First time Steelheadin'.

A few weekends ago I went Steelhead fishing on the south fork of the Clearwater River in Idaho. To get there from Missoula we had to drive up an over Lolo pass on Hwy 12. It is one of the most beautiful drives I have ever been on. But it is a windy, curvy road. This is the sign you see near the top of the pass.

After spending a few summers in Alaska and experiencing "combat fishing" up there, I never thought I would see something like that in the lower 48. Well I did. People were lined up nearly shoulder to shoulder trying to hook a fish. Some people camp out in their motorhomes and trailers for 6 weeks during the steelhead season. I good size town is born along the banks of the river. Did we catch anything? no. The most exciting thing that happened occurred on the first night while we were fishing in the dark. All of a sudden we heard a very loud deep thud. Turns out an enormous rock fell off the hillside right onto the road just a few hundred feet from us. We watched the first couple cars barreling down the road slam on the brakes to avoid hitting the rock. That was fun to watch for a few minutes and then we thought maybe we should do something. We went up to the rock fall and managed (it took 4 guys) to push enough rock aside so atleast one lane was passable. Wish we would have caught some fish though.