Spring Steelhead Slowdown (Mental)

So aside from the changing river conditions in our area on the central oregon coast right now, steelhead fishing is getting into the “off the chain” mode.  When the river is not blown out right now, people are having huge number days.  When I say people, I mean the one fly fishing guide that we are friends with has been pulling big numbers in hook-ups on guided trips.  Anywhere in the 6 to 11 hook-ups range per day.  I’m not sure how the gear guys are doing but, by the sheer wall of drift boats on the river, it’s probably pretty damn good.  The strange thing about this time of year for me is that I have already mentally exhausted my desire to fish for steelhead.  We’re out there fishing starting in mid-November just hoping to see one chrome fish all day and catching a few weird summers.  We continue to fish throughout January, slowly starting to see more bright fish depending on how much the water has come up and down.  Into February the trips become fewer for one reason or another, mostly because the river starts to blow out randomly.  Mostly.  This is the point when the river blows out and we think, “meh.”  Didn’t really want to try again anyway.  As trying for fun is not the sole option for our dear guide friend, he continues to give us the play by play as he guides on.  Last week came the inevitable, “Dude!  I can’t believe that you guys haven’t been fishing, it’s epic!”  Again my thoughts are, “meh.”  Of course you could say this is my own problem for wasting time in the fall fishing hard for few fish, but at that time when we are just back from Alaska, the thought that steelhead fishing is just around the corner gears us up.  This time of year, when we should be fishing for steelhead, we’re starting to think about bass, and lately, anything else we can catch anywhere.  Because of yesterday’s trip for flounder and the unexpected black seabass hookup, I now want to catch every strange fish available.  I even found myself looking for places in Oregon to fly fish for catfish.  I guess in my mind logically I don’t know how you could get bored with steelhead, but for right now I am.  The funny thing is, it’s not over yet for us.  There is at least one more trip in store. The next one will be the “Holy shit, we’re missing out” trip.  No matter how well we do on this trip, it will likely be the “At least we went out for one more trip” trip.  After discussing these thoughts right now with my husband, the consensus is that we will wait for steelhead to get good next year before we start fishing for them.  Right.  We’ll see how that goes.