First post, lurking for a year (plus steelhead pics)

Hey yawl,

Figured introduction was overdue... reached the ripe age of 50 recently and have been getting back into fly fishing over the past year.

Last December I had a religious experience with steelhead on the west side of Vancouver Island (near Port Renfrew)... after a hellacious fall-on-my-face hike into the bowels of a pristine canyon I caught six SH between 25 and 35 inches. One of the best days of my life, you shoulda been there, etc... way to bust my steelhead cherry! I was using my 8wt sink tip with streamers, and also tried my Canadian (eh!) buddy's centerpin rod with a sacrilegious pink worm. That centerpin gear is deadly to the point of cheating (but it's not a fly rod).

25 inches!
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/G0...aZS1Oc=s824-no

About 33 inches!
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Zu...I=w800-h600-no

Do you see the fish?
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/zf...=w1098-h824-no


Cheers!

John
Lotus, CA

Also, I just bought a 16-foot Clackacraft last week (off this forum, thanks Blane!) and I'm looking forward to not making the news with it sunk in San Juan rapids. If I do I will blame my water-reading skillz on forum member JasonB (who taught me to whitewater kayak 11 years ago).

Looks like a likely place to cause a bad fall but I see the fish!

Great post JohnR.......thanks.

Looking down on those fish gets me immediately thinking about how to put the sneak on them. Probably need to get way above them and drift or swing something down to them. You are only going to get one or two shots before they spook so don’t botch it. Looks like a fun stalk. Someday I will get up there on a big road trip.

Welcome to the board and thanks for the post.

Whoa Nelli! Nice first post. That water looks awesome..ninja mode for sure.

Welcome!

Eric

Hey John,
Way to introduce yourself! Looks like an amazing trip, and some beautiful steelhead. I didn’t know you’d acquired a drift boat, should be a whole new set of adventures for you. I’m sure your river running skills will transfer just fine, but I’d be more than happy to tag along sometime and pass along a few things I remember from the days when we had a drift boat ... hint hint.
Cheers,
JB

Sounds good Jason... lets go fishing! When do you get back from Mexico? I expect midweek is best for you... if I plan a couple weeks ahead (and you don't mind me taking calls while fishing) I can often get away for a day midweek.
John

Beautiful water, reminds me of a few places in NorCal

The Smith?