Fishin' Magician: Dave Graybill

The rain is pouring down in Leavenworth, so I called my fishing buddy Rollie Schmitten and we headed north to do some steelhead fishing on the Columbia River.

We had both got a report that the fishing at Wells Dam was red hot and were eager to give it a try. Well, the fishing wasn't red hot.

We tried bobbers and jigs along the bar and in the corner on the far side and got nothing. We tried back trolling Mag Lip Flatfish along the bar and down around the corner and two drifts produced zilch.

The next pass I extended out drift and went down past the pump structure that extends out into the water, and just below it Rollie's rod doubled over. When we got the fish to the boat we saw it was a wild one and released it.

It had hit a metallic silver and blue Mag Lip 3.5. I learned from last trip with Shane Magnuson that if the steelhead aren't taking jigs they may bite a Mag Lip plug. Switching to this tactic saved our day at Wells. I think jigs fishing was tough along bar because the current was booming that day.