Doug Rose Flyfishing

I have openings for my August 6 “$50 Wednesday” Bogachiel clinic, August 8 Elwha Friday (also $50), and the August 22-24 West End Weekend. Look under the Summer 2008 Newsletter for details. 

Things are starting to jump on the West End rivers. As I mentioned last week, fly fishers who fish early and late in the day and know what they’re doing are taking summer steelhead in the Bogachiel, Calawah and Sol Duc. Sea-run cutthroat have been percolating upstream for some time now, and the spurt of rain on Tuesday and today will most likely bring more fish in. I fished the middle Bogachiel for a while yesterday and caught one small cutt and enough juvenile steelhead to make me give up early. However, this morning I fished the upper reaches of a different river and caught a 15 or 16 inch “rainbow” and a nice foot-long cutthroat. If I had been on the Rogue or Klamath, the rainbow would have been called a half-pounder–that is, an immature steelhead that migrates out to the salt as a smolt but then drifts back into the river after only a few months. They are less than 20 inches. Although I have been told many times that no half-pounder stocks existed north of the Columbia, many Olympic Peninsula anglers insist that there was a run to the Elwha River, and I have also heard of them in the upper Quinault. In Bill McMillan’s report on historical steelhead abundance for the Wild Salmon Center, he mentioned that Rogue fish were released into the Quinault River decades ago. The interesting thing about the fish I caught this morning is that it fought exactly like a steelhead, jumping five times and fighting long and hard, and had no fin clips. It was also very deep bodied and as bright as it could be, although I caught it many miles upstream from tidewater. This river receives no summer  steelhead plants. It makes you wonder.

I also fished the Queets River for an hour on Monday. It was the middle of the day and the sun was shining. I wasn’t suprised that I didn’t catch anything. But I had a good time. Just as I cleared the woods and heeled down to the river, I saw a very large black bear about 100 yards or so downstream. I wanted to fish where the bear was, but  obviously revised my plan. However, the bear walked straight into the river and began swimming. It swam directly across the Queets, which even in summer is a pretty good swim. Most interesting of all, it kept its head down while it swam. I wondered if it were  looking for fish. Anyway, it finally made it to the other side. It shook off like a big Lab, climbed the bank and disappeared. A few minutes later, I saw two big plumes of dust. It must have been drying off in the sand. A little while later I saw four elk on the opposite side of the river. They seemed nervous, probably because the wind was blowing upstream and they could smell the bear. When I got out of their way, they came toward the river. I lost sight of them in the woods, but I imagine they swam to my side. 

Coho fishing has been picking up steadily on the coast but it is still pretty grim in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. According to the WDFW, 347 coho were recorded at Neah Bay between July 21-27, and La Push had 43 (much less effort). The Neah Bay coho catch is now at 33 percent of the quota. If I am reading the fish checker results correctly, there were almost no coho taken in Marine Areas 5 and 6, and not many in Marine Area 9. I’m sure people are getting some fish and aren’t being interviewed, but you get the idea.

However, my good friend Ron Hirschi is doing just fine with silver in MA9. He told me he caught an 8-pounder the other night and it had more than 100 sand lance in its belly. He also said that he and his long time partner were the only ones at the beach that night. His partner told him, “This is the way it’s supposed to be.” Ron says bait is abundant. 

The Elwha was getting real close to good shape for fly fishing and anglers were taking fish before the Tuesday rain. Then it rose to over 1,200. It has subsequently dropped to just under 1,000, the flow that is the borderline for decent fishing. But it’s raining again, so we’ll have to wait and see what it looks like tomorrow (Friday). With luck, it could be okay by the weekend. I know a lot of people can’t wait.   

Well, sorry about not posting for two weeks. My wife got a job in Forks and and we moved, rather quickly. I loved being so close to the Queets, but I actually fish and guide on the Quillayute System, Hoh and Elwha. It will save a lot of money on gas and worrying about the ridge between the Bogachiel and Hoh on winter mornings. We both love Forks, anyway. You can reach me through the same email address.

I still have two slots for my West End Weekend clinic August 22-24. Look in my Summer 2008 Newsletter for details. I also have spaces left in my next “$50 Wednesday,” which will be on August 6  and focuses on the Bogachiel, and the “Elwha Friday” (also $50) on the 8th.   

Anyway, there are increasing numbers of sea-run cutthroat and summer steelhead in West End rivers. Yesterday, Curt from Waters West and I did a clinic on cutts and steelhead, and one of the participants caught a really sweet 15 inch cut on the Sol Duc. We also saw both sea-runs and steelhead in the Calawah. Curt has been doing exceptionally well on steelhead lately in the Quillayute rivers. The Sol Duc was about 58 degrees, perfect for dry flies, and the Calawah was 60 the other day. The Sol Duc has great color now, but the Calawah and Bogachiel are lower than they were last year at this time and you have to fish carefully. A few days ago, some very nice cutthroat showed a lot of interest in a client’s large Parchute Adams on the Calawah.  

I haven’t heard of any fly fishers taking fish from the Hoh or Queets yet, although some anglers are giving it a try. Both rivers are at or below their usual levels for this time of year, and they have flirted with coming into shape several times lately. But they are really much better in August and September. The same goes with the upper Quinault.

The Elwha is giving up a few fish, but it is still a little higher and colder and cloudier than you really want it. It has been running a little over 1,000 cfs, and it is  better if it’s down around 800 or lower. It’s supposed to be cool this week, so it may be in decent shape by the weekend.  

Coho anglers are doing a lot better on the coast–32 were taken in the La Push Marine Area last week and 182 at Neah Bay. It has been pretty slow on the western Strait of Juan de Fuca until this week, but fishing was excellent at Sekiu this week. It’s still real slow farther east. In fact, I only saw 1 fish recorded in MAs 6 and 9 for the week of 7/14-20. I’ll talk more about this next week.

I’ve been writing and traveling this week, doing talks and clinics, and haven’t fished. I will be in Olympia Tuesday giving a slide show on “Cutthroat in Rivers” for the South Sound Fly Fishers. I’m doing an all-day seminar with Curt from Waters West on the 26th on late summer and autumn summer steelhead and cutthroat fly fishing in West End rivers. My first “Elwha Friday” will be on July 25, if the river is in shape, and the next “$50 Wednesday” will focus on the Sol Duc and will be on July 30. See my clinic and guide schedule in the summer newletter for more information. Email me if you have any questions.

Well, this is going to be a short post, because I’ just realized it’s Thursday and I’m in Forks. So I’m writing on a computer in the library. 

I have a few talks and clinics coming up. I’ll be at the Puget Sound Fly Fishers on the 10th, doing a slideshow on all the different fly fishing opportunities on the Olympic Peninsula. I will be at South Sound Fly Fishers on the 15th; my slide show there will focus on cutthroat in Olympic Peninsula rivers. I will also be doing a clinic on summer steelhead and cutthroat fly fishing on West End Rivers on the 26th at Waters West in Port Angeles with Dave and Curt.

I caught a nice little hatchery summer run on the Calawah last week. It was only 5 or 6 pounds, but bright as a can be and a real firecracker. From what I hear, it is one of the few hatchery fish taken on a fly on the Calawah lately. It hit a Silver Hinton on a dry line not long after first light. I had to get up at 3 am to drive up to Forks and then hike into the stretch of water I wanted to fish. 

I’ll have more on the Elwha, lakes, steelhead and sea-runs next week.