Nootch Steelhead with the Kids

[David]

I had a chance to go fishing with Swanny on the Nooch and brought my two boys for their first steelhead trip. We got to the launch at 0-dark thirty, and motored upstream as soon as we could see. It took several passes for us to get the rhythm down, but about the third time downstream I hooked one for a moment. Gone. Then a bit later my youngest hooks and lands his first steel. Then an hour or so goes by and he hooks and lands another one. Then he hooks another one and hands it off to his big brother and that one comes unbuttoned near the boat. What the hell am I doing wrong?

Finally, I hook one - actually, it hooked itself. We're drifting downriver and all of a sudden I notice that my line is going slack. It took a moment for me to figure out that it couldn't be drifing faster than the current, so I reel like crazy and catch up to a real fish and land a really nice 15lb buck.

We keep fishing and sure enough, about a 1/2 hour before we call it quits, my youngest hooks another one and brings it to the boat. Don't know what it was, but that kid had the mojo today. And I couldn't believe the quality of the Wynoochee fish. All 4 ran from probably 6 to 15lb.

Swanny did a great job getting us on the fish considering how much boat traffic there was today, and dealing with a boat full of new steelheaders. My kids had never been before, and I have only gone a few times in the last several years. What an epic first trip!

[Medium D]

David, you are spot on, there has been a good number of boats on the river and a good amount of pressure. The fishing has been pretty good even with the pressure and the boat average seems to be about 2 to 4 fish. Great job getting the kids out, great memoeries for all of you for the rest of your days. Swanny does a nice job getting folks into fish.....
Thanks for the report.....