Umpqua Winter Steelhead
by
March 2007
Mary's Huge Umpqua Steelhead
Mary Maintains Good Steelhead Karma
A friend from the Shasta
Mayflies, Letitia Cutforth, and I went fishing with Dave
Teitzel on the Umpqua for winter steelhead the weekend of March 24 and
25. Dave had advised us that there weren't going to be many
fish but there was potential for a big one and he was right.
Saturday morning Letitia caught a
very nice chromer. I got a 14" cutthroat that I got excited
about but no one else did. You can't disrespect any trout,
regardless of size. It's an offense to the Fish
Karma. Weather was nice which was also a factor.
You are required to suffer for winter steelhead.
Sunday, we fished in rain all
morning and put in some hours of cold and misery which made the
experience much more realistic. Sunday afternoon, on the last
cast in the last hole where we could anchor, my fish
took the fly. It was a very soft take until I set the hook
the second time. Dave was tremendous help in helping me land
this guy. We fought him in the original pool, down a set of
rapids, and in a second pool. He (the fish, not
Dave) really wanted to head back out to the Pacific.
Then it was five fights to the net before we managed to get him
in. We
taped him at 37 1/2 inches and estimate his weight between 14
- 16 pounds. Then I flew homee.
