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Some fishing days are more fun than others, this afternoon is one that we will not forget soon, packed with a lot of excitment, and BIG Steelhead.

When we got up this morning it was raining, with a brisk warm south wind blowing. The outside temp. is 42*, snow has melted away on the canyon floor, with a lot of snow showing on the canyon walls about a thousand feet up. At 11:30am the wind is subsiding, the river looks calm and inviting, can't pass it up, we decide to go out for a couple of hours.

I was not going to put this in the report, so bear with me, a lot of you guys can probably relate to this in one way or the other. Yesterday I had preped the fishing gear and boat just to have everything ready when we decided to leave. Well today we hooked the boat up and pulled out of the shop at 12:30pm, I'm pretty excited, no rain, overcast, nice and warm, what a day to chase Steelhead. About three miles down the road I look down at my feet, I have my shoes on, was in such a hurry to get away that I forgot to put the hip boots on, so it's either go bare footed putting the boat in and out, or turn around and go back for the hip boots. The road is too narrow to turn around with a boat in tow, so we had to travel about a mile, where an old grain silo is located with enough room for a easy turn around. We are kind of laughing, and shaking our heads, I called it the "brain f---t turnaround", man it's sure easy to forget the simple stuff, Barb said she would remember the spot every time we drive by it since I had called it that name, oh well, sounded right to me.

The hip boot situation has cost us some time, but we can still get a couple of hours fishing time in. We launched the boat just upriver from Buffalo Eddy, head upriver for several miles to a stretch of water that is located between two small rapids, this is the first time to fish this drift this year. We get the plugs ready, we are running a six inch dropper, single hook that I tie yarn to, I use nail polish to cement the head, it's like a jig without weight, bait the hook with red marinated shrimp (have learned to love those Costco rubber gloves) and start a slow backtroll.

The south wind is blowing in gusts, just right for manouvreing the boat, moving it back and forth giving the plugs a good working area. The lines were out about five minutes when Barb's rod slams down, she takes it out of the holder, the line is stripping out very fast, as he takes a long run down river, he stopped, then makes another run, about eighty feet out he surfaces and we see this broad tail come out of the water, this is really a nice size fish. I had guided the boat to the center of the river, after showing the tail he stuck to the bottom, Barb played him to the boat, he made several short runs, then turned on his side, I slid the net under him. We stood there, amazed at this beautiful beyond imagination fish, it is like a dream come true to be able to do this, how can we be so lucky. Take a picture and release him, nice fish.

We had floated down the river quite a ways playing the fish, and changing out the leader, Barbs then put the boat on plane and we head for the top of the run to do it again. About fifteen minutes on the next pass, and Barb's rod takes another sudden jerk, a big Steelhead Hen comes out of the water about seventy feet behind the boat, this one put on a pretty good display, coming out of the water five times before we netted her, another beauty, took a picture and let her go home.

Back to the start of the drift, we go through the same routine, and start another slow backtroll. In about twenty minutes, or less, Barb's rod is bending double again, she says "Ken, this is your fish", I tell her it's her rod, well this big Steelhead comes clear out of the water, the pole is still in the holder, Barb is saying "take it", I have pointed the boat away from shore, and then take the rod out of the holder with the Steelie thrashing on the other end, this was another hen, she put up a spectular fight with several jumps, and three or four runs. Landed and released her, what a great fishing afternoon in Hell's Canyon. Put the lines in at 1:30pm, released the last fish at 3:15, then just drifted down the river for a while, and gave thanks for such a opportunity.

It was 45* ambient temp., water temp.40.7*, water clear, a few wind gusts, felt almost like early spring fishing. When we first started catching Steelhead this year, they were the smaller Grande Ronde, and Salmon River destined fish, but the ones we are catching now keep getting bigger. I think just about any section of the river is holding Steelhead now. Once again we did not see a single fisherman today except us. Ken & Barb

afk

12/2/2010 6:47:00 AM

Thanks again. Keep it up.

bob johansen

12/2/2010 7:38:00 AM

Beautiful fish! -- And, another great, detailed report.

goodtimesfishing

12/2/2010 9:17:00 AM

Another fantastic report and great fish. You should be a writer, your reports are so fun to read, and easy to follow. You guys are so lucky, keep up the great fishing and awesome reports.

Bretts Dad

12/2/2010 1:36:00 PM

Where is this? All I can find is a dam but no interstate. What town is it near?

kenbarb

12/2/2010 2:31:00 PM

Bretts Dad, Locate Clarkston, WN. / Lewiston, ID. on the map, that is the near location of the Interstate Bridge, from there just follow the Snake River to the Hell's Canyon Dam, off the top of my head I think it is about a eighty mile stretch, with over a hundred rapids that are rated class II, to class V, and a lot of good times.

hewesfisher

12/2/2010 7:56:00 PM

You know, it's not often I'm jealous of another angler's success, but I sit here with a good 14" of snow between the shop (where the boat is) and the end of our driveway about 200' away. I just KNOW the fishing is good at Roosevelt, but the roads between here and there are not real nice right now, so will have to get my fishing fix "vicariously" through your great reports and superb photos! Those steelies look AWESOME, and you two have such great luck catching them. Thanks for sharing your outings with us. :-)

Wintersteelhead21

12/2/2010 8:12:00 PM

Ken

Great report. We had 13 to the boat in 5 hours yesterday. Big ones are about 9lbs. Nice bright hens right now. Looks like the bite has turned on! Both fish in your pics look about 10 lbs, is that right?

Great fishing and beautiful fish! You guys have that stretch of the river dialed in! Nice work!

Kevin

kenbarb

12/2/2010 10:58:00 PM

Wintersteelhead21, I would estimate the weight of the fish Barb is holding are around ten pounds, can't take time to weigh them before letting them go, takes only about thirty seconds for them to revive, and they swim away strong. We should be catching the "B" runs soon, they will run from 14 to 20 pounds, two years ago we were consistently catching them in the fifteen pound range, last year we caught more fish than usual due to the huge run, but no really big ones, will be interesting to see what this year brings. Sounds like your fishing over there is red hot. We are looking forward to reading a report from you, with a couple of pictures.

Bretts Dad

12/3/2010 2:33:00 PM

Ok, thanks for the directions. I was thinking it was a shorter span between the two.

kenbarb

12/3/2010 6:40:00 PM

Bretts Dad,There is about 30 miles of mostly paved road on the Wash. side of the river, a lot of nice pull offs, with easy unrestricted access for fishing, however, there are not many boat launching sites. The road leaves the Snake River at the Grande Ronde confluence. the remaining 50 miles, is road less, and leads into a wilderness area that extends to the dam.

Wintersteelhead21

12/5/2010 2:20:00 PM

Ken

Thanks for the update on sizes... Look at the report from AntonJ on Lake Pateros. He has a report about steelhead caught by Big River Steelhead Outfitters Jerrod riggan (who I guide with) with a couple nice pictures. You're welcome up here any time...

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