Riverman,

I do feel fortunate, for this is indeed spectacular country. I get ribbed a good deal by guys I grew up and went to college with about living in "the backwoods," but they're the same individuals who invariably are looking to visit for a weekend of fishing and/or hunting.

So far as "big" fish around here, the fact there aren't an excess of 20-pounders isn't so surprising when you consider the journey these fish have to make. In negotiating the 400-some miles and the eight dams between Lewiston and the Pacific, steelhead will lose up to one-third of their body mass -- at least that's what a local fish biologist tells me. Since the average B-run fish ranges between 12 and 16 pounds, a fair amount of them were 20-pounders when they entered the Columbia.

So, yeah, the hatchery fish -- or any fish, for that matter -- that gets to the Clearwater still packing 20 pounds is something of a rarity.

You sound as if those days flinging a white jig on the Clearwater are but a fond memory. Granted, Pendleton isn't as close as Moscow, but take heart -- you're still only a couple hours away.