Destined To Take.

Day two began with a major miscue. We took a chance on a much smaller tributary hoping to beat the crowds, and find our own little chunk of paradise. We arrived well before sunrise and took our time rigging up by headlamp and an emerging sun. After a hike into a ravine, we soon realized that we were not alone. Despite an empty parking lot, there were people and the majority of the best locations were taken. The ones that were open allowed us precious time to take a few casts. Before long, we were slowly constricted on either side by a strong case of "I don't care," if your already fishing here. We hiked out. Soon after, we were back to sight fishing for steelhead in a little game we called, destined to take.

With the majority of the fish having symptoms of lockjaw, Adam and I had to pick our spots. This began by scouting out the shoreline from above and picking out the steelhead from the kings and atlantics causing a ruckus. After gaining a position slightly upstream, well placed casts were made to create dead drifting imitations down into the feeding lanes of the scouted steel. If a steelhead showed any interest at all in the fly, he/she was labeled: DTT. Those with lockjaw, or zero interest, were promptly left alone. The situation repeated itself for a few hours before we had to pack up and drive out. Adam scored multiple times with a rig of a single split shot, while I hooked up with no weight at all. A rare sight amidst the kerplunk's of heavily weighted rigs dragged down and across the bottom. The day ended with a take by the Queen DDT. A large fresh hen who after several attempts at a long weightless dead drift finally took the fly. Fifteen yards upstream, I promptly pulled the fly out of her mouth, the hook point pricking her enough for a brief head shake. After that, she was not DDT anymore.