A new friend, old friend and a guest for dinner:

Headed for a favorite rivershed within a days drive away of Gig Harbor with an old friend and a new friend as guests.

That big Orange ball in the sky decided to come out and bless us with its presence all day long, great for being outside in February in Washington.  The river was in decent shape to fish and there was a lot of traffic in front of us, it was a beautiful morning.    Being greeted by a Bald Eagle watching us drop the boat in was a good sign first thing in the morning, it's one of my superstitions.

We fished some non descriptive water that most fisherman would float right by; knowing the river and these little variances is the difference between a good day on the water and a great day on the water.   Changed up a few things all day but they were slight variations as less that 5 minutes into the day we had our first fish hookup albeit short lived it was a fish and was holding in a hidden gem of a spot.

Bob did catch a whitefish, while not a steelhead, it proves two things; first you are getting down to the fish and secondly while it was not a steelhead this time that exact spot would be a great hold for them at a higher river flow!

Shortly after lunchtime we had an opportunity that presented itself that was not obvious, a small slot became visible that I was unaware of in that section of the river, stall the boat as the cast was seeking the top of the run like a heat seeking missile, striking its mark as soon as it stabilized in the flow, FISH ON!  Shortly there after we lost another fish, but spirits were still high. 

We continued fishing and about an hour later hooked up on another beautiful chrome, hatchery fish.  The way this fish fought you would have thought it was a wild fish.   Dropped off Gary on the gravel bar to fight the fish, kept Bob in the boat and I stayed as well.  Fish took off down river, had to pick up Gary in the boat and the chase was on about a 1/8^th of a mile down stream we netted the fish and decided to invite him to dinner.   A really good day became a great day for all! 

I’m sure that Bob had a chance to learn a bunch about steelheading, about the river, the conditions and the differences between Midwest tactics and PNW tactics for steelhead. 

The closing word:  Persistence Pays Off! 

Congratulations Gary on your first 2012 steelhead wishing you many more this year!  Not sure what was brighter this day, the sun, that fish or your smile!   

Craig