Cowlitz River

Air Temp: 56° - 60°
Method: Float Fishing
Species: Steelhead
Bait: Shrimp
Color: Purple
Conditions: Mostly Sunny
Tackle: Jig
Time: Afternoon
Rating: 5
Views: 3305

Took my 3 yr old boy to Blue Creek to search for some steelhead or salmon. Didn't find any, heard of only one caught all day, but caught a nice batch of cutthroats, smallest about 13", largest one was about 19" with rosy cheeks. He caught 3 of them on a worm and split shot drifted a few feet from the bank. I caught the two larger ones on a bobber/jig about 20 feet off the bank. I was using cured shrimp tails on the jig (pink/purple aero) trying to find steelie, or a coho would have been nice too, but was quite surprised at how hard that cutt nailed it. Thought I had a bigger fish on till I felt it fighting, but still a nice catch. The other larger one was caught with a piece of nightcrawler on the jig. A few other takedowns but missed them.

Catch of the day goes to my son, though. He dorsal-snagged a king, drifting a split-shot and a #6 baitholder with a nightcrawler (yes, I even crimped the barbs) on his little wal-mart special kiddie-trainer fishing pole. Had to have been at least 8#'s, although if it were still alive and intact it would have been closer to 15#'s! ;-) He was pretty shocked at the size of this 'fish', and a little bummed that we had to let it go. It WAS snagged, after all, (aside from being quite a few days dead) and I'm going to teach him right from the start.

Anyways, a great day to be on the river. Weather was fairly warm and dry, making it a comfortable, memorable adventure for the little man. Wish I would have seen some steel, maybe next time!


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