Slow start steelheading

Being a steelhead angler in the Pacific Northwest is full of highs and lows, and the last few years have been particularly challenging. A confluence of poor ocean conditions, habitat loss, predation and outdated fisheries regimes, have resulted in some of the lowest returns of steelhead on record. These low returns have resulted in more and more closures over the years and exacerbating the problem steelhead fishing has never been more popular, meaning that more anglers are packed into fewer places. As a result fisheries in places like the Skagit River and Olympic Peninsula have reported significant increases in angler pressure in recent years. With all of these pressures facing steelhead and being an angler that appreciates solitude, I have found myself fishing the big name rivers less and less and instead have increasingly focused my attention on the lesser known, more out of the way spots.

This season started out with a rocky start and after having to cancel my first two outings due to high flows, my neighbor Dyllon and I had planned on heading out to the coast to finally kick off the season. Unfortunately, the night before we were set to go, Dyllon got sick and it was back to the drawing board. Luckily my fellow Trout Unlimited coworkers Greg and Alexei invited me to join for a morning on the water. My main objective this trip was to dust off my two handed rod and shake out some casting cobwebs, and get some input from Greg who is an accomplished Spey caster on a better Skagit line for my 7/8WT which has never quite felt right. With swinging flies being the primary interest Greg had a good run in mind, but despite arriving at the river just as the sun was starting brighten the gray winter sky, there were already two anglers gearing up and we had to go with our plan B run instead.

Ready to roll

After a gearing up and a quick bit of bushwhacking, we found ourselves on the water at a beautiful run. However, I have always found that this spot fishes best at higher flows, and despite a small bump in the water overnight, the river was still running low and clear making the odds of encountering a steelhead here a bit more of a long shot than usual. However with the low flows, I was able to ford the river to try the next run up, while Alexei and Greg took the main holding water. The run looked great, with a perfect seam down the far side, but after an hour of working the water we hadn't had the slightest bump and when another angler rived and started fishing right between us we decided it was time to relocate.

An eagles net overlooking a nice piece of water

Just like the first spot, our next one had some great looking runs. Once again, Greg and Alexei worked the downstream water, while I scouted out three good runs upstream with both my nymph and swing rods. However, a couple hours of effort failed to produce any signs of fish so we decided to move on once again and see if the run we had originally planned start at was free yet. Sure enough it was and as it was an excellent looking swinging run we all grabbed our two handers and got to it. This time it didn't take long for someone to connect with a fish, with Greg hooking into something at the top of the run. However, the fight was all wrong and a short tug of war, Greg reeled a sucker in.

After the three of us had covered the entire run without touching anymore fish, I took the opportunity to get Greg's input on what was going one with my Winston Spey Rod. Being a bit older, this rod wasn't designed with the modern Skagit compact lines in mind and after a few casts Greg had some thoughts on a couple of  intermediate length heads that would be worth try. Now it will just be a matter or ordering them, then getting the rod back out on the water to see which one casts best.

A beautiful end to a fishless day

While the fishing may have been slow, that is part of steelhead fishing and even if we didn't touch and steelhead, it was great to dust off the gear and share some great water together, and I am also excited to invest in a couple new Skagit heads so that I can finally get my Spey dialed in, something that I have been meaning to do for years...