Can't Quite Capture

Been reading lots of articles and essays on steelhead fishing lately. I think mostly centered on how much hardcores love it in the Winter (which I concur with). What's fascinating to me is that no one seems to be able to truly capture how it feels.

By contrast, I've seen plenty of writers -- Geirach, Traver, Hemingway -- who seem to be able to capture the trout experience. Maybe it's a volume thing; lots of people write about trout, few about steelhead.

For me, it's complex and at the same time simple. I think it revolves around two key things:

Steelhead Live in Beautiful Places

At least in the Midwest, steelhead live in some of the most scenic spots I can imagine. The flywater of the Pere Marquette. The BigMan below Tippy. The Jordan at Graves Crossing. The Two Hearted in the Eastern UP. And more. And the're nothing quite as beautiful as standing in one of these rivers in February during a snow. It's hushed, serene, and about as uncomplicated as life gets. Unless you're standing in the BigMan, in which case you probably should get back in the boat.

The Hook-Up

Although detecting strikes can be tricky, there's nothing I know of like that initial surge immediately following. It's like grabbing a live electrical wire. There's this surge that travels up the line, through your now-loaded rod and into your arm. This is not a trout, nor a sluggish but strong salmon -- it's pure chrome. Although the Fall fish have that extra gear for runs, it doesn't seem to matter what season this first hit is intense. It sparks an adrenaline rush that's comparable to few others. In fact, in most cases, I find I need to make a conscious effort to take a deep breath and collect my wits so I don't lose the fish during the first run.

Last Fall, while fishing with a friend and guide Jon Ray, I had just such a "vapor lock" moment. Hooked up pretty quickly. Got all geeked out on the rush and completely forgot to keep my hands off the reel on the first run. While Jon's "correcting" me for this behavior, and I'm denying I look down ... yup, hands still on the reel and I didn't even notice.

Of course, thinking about these two elements made me think of a dozen other things I enjoy about it, but I think these two are the magic -- at least for me.

-Sean-