I had the opportunity for my first experience fishing the lower Quinault area with a "guide". The day started early, with the "guide" insisting we meet at 2:30am, about an hour south of the fishery. Needless to say, we did a lot of sitting around in the 19 degree weather, waiting for legal fishing time. By about 10:30, he was packing up.

There were five of us on our side of the creek, and three or four folks on the opposite side, all fishing the same 40' drift. The water was filled with dark red coho, and the bank covered with carcasses. All of us were drifting floats and jigs/beads in a slot about six feet wide. Total combat fishing. To everyone's credit, the entanglements were surprisingly rare, and amicably resolved.

Over the course of the short half day, I saw about ten steelhead taken, including my first steelhead on a float. So I can actually claim that I have a 100% lifetime landing rate on hookups, but the claim won't stand up to much scrutiny. :) Most of us also hooked or landed some of the numerous battle-worn coho that were thrashing around in that pool. Most of the time, folks were more than happy to see them spit their jigs.

I was fortunate to witness a young fellow, probably 14 years or so, land the largest steelhead I've ever seen. A person could be forgiven for thinking the teenager had banked a chinook. That was a great moment, whether you were the fisherman, or lucky enough to be a witness. Good on ya, young man!

Small jigs, especially in nightmare patterns, seemed to be the preferred choice that day, although I did briefly switch to a RvrFshr spinner, which produced coho on back-to-back casts. Later, I landed another coho on a Little Cleo spoon. The steelhead, though, didn't seem interested in those offerings which isn't surprising since the only way to fish them in the bobber flotilla was to go clear up to the top of the slot and fish across it.

One cautionary note: The person who provided us with access to the water for a substantial fee could not be called a "guide" without significantly overstating the value he provided. Please be careful about selecting guides for this area -- they're required, so be sure you're vetting your choice before you book. All three clients on this trip hated the experience and felt like we spent a pile of money to provide the "guide" and his buddy with an all-expenses-paid fishing excursion. He largely ignored us, choosing instead to spend the day fishing, on one occasion even leaving us in that drift and going off in search of other holes.