December 7, 2023
Chuck can cast, mend, and fight fish... and while skills definitely improve your chances when chasing steelhead, seasoned anglers have experienced that there is a fair amount of luck involved in finding those special fish. And as we all know, the "fish of a thousand casts" can drive you crazy as you chase them. Will they be there? Will they be eating? What happens after I hook one?Well after many, many trips, Chuck finally had an epic day. We started off the day at the crack of dawn and were locked and loaded and ready to put in the work. Within the first hour we had landed a couple small "halfies" and a decent brown trout unicorn. Not a bad start... but all of my top-producing runs didn't kick out a fish no matter how many times I back-rowed and tried to "force feed" 'em. Cast after cast, mend after mend... nothing.And that's steelheading.We started our approach on a run that can be productive but so far this year hasn't been doing it for me. I was starting to think that maybe something had changed this past summer during the high water and I haven't been re-rowing it lately. But I thought, "Maybe today..."On the second pass, on the edge of some super fast water, we hooked something heavy and it immediately showed itself with a monster jump! "Chuck, this is a big one" was the only thing I could quietly mutter. The fish took off and jumped a second time. "Oh my gosh." It jumped again and then tried to run into some submerged trees but Chuck turned his rod down low and slowed it down. Up and down, down and up... the fish fought until the very end. When the fish finally showed itself to the net, my deeeeeeep basket net had somehow got inside out and the fish was actually able to jump out of the net (rookie move, guide!). But it was still on and when it came back up, we put it in the net. Wow. What a stunner. We taped it and it was a healthy 27 inch wild hen and as it swam away, we looked at each other, fist bumped, and then had a full on celebration! FINALLY!! You see... Chuck has been trying to get a larger steelhead on the Trinity for twenty years. He's caught plenty of 24 inch fish and two years ago we watched his cousin Mark land a 30 incher. But the big ones have evaded his flies... but not today. And that's steelheading. After lunch, with a whole lot of water still ahead of us, we went back to fishing and hooked another two more adults, but didn't land them. And that's steelheading. We came to another spot that often holds fish and though it was later in the day, I thought, "maybe we will get one here. Chuck, throw it right along that wall in the bubble line." With his decades of casting experience, Chuck put it right where it needed to be, threw a perfect mend and almost immediately the bobber (I mean indicator... sorry) went flying up river and we were on again.Jumps. Even MORE line ripping from thr reel. Up river, down river, jumps, and more line flying off of the reel. This fish was hands down the best fighting fish I've ever seen. Chuck says I was very quiet and the look on my face was very intense and one of awe. I'd like to say, for the record, that when you come in contact with two unicorns in one day, you get serious and handle your business, haha! Well despite that fish doing all that it could to break off, Chuck ran a professional program and we put it in the net.Exhausted. Adrenaline glands fried. Sheer wonder. Once again we took a quick photo and watched the fish swim quickly back into the water. We taped the buck at 27 inches.And that's steelheading. We rowed out the rest of the trip because we were on cloud 9. At least that was the plan... until we got to the last spot right before the boat launch and threw a quick cast and actually hooked another adult. But that fish immediately swam into a log jam and broke Chuck off. And that's steelheading.