It didn’t wind up raining on Saturday and the river dropped fast. By this morning it was down to about 600 CFS. I headed out to fish one of the small tribs figuring it would be clear enough and would be holding fish. When I got there, there were a ton of guys on the water. I worked the open water I could find and caught two suckers and one bright chrome jack steelhead. I also hooked and lost two other steelhead before I fished all the whole trib.
I jumped in the car and drove upriver looking for some clearer water. I decided to fish a place that has a lot of good holding water where I always find steelhead in the spring. There was less than a foot of visibility. I fished through choppy run that usually produces, nobody home. I worked up into through the text pool and again nobody home. I figured there were fish in there, but there was not enough visibility. I saw a fish porpoise confirming this theory.
Up to this point, I had been nymphing under an indicator. I put on the sink tip to swing a large streamer. Catching a steelhead on the swing is a special experience because of the way the fish slam the fly. Swinging big flies for steelhead is more difficult than catching a steelehad while nymphing under an indicator. You won't catch as many fish on the swing, but the ones you do catch will be the most agressive fish in the pool.
I tied on a 4" black and blue leach. It was a real big piece of meat, something large enough to get the fish’s attention in the dirty water. I fished through most a good pool that always holds fish when the fly stopped swinging, I got hung up on a large rock. Once I freed the fly, I picked up where I left off swinging through the tailout of this pool where a fish whacked the fly hard. I set the hook and a fish leaped out of the water, fish on! The fish headed straight down river for the lake. I ran down river chasing the fish putting pressure on it. I eventually turned the fish and worked in towards the bank where I landed it for the obligatory photo.
I never expected to get to fish this weekend. By the looks of things today was the only day the river will fish as the forecast is calling for more rain tomorrow. I got out just when the river was on the high side of fishable. It was a brief window of opportunity between the rains. I caught a bunch of fish today and I caught a steelhead on the swing! It was an excellent day on the water.
