March

A Hoh river hen with some battle scars from tribal netting.

After a long drive my buddy Jarrod and I reached the banks of the Hoh River. Wet up with The Rick and the Montana Metal Militia for a few days of fishing Olympic Peninsula style. We got our gear straight and then sat down with the boys for a few beverages. With the rain pounding the tarp above us and hearing the river that was on the up behind us, Jarrod turns to us and says, "I think this is what they call a rain forest." This pretty much sums up the end of March. Our dry winter with spotty fishing suddenly turned into a wet winter with spotty fishing.

















Jarrod Black with a swung steeltrout on the leech. Sorta!






















Sunshine on the Sol Duc

March is one of those months that drive the steelheader crazy. Native grabby steelhead, the possibility of mid teens to twenty pound fish, the possibility of an early summer steelhead, springer salmon, sea run cutthroat or dolly varden keep the angler on the water. Despite poor escapement on the West Coast, the possibility of catching one of these elusive fish brings the angler back and allows the persistent ones the rewards of their work.















Spruce Creek put-in on the Hoh














Rick Matney swinging the 101 Hole on the Bogachiel.











We covered a lot of water fishing the Hoh, Sol Duc and Bogachiel Rivers. A few flies were tied, a few fish were caught, a lot of food was eaten and a lot of alcohol was consumed. Overall a success despite the fact we had to deal with on and off showers and a river that was constantly on the up and down and water clarity that was good one minute then bad the next.

















After returning home my thoughts turned to the Oregon Coast and rivers that have one less thing to deal with. No tribal netting!!!! Covering three different systems in two days and dealing with the same conditions we had in the Olympic Peninsula, my buddy Brian and I found a few fish. Covering water from Lincoln City, Oregon to Forks, Washington, March was a great month.

















There is nothing more odd then loosing a fish after a great fight and then having your buddy hook up exactly in the same place where you lost the fish. I think Mr Chou got lucky.






















Doing a little big water swinging, I ended up hooking up a couple of times with this little hen to drool over.