Im still growing up........ :p

I moved here in third grade, but remember fishing lakes in Oregon before that with Dad rowing and me trolling little hot shots.

Caught my first steelhead on May Creek (trib of the Wallace). I was 12, fishing for trout with a fly rod, Colorado spinner and worm and 4lb leader. I couldn't do much with the fish. It ran downstream to one of the larger holes and just sulked there. Old Lady Radenbush (One of the only 5 families that lived on May Creek at the time) came out and asked if I needed help.....I said, "Sure!" So she disappears around back of her place and comes back around the house with a gaff on about a 12 foot pole, hikes up her dress, kicks off her shoes, wades across the creek and stands next to me and says, "Now just raise him up a bit." I do just that and she reaches out with that long gaff and drags that ugly old buck to the beach for me. Dad's jaw dropped open when I came home with that fish.

Of course, I've turned many steelhead back that were much bigger and in much better shape, but there's something about that first one.

We used to spend a couple of weeks every year in a rented beach cabin (complete with the old block ice box for refridgeration) at Indian Beach on Camano Island (Dad still lives on the island....he's 86). We would rent a boat and motor at Madrona Beach, grab a couple dozen live herring which were handed out in a coffee can. (The herring were caught every few nights off the end of the resort dock by using a light to attract them and then netting them and dumping them in a concrete live well.) Any way, an old rental boat would be rolled over to the rail road iron launch, we'd jump in and down we'd fly into the water for a day's salmon fishing.

Spent many a nite sleeping in a mummy bag on the beach, looking at the stars and listening to the water.

If heaven is even half as good as that.......

Right here, Born in Mt Vernon.

Skagit
North Fork Stillaguamish
Sauk
Camano Island (great black mouth fishing)
Lake 32 (16 I don't want to give my lake away)
Local lakes

Started Steelhead fishing the Skagit late 60's, Family property on the Sauk was great fun!
Fishing all the creeks in the Darington area as a kid was amazing (not like SS but fun)

Sorry Plunker to many words

I grew up in Shelton and caught my first steelhead in Mill Creek in 1973, when I was 7. I was already a fishing fanatic by that age and pestered anyone to take me fishing anywhere.

I had buddies that lived scattered around Mason county, and we fished whatever we could ride our bikes to. We caught some literally monster Rainbows out of Island Lake, spanked cutthroat all over the Skok valley, and fished Goldsborogh and Mill creeks all the time. Once we got our driver's licenses, the Grays Harbor tribs became our favorite haunts. We used to camp on the Wynoochee at Charlie Wincewicz's place below the crossover bridge when he still owned it and would fish steelhead from daylight till dark.

I still go out to my old digs now and then and remember when it was cool to just walk down to the creek and dunk a worm and catch a couple trout. Now, my kid thinks it's cool to just walk down to the creek and dunk a worm and catch a couple trout. Ahhh, the cycle of life goes on..........and fishing is passed on to the next generation.

Being an Oregon Native (finclipped) My first memory of fishing was with Dad, taking that long drive from Portland to Klamath Falls....I was too small to wade around those boulders and out where the real fish were...i was stuck on the bank catching suckers...big ones i might add but...suckers. My parents have a house and own 15 acres in the Hebo area south of Tillamook...That's where i did most of my early fishing.... I hit the Wilson on the way there before it got dark....and woke very early in the morning to be the first one to a " Sure thing" hole on the upper Nestucca.

I broke my son in at the mouth of Three Rivers which dumps in to the big Nestucca casting Vibrax spinners....and drifting eggs on the North Fork Nehalem targeting Jacks (those guys wading to the middle of the river were missing out on all the tasty smaller fish) I'm on my second boat now and have graduated to the bigger rivers.. CR and Willamette, Don't think i'll go back to fishing the smaller rivers....Well..the Sandy for sure....but those smaller rivers are mostly for learning , which taught me alot....but i'm gonna leave the "meat holes" alone.

Great idea for a post.

Thanks,

Louis F.

I was born and raised in North Renton, 3 blocks from the Cedar River. My brother and I would fish the Cedar during the week after school and in the Summers. On the weekends we fished the Cowlitz, back in the 60's and 70's there were not that many sleds on the river. We were running the jet boat without our Dad in the boat when we were 11 & 12 years old. Not many kids that age are set free with a jet sled, but we were taught well and had a blast at it. That was more than 30 years ago and I can remember those weekends like they were just last Winters Steelhead season.

Grew up on Long Island, New York. Spent many many days fishing the Great South Bay for fluke, sea bass, porgies, weakfish (a sea trout) and the occasional bluefish. When I hit 15, I was allowed to run the Fire Island Inlet by myself, and spent the next few summers trolling the ocean for bigger bluefish and striped bass.

The striped bass fishery in New York is an example of a well managed fishery. When I was a little kid, they had been all but wiped out by the commercial fishers. They used to haul seine for them, a guy in a skiff would run a semi circular 2000 foot net out from the beach. Then, two 4X4s, one at each end of the net, would haul it up onto the beach. The state realized how effective these nets were, and how depleted the stock was. So, they banned all commercial harvest, and made the sport limit 36" with a 1 fish limit. The stock took a decade or so to recover, and now limited commercial fishing is allowed, but no haul seines, and the sport fishers have a 2 fish, 28" limit. The natives (only one small reservation, really) follow the same rules as everyone else. It's now a productive fishery again. I'll see how productive later this year, I'm visiting home for a week or so.

Dan

My dad did not fish so I also really don't know how I got started fishing. I know that I got serious about it in high school when I started Fly fishing. Growing up in Idaho, all we needed was a tank of gas and we were off !! Mostly float tubing and trips to the Henrys fork and Silver cr every year. In 1981, I caught a steelhead in the Salmon river with the fly rod and was hopeless after that. My idea of "nice fish" really changed... hard to be happy with a 18 inch cutt after you have steelhead on the brain. Decided that it was "big fish only" for me and started fishing all over the west. As stupid as it may sound, we spent thousands of hours fly fishing in Pyramid lake near Reno. Caught a lot of big Lahotans there ( over 10 lbs) Standing on a ladder off the beach. Picked up a drift boat in 1987, and started fishing the Clearwater.. about the same time that I figured out that you can fish without a fly rod and still have fun. Started going up to Canada every fall in the early 90's..

Funny thing is my dad still does not fish, never has.. he plays golf and has gotten me into it also. Sad to say that hitting a 5 iron stiff 185 yards pin high feels " almost" as good as a 90 ft boomer cast with a single handed fly rod....

Caught everything I ever hoped to catch.. except a 17 inch crappie... God I want one of those.. pretty sad dream for a fly fisherman

I was raised locally , Richmond Beach and fished the sound with my dad for Salmon and bottom fish. Lived in the Bay area going to school and fished the Delta for Stripers .

I used to hate fishing in the Sound because I did not like downrigger fishing, too boring, I like to hold the rods. What I miss is spending time with my dad. They were some of the best times.

I grew up only a couple blocks off one of the better fishing spots on the lower Puyallup. So cut my teeth fishing salmon and steelhead extremely young there. Then, my parents had property off the nooch, and my grandparents had property down on Copalis Beach. So also grew up fishing the Chehalis system and the Hump up into the Forks rivers as well since the mid 70's. If we weren't on the Puyallup, we were on the Nooch/Sop/Chehalis, or up at Hump, etc etc etc. LOL. Since it was my Dad's inlaws on copalis beach, we would split alot and go fish the Hoh/Duc or whatever river we opted for at the time. But the Puyallup was my home river.

I remember fishing Lake Shoecraft with my dad as a kid. I'm sure we fished other lakes around here, but I remember Shoecraft the most. I also spent a few opening days on Lake Shannon with my dad and uncle. During family camping trips we fished Diablo Lake and the upper Skagit a lot. When I started steelheading with my dad he took me to the Stilly (both forks and the main), the Sauk, and the Skagit. My uncle had a sled for a couple of years so I got to fish out of it on the Skagit a little. Hmmm...what else? We made two trips to Lake Sherridan in BC and caught rainbows to 6lbs. Then there was salmon fishing with my dad out of Everett and on the west side of Camano.
When I was still pretty small my friends and I fished Quilceda Creek, mostly catching crawdads chum fry. When I was even smaller, an older kid in my neighborhood told us he saw a fish swimming down the runoff on the side of the street, so we used to bend wire into hooks and fish worms in the street drain. It sounds gross now but I was probably about 4 at the time.

I grew up fishing right here in Federal Way, almost all freshwater. I remember fishing Steele, Angle, and 5 Mile. My earliest memory of fishing was when I was around 8 years old. It wasn't here, though. I'm sure I was fishing before this but this was the first memorable trip.

My whole family was in South Carolina visiting my grandparents, me, my brother, and my mom, and dad. One day Grandaddy decided to take us kids out fishing with my dad at a stream nearby. I remember riding through the swamp in the back of his pickup, slathered with bug repellant to keep off the mosquitoes. After awhile, we stopped and got out next to a streambed. It was in the middle of the afternoon, and all the fish were in the shade. We got out and slogged through the mud about 30 feet away under the trees. What followed was some of the fastest fishing I can ever remember. We were hauling out bluegills right and left, big ones too.

Somehow we managed to aggrivate a cottonmouth that was hidden on the opposite bank, though. I looked up and it was swimming across the water straight at us flashing its white gums. It lunged at my brother (who was about 5 at the time) when Grandaddy grabbed his fishing pole and started to beat it over the head. Then it went after him. So he commences jumping around backwards through the swamp trying to whip the reptile to death with a fishing rod with the snake lunging at him, with my dad running behind trying to hit it with a branch, and us standing on the bank gawking at the whole ordeal. Then Grandaddy starts yelling, "GRAB A GREEN STICK! GRAB A GREEN STICK!" Dad grabs one of said sticks, and makes a lucky strike at the snake, smashing its head against a rock. After that it was kind of anticlimatic.

Grandaddy decided all of us had had enough, so we started to leave, but of course the truck had to get stuck in the mud. So he walked out to call a friend to come pull his truck out of the mud. So no one was hurt, except my mom nearly had a heart attack after she heard about it when we got back.

I started fishing in California when I was three. I my dad was a fisherman and hunter so I started young. We fished for trout, bass and stripers. I then moved to Arizona and I remember travelling a long ways to get to some lakes up in the white Mountains to fish for trout and pan fish. Then we moved to Mason County and I was finally home. I caught my first Washington state fish at the age of 9 down at Twonoh State Park, a sand shark. Since we lived on a creek (Misssion Creek) I would go down after school and catch cutthroat and rainbows which now I know were actually small steelhead that hadn't made it out to the salt yet. I caught my first steelhead right behind our house when I was 12. It was a 14 lb buck. I have fished just about every known and many unnamed lakes and streams in North Mason County and many in the South end. The Union River in Belfair used to be phenominal fishing and I was there every day I could be. From Sockeye to Sturgeon to kings and Cutthroat it was a real producer. I could go on and on but I think I've said enough lol

I remember how I caught my first steelhead. I was 7 years old at the time and it really is a great story. I was with my dad out on the Nisqually where we were camping and working on his property. While he worked he would always set me up with a side planer and plug and let me work the water. Well one afternoon while he was constructing the outhouse, a nice hen slammed my lure and got my heart pounding. Being only 7 I was not yet adept at using a left hand retrieve. So to compensate I played that fish with the reel upside down reeling backwards. Of course pops didn't really think I had a fish, but after what seemed like an hour of yelling he came running down to the river to see what was happening. Once he saw I had a fish at the shore, he jumped down the cut bank grabbed it and tossed it up! This fish even came from the same hole you see in my avatar.


Other than tromping up and down the Nisqually, my uncle used to own the house where Bob and Corey currently reside on my favorite of all street names. I've been going up to the OP since before I can remember and that is where I grew up and learned(ing) steelhead fishing. Damn uncle, I should be using that place on weekends

My favorite childhood memories were camping at my grandfathers cabin on Lake Chelan. We usually had 12+ people staying there on a holiday weekend and the goal was to catch enough fish the first two days for a big fish feast on the last night. When I was about 10 I caught a 13" cutt off the dock and we marked the tail so when we had dinner we knew which one was mine. It was pretty awesome to contribute.

I owe a ton of thanks to my buddy Sno-King for introducing me to salmon fishing on the Snohomish during our college days. It's my favorite fishery.

I remember fishing the Atlantic Ocean of the coast of Maine and New Hampshire for stripers and blue fish that was good times sitting on the beach with the surfcasting rod out a twelvepack and a couple a couple of friends. Get into a school of stripers and you didnt even have time to finish a beer. Then I fished the Oguinquit river in Maine for brook and Browns big sea-run browns. Did the merrimack in new hampshire for the atlantic salmon that was fun.

I grew up on the Washougal mile marker 7 just below the big eddy.

I grew up fishing freshwater at the Potholes my grandparents had a trailer over at Mar don resort from about 77 to 91 great summers catching 5 gallon buckets full of perch.

Saltwater was with HBP and BRI 24 at PT no PT like HBP said nothing better than warm summer nights catching Kings after dinner.

I grew up in Port Angeles and our family always had a boat. Saltwater fishing was typically right out of PA harbor or maybe out to Freshwater Bay or Sekiu.

The family of my best friend in the neighborhood owned property at Blyn on Sequim Bay and we spent most of our summers there. Did some fishing there, but mostly littleneck and geoduck digging.

Freshwater fishing was always Lake Crescent or Lake Mills. Pulling a ford fender with a worm easily brought close to a limit of nice sized rainbows.

We also spent a week or more with with other families camping on Lake Ozette. Caught my first spiny ray fish there -- wasn't too sure what these fish were.

My dad wasn't really a steelhead fisherman, so I didn't do too much stream fishing while growing up. I remember a couple of trips to the Elwha under the one-way bridge and a couple times on the Boachiel. Mostly I remember losing a bunch of gear.

I rediscovered fishing just out of college and we caught many fish on flies on the upper Elwha below Lake Mills.

I did some time (13 years) in Southern California and caught many largemouth bass in the San Diego lakes and smallmouth at Lake Nacimiento. Did a couple of tuna trips out of San Diego, too.

Now it is simply me and my drift boat on the Sky.

My grandfather lived on American Lake and I caught my first trout trolling a 50/50 Canadian Wonder. There were also perch and rock bass under the dock, so I would lie there with an hand line and some worms and fish all day.

For awhile I lived on Anderson Island within walking distance of the ferry dock. I spent hours dangling pile worms in front of uninterested perch.

We also have a cabin on the water in the Campbell River area on Quadra Island (April Point). This house was built when I was ten and I used to spend the whole summer up there. Last day of school and I was packing my bags to spend the summer with my grandfather (also my best friend). I had a 13' Boston Whaler with a 25hp Evinrude tiller that I would load with extra fuel tanks for more range (By the age of 14, I could go as far as my boat would carry me). Leave the house at 5:00 am, jig or rake herring at first light and motor mooch until lunch time. Run back to the house to have lunch, fool around until the evening tide and go back out. Once, I had a $1500 fuel bill in one month of fishing. My grandfather thought it was funny. Lingcod, crab, abalone, salmon, shrimp etc. and a million stories to go with every trip.

It was a life that I can only dream about now. He is gone now. I just wish I could offer my children that same type of freedom, just once, but unfortunately the world is a different place and I still have the cabin but don't have the resources.

We go there each year for a week or so and the memories flood back. My kids get tired of hearing "once upon a time, back in he olden days stories" so I try to live in the moment and focus on making new memories for them.

My family never appreciated river fishing though. I discovered a Salmon,Trout, Steelheader somewhere when I was about 14-15. I was impressed that these fish were attainable with less emphasis on money and more on effort. I was excited by the idea that effort and ability could pay off and that there was some sort of glory associated with the achievement. Also, these fish were available in the winter!

So, with that and the dreaded copy of Fishing and Hunting News, I was on a crusade to get a steelhead. My mom would drive me to the Nisqually at 6:00am and pick me up towards dark. I would bank fish all day. This went on for a year or two during which I remember fishing one spot for nothing and working my way up stream. When I came back a guy had fished the hole I had just left and had a beautiful fish on the bank. Then I had a boater plug a hole right in front of me and get one also. A light turned on and I just started watching others and copying what they were doing. About my second year I thankfully had a kamikaze steely that struck my corky and yarn three times in three casts. I got this funny tapping at the end of a swing against these boulders. I was confused until the third time when I reared back, set the hook and had forgotten that my drag was too tight from an earlier snag. Two jumps with no drag constitutes a fire drill as I recall. I was screaming for my buddy to come help me to no avail. I landed the fish though and that was when I became addicted! At sixteen I had a truck and a wooden drift boat. The rest is history.

My kids love to fish. but they may or may not share my passion. It makes no difference to me either way. But I am still as determined as when I was young. I could "just one more cast" myself all the way into the next day.


There are some good stories here. Arklier's swamp incedent has to be the funniest and Fastwater's is the one I think I would like to try before my time is up.

Thanks