North 40 Fly Shop eMagazine December 2016 | Page 45

note to grab some of my son’s leftover Halloween
candy, when I got home.
The next morning, I awoke well before dawn,
loaded up my car, and headed south on highway
195 toward Lewiston. As the sun started to rise over
the Palouse, all of my stress seemed to disappear
with one simple thought. I was going to spend the
next few days chasing steelhead with some very
fishy friends!
Steelhead are not a quarry for the weak-minded
fisherman. They can make you doubt everything
you’re doing on the water, and that’s during a year
of good numbers. The 2016 steelhead counts had
been bleak and almost all of the reports I had
been hearing confirmed these low numbers. I was
hoping we might get lucky with a dropping river,
perfect fall weather, and the fact that you’ll never
catch one sitting on your couch.
Like a kid in a candy store, I had to try one of my
favorite spots on the Snake before heading to the
Ronde. While this run isn’t the most consistent
when it comes to catching fish, it did produce my
first Snake River steelhead in 2010. I might also add
that I was dying to try my new spey rod.

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