Washougal: 8lb tippet is not enough for a salmon

In my 20 something years fly fishing, I have never, that I can recall anyway, devoted a single day to fishing for Salmon. Sure, I may of cast out hoping to catch one while I was mostly targeting steelhead, but I never spent a significant chunk of time at it.

That is no longer the case. I decided to give it a shot. Chinook and Coho are currently in the Washougal river. Or so they should be according to the averages. Figured it was about time I give it a try.

Arrived at one of my favorite steelhead spots to give it a swing. I had my intermediate Skagit line on with a 7.0ips polyleader in front. My first fly of the day was a green and orange intruder. I've never fished the Washougal this time of year, and boy, is the river low. This run was so shallow I could hardly recognize it. Swinging was practically useless. Instead, I had to cast out and strip back. There was at least one big fish in there. He poked his head out a few times, but I couldn't entice him. After growing tired of the cast and strip, I sought out better water.

Deep down, I knew that upstream would be no better. I decided to look anyway. Come to find out, as expected, my usual slots were super shallow and I gave up after only a short time. Decided to go back downstream to a deep hole that I would walk right past when looking for steelhead.

I spent some time casting out and letting the fly swing, then strip it back using varying speeds. I really had no idea what I was doing. Salmon were and still are a mystery to me.

I tried a few flies until I got to a red/orange stinger fly with dumbbell eyes. It was about 2" long and was made mostly of finn coon hairs. Combine the weight of the fly with the sinking skagit line and I was hitting bottom in water at least 10 feet deep. Because I was getting hung up so much, I decided to strip the fly back quicker. My thought was, if I don't give it a chance, it won't get buried in the rocks.

Access	Washougal
Air Temp	Low 48, High 54
Water Temp/Visibility	~57F / 7 feet
Weather	Cloudy
River Stage	~3.8 feet
Time in/out	6:30am / 11am
Leaders/Lines	Int Skagit
	Intermediate and 7ips	All day
	8 and 15lb
Flies	Various large/bright winter	-
Notes	Water low and clear. Cloudy morning

That stripping speed change made all the difference in the world. The first time I applied my speedy strip, I hooked a fish. My first reaction was to not get excited. I didn't know if it was a small fish or not, after all, the tug was relatively mild. But, after holding carefully on the line with my stripping hand, I felt a very deep tug, tug, pulllll. Oh boy- Fish on!!

My rod was bent waaaayyy over. I spent an eternity reeling in the extra line that lay at my feet. At this point, the fish started bucking. I started moving towards shallow water to get a better foothold. Then I saw it. The fish was probably only 15 feet away. By my standards, it was enormous. He took a short run upstream. I started reeling him in. But he wouldn't have it. I don't know how much he weighed, but I could see he was easily north of 35".

My mind started racing. "This could be the biggest fish I've ever landed. Holy cow, this rod is bent over." And then, with that thought, SNAP! The 8lb tippet broke at the end of the poly leader. The fight was over.

I took the long walk back to my car for 15lb mono. Spent another hour or two in the hole with no luck. That was my chance and I blew it. This happened once before back in California where I hooked and then broke off the biggest steelhead of my life. You would of thought I learned my lesson.

I'll be back salmon!

Washougal

I've been fishing a few mornings here and there at the Washougal.  Yesterday, I fished the island and neighborhood for a few hours with only a pull.  River stage of 5.25 feet (just low enough to not be washed away at the island) and 51 degrees, the river was clear with 5 or more feet of visibility.  Arrived 1/2 hour before official sunrise to see fish rising in the run I stepped into.

Access	Washougal
Air Temp	Low 50's
Water Temp/Visibility	~51F / 5 feet
Weather	Overcast
River Stage	~5.25 feet
Time in/out	5am / 9:30am
Leaders/Lines	Compact Scandi
	Int Poly	All day
	8lb Maxima
Flies	Various size 4 and 6 summer	-
Notes	Water dropping after rain. Good conditions. One pull.

This trip marked the first day of the year I switched over to my compact scandi and slow sink poly leader.  Water temps are high enough to justify fishing just below the surface with unweighted flies.  It was a nice few hours of fishing with eerily quiet day for it being a Holiday weekend.  Only saw 1 other angler.

Local?

I might be in the minority.  But, I actually look forward to Mondays.  I enjoy my work and I know that sometime during the week, I may get a chance to get out on the river.  The weekends are blocked out for family time.  So, fishing rarely takes place.

Even though work has been pretty much non-stop, I've managed to get some swinging time.  This would never be possible back in California.  But here, in the PNW, when I have a steelhead river within 5 minutes of home, I can fish in the morning before work or after I get home.  An hour here or there isn't that hard to do.

Lately, I've been focusing on the Washougal and East Fork/Lewis.  I'm getting pretty familiar with both.  Especially the Washougal.  I now know the best flows to hit various runs and have found access points that I never knew about before.  Another bonus, meeting locals on the river that are willing to share their secrets.

Just the other morning, I arrived to the Washougal at a little past 5am.  It was raining and cool.  River was in good shape and looked really fishy.  The summer runs are just trickling in and I could see them rolling around just a few days earlier while we (the family) played nearby.  While I got nothing more than a tug this morning, it was a productive.  As I went back to my car around 7am to go home and take a shower before heading to work, a local came up to me and starting peppering me with questions.

He wasn't rude, just curious about who I was.  After a few minutes, it became obvious he was sizing me up.  He wanted to know if I was a local without directly asking me.  I let him know we just moved into town not too long ago.  He suddenly opened up and shared some of is favorite spots with me.  

The Washougal is one of those rivers that much of the river is surrounded by private lands.  Come to find out, many of the landowners are friendly to fisherman.  They'll let you walk on their land to access the river.  Guess being a local has its advantages.

Not much posting, but lots of fishing.

You wouldn't know it by reading the blog, but I have been fishing.  I'm trying to get it out of my system before the new baby arrives. Went to the Sandy a handful of times.  Tried a few new-to-me spots around the hatchery, Dodge Park, and I also managed to hit Oxbow again.  All of my trips were before the rain and snow arrives.  The river was pretty low and clear.  That will be my excuse for only walking away with one good tug.

Also been to the Washougal a bunch.  This has turned into my home water.  I slip away for an hour here and an hour there.  Awesome to be so close.  Unfortunately, like the Sandy, it has been low and clear.  Fish have lock jaw and I haven't landed anything.

The good news is that the recent rains and now snow(!!) will change the water levels for the better.  The bad news is that I won't be fishing again for a while.  The baby is due to come this week and I'll be on diaper patrol.

By the way, I found my camera buried in a box.  I promise to take it out next time on the water and have something for you to look at next time.