My original plans had me out on the Columbia River trolling for Spring Chinook again last Saturday. One event led to another and my plans fell through. I got an invite to join my good friends out on the Clackamas River to chase winter steelhead instead. With the Columbia as cold as it is right now, it would be more about burning fuel than catching Kings. The odds for landing steelhead on the Clack are much better.
We launched the Pavati about 7am. There were only two other trailers in the parking lot. It looked to be a light traffic day on the river. I think we came across about 4 or 5 other boats throughout the day.
The morning temperature was a chilly 37 degrees and showers were in the forecast. It warmed up to about 52 degrees by about 1pm and we were fortunate to not get rained on. It was a great weather day on the water.
My day did not start out so great. The first snag, I pulled up on my rod and snapped it about a foot from the reel. The rod must have been compromised in some way for it to break where it did. I know some people out there have had success with the Lamiglass X-11’s, but this is the third one I have broken. I doubt I will ever buy another. For cheap rods, I am a huge fan of the Okuma SST’s. I have not had a single problem with one yet.
Throughout the rest of the day, I must have found every snag in the river and went through at least 10 leaders. By mid day, I just accepted this was going to be my role. Thankfully, I was with good people and spirits were kept high. Beer, food and music made it a joyful day.
It was a tough grind, but we did not go home skunked. The second to the last hole, I was once again with my rod in the boat putting on another leader while Pablo drifted his bead through and got a hit. We were in some current so Pablo loosened his drag and the fight was on. The fish turned out to be a native and after a couple of pic’s, it was returned to the water.
We attempted another pass through that hole with no success. It was time to move on to the last hole and call it a day.