Welcome to the Hardcore Husky Forums. Folks who are well-known in Cyberland and not that dumb.

Old Pulteney and steelhead

dflea
dflea Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 7,287 Swaye's Wigwam
in Yellow Snow's Record Shoppe
I heard that Yella was looking to catch himself a steelhead, so we rolled up to the Queets yesterday in search of the elusive sea-run rainbows.

We beat the water pretty thoroughly, and wound up scratching up one really hard-fighting hen that looked to be in the 12-13 lb range. Queets steelhead are 5-star caliber fish, the Sav'ell Smalls of steelhead if you will. The weather and scenery were nearly perfect, and Yella is a really good guy to spend a day on the river with.

When we got back to the truck, he busted out a bottle of Old Pulteney single malt. We had a couple pulls off the bottle, and savored a bit of Olympic National Park before heading back to the shit show of Pugetropolis. When Yella bailed, he refused to take the rest of the scotch with him, so I'm just waiting until noon today to dip back into it.

Thanks for joining me, Yella. We'll find you a steelhead. They can't avoid you forever.

· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
«1345

Comments

  • chuck
    chuck Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 11,841 Swaye's Wigwam
    The late run winters that still exist in numbers on the queets and some of the other peninsula rivers are something we don't see much of along the Columbia. I made a few trios up iin the early 2000s but the timing was always off. Skunked on the Hoh, Queets, and Solduck.

    Thinking about a smooth catch and release of a wild, 13lb hen has me day dreaming. Over a year without a rod caught steelhead...
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Swaye
    Swaye Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 41,741 Founders Club
    I requested pictures of this trip a week ago Yella and you have failed me.


    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • YellowSnow
    YellowSnow Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 37,853 Founders Club
    chuck said:

    The late run winters that still exist in numbers on the queets and some of the other peninsula rivers are something we don't see much of along the Columbia. I made a few trios up iin the early 2000s but the timing was always off. Skunked on the Hoh, Queets, and Solduck.

    Thinking about a smooth catch and release of a wild, 13lb hen has me day dreaming. Over a year without a rod caught steelhead...

    So I was talking to my neighbor last night who just got back from a 6 day trip to Vancouver Island with his dad. They are both fly guys and don't know how good of anglers they are, but they both got skunked over six days. Steelheading is hard work, I tell you and it ain't getting any easier between declining habitat and all the @Swaye 's netting fish for the white devils have a shot.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Swaye
    Swaye Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 41,741 Founders Club
    YellowSnow said:

    chuck said:

    The late run winters that still exist in numbers on the queets and some of the other peninsula rivers are something we don't see much of along the Columbia. I made a few trios up iin the early 2000s but the timing was always off. Skunked on the Hoh, Queets, and Solduck.

    Thinking about a smooth catch and release of a wild, 13lb hen has me day dreaming. Over a year without a rod caught steelhead...

    So I was talking to my neighbor last night who just got back from a 6 day trip to Vancouver Island with his dad. They are both fly guys and don't know how good of anglers they are, but they both got skunked over six days. Steelheading is hard work, I tell you and it ain't getting any easier between declining habitat and all the @Swaye 's netting fish for the white devils have a shot.
    Red man's revenge! HAHAHHAHAHAH! I have heard steelheading makes my little brown trout excursions look like child's play.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • YellowSnow
    YellowSnow Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 37,853 Founders Club
    Swaye said:

    YellowSnow said:

    chuck said:

    The late run winters that still exist in numbers on the queets and some of the other peninsula rivers are something we don't see much of along the Columbia. I made a few trios up iin the early 2000s but the timing was always off. Skunked on the Hoh, Queets, and Solduck.

    Thinking about a smooth catch and release of a wild, 13lb hen has me day dreaming. Over a year without a rod caught steelhead...

    So I was talking to my neighbor last night who just got back from a 6 day trip to Vancouver Island with his dad. They are both fly guys and don't know how good of anglers they are, but they both got skunked over six days. Steelheading is hard work, I tell you and it ain't getting any easier between declining habitat and all the @Swaye 's netting fish for the white devils have a shot.
    Red man's revenge! HAHAHHAHAHAH! I have heard steelheading makes my little brown trout excursions look like child's play.
    I've only gambled in the hatchet packers casino once and took their money and run. But they got me this time on the migratory fish.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • dflea
    dflea Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 7,287 Swaye's Wigwam
    The fish I landed was tuff, so I had to fight it a while before landing it. I wasn't going to bash it in the head, so I figured getting her back in the river quickly was the right thing to do.

    Probably should have taken a photo so the story would actually be real, though.

    I could still get a photo of the single malt.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter