Journal entries
| In search of Steelhead, our first trip to Prince of Wales Island, April 1998 continued |
April 23, 1998 2/3 (landed/hooked)
Brent and I worked our way downstream and only managed to hook one Steelhead. We saw
about 12 fish but the water was super low and clear. There were bear tracks all over the
shoreline as well as Bald Eagles lingering overhead. The fish were so spooked in some areas
that the fish were hiding underneath rocks. We saw fish actually working their way
underneath ledges and boulders to hide from predators. Brent took video of me tailing a fish
that was underneath a rock. I only had a hold of it for a few seconds. We also found
another boulder which had four Steelhead underneath it. After seeing that we decided to try
a river with a little more water in it. We headed over the Thorne River and saw a few
Steelhead under another bridge so we decided to fish there. Brent and I fished downstream
but didn't see any other fish. Running out of daylight we camped there.
April 24, 1998 1/1 (landed/hooked)
We went back to the lower Thorne River to see how the river looked. The water had
dropped about one foot and was a little easier to read. Brent got a nice hen Steelhead on a
spinner in the lowest hole just above tidewater. We then headed north towards Coffman
Cove on the coast road. We passed a few nice streams but they were all too low to fish.
We decided to camp by Luck Lake and enjoyed the scenery.
April 25, 1998 2/2 (landed/hooked)
It rained most of the night and the water was coming up in the streams. We fished for a
ways downstream. We had a few fish chase our spinners but didn't hook anything. Brent
later hooked and landed one after I had gone back to the truck to hide from the weather.
Every creek that was just a trickle the day before now had good flow and the fish were
moving. We explored several of the small streams. The highlight of the day was when Brent
was sight fishing to a Steelhead. He made a cast past the fish and it seemed to ignore his
presentation. Then all of a sudden the fish turned and covered 10 feet in a flash to strike his
spinner. We saw more fish but only managed to hook and land one. We worked our way
back over to Staney Creek where we watched a Black Bear and her cub work their way
through a meadow. We camped there for the evening.
April 26, 1998 3/4 (landed/hooked)
We fished the lower part of Staney Creek and I got one early but that is all we saw. After
that went up to the upper part of the drainage where we saw quite a few fish. The water
was up a little so the fish had moved in. Brent hooked one just below the bridge. After
fishing this area for a while we headed across the island to fish some new water. Arriving at
another creek we decide to work our way downstream. We saw about 12 Steelhead but only
managed to hook two and land one. The weather has been showers off and on most of the
day. We camped there.
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