My first big Steelhead on a fly.......

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

In the 1960s I bought a nice big fiberglass Steelhead outfit from Sports Unlimited on Arden Way in Sacramento, CA.

It was a 9' #9 line, 2 piece Fenwick fiberglass fly rod with a large 1495 1/2 Pflueger Medalist fly reel.

They filled it with lots of Cortland Micron braided Dacon backing and added a shooting line of Cortland Cobra flat mono.

They gave me two Scientifc Angler 30 foot shooting heads:

ST10S Type II

ST10S Type III (HiD)

I had on a heavy leader and a #6 Boss fly.............

I was at my favorite (secret night crawler spot) above the Watt Avenue Bridge.

I did a lot of casting and swinging but nothing for a while. I was told to cast, swing down below me and then take about 5 steps down and cast again.

Well, finally, after loosing some flies to the bottom I hooked a big powerful fish that fought very hard.

After a short time I was able to get it in. It was kind of golden in color and over 5 pounds. The mouth was on the bottom too.

My first big Steelhead turned out to be a big strong sucker......

Actually I was pretty happy that I landed something on my new fly rod.

It is all relative..........

.

[STEELIES/26c3]

Bill~

That's what I love about you man...

You always see the best in every person, every scenario and every experience~

You're a great human being...

THANK YOU~

[tacocat]

I'd love to catch a big sucker fish on a steelhead rig.

Suckers: the other golden bonefish.

[loganmike]

What I love about suckers is they are there, especially when the ol steelhead probably aren't. Have had many days made better by the one long pull of a sucker.

Good story Bill.

me

[thepeacockspecial]

id rather catch a golden steelhead than a big fat skunk. but im aftaid to touch them lol... usually use my pincers to remove hook and release lol

[weightforwardfilms]

Great story Bill. That's a classic Fenwick set-up!