I have had some great trips for fall-run salmon on the Columbia at Wanapum and White Bluffs, but I hadn’t had a chance to try for steelhead yet this season. That changed last Friday, when my fishing buddy Rollie Schmitten invited me to try below Wells Dam. We were going to try for both kings and steelhead, but I am glad we tried for steelhead first. We broke out the bobber and jig rods and made a couple of drifts along the bar on the west side. The current was just right, and we may have had a bump or two, but our luck changed when we moved across the river. Our bobbers hadn’t out long before mine disappeared. I knew I was into a good fish, and thought I had a king for a while. It didn’t come up, didn’t jump, it just stayed down. When it swam by the boat I still thought I had a king. It had a broad back and just lazily swam past us. Then it tired and turn on its side and we saw the bright color and just a hint of rose on the gill plate. Rollie did a great job of getting the fish in the net. We really celebrated that one. When I got home I put a tape measure to it, and it was 33 inches long and fat.