Josh's Mega Steelie

A giant steelhead caught by Josh Mills' father. When you go out to fish, there is always ego involved. Who got the biggest fish and things like that. Well, I want to tell you a story about my dad and me. We were out on a river in Idaho that is known for its gigantic steelhead, otherwise known as the Clearwater. We were somewhere in the drainage, middle of the day, I was fishing a beautiful stretch of water. I got slammed by 12 to 13 pound native steelhead that just erupted. I am using a reel that is new to me, a Hardy, and hits about a 70 year old reel. That thing just sung and sung and finally I brought it in. It was my biggest fish of the year. It may have pushed 14 pounds. I thought, what a great fish, what a great experience. My dad and I passed the flask of good fortune around, had a few sips of whiskey and then went back to fishing. Later in the day we were finishing the last run and we probably have the last 20 minutes of daylight. My dad looks up with a fish. The fish came out and wallowed on the top of the water and I knew right away that fish was a monster. He knows how to fight a fish and this thing was taking the better part of 20 minutes which is absurdly long most of the time. My buddies and I were saying words you cannot say on the radio. We finally got it in and to use the hyperbole, it was the fish of a lifetime. 20 pounds.