This has been an odd year down at Drano lake. I took my good buddy Joe Cortez to see if he could break his steelhead jinx and take home his first Drano Lake steelie. We got there about an hour earlier than last week and the "basket" and channel areas were choked with the "combat" fishing elite. We had more boats in my favorite area than usual, but still we lauched and went on to give it our best shot. We actually saw more guys catching fish on the bank than out in the boats early on. Joe finally had a take down and after a few tense moments, I netted his very first steelhead ever. The fish weighed abnout 6 pounds and really gave him a run for his money. There was a small pontoon boat behind us with a couple of old salty types, and they had more action than just about anybody else. Still the bite was agonizingly slow. Around noon we pulled up our anchor and trolled slowly down the fly fisherman's slot near the orange buoys. I switched to a 1/4 oz gold/orange Crocadile spoon and on my third cast a big fish slammed it! We took her out of the shallows into the deeper water, as my 8 ft 6" lamiglass ultraliite had all it could handle. 9 minutes in and two jumps later,Joe scooped up a beautiful 13 pound hatchery hen with the net. That was it for the day. It seemed that the hotter it got, the more algae and weeds moved in and the less the fish jumped - the fewer fish caught. 2 fish and 4 bites. Always a good time down at Drano. The Jigmiester

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