All of everything that “really matters” is gone. All that jibber jabber such as A+ this and B+ that no longer exists All that exists now is cold hard steel and lots of it.Today when we arrived at the river we were pretty much all amped up. Everyone was excited for a new day of steelheading. Dave (waterwhippa) made it his mission to make it so that I caught my first steelhead, and boy did his mission work. Dave fly fished with me until I got a beautiful steelhead under my belt. The run was sweet, the fly I tied was on and within a few drifts I hooked bottom. The usual thoughts of steelheading came to mind…”aww man, now I’m gonna have to break off this fly, then with my luck all my 6 pound tippet will probably come off too. Do I have another fly?” I began to point the rod directly at the rock and I pulled on the line as hard as I could. Just as I began to pull, the rock sprinted down river. A quick hook set and I said “there he is!” “yah that’s big steel bro” was all that was said from then on. The steelhead fought well, and under whippa’s guidance we were able to tail the fish. What a great fish for me. Not to small, not to big, very fresh with translucent fins. What more could I ask for! My first steelhead ever caught and surely not the last.

I love steelhead so much now. I now seem to have much more confidence and self esteem. I feel confident in my drifts and I know where they hold. I hooked two other very nice steelhead throughout the day and had a just downright jolly time. Thank you Dave for helping me to catch my first steelhead. I will never forget that entire five minutes of pure excitement. You are a great guy and I look forward tofly fishing with you in the near future.