My first several salmon were caught when I was in grade school when my brothers and I fished with Dad out of Illwaco, WA for them off the mouth of the Columbia. Loved it. My first river caught steelhead wasn't until my late teens or so when I caught a nice one in the Necanicum River near Seaside, OR. I was using a cheap fiberglass rod and using the spinning reel upside down. I caught the steelie drifting a flame red oakie with white yarn - like the guys at GI Joes told me to. I became an instant lifelong steelhead and salmon fisherman.

RT