Just curious what others like to do for winter fishing when the rivers are blown out.
I used to do quite a bit of salt fishing for resident coho and searuns in the winter, but that seems to have lost its appeal.
I find I'm fishing lakes a lot more in the winter. Chironomid hatches can be strong on the warmer days and fish are willing to chase down a bugger.
So what do you do when you can't chase steelhead.....watch football, drink heavily, tie flies, chase salt fish or hit the lakes?
SF

I like to have some life other than fishing. I have a bunch of tools in the garage, and I like to putz around out there and make stuff.

I've been thinking for a few seasons about chasing SRC in the south sound. Friends say it's a good fishery, but I never seem to get motivated to tromp around the salt. Just have a preference for freshwater stream fishing I guess.

When the rivers are blown, I tie spey flies.

I get sandy on the Internet.

Ascot shopping has been curiously omitted from this thread...I know you all do it!

I write scathing and anonymous rants on websites calling for the banning of all gear fishing!



Fish on...

Todd

I read tons of fishing literature, planning numerous trips that somehow often don't materialize.

That and I plan on tying more flies each winter but when spring comes around, I never has as many as I thought I would and wind up buying some at the local fly shop.

Winter? Dont get me started. For starters, I make yarnballs, tie flies, and get fatter.

A very diverse group

Hank, you should take up knitting ......

My actual answer is that there is almost always somewhere to fish where it isn't blown out, and that's just for rivers...there's blackmouth fishing, too.

I've also taken some time to catch a squid or 60 on winter nights.

Fish on...

Todd

Used to do a lot of squid jigging with my dad years ago. May have to give it a go again sometime this winter.

Once I have faced the stark reality that winter is upon me whether I like it or not, I actually enjoy having some time to mellow out, work on fishing based projects, dial in gear for the next year, research trips, and best of all, get the hell out of Alaska!

My summers tend to be non-stop to the point of making my head spin. Trying to cram worthy adventures between steadily increasing work obligations is enough to run me ragged for sure, and I feel like my stamina is still fairly decent, depending on the hangover.

It is easy to complain about short summers up here, but quite honestly, the shoulder seasons, spring and fall, I typically enjoy more than the peak of what most consider summer. By the time you wind down fall, recuperate, and take a trip, the days are getting longer and the vast eternity of winter is an ever shrinking time period in which to check things off the to-do list. Like, getting fatter.

For bait, human consumption or both?

Both...but mostly for my consumption.

Fish on...

Todd

I actually do a lot of nymph fishing on the Yakima when the conditions are right. Whitefish can be fun when the catching is high and the weather is mild. Often you can find a school of trout as well just to add to the excitement and species bag. It's not steelheading but it's fishing.

Try that searun thing. All my biggest salt fish have come in Nov./Dec.

Otherwise, as Stam says, go fishing anyway. I've not caught much in the high water, but fishing is usually interesting at high flows. One time, I decided to try the Cowlitz when it was flowing about 10K and the color of creamed coffee. There was a car in the river below Blue Creek, and I nymphed up a nice steelie out of the sheltered water behind it. Just like a big boulder in the Hoh. Very memorable, to say the least, and not another soul around.

Otherwise, stay home and be a cranky bastard like salmosalar. Not as fun as fishing, but somehow strangely gratifying.

Hard to add anything original after the great comments.

I absolutely love winter steelhead fishing more than anything else. Well, almost anything else.

Tying yarnies, corkie set ups, jigs, spoons, etc etc keeps me occupied many evenings.

Fortunately I have friends with boats so Puget Sound crabbing and blackmouth are filling in. And a trip to the Yak now and then keeps me aware that there is sun on the other side of the mountains.

Also, as an "advocate" for sustainable stewardship of our natural world, I do some CCA stuff. It works for me.

Rick