40 x 40 - 15. Catch a Steelhead

I have talked before about our annual girl's steelhead fishing trip.  This year was our fourth year of battling for that elusive giant steelhead that would win one of us the Women with Bait tournament title.

The first year, I landed two steelhead, the first two fish I ever caught!  Also, the last two fish I ever caught!  The next two years I would come home with nothing.  When that happens, you tell yourself that it's not about actually catching a fish, it's about being out on the water with your friends all day.  And while that is true, it still sucks to be the only one on the boat to not catch a fish. TWICE!

The weather this year was beautiful.  When we weren't moving up and down river, we took our jackets off to enjoy the sunshine.  We stopped at a little beach to enjoy lunch.  Heather and I would have been fine taking a little nap at this sunny spot.

But no, Paula and Laurie were determined to get every minute of fishing in.

Heather was so excited to catch her fish.  Chad, the bait boy, did his job of landing the fish on the boat.  Don't be fooled, this little fish put up quite a fight.

When Chad wasn't busy netting our fish, he spent a good amount of time breaking the ice on the river so that we could get farther upstream.  We had to be careful not to breakup too big of ice pieces because they would then float down the river and disrupt the other boats out this day.

Then it was my turn!  I was so relieved to land this guy.  I didn't care how big he was, I just wanted to have something in my hands!

We were coming up on an ice bank with everyone's line in the water.  The boat driver told us all to go ahead and reel up and he would move the boat back to a good position.  As we're reeling up, Paula shouts that she has a fish on, which tells the rest of us to reel up faster so that we don't get caught up in her line.  That's the point when I realize that I too have a fish on.  As I open my mouth to say something, I hear Heather, who is standing next to me, yell that she has a fish on!  The next few minutes were a blur.  Three out of four us with fish on our lines. The boat driver desperately trying to negotiate the large iceberg that we are heading directly towards while trying to turn the boat in every direction so that we don't loose our fish.  The bait boy running from the front to the back of the boat yelling that we are going to CRASH.  And Laurie calmly grabbing the net and going from one to another landing our fish.  It was one of my most favorite fishing moments.

At that point, the boat driver needed a few minutes to regroup.  He immediately docked the boat on a snow bank and kicked us all off.  We were all so excited, we just kept telling each other the story over and over.

In the end, we would each catch at least one fish that we got to keep.  There were a few others, but they were native and we had to throw them back.

Here we are on the snowbank right after our triple landing!  Not only can Laurie net fish, she also caught the fish that would eventually come in second in the entire tournament.

You might wonder what the boys do while the girls fish the tournament.  This year they rented two drift boats and went fishing on a different part of the river.  Scott had a good day fishing as well.

We are all set for next year.  We've picked a date, reserved a boat, made lodging arrangements, and started planning what we are going to take.  Laurie has set the bar pretty high for the rest of us.  But me, I'll just be happy to catch any fish.