At the beginging of every new year, fishing for Steelhead within the first week is almost a challenge to see if you can manage to start things off with a tug. Even if it's New Year's day and your pulling over for your buddy to throw up on the way to river because of the nasty lingering hangover. Yes this is a true story, however, this year was a little different.
A few fishing buddy's and I set out to hit the Lower D January 2nd thinking to ourselves that we are late to the party, won't catch shit, but that it will be a great time. Fishing the Maupin area and venturing down the access road was the game plan. With no expectations, we roll up to the first run of the day and Jordan hooks up within the first few minutes. After a fairly epic battle for this time of year for a steelhead, we land the buck and watch him swim away. At this point wether we see another or not we all didn't care. Coming around every turn on the access road to not see another car in a pull out is quite the site. We all know how ridiculously busy that section of the river gets in September through October. After Jordan's fish, we fish fairly hard for the next few hours and decide to head down river to Beavertail. Stepping into a run near Beavertail, it happens! The line starts peeling and my heart starts pounding like a drum. After jumping and some hard runs, I finally get a hold of him. In shock after such a battle for January, I was astonished by the brightness and the condition of the fish. Wiggling out of my hands he entered back into the abyss and swam away hard with a good tail slap. I always love when a fish gives you the tail kiss. It's insane how determined Steelheard are! They endure so many conditions and struggles throughout their lifespan and we should appreciate their existence and continue to be gentle with these fish. Satisfied was just an understatement of how I felt after that fish. Before I could reenact what just happened, Andy hooks up. After another epic battle Andy released the third beautiful wild fish of the day. Again bright and in excellent condition. What more could you ask for! First fishing trip of the year, no people around, everyone landed one swinging, and the fish were all unbelievably bright and spunky for this time of year. Let 2014 be epic and I wish tight lines for everyone!
