Dang it! I just typed out a report on our float, and hit the wrong button and lost it. Couldn't find this thread last night, due to the sneaky title change, and the fact that I was dog-tired from being on the river from dawn til dusk. So y'all lucked out! This one is only a little shorter, so you didn't luck out that much!
Very nice trout Lee. You made the right choice. It was nippy on the river.
The fish weren't nippy, though. We only heard of two fish caught all day, from several boats and bank anglers. One was C&R'd by our friends in the other drift boat, a large beautiful colored-up hatchery buck. Those guys catch so many steelhead, they only keep the fresh chrome hatchery swags for the table. All of us release all of our wild steelhead, if we are lucky enough to encounter one. Even in the ten rivers where anglers are allowed to retain their "one per year." Its so sad to see the runs diminishing year after year, and know that some anglers don't care but still insist on keeping them.
I saw enough sweepers, rootwads, and strainers in the center of the main current to dissuade me from wanting to take my yak down that river for fishing purposes. You just can't beat a driftboat (of raft or pontoon....something with OARS!!!) for running a swift river and fishing out of.
We had a fun float. I learned the best techniques for employing braided line for jig-and-float fishing, from a couple of experts. (We floated alongside another boat with some friends of my buddy's who are well-schooled steelhead fanatics...that's all they do!!!). I am now a convert to using the spectra braid!
My buddy had printed out a huge stack of photos (Google Earth) for the entire section of river we floated, and he made detailed notes on each one, especially the better looking water. Great stuff for near-future reference, although some of his intelligence collecting will be rendered to oblivion by the next blowout monsoon event.
