Originally Posted By: steelheader316


I'm rambling, but I can't give it up, even on pressured days, when the odds are against a bankie like me, even on a "healthy" river like the Clearwater. I still dream of a week on the OP, or perhaps a lifetime trip to BC, and it gives me motivation to fish my home rivers deep in the Inland NW


Great post... I reside in Idaho now, although I grew up within a 20 min drive of 4 great PS steelhead rivers. Unfortunately, by the time I started, it was just in time to see the steelhead empire burn to the ground, along with it some of the greatest, most skilled steelheaders I've ever seen, departed.

I'm the same age as you and it is incredible to see how those rivers and that area has changed in 20+ years.

It makes me appreciate what Idaho has to offer and the quality and resilience of these long traveling summer runs. It's not the same as fishing a rainforest stream for mint bright winter runs, but it's a fishery that deserves alot of praise for its hatchery and wild steelhead, in the face of all the litigation and slandering of hatchery fish.
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