For my birthday, my wonderful wife Caryn booked a trip on the legendary Cowlitz River with Phil from Mystical Legends Guide Service. It was a beautiful day on the water, with lots of boats out in front of Blue Creek and quite a few bankies as well. All in all, the fishing was kind of slow but Phil worked hard to make sure we got into some fish.
On our first pass, fish on... and just as quickly fish off. It seemed like the fish wasn't on long and it came unbuttoned. I guess I wasn't game ready yet. After a long, fast and cold 7 mile ride upstream, we hooked into a beauty! A 9-lb buck that gave me a heck of a good fight for about 10 minutes, pulling us down river quite a bit.
Here are the pics:
Fish On!
Got it netted!
Peter with the 9-lb beauty
After that fish, things didn't go as well. While heading downstream, I hooked into a spawned-out Coho Salmon. Obviously, we released that one. Then, I hooked into another nice steelhead! Probably about 5 lbs, fought pretty hard but not as hard as the first. Got it to the boat then... it came unbuttoned. I really hate when that happens. :x
We ended up casting and drifting all the way downriver. It was a beautiful drift downriver, we got a couple of hits but no hookups. FINAL SCORECARD, 1 for 3. Oh well, in baseball I'd be considered a star (.333 batting average ) Actually if you count the old boot, I went 2 for 4! That's why they call it fishing not catching.
A good thing about the trip was that of the one fish I got in the boat, it was a big, strong buck that gave me all the fight I could handle and I was able to get it in the boat with a little skill. The best thing was that it was a beautiful day to spend for my birthday, fishing on the Cowlitz with my beautiful wife. I couldn't have asked for a better day! Life is good...
Peter
C-Dancer
On our first pass, fish on... and just as quickly fish off. It seemed like the fish wasn't on long and it came unbuttoned. I guess I wasn't game ready yet. After a long, fast and cold 7 mile ride upstream, we hooked into a beauty! A 9-lb buck that gave me a heck of a good fight for about 10 minutes, pulling us down river quite a bit.
Here are the pics:
Fish On!
Got it netted!
Peter with the 9-lb beauty
After that fish, things didn't go as well. While heading downstream, I hooked into a spawned-out Coho Salmon. Obviously, we released that one. Then, I hooked into another nice steelhead! Probably about 5 lbs, fought pretty hard but not as hard as the first. Got it to the boat then... it came unbuttoned. I really hate when that happens. :x
We ended up casting and drifting all the way downriver. It was a beautiful drift downriver, we got a couple of hits but no hookups. FINAL SCORECARD, 1 for 3. Oh well, in baseball I'd be considered a star (.333 batting average ) Actually if you count the old boot, I went 2 for 4! That's why they call it fishing not catching.
A good thing about the trip was that of the one fish I got in the boat, it was a big, strong buck that gave me all the fight I could handle and I was able to get it in the boat with a little skill. The best thing was that it was a beautiful day to spend for my birthday, fishing on the Cowlitz with my beautiful wife. I couldn't have asked for a better day! Life is good...
Peter
C-Dancer