Not even sure when I caught my first steelhead, probably on a Quinault trip with my dad. But I will never forget the first one I broke off. I fished a small creek that got a lot of hatchery brood stock released into it. I would routinely catch trout up to around 24 inches. In between I caught some other nice native cutthroat. My best was about around 20 inches that was probably close to 4 pounds, even had a seal bit in it. I gave it to a neighbor who freaked out about how big it was. But...one day I was free-drifting a worm through the deep hatchery hole when the line tightened and an approximately 40" brute tore through the hole and snapped me off in a second. It could have been a huge brood stock too, but I never saw anything in the creek, even among the kings and silvers, that came remotely close to being that long. That was around 38 years ago and I have only caught one steel head that big since.