I never forget any of the steelhead that got away, but they are the ones that keep me coming back for more. If we could land them all, it wouldn’t be as satisfying when we do. Reminds me of the old cowboy song, ‘Strawberry Roan’, about the one horse that couldn’t be tamed. The last line of the song is, “I'll bet all my money, the man ain't alive, that'll stay with old strawberry when he makes his high dive.”
Successful exploration indeed, an action packed day! That big buck steelhead did not want to be turned. With that long stretch of fast water, he'd have taken your entire spool. That big hen to start off with was so incredible, simply flawless! Sometimes getting a hook out can do far more damage than leaving it be, and stress is a killer, too. I think you chose well. Thanks for sharing, Barry!
Thanks for comment William. Yeah, the more I thought of that first fish, the more I believe I made the right choice. I’ve removed 100’s of hooks from steelhead and that one was in a strange spot, maybe in bone? I figured letting it swim was better than continuing to monkey around with it.
I get so jealous watching your awesome fishing adventures. I only fish steelhead about once a year since I am down in AZ and I miss Oregon badly. Your videos are awesome. Stay safe man and tight lines
@@RAGEFISHING if your ever down in my area I’d be happy to help you release all the wild fish you catch your about 2 hours northeast of me or plan a day to hit the river
I’m with you, that freeze frame helps, I sure wish I could have landed it, but I was just happy for the encounter. I got skunked on my actual birthday, the river fell even more overnight and it was colder. However, I still had a perma-smile all day! 😁🎣
A wise man once said, "if I'm fishing I'm filming." Great job capturing and sharing a phenomenal day. Beautiful scenery and fish! p.s., the fishing butlers came in this week, they'll help a bunch. Appreciate the links you provide to everything.
When it comes to float fishing, how do you deal with surface current? (surface current pulling your presentation faster than the bottom current) It's very easy to hold back the float when casting near, but casting out to a seam 40+ ft in front of you and trying to hold back the float is impossible until your float is 45 degrees downstream. Even then, if you try to slow it down you will pull it towards shore and away from the seam. I have not figured out anyway of doing this so I tried very thin floats that as affected by the top current. that kinda works but they are hard to see in choppy water.
The only thing that comes to mind is better line mending or using a longer rod to avoid getting that belly on the water. Another option is increasing your weighting system to slow your float down. Of course you’ll need to size up your float too.
Hey Berry I over heard you say u wish you had some help releasing fish I'm not to far from you and fishing new water sounds like a a fishy time keep me in mind we can I don't mind unhooking all of our fish hahah🎣🎣 what a nice native 💎💎
@@RAGEFISHING i can never bring myself to fish anything under 3/8 in some of that faster water after watching u through 1/8 and 1/4 it has encouraged me to down size even more on the gear I run. Im looking forward to focus on jig fishing a lot more
@@miguelsalinas1130 I rarely use over the 1/4 oz AF-6. Occasionally the 3/8 and the 1/2 in big water. Jigs work great, especially later in the winter steelhead season when the water warms up a bit. The #63 Aerojig nightmare is my favorite.
I've been taking notes and paying attention to detail nice to see how you work the water on light tackle looking forward to tossing more jigs and I actually just had a 5 fish day on jigs after the video I have a few on the go pro #fishon Rage
I don’t post exact locations to avoid pressuring a specific river. There is decent steelhead fishing on most of the Oregon coastal rivers if you figure out run timing and ideal river levels. NOAA has most river level gauges online.