Chasing Steelies in the OP, Part 2

Okay, so our first few days on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula didn’t exactly pan out from a steelheading standpoint. Cold rain, sleet, poor fish returns and rising water all conspired against us. But Days 1-3 paled in comparison to what awaited us on our final day…

Mike B. called it the “wost conditions” he’d ever endured on a river. I put it right up there behind the famed “Hunt for Mr. Hogito” day on Oregon’s Elk River many moons ago. Big Worm said…well…he didn’t say a thing but it’s safe to say he’d rather been somewhere else…say in a hot tub with a couple French bikini models, for example.

Anyway, it came down in buckets all night long and by dawn we realized that the hatchery run on the Sol Duc was probably going to be our best bet. As you can see from the photo above, however, the water was already getting a little murky at the put-in. Once we shoved off, however, the water looked pretty good….

But the rain kept coming down — sometimes at a rate of around 2-3 inches per hour and it was only a matter of time…

The first hours or two, it felt like we had a chance. We ran our baits through some pretty sexy water but no grabs. In fact, every boat we encountered had the same report. The highlight was running through some fun chutes and rapids…

The only things that kills a steelhead bite worse than a rising river is…a cold rising river. And that’s exactly what we had. Rain melting snow upriver, bringing the flow up and the temps down…the double whammy! A about 10 am, the local guides raised the white flag and bailed out….

We diehard (aka: “stupid”) drifters, however, opted to keep fishing and enjoy the scenery. We even pulled over for lunch…

Then right before our very eyes the inevitable happened…she blew out on us!

Of course, that’s about the time the 40-50 mph winds kicked in and nearly blew us upstream. It took some serious team work to row against the gale…

We eventually made it to the take-out and got the boat on the trailer…

That evening in Forks, we encountered some interesting folks. Including, the Mullet Twins, who were super cool…

Apparently, the vampire book/movie Twilight was based in Forks and the place was absolutely crawling with vampi-ro-nerds the whole time we were there. Most of them were just kids running around looking for vampires. But I’m pretty sure I saw a real one in the parking lot right at sunset and when he looked at me, it made my skin crawl…

Luckily, we got outta Dodge and on Saturday we made our way home. We left Forks on a crisp, 20-degree morning and pointed her south for a little 18-hour drive in the country.

So, the fishing was abysmal and the weather just a hair worse…in fact I ended up with pneumonia when it was all said and done…but our mission to the OP was still a good one. In my book, anytime you can go float down a beautiful steelhead river with some buds, it’s a win. Especially when you have a legit chance at steelies in excess of 20 pounds. It wasn’t to be this time but there’s always next year…

Tagged as: forks, hoh river, olympic peninsula, sol duc river, steelhead fishing, twilight, vampire, washington