Steelhead Catch Up Part 2

The following weekend I spent both days on some more local water. That Saturday I fished with my Dad and we got an early start on some water down low in the system. The first run we fished looked fantastic and sure enough after a half an hour of good drifts my bobber dropped hard and I felt headshakes. Unfortunately that was as far as it went....the hook immediately popped out and I was left standing there wondering what I could have done differently? When we finished up there we moved down to a hole that my Dad really likes yet I have never caught a fish out of. All the way down the trail I was complaining about wasting time and pointing out all the other "better" holes that we should be fishing instead. Of course you know what happened....Dad hooked a fish pretty much right away at the head of the run and made me eat my words. After a spirited fight I was able to tail this super clean buck for him. Two years in a row, on nearly identical dates, Dad has caught a bright buck from this exact spot, for his first fish of the year.

After seeing that fish come out of that hole I of course put in a little more effort, but alas, that spot continues to embarass me. I walked away shaking my head. After that we drove upriver a ways and fished several other nice spots but couldn't find anymore takers. We finished up the day in what is probably my favorite run in the river and a spot I had already seen a few steelhead hooked this year. I switched my dropper to a black wooly bugger and it didn't take more than a few minutes for me to come tight on a fish. The fish never left the water but fought down and dirty using the heavy current to her advantage. Finally I coaxed her into some calm water and Dad tailed my first steelhead of the season.

After some closer inspection as well as some comments from friends I am pretty sure that this hen was actually a skamania summer fish as opposed to a little manistee strain fall run fish. The fish was quite long but extremely skinny.

I felt a huge waive of relief come over me as I released her as I had been gripping tight all fall after going multiple outings without a fish to hand. We figured that was a great way to end the day and decided to walk back to the truck for a beer!

The next day I met up with Jeff and we decided to try a river that really doesnt see much pressure except for the spring. Sure enough we were the only truck in the lot and had our pick of the best water to ourselves. The water was as low as I've ever seen it and also overflowing with leaves. It made fishing pretty tough but we stuck it out through several good holes looking for a chrome bullet.

After a few hours the only fish we found was the small brown that Jeff hooked on a hex nymph.

The leaves had also gotten unbearable so we decided to head back to the same water Dad and I had fished the day before to try and stick a few fish before dark. It turned out to be an excellent decision as we went 3 for 3 in a few short hours.





That put the cap on a damn fine weekend! Below is a short clip Jeff put together using his GoPro showing a few of the fish doing what they do best.

Chrome from colehatch on Vimeo.