For awhile there, it was unclear who was going to emerge victorious...
Ok, so maybe Chris Mayes’ steelhead isn’t the biggest one ever pulled from the Trinity River, but it still deserves Hawg of the Month consideration because of the effort Chris put out to catch this thing!
Here, I’ll let Chris tell the story…
The reason I’m submitting this fish isn’t because it’s huge, but more because of what I had to go through to land it. I was fishing off the bank the Trinity River when I hooked this fish on a size 4 brass Mepps Aglia spinner. After a few minutes of bulldogging in the pool, the fish bolted downstream through a short rapid. Since there was a cliff face on my bank that prevented me from following the fish, I had to jump in the river and float through the rapid (luckily I still had my life jacket on after beaching my kayak).
Somehow, I was able to keep tension on the fish as I was gasping for air and banging the hell out of my knees on rocks as I floated downriver. I got a foothold on the other bank about 30 yards downstream at the bottom of the rapid, where I played the fish for another few minutes until my buddy Matt could net it. It was a female hatchery steelhead, 30 inches long, one of the biggest steelies I’ve caught in the Trinity!
You’ll notice in the pic that I’m soaking wet, and that somehow I was able to keep my hat and sunglasses on my head, haha. I got some big bruises and scrapes on my legs, but I was stoked to land that fish! The whole scene was reminiscent of the scene in “A River Runs Through It”, when Brad Pitt jumps in the river to follow that trout. I wish we had video of it, but at the time it was pretty scary/crazy stuff and we weren’t thinking about video. My friend Matt claimed it was “the coolest thing he’d ever seen,” haha.
I caught this on September 11 using 8 pound test. Overall it was a slow trip, we caught one more adult steelie (5-6 pound hatchery brat) and some halfpounders, but there weren’t nearly as many fish in this stretch as there were at this time last year. Must be running a little late I guess.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
What a story and what a hunk! He’s got my vote.
Wow…a hunk reference…that’s gotta be a first here! :)
Haha, um….thanks?
Thanks for the comments everyone! I normally like to fish the middle sections of the river Matt. I really like the Del Loma section for floating since it’s easy and often productive, but it gets pretty competitive by mid-October because a lot of guides love to fish that section too. I’ve probably fished the Willow Creek section (South Fork confluence down to Big Rock) more than any other part of the river, mostly because it was the closest float for me when I lived in Eureka. I hardly ever fish upstream of Junction City…too many boats on too small of water for me.
Nice fish Chris. Where do you like to float for the steelies?
Matt
He’s got my vote too!
One vote here! What a story and what a fish!