Steelhead season

[yubaman]

Man, what a tough winter Steelhead season, not the fishing, but just getting out on the damned water!!!! We had 6 different trips planned this year, banking an a couple of washouts, as usual. But this year, we were 1 for 6 on trips coming off . . . brutal. Here is how our year went . . .

November Rogue River trip - drive 6 hours up to Medford. Get into our hotel. Go have dinner. Get up in the morning, after it rained more than double the predicted amount, Guide says river blown out for several days . . . done. Very expensive dinner in Medford! At least we stop at the Klamath on the way home, land a small adult, a couple of half pounders and lose a decent sized adult. Scenery along the drive is always good!

December Trinity Trip - Guide comes down with COVID the day before the trip, trip scrubbed.

January Eel trip - River blows a day before we are set to go.

February OP Trip - Trip comes off! Tough wade fishing for 5 days, but land 3 decent adults and a couple of half pounders.

March Eel trip - River blows out 2 days before we are supposed to go.

March Rogue Trip - Guide calls and tells us not to waste our money on heading up there due to extremely low run.

I cannot remember putting so much time in planning, for so little actual fishing.

Hopefully things take a turn for the better for our Steelhead population. Apparently fishing and escapement was very tough all up and down the western coast. I mean damn, what has happened is tragic, and it was really illustrated this season.


Bob

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

You built up a ton of good 'mojo' for next winter........thanks for the excellent report.

[Trouter925]

6 planned trips. I find that impressive. I am lacking in my game.

I had one trip this winter in February up the N CA coast for a week. I thought my timing was perfect - the water was a little high but dropping. I swung flies 3 days for ~ 9 hours / day on that first river. Not one tug... I didn't see one fish. Everyday I was checking in with people I met on the river. Not many sightings of fish. I decided to see to new water and went up to Chetco and fished 2 days. That water was beautiful at 2500 cfs. Could probably fish higher. I saw one fish caught by a gear guy out of a boat. Ran into two spey guys who said they hadn't connected with a fish yet. Everyone I talked to on the rivers seemed to think the steelhead returns are very low this year. I do like the winter fishing, but it's starting to feel like you don't even have a chance...it's a tough commitment if you work a day job and live bay area or south to get up the coast.

[yubaman]

Yes it seems like more work for less fishing. We realize in the Steelhead game, it seems to be a 50% success rate on trips. I know that if I went on every trip planned for March, I might have been sleeping in a tent in the backyard for a couple of weeks. But this year was beyond ridiculous in bad luck for us.

The regs in Washington this year are what finally pushed each of us into the Spey game. Two guys even swung one up on the trip. I hope that this is not the beginning of a bad run for the Steelhead.


Bob

[PV_Premier]

Man, what a tough winter Steelhead season, not the fishing, but just getting out on the damned water!!!!

December Trinity Trip - Guide comes down with COVID the day before the trip, trip scrubbed.

March Rogue Trip - Guide calls and tells us not to waste our money on heading up there due to extremely low run.

Better that the guide gets COVID on the day before your trip than the day after...

Also good on your Rogue guide for calling it off versus blowing smoke up your ya know what...




I only got out twice this year compared to 6-8x last year. The winter COVID surge was one reason, buying a cabin out of state was a second reason, lack of interest in the long drives was a third reason. I normally do two guide trips a season. COVID and saving$ goal$ this year resulted in zero.

One trip to the Trinity (walk and wade), hooked and landed one fish in a day and a half of fishing in early December. One trip to Fortuna in the weather window just before the new year. Hooked an adult on the SF on day 1, landed two half pounders on the mainstem on day 2. I only swing anymore so I was not setting myself up for big numbers but usually on the Trinity in a weekend I can get 3-5 grabs even without a boat.

Sold two of my steelhead rods earlier this month, I am sure I will fish the Trinity next year but I am not sure I will go through the trouble of going to the coast next season. I love it up there but the fish are not loving it as much apparently. Sometimes the best thing you can do for the fish is just leave them alone.

[John H]

I am having some doubts about my future in the winter steelhead game. Blown out rivers, low water, bad returns, dudes crowding the water, money for guides, cold feet, long drives and fishless days. I love them but there is a lot to deal with in the pursuit of the steelhead. I did swing up a big one in Oregon and thought at the time I could retire on that. I did not retire but that was my only fish landed this winter. Striper fishing on the other hand has been good this winter. That has been a nice substitute.

[hwchubb]

Boy, thanks for helping me feel a little better! I had a great Klamath trip in November, at least a grab in every run I fished including a 26” fish just below the Scott.

That was the last adult fish I’ve shaken hands with. 0 for 2021, hooked one adult in January at Effie Yeaw. Half day on the Eel, Half day on the Mad, 30+ hours on the American, nada. Hung it up on winter fish this year in February.

We had a planned trip to Eastern NV for late April, a friend and I and our sons. His son, a budding star on Folsom’s freshman football team, shattered his collarbone in the 4th quarter last night. But non-casting arm! Woohoo!

[Trouter925]

I would love to spend some time on the Klamath this fall before the dams start coming out next year. I would like to have a snapshot to compare to in the coming years. Perhaps covid will be in control enough in the Fall for a bit of extended exploration.

I think steelhead is going to end up being a one trip / year thing for me. I've not done much summer/fall steelhead fishing. I may play around with that this year but I am just wondering about skipping steelhead altogether (blasphemy) and looking for places to swing for trout. I never see much about anyone swinging for trout on the lower Sac. I know it's primarily drift boat / bobber game, but it seems like trout spey should work somewhere...just got to put in the time and find a few locations.

[WLREDBAND]

Ahem!!!! It's done quite frequently as the picture shows. You can probably guess where by that famous landmark in the background!!!!

PS, back on topic, this was one of the better and one of the worst steelhead seasons for me in over 40 years of playing the game. For the first time in history, I had NO zeroes on my steelhead card from the fall through spring steelhead season. The bad news is most all of the entries were the number one. No big fish landed, and very few multiple catch days were the norm.

I would love to spend some time on the Klamath this fall before the dams start coming out next year. I would like to have a snapshot to compare to in the coming years. Perhaps covid will be in control enough in the Fall for a bit of extended exploration.

I think steelhead is going to end up being a one trip / year thing for me. I've not done much summer/fall steelhead fishing. I may play around with that this year but I am just wondering about skipping steelhead altogether (blasphemy) and looking for places to swing for trout. I never see much about anyone swinging for trout on the lower Sac. I know it's primarily drift boat / bobber game, but it seems like trout spey should work somewhere...just got to put in the time and find a few locations.

[Jcolin]

Trouter925, I would highly recommend the lower yuba for trout spey, at least before the egg bite, it has fished very well for me swinging soft hackles on a 12’ 5 weight. Also got into a nice steelhead in november that swam up from the feather. I really enjoy spending a few weeks up on the klamath in oct-nov, nice to swing flies and actually hook good numbers of wild steelhead even if they are smaller. It has been a tough year for a lot of people sounds like. Has been very strange to see a drastic decrease in the number of fishermen out here in guerneville the past month, many folks have given up. We did have some fish push up last weekend, was fortunate to be in the right olace at the right time and got a nice wild hen when they were coming up. Very much helps living on the river and being able to put an hour or two in before or after work.