A thanks, and recommendation

First, I want to thank CK76 for getting me into Steelhead University's seminar this year.

Second, I recommend you go to it.


I've never fished for steelhead, but I listed closely, took notes, went and bought the tackle that was recommended, made a few minor tweeks for my own style preferences, then ...


I went on my first ever steelhead trip Today.  I floated beside my buddy's pram on the Wynoochee.  We were on the river a total of about 10 hours, I froze my 4$$ off (no really, I did, my inflatable kayak is not designed to stay dry inside and you sit in ~2 inches of water).


About 20 minutes into the start of my drift I hooked into a 28" buck.  He ran all over and went in the air twice.  I was amazed he didn't throw the hook.  Got so worried that I'd lose him that I jumped out of the kayak (the water was knee deep where I was), had my girlfriend hold it from the pram and I banked him.

About 2 hours later I started thinking "well, beginner's luck I suppose. I probably won't catch another for a long time" but wait, my bobber is down, did I snag? BOOM FISH ON!!!

I had a monster on, she was so big she didn't fit the hawg trough measuring stick I thought would be big enough 

So again, thank you Cobrakak76, and enjoy the pictures

(p.s., you could do wynoochee in a SOT, it's pretty tame and you can easily walk around the rough spots or shoot past them)





My buddy and his GF had several hookups, but they all popped off (12lb test is just not enough for fish this size in a current when you're on his heavy boat) My GF didn't have any hookups but she was a great camera lady and we all had a blast.


AOTY question: Do I call this 32 inches?  She was too big for my measuring stick!

Now that's how it's done.  NICE!!!

-Allen

WOw----nice work!

beauty! looks like you whacked that fish purty hard

Excellent work Lee. Those are some amazing fish!!

When you have a fish that goes off your trough like that use another measuring device. Use a tape measure or whatever. I'd hate to have you lose points for any reason. Especially with a nice fish like that!

Hey I was on the 'Nooch yesterday too! Yeah it's a a great river for kayak fishing at the right flows. Depending on where you launch there still are some rough spots but like Lee said you can walk around most.

Z

Way to go Lee---those are dandies
Rob.

Those are some awesome fish!  I know people who fished for steelhead for years before finally getting one.  That hen was a beauty!

-Spot-

wow!
thanks for the inspiration Lee.
this will be year 4 hunting chrome from a kayak for me and Ive got nothing to show.
again, strong work!

I caught both fish within 6 feet of the bank on the deep side of the river.  Water was probably 3-5 foot deep, and my leader was 3-4 feet down.  In both cases the fish were 20 feet or so past an obstacle (tree trunks with lots of junk on them)

My setup was a cheep bobber (not even a real slip bobber) with a split shot half way down the leader to make casting easier.  At the end was a Beau Mac SMJ 2 jig with half of a Gulp nightcrawler (natural color, comes in a power bait jar) Keep that presentation 6-12" off the bottom.

My buddy and his GF both had hits on egg sacks and sand shrimp drifting off the bottom as well (as mentioned earlier, they had 12lb line and his pram is really heavy or they would have landed them)

I recommend 30-40lb braid with 20lb flouro leader.  Loose drag and let the fish run around and keep the line really tight!

No, the braid isn't overkill - all the pros recommended the heavy braid and leaders.  Makes mending your line easier, fish don't get off if they run upstream (they ALL ran upstream) and you don't lose stuff to snags.  I had Hi-Vis yellow on my line and it obviously didn't scare the fish away!

I recommend 30-40lb braid with 20lb flouro leader.

Might want to go a little lighter on leader. 10#'s is pretty standard and if you snag it'll make breaking off much easier. I've had a few snags while side drifting that could have gotten pretty scary.

Z

Nice fish.  Looks like a lot of fun.

For those with experience please answer a question for me.  Your drifting along and a steely hits.  How do you control the kayak to keep off the bank, trees and rocks, while fighting and landing the fish?

With my first one, I was in knee deep water, so I got out, walked over to the side (GF grabbed my yak, but I could have dragged it if needed to) and let him run all over til he was tired.

Second one, there wasn't a good bank around, so I got to a shallow spot and got out, clipped my yak to my life jacket with a caribiner and strap.  Then let her tire herself out.

I always pulled up line when I got close to a sketchy area.  The fish don't hold in sketchy spots anyway, and you're likely to snag there too.  

Also, I use a spinning reel, and 20lb does fine with me, with a snag I just palm the front of the reel and it snaps pretty easily on it's own.

Edit:  Forgot to mention I set my drag really low, and let the fish run.  It makes it really easy to get yourself to a good position and not worry about getting wet or the rod slipping out from under my knee.

With my first one, I was in knee deep water, so I got out, walked over to the side (GF grabbed my yak, but I could have dragged it if needed to) and let him run all over til he was tired.

Second one, there wasn't a good bank around, so I got to a shallow spot and got out, clipped my yak to my life jacket with a caribiner and strap.  Then let her tire herself out.

OK, that makes sense. Kind of what I was planning to attempt if I ever get lucky enough to hook one.

With my first one, I was in knee deep water, so I got out, walked over to the side (GF grabbed my yak, but I could have dragged it if needed to) and let him run all over til he was tired.

Second one, there wasn't a good bank around, so I got to a shallow spot and got out, clipped my yak to my life jacket with a caribiner and strap.  Then let her tire herself out.

Would these fish qualify for AOTY if not landed from a yak (hooked in a yak but landed from the bank)? Not trying to torpedo your awesome catch just trying to clarify for future AOTY steelheaders (myself included)..  Rule #1   All fish entered must be caught from a kayak

Good question imo.  From what I saw it's pretty standard practice to either anchor up, or pull over to the side with drift boats too (or they actively paddle to stay in a good spot - but we can't do that!).  It just makes sense to get out and walk the fish to a safe location.  The wynoochee is pretty tame, but it's a small river and there are a LOT of log jams and other things to get your line caught up in and I wasn't about to lose a fish just to say I stayed in my kayak when the water was so shallow!