Steelhead Journal January 30, 2019

Finally, the river is back in shape. We left Nanaimo at 7 am temperature minus 2. In the last five days, the river dropped about a foot and a half. Perfect clear and no wind. Prime example why to have pre-tied leaders with RigRap. Randy precariously waded out at the tail out on the first pool. It would be difficult to go back to shore just to re-tie a new leader. You want to lessen the disturbance in the water from wading so one does not spook them out. I was able to hook one on but lost it in the heat of the battle. When I checked my hook it wasn't sticky sharp. I dulled it when I tagged a boulder earlier and forgot to check which is unusual for me but it happens. Luckily I set Randy up with four RigRap Yellow with pre-tied Steelybeads on #4 hooks as that area had lots of snags. On his third replacement, he finally hit a beautiful wild steelhead. Using the Lucky Strike Bait rubber net he was able to safely net the fish and then released it without any scale or removal of its protective slime coating. Of course the backbone was the Amundson Kudos Strategy casting rod