Part 2

When you have opportunity to talk steelhead fishing with guys whose last name is Loomis it’s best to just shut up and listen. 

In my last column I shared a few of the things I’ve learned about steelhead fishing from Gary Loomis and his nephew Bobby.  They say the same thing I’ve heard from other steelheading experts I’ve known in both Washington and Oregon.  Bobby, as I’ve mentioned before, is the new director of sales and marketing at Mack’s Lure.

Besides learning from guys like Bobby and Gary during the more than half century I lived in the Pacific Northwest I also had the good fortune to fish with some of the region’s top river guides.  No one is more qualified to tell you how getting to know a river can help.  I’ll never forget what some of those guides told me.

"The river flow is a big factor any time you are after steelhead," I recall one guide saying, "the color of the water is also important.  I don't like to fish rising water, but as a guide I don't always have a choice.  I regard rising water as the most difficult time to catch steelhead.  About the only thing you can do is work close to shore, because fish tend to hang near the bank when the river is coming up."

Different water conditions often require a different approach if you hope to catch fish consistently.  These two anglers obviously had things figured out pretty darn good.

I’ve had that made plain in my own fishing on more than one occasion.  I recall going plunk fishing on the Cowlitz River once long ago not far up stream from the community of Kelso in Southwest Washington.  Rain had fallen steadily all night as it so often does during the soggy Washington winter.  When I got to the river the water visibility was less than three feet.  It was obvious the situation was going to get worse before it got better.

I rigged up a bait of salmon eggs and attached the 3-ounce sinker I normally used along that stretch of river.  As soon as I cast I realized the 3-ounce sinker was too light.  The current swept my bait downstream and in a matter of seconds my eggs were almost up against the bank.  Instead of reeling in I stuck the rod in my rod holder and turned to my tackle box to find a heavier lead so I could re-rig before casting again. 

I was down on my knees looking through my sinker assortment when my reel started screeching.  I jumped up and wheeled around to find the rod almost jerking out of its holder.  I didn't manage to catch that dandy winter steelhead, but I did have it on long enough to see it was a slab-sided whopper.

What you carry away from the river is more important than what you carry to it.  The dandy steelhead this angler is carrying provides proof of that.

The fish I hooked that morning grabbed my bait of eggs no more than a couple of feet off the bank.  Then I remembered what that veteran guide had told me: “When the water is rising, fish close to shore.”  You’ll be wise to do the same.

 Any time you find the water coming up, fish close to shore.  That's where winter steelhead are most likely to be under such conditions.  You can go back to fishing farther out once the river starts dropping and clearing.

This column has dealt primarily with rising and discolored water.  Next time around we’ll take a close look at how the experts deal with water that’s dropping and clearing. 

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