Recent content by Grandpa Jim

That school seems to be hanging over the lighter colored bottom rather than the adjacent cobble. Is that bottom bedrock or sand? The fish look in pretty good shape. Do you think that they are pre or post spawn?

Congratulations and well done! I've been at the OP steelhead game since 2011, gear and swung fly. I've had plenty of failures and just enough success to keep me coming back. You chose the river and run to fish, you floated the river to that run, you picked the sink tip and fly for the run...

Got back late last night after 2 days of chasing steelhead from bank on OP. Rivers very low. We need a big high water event to get a pulse of fish past the nets and up into the rivers.

I try to minimize the possibility of encounters with other anglers in rivers. I'm more of a solitary angler, anyway. For OP steelhead I deliberately fish spots that take some walking or are a pain to get to, for both gear and fly. That eliminates much of my bank competition. If I see a...

I've had 2 experiences recently with returning a rod for repair under "warranty". I have never broken a rod before (other than running over my Sage Foundation with my car...which I didn't claim under warranty). Sage: I have a Sonic 9'6" 6 wt. that I have used exclusively for beach salmon the...

Wonderful!

Exploring is all part of the fishing game for me...but maybe not for others. I must confess that I will check out YouTube OP steelhead videos looking for new bank spots or to glean information on what to look for in a productive run. A couple years ago I watched an OP steelhead video that...

Thanks! It's interesting to see the how the wind varies so much in direction at different locations. Tomorrow looks much better than today!

Do you have a link to that weather website? I really like all the info on the wind! I'm often surprised at direction and velocity of wind at beaches once the sun is up.

Here's my "flasher" story: Last summer, about a dozen of us fly fisherman hopefuls were casting over the eel grass flats on an Area 9 beach. Off to the left a moving chartreuse flasher appeared just under the surface and just outside casting range. After passing a few casters the towed flasher...

My 2 cents on reducing "bad luck": Watch guys who are "fishy" and try to mimic what they are doing. Get to know them and ask them questions. Jasmillo has been very helpful to me with increasing my fly catch rate. I have also gleaned a ton of information by reading this site regularly. I...

Nice! Starting to change appearance now as they move further into the Sound. The pinks I was catching from the beach last week in Area 9 were super chrome. Not as many around now on the Area 9 beaches I fish. Last one I landed was 3 days ago.

I was next to you for a bit this afternoon. Looks like I left too early. Not the first time I've said that this season.

This is what we have been talking about. I use a bigger perfection loop...maybe 1" in diameter so I can get even a big stinger clouser through it. You might have to play around with getting the knot back through the fly line loop and then making sure it all lines up like above. Once you get...

3 chum seasons ago I decided to use up some older PLine fluorocarbon that I was no longer fishing. I found that I had fewer break-offs with the 15 lb. PLine fluorocarbon than with the 15 lb. Maxima UltraGreen mono I was using. Surprised me. I've been using fluorocarbon in the salt ever since...