1/20 Russian River too

I netted and released a 12 lbs wild steelhead at Johnson Beach. No, I didn't catch it.  Kept a 10 lbs hatchery fish for BBQ and smoke fish. No, I didn't catch this one either. 

The full story: I started my drift from Johnson Beach (Following Micfish's advice, thanks.). A guy fished on the bank with a Cleo spoon hooked up. After 6 or more runs, the fish came to the net. It was a beautiful wild fish at about 12 lbs. It was inadvertently snagged at the dorsal fin. It also has another snag mark in the body. Fish was released unharmed. The drift from Johnson Beach to Monte Rio Beach is very pleasant. Saw a drift boat caught two Steelies within 30 minutes. It anchored along the channel and dropped their spinners, no casting. I also saw two schools of large steelhead, about 8 fish each, cruising upstream. I cast my spinner in front of the school. But the school scattered all over before my lure hit the water. Obviously they saw me very well in clear water. Talked to a fisherman at a narrow channel, he confirmed that quite a few fish was moving upstream that day. But the fish was not particularly in a feeding mode. I exited at Johnson Beach and saw a fisherman with one fish on the boat. He got it on Wiggle Wart. I saw he had about 10 beat up wiggle warts with many tooth marks in his boat. He said he got the fish by anchoring in fast water and dropped the lure, let it do its wiggling. He fished from 7 am to 4 pm. Got one and lost a few. I asked to pose with his fish. Then to my surprise, he offered me the fish. He said "he is tired of cleaning fish."  He said he has been catching a lot of fish this season. (Thanks, Darvin!). The fish has a small half grown andipose fin and a cut mark. It also had a small snag mark on the side.

Born2fish

Hi Born2Fish,

Thanks for the report. 
We surely would love to try on next time   

Eddy