Steelhead fishing and then Hell's Gate

The river flowed past at just the right speed. Its depth was almost exactly how you would want it for good steelhead fishing. Access to the area came via a trail that was smoothed and worked by fishermen who had been there many times for many years. Linda and I arrived in the dark of night. We set up the camper and fixed our dinner. I brought my fishing poles into the camper and set them up for the next day. I put new planer boards on each line then tied on a swivel followed by leader and a second swivel. At the end I attached a Hot Shot. The two pole license allowed me two set-ups and I took advantage of this program. The focus of this visit was fishing, so getting up early the next morning meant going to bed early.

I ate breakfast and hurried down to the fishing hole where I set my poles and settled into my chair waiting for the first hit. Around noon, as I was reading my book, a gentleman arrived. He introduced himself as Phillip and asked if I minded if he and his wife fished with me and camped up river from us on the pull out. I recognized the name as one of the folks who had been fishing this particular hole for twenty years, so I said of course they could join us. Phil hiked up to the road and parked their trailer. Within about a half hour he was back down, setting up in their “spot” down river from where I was fishing.

Phil was a quiet man, but we talked a lot about our family connection with the Wassmuths. This was the location that Mike’s dad fishes with Phil and his wife Norma. Laurence, Mike’s dad, fished in the location I had my gear set up and Phil smiled and recounted many stories of fish caught by Laurence, Norma and himself as we sat and watched our poles.

About an hour later, the first fish hit my pink Hot Shot. The pole it hit on was my heavier bass rod, light for steelheading. I worked the fish in to shore, it ran several times, but I was able to get the drag loose enough to keep it hooked. Phil got his net and I brought the fish in, it was close enough that I could see that it was a wild fish and very long. As soon as the fish saw Phil, it ran. I was adjusting the drag, but not quickly enough and there was a huge pull and then the rod went limp and the fish was gone. The adrenalin of the excitement coursed through me and I looked at the folks around me, wow, what a fish!

We fished the rest of the day but caught nothing. As the day went on Phil talked a little more and I really enjoyed the day.

The next morning we were down by the river at sun up. Phil built a fire and we watched the river flow. We saw three dear across on a far beach, spotted domesticated goats eating weeds on a mountain top and had an otter swim past; it was a good morning. Phil and Norma caught two fish, one wild one and a keeper. Norma brought Phil a hot meal down to the river; I sat next to the fire content with my oatmeal breakfast that I ate before I walked down and set up. We fished till about 10:30 AM and then I put the gear away and Linda and I thanked Phil and Norma for letting us share the fishing hole. I could tell it held a lot of memories.


We drove up to Hells Gate State Park in Lewiston where we met Daren and Marcy. We set up camp and went for a couple of long walks. I was getting ready to go into town with the group when I recognized voices from the camp area next to us. It turns out that John and David Boller, long time family friends, were camped next to us. I said hi and we chatted for a few minutes but I had to get going. It was Sunday and we were off to introduce the Upchurches to the Main Street Grill where we had another great lunch. I took two long walks with Kobi that day and in the evening we sat around the campfire till it got too cold and we needed to fix dinner.

Monday morning Linda got up and walked the dog and then we packed the camper up and drove home. It was a very nice relaxing weekend; we enjoyed all aspects of the adventure. We definitely are going to have to consider the weather and projected temperatures for our next upcoming adventures. It reached 16 degrees this weekend and we used a lot of propane heating the camper. I think I have a long weekend coming up around my birthday and then we may have to put the TC away for the winter. That will be a sad day. We will have all the photos and stories from the summer to remember and smile about. That will carry us through to our trip to Mexico and then possibly into spring when we start camping again.