Where: Cowlitz River
When:Saturday
Conditions: Cool, overcast
Flies used: Not important. ;)
Species pursued: Steelhead

Song of the day: "Say It Ain't So," Weezer

After feeling pretty wiped out and taking last weekend off, I was ready to hit the water.

Rather than beat a seemingly dead horse and, more importantly, avoid the inevitably disastrous Seafair traffic, we pointed the Scion south.

When last we were there, the river was much higher, visibly faster and cold.

Scratch that last part. The river was still cold. :)

"This water's freezing."

The thermometer read 50 degrees.

Riiight. ;)

As first light arrived, so did the fish.

A splash here, a jump there. Some of them were within range of my meager casting ability.

They were definitely here.

"Must be the rain."

Or not--what do I know? I'm a beginner at this steelheading thing, after all...

Combined with the overcast, our confidence levels rose and two-stepped down the run, our worries of frozen legs shirked in favor of touching metal.

We had to hurry; along with building daylight came the typical boat traffic.

As a few of them zipped up and downstream, a driftboat floated by.

"Hey, how ya doin?"

"Good."

"Started fishing yet?"

"No. Any bite--is that a hookup?"

It was.

The slack loop left my hand and in the middle of his question, I raised the rod tip.

The fish erupted from the surface, angry at the Gamakatsu stuck in its face.

It bolted upstream. I reeled in an effort to keep up.

Back downstream.

"Damn," I thought. "This guy's big."

He bulldogged me to the left, then the right. I shifted the rod to keep his head pointed upstream.

A few minutes later, he swung into the shallows. I tried to ease him closer, but he panicked. I gave in, letting him run a bit.

There he goes!

On his next visit to the shore, I caught my first real glimpse.

Easy now...

He was THICK.

Flipping him on his side, he seemed subdued.

I put the rod down, grabbed my sink tip and moved down to the leader.

Much thicker than last year's fish, this brute was of hatchery origin, with a fat wrist.

A wrist I was about to wrangle.

Leader in my left hand, I reached down...

And the fish freaked out.

With no give on the line, he snapped the 15 pound 0X.

In desperation, I grabbed for his tail anyway, hoping he wouldn't realize he was free.

A stupid thought.

My attempt only helped to upright him.

And off he went.

Naturally, I gave chase.

"Nooo!!! Come back! @$#%&*!!!"

For a second, I just stood there.

"No way, no way."

Dejected, I walked to the bank in silence and sat down.

My hands shook--the joy, the loss and, of course, the chilly water had begun to take their toll.

Replaying the events in my head, I decided to rest my thoughts on the positive and move on.

I stood up and turned to Don.

"You're up dude, I'll start above you."

No sense dwelling on it. ;)