Sun Time on the Queets River

Ever feel like you’re overthinking steelheading? I do.  Last week, once again, we thought we could outsmart those fish. Or so we thought….drift boat access to the lower float on the Queets River in Olympic National Park had been closed for over a month and those hatchery fish would be ripe for the taking! Simple right? Big numbers guaranteed… uh, not exactly.

Queets River Steelhead

Just as our trip coincided with the park reopening, it also coincided with unseasonably great weather. Bright sunshine and highs pushing into the upper 40s was expected …we couldn’t believe our luck: fresh fish AND great weather. Not so fast grasshopper, this is steelheading.

Over three days we went one for two, although we did hit a home run with the scenery! However, just two bites in three days? Yep. It was not exactly your tailwater fishery numbers.

Most anglers we spoke with, also reported slow fishing in the Hoh as well as in the Salmon River, widely known as a fish factory.  One Idaho fly fisherman reported sight fishing to pods of lock-jawed steelhead throughout the upper Salmon.  On a guided walk-in trip with a Quinault tribesman, he didn’t get a bite all day.

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Was it too sunny? Was the warm weather melting snow in an already glacial tainted stream and dropping the visibility to nil? Were we just ineffective fly fishermen unfamiliar with the local conditions? Yes, yes, and yes!

We were overthinking once again because we realize that steelheading, in general, is a low-percentage game -even during the best-returning fish years. The most logical conclusion: the fish just weren’t there! Though the Quinault hatchery run on the Queets is known to be robust, we probably were a little late -fishing the last three days of January.

One must hope that when our native coastal steelhead begin to show up in fishable numbers later this winter, the catching (AND RELEASING) will improve.

Where can I catch winter steelhead on the OP? Check this out.

The Steelhead Tally

The first morning on a walk-in quickie to the Sol Duc, Matt had hooked an 18-pound buck only to lose it at the beach!  We didn’t touch another fish until the last afternoon on the Queets -a 6-pound hen.  In between, we fished very hard on a relatively uncrowded stream. We counted only five boats the first day the shutdown had ended and 12 the second. Word had definitely gotten out. We saw trailers from all over the northwest including Montana and Idaho. Amazingly, all were willing to challenge the gnarly takeout that was worse this year than last year.

Water levels had been dropping for almost a week by the time we arrived.  The numbers showed the Queets was pretty well “in shape” for a glacially-influenced, wild, freestone stream. Off of a recent high of 20,000, it had dropped to just below 3,000 cfs. It was right in the zone. However, visibility remained less than a foot for the duration of our stay making our nymphs, beads, and swung flies tough to find.

Need the best steelhead flies for the trip? Order online before you go.

As the native steelhead season approaches, don’t put away those long rods yet.  Even if the numbers aren’t that great, there is nothing like seeing a rain forest alongside the river. It’s just enchanting.  Feel free to check the fishing reports and information on floating the Queets, Hoh, Sol Duc, and other Washington state coast streams by contacting Captain MacCullough at Tyee Charters or call 206-799-2530.