“When are we going to Forks?” 1

I'm lucky enough to have a wife that enjoys the outdoors almost as much as I do, so when she asked "When are we going to go to Forks?" I didn't hesitate to hook up the driftboat and get the steelhead gear ready. It was more like a sprint than anything. When your wife demands to go fishing…you go fishing. 

The last few clear and cold days here in Washington have been nothing short of stunning and with a full tank of propane and a heater to take the edge off our steelhead trip Sunday would definitely make suffering thru some rainy days worthwhile.  

We had already scheduled a dinner at our house with Ma and Pa Endsley for Saturday evening, so we'd have to blast off bright and squirrely on Sunday morning for the three hour commute to Forks, Washington. Not a big deal, but next time we'll definitely head up there Saturday after the radio show to have dinner with the Balls, Myer's, and Graham's and catch up on the happenings in good ol' Forks. Good friends that I always seem to miss on these hit-and-run missions.  

The thermometer in the truck scrolled from 21 degrees to 32 degrees on the commute west and when we hit the boat launch at 8:30 a.m. it was a balmy 27 degrees. Cold by many standards, but to my wife who grew up in Southeast Alaska it was "beautiful". Phew…passed that test. Not a breath of wind all day and she was right, it was awful-damn-nice.

Today's mission was simple. A relaxing day pulling plugs on the Bogachiel River, where the hatchery steelhead have been plentiful all winter and there was an off chance at a wild fish. Nicole could sit in front of Mr. Heater and stay warm and I could burn off some of my fishing guide belly roll backtrolling plugs. A win-win for both of us.

It was truly a spectacular day and by the closing bell Nicole had wrestled with seven steelhead up to around ten pounds and landed two chrome bright hatchery brats. Not bad for a relaxing day on the river and no stinky hands and egg goo all over the boat. And that Alaskan amber, it stayed good'n cold all day too.

Here's one of Nicole's hatchery steelhead that hammered a Hot Shot. 

I had every intention of purchasing a bunch of X-4 Flatfish for this weekends plug pulling session on the rowing machine with the wifus. When I stopped by Outdoor Emporium on Saturday after the Outdoor Line radio show to purchase a bunch of them, however, the sign read "Closed on January 1st". Ug!

On my last few steelhead trips to the coast I've noticed more and more of the guides using X-4 Flatfish and K-11 Kwikfish for steelhead and out of curiousity I've got to give these things a go and see how they compare to the my tried and true Tadpolly and Hot Shot collection. Apparently they exhibit a slightly slower side-to-side wobble that results in crushing takedowns.  Just as soon as I can get my hands on some of these I'll be giving them a whirly-gig to see how they perform.

With four feet of visibility I opted to run one "Bloody Mary" Tadpolly and the Hot Shot pictured below, both rigged with size 2 Mustad Ultra Point 3X strong trebles. The treble's that come with Tadpolly's aren't sharp enough to catch a cold and the stock Hot Shot hooks are only slightly better. When you replace the stock trebles be sure to rig them so that two of the three points ride up. Every little bit counts!

The Hot Shot below accounted for six of the seven steelhead we hooked yesterday and as the river continues to clear I'd only run the bright colors in low light conditions and then subtle-it-up the rest of the day with blue, green, silver, and copper.  

No trip to Forks is complete without a herd of elk. Nicole was sleeping contentedly when we passed our first large herd in the Sol Duc valley early in the morning and then this herd of Roosey's was lounging around just off Bogachiel Drive at the end of the day. This particular herd is here just about every day.

Pass the Montreal seasoning honey!

The coastal steelhead season is shaping up nicely and many of the rivers out there are already starting to see the first glimpses of what could be a great return of wild steelhead. The wild steelhead run on the Olympic Peninsula starts in late January and goes strong thru March and into early April on some rivers. Make your fishing plans now and if you're not into that sort of thang it's worth the drive just for the scenery and wildlife.

Rob Endsley
The Outdoor Line
710 ESPN Seattle
www.theoutdoorline.com