Steelhead – the Ultimate Sportfishing Encounter?

My son Doug and I should have gone steelhead fishing today. But we got washed out – just like last year near this time. Although this time we didn’t suffer the indignity of driving several hours and spending a night in a motel only to wake up in the pre-dawn darkness to a downpour and an unfishable, swollen river.

This time, we were fortunate to receive an advance warning.

Living here in northwest Washington State is a wonderful privilege, amidst what many consider to be the finest steelhead rivers in the continental U.S. But due to complicated schedules, we only have a few shots a season to try to engage this wily prey. Today was to be one of them.

Unfortunately, our guide called yesterday and indicated that the Bogachiel River was unfishable. The “Bogey”, as it’s called, is usually one of the first to clear after a rain storm and often needs less than a day of no rain to do so. However, a deluge late the night before last muddied things up – in more ways than one.

In order to be successful in catching steelhead, a variety of conditions have to be just right. Outdoor temperature, river depth, water clarity, water temperature and water flow all have to be within specified ranges, or you’re just wasting your time.

We were scheduled to fish with Bob Ball, one of the area’s finest steelhead guides and host of the outstanding outdoor web site, Piscatorial Pursuits http://www.piscatorialpursuits.com/ Our plans were to drift down the Bogachiel River either floating jigs under a bobber or drifting eggs on a corky or backtrolling with a flatfish or hotshot, depending on what the river conditions dictated.

Bob had determined, pending good weather, that the “Bogey” was our best bet to try to hook one or more of these powerful, feisty, anadromous trout species. Hatchery fish are running now, and they are generally between five and 10+ pounds.

If lucky, we might have bumped into an early native steelhead which can range up to 20 pounds or more in size but must be returned to the river. The thrill of the native catch is the challenge of a larger, more difficult-to-land fish – especially on lighter gear. Some say there is no equal in all of sportfishing.

In addition to the Bogey, there are several other nearby (to Forks, WA) rivers that also offer incredible steelhead fishing. The Calawah, the Sol Duc and the world famous Hoh all are rivers that are clustered with the Bogey in this section of the Olympic National Forest. Each has its own quirky manner of dispersing large dumps of water to eventually become fishable once again.

We missed our shot this time, but maybe we can get a chance next week if the rains abate and avoid the Forks area for a few days. Hopefully the next post on this subject will include a photo of a successful piscatorial conquest.