While most people hang up their waders when the interior rivers turn to ice, the fishing season is just beginning for many of us in the Pacific Northwest. Many anglers have waited all year to pull their fishing gear out of storage. Winter steelhead fishermen and women are some of the most passionate anglers out there. Keeping on through snowy days, icy guides, wet under-layers, cold thermoses and frozen reels—they’re a dedicated bunch.
However...

It’s not hard to see why fly fishing might be confusing to the non-fly fisher — after all, we do come up with some pretty crazy ideas.  
Take the IGFA’s marlin fly fishing guidelines as an example.  These include trolling a baited lure until a marlin chases it, only to then rip it out of the marlin’s mouth to cast a fly at it instead.  But wait — there’s more.  If the boat’s not out of gear at the exact moment the fly cast is made, the fish...

One of my favorite things about bringing a steelhead to hand is the downturned eye on her perfectly blushed face.  Flecks of gold, bronze, green and purple glitter in the light; painting her eyelid like an eighty’s popstar. 

Her pupil — black and wild — looks down at the river as if to remind me that she’s ready to go home.  British Columbia regulations demand the release of all wild steelhead, so I loosen my grip on her firm tail and watch her...