Though we have been experiencing a remarkable late fall and early winter drought, and weather ranging from pleasant to cold to downright arctic, the 2013/2014 winter steelhead season is off to a great start.
Because flows on are rivers are so low there are fewer places to fish than usual, but the lower reaches of many of Oregon’s coastal rivers have already seen a healthy return of winter steelhead. This is just the vanguard of the run; we should see a lot more to coming over the next several months.
Standard swing and nymph tactics have been working well in the right water.
The forecast shows a good deal of precipitation headed our way in the first week of the New Year. Hopefully this much-needed weather will actually materialize, bringing us a nice spike in water levels throughout the coastal rivers. This would allow much better upstream passage for the fish already in fresh water, draw a nice group of fresh steelhead into creeks and rivers along the coast, and bring a lot more of our rivers into fishable shape.
Winter steelhead season is arguably the most exciting fishing of the year in western Oregon, and if early returns are any indication, there will be a lot more fish showing up in our coastal rivers over the next several months.
I have quite a few days booked over the coming weeks, but plenty of room open on the calendar at this point throughout winter steelhead season. Please call or email if you are interested in booking a day of fishing this winter. Let’s get out and chase some chrome!
Special thanks to Matt Ramsey for sending along some images from our recent fishing trip.
Ethan Nickel Outfitters 