River Journal Nov. 24, 2018

River Journal Nov. 24, 2018Today, is a special day in many ways. I haven't fished with Adam my eldest on a river for 10 years. With his early Christmas present , a nice pair of waders he was ready for a new adventure with dad.. We arrived at the river around 7: 30. Two other anglers already took up the first fishing hole we were going to cover. I felt disappointed, as this is where I have had most of the luck. We watch them for a while and then decided to move to the next hole. Reaching the secound hole I reviewed with Adam how to handle the level wind and control the drift. Just like riding a bike He didn’t miss a beat. I set his gear up the same as mine with a 10mm steelybead pegged 1 1/2 inch above a ghost shrimp using a #4 hook. I showed him the technique on using the ghost shrimp and he was off to make the first cast. As I started to put my rod together he is screaming He has a fish on. Sure enough his rod is dancing back and forth. I drop everything I was doing and go to help land the steelhead. Alas the line broke and after retrieving his gear I suspected there must have been a nick in the line to weaken it. I re set him up with weight, leader, bead and ghost shrimp. I told him to cover the same area on the next drift. I am off to set up my rod. Halfway there he screams I have another. After a great fight we were able to land his first steelhead. I took lots of photos of action and secured the hatchery. I re set his gear and watched how he tied up the ghost shrimp. Then a left him a bag with a dozen so at least I might have a chance to get a cast in. I finally get set up and make my first cast. The float approaches near the tail out and goes down and I set the hook hard. Out came this huge hatchery buck and the fight is on. Adam comes down to take his share in photos. Finally I said I would get a photo of me in action. Great fight and I was able to land him. We get numerous hits and misses during the next hour. Finally though I tag one perfect and landed my secound hatchery. The down side I got cocky and decide to take a photo while she was lying subdued in the water near shore. She suckered me thinking she was tired. With two big flips she tossed the hook and was off to the deep. That was 9am and I would have been done for fishing. Adam laughed and said I did it on purpose so I could fish longer. Not to happy with myself we continued fishing this hole. Adam finally tags into his secound steelhead and lands it perfect on his own while dad is taking all the photos he can. I tell him only I can fish now and if nothing happens we can go home in another 30 minutes. There was nothing working anymore in this area and I noticed the first hole I wanted to cover now had no anglers. After 20 minutes covering thing most of the water, I suggested we could go home but he said no keep trying. I am glad I did as a made a drift in the middle of the flow and I thought I had a hit. Confirmation came when all there was left was the tail. I put on a fresh red female shrimp. Watched the drift closely and kept up to the slack line. The float tapping the odd time to indicate it was touching the bottom. The bobber went down and I struck. Adam yells as he see this beautiful silver doe come out of the water do a fantastic aerial display. Great fight from a nice hatchery doe and that meant we both caught our limit. After I landed it, 10:30am we are hiking back to the Jeep to go home.What a special day to share with my son. Cooked one tonight and it was a special meal, special day, and special adventure