Skykomish River either '8 or '85. Family, friends and neighbors knew me to be a fishing fanatic (trout and salt water salmon). I was about 14. One of my neighbors who had a driver's license wanted to see someone catch a steelhead. He drove me up to Reiter a couple times and just sat on the rocks while I caught nothing. No clue whatsoever as to how to catch one of those things.

So, I went to the library and checked out a book on the subject. Back up toward Reiter we go. I'm sure many of you know exactly where I was. As you drive east on hwy 2 past the pullout to Reiter the road goes from 3 lanes back to 2. You look to your left and there's a HUGE boulder just upstream from where the river turns into "rapids." Peach corky, white yarn and cast right in behind this big rock. Tap, tap, tug. Fish on. 2 minutes later a 6# winter fish is on the bank. Not quite the fight I was expecting but at that point I was hooked for life.

As we're about to walk out this old guy with a fishing rod congratulates me and asks what I'm using. Show him my gear and he says "you caught it on that?" I still remember looking at his old yellow rod strung up with monofilament as thick as my anchor rope while he told me he'd been fishing steelhead for 25 years and never even hooked one.