Well, I changed the title to indicate the trip is past now. Phil warned me that fishing was "brutal" on the Satsop so we decided to drift the Humptulips on both days. Fishing was tough and both myself and my fishing partner were real neophytes to this steelhead thing. I never did get completely comfortable casting a float and 4-8' above the weight with another 2-3' of leader below that. I hadn't used a spinning reel in like 20 years and looked and felt like a klutz. It also took me the better part of a day to get to where I semi-reliably mended the slack out of the line. My fishing buddy was better with the casting but he (a stroke victim) has limited mobility in his left side and rarely managed to get the slack out of his line. Needless to say, we both missed a few strikes.
On Monday, the weather was gorgeous and we both caught one spawned out female in the 5-6lb range. Also caught a white fish or two and a smaller trout but that was it. Tues the weather was not quite as sunny but still it was great for a Feb day. The fishing however was not any better. We had a good size fish on (a hand-off from Phil) that charged upstream into a snag. Gone. Later we had another hand-off from Phil that I crackered off (spit the hook). Other than that, we didn't have a touch. Still, Phil was a great guy and put up with a lot of amateurish work on our part. The weather was awesome and the scenery great. That's why it's called fishing and not "catching". We'll get 'em next time (and I'll probably buy a 9.5' rod and spinning reel to practice with prior to going next time).
Thanks Phil.