The two dirtbags, with all the commotion caused by their snagging activities, had spooked all of the fresh steelhead in the section of river I had planned to fish. Trying to actually hook a fresh fish in the mouth, like DFG regulations require, was a futile gesture. In contrast with earlier this year, the snaggers have largely left the river because most of the winter-run fish are done spawning. The fishing pressure is very light and the weather is much warmer than during the winter. Now you can experience what I consider the most fun steelhead fishing of the season.
Bank fishing is great, but fishing from a drift boat is excellent also.
One lucky angler fishing with Rene Villanueva of Steelie Dan's Guide Service landed 10 steelhead to 3 pounds on Villanueva's last drift boat trip on April 3 from Sailor Bar to Rossmoor. I experienced my best trip in a boat so far this season when I fished with Villanueva on March 15. We hooked 9 and landed 7 steelhead to 7 pounds while fishing nightcrawlers and roe from Sailor Bar to Sunrise. On my last 5 trips to the river in March and April, including the ones I made with Rene and Larry, I've caught a total of 20 steelhead ranging from 1 to 7 pounds. That's a lot of rod bending fun, when you consider that at least half of my trips have been only for two hours.