Olympic Peninsula Summer Steel head


Seems like there are plenty of steelhead, sockeye, and trout to go around.  Because of larger than usual returns of steel head the usual spots are a bit crowded, luckily larger returns mean fish get into many more places.  There are still tons of spots that have good fish and are receiving little or no pressure.

On the Quilayute system the steel head are in that awkward phase right now, not quite fresh enough o be stone cold stupid, not quite hungry enough to be looking for bugs.  This makes them tough to catch except for early or late in the day, in three or four weeks the caddis hatch will kick in and these fish will start to stupid up fast.

Right now you have to be content with a morning bite, or, a trip down south.  The glacial rivers south of Forks also seem to have good numbers, although the water is still a bit high and cold the fish will come well to a swung fly at any point of the day.  Don’t expect big numbers, but a fish or two to swing anglers has been the norm and the rivers have been down right lonely. 

Trout fishing has been good in a casual sort of way, enough medium size fish on top to make for a fun evening almost anywhere.

Summer Coho are right around the bend; we should have fishable numbers any day now.

All in all its summer, if you get up early and fish carefully a bright summer steel head and a handful of trout seem to be about what you can expect.


Joe casts at a huge summer steelhead, it does not bite.

20 fish later, he finds one that will


A full day of sight casting to summer steelhead yields three eats, one hook up, one  landed, a bucket full of trout and no other anglers

Jim Kerr
raincoast guides
Posted in Summer Steelhead Fly Fishing Report | 4 Comments

4 Responses to Olympic Peninsula Summer Steel head

  1. Dan says:

    Very cool pictures. Wish I had time to get over there.

  2. Lee says:

    sweet post Jim

  3. Morten says:

    Hey Jim, I’ve tried to write you but no answer, maybe your contact form is down?

    I’m organizing a trip from Denmark, so a little easier for me to write.

    Could you send me an email addy where I can get a hold of you?

  4. Brad says:

    One of my favorite zones. Just wish the locals that come in on their quads wouldn’t trash the gravel bar!

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