Steelhead river levels

[alhazayin]

I've never caught a steelhead, but I have plenty of the right gear and am hoping to try the skykomish a few times this winter. How critical is the level of the river to catching steelhead? It is very low right now; there has been very little rain, but there is some rain coming up in the next few days. Is it best to fish during rain, or wait until after the rain when the river is high?

Thanks

[BentRod]

You can fish any time, but I was always led to believe fishing after a high water event when the river is dropping is best. Read up on water clarity and where fish hold to learn about fishing in various conditions.

[riverhunter]

Fishing for steelhead takes patience and lots of it especially in the skykomish. Being new to it consider yourself lucky to hook up on your first season and even luckier on your first visit. My opinion is don't wait for the right conditions and just get out and fish. Now if you have a lot of spare time (a lot of us don't) then after high water when the river is dropping is when you want to be at the river.

[dj2loud]

for 5 years now i've only caught 1 on the nooksack, and that wasn't even all the way on shore... Headed over to Forks with NO SLACK GUIDE service on Jan 13th to end my streak!

[jonb]

I agree with riverhunter fish all conditions, dropping river is good but more important than river level is visibility. What you really want to find is 3 ft vis, overcast conditions after a high water event. Plant yourself in areas you think steelhead will pass through and hold for a bit before continuing on their journey, this could be behind a boulder, in a tiny bucket near an undercut bank, eddies or other little respites in the current.

If you fish low water you do the exact opposite, fish the riffles, and flowing water that might otherwise be too fast as steelhead will use that for cover if nothing else is available. In these conditions any walking pace water over 3 feet deep or places you cant see the bottom should be fished thoroughly.

Also avoid crowds. If you see a crowd try hiking a few runs or even miles upstream or downstream and you might be pleasantly surprised to see some steelhead didn't feel like being pummeled anymore and moved away from the combat zone.

Cover lots of water, try to avoid standing in one place and fishing it all day. When I'm steelheading i want to cover 10km-15km of river (6 1/2-10 miles) (Reiter being the exception)

Be wary of where you step alongside a river, particularly around first light steelies will often sit feet or even inches from shore in surprisingly shallow water and they can be very easily spooked if you're not careful. I once caught a steely in about 14" deep water in a tailout, saw it sitting there (not on a redd), stalked in sneakily and swung it up with a spoon. Landed it too. It was a nice 10lb native. Another time i was carelessly tromping down a river and spooked 5-6 steelhead out of a 3'deep X 3' wide X 10' long bucket about 1 foot away from shore. I ended up walking by more carefully later, spotted a steely sitting there and swung it up on a spoon which was an older 10lb or so native from a river that only gets maybe 50 fish per year in a good year.

Try a variety of gear but focus on float fishing for steel. Pink worms, blades, jigs and roe being popular choices.

Good luck this season.

[alhazayin]

Thanks for all the info!