Had a great time on the river recently. These pictures give you a little window into what I got to experience on this last trip to the river with great friends. Fishing was as good as I have seen it lately and as usual you had to get out there and cover a lot of water to find them. We found fish in odd and out of the way places. The tried and true spots were not giving it up so we fished some weird stuff. It worked. We had the river to ourselves and we found willing fish every day.

It really is. Lets be serious about this thing we do called steelheading. We all like hanging with the bro's and spending quality time on the river blah, blah, blah, but hey, WE NEED TO GET BENT!  I enjoy the outdoors as much as anybody and it doesn't take much to keep me happy out there but sometimes you need a grab and the ability to pet one every now and again.  Face it, if there was no chance of catching a fish we would all have quit a long time ago.  It's the chance that it may happen in the next cast or in the next run or in the next day or the next week that makes us keep putting the funny pants on.

We don't have to catch fish every time we go out and we don't have to catch a ton of them but any encounter with these fish is spectacular. The numbers are dwindling in almost every water shed on the west coast and our impact to the environment is clearly evident.  We want to steward the resource yes, but we also need some confirmation that these elusive creatures still swim free and strong.  Any action we see out there however small, gives us the knowledge that we can still be connected to these amazing fish.  We need it, we crave it.  We dream about it.  We talk endlessly about it.  A pluck, a grab, a rise, a drive by, a boil, a toilet flush, a good yank and ultimately a loudly screaming reel  is what we seek.  Lets not kid here.  Anyone that says they are content to cast all day and have no action and catch nothing is fooling themselves.  Man was made to pursue these fish, it's in our blood.  Deep down we are all predators, admit it or lie.  The hooking and landing of the fish is what drives the steelhead fly fisherman's engine. It's OK to say you like to hook fish.

My tank is low right now.  I have not been able to fish as much as I would like lately but that's OK. Family and work have had top priority.  But the next time I get out there for a good session ( which is coming) you can rest assured I will be fishing hard and fast and searching for something to spin my Farlex.

It's about the fish man, it's ALL about the fish.


That being said, God always holds first position.......

Proverbs 3:5-6
 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
   

Great George Harrison tune here by Davey Knowles of  Backdoor Slam