August 28

I guess "dito" would be the word, about fishing this last week. Haven't spent much time hiking around the upper watershed. No need, with the consistent Searun cutthroat fishing. It is really nice when the numbers of fish are in the river so well, you can simply decide what stretch of river you want to fish, and go for it!

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Nothing much has changed with the steelhead except the continued warm dry spell has made them a little dour. Look for the fishing to pick up with the fall rains. If you just gotta have a fix I have two solutions. Fish black, browns, and green nymphs. "Dead drift" is the key. We are still catching the occasional Deer Creek fish while fishing Sea-runs down in the lower river.

The chinook are just starting to spawn and the steelhead will key in on egg patterns if you enjoy that style of fishing.

The Searun fishing is in full swing, already. We had a really big day yesterday, particularly for a bright and sunny. We rose fish in every pool we fished from Arlington down to Blue Stilly Park. It was just one of those days. The pre-spawners 6 - 12 inchers were a little emaciated, which concerns me a little, but the adult fish were bright and strong and well conditioned. The orange bomber took some fish including, what I thought was Mobey Searun, turned out to be a Deer Creek native buck about 7 pounds. Bill did well with the bead head yellow spider I described in the last report, and I fished the hatches. Yellow stimulators in the morning, and my emerging caddis just creamed them in the afternoon. The Skated bomber works well for both SRC and steelhead, and really fun to fish. Forget the traditional frog water, the lower O2 levels have pushed the fish into the streamer steelhead water.

Got a question? When I am not fishing, I enjoy talking about it.

Good fishing, Dennis

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The Vine maples are starting to turn color in the cool crisp mornings. We haven't had any rain to speak of but the fishing is picking up as the water temperatures begin to fall.

North Fork Steelhead fishing is still centered around the waters of Deer Creek up to Fortson. We had a rash of big three salt fish this last week. Landed fish to 16 pounds and lost a couple bigger. Fish are showing a preference for nymphs now. Clarks stone and bead head prince nymphs are both good. I like to fish long leaders to a 4x. It’s a little harder to hold the bigger fish but we are going to let them go anyway, right?

Searun cutthroat are found from Oso down to saltwater. Lots of smaller fish but there is some dandies too. Two new flies I have been having good success with are; a yellow spider with a silver bead head, and an orange soft hackle with a gold bead head. Again floating lines and long light leaders. Watch for the Little Sally Stones around 10 am. Stimulators in 14- 16 work well then. Grasshoppers and Craneflys are just starting.

Dolly Varden are migrating up the Sauk now. Large mature fish to 25 inches. Find them from Bodell creek down to the Whitechuck River. Mickey Finn, bunny leaches, and lefty deceivers will take them. Sinktip lines fished along to bottom, in the pool tailouts are the ticket. Some day this wild char will get a little respect, .... some day.

I wrote a story called "A cranky client"  I think everyone will like it except for George. (The story character) find it in the Stories and Articles section.

Good fishing, Dennis

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The Stilly is moving into a magic time now. Fall always brings a potpourri offish, Here is a brief rundown:

NF Stilly Steelhead The fishing since my return from the Big Hole river in Montana (see "Big Hole Browns" in the Stories and Articles section) as been a little up and down. Seems to be more chinooks than steelhead, and we have hooked some monsters, trying to get the fly to the steelhead. They are particularly fond of color combinations of black. We have even hooked them on small green butt skunks on floating lines! Steelhead are found in the riffley heads and tailout water above and below the kings. One of the boys the other day lost a dandy steelhead we estimated at18 pounds, when it finally worked its way into a logjam. Most fish are typical 5- 12 pounds. Fish longer lighter leaders when the light is on the water. Fish are concentrated around the bigger pools, from Deer Creek up to Fortson, when the swimmers let you have a go. Skating flies on dark days is my favorite, try a small orange bomber. Dead drifted nymphs and leeches also work. Lighter sinktips fishing is always worth a go. Try my blue/ purple marabou in a size6.

Searun Cutthroat: Had a chance to hit a couple of my favorite hidey holes down in the lower river. I always get a little excited when the first fish come in. Largest males come in first. My guiding assistant, Jackson, release done at 24" only a week from now, last year, and these are the fish I was looking for. I concentrate my attention from Silvana down to the Salt chuck this early. If you are fishing from the Rod bar down, remember you are fishing tidal influence, and the fishing is definitely more productive on the outgoing tide, so fish high to low. These early fish are not fussy but cover some water til you find them. Try attracter patterns that breath well in the water. For an article on Searun Cutthroat Strategies find it at:wwwflyfishsteelhead.com

Oh yes, I did find them (and one real dandy).

Good fishing Dennis

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NF Stilly July 15

Fishing the last few days has been "OK", Not a good sign when the fishermen start out numbering the fish. The steelhead are pretty much spread throughout the entire system. The trick is finding a little water for yourself. Deer Creek as you probably know, is stacking up with both native summer runs and hatchery fish. The fishing there is, "Take a ticket, stand in line". (I am waiting for the wildlife bio. to shut it down again this year). I fish downstream. That 34" hen was probably a winter fish.

Fished a father and son team today. The water above the Hazel slide is gin clear. The weather remained dark and drizzly throughout the day. It was so muggy out, we hardly bothered to put on a jacket. We hiked into a pool, and found tracks but nobody was fishing. The clear water and dark day is custom built for fishing floating line presentations, and that’s what we did. Genki fished through first, and rose a good fish in a boulder garden just below the riffle. The steelhead wouldn't come back. Ten feet farther down the pool, another steelhead came up on the same rusty bomber an took with full confidence. Now the trick to fishing waking flies is, Not to strike when you see the big rise. Not easy! Genki hung right in there, the fish took the fly down in a big gulp. The flyline moved about 4 feet, and....nothing! I couldn't believe it! I checked his hook and it was dinged, probably in a backcast. Bummer. Shinji, the dad, came through with a wet fly, but no go.

We put in at picnic and floated and fished - only saw a fish here and there. Came to one of my favorite pools below Boulder and Shinji was up to fish first. He ties very well for only doing so for two years. I just finished explaining how steelhead loved to follow the fly, to be sure to allow the fly to rest in the hang down. Perhaps it was because I happened to be standing across from the prime taking spot, but as his fly was just about to be picked up, I saw the steelhead rise and take the fly. As the line was just coming tight, Shingi did the natural thing and he tightened. All he felt was the pluck.

We came down to the Clay bank. It’s holding both steelhead and chinook. Genki and I were fishing in the lower section. I told Shinji, as he fished the upper, if he saw a fish roll, just pick up and cast to it. He was fishing a well-tied green butt skunk in a low water style. His leader was 13 feet down to a 2x. So Genki is swimming his bomber in the lower pool, when Shinji lets out a holler! I look up in time to see a really nice fish come blasting out of the pool. A small chinook? This fish ran all over the pool. Seemed too fast for a salmon. Shinji stayed with it and played it in close. Twenty feet out and five minutes later, this lovely 15 pound steelhead comes 3 feet out of the water, and lands right on the leader! He is gone. This fish was so hot I don't know if I could have handled it. But that’s why we fish steelhead, right?

Be sure to check out the recent article I wrote on flyfishing freshwater salmon. Find it in the stories and articles section. good luck Dennis

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Fished below Deer Creek today. The N.Fork above the confluence is running with eight feet of visibility and 4 to 5 feet below. Gauge high holding at three. Perfect for the lower river pools. Water temp. at 8:30 am was 54 degrees. Serious trips start next week so I thought I better do a little recon. Fished a favorite run down below the Hell hole. Didn't move anything here but curiosity got the better of me so I hiked on up to a little boulder pocket where the feeder creek comes in. Will hold steelhead on occasion but a magnet for the big early sea run cutthroat. I always fish a surface fly through first when I am on my own and this is what I did. Fly of choice was a # 8 orange bomber which simulates the belly of the big stone fly we see each spring. So I am waking my fly down through the pool getting bothered by the occasional smolt when I see a push in the water behind the fly as it crossed a large submerged rock. I smiled, I have caught some two fisted cutthroat in this very spot. I rested the slot for maybe a minute and laid the fly in there again. As the fly stalled in the back eddy of the rock. I giggled the rod tip. With all the finesse of someone throwing a three pound rock on my line, the water fairly erupted! Now I did the second best thing I could do, and that was stand there in shock! This gave the fish time to turn on the fly and the little five weight snapped down and moments later a wild summer steelhead came blasting out. My little Hardy went to howling and Dennis went to chasing, trying to protect the 3x tippet. This eight-pound Deer Creek female gave me all I wanted. Days from salt water, she was as lovely as she was strong. I took some pictures then reeled up and went home. Even I know it wasn't going to get better than that, not until tomorrow morning anyway. I will see if I can get Sandy to put her picture up in my photo gallery.

Finally found the summer runs, came in on the last high water. Fish are holding from Deer Creek down. Some of the pools have changed so if you are not seeing fish roll while you fish through a drift, keep moving. Water level is at 3.1, which is good for the lower river. Deer Creek has enough color to keep the fish from line shy. I would fish your favorite fly but the OSO Special, Greenbutt Skunk, and sparse dark marabous are working. Rose one fish to a riffle hitched muddler, but he didn't stick, wouldn't come back. Must have been a hatchery fish. No 3 salt fish to speak of, but the smaller 6 - 10 lbs. steelhead are lots of fun anyway. Wrote articles on Sea run Cutthroat and Grande Ronde Steelhead if your interested. Find them at "Stories and Articles".

Good luck, Dennis

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Fished with a couple fine gentlemen, today. I was a little nervous going in because with no summer steelhead moving in, the wonderful flyfishing we have enjoyed the past few weeks was bound to come to an end. This is an interesting transition, one day the river is full of fish, and a few days later there is this mass downstream migration and they are gone. It doesn't happen instantaneously but its pretty fast. We fished all the right places and the boys fished well, but other than a surface riser we couldn't coax to our flies, we didn't do a thing. The water is very low for spring fishing. We are now in the waiting period for the summer fish.

How did we end up with nearly twice the number of steelhead up spawning than in recent years? Simple, Wildlife Department was worried because the winter hatchery returns were so dismal, they were afraid the native fish numbers would be also. They called for a state wide "Wild Fish Release" the first of Feb. and I know this will be a revelation to some but "WHEN YOU DONT KILL THEM, THEY COME BACK!" Now if the N.Fork doubled its escapement by simply cutting off the kill fishery for this year, Just think of the numbers we could have as a result from this years spawning. So what is the Wildlife Department planning? They are back to a total kill in Feb. next year. Go figure. They say that this management is what you really want. Wrote some different articles on fishing equipment and steelhead strategies. Find them in "stories and articles" at www.flyfishsteelhead.com I will be out and about, e mail me anytime.

Dennis

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Hal brought his long time sweetie heart, Sue out today. She is a wonderful lady and a joy to be around. I haven’t seen her for about a year. You wouldn’t have known it to watch her fish! After maybe 20 minutes of getting the kinks out, she was fishing like a pro. Definitely in the Zone. In the tailout where Hal found his 18# the day before Suzy gets taken down by a 15# fish which is running and jumping all over the pool. Playing these fish is like playing the Chicago Bulls, when they are on a hot streak, you just hope to stay with em til they settle down. Never did. ended up doing an end-over a log and that was that. Would have loved to watch Paul, writing about disc drag reels being overrated, wrestle this fish with his double pawl. He would have got his butt kicked.

So I tie on another fly and Sue wades out, and four casts later hooks a bloody monster! Four times this fish came out of the water. Huge steelhead don’t jump, they belly flop, and this one was sending tidal waves. Sue managed to stay with it through all this, I was waving for Hal, and Hal was back at the rafts trying to dig out the cam corder. Fish stayed around in the pool for a while and then just took off. Seconds later he was down in the next drift. I was fairly carrying Sue across a swift tailout, Monster buck mean while, found a brush pile and it was all over. We were all pretty tired. Water is still dropping and now very clear. Will have to go to lighter tippets and longer leaders still, if we don’t get some rain. Fish are getting spooky. We saw what looked to be a couple summer runs in a tailout. About time.

Fished with Hal and angling friend Ken today. Still sunny and water is still dropping. With the fresh fish coming in on the last high water and everybody out trout fishing, we have the river to ourselves. Easy to feel in the groove. There are five pools we are finding fish very consistently. It is just a matter of fishing one, and floating down to the next. Reminds me of Alaska. Ken hit three and landed two - both males. Hal rose a good fish to a Cop Car, same fly I landed the 17 # fish on my five weight, but it didn’t take. Hal was quiet till his very last cast of the day, when he gets creamed by a large male that goes bonkers. Hal finally lands this fish, a 39" male with wonderful markings and a big shovel nose. Estimation: 18-20 lbs. Are we loving life or what?  Angling pressure; Zip, Zero, Notta.

Fished with Hal and John McGlen who is on the Wildlife commission. Water is dropping and clearing. Day was bright and sunny. After the five fish day yesterday, I was afraid I was going to pull a Mariners and score all my points the day before, and struggle today. Not so, John was kind and thoughtful, did more listening than talking. We talked about wild fish and we caught wild fish. John landed two about 10 and 12 lbs. Hal released a one salt about 5 then a "teenager". Found fish in the traditional pools. Nobody is out fishing so I don’t even bother with early starts. Red/orange tied sparse is still the hot fly. Leaders are out to six feet and my 13-foot steelhead taper is fishing like a dream. Water temp in lower 50s. More steelhead breaking surface now.

Every once in a while, the stars line in the heavens, and all things come together. The last time Jack fished with me, the Sauk was rising and the barometer was falling almost as fast as the rain. We went blank. I offered to take him out again when I had an opening, so three weeks later, we manage to hook up,

Day of Days: The day was broken clouds, the water was falling and vis, was 8 feet. Water temp. at 11am was 51 degrees. Anglers tend to set goals and Jack simply wanted to hook a steelhead. Said he didn’t have to land it, just hook one. The First pocket we fished is what I call a "quick hitter" because in ten casts you have fished it. On the ninth, the rod just buries, and a Large, bright, mid teens, steelhead, rolls in the surface. Poor Jack is so shocked he doesn’t even set the hook. She rolls in the surface again, turns and is gone. Jack is happy sick. We floated down to another pool and happy jack brought his orange and red marabou and fished his way down into another fish. This was a small 6 pound buck and Jack landed his first steelhead. Didn’t fight as well as he hoped but a first fish, none the less. We floated down to a creek confluence. One of the top three pools I said, Jack and his marabou steps down through the pool and the rod goes down for the third time in three pools! This 11 pound buck needed no introduction, it blasts outa there. Seven times, completely out of the water. One of those fish steelhead, legends are made of. Fish, pictures and floating again. We fish a pool and went blank. A pool I really wanted was being fished, so we slipped on down and stopped at a pool that has been productive all season. Jack didn’t touch a fish in here but I was curious, so I brought out my own rod and managed to raise a fish to a purple/orange marabou. It was over before it started. We ended up at a really pretty drift that has been good at this water height earlier this year, I didn’t see any foot prints since the rain. Jack proceeded to hook one of the most amazing colored hens I have ever seen, She had a band of iridescence between her silvery side and dark green back that looked as if she was air brushed. More pictures. Jack is still fishing the same fly. I managed to convince him to retire the fly. No matter, ten feet farther downstream after changing flies, lucky Jack lays into a chrome 12 pound hen that does not want her picture taken. Jack wins and she swims away a little undaunted but none the worse. I said "Jack, nobody is going to believe Five steelhead, better say it was four", we reeled up and floated for home. Some days are like that, not enough, but some are.

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(Posted by KANSAS from Seattle, WA )
Went out with guide Dennis Dickson & his client Steve Schwartz of Seattle this week to fish the Stilly, just north of Rain City. Floated in Dicksons self-rowing pontoon boats, what a great way to go. Steve had a showdown with a strong, cunning 16lb. native buck. Truly beautiful to photograph, subtle coloration and pronounced speckling. Such a powerful fish, a real Salmo Bruce Willis, flexed it's muscles and by rubbing the 8lb. tippet against the rocks, managed to break free & with a flick of its big tail fin it was outta' there! Dennis worked my line mending & control techniques to apply to my spey casting, & I improved fishing a sinking line by a mile. I was fishing the fly so effectively, I was sure a fish would take the fly at any minute. And it did. But it took Steve's instead, when he hooked another 12lb. native boy which did some high jumps before it bit the fly clean off! A pleasant day, and the only people we saw on the river that day was each other.

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NF Stilly  May 8

Fished with Dave W. and Don A. today. Day is a little on the cool side Air temp at 10:am was 43 Water temp was 49. Visibility was 8 feet, but at least the day was overcast. Water came down a little. River running about 1000 cfs. We fished marabous mostly. The hot fly recently has been purple/ orange in a # two. Dave rose a fish on the floating line early but it didn’t stick. Don released a thirteen-pound hen down at the elbow hole but it came unbuttoned as I was tailing it. We blamed Dave’s camera. Don rose another fish that didn’t stick and then hooked a fish around ten pounds that came off while Dave was bringing down the camera. Bad camera, bad camera. Saw a couple fishermen, that was about it. Nice day to be out.

NF Stilly  May 5

Have you ever taken a 17 pound winter native on a 5 weight In the Surface? A few years ago, I was fishing with a client and a friend he invited along. Although Ken had taken many steelhead on the Deshutes, it was his first time on the Stilly. It was May and we were after natives. I assured him his floating line was out of place here. He consigned himself to having to use sinktips. Floating line casters hate sinktips. We came to a nice little run which had been productive and just as the boys were about to wade in the pool, a steelhead rolls out front. Hal offers Ken first shot to take this fish. Ken fishes his way down the pool but nothing. Hal says,"I will get him," and proceeds to carefully fish his way through. Not only did he not hook this fish, but the bloody thing has the gall to roll in the surface again! Hal says "Dennis, what do you think". I said, "Well, in the summer, when they want to come up, we go up with them." Ken fairly ran back to the raft and had his floating line on in a New York second. Sure enough, first pass through on a #4 Max Canyon, and the pretty little hen just nails him. "Ok", I thought "a bright hen I can see". Ken of course, doesn’t want to fish with sinking lines anymore, so I say "fine!" Might as well see if it was a fluke. To make a long story short. Hal did take a fish that day on his sink tip. Ken landed three , including a 15 pound dark male. All in the surface. So how is the fishing on the Stilly, Dennis? I am getting there. The snow is coming off big time and the river is very high. Visibility is three feet. Water temps at 10am, an even 50 degrees. Lots of Brown Drakes hatching. We are fishing our heaviest lines. When the Stilly comes up, it doesn’t broaden out like its neighboring streams. It just runs faster. So I get home from another day of throw big lines and I get a call from my buddy Mark. Tim and he had floated and they found a pod of fish on a soft water lie. Marks first cast loses his fly so he took the sinktip right off, and he gets pounded by a nickel bright 12 pound hen. Three more cast after landing this fish and its a 14 pound male. Both on the floating line. I said "What a minute, I have been here before!" I didn't have a client trip today so I decide. Cold turkey. Just me and my 5 weight and a 12 foot leader. Now, I know the fly mark was using, and he and a bunch of my clients would kill me if I told you, but I can give you a huge clue. The river is full of hatchery smolt being flushed out of the river. Big native steelhead don't like anything in their space, especially no scrawny, little hatchery smolt! Bottom line, I rose three steelhead to this fly but only hooked one solidly. A 17 pound male that took me 25 minutes and a half mile downstream. I am definitely going back to this floating line fishing, and I am definitely going back to my nine weight! I wrote an article on Summer Steelhead - North Fork Strategies, come over and see it if you get the chance. Catch me at: www.flyfishsteelhead.com (Dennis)

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