You know you are a steelhead junkie when: You have just spent the past month camped out on the Grande Ronde, get home and find out you old stomping grounds is smoking, so off you go..... Poor wife.
Seems like all I have done in 2005 is travel. This fall has been particularly crazy. One of the few good things about returning from the Grande Ronde is, it is supposed to mark the last traveling away from home, for the year. Supposed to........
Typical Fall on the Seattle North Streams.
Its been raining. Rivers are a little swollen, but fish are coming. I check out my River Flows every day, that I am home.
North Sound Streams: Not a lot of spawning Pink salmon this year, but with a little luck, the eggs will make it beyond the critical egg stage. Pinks are trying to wrap it up, Coho are in, Chum are coming in, SRC will start heading up their natal tribs, Dollies will be coming down from spawning......and they will be hungry. Things are definitely on the go. Stilly North Fork: Air & water temperatures have dropped into the 40's.
Steelhead flies: As you would probably imagine, egg patterns are good with both Chinook and Pinks are in post spawn. Mikes Glue Egg-n-shuck http://www.streamsideflyshop.com/Glueeggshuck-pic.htm We are seeing Coho all the way up into the upper reaches of the North Fork, and some really large Searuns are hanging around the steelhead waters. Remember, only the hatchery steelhead are legal. Leave everything else alone.
The lower Stilly was fishing well right up to the weekend. Deer Creek and Boulder Creek both blew out, which forced the Saturday Tidewater school, to revamp into an upper river gig. Kudos' the Rod with his first steelhead on a fly. Pretty cool. Thanks to all for coming!
The Skagit River: The upper Skagit between Marblemount and Sauk River confluence is actually back up to normal flows:
The most amazing amount of summer/fall Chinook spawning I have witnessed in years is now finished. Always good to see the fish. The Skagit River Humpy run was only "OK," but at least we maintained a viable stock. Now it is time for the Chum & Coho show. We do our best chum fishing in the standard steelhead waters. Techniques differ a bit from the standard wetfly swing but they will bite. I think it is really hard to beat the egg-sucking leech patterns. I personal favorite is "Black Bart" http://www.streamsideflyshop.com/blackbart-pic.htm
The big Dolly/Bulls will be coming out soon. They will be all over the Chum spawn & carcass. (think Alaska rainbows).
Speaking of which: Check out our home page for our 2005 Steelhead, Salmon & Dolly school November 18 or 19
I need to forewarn you: Guys have been asking about this particular school since before we even headed to the Grande Ronde, back in September. The guides and I really enjoy this multiple species gig.
It's not just about the North Sound Rivers: Good time to be hitting those Hood Canal trib. mouths, as the Chum will be smelling for home. Better prepare for a jam show. That why my guides & I will be splitting time between the Stilly, Skagit and the Sauk, this winter. It's a cold time, but a quiet time........until you hook a Chum headed south.
I will write more specifics, as we get further into the home town fishing, again.
Many have read some to all of my Stories and articles. My favorite is "Charley". What's yours?
Snohomish River - October 21st, 2005
supplied by: Pacific Northwest Sportfishing FISHING: Good
Back on the home front the Snohomish continues to be decent for silvers and once the Skagit drops back down I would imagine it'll have a few shiny ones in it, as well. We've fished it hard the last few days for what fish we've caught. Rains this week have had the Skagit pretty well churned up with muddy waters and even the upper river has seen limited visibility off and on this week.
We picked up our new North River Scout a week ago and are still in the process of rigging it. We'll start fishing out of it this weekend. On the water tests have proven it's a runner!
Sekiu offers fantastic fishing, good facilities and calmer water than Neah Bay. If you can’t (or won’t) go to Neah Bay, this is your best option. We at Puget Sound Fly Company hope that this report will help anglers plan their trip and prepare them with up to the minute conditions.
FISHING: Fishing was great. Unfortunately the Silvers were few and far between. We hooked around a half dozen and kept one really nice hatchery hen. The Rockfish fishing made up for the salmon quite easily. As we entered one of our favorite spots, we saw a few fish boil. After a few fish on the standard ‘Striper’ setup, we switched to poppers. Over the next several hours, we caught and released dozens of Black Rockfish right off of the surface!
If you are reading this report and are grumbling because you don’t have a boat, don’t fret! We did all of this out of rented ‘kicker’ boat from Van Ripers Resort. ($100)
Check our photo gallery in a few days for some pictures!
FLIES: Shock and Awe, F.F. Herring, Clouser Minnow, and Floating Clouser’s
Hood Canal - June 9th, 2005
supplied by: Topwater Charters RECORDED:68 °FISHING: Great
Fished the outgoing tide this morning on the south end of Hood Canal. The fly fishing for sea-run cutthroat was great this morning. Worked a couple of my favorite beaches casting surface flies and baitfish patterns. The cutthroat were aggressive and moving well towards the surface fly. Landed 8-10 cutthroat and had numerous other fish boil and miss surface flies.
Truly a great morning of fishing. Flat water, no wind, and willing fish.
For those who haven't experienced saltwater sea-run cutthroat fishing, you should give it a shot. Hood Canal and Puget Sound offer great saltwater fly fishing for sea-run cutthroats.
Flowing Lake - May 24th, 2005
supplied by: All About the Fly RECORDED:60 °FISHING: Good
Multiple reports of hookups - mainly rainbows and triploids. One report of a 6lb. fish, but most in the 1-3lb range. Try the North end of the lake, green sub-surface flies would work well.
King Lake - private - April 29th, 2005
supplied by: All About the Fly FISHING: Great King Lake is Washington's newest private fishing lake. The recent warm weather has made the fishing amazing! Some of the guests are having 50+ fish days, fishing Chironomids, (pupa and emerger patterns). Also big leech, and crawfish imitations have been taking some giant fish. A recent afternoon hatch has been making dry fly fishing very successful too.
The fish are starting to get into spawning mode, and are very aggressive. One of the inlets has been getting fish starting to move up, and get their spawn on!
Same scenario as last week, the upper Sol-Duc and the Calawah rivers are currently "to low" for a comfortable float in a hard boat while the rest of the area rivers are in "floatable" shape. We desperately need a good shot of rain.....
FLY FISHING REPORT:Overall it's been a real decent Winter Steelhead season, the rivers have been "in" more than they've been "out" and we've been "exercising" quite a few fish on the long rods. Enjoyed a wonderful day recently on the Hoh River with my lovely wife Kimberly and good friend Chris Senyohl. We let things thaw out a bit this morning and didn't put on the river until about 10:00am. Kim of course pinned the biggest and brightest fish of the day but Chris and I salvaged our pride by picking up numerous smaller "more interesting" fish.
Sol-Duc (sole~duck) River-- Very low and clear and cold right now. You really have to earn your Steelhead in this river.
NOTE: Wild Steelhead selective gear regulations as well as catch & Release reg's are in effect above Sappho fish hatchery. It has/is being heavily patrolled up here and tickets for using bait and/or killing a wild Steelhead have been substantial.
Bogachiel River -- Same, tough duty lately due to the cold crisp nights and clear low water conditions. NOTE: Wild Steelhead selective gear regulations as well as catch & Release reg's are in effect above the US HWY 101 bridge.
Calawah River Tough duty in here right now also, super clear and extremely low water conditions. I did float the lower section last Sunday with Roy and Mark and we found 4 Steelhead that were interested in what we had to offer but I think those were the only 4 Steelhead in the whole lower stretch!!
Danger! Complete Channel blockage in the South Fork, Calawah River.
Kim, Auggie and I, got a few hours in here last week. We floated from Hyas crk put in on the South Fork down stream to our backyard (approx 6 river miles). Kim pinned 2 fresh albeit small wild Steelhead right off the bat and then things slowed down considerably. Overall it was an outstanding trip with just a few "minor obstacles" near the end of our "backyard" fishing trip.
Surprise! this tree just happens to be laying across the river in the middle of some of the "most interesting" water on the S Fork of the Calawah R. Both sides of the Island were totally blocked to passage so we heaved the boat over the tree. Thank God we chose the inflatable instead of the hard boat for this trip (although, the chainsaw would have been on board if we took the NAC). Then when we arrived at our house, we were greeted by this fine sight! Sarah our bi-polar sweet/evil lab bitch was pissed cause we took Auggie instead of her and she demolished one of the couch pillows. Does anybody know a good doggie therapist?
NOTE: Wild Steelhead selective gear regulations as well as catch & Release reg's are in effect.
HOH RIVER --It's getting spooky in here right now, I have not seen the Hoh River this low in February since 1990. Pat and I guided John Brewer and his crew in here today and we did find several cooperative fish including a 20lb+ specimen that John caught and released but overall it has been real hit and miss the past few days.
Queets River-- Slow
Quillayute River -- Slow
Lower Quinault River-- Shaping up quickly and the Steelhead fishing is getting real good, It's Trophy Time and this great river should fish excellent by the end of this month. To fish this river you will need a Quinault Nation licensed fishing guide.
Sooes ("soo-yes") River, Neah Bay-- No recent report. Typically once the hatchery run is done in here there are still a few big Wild Steelhead available here and in the Waa"tch River. You will need a tribal permit to fish this little river, available in Neah Bay at Washburns General store 360-645-2211.
The Green is often overlooked by local steelhead flyfishers. Maybe it just seems too close to home for the fishing to be any good. Nonetheless, a few anglers have been consistently taking hatchery steelhead from the Flaming Geyser area. The river has been low and clear and the typical purple favorites need to be down-sized a little in order to get the best looks.
LaPush - October 9th, 2004
supplied by: Westside Guide Service FISHING: Poor
LaPush Closed for salmon Sekiu Closed for salmon Neah Bay Closed for salmon. Bottom fishing only.
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