First WA steelie was in 1982, freshman year of college at UPS in Tacoma. Finally ventured out for my inaugural trek to the Puyallup. As I drove upriver along the River Road, I could see lots of plunkers working the levees. Pulled off under the Meridian Bridge and had the "hole" to myself. Drifted a giant gob-stopper flame corky with chartreuse yarn into the olive green-brown flows using a home wrapped Fenwick HMG blank and Bantam 200 reel. I wasn't there 20 minutes when I landed a brand new 11 pound native hen (WOW, had to go check the pic to verify that!).

Not even sure if there was a distinction between wild and hatchery retention among the average Joe Fishermen of the day. It was my first, it was bright, it was loaded with eggs.... it was dead!

So can any of you long time Puget Sound steelheaders tell me if I was a criminal in the day? I honestly don't know.
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"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!