Today I shared the boat with just one guest, a local gentleman who is a school bus driver. Fishing with just one client has its advantages, the boat weighs less so it doesn't take as much effort to row, I need to worry about filling only one limit of fish as opposed to two, and best of all....I GET TO FISH!
We started off the morning in a long drift perfect for pulling divers and bait, we set up at the top and sent them out. Once the rods were in the rod holders I pulled the anchor, grabbed the oars and started backing them down. It wasn't long before the left rod bounced slightly, let it go I said, don't grab the rod till it buries, just then the rod tip went to the water! He's on there I said, my client grabbed the rod and nothing, somehow the fish didn't stick. This always amazes me how this happens, but it does, and you just rebait and keep fishing.
Later in the morning we floated into a stretch of that's classic textbook steelhead water. We grabbed a couple of bobber n jig rods and on the third cast my client was hooked up, and then he wasn't. .DAMN! Now we're zero for two.
Towards the end of the day the bobber slid below the surface one final time, with a good hookset.....FISH ON! After a few short runs and going aerial more than once, we slid a beautiful chrome hatchery summer run steelhead into the net!
Throughout the day we missed a few other fish that gave us just enough encouragement to look forward to the next cast, all in all just a typical day on the Kalama River.
