I think I might get addicted

I've been shy about fishing a waker. Like a lot of people, I'll say to myself: "Well, once I hook a few fish, I'll put one on." We all know how that goes. No matter how many fish you hook, its hard to pull away from a tactic that is having success.

The last few times out fishing, I decided to commit to fishing it. The local skamania fish seemed to be aggressive and it was no or never. I rose 2 fish yesterday and loved every minute of it.

After the storm blew through yesterday, I strung up the rod and gave it another go. I started in shallow water and had the leader plus about 10 feet of line out when it happened. A fish swirled on the surface and my fly was gone. For a second I though it was a trout until line peeled off my Hardy Salmon 1 faster than I'd ever imagined it could. The confimed steelhead jumped twice as it tore downstream. The line came off my reel so fast that I had to compete with some serious backlash. My reel was stuck and I played the fish to hand using the strip and chase technique.

I'm not ready to go to dry flies all the time, but I sure understand guys who do!