It’s the time of year when the salmon and steelhead run up the tributaries of the Columbia River making it one of the best places for fly fishing in the United States. It’s been a long time since I’d done any fly fishing and was hoping I could get back in the swing of things so I could catch one of these elusive steelhead or maybe even a King salmon. Got the 9′, 8 weight rod out of the garage and checked my supply of flies to use on the Klickitat steelhead.
Got to get up early so you can be on the water by the time it gets light. Most experienced fly fishermen in this area will be at the fishing hole in the dark, walking through the bushes and wading through the water with only the light from a headlamp. As soon as you can see where you are casting, the first cast of the day goes out.
Steelhead are not easy to catch by any means, the local nickname for them is “the fish of a thousand casts”. Being a little rusty on my fly fishing technique, it may take me all thousand casts to get one. I had one hit on the first day out but didn’t manage to hook the fish, I’m hoping to improve the next time out.
The Klickitat is a classic fly fishing river; scenic, great fishing and this time of year the weather is beautiful.
We’ll be back out there soon looking for that first trophy steelhead of the season.