The trip was organized far in advance by a young man as a Christmas present to both his father and his father-in-law. All three men had varying experience with trout, but this was to be their first steelhead outing.
After a brief breakfast meeting, we headed to my favorite access point above Folly’s End Campground. It was soon apparent that all three men had adequate 7 wt. outfits, but only Jim was truly ready, as both Rich Sr. and Jr. needed leaders and tippets. We briefly fished the initial runs, searching for fish along the way. As we approached the first big hole, I recognized two clients of mine from years past. Despite my attempt at conversion, they remained bait fishermen who were catching only suckers on this morning. My discerning eye was able to pick out only a few steelhead mixed in with this large sucker school, so we continued downstream.
The fish we were able to see and target were very few over the next few hundred yards, and none took our offerings. As we rounded the bend above the second hemlock hole, I saw several large steelies in the fast water just above the cascading waterfall. While I was still positioning the three, Rich Jr. caught his first. As striking fish continued to cooperate for the next hour or so, all three had considerable trouble ridding themselves of the terrible habit of continuing to hold the fly line after each hook-up resulting in numerous pulled hooks and broken tippets. Junior repeatedly hit and hooked branches behind him despite my continued encouragement of the roll cast, but he did catch another fish.
Following a flurry of strikes on large (#6) olive-then black wooly buggers, the fish became dormant. After trying various nymphs and other minnow imitations as well as terrestrials, different colors of sucker spawn were used until we found success with cream angora SS # 14. By early afternoon, a light Cahill hatch encouraged me to continue with the light patterns as more fish turned on. Although all three had incidental sucker catches, only the younger Rich caught steelhead with any consistency. Jim’s back pain became more intense, eventually dampening his spirit in his pursuit of the trophy steelhead. The elder Rich hadn’t yet given up on his efforts, but all three were quite tired.
Finally, at 3:45 PM, we started back upstream planning to continue to cast to any fish encountered. Our efforts remained fruitless until the run just below that first big hole. With Rich Jr. at my side, I spotted a beautiful mature male in full spawning colors. Directing junior to the proper approach I said, “Stand there and swing your fly 4 to 5 feet upstream of his head…you’ll have only one try so make it perfect!” His less than perfect cast spooked the fish and it entered the hole disappearing into the school of suckers.
After taking one final group picture, I asked Rich Sr. how many steelheads he could see in this hole as a test of how my “fish spotting instructions” had worked. Although he spotted a few, he still had trouble separating the steelhead from the suckers. I encouraged him to cast to a particular fish I suspected was the trophy we had just seen enter the hole. His first few casts were off target prompting me to redirect. He had a tandem set-up and I told him to try placing the fly he could see (the larger one in this case) directly in the strike zone of the fish. After two more casts, he was able to reach the strike zone consistently. With every expectation the fish would hit, I intently watched each drift until I saw his mouth move ever so slightly. I whispered, “I think he has it so lift and take up your slack.” Apparently, senior didn’t hear me as the fish moved into the faster current and began shaking his head violently. “He’s got it, he’s on it!!!….Lift, lift, lift…what are you waiting for???” Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Rich Sr. reacted appropriately. The fish was well hooked, and senior fought it admirably for 10 to 15 minutes to the net. As I prepared the fish for pictures prior to release, I realized the 7 # 28 inch beauty had “eaten” both flies. The large (#6) olive WB was hooked to the left mouth corner, and the # 14 cream SS, the right. To have caught his first steelhead, a fine trophy no less, after a long and tiring day, despite a delayed hook-set (of two hooks), with or without coaching…this, I call FATE.
The image of this fish and many other trophies may be viewed in the CATCH REPORTS section of my web site PASteelheadGuide.com

Doc actually caught and released two 13 pounders this day!

Josh Behr

This is one of a high double digit catch of fresh fish for Josh and his dad this 5′th day of December 2009.

Brandon Bryant

This fish offered an acrobatic fight after inhaling a # 14 egg fly.