My first steelhead on a fly came on september 25 1985. On the Washougal river. a tan steelhead caddis was the fly. Just a week before i had a discussion with Bill McMillian about all the fish i had been able to rise but not hook. He mentioned that steelhead often will come up and try to suck the fly in instead of grabbing it outright. It took steady nerves but when that fish came up I dropped my rod tip as i was instructed. 10 minutes later I had a 10 lb buck in the shalloes and released it. I think the steelhead caddis riffle hitched is the single best skater you can use.
Back in thoes days fishing was fun it wasn't a matter of whether you were gonna see anything it was a matter of how many you were going to hook. Blank days in the summer were extremely rare. Now on the Washougal you can go weeks even years without a hook-up.
Back in thoes days fishing was fun it wasn't a matter of whether you were gonna see anything it was a matter of how many you were going to hook. Blank days in the summer were extremely rare. Now on the Washougal you can go weeks even years without a hook-up.