In spite of very touch conditions my friend Kevin van Bueren managed to take a very nice steelhead on the Methow River recently. I have mentioned that slush and shelf ice is a real problem on the Methow, but he was up for the challenge.

We were taping a segment for my new cable television show and did a tutorial on the river bank wile the ice melted a bit, and then went fishing. He was using a large indicator and a double fly rig. He struggled with the shelf ice and we even had to break a section of it off to help keep his fly line for freezing to it while casting.

His second trip through a slow moving run, where he caught a large whitefish, the indicator slowly went down and he set the hook. He had to break a path to deep enough water so his friend Kathlene could net the fish. It was a big, beautiful wild hen of about 12 or 13 pounds! We quickly released the fish and celebrated.

The temperature was 17 degrees when we started and I don't think it got over 24 degrees all day. This is tough, tough fishing with a fly rod. I am going to wait until it warms up before trying the Methow again.