Don’t Fear Low and Clear

That’s right, with this past weekend’s temperatures with highs in the fifties and lows in the twenties our local rivers are back to being low and clear. This high pressure system of blue skies and cold nights looks like it will continue into another weekend. So, what exactly does this mean for your fly-fishing chances of hooking into a steelhead?

A few things:

-Play hooky like “The Gearboat Chronicles” Jon Rombach and go fishing mid-week, although if you do have to do battle on the weekend, find a set of train tracks to walk down or cross the river and fish the other side.

-Don’t bother waking up at dawn to go fishing, sleep in, cook a good breakfast, read a book, take a nap, because your best fishing hours will be in the late afternoon and dusk.

-Wear a toque or beanie, it will keep your noggin warm and is also considered lucky by some anglers.

-Use smaller flies than you normally might (that’s right, now is the time of the prince nymph) because a cold fish is more likely to hit something small than something ungainly and large in clear, high visibility, conditions.

-Fish deep slow pools, steelhead will be holding in deeper slower water with temperatures so low (but don’t forget the riffles).

While these are just a few of the many things to consider with our local waters clearing up, don’t consider for too long. The steelhead are here.

Grande Ronde Flows over the weekend: 2500 cfs.

Wallow River Flows over the weekend: delicious and easily wadeable.