I guess an introduction is in order. I'm gbd...a long time lurker and sparse contributor from the late-90's. I haven't had much to say for years, so now I break my silence to share a steelhead story with all you here sitting around the "Campfire".
My buddy and I spent the last week in and around Terrace, BC. This was my first time to this area. We fished the Kasiks, Skeena, Kalum, and Kitimat rivers with a guide, and fished the Copper and Kispiox rivers on our own.
The Kasiks was just beautiful. We jetted up the river through many sections only 6 inches deep. Most exciting. Came up on a huge bull moose on the bank. Saw some cohos holding tight to the log jams on this very small river, but had no hook-up. The river was dropping so we had to bail so not to get grounded. So, we hit the huge Skeena. My bud landed an ocean-fresh 6 pound coho. I was stuck with casting practice. The Kasiks was the classic "should have been here yesterday" situation.
Next day, we jetted up the upper Kalum. This very windy and rainy day produced two hook-ups with on 12 lb steelie landed. Also, we caught some nice dollies.
Drifted the Kitimat for cohos. Only one coho hooked-up. Very slow day, only was two fish roll. We did get into some small dollies and coastal cutthroats.
Two days on the Copper with only one hook-up, an approximately 12 lb steelie.
Spent one day on the Kispiox. We got pulled over on the road by the game warden (lights flashing and everything) and had our licenses checked. The warden was towing a bear trap and had just released a grizzly up the road somewhere. The warden was great, he directed us 'up the road' to some private that we could fish. We hit the spot for a good while, then I saw a huge bear swim across the river to our side, so I thought it best to high tail-it out of there. I had that grizzly on my mind. We found a new spot to fish. Great looking water, but no luck.
For our last day (10/6), it was back to the Copper. First cast, my buddy hooks and lands a 12 lb steelie. I hook and land an 8 lb steelie on my second cast. About an hour or so later, it's fish on again, and it's a monster steelhead. The fish makes four different runs and jumps. After over 20 minutes, we land the fish. We measure it out to 45 inches in length (tip of nose to tip of tail), but we failed to take a girth measurement. At this time, we are guessing the girth at 25 inches. Those measurements put the steelhead at around 37 pounds. We have a bunch of photos (I just need to learn how to upload) that we will use to hopefully get a better guess at the girth. All in all, for that day we had 7 hook-ups with three steelies landed (8 lb, 12 lb, and 37 lb (?)) and one dolly to 16-17". That night the rain poured and blew out the river.
Hooked the big steelie on a #6 purple egg-sucking leech, using 15 lb test Maxima.
Pictures to come shortly.
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