The Fishin' Magician: On the Okanogan
Dave Graybill
I sure picked a great day to fish the Okanogan River. It was snowing hard, but the lower river was free of ice and Jerrod Gibbons, of Okanogan Valley Guide Service was able to run his jet sled all the way up to Rattle Snake. Getting there wasn't so bad.
We would stop and cast our bobber and jig rigs into holes on our way. Making our way all the way up to Rattle Snake paid off, too. It was the only hole that produced any strikes. Gibbons managed to hook a fish that shook off before we got a look at it. I actually landed a nice hatchery fish, so we didn't get blanked. The water was a bit off color, but had cleared significantly from almost zero visibility last week.
The fish I landed hit a "Calipso" pattern Maxi Jig, which is a bright multi colored jig. I think the on set of the snowstorm may have put the fish off the bite.
There has to be good numbers of steelhead in this stretch of the Okanogan. They just weren't very eager to hit our jigs on this particular day. I am willing to give the Okanogan another try, when the weather settles down.
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