Steelhead: Clearwater River & Salmon River November 2-8, 2022

Date / Time: Afternoon of November 2, Full Days November 3,4. Partial day November 5. Full days November 6,7

Location:

• November 2 motel run Clearwater road fish.
• November 3 float the rock to Long Camp. November 4
• November 4: float maintenance (airport) to Pink House.
• November 5: South Fork confluence run
• November 6: Salmon Twin Bridges to Campbell Flats float
• November 7: Clearwater road fishing. Kamiah power line run, Peck run, windmill?, barn point?
• November 8: Pumphouse before flight home

The Characters: KK, BK, Richie Hemingway, Kristina, Dano & brother Adam (didn’t fish with these guys, just hung out)

Weather: Rollercoaster from nice, partly sunny 50s the first day into pounding, torrential rain by 3rd day, to snow back to partly sunny and cooler when I left.

Water Temp: Started in mid 40s and dropped continuously while I was there until I left. Orofino gauge was at 46 when I got there and 38 when I left. Peck was 47 at arrival and 42 when I left. Spalding was 48, then

Water Level: Clearwater at Orofino from 2,000

Water Clarity/Quality: Varied from clear and low to high and dirty by the day

Moon Phase: First Quarter (Nov 1) to Full (Nov8)

Best Flies: Fish came on black intruder with blue flash

Fishing:

Day 1 Wednesday, November 2, afternoon: Flew into Lewiston and caught a ride with Dano’s friend Richie who had a rental car. We drove up to Orofino, geared up and hit the motel run river right. Water was moderately low and clear, warm afternoon and mostly sunny. Fished through starting half way through with Richie up top. Had a heavy good pull, pause then pull again, but then I pulled back early and the fish was gone. Good rush and got me excited, but frustrating I screwed it up. I continued fishing and had another plucky take, not sure what it was and that was it. Only had time to fish this spot, so headed in after that.

Day 2 Thursday, November 3: Brian, Kristina and I floated from The Rock (just above Kamiah) to Long Camp. Conditions were good, slightly chilly but still good although water temp was on the drop and didn’t rebound like it had previous to my arrival. Temp was about 44 degrees and 2,000 cfs. We fished through several runs all in good shape, but didn’t touch a fish. Nobody even got a grab all day. I wanted to fish Chutes and Ladders, the run that I had landed my big fish in the year previous, but dudes were on the other side so we skipped it.

Day 3 Friday, November 4: Rain arrived overnight and we decided to float from Airport (Maintenance) to Pink House since it was close. We debated going downriver for warmer temps but bailed on that. We fished through the airport run both sides, then the motel run and it was pouring with some side creeks starting to color things up. We stuck it out and worked down through checking out the area around and below the pipe. We watched several fish try to get up the pipe and spooked a pile of fish in the lower right tailout area that dumped into a sidechannel where the North Fork meets it. I swung through the confluence hole half heartedly, but with all the fish piled up there in the artificial environment wasn’t that into it. We hit the river right side of trailer trash which fished good but didn’t touch anything there either. No grabs for the day. Heard later that Brian Hunt had gone downriver and got a good fish so we somewhat second guessed that we should have done that.

Day 4 Saturday, November 5: Rain poured all night and almost 3 inches fell, so river went super high and continued to drop in temp, rough conditions. Noticed the Salmon at Whitebird was still in stable shape since this storm was mostly north. Almost headed over, but instead had breakfast and moped around. It was windy over there anyway, so ultimately we drove up to the South Fork confluence and fished the run where that dumps in. It looked good and was clear on that side, but no love. That was it for that day, headed back to Orofino for dinner at the Mexican place with Dano, his brother Adam and buddy Richie.

Day 5 Sunday, November 6: Decided to go to the Salmon early since Brian had connected with his buddy Lance who’s girlfriend had just bought the Steelhead Inn and offered us friends and family $50 cleaning fee plus $20 tip to cleaning guy. We figured go fish where conditions were at least stable. We met up with him at Twin Bridges and he did our shuttle. It was a beautiful day, 50s in the afternoon and high clouds. Fished hard through all the good drops, but no interest. There were a couple of plug boats we had to work around, but not sure that mattered. Never saw them hook a fish either. Talked to Lance later who had fished one run two passes with diff flies and got nada.

Day 6 Monday, November 7: Woke up at the Steelhead Inn which was quite nice, however there were two guys in the room below (only two in the place other than us) and they had woken up at 4:45 and been super loud talking the whole morning which made for minimal sleep. Rain was pouring when we got up, and we decided to head back to the Clearwater since it was already dropped back into good levels albeit still cold water temps (around 39 by this point) which weren’t going to change. We drove through a pretty gnarly blizzard and were going to go down through Stites, but as we headed down a slick, icy canyon, some dude came at us waving his arms and explained that there were several cars stuck and off the road ahead. We turned around and headed the other route. We eventually made it to Kamiah and fished the run with the power lines. Water looked good, just cold but no fish. Weather was improving and water temps in the lower river below the dam were 4-5 degrees warmer so I thought it best to head down.

We dropped the boat at the crossing and ended up on the Peck run. Sun was coming out by then and it had warmed into the 40s, so not too bad. I had fished the run previously and thought it felt great but hadn’t got fish there. On the way down, I was thinking to myself that the 10 foot fast sink tip wasn’t getting down enough and looked for a 12 footer. I saw the very fast and the super very fast (fastest I had) and discussed with Brian and decided to put that on. It immediately slowed things down and got the fly deeper and I felt like I was fishing correctly for the conditions. Half way through the run, the familiar heavy pull came and as I was waiting for line to come off the reel, I looked down and saw that a loop of running line was wrapped around m reel handle and the fish went on a short run and I had to run toward it to get enough slack to undo it. I luckily got it off and the fish on the reel, but then it ran at me and I had to strip to keep it on. I thought I had lost it since the tension was minimal, but eventually got back on it. I eased into the fight and was stoked to finally hook one after many days! the fish didn’t go on any big runs, but bulldogged and I could tell it was likely a big buck. Got it close and Brian was helping to tail it and eventually beached and landed it, super stoked! It was 10-12 lb. colored up buck with good proportions and a big scar out of one side. I admired the fish and we snapped some pics and I wanted to check it out more but it bolted into the shallows and I tried to trap it stumbling over myself as it shot back toward me and I banged my knee, almost fell in and the fish escaped. No matter, I got some pics and had a brief moment to see the fish. Was very happy to finally land one, so walked back to the truck to grab a few beers to celebrate. Brian fished through while I relaxed, but no more interest there.

We hit a couple more spots before dark, but no more fish came.

Day 7, Tuesday November 8: My flight out was at 12:22, but I figured we could hit one run. I packed up and we headed downriver. Water temps were still cold, and it was in the low 20s overnight so I figured early morning wouldn’t be worthwhile. I wanted to hit the pumphouse spot right above Lewiston where I had hooked and lost several, many years prior so we headed there. Conditions were pretty good with sunny, slight breeze scenario. We jumped in and I started above the big ledge and worked through, water felt good but found no fish. Ultimately reeled it up at 10:15 and headed out. Brian took his truck to the shop since it had the CEL on and he was worried about it. I checked in with him later and he got two fish after I flew out. Originally I was staying through Thursday, but I cancelled the last two days becuase it was getting into teens and looked poor, plus Tammy had her hands full with Anna so I felt guilty. The next day, Wednesday which would have been my last he started fishing at noon and 6 grabs, hooked 4 landed 3 more. I should have stayed, but that is how it goes.