My last steelhead trip on the Okanogan River got me pretty excited about late-season fishing for these spectacular fish, so when I got an invitation to try the Methow I jumped on it. One of my buddies from Leavenworth, known as Plumber Jim, had been having terrific success on the lower river, and that’s where we started. We began at the bridge below the town of Methow and fished our way up to Carlton. I missed a fish at the hole below the bridge. We drew a blank at the hole off the Burma Road. Our next stop was productive, though. Jim pulled a nice hatchery hen out of the sweet spot below a chute, and I decided to try the very upper end of the hole. The bobber went down and I knew I was tied into a good fish. It was a good fish, just the wrong king. It turned out to be bull trout of about 6 pounds. This was the first time I had hooked a bull trout on the Methow and was impressed by how strong it was. I carefully released the fish and we moved on. In spite of our best efforts we only touched one more fish that day. So it goes.