Report Date: 10/25/11
Fishing over the past week remained really good. Our gear guides averaged 5-8 fish landed during the week. This is really good steelhead fishing. During the week we saw the water drop and clear significantly, and this led to a few days were we had to work for our fish during parts of the day, but anytime you can go out and land 5-8 fish in a day of steelhead fishing it’s a great day on the water. Our guides continue to have success side drifting bait as well as back trolling plugs and diver and bait combinations. This time of year it is really all about picking which method you enjoy fishing the most and just going fishing.
Fly anglers continued to have good success over the past week. We have notice that most of our opportunities at fly caught steelhead have been from about noon to dark, this time frame also coincides with water temperatures being at their warmest which tends to make fish a little more active. Most of our fish have come to our standard array of small (6-8) hair wings, but a pattern has been developing over the past few weeks, we are noticing that when the afternoon October caddis hatch is on the fish are reacting a little better to flies with a hint of orange to them. Also quite a few fish were hooked last week on muddler minnow varieties in the same small sizes as we fish hair wings. These muddlers fished just under the surface have a tendency to elicit some really aggressive grabs!
Fishing looks to continue to stay good through this week. Water levels came up some today which should help get some fish moving. Every time we see a small bump in flows it is usually followed by some really good fishing. Side drifting bait and back trolling plugs and/ or diver and bait combinations will likely continue to see some of the best results for the boating anglers. Bank anglers should stick to the always dependable bobber and jig set up as we have witnessed a few bank anglers picking them up on the jig.
For fly angers this current weather pattern that we are in of cold nights and decently warm days will mean that the best time during the day to swing flies will be from early afternoon until dark. As water temps start to head toward the mid forties some guys may want to try swinging some light sink tips to help the fish not have to travel so far to take a fly. With that said we have caught fish on a dry line with water temps in the upper thirties, so don’t get any ideas that dry line season may be nearing its end. If swinging a dry line is your style then stick to it because you may be rewarded with the fish of a lifetime!
