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My first experience with Steelhead was a rough one as far as fish go. That was fine with me because I got the chance to meet up with a bunch of guys from fliesandfins.com. Jeremy, Whippa, Austin, and Greg. Jeremy looks much taller in pictures.:) Anyway, it was very easy to fit in and feel welcome in a group of fly fishing addicts. I met up with the crew at about 9-10am on Thursday as they were already well under way on there pursuit for Steel. Austin was tied into a big Steelhead which gave him the slip and hung him up on a rock. This gave me hope seeing people hooked up already. We did some walking and fishing with no results, and ended up back where we met up. I hooked up a little further up river with a small female...maybe a couple pounds. I could almost see my reflection in her sides. A little while later I hooked in to a male, maybe ten pounds by Whippa's estimate. What a fight that was! When he started thrashing in the water I knew I had a big fish on. My heart was pumping. Then some dude broke him off when the fish ran around his legs. It was my fault really I told him to go down and scare him up river or else I could have lost him as he ran down the rapids. All in all it was

a fun battle while it lasted.

Day 2:It was pretty much a wash for everyone. I think Jeremy did land one. It was down right cold and windy. Not a fish in sight. We worked the entire river almost. This was a day for diehards. If you fish in these conditions, you have sickness. We ended the day with some wings, bad chicken parm sandwich, and a buffalo wings style pizza. I think Jeremy and Austin ate 3 pieces of the entire pie...maybe half. We departed ways as they were setting out for Maine in the morning. I was sticking it out for one more day.

Day 3: I was on the river by daylight. Snow began to fall hard. I felt like I was on some remote river in the mountains. I could almost hear the snow hitting the water. I found myself silently talking in Snoopisms. I don't even listen Snoop Dog...or rap for that matter. I didn't see anyone for 3 hours or a fish. I decided to try a new tactic. I switched my reel over to my sink tip with a small stone fly. This gave me a small confidence boost. This is going to work. I drifting and hiking for about an hour until I finally got a hit bringing a rainbow to hand. Not the monster I was hoping for, but at least a fish. When checking my rig after release I made the mistake of putting my reel in the water. I noticed it had frozen solid after I had hiked another 5 minutes. That and the mounds of slush floating down river made my decision to call it a day and head for CT.