Great Report John, makes me want to take a week off of work and go ... Thanks... Steve Egge
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of johnny costanza Sent: Sunday, April 11, 2004 11:57 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: my trip to the olympic peninsula: 4/3-4/10 I just returned this morning from a week long fly fishing trip to the Olympic Peninsula for winter steelhead. It was my first time fishing for winter runs in this area so my main goal was to learn as much about the rivers there as I could during my week long stay and in the process, hopefully catch a steelhead or two for my efforts. As such, I really did not focus on one river in particular, but instead spent at least a full day (or more) on the two primary rivers I was interested in (Hoh and Sol Duc), while also doing some exploring on some of the other rivers in the area for access points and productive steelhead water. I think I accomplished that, and I managed to take pretty copious notes regarding specific access points and the good water I found so if anyone is ever interested on the specifics, shoot me an email and I'll be glad to share with you in detail what I discovered. I will say that floating these rivers (in general) appears to be the best way to fish them. There were tons of boats out on the weekends, fewer during the weekdays, but most people fishing the river were floating it versus wading it like I was. With that, I would not consider floating them without prior experience with someone who knows the rivers well. The Queets, Sol Duc, and Calawah can be expecially difficult in particular. The weather during my stay was amazing. It was actually too good for the low clear water that I encountered on most of the rivers combined with the bright sunny days I think made the fishing more difficult (at least it did not help it any). It did not rain at all except for a brief period of time on the morning of the 7th. Anyhow, the following is a day by day report of where I fished and how I fared. 04/03 After staying in Hoquiam the night before, I got up about 7:00 am and made the trip up 101 to Forks. My first stop along the way was at the Queets river. This turned out to be my one and only time fishing the Queets, as I never made it back that way once I got settled in the Forks area. The river is beautiful with water color that is very similar to what one typically finds in the Hoh river. Good access was found along the Queets river road off Hwy 101. This road parallels the river for the most part all the way to the campground about 13-14 miles in from the highway. On this day, I did more exploring than fishing, and never really came up with much for my efforts. I did manage to fish a few good holding spots, but most of the water I found was not really conducive to fly fishing tactics. No doubt such water is there, but I was only there until about 2 pm so I did not take enough time to search it out. Needless to say, I hooked no fish, nor did I see any. Lots of gear guys were floating the river that day as well as a few fly fisherman. I did talk to a couple of fly fisherman who were wading like myself and they did not get any fish either. They did alert me to one good run which I did not take the time to fish. The part of the river which seems interesting is the upper river past the campground where there is a trail that follows the river upstream for quite aways, but one must cross the river to access it and on this day, the flows were not very safe for one to do that. Maybe next time. After leaving about 2 pm, I headed for the Hoh were I made camp and did a little early evening fishing/scouting along the upper Hoh road off 101 for some good water. Like the Queets, the Hoh along the upper road which takes you eventually to the National Park is pretty accessible for the wading fisherman. I must have found 5-6 good runs that evening, some of which I fished but with no success. I alternated between fishing a type 8 15 ft sink tip with some type of articulated leech pattern (I was told pink is a popular and effective color on the Hoh) and a floating line/long leader with weighted flies (usually glo-bugs). Split was always necessary for me to get the flies down when using indicator tactics. Many of the runs were better suited for swinging flies, but there are also numerous spots where the best way to fish is with a floating line and heavily water flies and or/leader. The Hoh has lots of structure for fish in the way of downed trees which created some nice pockets and slots for one to fish with the floating line set up. Good water could be found at numerous spots off the road, but I felt the best water was near the park boundary even though on this evening, it failed to produce a fish or a hook-up for me. I checked out the water in the park, but the gradient of the river is so steep that the water is very swift and thus I felt more confident in fishing lower along the river where it was easier to get your flies down to where the fish were holding. 04/04 After having checked it out the day prior, I went back to the Hoh and hit it pretty hard. The Bed and Breakfast place where I stayed had a lot of river flowing along it property so I had the river to myself except for the drift boats which came by from time to time. Fished most of the day (on both the upper and lower river) again alternating between swinging flies and indicator fishing but came up empty. The weather was terrific and visibility was not an issue. In fact, the water near the park boundary and up into the park was crystal clear. I did not see any fish this day. 04/05 This day I wanted to try something different so I set out to explore the Sol Duc. Access for the wade fisherman can be difficult on this river, but I managed to find a few good access points and some very good water which could be fished effectively from the bank. I began on the lower river at the confluence of the Bogy and the Sol Duc. There is a boat launch there and you can wade upstream on either of the rivers if you wish, but I chose to fish the Sol Duc. I waded upstream from the bridge there about 3/4 mile and managed to find two good runs, one of which was occupied by another fly fisherman so I never got a chance to fish it. He fished it for a good hour but I never saw him hook a fish. I spent a couple of hours myself in this area but again, came up empty. The Sol Duc was low and clear, and I did manage to see one fish, but it was one that appeared to be spawned out and not in very good shape at all. From here I got back in my car and worked the river further upstream off the La Push road but did not see any fish nor hook into any. I fished very hard this day and did a lot of walking and exploring. By the end of the day I was feeling a bit frustrated about the lack of success, but it was still early in my trip and hope still remained that I would get at least a hook up or two somewhere along the way. 04/06 I got up early and fished the Hoh again near the park boundary. Once again I struck out so I moved back to the Sol Duc and fished hard through a good run I encountered the day before. I did see a very nice fish in the run today, but was unable to get anything out of it. I admit at this point frustration was setting in not too mention the tiredness I was experiencing in my shoulder from casting the heavy flies so many times without nary a bump. I needed a complete change of pace so I checked out the Bogy downstream from the public boat lauch near the state steelhead rearing ponds in Forks. Once again I encounted some good water, but came up empty. As I was to learn later, this section of the river is supposedly good when the hatchery run is on, but it ended awhile ago. Having had no luck, I took the rest of the evening off. 04/07 Four straight days of hard fishing/exploring without a bump left me feeling a little unmotivated about fishing this day. My hopefulness of catching a steelhead was diminishing, so I decided to do something different and check out a small creek which I heard contained steelhead. My trip took me into the woods and away from people completely. The solitude and setting were beautiful, and I really did not spend much time fishing the creek at all. I did a good bit of wading along it without ever seeing a fish. I brought my rod along just in case I encountered something, but never reallly ended up using it. On the way back to camp, I stopped along another small creek which I passed on the way to check it out. I got out and waded for about a half mile or so when I found a deep hole that contained some small fish. My guess is there were likely cutthroats and wild ones at that. Most were very small (4-6"), but I did see a few that must of been in the 12-13" range. It would be a fun place to bring a three wt during the summer. This served to be nice "break" for me as once I returned back to camp I was feeling like trying to fish for steelhead again. Not wanting to drive very far, I returned to the Hoh near a nice run at the park boundary line. I fished through it with my type 8 sink tip and pink leech, but no success. Further upstream was a nice little riffle which had good color and depth to it so I switched to a floating line and tied on an orange bh glo bug (size 10) pattern with a couple of split shot to get it down. After about 10 minutes of fishing, it finally happened. I had my first take, which of course was so subtle and soft that I barely noticed it. However, I set the hook and had my first hookup of the trip. I got a good look at the fish right below me under the water (it was an average fish, 8-10 lbs), but that was all. It made three quick head shakes and my fly came unbuttoned. I was happy to get a hook up (finally!), but dissappointed that I did not hook him better. I regained some hope, but also could not help but to feel as if that might have been my one and only shot at a fish this trip. I kept on fishing and within five minutes in the same area lo and behold I had another very soft take, which this time I felt I nailed the hook set and had the fish secured pretty well. Again I was fishing a very short line so the I could see the fish in the water below me. This fish was very large (by my standards anyways) and was the largest steelhead I have ever hooked in my short fly fishing career. It immediately came up and made three huge side to side splasheson top of the water so I was able to get a very good view of its size. Conservatively, I would say the fish pounds wise was in the upper teens, maybe more. Unfortunately, after coming to the surface it made a huge run downstream and the line went slack. Once again I failed to land a hooked fish and felt the dissapointment of it, but feeling at least better about hooking up two times this day. I continued fishing for another hour without any more hits. 04/08 In spite of my two hookups the previous day, I was starting to feel the effects from lots of walking and casting without a fish to show for it, even after five days. Nonetheless, this morning I ventured out and explored the South Fork of the Hoh. I did quite a bit of walking, but it was worth it as the further upstream I waded, the more beautiful the river became. The solitude of it all and the wilderness surroundings were unbelievable. I did fish, but with no success. I was told that steelhead do enter the south fork, but saw none this day. Around noon I started hiking back out not really intending to fish anymore that day with the idea that I needed to take some time away from fishing and hiking. That plan did not work out as I persisted in my efforts and ventured out to take a quick look at the Dickey River. Upon arriving, I met a man and his wife with the last name of Wentworth (forgot his first name). He was a fly fisherman and had lived in this area for most of his life. He told my he was a student of Syd Glasso and we got into a very nice discussion about fly fishing and the rivers in this area. He knew these waters like the back of his hand and I was thankful for the information he shared with me. When I talk ended, I set out to explore the Dickey when at the first pool I saw a nice steelhead (8-9 lbs or so) holding behind a big boulder. This was an ideal situation for one guy to spot and direct the other person fishing. Being by myself, I was not able to do such a thing so when I moved into position to fish, I could no longer see where the fish was and how it was reacting. Needless to say, I never was able to get that fish to take. I moved upstream about a mile or so but never saw another fish. Pretty little river with some very good spots to fish, but on this day none of them produced anyfish for me. I left in the early evening and did not fish again that day. 04/09 This morning I got up at 5:00 am as I had scheduled a guided trip for this day with a guy by the name of JD Love. After having breakfast, we left to float the lower Sol Duc. This was my first guided trip of any type and I did not really know what to expect, but all I can say is that this guy was wonderful to fish with and really helped me learn more about fly fishing for steelhead, which was why I booked the trip with him in the first place. It was worth every last penny and I am really glad I made the trip with him. He warned me the night before that the weather and water conditions might make for some difficult fishing, but I wanted to go in the hopes I would learn something which might make my trips alone a little more productive. We fished hard all morning and up until lunch had one hook up to show for it. It was a pretty large fish that fought well, but it was very dark and did not look to be in very good shape. It was definitely a fish that had spawned or was getting ready to. He was very encouraging and hopeful that we would get a fish. After lunch, in a run that his client had taken a fish the day before, I finally hooked and landed my first steelhead of the trip. It turned out to be a bright, silver native of about 6 lbs or so. Not big, but she fought like hell. It was a relief in a way to finally have landed one. She took a large black articulated leech swung on my type 8 sinking tip line. That turned out to be the only fish of the day. It was great day made even better by that fish. Before departing, JD suggested that on my last day I fish the Bogy in the National Park where it is entirely in the wilderness and can be waded as far upstream as one is willing to walk. That evening I checked it out and decided that on my last day, I would give it a shot. 04/10 I woke up a bit late and actually did not make it onto the water until about 8:30 or so. It is a bit of a hike down to the river where it enters the park, but it is so worth it. By far I felt this was the most beautiful of surroundings in which to fish. Had I been aware of this section of the Bogy earlier in my trip, I would have spend a full day here at the very least, maybe more. Here one can fish for wild steelhead in complete solitude. I was on a bit of a time schedule as I had to begin my trip back home to Spokane that afternoon. I waded a good mile or so upstream, encountering numerous good holding water for steelhead but failed to hook up or even see a fish. At about noon, I began my trek back to my truck when I stopped to fish a spot that I passed over on the way in. I did so only because I saw a fish swim away as I approached. Hoping it might come back, I moved a bit upstream and waited a few minutes before making a cast. On my third cast, I had a nice strike (I was fishing a weighted orange glo bug on a floating line) and a hook up with a steelhead, but this time I managed to bring him to hand. It was a native male of about 8 pounds. I admired him for a moment and then released him. At this point, I could have kept fishing but figured that there was no better way for me to end my trip than that so I made not another cast and my fishing trip ended right there. Not a bad way to end it. All in all, it was a fun trip. Persistence and hard work were the keys to what little success I had, but it was all worth it in the end. I look forward to next year when I plan to go back and do it all again. _________________________________________________________________ Tax headache? MSN Money provides relief with tax tips, tools, IRS forms and more! http://moneycentral.msn.com/tax/workshop/welcome.asp
