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The most memorable experiences I have had fishing came largely from steelhead. Like the first steelie I took on a fly. Fishing for cutts on a small coastal river this fish grabbed my bunny fur streamer and proceeded to shake the willies out of me with six or seven jumps in quick succession - these were high leaps on the order of 6 feet or more. I landed that wild buck. Then there were many fish on the Coq'. There was one that took a greased liner in 2 feet of water, tore the pool up with a series of runs and jumps. Afraid it would tear down the chute below I got behind it by standing the middle of the tail out. It went right by me and lead me on a dash over boulder and logs. It went over a falls and finally came ashore some 500 yards from where I hooked it. There was a fish in the Squamish. I hooked it in a bit of pocket water and it went 50 yeards into the backing to a run below where it made 3 or 4 good jumps. Ran some more, shook, pinwheeled and scooted along my shoreline. Though it was 'green' I thought I could landed it and I was able to slid it into a scalloped finger of shallow water. It lay on it's side. Excited I stepped over the fish and my line. The fish looked up at me and decided he didn't like me. Away he went straight though my legs. There I stood. bent over with a 9foot flyrod sticking out past my ass and a 10lb steelhead jumping from the end of the line. In a panic I did a sort of figure skater jump, held the rod up to see I'd wrapped the fly line around it - the fish broke off. Later that season two steelhead in Cheakamus ripped me 100 yards plus into the backing - one was 20lbs +, I'm sure. I lost both. I could go on but time is short.
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I'd like to add a couple of Steelie stories to Ralph's. One occurred on the Puntledge back almost 30 years ago. I'd just come to BC and was equipped for small Brook Trout i.e. a 5ft Ultralight, 4lb test. In early August I decided to go trout fishing. The first cast of my spinner into a pool below some powerlines got snagged. Or at least so I thought, for a second, until this monster "trout" jumped 4ft out of the river. I fought it for a couple of minutes until it tired of me and headed downstream, with me in tow. The Mitchell 308 reel screamed until the heat caused by the running fish melted it. The fish at that point stopped on the other side of the river still attached, but I had no way to reel in. I think it was laughing at me!!! That summer run of steelies is now gone the way of the dodo which is really too bad. The second occurred in Ontario. A really big (I say this cause it got away too) steelie hit at the mouth of a small Lake Ontario stream. Instead of staying in the the small stream it reversed course immediately upon feeling the hook and bolted by me. I was standing in the water. As it went by I spun aroung and ...fell down, pointing my rod at the fish. As I fell the top half came off, the line broke and and the fish went out into the lake still jumping with my rod tip skimmimg the surface. Reminded me of Moby Dick. Other fish have also created excellent memories, like the absolutely immense Musky that followed my spinnerbait to the boat, or the 52 lb carp that fought for an hour, the salmon that spooled me in the saltchuck, but it's funny, a lot those memories have to do with the one that got away.
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