The first steelhead I ever caught here in Washington was a total suprise.
My wife and I were camping over in the Sequim area, at the Dungeness Spit campground and one afternoon we decided to spend some time on the Dungeness river. I had a medium weight spinning outfit, tossing a 1/4 oz black/gold Panther Martin, expecting to catch trout.
Well, I had made several casts alongside a big tree lying about half way across the river, with out any result, so was watching the lure spinning along...when WHAM! a big summer steelie came up from under that log, mouth wide open, grabbed the spinner, tuned and headed for home!
Well sir, I just about came out'a my skin! but it was almost like slow-motion, the action was so clear, even though it happened in a blink of the eye.
The fact is, I lost him though, I guess I was so shocked, I didn't set the hook well.
The rest of the day and most of that night, all I could think about was that fish!
Early the next morning, I was back on the Dungeness tossin' that spinner like mad trying to raise that steelie one more time. After about a 1/2 hour working over that log, I moved up stream hit'n every bit of water I could, but no luck! Just when I was about convinced I was SOL, I made one last cast to the right side of a bridge support and, WHAM! fish on....fish on! he didn't get away this time, a 7lb buck!.
I don't really know if it was the same exact fish from the day before or not, I like to believe it was though.