# Olympic Penninsula Steelhead!



## AdamBradley (Mar 13, 2008)

Well guys, flight leaves in 5.5 hours to knock the first bucket list trip off my list! Bags are triple checked, and we already have a story of a TON of serious challenges leading up to making this trip happen!

Will be guided on the river Monday-Friday, flying back saturday, hoping to make some memories and share some of them with the MS gang upon our return!

Stay tuned....


----------



## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

So, how was fishing in Washington?


----------



## AdamBradley (Mar 13, 2008)

Hey guys, sorry for delaying the report. Was hoping to get all of the photos by now. I will follow up with any remaining photos once I get them. We also ran our GoPro cameras for the majority of the trip as well. So hopefully we can get a video edited before too long. 

As a synopsis:
Rain had been record-breaking outrageous out there, none of the guides really knew what to expect, since they themselves only had a day or so of fun fishing to dial in on what the fish were up to. They had not been on the rivers but only a couple of days earlier in January. In fact, packing saturday, we couldn't tell for sure whether or not we would be fishing on Monday! But nearly 12 full months of planning this, we were just keeping the faith that things would come together for us!

The weather during our week was VERY broken, and all over the board. Applying notes taken in the past on the barometric pressure, and I think we can blame the instability for the inconsistency throughout the week. Weeks of cold rain, two days of warm sun, 3 days of cooler rain. The pressure gauge, and flow gages as well, were up-down-up-down..... Just for good measure - I picked up a gnarly cold that peaked juuuuuust as we got to town!

Nevertheless, the fishing was decent, the sights were amazing, the people and our guide especially were great, food was good, and we are already booked for next year! I highly recommend the experience to anyone with steel in their blood!

There is something about the aqua-blue/green water, that is really hard to get out of your head! The moss, massive boulders, truly wild free-flowing beautiful rivers... It all is a sight to be seen.

We were asked not to share any of the river names in an open forum to avoid increased pressure, and I will honor that request.

Monday: A struggled "grindy" day for everyone. Our boat went 1 for 1 on an 11 or so pound native fish. Every guide up and down the coast struggled, with zero to 2 fish being the average report.

Tuesday: Different day completely, hit a different river, and got into the double digits of numbers, but unfortunately size was low, largest being 10 pounds or so. I was able to break in the new reel right out of the gate in the morning (which showed up just in time on Friday for the trip) Highlight of this day, our boat doubled up, and our guide's guide buddy floating 50 yards behind us hooked up. We were able to get a pretty cool photo of all 3 wild fish together.

















Wednesday: Another "grindy" day back on the same river as Monday... We each got into less fish this day than the day prior, but we were ok with the production of this river. It seemed to be providing less fish, but of a higher caliber for certain. We were hopeful that this was the river to give us the "toad" we came searching for! I did hook into a mid-teens screamer, but that fish had it in her! She stormed the boat as soon as she was hooked - had me batting the spool in an attempt to keep tight! I caught up, and we went toe-to-toe for a hot minute! She cartwheeled a number of times, pulled a lap or two around the boat, making me high stick so much, she pulled a seemingly deliberate half flip, half barrel roll, all at the same time, just like she had been trained on how to throw the hook! I was left in awe of the sheer power of these fish, and of course, with the classic "steelhead shakes"! I did manage to bring an average fish to hand of about 11 pounds (awaiting photo), and Rog brought the beauty in the next photo to hand that day, as well as a couple of others we are awaiting photos on...









Thursday: We were working hard for them this day, it began to feel like Monday all over again. However, we kept working for it, and giving it our best, knowing that with the rain we had received, this may be our last day on the water. Rog was rewarded with what would be the largest fish of the trip. A very nice bright mid-teens fish. She was unbelievably long, yet slender. Very much "built for speed"! A short while later, I had a very sad moment.... I will keep the painful story as short as possible.... Drifting past a massive boulder which seemed like yet another perfect resting lie, my float ever so slowly crept under the surface. Just as it swung downstream in the current and I could see the downstream side of the boulder, I saw this massive rootball and could not believe I let yet another rig get claimed by the river. As I raised my rodtip in an attempt to free my rig from this rootball, the rootball decided to break my heart by slowly emerging into a double striped red cheeked beast, as large as my coffee table. Slowly rolling to the surface, the brute unremarkably tossed my offering back to me with zero effort, and swam back to the depths of his "wolf lair". We did row back up to fish for him, and could not get a repeat strike. This of course resonated as the learning experience of the trip for me, and I now realized he had struck, and dropped backwards in the current with the offering. I knew the next slight twitch of the float, regardless of the type of drop, and I was going to "cross their eyes"! Which I did, and unfortunately found a sub-5 pound fish on the other end to release some aggression on. This was likely the quickest fight of my steelhead career! After this Rog was able to bring another average fish to hand and round out the trip.

We did end up losing Friday to the rain that had fallen Wednesday and Thursday, sending the river out of fishable flows, and to chocolate milk by noon.

All in all, a highly memorable introduction to the OP, with lessons learned, and gears turning on how to improve our rigs for next year!


----------



## AdamBradley (Mar 13, 2008)

Here are some of the scenery shots I was able to take along the way.


----------



## AdamBradley (Mar 13, 2008)

Oh yeah, a block of frozen eggs in your checked bag I guess looks suspicious to the TSA agents!


----------



## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

Those native fish pull like demons, don't they?


----------



## AdamBradley (Mar 13, 2008)

They really are nuts, pound for pound, I'd say they go twice as hard as stocked fish.


----------



## troutguy26 (Apr 28, 2011)

VERY COOL! Thanks for sharing!


----------



## Benzie Rover (Mar 17, 2008)

Thanks for sharing - great photos and congrats on the NW experience. Nothing beats a fresh ocean run steelie, or Chinook for that matter - insane fights and amazing looking fish. I lived in OR for two years - the 'green water' truly does stick with you. Can't wait to take my son back out there, and of course up to the Skeena system as well, one of these years.


----------

