We woke up this morning with the intent to leave the Salmon River. Once again, things changed. Jeremy is doing some work out here and asked if I could stay a few more days. Of course I said yes, because I wanted another shot at the Steelhead. So we went to a beautiful tributary. The levels had come down a bit from previous days and the water had improved. We pulled into a turn out and Jeremy says, β€œStop, we are here.” My response was, β€œI hope there is an elevator.” The descent of pure shale and mud was ominous at best. We managed to make it down without any mishaps. I could use this opportunity to tell about my 100 yard swim down river yesterday. Which then would explain why I was sitting in my truck in my underwear with the heat blasting? But, I will save you the image and myself the embarrassment. Due to the geology of the river bottom I had to seek and find channels where fish would lie. I chose to fish the tail out of a long channel. I cast to the slowest seam along a walled structure. Due to the colder water temperatures and faster currents, I felt the fish would be in the slowest current. After repetedly casting my nymph rig I began to consider how cold my feet were. Suddenly, my indicator went subsurface. I raised my rod and felt the full weight of a large Steelhead. I had him on for 10 minutes as he zigged and zagged and fought the rod. He managed to escape into a fast channel and spit the hook. Still shocked and suffering from cold feet I made my way back to the same exact spot. Within minutes my strike indicator went subsurface for the second time. Again, I knew it was a Steelhead. Although smaller than the first it seemed to fight just as hard. With Jeremy barking directions at my heals and charting a course down river we managed to land the fish. Even though it was not a huge Steelhead, it was my Steelhead. My first Steelhead.