set. And then it happened, Wham! I had about a second to decipher, was this a fish? and it all became realized when she came completely out of the water, a slab of red side and then and stripped line off my virgin reel of the same color. Kris saw what was happening and came to help me (thanks man). She made a few more leaps and one or two short runs and before too long came to net.

While she wasn't very chrome nor wild she was incredibly colored up & bright. This was for sure a mark and milestone in my fishing experiences. The best part was that I was able to share it with some good fishing buddies. The weather was ideal. It was a thick moist fog that burned off to beautiful blue sky day, gorgeous yellow leaves on every tree and hardly even a slight breeze and not a drop of rain.

Luck was with me us this weekend. I took my first steelheadn’ trip and was fortunate to have landed my first steelhead ever on the Salmon River. She was a about a twenty something inch hatchery fish and absolutely freight trained on to my line on the swing. I think I am ruined.