Well today marked the first day of my 2010 Steelhead season. I took the opportunity to invite my good friend Joe Cortez for his very first excursion fishing for steelhead. The drive from Sunnyside was a blur as the shortcut thru Centerville was awesome as ever with a LOT of turkeys and a couple of nice bucks seen along the way to Lyle. Pressure seemed somewhat light for Drano with some 40 or so boats with most concentrated in the "Basket" area and quite a few near the bridge. I took Joe to a spot away from the crowds where my fiancee and I caught the majority of our fish last year- 52 ,with 29 keeper hatchery fish. After setting up with red dye and purple dyed shrimp on slip bobbers, it was a relaxing , breezy cool morning on the water. About 15 minutes in my cigar float started to twitch then disapear, I swung and missed it!. Joe got a hit a minute later, but the fish released his larger, rounder cork as soon as it started go down. We played this cat and mouse game for nearly 2 hours until a 6 or 7 lb wild buck hit my purple shrimp with pink sand shrimp gel. I carefully released the fish with out removing it from water. Our scent selection seemed to be key today. Joe had two more take downs ,but no fish to show for it. Around 10:30 a beautiful fish grabbed my purple shrimp and the fight was on. After a dogged 7 or 8 minute battle and lots of runs and head shakes ,Joe netted my 11 pound Hatchery chrome colored hen. I finally convinced Joe to switch to a more slender bobber when not 3 minutes after the switch, he was into his very first Steelhead ever. That fish was an acrobat...jumping as high as three feet into the air! But sadly for Joe, on it's third jump ,it spit the hook. (It was a clipped fin fish too, bigger than my keeper.) The bite died around 11:30 am and most of the other boats left too. We had 7 take downs and 3 fish on in that time. One thing is certain : Newbie Joe Cortez is now a Steelhead Addict...and he can'r wait till next time! The Jigmiester

---