8-pound Wild Steelhead

My wife celebrated her birthday this past week so she got to

choose what we would do for the day. She chose fishing for

steelhead at Bridgeport and off we went. There were only a couple

of other boats on the water on this stretch of the Columbia, below

Chief Joseph Dam, as it is fairly early for this fishery to

develop. After at no-hit stop we dropped down to one of favorite

holes and on the first cast I released about an 8-pound wild

steelhead. Then Eileen got hot. She didn't land a steelhead in this

hole, but caught and released four fish, which were a mix of jack

salmon and triploids.

My wife celebrated her birthday this past week so she got to choose what we would do for the day. She chose fishing for steelhead at Bridgeport and off we went. There were only a couple of other boats on the water on this stretch of the Columbia, below Chief Joseph Dam, as it is fairly early for this fishery to develop. After at no-hit stop we dropped down to one of favorite holes and on the first cast I released about an 8-pound wild steelhead. Then Eileen got hot. She didn't land a steelhead in this hole, but caught and released four fish, which were a mix of jack salmon and triploids. She continued to have a great day, hooking fish after fish. We hooked just four steelhead during the short afternoon of fishing, including one that made a spectacular 360 degree leap before throwing the hook. We did have a very busy afternoon and were into fish constantly but most were jacks or triploids. It didn't matter to her. She had a wonderful birthday fishing trip, hooking at least a dozen fish, using the new Berkley Air rod and Abu Sorron reel I got here this summer.