Had a similar experience on the same river. I went steelheading early last
season. An hours drive, got on the water at dawn. The water was high and
scary fast so I just waded out a little bit and fished the seam about five
feet from shore. After maybe ten minutes of dangling a streamer along this
seam, I hooked a twenty-one inch smallie. (That's a measured 21", BTW.) She
ran me a hundred feet downstream; luckily moving quickly on that river is
seldom a problem. Landed her in a backwater, just blown away at her size
and strength. Any other river, like the Thames, and I wuddna had a chance,
she'd have wrapped me up in forty downed trees. Got her back in the water,
she recovered nicely, then I walked back to the car and drove back home. No
way was I topping that, and besides by then the spawn slingers were in full
force, damn their black hearts.