Early season Olympic coast

Since the end of winter, fishing opportunities have been few and far between in large part due to circumstances out of my control (a totaled car and family health issues to name a few things).  My last outing was for winter steelhead and it is hard be believe that several months have already passed and here we are at the beginning of June with the trout opener already. This trip was the result of some odd circumstances as well, and when my wife accidentally reserved a campsite at Kalaloch in Olympic National Park on a weekend when her and my daughter were already planning on going to the ballet a family camping trip turned into a fishing trip for me instead. With it being really early for the Olympic coast, I landed on trying out a tributary stream to one of the larger rivers on the first day, then trying one of the rivers in Olympic National Park the next day. When I invited Dyllon to join me on the trip he was all in and our buddy TJ was said he could meet up for the second day.

With plans set, we hit the road and arrived at the creek on a beautiful sunny and warm spring afternoon. As we didn't know what to expect, we decided to go with a little bit of everything and with several rods in tow we headed for the stream. 

The stream

This stream ended up being a bit of a conundrum, as while it looked good with lots of nice holding water and plenty of signs of recent spawning activity there just didn’t seem to be any fish around. We covered able a mile upstream into a canyon tossing streamers, nymphs and dries and didn’t get a single take. I had expected that there would at least be some Cutthroat or parr around but other than some juvenile Coho in the shallows we didn't see any fish at all.

Time to turn around in the canyon

After going got hard in the canyon we decided to head back downstream and try our luck below where we had started. Once again we were met with over a mile of fishless water until we came to some extremely snaggy water in a slide area. As I climbed over a log, I finally spotted what looked to be about a 15” Bull Trout holding on the  inside seam. While it was tricky getting in position, I did so without spooking the fish and on the first cast it charged over and swiped at my streamer but didn’t take and then was gone. I don’t know if the fish saw me or what, but after 30 minutes of fruitless casting neither Dyllon or I could entice it to look again and with the weather shifting and the daylight starting to fade we decided to head for camp. Kalaloch was beautiful as always, but by the time we got there, the wind had kicked up and the skies were grey with a look of rain about them.

A wet morning at Kalaloch

Sure enough after our fruitless first day, we awoke to a rainy morning on the Olympic Coast, but had the good fortune to end up with a gap in the rain just long enough to break camp and make our way to the river. This day couldn't have been more different from our first day, but was a rather classic day on the west end of the Olympic Peninsula, with low clouds and a driving mist that seems capable of penetrating the toughest rain gear. So with that as our back drop, we met up with TJ at the river and made our way for the trailhead and a few miles of hiking through the rainforest to what we hoped would be a beautiful and productive stretch of river.

A rainy morning in the Olympic backcountry

On the way upstream we came across a great looking hole where a couple of braids came together and had to try a few casts. While we didn’t find any fish, I noticed something odd along the bank and when I went to investigate I found a drone (and not a cheap one) tangled up in some woody debris. The use of drones is illegal in Olympic National Park and it appeared that someone got an extremely expensive bit of karma for acting as the rules didn’t apply to them and I had gained something to pack out on the way back. After the fishless drone hole, we made our way directly up the trail to our next spot meandering along the river and through ancient forests.

A rainforest Banana Slug

A beautiful little tributary stream

By the time we reached our destination a little over three miles up the trail, we were all soaked due to a combination of rain and humidity, but were ready to start fishing. Unfortunately, there just didn’t seem to be any fish around and the several holes we covered showed no signs of life. One top of that the river was just to high to ford still and much of the good looking holding water was just out of reach. At this point we had to decide whether to hike even further in or just head back and the miserable weather and lack of fish convinced us that it was time to cut out loses.

After returning to the trailhead from our fruitless morning, the weather had at least improved and we decided to head downstream to a good run to see if we could still salvage our day. While Dyllon and TJ headed to a hole upstream, I started working the edge of a riffle and within a few minutes I got a solid take down but missed it, but at least there was finally a sign of life in the river.

The run

For the next ten minutes, my indicator kept going under or hesitating in ways I was sure were not due to hanging up on the bottom, but every time I set the hook there was nothing there. However, finally I set the hook and this time finally had a fish on the end of my line. This fish put up a good fight, but stayed down and deep and when I brought it in I finally saw why I had missed so many fish - it was a Mountain Whitefish. 

A native Mountain Whitefish - the savior of the trip

Until Dyllon and TJ came back downstream it was fast action for Whitefish and by the time that they arrived about 20 minutes later I had landed three more of these underrated native fish. After they got there TJ when back through where I had fished and picked up a couple more fish before the bite stopped and we moved further downstream. 

Once we reached the tailout, we spotted a steelhead redd that appeared to be rather recent and there looked to be a fish that wasn't a steelhead holding nearby. Dyllon made a cast with his streamer and as TJ and I watched, what turned out to be about an 18" Bull Trout darted over and engulfed it. Unfortunately, Dyllon didn't feel the grab and set too late and the fish moved back to where it was holding. After that the fish showed no interest in Dyllon's fly and when I tossed one over it came moved over to look at it, but refused to take it before it finally shot upstream into deeper water.

With the next run hard to reach and too far downstream, we opted to hit the road and try one final spot before heading out. This next spot ended up being yet another Whitefish extravaganza and both TJ and I landed several of them on our nymph set ups, while Dyllon's streamer went completely ignored.

The descending over the valley once again

While the Whitefish certainly saved the trip, the clouds were starting to move in again and with a long drive back and our prospects for the rest of the day a bit bleak, we decided that it was time to hit the road. While it may have been a bit of a slow start, the Mountain Whitefish were a welcome addition and it is certainly great having the stream season open once again and hopefully the rest of the summer will hold some better fishing.

Quick Olympic Mountain Outing

With summer in full swing I was able to get out on my favorite Olympic Peninsula stream with my daughter Valerie for a short after work outing. This stream is where I did the majority of my research for grad school and as such is an incredibly special place to me making it a joy to get to share it with my daughter.

A beautiful afternoon to be on the river

While Valerie has been fishing a few times over the last couple of years, this was my first time getting her out with a fly rod. I picked a spot on the river that is secluded and has proved itself as an easy go to for native Rainbows that are eager to rise to dry flies. Although Valerie needed a little casting assistance, the fish didn't disappoint and after just a couple of casts we hooked and landed her fish on a dry fly.

Valerie with a small native Coastal Rainbow Trout on a dry fly

Over the next hour Valerie and I took turns casting and caught several more fish, all in the 6" to 8" range before switching to exploring the river bank and picking wild huckleberries on the trail out on a short but sweeting outing.

Another small native Rainbow Trout

A streamside butterfly

Picking Red Huckleberries

The trail out

Washington Wanderings

 After my last native trout trip, it has been time for me to stick closer to home for a while, as well as to hunt down some local native trout with a couple friends from out of state.

My first outing after getting back was a short trip to my home river after some resident Coastal Cutthroat. As with everywhere around the west, Washington is feeling the exceptionally dry summer and the river was particularly low. On my favorite stretch of the river, the first riffle is usually extremely productive this time of the year, but barely had enough water to even hold fish. Despite this, I did manage to get one small Cutthroat and one Shiner, both on my dropper. Interestingly the Cutthroat had quite a bit more speckling than normal and appeared to have black spot disease, something I had not seen before in this stream.

A small resident Coastal Cutthroat with blackspot disease

A small shiner caught on a dropper

Fishing my way upstream, I found a deeper run and managed to pick up a few more Cutthroat around 6-8” on my dry and while I am usually able to find a few fish in the 10-12” range on most trips, it wasn’t happening this time and after a couple of hours and perhaps a dozen small Cutthroat I figured I had seen enough and called it for the day.

The river

A healthy little Coastal Cutthroat

About a week after my Cutthroat outing, my buddies from Utah, Dan and Paul flew in for three days of fishing. The first fish that they were hoping to check off was a Coastal Cutthroat and as the local river had been producing mainly small fish, we decided to start on the Puget Sound to see if wee could find some sea-runs. 

We arrived at our first beach shortly after the low tide and at a beach with a good constricted passage, prime Cutthroat water. However, after a couple hours we had only had a few short strikes and follows but no fish landed and we decided to move on. The next beach we went too was at its ideal tide, and Paul got one Coho smolt, but again the Cutthroat were nowhere to be seen, so we decided to try one last beach. Unfortunately, this one also gave us a blank. It seemed to be one of those days where the fish didn’t want to bite... As I was out of time for the day, Dan and Paul ran to the local river and found the Cutthroat right where I had found them the week before.

A beautiful day on the water, regardless of slow fishing

The next day we were headed deep into the Olympics after native Coastal Rainbows. The stream that we were heading too is one of the more unique ones in Washington. This river has a set of barrier falls in its mid-section and as a result has Rainbows with colorations that I have not seen in other local populations. These fish are and almost pure white color, with prominent part marks and a vibrant pink/red band down the lateral line. The other interesting thing about this river, is that it is one of the only places in the lower 48 states with a true native population of Dolly Varden. These Dollies fit a different niche than the Rainbows, being more of benthic feeders, but are mixed in a about a 50/50 ratio and are known to rise to dries from time to time.

The shady river

After making the drive several hours to the river, we geared up and hiked upstream another couple of miles to a stretch that has treated me well in the past. Paul took the first crack at the river and after a few casts caught a small Dolly Varden on his nymph and in the next hole he got a nice about 10” Rainbow. Not long after, Dan too caught a small Dolly this time on a dry fly. 

A small native stream resident Southern Dolly Varden

The greatest challenge with this stream is that it is very high gradient and it can be a long distance between holding water. After Dan and Paul got into their fish, spent some time working along the river before I found a decent little run wit a few nice pockets thrown in. I started out in the soft water near the top of the run and as I picked up my line to make another cast I noticed a fish holding in the soft water side of the seam. On my next cast I got the fly right where I saw the fish and it instantly grabbed my dropper and I pulled in a nice little Dolly. After few more casts, there didn’t seem to be any other takers so I worked down the run a bit. Where the water picked turned into a bit of a riffle, a decent fish rose and this time I brought in a Rainbow. After landing that fish, I cast a couple few feet further back and rose another nicer fish. This one ended up being about 10” and was beautifully colored.

A beautiful pale white native Coastal Rainbow Trout

The fast flowing stream

We worked the stream for most of the afternoon, with each of us getting in a handful of Dollies and Rainbows, before heading back towards Olympia.

For the last day with Dan and Paul, we were heading east to the crest of the Cascade Mountains to search for some Eastern Cascades-Clearwater Westslope Cutthroat. This stream was quite a bit smaller than the last one, but holds a pure population of some of the most beautiful Cutthroat I have encountered. 

Cascade Mountain Cutthroat country

Paul headed up the road to try fishing upstream a ways, while Dan and I started right by the car. Just as with previous trips to this stream, the Cutthroat were plentiful, if not all that large. Within a few minutes Dan had his first Westslope of the day and not too long after that I had mine. As we worked our way upstream and further from the car, the holding water improved and so did the size of the fish, with a few running up to 10”.

A vibrantly colored native Cutthroat

After covering about a 1/2 mile of the creek, we decided to use our last couple hours before Dan and Paul flew out to visit my one of favorite streams in Washington. This other stream is stunningly beautiful and has equally beautiful Cutthroat. I had fished this other spot a number of times of the years, a rarely ran into other anglers, although within the last few years, a Seattle area fly shop started doing guided trips and pressure has gone up significantly since. Unfortunately, this was meant that when we got to the stream, there was already someone else fishing my favorite stretch and while we got a few minutes of fishing in upstream, it took longer to get to the water and we only had time to get a few casts in, catching a single fish before it was time to head out.

Another native Cutthroat

Despite a set back on our last spot, it was a great trip and excellent to spend time on the water with Dan and Paul, touring some of Washington's unique native trout locations. I am hoping that next year, I will be able to make it out to Utah to visit with them and hopefully check the Bonneville Cutthroat off of my list as well. 

2021 Steelhead Season

The 2021 steelhead season in Washington proved to be a very challenging one. Runs across the coast are in decline and Washington had to adopt my more restrictive regulations along the coast this year to deal with it. This ended up limiting what gear could be used, meant no fishing out of a boat and led to a number of rivers closing early. However, I still managed to get out a number of times and found few fish in the long run.

By January I was itching to get out and I was able to pull off a quick morning outing with my buddy Chris. Our timing was definitely not ideal as flows were still up after a recent rain and while this outing did not result in any fish, it did allow me to dust off some casting and presentation cobwebs.

High water and no fish

The next trip out I joined my neighbor Dyllon on a trip to the Olympic Peninsula for a predominately swinging trip. The day was beautiful, but like the last trip, the river was still running high and made wading and fishing a bit more challenging than expected. Dyllon managed to pick up a couple of Whitefish nymphing, but other than that it was a long but pleasant day on the water with very little attention from the fish.

A beautiful day on the water - even with no fish

After this slow start to the season, the remainder of it was spent doing genetic sampling to help establish a genetic baseline to inform population dynamics and hatchery impacts on several coastal steelhead populations. This entailed taking a small fin clip for genetics as well as collecting scales from each fish to determine their age. Additionally, as there is limited genetic data for Coastal Cutthroat from the coast we were also going to collect any samples we could if we got any. Compared to past years that I have been on these rivers, this year certainly was harder to find fish. However, with a handful of outings it ended up being a relatively successful year.

A native Coastal Cutthroat

A bright hen

A big male steelhead

Another bright fish

Definitely hoping that next year will be a better year for steelhead along the coast as they have been in a rough spot for the last few seasons.

Summer in the Olympics: Part 2

 After our last trip scouting for some new water on the Olympic Peninsula, Chris and I did some additional research a found another promising stream to check out. This one was a bit more off the beaten path and would require some serious leg work, but looked very promising. Per the norm in the Olympics, the morning we headed out dawned gray with a fresh marine layer rolling in off the Pacific. We started up the trail through towering old growth, but when we caught our first glimpse of the river, it was too much to resist and we decided to just start fishing right there. As it would turn out, this paid off and a few casts in, Chris caught a nice wild Spring Chinook jack. With our first taste of success on the river, we decide we would just use the river as our trail for the day and started our way upstream. From here things didn't slow down and the river was absolutely gorgeous and each hole and run seemed to have something in it.

Hooked into a fish

A beautiful native Coastal Cutthroat

A beautiful Bull Trout

Working a good seam

A little after lunch, Chris was working on other best runs of the day, when he hooked into something big. The fish turned out to be a bright summer run of about 7-8lbs and was not having any of it. Chris fought it for about 10 minutes until finally he was able to get it in netting range. However, the fish decided it wanted to do one more run, and unfortunately after a tail-wagging leap it spit the hook. We worked the hole a bit longer, but nothing else wanted to bite and with our excitement high, we continued upstream.

Chris working the summer run hole

Very fresh prints from a bear we could hear running off

As the day wore on, we found ourselves at the best hole we had seen all day. We got pretty focused on fishing and each hooked a couple of fish in the hole, when we started to notice that the sun was starting to get low in the sky. It was at this point that we realized that we hadn't stopped moving almost all day and had covered a bit more ground than we had expected and needed to find the trail and start heading back. Unfortunately, this was more easily said than done and ended up being a rough 1/2 hour of bush whacking until we finally found the trail. The hike out made it quite apparent just how far we had gone, with us dragging by the time we reached the trailhead at dusk after what we end up figuring out was a 14 mile day trip.

A beautiful stretch of the river

A giant spruce tree on the way out.

My next adventure was to a couple of my favorite Olympic streams with one of my neighbor Dyllon. As summer was wearing on at this point, I was hoping that the native Rainbows would be starting to think about spawning salmon and the eggs that would be right around the corner. With luck this same thing and a recent rain would also draw a few sea-run Cutthroat in from the salt water as well. The first stream of the day we hit, is usually more productive, albeit with slightly smaller fish. However, today fishing proved very slow and after covering a mile of water and only getting one small Cutthroat we decided to try the other river. 

The first few holes we fished on the next river were just as slow as the last river, but when we got down to one of the "salmon tanks" on the lower river, that changed. I had a large streamer imitating a lamprey on and started with a short perhaps 20' roll cast just to get some line out. However, I watched as a big Cutthroat quickly shot out from behind a log and charged my streamer. The fish seemed to hesitate, so I gave it a couple quick twitches before letting my fly fall and the Cutthroat crushed the fly. The fight was pretty quick as the Cutthroat was close to shore already and I really wanted to avoid spoking the hole. The fish was beautiful and looked as though it had only been out of the saltwater for a day or two at most. 

My big Cutthroat

I gave my Dyllon the next shot at the hole and after floating a few feet, his indicator went down and he hooked into a big Rainbow. This fish was hooked right in the heart of the hole and put up quite a battle before coming in, effective spooking the rest of the hole.

The Rainbow

We figured we had one more hole we could hit before the end of the day and this one also looked promising, as I could see a big Cutthroat sitting in the tail out when we approached. However, before we could get more than a couple casts in a flotilla of inner tubers came floating down the river and spooked the hole and with that we decided that since we had already gotten a couple nice fish and it was time to head back.

Summer in the Olympics: Part 1

With the challenges that 2020 presented, I remained local over the summer and decided to explore some of my old favorite spots as well as some streams in the Olympics that I had not had a chance to check out yet. One of the old spots that I visited for the season is one of my favorite rivers in the Northwest and without a doubt the stream that I have spent the most time on as I did much of my research for my Masters Thesis on it.  The upper river is full of great pocket water and lots of small native Coastal Rainbows that eagerly rise to any dry fly. 

An overcast day in the Olympics

A small native rainbow

As usual the spot didn't disappoint and a couple hours yielded over a dozen 6-12" spunky native Coastal Rainbow Trout.

Since I moved to Olympia a little over a year ago, I have been trying to learn some of the local beaches a bit better. One of these is only 5 minutes from my house, so I was able get out to it a few times in July when the tides we favorable and found a few sea-run Cutthroat that were feeding on polychaete worms.

The beach

A decent sea-run Coastal Cutthroat

The next trip out, I wanted check out a river in Olympic National Park that I suspected might have a good Rainbow Trout fishery and potentially some summer Steelhead. With that my buddy Chris joined me and we made the drive out to the Peninsula. Just before we arrived at the trailhead, a black bear darted across the road, as if to indicate that we had entered the wilderness. Based on our scouring over maps, there was a promising stretch of river through a small canyon about four miles up the trail so we got our waders on and hit the trail. The day had started of gray as so many on the Peninsula do and the hike through the old growth forest was a pleasant one, especially with a the bumper crop of huckleberries that this summer had presented. 

 A beautiful stretch of water deep in the Olympic 

When we got to the river, we geared up with big nymphs and streamers, the favored flies for big Rainbows and summer runs in the Olympics in my experience. One of the first holes that we came to, Chris spotted what looked like a nice summer run sitting the tail out. We first tried our nymphs to no avail, however a swung streamer resulted in a ferocious take for Chris. Pretty quickly by the way the fish was fighting it became apparent that it was not a summer run but a big Bull Trout, which Chris quickly landed and we sent it on its way again.

Chris' big Bull Trout

From this point on, we got a take in almost every hole, but didn't find the big Rainbows or summer runs we were looking for. Instead it seemed that Bull Trout and Whitefish were the predominant fish in the stretch of river. Once we were out of the canyon, the fishing pretty much died on us, so we hit the trail and headed back with thoughts of our next outing already on our minds.

Pre-shutdown Olympic Steelhead

My buddy Greg and I had been planning an outing to the Washington Coast for Steelhead for over a year, but as we got closer to the date it seemed that problems were coming our way. First was that I heard through the grapevine that the Washington Coast south of the Olympic Peninsula was going to be closing on the day that our trip was set to start. This was likely to really limit options and increase crowds on the few rivers that were open. Also with this being the first week of March 2020, rumblings of the pandemic were also making plans uncertain.

However, when the start of our trip arrived, conditions on the Olympic Peninsula looked relatively favorable and after picking Greg up from the airport we hit the road. Our first day we would only have a few hours to fish before dark so we checked out a small stream that I had fished years ago. However, after covering a good mile or two of the stream and after seeing no sign of fish we headed into town to get ready for a full day on the river the next day.

The next morning dawned gray and drizzly and given the number of folks that were in Forks at the moment, Greg and I opted for a hike in river. Based on our desire to get away from the crowds, this proved to be a good choice as there was no one else in the parking lot when we pulled up, so it looked like we would have the river to ourselves. The spot we were heading had a few nice runs several miles upstream, so we geared up and hit the muddy trail. 

Time to hit the trail

For the most part the hike was a nice flat trip through old growth Sitka Spruce. However, part of the way up to our first run, the river had taken out the trail resulting in a tough scramble over a hill and down a salmonberry and devils club choked ravine to meet back up with the trail. After that minor set back, it wasn't long before we finally reached our spot and got to fishing. We planned on swinging flies most of the day and I started our with a purple and blue intruder. I started out at the top of the run, while Greg started just below me and we got into position and started swinging flies. Just a couple casts later, I had a good tug on the end of my line and was into a fish. After a good initial take, I could tell that this fish was not that large and when I brought it to hand it turned out to be a beautiful native Coastal Cutthroat.

A native Olympic Peninsula Coastal Cutthroat

The swinging run

We worked the run for a few hours and did have a couple more takes, with Greg having one strong take that we highly suspected was a Steelhead, but unfortunately nothing stuck. After feeling satisfied with our coverage of the run, we hiked into another one, which treated us very similarly. Again, no steelhead, but one smallish Coastal Cutthroat, this time on a bead. Throughout the day it had barely stopped raining and as we had a pretty good hike ahead of us we started our way back to the trailhead with high hopes for the next day.

Again we decided to focus on a piece of water that required a bit of leg work to get to and hopefully would have some Steelhead. The morning started out fairly clear and after a nice walk through the virgin temperate rainforest we found ourselves on a beautiful stretch of water. 

The river

The first stretch of water did not look very conducive to swinging so we opted to nymph it. As Greg still hadn't gotten a fish, he took first water. It didn't take too long for Greg to get a cast into the sweet spot of the pool and hook into a nice fish. This was definitely a Steelhead and by the look of how it was pulling a heck of a nice one. The fish really made Greg work for it, but before too long he was able to get it into the shallows were I was able to tail it for him.

Greg hooked into his first steelhead

Success!

The beautiful native Olympic Peninsula Steelhead

The fish was an absolutely beautiful native buck in its spawning colors, with a deep red band and orange belly. One heck of a fish for Greg's first steelhead! After getting his steelhead, Greg took a little break and I worked the pool for a bit and briefly had a Steelhead on but lost it.  However, in it the next pool down, I got a good take and this time connected with a Steelhead. However, this fish was not quite like Greg's which had really made him work for it and within a couple minutes I had what turned out to be a little hatchery steelhead to shore. 

My hatchery steelhead

Given that this hatchery fish had WAY overshot the hatchery and was hanging out with wild fish it was destined for the smoker. After I got my fish, Greg took a shot at the hole and had a brief hookup, but unfortunately it came off. Given our success here, we had high hopes for the rest of the day, but as it would turn out this appeared to be an isolated occurrence and after covering another mile or two of river we didn't see any other signs of fish. To add to things a front had moved in and the river started to rise and by the time we stopped fishing around dusk, we were a bit worried about flows for our final day.

On our last day we only had a half day to fish before Greg had to head south to meet up with another friend in Oregon. As such, and given that the rain had really added some extra flow and color to the rivers around Forks, I picked a river that I knew was likely to hold its color and would be somewhat on the way for us. Where the weather the rest of the trip had been gray and wet, this day was beautiful and sunny and while the river was definitely cranking, it had held its color pretty well and we set to fishing. 

Our final river

A Mountain Whitefish

With the water up and wading difficult, fishing required long casts, which really made getting good drifts difficult. I did manage to get a few take down nymph, but everyone one of them ended up being Mountain Whitefish and after covering a couple of holes the river wading proved too challenging to proceed downstream so we decided it was time to call it. Within a couple weeks of the end of our trip, the pandemic had set in and turned life upside down, making me all that much more grateful for a great outing finding a few fish on some beautiful rivers with a great friend.