Olympic Peninsula Winter Steelhead 2009: Day 3

**Date / Time:**3/23/09

Location: Olympic Peninsula - Sol Duc River

The Characters: Kory Kapaloski, Dave Severson, Brian Kapaloski, Paul Callister

Weather: Cloudy occasional rain showers 50s or so

**Water Temp:**low 40s or so

Water Level / Tide: dropping and clearing i think the sol duc gauge was around 1200?

Water Clarity/Quality: perfect, maybe a little clear but with green tint

Moon Phase: Close to new, last quarter

**Fishing:**Dave & I walked in on road below Rayonier ramp through big gravel pit. BK & PJ were floating from that ramp to the takeout at Leyondecker and we were shuttling. Found a good run, but it was super deep and only the very top half fished. Bottom half died out and was too deep. Walked our way down through some pocket water with some mini swing spots. Found a pretty good run below that with some good boulders and slots and fished through river left but no takers. Kind of slow featureless surface but good boulders and buckets. BK showed up floating on other side and fished through but nothing. Eventually walked out and drove up to bridge above Rayonier. Remembered a killer run at bridge above rayonier ramp from previous year. Walked out on bridge to try and spot fish. Stared for a while with nothing. Finally Dave walked back to car and I made out two giant ghostlike shapes slowly working up through the run and my adrenalin shot through the roof. We grabbed our rods and walked in. Dave saw a small pocket way up and went up to fish that. Before I knew it I heard him yell and he was hooked up. I watched as the fish ripped line and he stumbled and fell at the same time the fish exploded in the air. Seconds later his line went slack and the fish was gone. He was completely blown away in euphoria and disappointment at the same time. We fished through two more times and no takers.