One Timers

Fisherman's Log:  Sunday, August 30, 2015.
Conditions:  Overcast/drizzle
Water Temp:  58 degrees
Species:  Summer Steelhead
Location:  Favorite Oregon River
Method:  Skating Foam Flies
Equipment:  11' 6wt Cabela's TLr, Hardy 3 7/8 perfect, 360gr Airflo Rage, Hand tied Maxima Leader, #4 Chartreuse/Purple wang skater.

I've been getting out regularly after summer steelhead since early June.  While it's always great to be out on the water and taking in the beauty where our favorite gamefish draws us to, the fact remains that I've been having a tough summer season.

With Wendi's weekend plans coinciding with mine, we were able to arrange for our schedules to allow us to both get out to enjoy the respective things that we love - bingo for Wendi and steelheading for me.  It turned out that I was I able to hit the water friday, saturday and today.

I drew my typical blank days on friday and saturday, but things changed a bit today.  I was optimistic with the overcast and drizzly weather as fall is now in view, but my optimism was tempered by the reality of the skunkitis I can't seem to shake off.

I decided to fish runs that I have not been hiting lately as I have gotten into a rut of fishing the same water, even when this strategy has not produced.  I got to a promising run before first light and I sat in my car and dozed off for a few minutes as I waited for daylight.  As I sat there, I pondered over how it seems that the days get shorter more quickly than I realize during this time of year and maybe I don't have to get up so darn early anymore.

I was woken as a car sped by and I idly wondered if that was another fisherman heading to another promising run.  When there was enough light to see in the overcast morning, I lazily got into my waders and gathered the stuff I'd need for the day's fishing:  rod/reel, box of skaters, wheatly clip box containing wet flies gifted to me by friends (or OPs - flies from "other people"),  waterproof point and shoot camera, cell phone.  The box of wet flies is brought along just in case I ever raise a steelhead and need a little sparse wet fly on the "comeback".

The first run fished beautifully in the dim light of dawn.  I was reminded of how nicely this piece of water swings a fly and I also remembered a few years ago, when I stopped my friend Terry Robinson off to fish this spot while I fished a run above and when I returned to pick Terry up, he told me the story of a steelhead that almost pulled his rod out of his hand when it came up for his skater.

I started in the smooth upper section of the run and felt anticipation as I neared the area of Terry's episode of almost loosing his rod to an angry steelhead.  I fished to the bottom of the run and while I was able to get some decent cackhanded single speys out and some nice swings, no steelhead were impressed.

I briefly fished a couple pools upstream, then worked my way downstream over the course of the day.  When I stopped at the pullout of an obscure run that is a bushwhack, downhill slog for one casting station deal, I realized the effects of drinking coffee on my digestive system and decided to head for another spot where an outhouse is close by.  I figured if the runs by said outhouse were open by the time I got done with my "paperwork", I'd fish them.

I got my paperwork assignment done and went out to hit the near-by runs that were open.  These runs had surely been fished earlier in the morning, but on a day like this, you never know when new fish may move in, so I fished the first run with all the confidence a hard luck steelheader could muster.

This pool is a well known producer, but it has yet to produce as much as a single definitive steelhead rise for me.  I worked by way down to the very bottom of this juicy tailout and an unmistakable bulge of water appeared at my fly as a steelhead rolled at my skater.  While the steelhead didn't actually try to take my fly and I didn't get a clear view of the fish, the nature and amount of water displaced on the rise left me confident  that it was not a trout.  I went into "comeback mode":  made the same cast - 0, shorted up, tied on a riffle hitched greaseliner - 0, shorted up, tied on a smaller green/purple skater - 0, shorted up, tied on a small, sparse riffle hitched wet  - 0!!  I went back through with the skater I started with, still nothing, so I finally moved on after giving that fish the best comeback effort I could.

I fished the other runs downstream and came up empty so I drove back to the run I had planned to fish when nature called.  Not surprisingly, it was still open so I took the usual treacherous decent down the bank and slogged my way to the single casting station.    I have raised and hooked into steelhead in this spot before, but I can't say it has given me any consistency.  It has given up rewards often enough to be worth the occasional visit and today was the day, since I haven't been down here in awhile.

I worked my Rage head out and for some reason, found myself using compact double speys rather than my typical cackhanded single speys.  I didn't seem to remember the huge boulder upstream from me that made cackhanded singles difficult today.  I wondered if that boulder had recently fallen into the water or if I had been making adjustments with my casting and forgot having done so.

By the time I was casting the Rage head plus 8 strips of running line out, my fly was reaching near the far bank and I was getting into the "zone".  There is a submerged boulder alongside an exposed boulder where I have gotten rises before.  Apparantly, steelhead occasionally like to rest alongside that submered boulder.  As my skater swung towards the hot zone, a current caught the line and leader and accelerated the cross stream  swing of the fly.  In an instant, I saw the broadside rise of a buck steelhead of maybe 7 or 8lbs.  This steelhead still had some brightness to him with the rainbow stripe still a faint red.  I let the fly continue to swing past the exposed boulder in case my steelhead decided to follow the fly - it didn't.

I went through my comeback routine and same parade of fly changes with no results.  I was thrilled to encounter a second steelhead on this day, but very puzzled with the one time appearance of this fish.  I wondered what would cause these fish to only rise once.  Maybe they are on the move and no time for "seconds"??

With limited time remaining before having to stop fishing by the "2pm emergency closure" (thanks ODFW, but no lethal water temps around here since early July!!), I had a couple runs in mind to finish out the day.  The first of the two is a nice bouldery run with nice structure at the bottom.  As I approached the rocky structures in the bottom of this run, I braced for action as it seems that this is a day that steelhead are willing to rise and I was hopeful to find a steelhead that would actually eat my fly.  No such luck in this locale so I left for my "closer".

I had just over a half hour left to finish out the day at this last run.  I have hooked and landed steelhead in this often overlooked locale (including a hot, mid teens hen in Sept 2011), but I wondered if this year's low water has made it less appealing for steelhead to hold in.  As I got towards the bottom of this run, I watched for a dimple on the surface that seems to indicate some kind of bottom feature that has drawn rising steelhead to hold there in some of my happier moments.  I simultaneously watched for shoreline features that confirm that I am in the zone that I want to be in.

As I watched for the surface texture I was looking for and also surveying the landmarks on shore, I felt like I was starting to get past where I have raised steel in the past.  My skater was coming through the wake of water that signals the structure I've been watching for and the rise comes - a bulge of water at the fly, but no actual take.  I looked at my watch:  1:45pm.  It appeared that the steelhead followed the fly a few feet as I saw another more subtle bulge under the fly.  I let the fly swing all the way in and waited a couple seconds.

Since this steelhead appeared to have followed the fly after the initial rise, I was bracing for the grab on the next cast......it would have been nice, but no, it didn't happen.  Nor did it happen after I went back with a smaller skater, riffled grease liner and sparse, riffled green butt skunk (thanks to Tony Torrence).  By the time 2pm hit, I was still left with the question - "what da...".  I was hoping to close out the day with a bent rod, but raising 3 steelhead to the surface in day's fishing is nothing to complain about, God is Good!

The trill of raising steelhead to the surface is always worth all the time and effort it takes to make it happen.  It can be tough to keep the faith when there is no feedback from the prize we seek, but even during lean times, I try to maintain focus and consistency with my casting and presentation since these are things I do have some control over.

I am thankful for the feedback the steelhead gave me today because it is what I needed as I prepare to leave for BC with friends Adrian Cortes and Steve Turner this next coming weekend.  Consistent casting and presentation are always critical with surface steelheading and I look forward to the pleasant rhythm of skating for steelhead on the big, broad runs of BC rivers.

My favored vitange Perfect sitting on my $79.95 Cabela's TLR.

My chartruese/purple skaters and comeback flies

Dry Fly Steelhead - A Great Lakes Perspective

By Larry Halyk

I’ve been an avid follower of this blog for some time now, so when Todd asked me to offer a Great Lakes perspective on dry line steelhead, I jumped at the chance.   I’ll be the first to admit that there are many skilled anglers in my home province of Ontario who are more dedicated to pursuing steelhead on a dry line than I.   On my home river, I have several friends who will stick to swinging their beautiful gut eyed Spey and Dee flies just under the surface regardless of how many fish we ‘tip dredgers’ are hooking.   

So yes, I admit it.  I spend most of my Great Lakes river time swinging with tips.  However I do love waking/skating  dry flies, and am convinced that Great Lakes steelhead can be caught on the surface  consistently if you pick the right times and locations, are prepared to make more casts between hookups and (most importantly) fish with confidence.  

According to my outdoor journals, I’ve caught 32 Ontario steelhead on waking flies over the last 25 years.  My dry fly Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) over this time period is 0.085 (i.e.  it took me on average 11.7 hours to land one fish) compared to 0.208 (4.8 hours per fish) swinging sub-surface.   These hard facts don’t tell the complete story since the data are tainted by a number of factors and biases (yes, being a retired biologist makes me a data nerd).  The main thing is I had modest success on one river in the late 80s and early 90s, then didn’t really fish dry much until I picked it up again eight years later on a completely different river.   

In the early years (1989 – 1992, 6 on a dry) I targeted Skamania strain steelhead on the lower Saugeen River when both Michigan and Ontario were experimenting with a Skamania program on Lake Huron rivers.  After stocking practices changed, Skamania returns fizzled and my dry fly success there went down the toilet.  This early dry fly success started me on a path though.  My first dry fly steelhead was 37” long and took a Waller Waker just weeks after I first watched that famous 3M video featuring Lani on the Babine River.  To say I was hooked would be an understatement! 

The river I now spend most of my time on supports a unique strain of wild fish that are genetically programed to show up as early as Labour Day so they can jump a 9 foot high dam and quickly run 60-80 miles of warm water to stage in cooler holding pools below their spawning tributaries.   These fish are very grabby, and some aggressive individuals will chase waking flies with the same abandon as a Skeena fish if all factors align.  My records show that for two years in a row, I caught dry fly steelhead on this river while practising for my late September Skeena trip (5 fish over 19 hours), yet caught zero dry fly steelhead on the Bulkley those same two years (a total of 29.5 hours on top).  Some of these ‘practise fish’ were real players that came up 2 or 3 times before being hooked. 

The above experiences convince me that on the Great Lakes, both hatchery and wild fish will take a surface fly, but the more important factor is whether or not the fish are in the river at times when temperatures are optimum for metabolism and aggression.   A good start would be to focus on a river that has good numbers of active fish present in the early fall or late spring.    

On my home river, my best dry fly CPUEs are in September or early October when temperatures are in the 50-60 degree range.   By late October, the fish are usually less aggressive and my dry fly CPUE drops – probably due to a combination of lower water temperatures and higher fishing pressure.   My sub-surface swinging CPUE over the years has remained at a pretty consistent level on this river right through to the close of the season on December 31, so I don’t think my dry fly success dropped off due to lack of fish – just lack of aggressive fish.    

September and October is a great time to hunt for aggressive steelhead, but it is also a time when spawning salmon are present on many of our rivers.  I find that I don’t do well with the dry fly or dry line on rivers where spawning salmon are abundant.  I think it has a lot to do with the ‘egg hatch’ on these rivers that may reward the steelhead for looking down instead of up.   My favourite Great Lakes dry line river doesn’t have a salmon run and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.   

 

A completely different time to do fairly well on top (OK not great but possible) is in the late spring during mayfly hatches.  The takers are mostly mended kelts feeding on duns or spinners, and the best technique is a dead drift imitation just like fishing for resident trout.  The best chance of finding this type of ‘match the hatch’ scenario is on rivers with wild fish and good insect hatches.  Wild fish populations have broader migration and spawning windows than runs dominated with hatchery fish, and quite a few Great Lakes rivers have some fish kicking around well into late May.  These fish can be exposed to some pretty prolific hatches.  

Fishing pressure plays a big role in toning down the aggression level of fish that may be vulnerable to chasing a surface fly.   I have no data to prove it, but I suspect that years of heavy harvest pressure over many steelhead generations can exert selection pressure against fish that could potentially pass in aggressive behavior to their progeny.  The stretch of river I fish most has catch & release, artificials only regulations.  That not only reduces mortality and allows ‘recycling’ of fish after release, but also reduces the overall pressure because many will choose to go where harvest and gear rules are less restrictive. 

Pressure is still a factor on this river though.  When I first started fishing there for steelhead about fifteen years ago, the trout/steelhead  season was closed on September 30 and most anglers didn’t even know it had an early fall steelhead run.  I and a few others fished it through the month of September with virtually no competition from other anglers.   When I had a good pool to myself (which was often back then) I had the luxury of fishing through it first with a waking dry, then with a mono leader and wet, then a tip.  Most fish were caught on a tip, but the dry fly was productive enough that I always tried it first if I had the time.  Now, fishing pressure is much greater on these pools and even though most anglers are well behaved and practice pool rotation, I rarely have the luxury of fishing through three times without company.  Now when I find a good pool empty, I’m tempted to go straight to a tip before the competition arrives.  I hate myself for that and long for those lazy days of casual experimentation. 

Regarding flies, I’m not sure if it matters too much.  I tend to use a big buoyant searching fly like a Bulkley Mouse or one of those foam backed thingies, then switch to something smaller, darker or wetter if a fish shows and/or won’t come back.  The closer is usually a dark wet if all else fails. 

If I had to pick the one most important factor that will lead to success on the surface, I’d have to say it’s having confidence in both the technique and the fish.  If you don’t truly believe it will happen, it probably won’t.  That first surface fish is usually a long time coming and it takes perseverance to stick with it.  The second and third will come a bit easier, and part of the reason is you are building up an experience base to recognize when conditions are good for a decent shot at success, and when they aren’t.  For example, I’m not confident fishing dries my home river when it runs less than 3 feet of visibility.  I’ll bet I’m too conservative, but success hasn’t happened for me yet during these conditions and I doubt it will in the future; mainly because I won’t give it a fair chance.    

My experience learning to have confidence waking dries was similar to my experience weaning myself off my centre pin float rod in the 1980s.  At first I would only experiment with dries when the fishing was slow with tips.  I was setting myself up for failure because if conditions are tough subsurface, they will probably be even tougher on top.  It was only when I started switching to dries shortly after hooking a couple of hot aggressive fish caught on a tip that I started to see some consistency in results.  It takes discipline to abandon a system that works, but fishing dries when conditions are optimal is the best way to build confidence in the technique.

Larry Halyk

My first dry fly steelhead, taken in 1989 on a rod totally inadequate for the job.  I never release hatchery fish.

This early October wild buck took a big Buckley Mouse searching fly on the first pass.

This fresh wild hen showed twice before taking this foam back on the third pass. 

  

The Banana Boat

The Banana Boat

An new era begins...

I just purchased a new/used beater car to get out on my fishing adventures.  Wendi saw this 1987 Chevrolet Spectrum CL with a for sale sign on it a couple weeks ago and encouraged me to take a look at it.  For sure, it's not a Honda, but it only has 80,000 miles on the clock and appears to be in decent mechanical condition.

When I brought the car home, Wendi took a closer look and said eww... as she noticed that the windows were custom sealed with yellow duck tape ( the rest of the roll thrown in for free) and one of the cheap plastic hubcaps were missing.  For some reason she didn't like my idea of just trashing those hubcaps all together so she ordered a new set from Amazon to pimp my ride.

Granted, I needed to put two new tires on the front right off the bat, but still got a decent deal on this car for a few hundred bucks and no car payments.  As an added convenience, there are no power windows, cruise control, and automatic door locks on this bad boy.  No reverse camera either.  Just for my entertainment, I almost immediately started to hear a screeching noise coming from the front, telling me that the wear indicators on my front brake pads were doing their job in conveying the urgency of changing them out.

Okay then, off to the parts store to grab new brake pads and they had to be special ordered since "they didn't make many of those cars".  I picked up the brake pads a few days later and to my joy, I realized when trying to install them, that they were the wrong part!  Back to the parts store........ oh, they did a mid year change in 1987 so my pads are listed with the 1988 model, no wonder they look different.  Again, the pads needed to be special ordered.  Finally, after just a few bad words went through my mind, I got the pads installed and my car stops without sounding like a tire's about to fall off.

The car is adorned with a bright yellow Maaco paint job, complete with some chipping and masking lines still visible.  I decided to call this new fishing vessel "The Banana Boat", but just was reminded today by Josh Browning, via Facebook, that bananas are bad luck as to fishing.  I've been on a dry spell anyway so don't know how things could get any worse, but if my luck doesn't change I may have to change the name to "Yellow Streak".

I took the Banana Boat on it's maiden voyage to the North Umpqua this weekend.  Wendi is off to Strugis with her dad for the week so I took advantage of having no adult supervision.  I'll never get anywhere fast with this beast, but I did make it to the river without incident and found a camp spot for a weekend of solo fishing.

I decided to gut the rear seat out of the car so I could load all of my gear with the convenience of the hatchback for access.  I had room to spare and figuered that I'd bring my generator next time so I can keep my cell phone charged and crank up my coffee maker in the mornings.

I'd have to say that my first fishing trip with the new rig was a success.  I was able to lug all my junk to the river and this little car did great with jumping from me spot to spot.

It was great being out on my favorite summer river, however, due to the record warm weather, ODFW has issued an emergency closure with no fishing allowed from 2pm until an hour before sunrise until further notice.  Apparently, some folks didn't get the memo as I saw a couple guys who had been fishing after 2pm and didn't know about the closure until I told them about it.

Much to my surprise, I fished under overcast conditions most of the time on Saturday and all day today.  There was even some drizzle today, such a nice unexpected change with the scorching hot weather we've had.  Sometimes I'm glad when weather predictions are wrong.

I'd heard that a weather change like this can really turn the fishing on, but apparently that didn't apply to me.  Nevertheless, it was a great reprieve to fish in cool conditions and even having to wear a rain jacket in August.  I always enjoy being in this beautiful place and am always blessed with getting into the rhythm of the river.

I ended up going retro this weekend with equipment and brought out my Sage RPL 9'7wt that I built in 1993 and Lamson LP 3 fly reel bought at around the same time.  I uploaded the rod by two line weights with a Sage Saltwater WF9F line and that combo single hand spey cast just wonderfully.

With more idle time in camp due to the closure at 2pm, I was also able to get some fly tying done.  I was pleased with coming up with yet another color combo for my foam skater, this one incorporates chartreuse cactus chenielle and looks like a winner.  No end to my maddness with foam and cactus chenielle.  I'll post pics of this fly in the near future.

The Happy Zone

The Summer's Hope: Little Wang step by step

Summer's Hope

(An edited version of this step by step appears in the current edition of Swing the Fly)
https://www.joomag.com/magazine/swing-the-fly-issue-31-summer-2015/0822729001433264450?short

I started tying the first versions of my current skater in the fall of 2012 and I've been honored and humbled that there are folks out there that have liked my pattern enough to have asked for step by step tying instructions for it.  It took a while, but I finally got a step by step posted on my blog this past fall.  I'm such a steelhead fanatic that every spare moment of my time is spent taking advantage of those windows of opportunity to fish so it was only under the forced down time of late fall that I got around to putting an SBS together.

My skater was born out of the necessities of pure function, so efforts to create a pattern that stays on top and has good visibility were the key goals in it's conceptualization.  Over time, the pattern continues to evolve and I continue to tinker with colors, visibility posts, flash, etc.  This pattern is one that lends itself to many color combos, but I'll just use the "Summer's Hope" version, tied in size 4, in this SBS.

This particular version of my skater got it's name after realizing that it's color scheme utilized all the colors (plus a couple more) of Bill McMillan's famous Winter's Hope.  I checked in with Bill to see if he'd be offended if I named my fly the Summer's Hope and Bill was gracious enough to reply that he felt my fly would be a fine compliment to his famous Winter's Hope - Bill is a kind man indeed!


Materials list:

hook:  Mustad R73 (9671 equivalent), 2xl streamer hook.  The Tiemco 5262 or other similar hook can be substituted.  I most frequently use size 6's and 4's although I have tied versions of this pattern ranging from size 2 to size 10.  If one prefers, up eye light wire steelhead hooks such as the the Tiemco 7989 can be used as well.  Heavy wet/nymph hooks such as  the Tiemco 3761 & 3769 (Mustad 3906/s80 & 3906b/s82 equivalents) are also used.  I just prefer the down eye hooks for ease in rigging the fly due to the foam lip being compressed against the eye of the hook.

tail:  Moose body

thread (rear half):  veevus white gelspun 150 denier for size 6 & bigger, 100 denier for size 8 & smaller.

Flash:  purple holographic flashabou, over tail and cross wrapped up front

butt:  florescent green globrite floss, use a single strand

tinsel:  oval silver

body:  purple globrite floss

Foam shellback/lip:  pink 2mm foam, cut into a tapered piece approx 1" x 3/8" x 3/16"

Flash ball/thorax:  Large Minnow Blue cactus chenielle (distributed by Hareline)

Thread (front half):  140 denier black gelspun, for strength in tying down the elk hair wing

Wing:  Black Cow Elk, select a patch with as straight hairs as you can find.  Too much curvature in the hair makes tying down evenly difficult.

Rear facing visibility post:  yellow 2mm foam, cut into a rectangular piece about 3/8" x 3/4".  Cut a V into one side.

Front facing visibility post:  orange 2mm foam, cut to approximately 3/16" x 1/8" x 7/8"


This is not a difficult fly to tie, but it is labor intensive, so be patient in learning to tie it.  Even when I'm on a roll, I can take 20-30 minutes to tie each one.

So here we go - hope you have fun with this one and even get to experience seeing it disappear in a surface steelhead attack sometime!

I put a slight dropping bend in the shank with needle nose plies, not mandatory, this just appeals to my sense of aesthetics.  Start the white thread mid shank, wind down to a point just past the barb.  This marks the body proportions I use for this fly.

Cut a small bunch of moose body hair, clean and stack to even tips.  Measure the tail to be about equal with the overall length of the body.  Tie in at the mid body point and wrap to the end of the body.  Take a couple soft wraps around just the moose hair to help keep the fibers gathered.

Add four stands of purple holographic flashabou on each side of the tail, cut even with the tips of the tail.

For the butt, tie in a single strand of fluorescent green floss, wind to the tail and back onto itself.  Be sure to cover the white thread.  The white thread provides a bright underbody for the floss.

Tie in the tinsel rib

Tie in the purple globrite floss.  Wind up and down the body a couple times being sure to cover the white thread.

Tie off the purple floss and start the black gelspun thread in front of the body.

Take five turns of tinsel and tie off.

Cut a tapered piece of pink foam to approximately 1" x 3/16" x 3/8".  Tie in by the narrow tip as shown.

Tie in the Minnow Blue Cactus Chenielle by it's core right in front of the foam.

Take three wraps of chenielle and tie off.

Take 8 strands of purple holographic flashabou and cross wrap in front of the chenielle.

Pull straight up on the flashabou strands and cut even.  Guesstimate the length to be a bit longer than the wings that will be tied in front of it.

Cut a bunch of Black Cow Elk about yey big.  It takes some practice to gauge how much to cut as you want to have enough hair to cover the perimeter of the hook and allow for some being trimmed on the bottom while having full wings remaining.

Remove the fuzz and short hairs from your clump of elk and place in a hair stacker to even the tips.  Carefully gather the black cow elk from the hair stacker.  Holding the clump in the right hand, evenly distribute the hair around the perimeter of the hook, making sure there is roughly an equal amount of hair on top and bottom.  Measure the hair so the tips are even with the bend of the hook as seen above.

Carefully transfer holding of the hair by the tips to the left hand, being sure to also gather the flash as well.

Take the thread and make a couple soft wraps around the hair and slowly tighten down with firm pressure.  The object is to flare the hair in place, not to spin the hair around the shank.  Make another wrap or two at most to secure the hair down.  DO NOT LET GO OF THE TIPS OF THE HAIR WITH THE LEFT HAND AT THIS POINT.  KEEPING A HOLD OF THE TIPS SERVES AS A GUARD WHEN THE BUTTS ARE TRIMMED IN THE NEXT STEP BELOW.

While still holding on to the tips of the elk with the left hand, grab your scissors and roughly trim the butts of the elk down. 

At this point, snug down on the gelspun a bit more, push back on the trimmed butts, work the tread to the front of the butts and make a few wraps behind the eye of the hook.

Trim the hair flat on the bottom to allow the blue chenielle to show through.

Turning to the top of the fly, evenly part the elk hair with the closed tip of your scissors to allow the foam lip to be brought over in the next step.

I make an upward facing pinch in the pink foam in preparing to tie it down.

Make a couple soft wraps and slowly tighten down.  Be careful not to apply too much pressure or the thread will cut through the foam.

Cut a piece of yellow 2mm foam 3/8" x 3/4" for the rear facing visibility post.  Cut a V into half of this foam piece.

Upward pinch on the yellow foam before tie down.

Tie down with 2-3 wraps, tighten slowly, again careful not to apply too much pressure.

Cut a piece of orange 2mm foam for the front facing visibility post.  I cut this one to approximately 1/8" x 3/16" x 7/8"

Tie the orange foam down with the wider side on the bottom, 2-3 wraps as seen above.

Work your thread under the fly and around just the eye of the hook, make a couple wraps.

This part may be a bit tricky for some - At this point, hold the foam back while making a whip finish, then follow up with making a second whip finish around the first one to secure everything.  Since head cement would not hold very well to gelspun, I have resorted to this double whip finish routine.  I previously did the whip finishes manually without a tool, but I have been recently using a whip finish tool as seen above as it prevents the fine strands of the gelspun from getting tangled in the dry skin of my fingers.

Cut off the gelspun close to the eye.  The foam lip will need to be trimmed down and the photo above depicts the proportions for the the foam lip that I like.

Side view of finished fly.   BC here I come!!  Oh darn, that's not until this fall....

I have been finding that the orange/yellow color combination for the visibility posts are probably the most easily seen under varied conditions.  The color combos for this pattern seems endless and I have tied this skater in color schemes including those of the yellow stimulator (The "Stimuwaker"), October caddis, McKenzie green caddis, green butt skunk, all pink, and various other combinations of baby blue, black, purple, and pink.

I hope folks have fun tying this skater and find lots of surface friendly steelhead this summer!!

Solitude

When I evaluate my time spent astream, I realize that I spend A LOT of time fishing alone. In fact I spend the great majority of my time on the water fishing alone and actually don't mind it. Either I'm a very difficult person to deal with or just happens my fishing buddies' schedules just don't mesh with mine very often - I hope that is the case anyway.

I know that I fish "opportunistically", ie., I often get to fish on a moment's notice as the family schedule unexpectedly clears or my better half kindly encourages me to get out as she notices that my mind seems to be on other things like how fall is the best time of year to get steelhead on the surface.

Don't get me wrong, I love fishing with my fishing friends when I have the opportunity, but if no one can go when I can, it doesn't stop me. When I fish alone, I can fish at my own pace, whether I feel like rushing through water, taking it slow, stopping on the bank to take breaks, take pics, pray, or just take in God's creation as I feel led. Sometimes I just look around and can't help but feel incredibly grateful to be able to experience all the blessings that come through fly fishing for steelhead.

As I look at my fishing pics, thankfully, there are not many pics of ME holding fish! My collection of fishing pics mostly depict my solitary fishing experiences occasionally peppered with pics of my friends holding steelhead.

Of course, one has to take reasonable safety precautions when fishing alone like being alert and mindful of your surroundings, using prudent judgement about where you are fishing, and being prepared for any mishaps that could happen out on the water.

Despite the potential pitfalls, I continue to fish solo the great majority of the time and find my solitary ventures to be a necessary part of maintaining my mental balance in the midst of working a very stressful job and as my way of connecting with nature.

Solo float in my toon

Sugar Pines near a special run

Fall steelhead that succumbed to my foam skater

My Happy Place

My 74' Bronco along the North Umqpua

Small coastal stream after a winter storm

Another Win for Puget Sound Steelhead

Jack Stanford

jack.stanford@flbs.umt.edu

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WDFW announced today the NMFS decision to go back to a full EIS evaluation of Puget Sound hatchery plans.  Announcement pasted below.  The Chambers smolts that were to be planted will again go to lakes.  NMFS received over 2,000 comments!!  Way to go to all.  It is assured that this will now take considerable time for WDFW and NMFS to develop plans that will live up to the many comments already received for Draft EIS development and subsequently more time thereafter to develop the EIS in a way that addresses all the comments – and further limited to how well the EIS actually addresses whatever hatchery plans come out of it regarding a potential court case.  Essentially we are talking several years most likely.

 

Bill

 

http://wdfw.wa.gov/news/may2815a/

 

May 28, 2015
Contact: Jim Scott, 360-902-2736

WDFW to release hatchery steelhead
into inland lakes again this year

OLYMPIA - Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) fish managers will release "early winter" hatchery steelhead into inland lakes again this year, now that federal fisheries officials have decided to conduct a full-scale environmental impact analysis of all Puget Sound hatchery steelhead programs.

WDFW leaders announced the action after learning that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has decided to develop an environmental impact statement (EIS) to evaluate the effects of early winter steelhead hatchery programs on the survival and recovery of wild Puget Sound steelhead and chinook salmon, which are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. The decision was based, in part, on more than 2,000 public comments to NMFS that expressed a wide range of questions and concerns about the environmental impact of hatchery steelhead programs.

In March, NMFS (also known as NOAA Fisheries) published a draft environmental assessment of hatchery steelhead programs in three river basins. WDFW officials had hoped NMFS' completion of the assessment would lead to approval of WDFW steelhead hatchery operations and clear the way for the release of steelhead into several Puget Sound rivers under terms of a federal court settlement last year. However, the additional time needed to complete a more detailed EIS means that a decision on approval of these hatchery programs will come after the release window for 2015.

"We support the conservation and recovery of wild salmon and steelhead, but we are disappointed that NMFS has been unable to complete the review of these programs," said WDFW Director Jim Unsworth. "The decision by NMFS to conduct a full and potentially lengthy EIS process will delay approval of these hatchery programs and have serious impacts on recreational fishing on several Puget Sound rivers."

However, Unsworth said WDFW understands the controversial nature of the subject, as well as the federal government's desire to analyze hatchery programs within a full-scale EIS that stands up to potential legal challenges and clears the way for hatcheries to stay in operation for the long-term.

Last year the Wild Fish Conservancy of Duvall sued WDFW, alleging that the department's Puget Sound hatchery steelhead programs violated the Endangered Species Act by impairing the recovery of wild steelhead, salmon, and bull trout. In settling that case, the department agreed to refrain from planting early winter (Chambers Creek) steelhead into most rivers in the Puget Sound region until NMFS completed its environmental review.

Until recently, WDFW officials believed the federal agency's timetable would allow the release of juvenile steelhead into several rivers this spring, but those plans have now been canceled. One exception is the release of 180,000 early winter steelhead into the Skykomish River, which is permitted under the federal court order approving the settlement.

Jim Scott, head of the WDFW Fish Program, said rivers that will not receive steelhead in 2015 include the Nooksack, Stillaguamish and Dungeness, which would have received 150,000, 130,000, and 10,000 steelhead, respectively. Earlier this year, NMFS announced it would conduct a full EIS for hatcheries that release steelhead into the Snoqualmie and Green rivers, which were slated to receive 74,000 and 70,000 fish, Scott said.

Instead of releasing juvenile steelhead into those five rivers, WDFW will plant them into inland waters that have no connection with Puget Sound, he said. WDFW will announce its fish planting schedule as soon as possible on the department's website:http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/reports_plants.html.

Trout Skating Binge

With the unusual winter we have had and with the numbers of steelhead coming over Willamette Falls being so small, I have been on an extended bender of trout fishing this spring.  Typically, soon after winter steelhead season ends, there is sufficient numbers of steelhead coming over the falls to stir my little brain with thoughts like "it's possible, it could happen!"  I have caught a summer run as early as mid April a few years ago, but chances for success are small in the beginning of the summer season.

This year has been especially grim, with only 978 steelhead over Willamette Falls at the time of this writing and that number gets divided between four rivers - the North Santiam, South Santiam, McKenzie, and upper Willamette/MF Willamette here in Eugene/Springfield.

With such poor chances at an early steelhead, I've resorted to trout fishing, but I've still been seeking to do it "my way".  That is, by fishing miniature versions of my foam skaters on a twitched swing, just like I'd fish for steelhead, but on a smaller scale.

McKenzie Green Caddis Skater, #10

I wrote of my early experiments with skating for trout last month and I experienced some early success, which was encouraging.  I've continued my exploration with trout skating by tying smaller skaters dedicated for trout fishing and I devised a version of my foam skater in a McKenzie Green Caddis color scheme.  I tie this fly on a little #10 Mustad 9671 (2xl) hook.  I happened to have a small stock of these hooks that i purchased when I was visiting Montana over 10 years ago.  We had stopped at a Walmart (I think in Bozeman) and they had packages of 25 hooks on sale for a quarter each, which means I probably have a 100 or so of these hooks on hand (again, pack rat syndrome).

I've been fishing the McKenzie and MF Willamette with my miniature skaters and have been having a great time bringing trout to the surface.  Some of our local cutthroat, planter rainbows, and hatchery steelhead smolts have been eagerly attacking my newest foam creation.

On my recent trips to the McKenzie, I have been hoping to get into some of the river's redside rainbows, the McKenzie's famed native trout.  When I was out last sunday evening, I was in the midst of raising and hooking planter rainbows when a quick, snappy rise was followed by a surface explosion and a broadsided rainbow stripe as a reside attacked my little skater.  My line quickly tightened on the rise, then my rod bounced back as the fly came out of the fish's mouth.  After a quick rush of adrenaline, I started to wonder if I should be setting up on these trout with their quicker rises rather than waiting for the fish to turn like I do with steelhead.

On a float down the McKenzie this past thursday, along with planters and smolts, I managed to raise several redsides to my skater, one which looked to be of good size in pool near the takeout, but solid hookups were elusive.

While floating the McKenzie with my friend Craig Coover this past saturday, the usual rainbow planters made their appearances to my skaters and as usual, I questioned to myself why in the world ODFW thinks a blue ribbon river like the McKenzie needs to be planted with hatchery trout.  I do my part and harvest as many of these mutants as I can.

In a pool that we came to where my other friend David Bayles saw one of the 978 steelhead roll on thursday, I anchored the boat and Craig and I decided to give this pool a good going over.  I took the head of the run and Craig took the lower section.  As I got into the upper third of the run, I encountered more planters, then a larger rise came and the distinct rainbow stripe told me that a nice redside came up for my little green skater.  This fish managed to get hooked solidly and I succeeded in getting this chunky little fighter to the beach for a quick photo and to celebrate my first redside landed on my foam creation.

McKenzie Redside with Skater in mouth

As I continued down, another nice reside came up with a quick rise, but escaped the point of my hook.  A few more planters appeared before the end of the day and I ended up harvesting a couple of them for dinner and to get them out of the system.  These stocked trout are planted only as low as the Hendrick's bridge but manage to get washed miles down river so they are often encountered in the lower sections of our floats.

My prolonged foray with trout fishing this year as also prompted further experiments with my trout tackle.  I really love the Wulff Ambush lines for single hand spey casting, but I have not been able to afford the $80 a piece price tag to match my 9' 4wt and 9' 5wt rods so I've been making do with what I have on hand.

I've tried uplining my trout rods 2 line weights with good results.  I've fished my 4wt with a WF6F Cortland 333 line and I've set up my 5wt with a SA Mastery Bass bug taper in 7wt.  This uplining by two has made it much easier and pleasurable to spey cast my trout rods with my little foam skaters.

I also feel that these outfits will serve well enough as "crossover" setups in the unlikely event an early steelhead appears and wants a small skater.  I've landed steelhead with ease on the 9' 4wt before and I tend to fight steelhead aggressively with the lighter  outfits and have had no problems landing them this way.  I was inspired by Frank Amato's articles in Salmont Trout Steelheader magazine on using 4wts on the Deschutes back in the late 80's.  Since my local steelhead are primarily of hatchery origin anyway, I can use my light tackle with a clear conscience.

I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to try skating for trout during the Salmonfly hatch on the Deschutes a couple weeks ago.  I had planned my first return trip to the D in several years and my plans happily coincided with a trip that Mia and Marty Sheppard were planning as well so we got together for a weekend of fishing and camping on this wonderful high desert treasure.

I am thankful to Marty Sheppard and Mia Flora Sheppard for a great time on the water. It was so awesome to see them again and to be able to hang out with both of them, their daughter Tegan and thier dog Cedar. I was also able to meet thier friend Curtis Cisznek, a pro snowboarder and talented young fly fisher from Bend.

My "skating for redsides during the salmonfly hatch" experiment was largely unsuccessful aside from a few rises and one hard grab. It took dead drifting an old school yellow stimulator to finally bring a legitimate redside to hand, but I was so blessed to experience such a beautiful place with the Sheppards. My heart was filled with gratitude for the Sheppards's kindness - they made my long awaited return trip to the D a memorable one!

Their 7 year old daughter Tegan says to me: "My daddy's beard is whiter than yours......" Considering that I have 10 years on Marty, that makes Tegan my new best friend! She also played a tough game of "war" (the card game).

Tegan feeling the evening chill

Marty and I talked a lot about fishing, his and Mia's guiding lives, and how we are both profoundly influenced by Bill McMillan.  An interesting thing I took away from chatting with Marty is his affinity for very small flies for early return steel on the D.  He likes 8's and even #10s, dry or wet!  When I showed my little #10 trout skater to Marty, he said "I'd fish that for steelhead".

I've been pondering what Marty was talking about with preferring small skaters... so of course, I'll be busy tying more 8's and 10's!  I'll be sure to put some in the mail for Marty, before his skater season starts!

Marty at the Helm

High Desert Paradise

Cedar taking in the view

Morning in Trout Camp

A Woman's Best Friend