Hoh

[dardevle]

Made it out for a daytrip last Friday and was fortunate enough to hook up with Brian.  The water was low so we decided to do some bank fishing(i.e. hike our butts off)  We managed to hook 5 fish that day and from the reports I've heard we were fortunate.  I just talked to Brian and he didn't find any fish the last two days in the same water.  WE NEED RAIN.
A beautiful view of Mt. Olympus.


Brian fighting a nice fish that eventually threw the hook.


Notice the bugrod.  We went for a change of pace in the afternoon and whipped out out flyrods just for something different.  We each hooked a nice fish on the fly!  Very fun!  Brian landed this fish quite quickly as it wrapped itself in the flyline.  I grabbed it and while unbuttoning it he made a violent shake and I lost my grip.  Tough to handle a fish that comes in that green.  It was a colored up buck that would have likely ran 14lbs.


Brian has the pictures but I  landed a fish that from the caculations must have ran 16lb on about my second or third cast with the bugrod.  This fish fought my *ss off for a good 15 minutes before I finally beached the beast.  One of the most fun steelie battles of my life.  I was never in control and having not flyfished in some time, it was a "firedrill" the whole time.

I had one interesting experience.  I hooked what appeared to be a bright hen and during the fight a smaller buck shadowed her the whole time I was fighting her.  Even when I brought her in tight, the buck was right on her tail.   She turned out to be a spawned out hen that probably would of hit 13lbs or so before she dumped her eggs.

[bugnuts]

Where the h*ll are all the fish pictures? 

[chumdog]

Great shots there Mike.  That's too cool you guys hit fish with the old fly rods

Sure is some tasty water on the Hoh.  Let's make a plan.

[Kurtis]

Nice report Mike.  Congrats on the hook-ups and the catches on a fly. You're not kidding about the river being low. I wonder if the NW is going to get any significant rain/snow this winter. Looks like things are shaping up for a long, very dry summer in Washington this year.

[Backer51]

Nice work Mike and Brian.  I'll be hitting the Hoh this week.  With the water being low I hope the 1/8 "Floppy Worm" is the ticket.

[Brian]

Four days on the Hoh in mid-February and sunny and dry the whole time, what more could a guy ask for? A few more fish would have been nice. As Mike said we did find a few fish Thursday and Friday, but things dropped off dramatically on the weekend. I covered a ton of water and never had a hookup Sat or Sunday. Still a great time with some great guys. Nice hanging out with everyone who came out including Fish, Fllyfishy, dardevle, Cal, Bob, Jeff, Johnnyhook, Fishcaddie and his son Shane. Sorry I missed Drifterat & FJ as I was still in the sack when they stopped by. Here are a few pics of Mikes fish as I continue my streak of losing fish before getting them to hand.

Mikes first fish Friday:


And later, fish on!!!.... on the bugrod no less,......


and the results!


then the release!


Had a great time on the OP and can't wait to get back out there after some rain. 

[chumdog]

Mike, that's impressive on a fly rod.  Way to go guys.  Next time, I'm in!

[Jeff]

Nicely done!  Someday I'll get me a beefy enough bug rod to try that section of the river out!  It sure looks nice in spots.

I posted our trip report under Spinnerfish's Hoh report.

[Andrew]

Nice work, guys. Sounds and looks like it was a great weekend, even if the fishing was a bit slow for the last couple days.

[Drifterat]

  With the water being low I hope the 1/8 "Floppy Worm" is the ticket.

Went there, tried that... to no avail. 

But wow what great weather!!! Too bad we're going to pay for it later. (notice the snow level???)



Nice pics guys.

[First Bite]

Nice pics guys.  Beautiful country up there.

[kwaj]

That snow level is gonna hurt unless mother nature has another "twist" ready for us. No snow meltoff really makes it tough on the smolts.

[Backer51]

Brian and/or Mike, what is your fly rod set-up?   Line and leader mainly.

[bugnuts]

Hey dardevle...just because you switched to your flyrod does not mean you have to start wearing that ugly vest again.   

[dardevle]

Spencer, I'm a little embarrassed but I had a little make-shift fly out-fit going on.  I had my 8 weight rod but on my 8 weight reel all I had going was a multi sink tip system(I really wasn't intending to flyfish that day).  Since the water had some nice "float" water I grabbed my 6 weight reel with 6wf floating line.  I hadn't used it since the Yak last summer so it had a 9ft leader that tapered down to 5X.  So in a pinch, I cut the leader back until it felt like 12lb test and cut it.  There I surgeon knotted a 6 ft section of 10lb mono(the leader was back to about 10 feet).  I then slipped a large cheater and pegged it with a toothpick for my strike indicator.  For a fly, I used some barbell style jigs that I normally use for summer-runs.  I need to do some modifications so this system casts better, but it actually was quite effective.  I'm thinking I will go to a foam "indicator" that is an inch or two in length.  The lighter you can get the strike indicator the better the system will cast.  I know from talking to bugnuts that it helps if you taper each end.  Some gear guys(including myself) would call this float fishing.  But from looking at most the Flyguys out there these days I guess it is considered flyfishing.    I did take the cheater off and swing some flies through the classic water, which seemed to work fine.

Bugnuts, I was just trying to look the part.