Finding time to fish with a newborn and a four year old isn't easy. Luckily, my wife is a good sport and let me go out for a day on the East Fork of the Lewis River.
I arrived a bit late as I took my older son to school first. The drive was only a half hour or so from the house, so it wasn't a big deal. I put on my waders at home, so I simply jumped out of my car at the river and started fishing. This was nice as the rain was falling and I didn't get wet trying to get prepared. Being the first decent rain in a while, the river was clear and at a good level. Looked like good fishing conditions.
I had never been on this river, I made my choice of destinations by looking at Google satellite maps and reading a few things at the library (The local library is full of steelhead/fishing books. Something I never experienced in California). All of them said good things about this river. It may not have the biggest runs of fish, but it does hold the Washington state record for a 30 something pound steelhead.
| Access | Lower River | |
| Air Temp | Low 40, High 45 | |
| Water Temp/Visibility | 41 F / 8-12 feet | |
| Weather | Rainy | |
| Flow | low/clear | |
| Time in/out | 9:30am, 4:00pm | |
| Leaders/Lines | Compact Skagit | |
| 10ft of T11 | All day | |
| 5-6 ft of 12lb Maxima | ||
| Flies | dark, muted, 2-4 inch | |
My gear was setup with a compact skagit, 10 feet of T11, and about five or six feet of 12lb maxima. I started the day with an intruder style fly, but the hackles were black marabou and nothing else. It was basically a black leech with dumb bell eyes. The thing was about 3 inches long and had a bit of flash around the shank between the marabou clumps. I picked the fly because the water was super clear- easily 8 foot visibility and I wanted something that wasn't too obnoxious.
The run I picked in the morning looked good. It was between two small rapids. Large boulders under the surface looked like good holding spots. I started at the top and lengthened my casts as I moved down. As the water slowed, I had to make casts of about 80 foot. Quite wide for this river, which is relatively small.
I was trying all sorts of casts to get the fly to sink. Straight across to a bit upstream. At the end of the swing, I was getting hung up quite a bit . On one of those, I was flipping my line around trying to dislodge the fly from the rock. Then, all of a sudden the rock moved! The fish took the line for a few feet and then spit the hook! Drat!
I kept at it. Moved downstream until I was between two trees. One off my left and one off my right shoulder. I had a limited possibilities for casting direction. So, I cast down and across. About a 100 foot cast. The fly went completely across the river and landed right under a tree on the other side. The line straightened out in the air and landed flat. Perfect! As soon as the fly hit, I saw a faint commotion on the water surface.
Was that a fish? I tightened up my grip and then all of a sudden, I saw a splash and felt tension! Oh yeah! So much for Winter runs only taking flies on the bottom. This girl came to the surface to attack. There was no way that fly sunk that quickly.
She didn't fight all that hard. In fact, I assumed it was a small fish. However, when I got her close, I saw her and she was big! Sweet. My first official winter run fish in Washington. I got her to hand. It was a hatchery measuring about 34 inches. Nice!!
My wife jokingly told me to bring home dinner before I left. Thinking about that, the first thing I did was check to see if the fin was clipped. It was! I normally release all fish. Including hatchery. However, I'm starting to re examine this thought process. As much as I appreciate every fish, wild or not, these hatchery fish are not doing the wild population any favors. A decision was made, I was going to take this fish home.
I was holding her about a foot from the steep bank. I set my rod down and climbed up the hill and she started going nuts. The fish flopped out of my hands and back into the water. She just sat there for a few seconds. I jumped in and grabbed her tail. However, she knew this was her shot. She started kicking and I couldn't hold on. The fish got away! Sorry, no fish for dinner tonight.
I spent the rest of the day exploring. Walking up and down the river, I found some great swinging water. I also drove for a while and saw that access was limited because of private land owners. That sucked.
I'll be going back to the East Fork. What an incredibly beautiful river. This place also has a great Summer run in June/July. I'll be going back. After all, if you land a big steelhead the first time at a new river, you have to go back sooner than later.
