Congrats Mike, my first steelhead was caught in the summer somewhere around 1958 in the Mad River, trib of the Entiat River, in "downtown" Ardenvoir believe it or not. I didn't know what a fish scale was at the time but it measured all of 23 inches so it was definately smaller than yours. I caught it on a fly rod and a "pennywinkle" fly while fishing for trout, it took me 2 1/2 hours to land (going by the mill whistle) and I thought I had caught the monster of all rainbow trout until I got it home and my Grandpa Red told me it was a steelhead and explained what they were. That was before Rocky Reach Dam, now they are pretty much extinct up there. I was all of 8 at the time and I still remember every detail, as you will the rest of your life. Way to go