Doug Rose Flyfishing

                  Doug Rose Spring 2010 Newsletter

Regardless of where you live, springtime is when a fly fisher’s thoughts begin to drift to new and different fishing opportunities.  On Eastern and Great Lakes rivers, it’s when the mayfly hatches–the foundation that the fly fishing traditions in this country were built upon–begin to tick off one species at a time. Up in Maine, it’s when the smelt run triggers the landlocked salmon and big squaretails. In the Keys, the flats fishing picks up as the shallows warm and the tarpon and bones and permit become more active. Even in the Rockies, where snow still blankets the higher slopes, savvy local anglers often enjoy excellent fishing during the low water before run-off.  

But I don’t think there is a region that offers anything close to the species diversity and range of settings as the Olympic Peninsula in spring.

I don’t have to say much about winter steelhead. From now through mid-April, lower flows and warmer water give anglers their best chance of the season to connect with a winter steelhead on the fly. 

However, the array of springtime fly fishing options on the peninsula extends far beyond West End rivers. I have posted a new essay “A Guide’s Day Off” on fishing for sea-run cutthroat in Hood Canal in spring. As the water temperatures rise and the insects and forage fish become more active, the action on the peninsula’s large and small lakes also kicks into high gear. Indeed, the first month of the season is often the most productive time of year on many  stillwaters. 

(more…)

The first winter steelhead showed up at the Bogachiel Rearing Ponds’ outlet creek several weeks before Thanksgiving this year. Then the rains came.

I know that some of the folks who read this blog don’t live in the Pacific Northwest, and consequently may not have a keen grasp of what the weather has been like lately in the wettest corner of the lower 48 states. 

So let me just cite a few recent rainfall numbers for Forks.

We didn’t have any rain on November 3rd and 4th. Since then, we have had measureable rainfall every day until today. The following days had more than an inch–1.34 inches on the 5th, 1.42 inches on the 9th, 1.06 on the 10th.   We had 2.17 inches on the 15th and an unbelievable 3.85 on the 16th. The 17th had 1.72 inches, the 18th 1.44 and the 19th 4.37, (yes 4.37). The 20th received 2.19 inches, the 22nd 2.14, the 25th 1.23, and the 26th 1.55.  

That accumulates to more than 28 inches of rain for the month, and the numbers for the last four days aren’t recorded yet.  (more…)

Well, the rain must have a calender. After weeks without a hint of precipitation–and some of the lowest river levels on record–it rained hard on September 2, and we had a rare thunderstorm a couple days later. All of the rivers came up nicely, but dropped down just as fast. Then we had the deluge over the Labor Day weekend. It brought in fresh pulses of cutthroat, salmon and steelhead. Now the rivers are low again.

In other words, autumn has arrived on the Olympic Peninsula.

Of course, with temperatures in the 60s and 70s, mostly dry weather, and low water, September is really usually an extension of summer on the peninsula. It makes up for the less than pleasant weather we typically get in June. (more…)

Well, it really feels like summer in Forks today. It’s supposed to hit 84 degrees. I’ve seen carpenter ants in the garden the last couple days. I would have taken the canoe down to Lake Quinault if I hadn’t been trying to get this and my two new essays finished. Besides, I’m still waiting for the rivers to open. I know some sweet water on the Calawah and Sol Duc that should have summer steelhead in them by now.

Speaking of summer steelhead, they are the focus of much of the newsletter this time. I have also written an essay on fishing for summer fish with a floating line that you can read below or in the essay section. My other summer essay is a celebration, of sorts, of my favorite beaver pond.

Incidentally, once the rivers finally open, I am going to try to blog at least three or four days a week about my summer steelhead fishing. I will post under the On the Water Log heading, but I’ll title the entries “Summer Steelhead Journal.”  (more…)

Well, here’s the Spring Newsletter. We’re already into the second week of March, but there’s new snow on the ground in Forks. I am pretty much booked solid for steelhead through March, but have a few openings in early April. I won’t be guiding for steelhead after April 15, when I’ll switch over to saltwater cutthroat for the rest of the spring. The ”fishing” page of the website describes the type of saltwater cutthroat trips I offer.

                     Springtime Clinics and Classes 

Saltwater Cutthroat Clinic–Saturday, March 28. Join fisheries biologist Ron Hirschi and me for a morning of seining cutthroat beaches at Dungeness and Sequim bays, to examine the marine fish and invertebrates that cutthroat feed on in saltwater. After lunch, we will meet at Waters West Fly Fishing Outfitters in Port Angeles for a discussion of the creatures we have seen and fly tying demonstration of patterns that imitate them. We will also talk about tackle, lines and presentation. Cost–$60. Call Waters West 360-417-0937 to register or email me.  (more…)

There is something reassuringly straightforward about winter fly fishing on the Olympic Peninsula. Unlike in summer, when each day requires you to choose from a number of fisheries and destinations–subalpine lakes, coho in the salt, Elwha rainbows, beaver ponds, summer steelhead, red-tailed surfperch–the options in winter are clear.
If you want to fish in saltwater, you fish for sea-run cutthroat on the  peninsula’s northeast “rainshadow” beaches. If you want to fish in freshwater, you fish for winter steelhead on the rivers that drain the western slopes of the Olympic Mountains. A few anglers play around with other fish and other waters, but for the most part saltwater cutthroat and West End steelhead are the only shows in town during  winter.
           
WINTER GUIDE AND CLINIC SPECIALS
 
My regular winter trips are described in depth in the “fishing” page of the web site.
Half Day Steelhead–In addition to my complete trips, I am offering a half-day option for steelhead this winter. They run 5 hours, either from 8 am to 1 pm or 11:30 am to 4:30 pm. The cost is $225. The price is for one or two people.
Winter Steelhead Clinic–This is an intensive all day clinic on fly fishing for winter steelhead. It is designed for intermediate level anglers who have had trouble connecting with winter fish or have never tried it before. We will discuss lines, flies, presentation, the behavior of the fish, and reading water. After lunch, we will visit several different rivers, where we will practice the wet fly swing, nymphing and mending. December 30 and January 27. $60. Each clinic is limited to 6.
Winter Steelhead Weekend–This is a comprehensive introduction to fly fishing for winter steelhead on the Olympic Peninsula. We will meet Saturday morning for a discussion and slide show, then move to the rivers in the afternoon and practice different presentations and work on reading the water. We will have dinner together Saturday evening, followed by a discussion on flies. We will meet on a different river on Sunday morning and continue to work on presentation and mending until around 1 pm. February 21 & 22. $400. Cost includes hand-outs and Saturday dinner. Limited to 4.
As regular readers of the newsletter know, I always include an essay in the winter issue that summarizes my experiences in the field over the past year. This year, I thought it would be fun to ask some of my friends to contribute pieces. I asked them to write about anything they wanted and said that it didn’t have to be about the Olympic Peninsula.
The generosity and richness of their responses has been incredible. I am deeply grateful for having people like them for friends.

The centerpiece of the essays is an original piece, “The Christmas Coho,” by Les Johnson. I don’t have to introduce Les to anyone. He is the dean of Pacific Northwest fly fishing writers. His two most recent books, Fly-Fishing Coastal  Cutthroat Trout and Fly-Fishing for Pacific Salmon II, are masterpieces and will be read as long as anglers wander our beaches and rivers. Les also sent me a great picture of him with a Thorne River coho that he used as a Christmas coho, but I haven’t been able to upload it onto the blog yet. As soon as I can, I’ll insert it into the text. I’m also going to put Les’s piece and photo into the “essay” section of the blog, so you can find them easily in the future.

I organized the other writer’s pieces by drawing their names out of a hat. Ron Hirschi, my cutthroat clinic partner and  long time Olympic Peninsula fisheries biologist, described his experiences on the peninsula and in Wyoming and Montana. Leland Miyawaki, manager of the Bellevue Orvis store and creater of the renowned Beach Popper, wrote  about a steelhead dressing he came up with this summer. Marianne Mitchell, a member of the Wild Steelhead Coalition and chair of the Steelhead Summit Alliance, discussed the wild fish advocacy community’s achievements this year and the challenges that lie ahead. Preston Singletary, who writes the book, video and product review columns for Fly Fishing and Tying Journal, wrote on autumn and Haig-Brown flies. (more…)

I wrote this sentence in the first chapter of my steelhead book, The Color of Winter–Steelhead Fly Fishing on the Olympic Peninsula.

“I fished the upper portion of one of the peninsula’s most popular rivers once a week a few years ago, and I only ran into one other person, and I knew him.”

That book came out in 2003. I probably wrote the lines in 2000 or 2001, and the year I recalled was in the mid-1990s.

That wasn’t really that long ago, but I don’t have to tell you that the West End rivers have become a lot more crowded since then.  A couple years ago, I spent a weekday morning on that same stretch of water. I saw seven other fisherman, all carrying fly rods. (more…)

“The golden period of sport for the angler on this portion of the Spey is from the 26th of August to the 15th of October” A.E. Knox, Autumns on the Spey, 1872.

Isn’t it interesting that those words, written more than a century ago–on a different continent and about a different species of fish–should be so apt about autumn fly fishing on the Olympic Peninsula? 

Now, here are a few words that Syd Glasso wrote about autumn fly fishing on the Hoh in his article, “The Olympic Peninsula,” published in The Creel, the magazine of the Oregon Fly Fishers, in 1970.

“I have a notation in my fishing dairy for October 15, 1966 that reminds me of two hours of fantastically good fishing–almost too good. Arriving late in the afternoon, I found the river unbelievably low and clear. The air was full of large caddis flies and young crows were darting out from the cottonwoods trying to catch the flies in their erratic flight. I had a large caddis-like fly already on the leader and had been using it a few hours before in the Sol Duc. Giving it another shot of silicone I flicked it out to see if it would float properly and was amazed to see a big trout make a pass at it, and this in a place hardly likely to hold even a minnow. The trout never rose again. I waded across knee deep river to likelier looking water. From then till dark I caught, lost and released over a dozen big searun cutthroat, and two bright steelhead released themselves in mid-air.” 

My absolute favorite time of year for fly fishing on the Olympic Peninsula is between now and early November. From the the rain forest river valleys to the East Side oyster beaches and from the Elwha to the mountain lakes, there is, frankly, too much fly fishing opportunity this time of year to sample more than a fraction of it. 

       AUTUMN GUIDING AND CLINIC SCHEDULE

In addition to my regular autumn guiding for sea-run cutthroat and steelhead on West End rivers, saltwater cuttroat in northern Hood Canal and Admiralty Inlet, and rainbows on the Elwha River, I am offering these clinics this fall.  

West End Weekend–September 26-28; $400. This seminar provides intensive instruction on summer steelhead and sea-run cutthroat fly fishing on the Olympic Peninsula’s major West End rivers. It is designed for mid-level fly fishers who want to expand and refine their skills. For anglers unfamiliar with West End rivers, it also serves as an introduction to the coastal rivers, the Hoh, Bogachiel, Calawah and Sol Duc. The seminar begins with an optional Friday evening hot dog roast and fishing near La Push. Saturday morning begins on the upper Hoh and focuses on the wet fly swing with a floating line. We move down to the lower river after lunch and cover different types of sink-tips, then end the field portion of the day on the Bogachiel. After a break, we meet Saturday evening for a dinner, slide show and discussion of flies for summer steelhead and cutthroat. Sunday morning emphasizes waking, skating and the riffled hitch on the Sol Duc, and we conclude with the greased-line on the Calawah. The seminar ends by 1 pm. The cost includes the dinner and an instructional pamphlet.   

Elwha Friday–October 10; $50. This is an informal group clinic on how to fish for the Elwha River’s resident rainbow trout. We will examine the hatches, flies and techniques that are productive on the river and will fish several types of water. The clinic is on the middle river, downstream of the national park. We begin at 1 pm and conclude at dark. Maximum of 6.

West End Weekend–October 17-19

Winter Steelhead Tune Up–This is an opportunity for those of you who are new to or frustrated with your winter steelheading skills to spend a day on the river for one-on-one instruction. Any day that I have open in November. $350. (more…)

Well, here’s the Summer Newsletter. It contains the usual description of the best fly fishing opportunities available this time of year, and my guiding and clinic schedule. In addition, I have a new essay on the Elwha that you can find in the “essay” section of the blog. I wanted to have a review of Les Johnson’s new book, but my publisher hasn’t sent me one yet. I’ll write the review as soon as I see the book, but I know it will be superb. This issue’s interview features Jeffrey Delia, one of the Olympic Peninsula’s most innovative and experienced saltwater fly fisherman. Jeff is the creator of Delia’s Conehead Squid and White Ghost, which I believe are two of the best saltwater cutthroat patterns around. You can find Jeffrey’s interview in the “interview” section of the blog. Speaking of flies, the newsletter’s summer fly pattern is the Gray and Orange, a Syd Glasso pattern that was the precursor to the Orange Heron. It’s a great summer cutthroat and steelhead fly.

My book was supposed to be available this month, but it won’t be out until until late August or early September. You can take a look at the cover, however, in the “publications” page of my website. The oil painting is of an autumn fly fisher on the Sol Duc, and it was painted by my good friend, lunch partner, and fellow Spey fly fancier, Jack Datisman. Jack did the painting of the trout about to hit a fly in my book Color of Winter, and he also painted the wonderful painting of Dick Wentworth’s 22 pound steelhead about to hit his Mr. Glasso Spey fly that hangs above the checkout stands in the Thriftway in Forks.

If you haven’t been reading my blog lately, I am currently knocking $50 off my guided trips on the West End for anglers from outside the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas. The price of gas is obscene, and I hope this helps make it a little easier for you to book a trip with me. The discount will be in effect until the price of gas at the 76 station in Forks is below $3.75.    (more…)