Gorge Fly Shop Blog: Fishing Off Color Water for Steelhead and Salmon

Update 9/8/2020 - With recent White River blowout reminded me of this article by John Garrett. What do you do when the water goes off color? Do you stay home? Personally that is not an option for me. Not only because I planned my fishing days in advance but it's not an option because I have a desire to succeed no matter what the conditions hand me to work with. Experienced anglers know that fish are capable of eating in all but the most extreme situations. The key to success becomes the quest.

Colored, off colored or dirty water, how much color is to much?

That is entirely up to you. Honestly I can’t tell you, because I have seen some really good fishing is some extremely colored water.

Hopefully this post gives you something to think about. But in the end it is really up to you if the river is fish-able or not. Me personally I would rather fish muddy water for a chance at a fish than go to work, but that is just me.

I get the question all the time; "I hear the White blew out the Deschutes, is it fish-able?"

We have to be very careful with our answers, because each angler’s definition of un-fish-able is different. Some people won’t fish the Deschutes River when it is down to 3’ of visibility, but they are excited to fish the Klickitat River in with the same 3’ of visibility. Doesn’t make sense to me, but hey everyone is different.

It is amazing the difference of opinion from one angler to another on how dirty the water is. You can talk to 3 different anglers on the same morning at the mouth of the Deschutes and those three reports will all be different.
One will say it was zero visibility. The second will say 12” of visibility, but I hooked 2 steelhead! The third will say 18” of visibility and it is not fish-able.

This is a big variation of visibility from the same anglers on the same piece of water at the same time. Several factors play into this.

First light level, at low light the visibility of the river will look less.

Second, did they actually wade in the river and see how deep they could see the top of their boots? That is the best way to see how far you can see in the water.

Third where did they look at the river to judge water color? If it was at the boat ramp at the mouth for example, that is the worst spot. This is because that is an all sand bottom which combined with sandy cloudy water makes the visibility look much less.

There are some key things to think about here.

What do the fish see? Well we really don’t know that for sure, but the general consensus is that they see much father in colored water than we do. Anywhere from two to four times farther than we do. This is because we look through the water towards the bottom into darkness. Fish look through the colored water into light.
So if you wade into the river and you lose sight of your boots with a distance of 15” of water between the surface and the top of your boot multiply that at least by 2 if not more.

Why do you think a Steelhead hits your small wet fly on a swing near or on the surface in extremely low light?
You and I could barely see the fly when it is almost dark. Remember they are looking up into light, they see that silhouette of the fly in near darkness.

But I think the biggest factor why we like to fish in low visibility conditions is that fish get aggressive. Think of it like this when we swing a fly we are fishing for that aggressive steelhead. The aggressive fish may be the one out of ten or more.

In clear conditions fish see your fly coming from a long ways away. This gives them lots of time to decide if they are going to attack it or not. Most chose not. In low visibility conditions, the fly suddenly appears a few feet away from them they have to react very quickly.

The first reaction is to snap at the fly. Now you are not fishing for the 1 in 10 like clear water, you fishing for the nearly 10 out 10. Your odds just went up!

Keep in mind you need to fish bigger, darker flies in colored water. I prefer to fish a light tip even in low light situations.

When visibility gets to about 2 feet I will go back to my floating line in low light, but make sure I am still fishing a darker bigger fly like a #4 or #2 instead of my usual #8 or #7 flies.

Last thing to think about is in colored water fish feel safe therefore they will slide in much closer to the bank than in clear conditions. Make sure you fish your fly in tight to the bank. With this all said I can’t tell you when the river is fish-able or not unless it is high and solid mud. It is really your choice and confidence. These thoughts on river color really apply to all rivers for Steelhead and Salmon, not just the Deschutes. I use the Deschutes as an example, because it is the river that most anglers let water color decide if they fish or not.
Trav