We’re honored to have a guest post by Nathan, who documents a couple of days with his dad, friends and Fetha Styx guide Todd Daniels (Tall Tails Guide Service).
“Beep beep beep” the alarm went off at 3:30am. I rolled out of bed and staggered forward. A nice and early start for a day of fishing.
Before long my Dad and I were on the road, driving south to the Cowlitz River, located just south of Centralia Washington. Once there we met Todd Daniels, from Tall Tails Guide Service. A few minutes later we were all set, and pushing off from the boat ramp.
This was my Dad’s very first steelhead trip. Being used to fishing the mountain lakes and rivers in Colorado he was in for quite the experience. These steelhead are bigger and more aggressive fighters than those trout he is used to.
Once on the water Todd took some time to explain how we would be fishing. The technique is called side drifting. You cast to the side of the boat and drift downstream. A small pencil lead weight keeps your offering near the bottom. Both it and the boat drift downstream, while Todd mans the tiller and ensures the boat isn’t moving too fast or slow. For bait we were using tufts of pink and orange yarn tied above the hook.
We motored up stream and began our first drift. Soon we were feeling the “tick tick tick” as the weight bounced along the rocks on the bottom. After a few passes at that location we moved downstream to try another spot.
This drift started right after a bend in the river. We start by fishing one side of the boat, and then after 50 feet or so switch to the other side. Every once in a while we reel in and recast to avoid snaggy areas. After a pass or two here, my Dad yells “Fish On!” and starts fighting in fish.
This is where my Dad learned how much of a fighter these fish are. The fish would get close to the boat and then take off peeling line. These fish can’t just be reeled in – you have to wait until they start getting tired. Then you can lower your rod, while reeling in to keep the line tight, then pull the rod back up slowly. This will pull the fish in closer, until you can net it. When doing this, one needs to make sure not to lower the rod so much that it actually points at the fish, because that means the rod’s flex can’t act as a shock absorber to keep the fish’s fighting from breaking your line.
A few minutes and we managed to get the fish in the boat, and my Dad had caught his first steelhead ever!
Another pass and I land my first fish of the day.
Soon after that my Dad learns his next lesson about catching steelhead. He hooks into a fish and the fight is on. We get it next to the boat and the hook flies into the air. All three of us let out a groan in unison. Those steelhead have hard mouths and it really takes a good hookset to drive the barb all the way in.
We motor back up and try again. This time Dad does an excellent hookset. We saw the fish jump behind the boat and it looked like a nice one. The fish then started swimming towards the boat. And here we have the another steelhead lesson – always keep the line nice and tight. Dad didn’t reel in fast enough, the line got some slack and the fish was able to shake the hook loose.
A couple more passes and this time everything comes together. A solid hookset, tight line, excellent reel down and boom! My dad has his second steelhead in the box.
By this time it is around 10:30 and we are just one shy of our limit! We had also been hooking our fish around the same spot. Around this time, for whatever reason – likely weather – the bite turned off. So we motored up river and tried some spots above the boat launch. Several passes and no luck
During all this time Todd is doing a great job. He is positioning the boat well, handing us new rods when our lines break off, retying line to keep spare rods setup and giving excellent advice. The gear is great too – very nice light Fetha Styx rods and Shimano reels.
We take a break for lunch and then back at it. This time we go farther down river, drifting as we go. We see some fish roll, and an occasional net out in other boats – but no hooksets for us. During this time we got what we believe are a couple of bites, but it is hard to tell the difference between a snag and a bite when it is over so fast.
The wind also does its best to ensure we aren’t getting any fish. It is blowing both our lines and boat around, making it hard to avoid snags and feel the bite.
We decide to start pulling plugs for a while, hoping the wind will calm down eventually. If there ever was a sign the bite was off, this was it. We saw 3 or 4 fish roll and jump while we were pulling plugs – one just four feet or so behind the boat. All those fish had to have swam right by our plugs, turned up their nose and decided to move on.
The wind has now died down, we are rested and ready to begin side drifting again. We head back to our honey hole for the day. We make a couple of passes and the wind starts picking back up.
During one pass I reel in and then cast back out closer to shore. 10 seconds later I felt a good pull, set the hook and FISH ON! We got a glimpse at the fish as it got close and it looked big. When it got near the boat it refused to come up to the surface – pulling the line straight down. Every time I made some progress getting line in, it would pull it right back out. It just refused to budge. My arm started getting tired from the effort needed to maintain keeping the rod pointed up. Luckily the fish started to tire out before my arm gave out. I got it to the surface and Todd netted it.
It was a monster of a steelhead, dwarfing the others we had landed that day. It was 36 inches long and an estimated 17 pounds. What a nice way to end the day.
The final score for Thursday was four fish landed out of eight hookups.
Friday two of my friends joined us – Sina, who I’ve fished with before, and Alan, who I work with. We got the daily brief from Todd. This was the first steelhead trip for both Sina and Alan. My dad and I also tried to pass on what we learned.
We started by drifting through the honey hole from yesterday. The first pass was both awesome and sad. Soon after starting the drift my Dad got a hookup. We saw the fish jump and then my Dad started reeling it in. Then the handle fell off the reel! My Dad was saying “My reel is broken”, and the rest of us thought he was joking. You should have seen the look on Todd’s face when he saw the reel. The guess is that the handle wasn’t tightened down enough when it was being switched from left to right handed.
The reel was quickly fixed and everyone cast back out. Soon Alan was getting a bite. Todd started yelling “Set the hook!” Too late, and no fish.
Just seconds after that I got a bite, set the hook and then the fish jumped and shook the hook free.
We lost three fish in about two minutes! It was phenomenal to get all those hits on our first pass – but sad we couldn’t land a single one.
We motored up and tried that again. This time it went better. I got a bite and FISH ON. Fought it on in and we got it on the boat. It was a big fish, probably around 15 pounds, and a little darker in color.
We made a few more passes without any action. We then continued our drift farther downstream, switching to the other side of the river. I felt another tug, set the hook and FISH ON. A very nice long fight and then we had another fish in the boat. It was another biggie, very close in size to the big one from the day before – an estimated 16 pounds.
After making another pass without any bites we continue drifting downstream. This time Alan gets a bite, but he thought it was a snag. Todd and I saw the fish jump upstream and yelled “REEL REEL REEL!”, but too late and the fish was off.
Things slowed down at that point. Sina got the next fish. This one was an amazing fighter. It was as scrappy like a pink salmon – just not giving up at all. It would stay down, pull out line repeatedly. He did a great job fighting it in and had his first steelhead ever.
It was Alan’s turn next. It was FISH ON, and Alan did a great job reeling down and working it in. His fish was also a great fighter. Alan was the least experienced fisherman on the boat and landing a big steelhead isn’t easy – but he got his fish in just fine.
Somewhere along the line I got the record for most number of retrieving all my gear (hook and weight) after getting snagged up. Not the record I was hoping for, but still a good record to have.
We continued to drift down river fishing as we went. The weather was warm, and for a while was sunny. Todd continued to be excellent – keeping the spare rods all ready, sharing great advice (like “don’t let this fish get off”) and positioning the boat well for the drift.
We were going through a drift when I felt a tug and set the hook. A split second later, Sina, up in the bow, set the hook too. The way our rods were pulsing we obviously had fish on. Todd said “A steelhead double header! Are you kidding me?” Everyone else got their lines and rods out of the way. That is when we noticed something weird. Where the lines went into the water they were separated by about a foot and a half. And the lines moved in unison sideways across the river. And the rods pulsed at the same time. We had the same fish!
As the fish broke the surface we could see that one line was wrapped around the fish – but whose? Meanwhile Sina and I were in lockstep shuffling around the edge of the boat following the fish. These fish are so amazing. You’d think with two lines on it that we’d have that fish landed in no time – instead it was able to pull out line from both rods at the same time! Not just once, but time and time again.
Then the fish did another roll on the surface and Sina’s line came free! Showing clearly that I had hooked the fish. Now that the chaos was under control I handed the rod off to my Dad. The fish still had some fight left before we managed to land it.
A few more passes and then we took a break for lunch – 11:30 and five fish in the box. By this point we had 10 hookups – an amazing morning.
All day Sina was a real trooper and fished from the bow. Those of us who are less nimble and surefooted really appreciated him doing that. Todd did a great job all morning. Not only did he do is normal steering/line tying/fish netting/scent squirting job – but did a great job coaching us on how to fish. Very patient when we did stupid stuff like cast into trees, played sword fight with our rods, and tangled our lines. The only time he would hang his head in shame is when we lost fish.
Soon we had eaten, and were refreshed from our break. Time to get back to fishing – just three more fish to hit the boat limit.
Having a morning of practice under our belts we started getting better. In the afternoon we got into some good rhythms with casting, and I think we had less tangles and other mix ups.
About an hour after lunch we had another fish on. Sina, a steelhead pro now, did a great job fighting it in. Another nice fish.
Later during another pass Alan and my Dad got into a bad tangle. They were having a hard time untangling it so Sina set down his rod to help them out – with his line still out. So Todd and I were the only ones really fishing. Todd then got a bite, hookset and FISH ON! He handed the rod off to Alan. I got my line in and looked up just in time to see the line with the fish cross that line still in the water. I turned my head and looked up. Somehow the fish got off. During all this time Sina and my Dad never looked up from their untangling exercise.
A while later Alan got a tug and did a great hookset. He did a master job fighting in the fish, which didn’t want to come in at all. But eventually we got the chrome bright fish to the boat and in the net.
It was about 3pm and we had one fish left to go. The pressure was on and we did our best to catch that last one. We got some fishy looking tugs on the line, but no hookups. Then we made a last pass, and then another last pass and finally the real last pass. Then we had to call it a day.
Back to the launch to pictures and to watch Todd clean the fish.
It turned out to be an amazing day, 7 fish landed out of 15 hookups – and for most of the ones we got off we saw the fish jump or roll during the fight– very clear we had a fish on. Unbelievable the number of hookups. Great weather, great company, great guide and great fishing.
In the March issue of Northwest Sportsman there is an article which talks about Todd’s technique for cutthroat in Lake Sammamish. My Dad and I had been teasing Todd about having him sign it and since we had the magazine in the car I decided to follow through with that threat. So I have the only signed copy in existence – bound to be worth something someday. 
Enjoy,
Nathan
Awesome! Good lookin’ fish, thanks for sharing…