Old Steelhead Reports

This thread is great and so depressing at the same time. I should dig up all my cool picks of the Snoqualmie, Sky, Cow and Stilly from the 90s and early 2000s. Feel very fortunate to have fished those years. The upper Snoqualmie around David Powell was sick for Summerrun. just needed a 6wt single hander and some muddlers. Ditto for the Sky around Reiter - get there at first light and they'd come right to the surface. Wild winters on the Sky and Snoqualmie were also epic. Anyone remember the old Buck Island and sliding down the hill from Hwy 2? All the regulars knew each other. Ditto for the Stilly and some of the pools up by Fortson and Picnic Table. And don't even get me started on the Thompson --



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I met @Leland Miyawaki at buck Island, I'd just landed a winter run and RT says "hey do you know Leland"
I thought I corked him but he was siting on the logjam smoking after his first pass!

Had some great days there, across from Al Borlan, natural drift, Christmas tree, so many great runs long gone!
 
Found another one from the wayback machine.
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Blue Ck parking lot...we Pretty sure it's 1989. We used to bomb down around 7pm and get a few fish glo-bobbin' before midnight, then nap for a bit (nowhere near the piss-bank, thx), then get back to it around 4am for another limit and some catch n' release until about 9am. Hazy memories, but I DO remember spending one day fighting fish longer than I spent fishing for em. Double digits were pretty common for the fellas with a well-dialed game.
 
Standing in line at any small gas station/convenience store on the coast in the 70's and 80's where you could see dozens and dozens of polaroids splattered all over the place of giant steelhead being brought in to be weighed or just bragged over was amazing. Some of those monstrous double striper, green- backed 27-28+++ pound winter runs were just different looking beasts than a chrome 18 pound peewee.
 
Paige said:
I met @Leland Miyawaki at buck Island, I'd just landed a winter run and RT says "hey do you know Leland"
I thought I corked him but he was siting on the logjam smoking after his first pass!

Had some great days there, across from Al Borlan, natural drift, Christmas tree, so many great runs long gone!
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RT? I know a guy that goes by RT.
 
Buzzy said:
I still remember the joy of landing my first steelhead (gear on the Skokomish) and then the trials of trying to catch a steelhead swinging a fly. I fished the Kalama a year or two after St. Helen's blew up and couldn't catch a steelehead. Huh!

A career change and move to the dry side put steelheading on hold for a couple years. When I got back into swinging flies, I fished with two fishy guys and watched them land fish while I got skunked. I didn't score a steelhead that year. On the second (maybe it was my third year?) year, Darc must have gotten tired of my whining. He and I hiked up BNSF railroad tracks along the Wenatchee River to a well known run. I went through the run first and finally felt that pluck and hooked a good fish. Although I lost the fish, I got to see it cartwheel out of L----- run.

Fast forward to 2003. Darc and I are staying in cabin 7 at the Acaia Grove in Spences Bridge. Darc had caught a couple nice fish (photos on his wall of fame at the Desert Fly Angler), I was smelling like Flower from Disney's Bambi. On our fourth day, we hiked to the Top of the Y. It happened:

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I know, I know, I shouldn't have lifted this fish out of the water. My bad. I still had hair. In the years following 2003 I caught lots of steelhead fishing the Central WA river that opened this year after being closed for nine years. I had some BANNER days fishing the Snake and Ronde with the two fishy guys that put on clinics before. I've never caught another steelhead that came close to matching this buck.
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Who's that holding your fish.😆
 
Paige said:
Ron Torta, he owned the fly shop I worked at, All About The Fly, damn I miss that shop!
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Wrong RT. The one I know is an author of Reel Fishing and Reel Fishing II. I miss Gary, who owned Great American Tackle in Clackamas.
 
2MANY said:
Puget Sound Trucking I believe.
They used to haul most of the Olympia Beer from the brewery across the US.
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Ah yeah, when I saw the logo I thought of Pay N Save as I remember it from way back then. A really cool series of photos you've put up, not just the fish but also the gear, clothes, etc., good stuff.
 
2MANY said:
When you get owned by a large Craig king, break your rod, and have to fight it with a 3' rod.


Chilling with the Springers


The "Crack Pipe" in the 70's
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Thank you for sharing 2Many! It’s clear you have truly been blessed with a lifetime of good fishing with friends and family. Seeing these pics gets me really excited to take my 4 years old son out there on some real fishing adventures. The kids pond here in town is good too but he needs to see some real fishing ASAP.
 
flybill said:
Did you fish while you were on the horse?!? LOL! Looks like a good way to get around!
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Yea that's my dad and he actually hooked that fish from his horse. lol
We use to do a ton of packing.
I already crossed here and spun my horse around on the bank to take a picture of pops and his mules.
Gotta love the coolers full of all the good stuff!
Looks like his horse is about to do a face plant, but it didn't.
Just a little snorkeling.


Wish I still had that rod.
We would tie up 7 or 8 weight fly blanks back before 1141's were a thing.
 
A few more from that trip.
Anyone that has spent much time in the Ketchikan Tongass store in the last 50 years might recognize this guy.


Looks like pops is worried about getting his feet wet in this crossing.
I love the rod tubes on the white mule.


It was always tough to get clear pictures while my horse was constantly grab assing with itself.


Must be the same log in the picture above.
Looks fishy.
 
2MANY said:
Yea that's my dad and he actually hooked that fish from his horse. lol
We use to do a ton of packing.
I already crossed here and spun my horse around on the bank to take a picture of pops and his mules.
Gotta love the coolers full of all the good stuff!
Looks like his horse is about to do a face plant, but it didn't.
Just a little snorkeling.


Wish I still had that rod.
We would tie up 7 or 8 weight fly blanks back before 1141's were a thing.
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That water color looks familiar. If that is where I think it is, we used to have a lot of fun hiking upstream from the crossing.

A couple from around 1980. The summer fish came on a 98° day from a small stream on a Bolo spinner. My afro brought me good luck. 😂
SF

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Stonedfish said:
That water color looks familiar. If that is where I think it is, we used to have a lot of fun hiking upstream from the crossing.

A couple from around 1980. The summer fish came on a 98° day from a small stream on a Bolo spinner. My afro brought me good luck. 😂
SF

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View attachment 138340
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Been a few decades since I heard Bolo spinners mentioned. Those plus Metric spinners, and SteeLee spoons were about all I carried when I first started fishing for steelhead and salmon. Old school gear then was Cherry Bobber spinners.
 
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