Fall is for Steelhead

Come September, all of the Idaho steelhead junkies start checking Columbia river fish counts religiously. We start tying flies and gearing up for fall trips. Once October rolls around, the Clearwater and Salmon start filling up with anglers looking to "swing up" a summer run steelhead. While this year's steelhead counts are well below the 10 year average, Columbia and Snake river tributaries have fished better than they did last year.

The Clearwater fished very well (by Clearwater standards) in early October.  Some buddies and I spent three days swinging flies around Orfino, and we hooked (and even landed) a few fish.  The biggest surprise on that trip was the incredible number of Chinooks in the system. We saw Chinooks rolling through many of the runs we fished, and I even managed to land one on a floating line and a sparsely tied spey fly.

 

The Salmon River has fished very well this year downstream of Riggins.  The stretch that gave up very few fish last year showed some mercy in October with multiple hookups a day for some.  The fishing downstream of Riggins has slowed down, but there are still fish being caught.  With cold, November water temperatures, it's time to put on a sink tip and fish slightly larger flies.  

The fishing on the Salmon River around the town of Salmon has been very slow.  If things warm up, that area should get a good push of fish, and fishing should improve. Unfortunately the catch rates have been bad so far. 

Our fall steelhead season is far from over.  If you haven't tried swinging flies for steelhead, now is as good of a time as any to start. Just be careful; the tug is the drug!

-CM