The right idea on commuting

Sacramento — A SUBTLE BITE IS followed by a frantic dash toward the far bank, a leap and a shake, another series of runs and more airborne gyrations to lose the hook. My resolve is steady and my line tight. I have no margin for error because time is short to get my steelhead fix. If this beauty gets away, it will be through no fault of mine.

J.D. Richey, who runs his own guide service, invited me for a one-day banzai trip to prove it's possible to catch steelhead in Northern California and make it back to Los Angeles before anyone knows I am gone.

I booked a round-trip flight on Southwest Airlines for $174, though lower rates are sometimes available. Richey charges $295 for a day aboard his 20-foot drift boat, including lunch, making the trip doable for the hard-core angler in need of action after a long, dreary winter.

The adventure begins at 4 a.m. on a Tuesday, when I awake to catch a 6:40 flight at LAX. Robot-like commuter fliers are milling about the terminal, receiving commands via cellphone. I wear shorts and a sweatshirt, carry a daypack and board the plane, wanting only to close my eyes and enjoy visions of steelhead dancing on the end of my line.

The plane lands at 7:55 and Richey meets me with his truck and drift boat in tow. We launch on the American River by 8:30. Tim Reilly, a local resident and veteran angler, joins us after leaving a vehicle at the take-out spot eight miles downstream.

The American River near downtown is not a famed fishery, yet it is flanked by scenic parkland and seems a world removed from civilization. Deer are foraging in nearby meadows. Mallards are nestling in pairs against the banks. Wild turkeys are scurrying up cliffs across the river. The water holds consistent seasonal fishing for salmon, steelhead, striped bass and shad.

We are after spring-run steelhead. They're smaller, on average, than the 6- to 10-pound winter-run variety but generally more cooperative. Fish entering the river are either wild or products of a hatchery just upriver at the Nimbus dam. Anglers can keep one hatchery-reared steelhead per day.

Our plan is to release everything, assuming we have that option. Though Richey is an expert at side-drifting, there are no guarantees, and we keep telling ourselves this as two hours pass with only one taker: a small wild steelhead caught by Reilly.