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Yesterday I decided to take my pontoon out for a spin on the Willamette. I had my wife drop me off at the Beltline bridge and floated the Willamette to the Marshall Island boat ramp. It's a fairly long trip if you really put the time in at the various fishy spots. I had my steelhead baitcaster, my trout spinning setup and my fly pole. I figured that should about cover every option. I started trying everything I had and could only seem to catch cuttthroat trout. They were fun though and several must have thought they were bigger because they were jumping out of the water almost on every hookup. I stopped to fish the intersection of the Willamette and the McKenzie. Beyond that there is no bait or rubber allowed. I tried various steelhead offerings with no results. The water was to fast to really do much with the fly pole, so I resigned myself to using my trout pole and throw Thompson Bouyants, since that seamed to be the most productive. I caught several cutty on the Willamette side and had walked across the peninsula to try the McKenzie side. I hooked several cutties and had returned them when I had a good hit that I didn't set quick enough. I decided to try that slot again and when I did something nailed my spoon. My first thought was "crap, another stupid sucker!" That's when things got interesting. All the sudden a big, silver bullet erupted out of the water and I new this wasn't a stinking sucker! This fish took off across the Mckenzie 2 or 3 times and then headed down the confluence of the 2 rivers. Then it headed up and over the Willamette a couple of times. Finally after about 20 minutes I finally was able to tail it onto the bank. A 30" steely! Hot da@#!! I had switched out the 4 pound mono test that I normally spooled this reel with and put 10 pound braid on it. It was a good thing because there is no way I could have turned the thing around in those rapids. So I caught a fish in one river and landed it in another. That's something that I won't forget for a while.:yikes:
It ended up taking 7 hours to get to the boat ramp and it was very hot by the time I got there. But I would do it all over again for that fish.
It ended up taking 7 hours to get to the boat ramp and it was very hot by the time I got there. But I would do it all over again for that fish.
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