Tips on June Summer steel head volume 1
The early summer steelhead, those fish that return from late
may through the second week of July are a race of there own and really, in a
lot of respects the most steelheady of all the runs.
That is to say they are the most aggressive, the strongest
fighters, highest jumpers, they are what steelhead are supposed to be about.
The trick to catching early summers is more in finding them
and staying on them, if you are on fish in decent fly water you should be able
to make a few bite. That said
because it’s early in the season and the river is not yet saturated with fish
like it can be in September or October finding them takes a little work.
Summer fish will move steadily and somewhat predictably upriver
to their summer staging areas so if you can isolate where the bulk of the fish
will spend their summer you are well on your way to building a game plan.
Here is my Dad with a hatchery summer from last year, yes, those are X’s in its eyes
Here is a hint; Go to the hatchery. Sadly the vast bulk of Northwest
Washington’s summer steelhead are of hatchery origin, and are pretty damn good
at finding their way home.
A quick search, starting about 2 miles above the hatchery
and continuing down river about five or six miles below will generally turn you
on to a half dozen really good pieces of holding or staging water.
To identify this water remember that the fish will want
shade first, a good heavy riffle to provide cover and oxygen second, a long
pool to give them running room to escape predators third, and finally deep
water.
Pick the top five pieces of water in a six-mile stretch by
these criteria and you are off to a good start.
Lastly remember that fly anglers have been targeting these
fish for a long time, this is a seasonal and predictable migration, there are
spots that the fish will stop year after year, and these spots will be marked
by the inevitable signs of anglers.
Roadside pull offs, heavily used trails, flies in trees. Every year the rivers change and create
new temporary secret holding spots, but don’t ignore the easy to find popular
area’s. They are popular for a
reason…Much more to come
Jim Kerr
Rain Coast Guides
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