I've created a monster
Another year, another steelhead fishing adventure with my now 9 year old son Isaac for his birthday.
This year, we had some friends tag along - my buddy John and his 8 year old son Carson, one of Isaac's best friends - neither of whom had ever fished for steelhead. It added a little challenge for me, but I was looking forward to it.
We got on the stream about 9:30 yesterday morning, and the conditions where we fished were perfect. Isaac got the first few drifts in, until our friends were ready. On Carson's first two drifts of the morning, he hooked up with 2 really nice fish - legit 8 pounders. After a few quick fights the fish got off. Things slowed down a little bit, as we each had fish on briefly.
When I saw some guys vacating the hole I really wanted to get the boys in, we just about sprinted there.
It was fish on after fish on after fish on for a good hour and a half. The boys fought close to 15 fish a piece. Very tough hole to fight fish in - even for me - and I realized we left our net on another stream Monday evening where we fished for 45 minutes in the pouring rain before it got dark. But the boys each landed 3, and my buddy John even landed his first.
A severe migraine headache for Carson, complete with him chumming in the stream, a little after noon forced us off the stream to get him some rest and food. So we headed back south to let him rest up a little, and hit upper Elk close to 79 for the last few hours of the day. Not as many hookups there, but the boys each fought a few more solid fish, and Isaac landed one.
On the walk back to the truck at dark, Isaac was rubbing it in - "Dad, I caught 2 steelhead all by myself, and you didn't catch any. I'm a better steelhead fisherman than you and you have to take me to Erie every time you go now." He was right. I got him rigged up all day long, and handed the rod off a few times, but on 2 fish, he did the whole thing himself - the bait, the drift, the hookup and the fight. There were brief periods where he and his friend sat on the bank and acted like clowns, and John and I fished. I hooked up with a few, but didn't land any. And that's OK. If I had landed 50 it wouldn't have made the day any better. Other than the migraine, it was a perfect day. I've created a monster and I love it.
