High Water and Chrome Fish - February 2020
A month plagued with heavy rain and flooded rivers, January 2020 was a month to behold. The month was riddled with short opportunities to fish and even less opportunity to stand dry on our swollen rivers.
Winter steelhead season has fully kicked off and we are seeing decent pushes of fish during the small windows of opportunity that we have had. With the recent closure of the Skagit/Sauk system, we have turned our attention to the OP, particularly the North Coast. With all this high water, the fish have been pushed way close to the bank and we have adjusted our strategies to this. Fish light and close in tight situations. We like a 10ft FLO-tip in T-7 or T-10 for these tight situations. In faster travel lanes, we will use longer tips, 12-15ft to get down into the zone in the heavy water. Be sure to up your fly sizes in murky water; the fish need to see it. The Sputnik from Aqua Flies have been a shop favorite recently, particularly in orange or black/blue. Other good flies have been the Ultra Squid, Dirty Hoh, or Greg’s Kriller.
Sea Run Cutthroat fishing has been great too! While most of our rivers have been too high to fish, we have been spending some time on the one place that doesn’t really “blow out”. We have been finding cutthroat on a variety of flies but particularly on shrimp patterns. My favorite fly for this have been Rio’s Participation Trophy or Rio’s Banana Stand. Shrimp move a bit slower than your standard baitfish so we have been moving these at a medium to slower pace.
For the swing anglers who are itching for a tightline grab, the Yakima is an excellent place to take your trout spey. We have been building a better trout spey selection, specifically for targeting fish on a swung fly. In warmer conditions, the fish can be found in your typical trout holding water but if the water gets cold, look for the deep, slow moving pools. Our favorite flies for the Yakima this time of year have been Rio’s Make it Rainbow or Rio’s Pocket Rocket. Both flies are perfect for swinging on our waters out east.