Fishing in an elevator shaft

That's my rock!
 
L13

Ny size 14s had worn an inch off those rocks before you ever saw a shopping list written on the back of a zig zag top.
 
And yes it was.
Had what must have been a pretty good one on briefly.Got the tug set up on it and nothing.
Kept a bend in the rod for a couple seconds,
NOTHING.
Start dropping the tip to shake the snag free just as it shakes its head bolts and spits.
Ya know the kind that it takes a while for them to realize something really had the balls to mess with them big.

The first steelbows  came from Chambers Creek (Tacoma) eggs (winter run steelhead).
The state actually came and netted a couple dozen from this stream to get eggs for the new at the time Salmon River hatchery
These were closer to what we around here call big head rainbows, a combo of genes from steelhead and lake running rainbows (mostly originated from Mccloud river strain stock)
 
Sorry thought Lucky 13 and I were the only people that read this board and I knew he got what I was saying. 

They can show up any time but more often in fall winter.
Its the body shape (a bit stubbier with bigger head) more than the coloration that makes me call them bows not steel.
As I have written this water was where the state came to net chambers creek strain steel when they had trouble with getting eggs.
 
Fish that have this same look are some of the largest steel in the world running to distant Skeena and Frazier river tribs.
They show up in the mid late fall but are summer run fish that arrive in June or July in other areas.
It just takes that long to make the journey from salt to head water.
They also stay in the trib before smolting for an extra year,
 
What was the question again?

I got a brown a bit over 5 fishing the old lower clay on a royal coachman dry one July in the early 80s.
I used to go during the summer and fish bass and fall fish while checking the changes from the winter.
 
Fishing with lucky one day above the old upper clay when the river didn't exist where the hole is now I landed an albino rainbow one day.
Darn close to white with a red stripe.
Really pretty cool looking.
 
Never had the op myself but the Morice and Bulkley fish tend towards the surface.
Of course they are usually only 6-8 pounds with a few in the teens mixed in but they really look to the surface. 
Did get to fish Washington, Oregon and Vancouver Island in my mid twenties when a friend was stationed in Bremerton Washington while the nuke engine was being pulled from his sub and it was decommissioned.
Good times having hair to the middle of your back on a navel base back in the 70s.
Really ended up OK when I showed some of them how to catch the fish in their lake on chironomids.
They would catch fish for a week after they were stocked and then rarely got many more fishing bait and lures.
Had a nco follow me around and every time I tried to fish he'd throw a stick for his dog to fetch ruining the water (dink).
Finally I started setting up not where I saw the rises, he'd swim the dog, I'd move to the rises and hook up before the dog got back.
Eventually word spread and the officers got all over him because they wanted the men to get to enjoy the fishing.
 End of the second year I think they would have let me on base even though my buddy had moved to a base in Hawaii
 

I swear Lucky used to hallucinate fish and they would then become real.
 
You also got one down in the camp water that spit up a giant  crawfish.
 

Yes, Dime, it is absolutely amazing how well camouflaged these fish are.  I actually don't think we see the fish as much as we see the shadow, and usually the clincher is when something moves the wrong way in relation to what the flow would do or has been doing to the light.  Always a gas to do some "conjurin'" with an audience!
 
L13

I'm off on business 17-19 so expect the express then, if Murphy is true to form.
 
L13

You could be close to pulling off the unluckiest trip timing ever.
If we get the 20 inches of snow followed by several days of upper 30s and 40s it just might hit big while you're away.
Condolences.
I'll do my best to pick up the slack for you.

What I meant to say was you might hit it right on.