There is a difference between a hot 6lb steelhead and a brutal 17lb buck. That much should be obvious, but it really becomes evident when you’re 10 feet above a giant rapid and that massive line-burner you just hooked turns towards it.

Then what do you do?

Some big fish will get ever-so-close, and then decide to turn around and stay in the hole you’re in. Others have every intention of heading down that rapid and saying goodbye to the elevation they’d just gained. At that point, you’d better make a power move.

Either way, you’d better be prepared for that. So let’s talk big steelhead.

One of the things I’ve come to find is, a big steelhead controls the conversation. A smaller, hot steelhead will burn line and give an excellent fight, but the minute you can turn its head you can gain some ground on it. With a big, or even giant steelhead, all it takes is laying into that current and it becomes ultra-hard to make any headway on that fish.

The sheer mass, the massive tail, the violent headshakes - those will keep you up at night.

There is a feeling in the rod when you hook one of those steelhead that goes beyond anything you’ve encountered before.

Listen to this article which is is featured in STS Feb-March 2021