Steelhead, FISH ON!

This weekend we had to get away! I was on my eleventh straight day of work and Linda was coming off a bad couple of days. The weather did not look good, they were calling for rain on Friday and on through the rest of the weekend. I got a crazy idea about going down to the Salmon River and trying to catch some Steelhead and Linda went along with it. We loaded up the camper and headed south.

At the base of Whitebird Pass lays the small town of Whitebird. We drove through downtown and followed the road down toward the river, turning right on to Lyons Lane. This road is the one you have to travel to get to Wassmuth Hole, a secret fishing spot where the Wassmuth family has fished for centuries. Mike Wassmuth was down on the river at this very spot last weekend and caught some great steelhead.

Traveling was slow and we immediately cranked straight up a hill that was so steep Linda held her breath till we reached the top and then closed her eyes and screamed all the way down. It was a bit of a steep pitch for our truck, but we made it and continued on at about three miles per hour the rest of the three miles till we thought we were at the hole.

It was just starting to get dark, so we found a nice wide area, stopped, and set up camp. I had good access to the river from this spot and figured that Friday I would find the “Hole” and catch some big guys. We made dinner, played cribbage and went to bed.

I was up at 5:30 am and got my breakfast. As soon as the sun came up I had my lure in the water and I was fishing for steelhead! The day was amazing. I sat in the sun and fished while Linda sat back at the truck reading and catching some well deserved rays. Not only was the sun out, it was quite hot. As the day went by, I stripped off layer after layer until I was in a T-shirt and shorts.

At one o’clock I caught my first fish. She was a real beauty, not huge, but a really good size. She fought and actually jumped out of the water three times, but I finally landed her. I was really excited and that one fish made my whole weekend.

Back at the truck Linda and Kobi were sunning and enjoying the day. I returned and showed off my fish, which I put in the freezer. By three o’clock the weather started changing and so did my mood. I was real nervous about driving our truck back up that steep hill if the ground was soaked from rain. The skies were looking really bad to the south and I did not like the thought of sliding off that steep road and into the river. I convinced Linda to pack up and leave so we could avoid that potential outcome.

It took about forty minutes and we were on the way out crawling along. When we hit the big hill I geared down and put it in four wheel drive. The truck handled it with style, but it was a tough slow go. I was glad to get out before it got soaked and possibly slick with mud.

We drove to Hammer Creek Recreation Area and all the sites were full. Then we headed south to see if we could find a spot, but couldn’t and we turned back up highway 95. At this point we had several thoughts. Drive back to Lewiston and stay at Hells Gate State Park, drive back to the Pine Bar area and try to find a spot down there, or pay to stay at Swiftwater RV campground that was by the bridge going to Hammer Creek. We stopped to check out the Swiftwater RV place and decided to stay there. By this time it was about four o’clock and I was getting tired. We found our spot and got set up.

I made dinner at about 6:30 PM and the rain started at 7:30 PM. I was nervous thinking that I had moved us out of that great spot and the rain was not going to come. I normally don’t smile when it starts raining, but today I did.