Skykomish River – Sultan, Washington

Happy New Year – Time to start 2012 right by Steelhead fly fishing!!!
Fly fished the Skykomish River for Steelhead on the south side of the river & east of Mann Rd. Bridge. There is a nice trail that leads to a great sand bar area that can easily be fly fished from shore or waders. Location is pretty much directly across the river from downtown Sultan, Washington.
Today was so damn windy it wasn’t even worth it. Fly fished for about 1.5 hours with various pink & orange streamers & articulated steelhead flies. The wind was so strong that you couldn’t even cast more that 5 feet in front of you. And lag between 30-40 MPH gusts was so rare that you would only get 1 1/2 decent cast every 10-20 tries. Totally worthless, but still better that many alternatives. Caught nothing. I saw only 1 drift boat go down river, & one wader on the south side & one wader on the north side of the river. Only saw one fish & it was “a real beaut, Clark”.

Today was supposed to be a test of my new Sharkskin Steelhead Fly Line – well, we will have to wait until next time to get a real verdict. Not much use in 30-40 MPH winds.
You know what they say – “A bad day on the river is still better than a good day at work!”

GPS:47.859912,-121.812783
Time: Sunday, January 1, 2012, 12:45-2:30pm
Weather: 39 F
Water: 40 F, High, swift, & a bit so-so on the clarity scale
Access: Great
Rig: Steelhead flies
Notes: This is a great place to fish, close to Seattle and surrounds

Winter Fly Fishing on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington

Each year the week after Christmas, the family heads to the Olympic Pennisula for a little R&R and fly fishing. In general, this is Steelhead country & some of the finest fishing in the world.
Well, our annual trek on 12/26/11-12/29/11 couldn’t have been more soaked. Rain in the Ho Rain Forest is expected each time we visit. But, generally there is enough decent water in some river to find fish.
This year it was raining hard, really hard. All day. Every day.
Every day we went in search of a river that wasn’t at flood stage or filled with mud. Each day we looked for any sign that there might be fish that could see a fly that didn’t smack it in the eye. We went to the Ho River, we drove to the Clearwater River, we checked out the Bogachiel River, we drove to the Calawah, and we drove to the Sol Duc River.
After hundreds of miles of surveying we finally gave up. We left the rods in the truck and decided that we need to try somewhere new next year.

On the bright side, we did find some new spots that would be great to fly fish if the rivers were’nt flooded. See below.

Condition: FLOODED
Notes: Check water levels before driving the distance

Skykomish River – Sultan, Washington

Fished the Skykomish River for Steelhead just East of Sultan, Washington. Fished float rigs for 2.5 hours spin cast with various pink & orange jigs sunk under an indicator. Caught nothing. There was about 6-7 sleds going up & down the river, & about 12-15 waders on the south side of the river. I only saw 1 fisherman hook a good size one from shore about 10:30am, nice fish.

GPS:47.859912,-121.812783
Time: Saturday, June 25, 2011, 8:30-11:00am
Weather: 52 F
Water: 46 F, High, swift , & a bit cloudy still
Access: Great
Rig: Steelhead float with jigs
Notes: This is a great place to fish, close to Seattle and surrounds

Clear Lake & Rimrock Lake – Yakima, Washington

Fished Clear Lake on US-12, west of Yakima, Washington on 5/28/11.
Located one mile west of Rimrock Lake and 5.7 miles east of White Pass, this reservoir at 3,615 feet holds rainbows and has a public boat launch. The best fishing area is the west arm – take Rd 1200, Tieton Reservior Road, off Highway 12. Beautiful area with some outstanding camping and great Rainbow Trout fishing opportunities.
We intended to fish the Yakima River Canyon but water was very high and very cloudy. So, decided to take a look at Rimrock Lake and Clear Lake.

The best area has to be the Tieton River. It was closed this early in the year, but a must to try on the next outing. Campgrounds along White Pass Scenic Byway US Hwy 12 provide easy public access. The Tieton River begins in the Goat Rocks Wilderness area in two forks, the North Fork Tieton and the South Fork Tieton Rivers and eventually joins the Naches River. Fish for rainbows and whitefish, with whitefish angling best during the special whitefish-only winter season. The Bureau of Reclamation’s irrigation water management results in high flows and unfishable conditions from early September to late October.

Clear Lake – 46.628651,-121.28015
RimRock Lake – 46.642324,-121.179729

We also found a small place along the Naches River on US-12 called Tim’s Pond. Seems to be the local pond for all kiddie trout fishing.