Fly Fishing Only

Overview:
The quintessential manifestation of the prowess of many Pacific Northwest Fly Fishers is the taking of a Winter run Steelhead on the fly. When entering the river these Winter Steelhead are not there as much to find nutrition as they are to find a mate with which to spawn. Nature has programmed these magnificent fish to enter their natal rivers from November through March and to begin spawning in the months of February, March, April and May. Their mind set as such is primarily focused on successfully propagating their next generation and secondarily finding sustenance. Being a cold blooded creature their metabolism is directly relate to and effected by the temperature of the water. Eliciting a response from one of these great fish to take a fly is one of fly fishing's most challenging endeavors.
Wild Steelhead (Onchorynhcus Mykiss*) are indigenous to the coastal rivers of Northwest Washington's Olympic Peninsula and the Winter run of these Wild Steelhead comprise the highest percentage of the largest specimens in the USA. Summer run Steelhead average 6-10lbs less than their winter counterparts whereas many of our Winter run fish will often exceed the magic 20 lb mark and still a few yet exceed the 25lb or even the 30lb mark. What makes these grand Winter Steelhead so exceptional and such a quest in the world of fly fishing is not just their sheer size, their indomitable character and great fighting spirit but their incredible ability to have survived the eons of natures worst onslaughts and now, our own modern societies imposed environmental degradations to their habitat.

You have to believe and you have to pay your dues and it will happen. Some will come easy but most will come hard, but they WILL come to your fly and YOU WILL be forever hooked.

Here's a little diddy to make you giddy about Sir John and Lady Kim
and a Winters day on the magnificent Hoh River.

Sir

John hooked to a dandy while faithful Nate the wonder lab and the ever lovely lady Kim admire Sir Johns technique. A mighty battle ensued with Sir John finally bringing his quarry to hand. Sir John, now

very excited and proud of his catch, hefts the great fish with his powerful right arm and crushes his fly reel with his (mighty) large left foot.

A bit later...the ever lovely Kim, now fishing guide extraordinaire Pat Graham, was thus spared from having any of her equipment crushed by Sir John. Much later...Sir John, The lovely and talented Kim at the oars with Nate,

the now wet and smelly lab, negotiate the notorious Oxbow rapids after a smashingly successful Winters day of Steelhead fly fishing. Click on pictures to view full size.

Successful Winter Fly Fishing Techniques:
We will start with a most traditional technique, a very useful and successful technique that really does not require a great deal of aptitude or dexterity, it is called "swinging" and it is the very simplest of techniques to master. As the name implies, you will be delivering your fly across or quartering down stream and then you will be swinging the fly down with and across the rivers current. Depending on river conditions such as, CFS flow (volume measured in cubic feet per second), temperature, light and portion of the run/pool you are fishing it will be necessary to learn how to present the fly at various depths and speeds. It is extremely easy to learn how to swing a fly correctly, there are only two main criteria. 1. A proper mend and 2. Application of the right sinking tip/shooting head to get your fly to the correct depth, obviously if you are going to present your fly on or just subsurface you will not be using a sinking tip.
Note: when using a sinking tip, You do not want to use an excessively long leader, even in very clear water, you want your fly to be brought down to the depth with the sinking tip and not hovering far above it, so a short leader is in order here even in very clear water (A good rule of thumb is to calculate the velocity of the river flow x the sink rate of the tip and then divide by 1200sq to get your length in feet, just kidding, usually no more than 6' of leader is what you'll need, sometimes a much shorter leader will work perfectly, especially if you are using big bold fly's in turbid water).

To begin, you will need an assortment of sinking tips that will be attached to your dry line as the situations dictate, forget the shooting head* stuff for now (unless you are only ever going to fish one specific type of water, like California's Eel river and only one pool in that). So buzz on down to your local full service fly shop or whip out the catalogue and get one 15'ft fast sink, one 12'ft extra fast sink, one 12' ft fast sink, one 12'ft medium sink and finally one 10'ft medium sink. Note: You should have a small strong loop at the end of your dry line to facilitate in quickly changing from tip to tip through out the day.
Now with with tips acquired, trundle on down to the river, go to a section of water that is flowing smoothly without any boils or drastic current seams, usually this will be from the belly/mid section of a pool down through the last 1/4 and into the "tail out". Now say for instance you believe, and this is purely hypothetical but it is important for reference as to where you want your fly to fish, that the fish are holding near the bottom in 6ft or so of water midstream about 25ft out from the bank in the last 1/4 of the pool. Here's what you do, this is very simple, position your self above, not at a right angle to, but above the fish. Make a 50ft cast across and slightly down stream from your position, as soon as the line lands on the water make a mend up stream (this is not always necessary), this will allow you tip and fly to sink with out undue drag. As the line begins to tighten up to your rod, point the rod directly at the line and flow the swing of the fly. Now, if you do not feel the bottom of the river during any portion of the swing you might want to throw a bigger "reach" mend into the beginning of your swing or go to a heavier tip. to be continued

Swhing for show & nymph for dough (re: Crazy Mike)
O.K. here is the bottom line: Winter Steelhead on the Olympic Peninsula's Coastal rivers are NOT aggressive fish when the water is cold, the Steelhead are cold blooded creatures and their metabolism is related to the water temp...the water temp right now is 44 degrees F...this is cold water. They are not very apt at this point to charge off after something swinging across the current, I know this to be a true~ism because I have personally "swung" a fly to, through and past the nose of Winter Steelhead for over 25 years (out here and on the great lakes tributaries), and while it is a wonderful way to fish for Steelhead and bring them to the fly it is by far the least effective fly fishing technique for getting hooked up with a Steelhead when the water is cold. Winter Steelhead will however readily grab a fly that is presented in such a manner that is coming at them, directly at them and in to the space that they are occupying at the moment and is within their water column I.E. from the bottom of the river to within 10 - 12 inches above the head of the fish. If you are real good at feeling your fly work at the end of a sink tip and can do a perfect job of reading the water (the hydrological nuances such as current seam velocity contrast etc..), and can present your fly off of the sink tip in such a manner that it stays in profile with in the Steelheads zone for more than a quick show and go, you will consistently be pulling on Steelhead. Good news is once the water hits 48 F ( 50 F is the magic mark out here) you should have no problem finding a fish or two that will gladly swim over and eat your fly.

Right now however if you want to put a fly in a Winter Steelheads mouth with any true consistency you will have to learn how to fish a fly vertically and with out much drag, and this generally means Nymphing. Proper nymphing technique is one of the fly fishing worlds most difficult techniques to master and is the hallmark of a truly rounded and truly talented fly fisher. The difference in numbers of Steelhead pinned by an expert nymph angler versus an angler that "doesn't get it" is astounding. (more on nymphing later...)

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