used to only fish salmon growing up...

after hearing about my buddies rave about winter steel i went out with them one day 4 years ago.
took the drive from sequim to forks, questioning the cold the whole time.
did the boggy the first day with no luck. second day first steelhead on and landed on a jig and a float. was a hard figting fish i remember being surprised.not sold on the cold yet. followed by the next day my buddy told me we were hitting the queets. i was excited to see this river as i had'nt seen the queets this time of year.three boats and a good day. fished most the day with no takers. set the tad pollys out. mabee 2 minuets in the work down the left rod goes ape sh&*.that was my 1st queets steelhead thumb burner that came unbotton after running 100-200 yards down river with no changing its mind. rowed back up re-plugged the hole in my buddies woody another visious take down battle that ended with a land and release.
after that weekend i felt bummbed i had let all that time slip by not taking advantage of these fish. ever since, salmon season is just a warm up to the best time of year winter steel.