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Forgot to write this into my Trinity report.
I fished alone much of this trip. (BTW, Honest Abe. Sorry I forgot to mention that you fished with me. It was great to see your sh*t-eating grin when you landed your fish!)
Anyhow, I started to pay attention to the way a fish would fight after being hooked. They either came out of the water immediately, took off on a run or went to the bottom and did their maniacal twisting and turning thing.
In the past I'd try to get the fish onto the reel as soon as possible. That's what we're all told to do. Even though I'd keep good tension on the line, a percentage came unbuttoned soon after I got 'em on the reel. (Heck, they can come unbuttoned during any time of the fight, but most of the time there ain't nuthin' you can do about it.)
What I found on this trip was that the fish that went on an immediate tear would get themselves onto the reel, but with the fish that jumped or sounded, my percentage of landed fish went up when I DIDN'T try to get them on the reel. I stripped them in or they'd eventually take off and get themselves on the reel.
Since Trinity steelies are small (for steelhead anyhow), they're not difficult to control when there's a lot of line on the water, and you can strip a heck of a lot faster than you can reel in line, even with a large arbor reel.
Only once did a fish get a little tangled in the line I had laying on the water's surface, but he was played out and was easy to handle.
Using this method, I not only upped my "landed fish" percentage, I was also able to get them in faster and release them in better condition.
It should be noted that I was not fishing in a fast current, which would pull my line downstream quicker. Also, I used a 7 wt. rod and 8 lb. or 10 lb. Maxima, so I wasn't concerned about the line breaking. My only worry was not putting TOO much pressure on the hooks. Didn't want them to bend.
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