Great stories gents keep em coming. I didnt become obsessed with steelhead,truly obsessed ,until the late 1990s. Being located a long ways from any numbers of fish,my compadres had to travel a lot to catch them. I used to fish the American river every opener. Usually for a limit. That was fun ,with about 300 of your closest new friends!

I began covering a lot of ground,moving to the PNW after a divorce in the mid 2000s,I became familiar with the oregon and sw Washington streams.


My last steelhead I hooked was Saturday. I was on a small stream where the run is all wild,fishing a lower run just above tidewater ,no people around,tide was approaching low after a big high tide,so I figured a few might be moving despite the lower water.

I swung a 1/3 oz copper red cleo through a long sweeper run and hooked a dime bright fish of around 11 pounds or so.2 Violent jumps and ran at me so I didnt get a good set on him. Threw the hook. Not a soul around,pretty weather,just me and that fish. I live for those days. I don't need double digits anymore. Just an opportunity for some peace and quiet surrounded by natural beauty and some good water,maybe hook a couple. That's where its at!

Remember when they trucked the Tilton full of steehead??

If there's one thing we can all agree on, is that we share a passion for fishing.

Most here truly are a bunch of flatbrimmers.

Without pictures all the talk is just that.......................Stories.




Probably lucky for you all I didn't drowned back in the day.
What PFD??????????

Ah, great post, I'll play.

Late 80's St. Joe River in Berrien Springs, Michigan, orange and white spin and glow and a spawn bag I tied up, my buddy Tony showed me how. A nice 9 lber give or take. Graduated to the rivers of northern Michigan, became a Jim Bedford disciple pitching metal, tried to memorize Jed Davis's book. Fished every damn river up in northern Michigan, before moving to Western WA a decade later, because the steelhead fishing is so great out here, right?

Ha! There's still some bright spots, but god you gotta weed through the chafe to find em sometimes,

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That's a great photo Nate.

That's sweet. I don't have a picture of my first one. Or my last one for that matter.

Winter of 1969. Decided to cut class at UW Fisheries. Drove up to the Sultan drift and joined the picket line. Used a balsa cherry bobber with silver blade. Two fish in less than an hour. Both about 6 lbs. Was back home in time to drop off the fish and make my late morning class.

I'm kinda jelly of all the old timers on this thread that got to experience the good ol' days. By kinda jelly….I mean totally.

That being said, I wouldn't trade my fishing resume for all of the money in the world. I've been very fortunate and blessed. I need to spend the time and scan all my old photo's. Born in 75 and started fishing right away. My dad made a custom backpack from an old Alaskan pack frame which he used to carry baby me in when he flyfished. Started tying flies and casting the bug rod around the time I started to read and write, if not before. It's been gravy ever since.

But yeah....I would have loved to have been up here in the good old days. Luckily, I've had many days on the river in the not too distant past which made it seem like it actually was the good old days. They don't happen all that often anymore, so when it does.....savor that chit.

Fishing encompasses so much to me. Hell I love chasing white bass every spring down here at a reservoir not far from me. I caught 60 in 2 hours one day. I felt like when I was just a kid and outfished my grandpa who was the greatest fisherman that I knew,caught a mess of crappie. I was in the fraternity after that,been an angler ever since. Many days on Monterey bay fishing seabass,halibut,salmon and rock cod,the time I caught a 38 pound ling as a kid,catching mackerel and perch around the piers here,lots of memories.

born in '90 I suppose I'm one of those flat billers(still count without a flat bill?). my first steelhead was a native on the hoh plunking with mom while we waited on dad to come down the crick. oh about 7 years old or so. we would toss out the usual pyramid with spin n glow and eggs. I still remember the fight of this thing. ya know looking back I couldn't tell you the size of it as it didnt matter. the wild fish was quickly drug on the rocks and bonked on the head. when dad finally came around the gravel bar we hoisted our catch and it was all smiles.

well why the hell would you drown?

wasn't that back in the day where the fish were made of steel and the boys were made of wood.... err...wait.

Ok. I have never posted pics on this site before. Now I have to! Someone still have the instructions to do so? Especially old prints like above. Look like some Cowlitz fish? You look familiar?

I caught my first steelhead in 1976 on the west fork of the Humptulips fishing with my grandpa. He rigged me up with a large spin glo/pyramid sinker on an old spinning outfit. The fish was a big buck that we released. I would stay overnight at my grandparents house before we went fishing and we would tie leaders after dinner.

Thanks, Stonefish-he was a dandy for sure! BTW, I'm looking at (2) cards of Sammy's on my curio shelf! One full and one-half full, same color as you described.

Some great posts and pictures shared, thanks much! If you have pics from your childhood as some have shared, consider yourself fortunate! All but a couple of my family pics went in the shiatter (apparently) when my folks divorced when I was at the UW. Too bad as the old man and I had some neat memories saved on the kodak/polaroid paper. phuggin biatch...

Nick/Todd you guys are lucky mofo's!! Straight up killers!

Great stories all. My first two steelhead were caught in late 1963 on the North Fork of the Stillaguamish at the upper end of what was Steelhead Haven while fishing with three high school friends who were old enough to drive. One of them, Ron Wilson, went on to guide for a number of years. Choice was spinning gear including a Mitchell 300 and hammered brass spoons (Ace as I recall). I can still recall the looks on their faces when they turned around and saw a fish in each of my hands - only fish of the day for the group. That spot is now covered by the landslide but the memory is still fresh after a bunch of years.

Edit: Another member of that foursome was Phil Lund who seems to still be actively guiding with emphasis on the fly guys on the Methow.

I bet you got some neat stories Todd.
I'd love to see that picture.

Good pic but we are talking steelhead and that isn’t one.

My buddy and I got one at that spot in 1998. That was either steelhead number 2 or 3 for me. Even then that slide was creepy. I floated the river through there summer before it broke loose and that slide was creepier than ever. Just downstream was the Mermaid Hole. I saw some ti*ties there a few times.