Ever worth it to fish a fast rising river?

I know, better than NOT fishing, but curious your experience with steelies on the rise. Itchin' to get out after the drought, but I always usually wait until rivers peak and start to drop. I have a feeling local rivers are headed way up for a few days....

I've fished a few rivers that were rising fast and blowing out as I was hooking up.It doesn't happen often and more times then not I wait until the river is clearing and dropping.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

P.S. There are certain rivers that play well during that time period but not many.

Over the years have had some very good fishing on the very front edge of a rise but on the whole rising rivers have not been one of the more productive periods to be on the water.

Given the choice I prefer stable flows and in order like low and clear, followed by high and dirty (but stable), then falling and clearly (the condition most anglers prefer), low and dirty and finally a rising river.

Tight lines
Curt

It was worth it yesterday....

Like said above...can be ok-ish, but there's better water after it stabilizes. Remember there's no bad time to fish though, and I got my biggest keeper (21.5#) winter run during a hell of a raising river.

I've noticed that the plunkers do well.

Sucked to be me today....C/22

Weren't so good today...

Oh, well, there's always next Wednesday!

Fish on...

Todd

Rare is the day you get a good bite on a hard rise; more often than not, it's certainly the exception to the rule ... and if I having paying clients, I sually am not that much of a player of those sort of odds

Hogwash. Fish the seam between the clearwater and the ever-changing puke coming from above and you'll be happy. Some of my best days have come on the upswing

Yak Jack,
If you are fishing a river that is rising fast, fish real close to shore. Don't even wade in. With the diminished water clarity, you'd be suprised how close to shore the fish will come as they move upstream. Use a larger bait like a rag. I've always enjoyed catching fish behind the guy waded out to his armpits casting all the way across the river. If he only knew he was standing on top of the fish.
Brian

SF-"If you are fishing a river that is rising fast, fish real close to shore. Don't even wade in."

There were 6 guys that after we landed a couple moved to the hole and waded out ontop of where the fish were sitting. after a couple hours they gave up and then the fish moved back and we started hooking up again.you could hear them talking about how they knew the river too....

Yak-
You going up to Yakutat next April for Steehead?

One December about this time of the month my old fishing buddy Steve and I had a big day, or at least a big hour, on the Hoh on rising water. We drove over from Seattle after he got off work and camped out at that campground on the north side not too far below the highway. It rained off and on all night but nothing much had happened by morning. The water had been low when we got there and had come up some by morning, but not a whole lot.

We got up early and went down to the lower Hoh to give it a shot. It wasn’t raining when we parked by the boat take out where the river came back to the road and walked upstream looking for something to concentrate the fish. Neither of us had been there since the last flood and it was a new river to us.

We tried a few spots for a few casts but it was a half mile upstream before we found what we were looking far. A big tree had hung up on the last flood with its’ roots upstream. A break had formed starting from the root ball angling downstream and away from us. There was heavy water below the break all the way across the river. There was a nice slot running down the length of the log and soft water on down the bar on our side. The base of the log was about a foot higher than the water when we got there. There was a foot or two of rocky gravel between the log and the water. It dropped off steep into the slot, which was two or three feet deep when we got there.

It looked real good. Any fish that came upstream were going to be funneled over to our side of the river, into the slot right at our feet. We slid in next to the log, which was half buried in the rock bar, chest high behind us, and got into some serious fishing, standing with our back to the log on the steep edge of the slot. The river was coming up.

Steve got a nice brat right away and I lost another fish. About that time a squall moved in and it started raining hard. It was one of those rains I’ve never carried heavy enough rain gear to handle. I had on chest waders, a rain jacket, and a rain hat. Steve had much the same. But it was like somebody had turned a fire hose on us. We were both soaked in minutes. And the river was coming up faster all the time. Can’t say that had anything to do with the rain falling at the time. It might have been raining hard up in the mountains during the night.

Just about the time the water reached the log and we were standing in water on the steep slope into the slot the fish started pouring through, right in front of us, right at our feet. The wind had picked up into a storm and it was like the whole damned Pacific Ocean was blowing into our faces. The water was coming up real fast by now and we were hitting, losing, or landing one fish after another.

It was all over way too quick. In what seemed like no time the river started going out of shape, we were pressed hard against the log in water half way to our knees which was coming up faster all the time, the current was picking up in the slot and our footing was washing away below our feet, and the wind was blowing rain so hard in our faces we could hardly see.

There was a pause in the action and we bailed out. We headed back to the truck with three nice hatchery chromers 6 to 9 lbs. We had released one nice wild hen in the same size range and had two or three fish come unpinned.

Steve had been sucking on his pipe before we left the truck. On the way back he walked into a barb wire fence and tore his waders all to hell.

The only fish I've hooked have been right next to the shoreline and even one up in the alders.....really. I couldn't get all the way through the brush to the river, so dropped my rigging down right in front of me in the trees just to see how much visibility there was. As soon as my rig disappeared, I had one on. It ran out into the river and jumped a couple of times, then came off. What a hoot. I usually lose interest in fishing dirt, but it can produce from time to time.

I've had good luck on the rise, but it is usually quick and sweet. My first day of two steelhead was on a massive rise on the snoho under 522 in the slow frogwater on the north side. Caught two real quick, lost one. I think they were just getting out of the mud. But I'm also the stupid dumb ass who stranded his whole family over night on a river because of fishing a real quick rise.

Great story OP.
I see the same thing when I fish Puget Sound beaches for silvers. Guys wade way out and cast their buzz bomb so far out you can't even see the splashdown. These guys look like they are blowing their shoulders or backs out because they put so much body language into the cast. All that effort and most of the fish are caught 60 feet or less from the shore. I've had many fish follow and hit within feet of the beach.
Brian

Yes. Fish in close, go larger, shorten your leader and slow down your presentation. I usually use large white glow spin n glo's on rising muddy water. I've had many good days when everyone thinks it's blown.

I prefer grabbing a 18pk of cold ones, my plunking chair, fresh dozen of sandshrimp and plunk a traveling lane... I've had some big days during the peaks of the season.. Granted it's a little boring to sit around but it sure is fun to get a bell ringer!!

Keith