First Winter Steelhead on the Incredible Sandy River

The Sandy river is not my back yard exactly.  From where I live, it is more like my neighbor’s back yard down the street.  None the less, it is a river I fish quite often during the late fall and winter months when I am not fishing the Columbia river or Pacific Ocean.

Chinook, Coho and Steelhead all make their way up this river system at different times of the year.  Knowing when the fish are in the system and when best to target which species, I have learned from experience.

I am fortunate to know a couple people that I enjoy fishing with that have drift boats, pontoons and rafts for different water conditions.  Not just any drift boats by the way, a couple of Pavati drift boats.  The side doors in the Pavati’s get more appealing the older I get.   🙂

If it were not for the holiday weekend coming up, I would be planning a float with my friends instead of writing about one.

It was a couple of years ago.  I took my wife out with us to chase winter steelhead.  This was her first float on the Sandy river.  She loves to fish almost more than I do and she has all the gear.  Waders, Boots, Gloves, Spinning rod, Bait caster, and a backpack full of the necessities for fishing winter Steelhead.  We launched at first light.  It was probably at or below freezing.  This is when the right gear makes all the difference to keep warm.  We hit a few holes on the way down with not even a nibble.  It was shaping up to be a nice boat ride.  One particular hole we stopped to fish, there is a good sized rock protruding out of the water along the bank.  My buddy got my wife up on the rock to give her a vantage point to cast to the seam we were targeting.  After a few minutes, she had not gotten a bite and decided to get down off the rock.  She slipped and went face first into the water.  It was not as bad as it sounded, but she did take some water down the front of her waders.  Needless to say, she was pretty cold after that, even with the right gear.  Being the trooper she is, she wanted to continue fishing.  The very next cast it was bobber down.  The adrenaline hit and being cold was no longer a factor.  It gave her an incredible fight and she eventually brought it to the bank.  This was her reward for never giving up.  I love that woman.