Catch rate is rising for fly anglers

By Tom Bolender | For The Olympian • Published November 19, 2008

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All Western Washington rivers are dropping into shape, and the fly fishing has been getting better by the day.

Trout anglers fishing the upper stretches of the Deschutes River have been rewarded with good-size sea-run cutthroat.

With the water temperature dropping, the trout's metabolism is slowing down, so stop fishing the fast water and start hitting the tail-outs and deep holes.

If the fly is traveling too fast, the fish won't have the energy to move far to pick it up.

I recently heard a report of very large rainbows on the Tilton.

With the water flows plummeting over the past week, this should prove to be a great weekend to hit the river.

Egg Sucking Leeches and Glo Bugs are the flies of choice for trout on either river.

If you are heading to the Tilton, you should be aware that in the past week, 661 coho adults, 34 jacks, 36 fall chinook and two steelhead have been released at Gus Backstom Park in Morton.

If you're after any of these fish, marabou streamers are a must-have.

The cutthroat numbers on the Cowlitz continue to be phenomenal. In the past week, 2,189 sea-run cutthroat have been recycled from Blue Creek to Massey Bar.

On an outing with my father to the handicap area at Blue Creek, I saw a large number of cutthroat at the gate measuring in at 18 inches or better.

As the waters recede, the fishing just gets better and better on the Peninsula rivers.

You might have to travel to the headwaters, but your efforts could be well-rewarded with big wild steelhead.

One angler reported that he and a friend hooked 10sSteelhead on a beautiful weekday afternoon. Although he wouldn't say which river he was fishing, I'm sure it was either the Humptulips River or the Hoh. Unlike me, he fishes mostly with sink tips. I like fishing Glo Bugs and Greg Heads under an indicator, but articulated leeches and large Sculpin patterns are good choices, too.

The Bogacheil River has been heating up day by day. Good numbers of hatchery Steelhead have started moving up the river. The fish are averaging between 10 and 12 pounds.

On the east side of the mountains, the Yakima River is dropping into shape. It's gone from 8,000 cubic feet per second with all of the rain to less than 2,000 cubic feet per second as of Wednesday. The fish get scattered when the flow gets that high and are hungry when it calms down.

Now is the time to fish big Sculpin patterns. Another good choice is a San Juan Worm under an indicator.

The Methow hasn't been on fire, but anglers are catching some nice steelhead. Swinging streamers are a good bet.

• SALTWATER: Cutthroat fly fishing in South Sound has been a little slow this past week. The name of the game in the salt is chum. Kennedy Creek still has some fish, and the high water has washed a lot of the mud away to expose some nice gravel for walking. Perry and McLane Creeks are heating up. Perry saw the first push of fish, but they are both an excellent place to hook up this weekend. If you want to get away from the crowds a bit and have a boat, then Chico Creek is a good option. There is only private access from shore, so the pressure is limited, and there are lots of chum. No matter where you're fishing for these brutes, remember to bring some chartreuse and pink flies with you.

Tom Bolender is a longtime fly fishing enthusiast from Rochester who runs Fishy Business Guide Service. He can be reached at 360-280-5770 or FishyBusinessOly@comcast.net.