Late winter Steelhead'n

Fridays fish with Pat

 I Fished the Forks rivers after the 15th. Both the Sol Duc and the Bogi. The Bogi had 6+ ft of visibility with a nice emerald green and the sol Duc was pretty clear with at least 8 + ft. The flows on both were a nice median average.
Both have decent #'s of fish with a pretty even mix of new and seasoned fish. I did see a good number of reds on both rivers. I scaled down the size of my flies and fished flies with stinger hooks, a few of the fish we hooked nipped the fly once or twice before getting stuck on the tip of the nose. Clear water fish that see some pressure tend to do that. On the Bogi I fished from 101 down to the hatchery a couple times. It is a long float but and has some nice fly water. There was quite a few gear boats fishing from the hatchery down and I didn't want to try to compete with them.

I did see 2 springers caught on the Sol Duc on Sunday. One of them suprisingly enough from a fly guy drifting a bead egg. Both were chrome bright. My client Bill got into a nice tail out at th end of the day on sunday that produced 3 hook ups with one to hand. It was slow with one good grab till then.

I have 2 open dates on the Bogachiel/Sol duc due to a cancelation that I am discounting on the 26th and 27th of this month. If your interested please inquire - Mike.

I demoed a 7 wt. Echo Solo spey with a 500 grain skagit line. I was pretty happy with it. I have tried a few lower priced speys in the past and have found them bulky, heavier and sloppy. This one had a nice full flex but also not too soft for throwing heavy sink tips and weighted flies. For the price you can't go wrong. I have the 6 wt. too but haven't tried it yet.

Dennis (dad) is off to the Cowlitz in Early May, about that same time I'll be headed out of town to warmer climates in Florida and then the Bahamas. Time to get some real sun damn it!

Happy Fishing,

Mike & Dennis

Sun and fun

Here are a few pics from a much appreciated sunny day on the O.P. We only saw one other guy on the river all day. Good times.

Rumor has it that the Skagit and Sauk are showing great returns of steelhead this year. The upper Sauk also had great red counts last year. As much as I like the O.P. I really miss fishing my home waters and i know I'm not alone. Hopefully they will let us do a catch and release season up there next year.

To all the guys that are interested in the amazing fishery that is the Pink salmon run let us know, we are booking now. We will be fishing the skagit, stilly and the skykomish. We are already half booked on the skagit.
For the group trips we are doing them for $150 PP  you can make up your own group or join some groups we make up.

Happy fishing,

Mike and Dennis

Joincca.org

Busy Times:

Steelhead fly fishing is in full swing out on the Queets river right now. Tidewater steelhead and large native fish at that. Perfect.

No rest for the weary: Maybe the biggest secret of the Olympic Peninsula steelheading, is April is THE month. While all the trouties head off right lakes et al, some of the largest finest steelhead are headed for the steelhead junky towards the end of the month.

Flies:
All things big and wiggly are catching fish. Pink, purple, black, white (Cop Car) are flies of choice. Mike and I pretty much keep our steelhead leaders short and fat, in the off colored waters. The key is always the same. Bring it in "low & slow". Set your reels tight, keep your hands off the line, and hang on when they head south.
 P.s. Mike has a guy that needs a partner for april 15th on the O.P. Let us know if your interested.

Spring is springing while the vegetation's are greening up. Looks like we have survived another winter. Won't be long before the Cowlitz river summer steelhead will be headed for home. Guess we will just have to be there to greet them. I will write more on flies and summer steelhead strategies as we get closer. Mike & I are generating a new July summer steelhead school as we speak. Keep you posted.

Don't forget that new fishing licence.

Best of fishing,

Dennis & Mike Dickson

Chris had a big day on the O.P. yesterday. He actually got a few others too, The little spot on the big one is sea lice - Fresh  Fish!

Steelheading in full swing!

(Me holding Dakes fish)

Me and Dennis have been on the O.P. all week hitting a few different rivers. The rivers levels have been looking good and the fresh fish have been looking better. We have been having a ball with most days producing multiple fish. Seams like the average size of fish is bigger this year and lots of chrome bright fish. Chris hooked 5 today and lost a real nice one 2-3 minutes into the fight. The fly just popped free :(
Chris is kinda torn cause we have hit the same water 2 days in a row and had planned on hittn a different river tomorrow but it's hard to leave fish to find fish. We decided we would sleep on it and decide in the morning over breakfast. I told him either way it's a win, win; your fishing!

Till next week,

Mike and Dennis

The rivers have dropped back into shape and we are finding some fish. We had a big day on the Queets the other day although the only fish landed was about 5 lbs. I had a couple guys cancel today so I did some walking in to a river that I hadn't fished much. On my third run I had some excitement. I started the run at the top thinking, it's a little swift but has a little seam that looks decent. On about my 5th cast down a huge fish just slamms my fly, I see a big flash in the water as I only have about 25 feet of line out. I pull my new 7 wt spey back to set it and snap. The rod breaks just below the first farrel. I did have my drag a little tight but not sure it that was the main reason break. The fish was still on my line so I scrambled to get the broken part of the rod and line. The fish rolls a couple times and as I get the line the fly pops free of the fish. Later I looked at my #2 octopus hook, it got bent out. That was a huge fish and I have never had a fish hit that hard with that much force. Later I went back and got my single handed rod to finish out the run. Further down the run I popped a 11-12 lb fresh fish (in the pic). That was nice, but wasn't like the first fish. We have been getting a little rain each day but it hasn't been much.  Things are lookn good and spring has sprung.

Happy fishing,

Mike And Dennis

Rain, Rain go away come again some other day ..

I have been moving most of my trips back hopefully the rain will give us a break and the rivers will drop back into shape this week. On the positive side this rain has to have brought a bunch of fresh fish in. Hopefully we can get a crack at them this week.

Thanks to you that took advantage of our living social deal we ran over the weekend. I made a separate web page with a automatic sign up sheet. at http://www.flyfishsteelhead.com/livingSclass.htm
More dates will will be added as they fill up.

Me and Dennis are pretty booked up for the spring steelhead guide trips especially after having to flip guys to different dates because the rivers were out of shape but we do have a few limited dates left. I know I have the 28th of March open and a couple dates right before the Queets closes on the 15th. I have booked all the guys looking for partners but I have a few new guys that are interested. If you want a partner and know a date let me know, we have be able to work with you.
After the 15th of April I will be fishing in Forks on the Calawah System. That can be a pretty good time.

We have a few interesting trips that we are kicking around putting together this summer and fall that we haven't offered to the masses. Check back with us or give us a call and we can let you know of some new trips we may be adding this year.  http://www.flyfishsteelhead.com/guiding.htm

Please support CCA  they are doing a lot to preserve our fishing recourse's and fishing opportunity's

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Mike and Dennis