UPDATE WITH REPORT:
First of all, thanks all for your input. Just a side note, i know the stamp fairly well for summer steel and salmon, but only fished it twice for winters. i know it is not a fly friendly river but that is the fishing i am most comfortable with.
Anyway, we only fished the rbucket on friday for 2 hrs. After scouting out two other spots with NO vehicles, i was beginning to think something strange was up. Water level and clarity to me were perfect. I brought the baitcaster and fly rod and handed the spinning rod to my girlfriend. We didnt have any luck and didnt even see any signs of fish. Talked to a local shortly after who said river flow decreased fast recently and the fishing did also.
So, we headed west instead for my secret small streams, where no one fishes. Girlfriend has only fished twice in her life. First time back in october she catches 3 wild coho!
So we get to my west coast stream, i put on a size 3 blue body blue fox for her. She says "what do i do?"
I say, "cast over there, count to 3, then slowly retrieve". She does what i say(for once). She then whines "aaaww im stuck! sorry"
I yell, jesus frickin christ, you're not stuck you got a steelhead!!, then it starts fighting!! i grab my video cam and film the whole thing - nice 26" wild buck. She catches a steelhead on her first cast, her first time ever fishing for steel!
So, she whooped my my friend 2-0 on the weekend. And i got the video to prove it!! And she wont let me forget it either...
spinning rod and blue fox was the ticket this weekend.