Doug Rose Flyfishing

My steelhead season on the rain forest rivers ended with a nice flourish–almost.

I planned to fish all day Monday and Tuesday on the Queets, Quinault and Clearwater, which closed on the 15th. But things didn’t work out that way. I ended up having to go into Forks on Monday, and the day just sort of slipped away. Then on Tuesday morning something related to an article I’m working on came up, and I had to run down to Amanda Park. By then, I had pretty much written off the steelhead season for the rivers near my house.

To make a long story short, I ended up driving over to a walk in spot I like on the Clearwater late in the afternoon and briefly hooked a fish. It was about 14 pounds. It was pewter-colored, that shade just a touch darker than a truly bright steelhead, with a splash of salmonberry blossom on its gill plates. It made a nice long initial run, jumped twice, and threw the hook.

I wasn’t disappointed in the least. I didn’t expect anything, and it was  definitely not how short, late season trips usually turn out. The Quillayute System rivers are open through April, of course, and I have a couple more trips booked. But the winter steelhead season is definitely winding down.

I haven’t caught anything on my surfperch fishing trips yet. I tried a good beach north of Kaloloch yesterday, and was litterally blown off the water. The waves were probably three or four feet, and the wind was terrible. I didn’t even bother this morning, because it was hailing, the sky looked like a three-day-old black eye, and I could hear the surf from our house, three miles from the coast.

I spent the afternoon tying flies for the beach and an alevin pattern for a mid-elevation lake I want to fish as soon as the weather improves a little bit. It has wild cutts in it, and they like small fry patterns.    

I fish the surf and lakes for fun this time of year, but my guiding from now until the June 1 river opener focuses on cutthroat on eastern Olympic saltwater beaches. I have access to several extensive stretches of private water on Dabob Bay, as well as public beaches that don’t receive a lot of pressure. I can also connect you with a cabin where you can stay within walking distance of the canal.

There is more variety and more quantity of food in the nearshore saltwater during late spring than at any other time of year. The chum fry are still on the move, and by the end of April the fish should also begin to target young-of-the-year sand lance, surf smelt and, a little later, herring. There are also a lot of invertebrates–shrimp and amphipods and isopods. Sea-runs also key in on polychaete worms in the spring.