In the beginning....

I was born in the White Mountains of Arizona. My first memories of fishing there as a child, are of cool summer mornings at Big Lake. Being one of 9 kids, I'm sure it was a task for Pa to get all of us loaded up and 2 am to get on the road. I remember my dad carrying me to the van in my sleeping bag. We'd arrive at the lake a little before sunrise, and lay our blakets or sleeping bags out on the big rocks next to the lake. As soon as that sun started to give it's light the fish would start biting. We would come home with a cooler full of trout and have quite a fry. There were a few other places I vaguely remember fishing at.
Pa and Ma moved our family to Oregon in 1987 when I was 9. It was hard to get used to the rain, but we soon found out that there were a lot more fishing opportunities closer to home. The Calapooya River ran through our home town of Brownsville. We caught a lot of white fish and Northern Pike Minnow under and bobber and on the fly rod.
During my teenage years I heard more and more about the steelhead that came up some of the rivers and certain times of the year. I decided I should give them a shot. Not really knowing anything about them, I purchased my salmon/steelhead tag, a few spoons and spinners and hit the nearest river I knew of that had a run of steelhead; The South Santiam. Well, after 3 summer run fishing seasons, I still had not even seen a steelhead in person. I didn't fish a whole lot, or in the right places appearantly, but I was beginning to think that the steelhead was a farce.
I met Curtis at church. I'd heard that he was a fisherman but was a little intimidated by him. We eventually were introduced. He took our Sunday school class up the Mckenzie River where he had spent his childhood. We stopped at the hatchery and saw the steelhead coming into the ponds. These were big, beautiful fish. We then spent a few hours on the shore line. A few of us had brought our fishing poles. Curtis came over and said,"If you're going to do this, you might as well do it right." He rigged up a spoon and told me where to cast and how to work it. Within a few casts, 3 bright steelhead were chasing my lure around in the hole. I lost my breath and my heart started pounding. Curtis's interest was peaked as well. He had not been steelheading in several years. We didn't hook a fish that day, but I think Curtis saw my excitement, and wanted to help me in my quest. We made a date and headed for the Siletz River. He had many years expirience fishing the river. We had a few good trips where I learned a lot about the holding water and habits of steelhead. We drift fished bait and used spoons. We did not catch a fish. The next summer I made a trip to the holes I had learned from Curtis. It was mid June. This would be my first encounter with a steelhead. About 10am I was fishing shrimp and yarn in the tailout, just below what we call the ledge hole. I was casting into the tailout and letting my bait make it's way into the bolders at the bottom. Trout were stealing my bait every cast. I decided to move on after I re-bated. After getting all set up, of course I decided one more cast into that spot. My cast landed just above the bigest rock in the tailout and slipped into the slack water behind the rock. Sure enough, I felt the same thing I had felt on all the casts before. Trout nibbling on the shrimp. Instinktively I set the hook. It stuck into something quite solid. At that moment, it seemed that the water dissappeared and suddenly there was the biggest fish I'd ever seen headed for the ocean. I was trying out Spider wire for the first time. There is no stretch to this stuff, so when that fish turned, my reel started screaming as the line peeled off. It lept out of the water head over tail and tail walked 3 to 5 times before it reached the next pool down river. I was screaming at the top of my lungs. I just couldn't help it. I had some help landing the fish from my friend Jeremy. I was shaking uncontrollably. I was thinking that this must be a new record for the biggest steelhead ever caught. I later found out that it was an average summer run of about 8 pounds. 28 inches long.
Since then I have spent a lot of time on the rivers of western Oregon. I still have a lot to learn and really haven't caught a ton of steelhead. But I do have a load of fun trying. I learn something new each trip and love the beauty of my surroundings. So, I'm going to try to keep track of my trips, successful or not, and see what I can learn. Good luck out there. Be patient with the fish, others around you and yourself. Have fun.