"Mike Makela" ten.tsacmoc@alekamm wrote in message
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"Wolfgang" wrote in message
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"Wayne Knight" wrote in message
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"Wolfgang" wrote in message
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Others may disagree.


Has that ever happened?

Not yet........but I figure it's inevitable.

Wolfgang


O.K., fearing the wrath of such a fine scholar...I think the difference in
rods for Steelhead (for me) was flexibility. Again my experience is
limited, but that's what seemed to help me get some fish to net. Those
things (the Steelies) are incredible and test every inch of tackle from
end to end. Not just any rod did it for me, I had some thick stick thing
that I could hook'em with, but, couldn't beat em. One of those basic 9.5
St. Croix steelhead rods made a heck of a difference. I think it's
important to note that for a fish like this, the reel does make an
incredible difference, especially the drag.

I tend to forget that once in while you actually manage to hook one of the
brutes and then have to do something with it.

In thirty or so outings over the course of fifteen years I've hooked maybe
twenty and landed roughly half a dozen. Most of the losses happened quickly
and I attribute them to being poorly hooked. The rest broke
off.....probably as a result of bad knots or frayed tippet. I can't think
of a single instance in which I felt that either the rod or the reel was the
critical factor, and this despite the fact that I've only acquired reels
with good drag mechanisms in the last three years......after my last
steelheading venture.

Landing a big fish is a war of attrition. In the absence of complicating
factors (leader eating deadfalls, a phalanx of brother anglers stretching
downstream as far as the eye can see, wrapping the line around one's neck,
etc.) it's simply a matter of outlasting them. Obviously, heavy tackle will
make a difference but, just as clearly, there are limits beyond which the
point of the whole exercise (assuming it's something other than just hauling
in meat) becomes moot. The OP, like everyone else, will eventually have to
determine empirically where those limits are .

In the meantime, any old girder will do the job.

Wolfgang