The universe conspired against me this this year, and I was unable to go out on opening day of trout season. Usually, Joyce and I would have planned a camping trip to the Sierras, or at least Big Sur, to fly-fish for trout on opening day. But this past weekend, I had a gig to play in Santa Barbara at UCSB with the Rattlesnake Creek String Band, and on top of that our good friends Scott and Betsy were in town to visit us from down south.

The surf fishing has been on the upswing lately, so we went out on Saturday afternoon to try our luck. We use spinning gear for surf perch, with small rubber swirlytail grubs, and we often take home a couple nice ones for dinner. Scott and Betsy had brought along Summit and Cocoa, and with “No Dogs” posted at the trail head of our favorite beach access, we decided to turn back and opt for a beach that allowed Man’s Best Friend to tag along.

We started getting hits right away, but the tide was rapidly going out, and I couldn’t hook a fish to save my life! Joyce landed two or three small perch as we moved down the beach to the left, to where a rip current was sweeping into a rocky point and the seaweed was collecting. Right along the edge of the brown and green water, I was getting a hit on just about every cast. Turned out to be a hungry school of shiners, with mouths so small they couldn’t inhale the rubber grubs we were using.

Suddenly Joyce yelled something about a big fish jumping in front of her. I moved closer and she told me she had seen something big jump twice, clear out of the water. “Just like in Alaska!” she said, referring to the way restless cohos will leap clear from the water when they’re not even feeding. I kept my eye out after that, and I too saw something swirling and breaking the surface, unlike any surf perch.

Then I hooked something substantial — something big. A serious battled ensued, during which I decided I was surely bringing in a striper. That’s what it normally would have been, if not a perch or halibut. Stripers are occasionally taken by perch fishermen, and it’s a welcome surprise, since they can get so much larger than barred or shiner surfperch. As they say back home, even a blind sow finds an acorn once in a while.

But no! To our surprise, I eventually brought in a silver-white steelhead about 2 feet long. It had a nasty gouge near the dorsal fin, but was otherwise healthy, fat and strong. It was wierd to see one with no color: the ones in the streams are so red, dark and spotted. This one had only the faintest band of pink on its side, and no spots at all. After some admiration — perhaps too long — I was able to revive it in the surf and watch it swim off.

On opening day, I didn’t even go trout fishing, and I caught a big trout after all! I have a feeling this is going to be a GOOD season.

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