Any Cast

For the steelhead fisherman, some lessons are learned only through keen observation, while others are delivered like a backhanded slap across the face. One lesson, which resonates in my mind nearly every time I set foot into a run that has the possibility of holding a steelhead, came in the form of the latter.

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It was a bright, windy, late summer day on a world class steelhead river. I had the good fortune of spending the day with close friends, searching for the ultimate prize of a steelhead encounter. We chose a large piece of water where we could all fish.

As I approached the last good bit of water in the run, the difficulty of casting a long floating line into a head on, gale-force wind began to outweigh my desire to finish it off. Another poor cast had me looking upstream for my friends. One friend responded with, what would be, a critical fist pump in my journey as a steelhead fisherman. My mind was already onto the next run. Where can we get out of the wind? What lines do I have in the boat that perform better in these types of conditions?

It was at that point in time when I saw a steelhead, happy and angry at the same time, engage in a shark-like showdown with my fly. I pulled the remaining slack out of my swinging line.

I was in disbelief. Feeling the weight of that fish was as dumbfounding as having a steelhead jump out of the river and into the boat, or like one falling out of the sky. There was no "there he is" or "fish on." Of every cast I have ever made in my life, it had to be that one? Really?

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I’m not sure why, for some steelhead, it seemed god intervened, but it certainly wasn’t for the sake of my sanity. After that moment, my understanding of the enigmatic nature of fishing a swung fly for steelhead would not grow, but decrease. Some days they come right when they’re supposed to. Not that day. I have never fished a run the same, since that hot, windy day on the river.

Remember, fish out every run with conviction and leave no stone unturned.

Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every once in a while.

Want to prepare yourself for your steelhead experience? Find what you need here