I got to go fishing on this great river the past couple days with Aaron and Rob Holman. We fished with guide Kyle Jones. The weather was pretty good both days; Tuesday was a bit wet but not bad. The Clearwater is one of those rivers that is on my radar screen so I was super excited to give it a try. It’s a bit of a drive from Redmond (5 12 hours) but well worth the time and gas.

We three anglers fished Sunday afternoon at the big Bend area where there is a driftboat launch. Beautiful water conditions, super clear and just a tad up. We used eggs and jigs/shrimp with floats. We fished a couple hours with no luck.

The next morning we met up with Kyle at the Peck boat launch and fished out of his 23 foot sled, a very comfortable boat to fish out of. Our plan of attack was side drifting eggs, one of my favorite fishing techniques. It allows anglers to cover a lot of ground and really pound the water. Within minutes of starting to fish Kyle hooked up with the first steelhead of the day, a pretty native fish. The river has both wild and hatchery fish, and is kept stocked by two large hatcheries that put out over four million smolts into the river. These fish travel back through the Columbia, then the Snake, and finally into the Clearwater, so they travel a good 500 miles or so to get home. Surprisingly they look in good shape, a nice steelhead blush on all these fish, but not dark and tired out.

After Kyle got his first fish I hooked into my first Clearwater steelhead and brought her to the boat. Another native, we eased her back into the water. By the way, Idaho does not have the handling rules we have in Washington, so it is legal to take the fish out and get a picture. Every fish we released was incredibly strong and swam off with no hesitation. I think in part this is due to fishing from a boat, which in my experience allows the fish to be brought in and netted quicker than if fishing from shore.

After my fish, Rob and Aaron each got one. They morning bite ended around 9ish and we had a couple hour lull of no fish. After an early lunch the bite started coming back, slow and steady. We worked lots of different holes up and down river. The boat traffic was sparse. I think we saw maybe 3-4 boats all day. Kyle mentioned that even on the weekend the river doesn’t get heavy pressure. Certainly nothing like I’m used to seeing on our Puget Sound and Westside rivers. We fished day one until about 4pm, catching fish here and there. Again, all nice native fish, not a hatchery marked fish in the bunch, which was surprising to Kyle. He says normally the catch is about fifty-fifty. Our first day we ended up catching seven native steelhead and lost several besides.

Day two was rainy and a bit cooler, and the water had come up and was a bit dirtier. We launched and fished the same areas. On this day I decided to try out a new float rod I’d gotten from NW Rods (out of Kalama, WA) . It’s a 13 foot rod with a fast tip and I was excited to get my first fish on it. I was running eggs but “bobber-dogging”. On our first drift I hit a fish. I was briefly looking away from my rod when Kyle called out “fish on Mike!” At the same instant the rod telegraphed the head shakes of a nice steelhead. This one was a brute and the rod handled him well. I’m hooked on this rod! Got the fish to the net, took a picture and let him go.

We got a couple more fish in this general area and went exploring. It was a tough day but I’ll give Kyle credit. He kept optimistic long after I had started figuring the day was a bust. Mid to late afternoon we again started running into fish. We actually had as many fish hook-ups as the first day, but they seemed to be getting unbuttoned easier. Until, that is, the end of the day. Aaron had caught his first ever steelhead yesterday, and the last fish of our trip proved to be his personal best. He hooked and caught a pig of a steelhead, in the 12-15 pound class. What a brute! Aaron did a great job playing the fish to the net. Kyle slide the net under the fish and Aaron had a photo of a fish worthy of being framed. What a fitting end to two great days on the Clearwater.

Kyle has some dates available and says the Clearwater steelhead will hold up well into December. If you want to fish with him give him a call. By the way, we ended the two days catching twelve nice native steelhead, didn’t touch one hatchery fish the whole time. Kyle Jones Sportfishing

Oh yes, if you go, I can strongly recommend staying at the Helgeson Place Hotel in downtown Orofino. They offer great accommodations, are very reasonably priced, and are located in the heart of downtown within walking distance to several restaurants.

---