The first ones are the best ones.

Sometimes the river is so high it seems like I should probably warn my clients to stay home, but I know even though things are bad, there is a chance, so I go fishing by myself.

I love late November for this, the high water spots are normally a bit of a hike, or a weird float from a muddy unused launch.  And there is normally not much water to fish.  You get a creek mouth and maybe the 50 yards below it, or riffle just above tide water.  There will probably be very few places to stand, no room for a back cast, and not nearly a wide enough slot to bother bringing a two handed rod.

Thanks Russ and the guys at Sage, I am enjoying the chance to demo this rod.

Its wet, muddy, cold, and best of all lonely.  Thats my favorite part.  When the river gets so completely f3cked up that no one wants to fish there.  Because there are still fish, and they still bite.  And you get to be outside, and to see more wildlife than usual, because, as I said, there is nobody around.

Beavers, they don’t quit when it rains

I happened upon some amazing high water spots this week, the kind of water where you step out of the woods and see the river and think…..”I’m going to catch a million!”.  I didn’t, catch a million that is.  I did manage a fish a day despite never putting in a full two hours.

I like to think I know a lot about fly fishing for steelhead, but the fish were not exactly where I expected them, so lesson learned.  I don’t know as much as I think I do.

If the river wasn’t too high there would be 5 boats here. I caught one anyway.

We have some dates open in the next few weeks.  There are plenty of steelhead around, and more than enough water.

Jim Kerr

Rain Coast Guides

Forks, Washington