Kodachrome
Story and pictures by Jeff House
1100 miles, 17 hours…$250 in gas and $20 worth of cheap roadside fast food and caffeinated beverages. That was the total damage (one way) for a guy from the flatlands of Kansas who wants to experience his first steelhead trip on the Eastern Great Lakes tributaries.
Steelhead have been on my personal bucket list for quite a while now and after the purchase of a spey rod earlier this year, it jumped up a few positions toward the top of the page. So when the opportunity presented itself to me for this trip, a few calls were made and (with a little coercion) a willing participant for the long trek was signed up.
In the weeks leading up to the departure date, the bulk of my time was spent at the tying desk, working up patterns that didn’t in any way resemble the flies that I normally tie. If I wasn’t fully absorbed with filling slots in boxes I could usually be found surfing the interwebs for any info I could find on steelhead fishing. Part of the real draw to a trip such as this has to be the preparation and planning that go into it. If it’s not, then you’re going about it all wrong in my opinion.