I caught my first steelhead when I was 12, in March 1975. Went over to my friends house after school fishing for cutthroat in Dogfish Creek. Hooked a 20 1/4" sea run rainbow on a worm. Broke the line after a tough fight. The fish was so worn out that it was laying in the shallow part of the pool and I grabbed the line and pulled it out.
I was hooked on steelies after that and fished the Dosewalips and Big Quilcene a couple of times with my dad shortly after.
I quit fishing when I was a teenager and didn't get back into it until fishing for salmon a couple of times in my twenties.
Met my father in law and got back into it.