I heard a few fish were caught yesterday near Machias. Supposedly, the Machias area is the only place on the river that has steelhead. I had every intention of being on the water at the crack of dawn but since it was pretty cold this morning I rolled out of bed at 8:30.

I drove by the few spots I had scouted last week and most of the parking was taken up. Kept going down the road and got permission to cross some private property that other anglers use frequently. I decided to keep looking and drove down towards Snohomish and found a nice hole near the Centennial Trial.

After a few casts, I pulled in an 8” cutthroat (he must have been really hungry). About 10 minutes later something hit my rod with a little more “oomph”. I saw mine line zip downstream and then towards the far shore. It was pulling hard so I lightened up the drag and played him for bit. It took out line a few times and jumped once and I decided to end the game. It was a 22” native and my first steelhead. I couldn’t help but smile as he swam away.

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