North 40 Fly Shop eMagazine July 2016 | Page 4

Prince of Wales STEELHEAD JOSH MILLS FEATURED GUEST CONTRIBUTOR The scene in front of me matched the mental picture I had for a southeast Alaskan steelhead stream. upstream of the salt, a chrome-bright hen of ten pounds or so came up and smashed my strike indicator.... Emerging from ungodly deadfall and bramble, the creek met the ocean half a mile downstream. The water braided into several channels, and tide depending, had the possibility of holding fish that rode in on the rising water. My heart instantly hit my throat. Holy cow!! Oh yeah, and two bald eagles circled overhead. Might as well make it a postcard or something. As I worked the first good holding water Our trip to Prince of Wales Island in southeast Alaska for spring steelhead had been on the books for six months and to say it was highly anticipated was an understatement. From the information we could gather, we knew we were in for a different experience from the steelhead fishing we know well here in the Northwest.