I went up early Tues. and got back yesterday.  We started our fishing behind our Lodge, then made our way to Pineville.  From what I was told by everyone up there Tues. was one of the best days the river has seen in years.  Also, by most accounts the fish this year are much bigger than years past.  This was my second official year of fishing and my friend and are about still as wet behind the ears as ever.  This was my first year bringing up the fly rod.  I had a couple  bites the first day but that was about it.  The Steelhead Lodge was a great place to stay.  We met up with a lot of really nice guys from all over who were all willing to lend a tip or two and some took us out fishing as well.  The second day of fishing we hit up the staircase, and the ballfield.  I had a couple on, but again could not land one.  I had one on my fly rod take off like a mustang.  I was down to about a third of my backing left.  The fish went under a downed tree, down a small waterfall around a bend, then we were at a standstill.  I made my way to the tree but could do nothing.  Everyone was looking at me and offering no advice.  I didn't know what to do.  I could see the line stretched out down river, but the water was way to deep to go in where I was after it.  One guy said hold on to your line and walk back.  So that's what I did, then.......SNAP!!!  My new fly rod snapped at the last section.  I was devastated.  I was able to pull my line in after that and saved the spool of line.  Luckily I brought my spinner back-up.  The next day we went out with some of the guys from the lodge.  They were super helpful as far as what we were doing wrong and right, mostly the former.  We hooked on a couple more fish but couldn't land any.  I was told to go down to a little brook connecting to the firemans hole and I was able to hook up to one in there.  While it wasn't the same as getting one in the big open, raging waters, I was able to land it, and got my first fish.  It was about a 20 pounder.  I must say, salmon fishing or fishing the salmon river, has to be one of the most physically, mentally, emotionally draining things I have ever done.  From the excitement of the fight to the inevitable loss of the fish(in most cases.)  I was drained.  I did learn a lot this year and I am making strides to getting the idea of how to catch them.  My biggest problem was way too little weight and drifting technique.  I saw a ton of fish and a ton landed.  The one guy who was showing us the ropes, landed four cohoes, two steels, a monster brown, and a bunch of kings.  It was like he was just reaching into the river and picking them up.  He would put me in his spot and tell me I was doing everything perfect, yet I rarely got a bite.  It's obviously technique, technique, technique.  I'm already looking forward to next year.  Hopefully you all had/have as good of a time as I did, and I'm sure most of you landed or will land a heck of a lot more than I did.

Good honest report there.  I know the feeling of having so many fish around, but unable to get them to hit.     There is a frustration factor to salmon getting them to hit.

As someone once said "the tug is the drug."  It's almost impossible to describe to the uninitiated how strong these fish are.  Glad to see the bug has bit.

Fishing honestly, there's times they won't hit and it's tough. Glad you had some tugs- it's all good. There's guys that go to Alaska and don't do as well.

As already stated. Nice honest report.  Sounds like you had fun and that's is what is important.  

As an addendum to my first cooment.  I brought the broken rod to LL Bean yesterday.  No questions asked, they just took it back and gave me a whole new reel and case.  Love the place. 

Dtrobe,
 
When you are attempting to remove a tree and a few boulders with your flyline, leader and backing, it is a good idea to have a glove, at least a jersey glove, but one of the leather work gloves works better.  Pull enough additional line off the rig to grab the line between the snag and the rod.  Now take all tension off the rod, and hold it so it stays free of tension. Wrap the flyline or backing around your gloved hand so it will not slip, and then start walking backwards away from the hangup.  This is eventually going to break, but before it does it is going to get very tight around your hand, which is why you are using the glove (and if you are using a 30 lb leader, you will be amazed at how much force it takes to break 30 lb, one reason many of us use 12).  If you point the rod at the snag and walk backwards, as you may have been advised to do, you risk getting the rod a little out of straight and maybe breaking it (maybe what happened), or, if the line breaks at a knot point and the knot comes back and hits the tip, this has been known to break the tip as well.  LL is probably still pretty cool about replacements, they have not encountered Twobob!
 
L13

That was many years ago when I held the record for free rod replacements from Orvis.

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