This past March I was fortunate enough to take a much needed extended Spring Break vacation from school, and found myself northbound to the OP! Where else would I want to spend three days of winter steelhead fishing? Typical me, I packed my suitcase last minute, and dreamt about what I would encounter on this trip. The views, emerald tinted water, bald eagles. The feeling of ample opportunities and possibilities flooded my mind leaving me anxious, and ready to hunt.That’s what I love about steelheading – you hunt. Buckets, log jams, and tailouts are like vacant hotels for steelhead, and its the fly angler’s job to locate where they’re staying at.
Another thing I love; fly fishing is often guilty of fostering new friendships! Long distance ones at that! Through social media, I met my now good friend Ruth Sims, who was kind enough to open up her home and backyard to me, the fabled the Olympic Peninsula.
The first few mornings were spent on the Hoh River observing blankets of fog gradually unveil over the spruce trees in the far distance. This was a sight that no camera I obtained on the trip could capture, and I was completely content soaking it in first hand. Under the guidance of Justin Tenzler, owner of Olympic Peninsula Outfitters Guide Service, it wasn’t long before I found myself cheering and my reel screaming. My 10′ 7wt Echo 3 was folded over with a dime bright buck on the end of my line. To say the least, I was in fly fishing heaven!
From one guide to another, I was utterly impressed and admired Justin’s knowledge and care of every square inch of that river. Ruth and I joked about how there couldn’t be a single boulder, bucket, lane, snag, and log jam that he doesn’t know about! Setting his passion for the sport aside, this was one of the aspects about Justin that instilled my confidence in him automatically. When there’s trust, smiles, laughs, positive attitudes and overall good energy on the boat, it creates a vibe that is often times irresistible to fish! At least this seems to be my philosophy.
This was also my first experience fishing in various types of weather conditions such as pouring down rain, hail, sunshine, overcast, and sleet. I found amusement freezing my fingers and toes off all the while feeling the continuous sting of sleet pelting my skin. It was in these moments that I realized how spoiled and comfortable fishing conditions can be most of the time in California. Nevertheless, we fished on and sipped ciders to keep body temperatures and spirits up.
On the second day during the last half of the drift, I hooked into a wild steelhead in the 15lb range, who’s condition appeared nothing other than pristine. In all honesty, the initial hook set was overwhelming as I was immediately hit with doubt and disappointment. Surely I had snagged the bottom or a branch located subsurface. Think again! With a slight movement and twitch of my fly line, excitement and optimism replaced my doubt. I was hooked up to something huge! This specimen clung to the bottom as if completely oblivious to the fact that it had been fooled. My head fell back as I laughed out, and I stripped in my fly line to keep the tension. Finally he had woken up, and it was off to the races!
Through a few bends, runs, and riffles, Justin, Ruth, and I scrambled nearly 250 yards down river in pursuit of this fish. When I glanced back, I could see the raft had disappeared, the same way in which my fly line would disappear off my reel every time I managed to steer the steelhead’s underside out of the current and onto the shallow gravel.
I want to say it was either six or seven vigorous runs before this buck was ready to meet and greet us. Like most steelheaders, I walked towards my catch nearly winded, ecstatic, shocked, and quite frankly on Cloud 9. Cradling this steelhead, my frozen, shaky hands couldn’t even feel the water. I did however, feel blessed to have felt the power and connection with this wild steelhead that traveled nearly 56 miles to have his path cross mine. It was this moment that solidified my absolute love for the state of Washington, the Olympic Peninsula, and helped me to deeply cherish all of the fulfilling moments fly fishing has brought me. Olympic Peninsula, I’ll be back!
~ Kayla Katayama was born on Oahu, Hawaii where she learned to stalk the flats for fish with her dad at a very young age, developing a passion for fishing. Kayla will be graduating from CSU Chico in the Spring of 2018 and looks forward to a lifelong journey of teaching, fly fishing, and guiding in Northern California. Out on the water, Kayla values fun, learning, conservation, safety and helping anglers create memories that last a lifetime. When Kayla is not in the classroom or guiding, she spends her time chasing fish and rowing her drift boat with her dog, Finley. Contact Kayla through her website Her Waters Fly Fishing.
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