Well all good things change. The steelhead game is improving with leaps and bounds and these bronzed battlers are turning into the zombie apocalypse. In a few weeks the spawning grounds will be infested, in a good way, with the stench of spawning salmon..

The WDFW has announced the opening of the upper Columbia tributaries, primarily the Methow and Wenatchee. With the flows we have it will be a swing game on decent numbers of (federal) wild steelhead. Knowing how the Methow reacts the first month will be a blast especially with the water flow. I think is flowing around 1000 cfs although the graph that is funded by the feds shows differently (no surprise there).

My game will be the dry or the I line right out of the gate with nymphing on the run to keep things wet.. Cant wait to throw one of these:

The whole reason for life as a steelhead fisher is fulfilled every fall when these Icons of the NW will rise again to the dry fly…

Dates open this fall..