She got fooled again right above the Hiouchi Bridge. As we were baiting our hooks and preparing to make the same drift again, another boat cut in front of us and nailed the 10 pound steelhead. Smith River steelhead have one of the softest pick-ups of any fish and this day they seemed to be hardly picking up the bait. We all knew it was going to take a few misses for Luana to figure out the bite. Would it be soon enough?

As we drifted the Early Hole I felt an irregularity in the bounce of my bait on the bottom. I set the hook, snagging a rock. We were being followed closely by another boat. As my line freed from the rock, I saw a steelhead clear the water. The boat behind us had hooked a fish. Lady Luck had been just behind us for the second time today.

It was lightly raining as we pulled out around 5 PM. The fish counter had five fish for the day and we had been right there for three of them. The Smith had once again demonstrated to me how special catching a steelhead here can be.

We entered Early Flats, the tailout section below the hole and Luana set the hook. Her rod doubled over as the fish took off up river. Dan had her get the rod tip into the water just as we hit the fast water. The fish was heading for a clump of willows which Luana managed to steer it clear of. As we blew downstream I watched her lift the line over three boulders which would have cut her line immediately. This woman knows what to do with a fish once it's hooked. Dan managed to get the boat into some eddy water at the bottom of the tailout. The fish made a couple of nice runs and Dan netted the buck and rowed us out before we contacted the rocks.