Joined
·
145 Posts
For my birthday, my wonderful wife Caryn booked a trip on the Cowlitz with Phil from Mystical Legends Guide Service. It was a beautiful day on the water, with lots of boats out in front of Blue Creek and quite a few bankies as well. I hadn't been to the Cowlitz in 15 years and it sure looked different. I guess because they changed the location upstream where the steelhead were released. All in all, the fishing was kind of slow but Phil worked hard to make sure we got into some fish. As all of you already know, Phil's da man!
On our first pass, fish on... and just as quickly fish off. I crackered my first try, it seemed like the fish wasn't on long and it came unbuttoned.
I guess I wasn't game ready yet.
Later on, way upstream, we got into a beauty! A 7-lb buck that gave me a heck of a good fight for about 10 minutes, pulling us down river quite a bit.
[On Edit: Weighed the fish at home, gutted it was over 8 lbs so it was probably 9-10 lbs, not 7 lbs, not that I'm counting wink: ]
Here are the pics:
FISH ON!!!
After that fish, things didn't go as well. While heading downstream, I hooked into an old ugly coho boot. Obviously, we released that one.
Then, I hooked into another nice steelhead! Probably about 5 lbs, fought pretty hard but not as hard as the first. Got it to the boat then... it came unbuttoned. Crackered it :evil: at the boat. I really hate when that happens!!!
We ended up casting and drifting all the way downriver with a couple of hits but no hookups. FINAL SCORECARD, 1 for 3. Oh well, in baseball I'd be considered a star (.333 batting average Tup: ) Actually if you count the old boot, I went 2 for 4! Thanks to Phil for working so hard for getting those fish. clap: And as I told Phil, thanks for putting up with my wife and I. My wife wasn't that experienced but by the end of the day, she was casting like a pro. As for me, no excuses and I probably earned the trophy for Line Tangler of the day . Oh well...
The great thing about the trip was that of the one fish I got in the boat, it was a big, strong buck that gave me all the fight I could handle and I was able to get it in the boat with a little skill. The other good thing was that it was a beautiful day to spend for my birthday, fishing on the Cowlitz with my wife and Phil. I couldn't have asked for a better day!
On our first pass, fish on... and just as quickly fish off. I crackered my first try, it seemed like the fish wasn't on long and it came unbuttoned.
I guess I wasn't game ready yet.Later on, way upstream, we got into a beauty! A 7-lb buck that gave me a heck of a good fight for about 10 minutes, pulling us down river quite a bit.
[On Edit: Weighed the fish at home, gutted it was over 8 lbs so it was probably 9-10 lbs, not 7 lbs, not that I'm counting wink: ]
Here are the pics:
FISH ON!!!
After that fish, things didn't go as well. While heading downstream, I hooked into an old ugly coho boot. Obviously, we released that one.
Then, I hooked into another nice steelhead! Probably about 5 lbs, fought pretty hard but not as hard as the first. Got it to the boat then... it came unbuttoned. Crackered it :evil: at the boat. I really hate when that happens!!!
We ended up casting and drifting all the way downriver with a couple of hits but no hookups. FINAL SCORECARD, 1 for 3. Oh well, in baseball I'd be considered a star (.333 batting average Tup: ) Actually if you count the old boot, I went 2 for 4! Thanks to Phil for working so hard for getting those fish. clap: And as I told Phil, thanks for putting up with my wife and I. My wife wasn't that experienced but by the end of the day, she was casting like a pro. As for me, no excuses and I probably earned the trophy for Line Tangler of the day
. Oh well...The great thing about the trip was that of the one fish I got in the boat, it was a big, strong buck that gave me all the fight I could handle and I was able to get it in the boat with a little skill. The other good thing was that it was a beautiful day to spend for my birthday, fishing on the Cowlitz with my wife and Phil. I couldn't have asked for a better day!
