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
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- Calawah River Boat Launch
Calawah River Boat Launch - North end of Forks just before the bridge crossing the Calawah River. There is also an excellent place to fish down Nelson road off of La Push Highway.
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- Welcome to Forks...be careful of the vampires.
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- Bogachiel River under the Highway 1 bridge & directly across from the Bogachiel State Park
Bogachiel River under the Highway 1 bridge & directly across from the Bogachiel State Park
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- Directly across the street from milepost 176 on Highway is a great sand bar to fish from. The private road requires $5 cash to use the roadway, but when the fishing is good it is worth it.
Directly across the street from milepost 176 on Highway is a great sand bar to fish from. The private road requires $5 cash to use the roadway, but when the fishing is good it is worth it.
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- Ho River Fishing Spot – seen from bridge North of milepost 176
Ho River Fishing Spot – seen from bridge North of milepost 176 - there is also several great pullouts along Highway 1 to the South and near the Ho River Resort. Another good spot when not flooded is to take Oil City road & follow to Cottonwoods campground and various pullouts.
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- Clearwater River
Clearwater River - Pioneer Park Sandbar
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- Sol Duc River - Whitcomb Diimmel Road
Three miles North of Forks - go past the weigh station on the right hand side, turn right on Whitcomb Diimmel road, follow until the end, drive out on sand bar.....when not flooded.
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- Forks Dinner? Vampires?
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- Calawah River Boat Launch
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- Beach Logs Kill
Watch for killer logs...& vampires
-gone fly fishing,
EARTHangler
