Many don't believe it but it is true, winter fly fishing is a magical time to be out in the water.  Every day out there is not the inclement weather many associate with this time of year.  It can often be quiet and serene, a time and place to lose touch with our day to day lives in the city.  Let's get you out here with us...

Winter Steelhead - It is a tad early in some ways but actually it isn't.  For those who are unaware, back in the day, like in the middle of the 1900's, the run of wild fish was often heavily weighted in the late November through early January.  As we fished that out on many of our rivers, the later portion of the run began to be the larger pulse which is when we went about trying to preserve the March and April time frame of the winter season. 

All of this said, a few fish continue to return during this early time frame so it isn't fruitless to be out there swinging flies now.  As we are writing this, rain is falling, not hard but enough to do exactly what we need/want it to, raise the flows a bit, color the water a tad and basically send out that invitation to those steelhead hanging in the estuary to, "Come on in!" 

Water is in the low 40's so subsurface is probably your best bet, T7-T14 are the right tools until and fly color is mostly up to you.  We generally fish blue/black, purple/black but orange, chartreuse, red/black and Kingfisher Blue are all good choices so grab what you love and get it in the water.

Skykomish, Skagit, Sauk on certain stretches, Cowlitz, Kalama, Lewis and of course the OP rivers are all just sitting there waiting for you, go get wet!

Puget Sound - This might be our favorite time of the year to fish the Sound.  Actually, every time of the year is our favorite time of the year out there because it fishes well all year. 

At this time we have some baitfish out there such as sculpin but there are also a lot of SRC's sipping small euphausiids or little shrimp like food forms.  We have a couple of patterns unique to EWA that represent these and stay on the surface so you can both see and feel the take.  These require a slower retrieve than baitfish, almost like crawling a chironomid up through the water column.

Yakima River - Winter on the Yak constitutes stripping streamers, swinging soft hackles or nymphing for the most part.  Choose your lane or traverse them all but all will work.  We would recommend using a 3-4wt trout spey so you can more easily turn over streamers or some heavier tips to get your chosen fly down.

Creeks - This isn't necessarily the time of year for creeks but the Forks of the Snoqualmie are open but cold water and flows will make finding fish a bit more difficult than during the summer so don't get frustrated but also realize it will be more difficult.  The wading can also be suspect so reference our flow recommendations above to make sure they will be safe.  The little Deschutes is also open and will hold flow a bit better than the Snoqualmie will but access is a bit more difficult.  Call us with any questions.

Hope everyone has a great Holiday Season, come see the new space, enjoy some holiday cheer with us and certainly ask us if you have questions, we are here to help you get out there and have fun.

EWA Staff