Thursday, August 7th, was a perfect day for steelhead flyfishing: calm, cool, and cloudy. Jeff and Monita Cheever from Newport, OR rose early to try their luck in search of their first steelhead on the Middle Fork of the Willamette's fabled "Town Run." Jeff had paid his dues over years of less-than-successful attempts, and he was hoping that this would be the day. Early in the day, Monita sagely recognized that catching a steelhead would mean more to Jeff than it would to her. With that in mind, she deftly shook her fly loose from first one and then another fish. She claimed it was accidental each time, but I knew better. As the morning wore on, we were thrilled and briefly distracted by the sight of an adult bald eagle swooping down and snatching a fish from the surface of the river. Jeff was still gamely swinging away, his enthusiasm not noticibly dampened even after nearly six hours without so much as a strike.
Somewhere around hour six, it happened! Jeff's line tightened and began buzzing off his reel. Fish on! The steelhead thrashed at the surface, shaking its head furiously in a vain attempt to throw the hook. Just when things started to look favorable, the fish made a v-wake run across the river taking line well into the backing. Jeff was up to the challenge, however, and parried the steelhead's every thrust and jab until finally the fish was in the net. Both Jeff and Monita were ecstatic over the catch and the day. When it comes to steelhead dues, you never know when your luck will turn. You've just got to keep swinging.
Check out Jeff's and Monita's first steelhead:
