Barb and I fished the Snake/ Clearwater Steelhead Derby all eight days, from daylight to dark. We fished the Clearwater for Three days, then the rest of the time on the Snake. The Clearwater produced the largest hatchery fish that weighed 11#. We caught and released one wild "B" run that we estimated to be 17/18#. On the Snake we caught another big wild "B" run that was about the same size. We caught a lot of smaller hatchery and wild ones in the 6# to 10# range, but just couldn't connect with that big one.

It was really a lot of fun fishing the derby, every fish that hits you think it might be the big one, maybe next year.

Today looked too good to pass up, very calm, and around 38*. Yesterday I had sharpened all the hooks, checked the leaders and replaced one, checked out the scent containers, all the time wishing we were on the river.

We left early, arrived at the Couse Creek Launch around 6:00am, it is just getting daylight. I back the boat down the ramp, and Barb powers it off the trailer, after I park she comes to shore and picks me up. Put the boat on plane and head upriver for about six miles to a nice drift, noticed a couple of Spey Rod Flyfishers along the way.

Pull the boat off plane, start the little Honda, engage the TR-1 Autopilot, apply scent to the belly of the plugs, then put the lines out 60', the plugs are jerking the rod tips, Barb pours us a cup of coffee. I am thinking to myself "Does it get any better than this".

I take a sip of coffee just as Barb yells "Fish On", It was not more than five minutes, I was just positioning the boat for the start of the drift. Barb grabs her rod from the holder, I point the boat toward the middle of the river and the fight is on. This is a nice Steelhead, strips out a lot of line, then heads for the boat, I have to speed the boat up to keep the line away from the prop on the trolling motor, the fish comes boiling out of the water, Barb says "did you see that", darn I was watching for boat direction, and only heard the big splash. She did a great job playing the fish, bringing it to th back of the boat on it's side, I netted it, beautiful colors.

We go back to the start of the drift for another pass, nothing, not even a tap. Have been fishing the Idaho side, decide to try a short drift on the Wash. side that is a short distance away.

About 20 minutes into the drift my rod goes down and I have a nice Steelhead on, this one fought really hard for it's size. We continued fishing for a couple of more hours, catching two more Steelhead. We then beached the boat on a nice sandbar, had a snack, and another cup of coffee. took our little English Setter "Happy" for a short run. On the way back to the launch we saw a huge Bighorn Ram with five or six Ewes. We were back home before noon, great day in the canyon.

The river temp. is in the 46* range, water is very clear, river flow has been constant, without fluctation to assist the smolt migration, and this is helpful for the fishing, when they start raising and lowering the river, the bite comes and goes, at this point in time the bite is pretty consistent. There are very few boats on the river, everyone must be getting ready for Thanksgiving.

"Happy Holidays" to all, Ken & Barb

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