A Good A$$ Kicking

I got a good old-fashioned a$$ kicking on the Pere Marquette river yesterday. But I loved every minute of it. High water last week brought in a big push of REALLY hot chrome steelhead. These fish were all go from the first one we hooked. I got my first on, and subsequently lost it, within a few minutes of hitting my first spot.

Late morning I hooked a charged-up buck that schooled me. From the initial head shake, it was clear this fish was going where HE wanted to go and had no interest in my efforts to persuade him otherwise. I started chasing him downriver and cranked up the drag on the reel. None of which mattered in the slightest. After a pretty good fight that took me into my backing, the 6# tippet finally gave up.

This is what steelheading's all about for me. The adrenaline after that fight was insane! I was left shaking and with tremendous respect for the powerful creature I'd just tangled with. Very cool.

Had a couple more good fights, and with a total of 11 hook-ups. And ZERO landed! Best of all, I had a BLAST and was in no way disappointed. The tug truly is the drug!