Well I have come back to fly fishing after 20 years of racing sailboats, both offshore and inshore. No thrill in that anymore. My questions. Where do I go to fly fish for winter fish living in the South sound area? Be as candid as you feel free to be. The name of a river is nice, but general areas of the river would be nicer. I am a wader not a boat fisherman. If you would like to email me with info that you feel is to sensative to put in public forum I am at sailfast4@aol.com. Any info transmitted to me this way will be held in confidence. I fish during the week and not generally on the weekends. So I will probably never see you. Thanks to any and all who respond.

Next,I grew up fly fishing trout but when winter came, out came the meat pole. My old man kept to the flys and I did not. He never caught any that I remember and I caght very few. When I was going to Western I lived on the Nooksack River and fished a drift just down from my house every morning.

It was not until I started attacking a run with my drift pole as if I were dry fly fishing did I really start catching fish and I caught and released tons of them. I would cast upstream and bring line in feeling the pattern of my led on the bottom. Anything out of that pattern, bam, I'd set the hook.
I had been missing fish for years because I never knew they were there. Ok, now here is the question. Has anyone tried this with flys
and is it possible?

Go Mariners and let it rain

Sorry but I dont know the spots in the South Sound area, wish I could help you. Im from B'Ham so I fish the Nooksack alot myself. have never caught many fish, but probably missed a ton

Im one of the guys that youl see out there fruitlessly whipping the water hoping to feel the unfamiliar tug of a steelhead. My experience is that you need to get the fly down deep, having it tic along the bottom on a downstream swing as slowy as possible.

Ive never tried the cassting upstream technique, as normaly the waters to fast and it would be bunched up at my feet quiccker than I could pull it in. But hey, experiment and see how you do.

Do your best not to get discouraged- catching a steely on a flyrod isnt easy.

Fun fishing-
Josh

Cast like you do when you are driting eggs. Up stream, mend your line right away. Pull in your slack and think about how close your fly is to the bottem.If the way it is drifting changes at all hit it. I like to use a floating line with a 8' leader and a wet fly. This is just the way I like to do it. There are many ways I am sure you will find what is best for you.

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dank
Keep The Rivers Clean!

Grab a drift rod, a baitbox full of eggs and go get 'em....... It takes way too much patience to catch fish on flies.

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I must agree with the last post.

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dank
Keep The Rivers Clean!

You don't really want to bump a fly along the bottom but you do want to get down near the bottom.
Here's a method: use a floating line, a long leader and a weighted wet fly or nymph. Cast up and across, mend as needed, watch the tip of the fly line for a pause or twitch, and set the hook hard if you see one. This requires intense concentration and frustration management because strikes are usually subtle and sometimes you can't see what the hell is going on. An alternate is to use a strike indicator, like a tuft of siliconed yarn or a corkie held in place with a piece of a toothpick, a little higher up the leader than you think the water depth is. This ends up a lot like jig and bobber fishing. Either way, remember to strip the line in as ithe fly comes towards you and after it passes you stack mend the line back out so you can get a decent length drift. Good luck.

Oh ye of little faith, it's just too easy with a drift rod. The best advice I can give is to be persistant, once you catch a steelie on the fly, it will start to come more and more frequently. Be persistant & remember to put your focus on the line/tip your using and how it's presented in the run. don't stress about the fly, it's secondary.

[This message has been edited by Rich (edited 10-17-2000).]

iamat.
I was on the Cowlitz (blue Creek )last weekend and the salmon fishing was not only slow,it was down right desolate.The bright spot was the sea run cutthroat. Give me A holler if you weant to know more.
Dutchman

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