On the Water Log, January 24, 2010
Starting Over
Okay, we’ve got a little more rain coming in tonight and tomorrow, but after that it looks like we’re entering a fairly dry stretch. The rivers, which have been coming down all week and now have good color, may bump up a bit but should be in great shape for wading and swinging by midweek. After an unusually long stretch of terrible river conditions, it looks like we may finally have an extended period when we’ll be able to fly fish.
It’s almost feels like a second beginning of the winter steelhead season. And the timing is fantastic, because late January and February are when we begin to see more big wild fish and the hatchery runs dwindle. I have already heard of three 20-plus-pound wild fish on the Quillayute rivers.
As recently as 10 years ago, the conclusion of the hatchery run also signaled the end of the big crowds on West End rivers. Unfortunately, the days when it was mostly locals on these rivers in February, March and April are now a faint memory. Indeed, we now get the bulk of the winter steelhead effort–at least from fly fishers–in late winter and early spring. And the closure of the Skagit/Sauk late season this year will only exacerbate the crowding. Fly fishing for winter steelhead on these beautiful rivers has become, I fear, an industry.
Oh well, as I said in my winter newsletter, I know how to get away from the armadas. I even have a bunch of new runs to concentrate on this season.
Depending on what happens tonight, I’ll hit either a creek or one of the Quillayute rivers tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it goes. And from now on, I’ll post something every day or two. That is, as long as we don’t get very many more days with 5 inches of rain.