April on the Olympic Peninsula

Forgive me for the long silence.
My new plan is to post more often, but to write less in each post.
It won't take long to tell about all the fish I have caught this year because I spent most of my days fishing for steelhead.

I headed out to the Olympic Peninsula in mid-April for 5 days of fishing during spring break. I met some amazing characters who were crazy enough to camp out there with me in the wet cold.
I fished for four days without touching a fish. On the fifth day, I was ready to call it quits, but I had made a commitment to fish with my buddy, Ryan, a guy I met on the river a few days prior.

We hit a popular run outside Forks, and I was into a fish immediately. This fish was a bit dark, maybe post-spawn, but I was elated, nevertheless. I got it on a sherbert colored tandem tube, a Brian Silvey pattern I learned about from Mike Sturza at the Lost Creek Fly Shop. This fly gives me confidence, and the tandem tube is a breeze to tie.

Thirty minutes later I was into a smaller, brighter fish. I felt a bump as I mended my line and then it just went tight as this fish peeled off drag.

At this point, I was ready to head home, but I continued fishing out of courtesy to Ryan, my new fishing buddy.  I didn't want to drag him back to camp when he hadn't gotten any of the action.







Soon Ryan was into his own fish! We exchanged high fives and it was time to say goodbye to the Hoh.