![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
After that, spinning rod came out and I went through every artificial I had until all that was left was crawlers. I put on a little bit of weight, casted out in the middle of the rapids, bounced it off the bottom so it would end up resting right on the confluence. As I started to reel up to recast, ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZ something HUGE grabbed it not even 2 seconds into my retrieve. FISH ON! He traveled a distance of about 50 yards within seconds, traveling upstream fast, and then turning right about and going downstream just as fast as he went up. I could tell it was a huge fish, and right after I said that to myself, he launched out of the water quite far down, in the middle of the rapids. HUGE Brown or Salmon, it was too far to tell.
5 minutes into the fight, he ran towards me, into the calmer water on the side of the island....all of a sudden the tugs stop, and I feel dead weight. Did he give up...? What's he doing? I held my pole and concentrated, I knew what I was feeling...a SNAG....
![Mad :x](./images/smilies/icon_mad.gif)
![Mad :x](./images/smilies/icon_mad.gif)
![Mad :x](./images/smilies/icon_mad.gif)
![Mad :x](./images/smilies/icon_mad.gif)
I felt awful, would have most likely been my biggest Brown or Salmon (whatever it was..) if I had landed it. Picked up the pieces of myself and re-tied....20 minutes later I was hooked up again in the same spot, this time a little Brown, only about 12"
Gave up after that, my legs were sore from wading in the current.
That night I decided to break out the Salmon eggs Randy gave me a few weeks back. Tied up a few bags and went back down in the morning. This time it was the Winooski side, and I started at the point. First spawn bag, first cast..5 seconds into the drift, WAM! FISH ON! Healthy unmarked Steelhead, not tagged yet. Looked to be about 22-23". Only problem is I had a "quick release" He got off right in front of the rock as I went to net him. Oh well, good enough for me, I got to see him.
Couple hours after, I was going through my usual strategy, and ended up hooking up again drifing a Berkley Steelhead Powerbait worm. Smaller one, but managed to net this one.
![Image](http://i52.tinypic.com/33ti8i1.jpg)
Another unmarked and untagged Steelhead.
Headed towards the beach after I landed that one, figured the area was a bit spooked. My girlfriend joined me for a little while, and brought some monster sized spawn bags Randy tied up for me to try for Lakers. I put one on, casted as far as I could out into the rapids to make sure it stayed out for a while, even let some line out. Waited until the bag settled on the confluence and sat my rod down. About 5 minutes had gone by, my girlfriend and I were talking and I wasn't even paying attention to my rod, and she yells "YOUR ROD!!" I look over and its bent right over, about to fly right into the water...I grab it quickly and go to set the hook, swing and a miss, ARGH!!! Had to of been something big, the spawn bag was the size of a golfball! Reeled it in, bag was crushed to smithereens! Called it a day after that...
Went down again this morning, tried the point first with not even a nibble. Went to the beach, tried one of the monster spawn bags I had first. Flung it out as far as I could, let it settle in the confluence and then held my rod...
5 minutes later, ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! FISH ON! Stripped line off for 10 seconds straight, had to tighten my drag on him! Kept pressure on him, saw him jump a few times, BIG Steelhead. I could see his bright pink side from 100 feet away. Just my luck through, after getting him about 1/2 way in, he ran towards the calm water.............then I felt it again, dead weight...
Before I could even think "not again" I felt tugging again, followed by a slack line...NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!..NOT AGAIN! I yelled and felt like chucking my rod in the water
![Mad :x](./images/smilies/icon_mad.gif)
![Mad :x](./images/smilies/icon_mad.gif)
![Mad :x](./images/smilies/icon_mad.gif)
Stayed down and tried recreating that setup, but only found snag after snag(beach is known for that, which is why I usually avoid it, and then eventually ran out of spawn bags. Saw this turtle before I left though, so it wasn't a complete disappointment.
![Image](http://i54.tinypic.com/2dl13qu.jpg)
My girlfriend says its called a painted turtle?
Might have Fri off, I'll have to go down and see what I can hook into after I tie up some more spawn bags. Was hoping to land a female Salmon for eggs for Steelhead fishing as things are heating up, but I'm afraid I'm running out of time...oh well, thanks for reading!