Today I fished the upper Skykomish system in hopes of catching a couple decent sized trout and maybe a dolly. I used a size 2 Mepps spinner, fishing every piece of good holding water I came across. After catching a few small trout (no bigger than seven inches) I began to think that this would be just another day on the river. I was wrong. While swinging my spinner through a set of slow, churning pockets I felt something truly big hit my lure. At first I thought this fish was a big dolly, however after I played it a little closer to me I saw what it really was. A dark back, silver sides and rose cheeks screamed steelhead! The fish took off, running and jumping many times. On a six foot light trout rod and six pound test line the experience was unreal! I'm not joking when I say the fish literally peeled drag in mid air. I even have Gopro footage to reassure myself. After an almost three minute fight I finally landed the fish, which of course only fit halfway in my trout net. It was a buck, measuring twenty eight inches (fork length) and probably weighed eight or nine pounds. The weirdest part is that it was a stray hatchery fish. All I'll say is that I was fishing far upstream of Reiter. The fish was legal to retain, and most respectable anglers would agree that it's best not to let non-native hatchery strain steelhead breed with native fish. I walked away from the river with my first Skykomish steelhead, and the second steelhead of my life! To top it all off, the fish was taken on a spinner!

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