One Winter break from college a friend and I drove out here from Bozeman. He had never seen a steelhead and desperately wanted to hook one. I convinced him that if he spent a couple of days out here we would find some fish. I could see his chops watering the whole way out here as I told him of the fish I had caught growing up here. As luck would have it the night we got into town the rain started coming down in buckets. All the rivers blown. We tried a little on the Sky the next morning as it went out. As we left it was starting to float logs (not those kinds of logs Paranoid - the wood kind )

I told him your only hope at a fish with the water conditions is a little gem of a river called Tokul Creek. I tried to describe the scene in the most positive light I could. "You only get to fish about 500 yds of this creek. There will be a crap ton of people fishing with you. You will be so close to other guys that when you do hook a fish people around you have to get out of the way so you don't tangle lines etc, etc." I don't think he truely understood what I meant by "fishing in a puddle" because he seemed way to eager to try it. I felt a little bad about the fact that he had come all this way and that this was his only real choice for a fish.

We got there at about noon with about a million other guys. Looked like there was quite a few fish on the bank and I could see a few guys with fish on from the bridge. I spotted a fish right under the bridge where the little hatchery creek come in. I had my buddy walk down and I was trying to direct him where to cast from above. His first cast was a little long and could see his pencil lead laying on top of some grass that had folded over into the water. He was using a bare hook with a little bit of egg yarn in the loop with a very short leader. Just as he started to raise his rod to pull his gear off the grass a fish came out of nowere and blasted his hook. It rolled out into the middle of the creek, but it seemed to be fighting a little funny. When he finally got the fish up on the bank we noticed it had another hook in its mouth. To my disbelief that hook was not broken off, but was attached to a guy directly across the creek from my buddy. The fish was pinned in both corners of the mouth from the inside out. It looked like that fish had eaten both set of gear and not been flossed after it had already been hooked. My buddy really wanted the fish, and the other guy was understanding once he found out that it was his first. I couldn't believe it one fish two hookups!

Before we headed back to school theweather calmed down and we were able to spend a day on the OP. We found a couple of brats to take back to Montana and a whole lot more peace and solitude. I was glad I was able to show him what steelheading was all about.

Steve