I caught my very 1st Steelhead, opening day stream trout fishing on the Mashel R. (Nisqually trib), totally accidental. Dark downstreamer Memorial Day weekend, or was it earlier? when streams used to open early, on a light spin rod n reel w/ a worm for bait. My Dad took the rod from me and landed/released it cause he couldn't believe it. I don't count that.
The counted 1st was Plunking the lower Puyallup w/ my Grandpa who showed me the ropes. I learned on a Winona Reel, and eventually graduated to drift fishing w/ the same reel...."What a bunch of pups".... Hows that, WDFW? The Winona really helped transitioning to level winds.... backlashes. Moved to flyrod & reel w/ mono strip fishing for years before I realized how a deficient method it was. Still fun fighting fish but levelwinds and spinning setups were the [Bleeeeep!], and move to them. Like talking fishing, and miss those days.