Well another day in Yakutat, and another group of Steelhead.

I went out tonight, and took a walk that has become very familiar to me in the last 7 years.  The tides are just right this week to go and catch Steelhead just seconds out of the ocean. I am privileged to be able to fish in the Situk river on a daily basis. Most Steelhead fisherman will never get the chance to catch these fresh fish when they first leave the salt and enter into the fresh water. They come out of the ocean pissed off and willing to slam a fly. If you have ever hit into a real fresh fish, then think of that times 4, then you will have some idea, as to the brute strength and acrobatic abilities that these fish truly have. The walk through the sand is brutal, but the pay off is huge, and can’t be beat. So here are some pics of tonight’s beauties, and a video I captured,from the beginning, to the end, of a great fight.

Flymstr;

Well I have been on the river now since I got here, 3 days ago. I am sore and tired, but the fishing has been fairly good, for this early in the season. Nothing exciting has happened yet, except for the Iron heads I have hooked up with. The fish seem to be of good size so far. The weather has been cloudy, but not much rain. Things are going to change in the next few days. They are calling for rain at the beginning of the week and then start to cool off, with a chance of snow at the end of the week. I don’t think it will effect the river to much, but it may raise a bit with the rain coming. When the snow starts to fall, the river will follow suit and go back down quickly. I have noticed there are a lot more winter fish in the upper end the last few days. So as this week ,I expect to see a lot more winter fish, and the springers are starting to show in Small groups down at the mouth. I am on the river again tomorrow, so I will share then what happened.  I have not seen any bears or moose yet, just a lot of mink, martin, eagles, and river otters. Here are a few fish from today, and check out the under water video.

Flymstr;

Well I am back in Yak and already hit some nice fish. The river is low and clear. There are not a ton of fish in yet, but they are coming up. The weather seems to be a bit better than the last couple springs and the snow is not to deep. It will keep the campers of the river banks, but at least you can go pee without falling ten feet through the snow. Here are a couple of pics from today’s drift down. By the way if your coming up to Yakutat, the fish are hitting on egg pattern flies, like the ones in my first post.

Good luck out there and be careful of the log jams.

Flymstr;

Well I gave it one last shot today, and was shocked. The creek had life in it!!. For the first time in about a month and a half I can say, “Eagle Creek has fish in it again”!. I don’t know if the fish are all throughout the creek, or just located around the top end, near the hatchery. I went out today sometime around 3 O’clock this afternoon. Within 2 minutes I was hooked up with a nice 15 pound winter. Then soon after I hooked another smaller fish, that still had some really good color, (The first fish was dark, but still gave a good fight). So to any of you out there reading this, if you have the chance take a look at the Creek and see if you can get some of these late winters, and remember there are some 20 pound natives that return this time of the year. My friend Dave Hickman from Idaho came up for the week. Me and Dave have been friends now for about 25 years. We grew up and cut our teeth together on some of our first Steelies on the fly rod. We also spent years fly fishing together for Kings and Silvers. Even though he hasn’t seen the Creek since 1997, you can see by the pics that he still has it.

Nice to have you back for a bit Dave!!

 Good Luck Out There And Have Fun!!!!!

Flymstr;

For all you small stream winter Steelheaders I know that the season has come to slow crawl, but don't worry the natives are coming. Every year around the first of March the native Steelhead of Oregon and Washington start to show themselves in the river systems. They really show up in Mid to late March and continue to run all the way through April in alot of the smaller streams and tributaries. You will want to use egg pattern flies that mimic eggs in their final stages. Try using purples and light blues in your patterns this time of year, they seem to really create alot of good strikes with the natives. Remember there will be some stragglers coming up to those hatchery streams all the way through mid March, so if you want to be alone and fish for winters now is the time to start going. The amount of fish may be down and you may find a few more fish with color on them, but they do bite well, fight well, and give you hell. Also most of the fishermen you had to contend with before are now out on the Columbia or Willamette river systems hunting out the early Springers that start to show up in early to Mid march. So if you are a fly fisherman that requires alittle more that a Salmon can offer then start looking around for the streams in your area that have hatchery runs that fold into the natives and I think you will have good success and a very low population of fisherman to have to deal with.

Remember to always release wild fish with the utmost care. If you use a net use a small cloth mesh net to avoid harming the fish in anyway. If you must take a picture please keep the fish in the water until the camera is ready, then lift the fish by the tail and support the stomach with the other hand. After the picture is taken revive the fish until it swims away on it's power. Watching where your released fish goes can alot of times indicate where other fish maybe laying.

Aaron'

Always remember if you are fishing low clear water for Steelhead, you need to be aware that any egg pattern flies that you use must be translucient. In low clear water conditions the fish have the ability to see the fly for a long period of time in the water before they have to make a decision to strike or not. If the fish has the time to see what they are after they also have the time to decide if the fly or egg is real or false. A real egg is translucient and light shines through in all directions. If you make your flies alittle looser and let more light filter through you will up your percentage of strikes by a large amount. As you can see in this photo, the light filters through the edges and the center lets just alittle light through making it look natural.

Good luck out there and always keep the tip up and the line tight!!

Flymstr;