Ohanapecosh River in Mount Rainier National Park--August 16,17 2011

Fly Fishing the West
Vol. 27, Issue 1
August 16,17, 2011
Ohanapecosh River in Mount Rainier National Park,
Packwood, Washington

Tuesday, August 16, 2011—Conor, Mason, Cian, (grandsons) and I fished below the bridge (at the north-east corner) over the Ohanapecosh River in the Ohanapecosh Campground at 9 am. This is a fly fishing-only stream inside Mount Rainier National Park, see further details under Miscellaneous Information/Observations below. Conor caught a 12” cutthroat trout near the edge of the stream (in about 1 foot of water) on a size 14 black ant fly. We got no other bites and walked back to camp about 45 minutes later.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011—Mason, Cian, and I a long, deep stretch on the east side of the stream about 300 yards above the bridge in the Ohanapecosh campground at about 6 pm. I caught an 8” cutthroat on a size 8 ‘stimulator’ fly (long shank hook with an orange body and elk hair-type hackle.) I casted it across the stream into the shallows near the far bank and he took it off the top of the water. From where we were (up on an outcropping above the water where a small hot springs stream comes down and falls into the river), we could see 8-10” fish wandering around in the stream. They would not take any flies we put in front of the. We returned to camp about 7 pm.

Other Miscellaneous Information/Observations:

1. The Ohanapecosh River is an upper part of the Cowlitz River. The Cowlitz River was dammed back in the mid-1900s and that cut off all upstream-spawning salmon and steelhead. Hence, the stream no longer has sea-run fish in it. It also has not been stalked with fish probably since the 1940s. It is a fairly large, very cold, clear stream with a green tinge of glacier flour in it. There is some but not a lot of aquatic life in it, hence, the fish population is sparse and they do not grow to be very big. It does have a sustainable population of cutthroat trout, the only true native trout in the stream. Below Grove of the Patriarchs I have caught small cutthroat, rainbow and brook trout, all out of the same hole. I did catch one ~14” cutthroat about 20 years ago up near the confluence of Deer, Boundary, and Kotsuck Creeks, which form Chinook Creek, the main stem of the Ohanapecosh River. I had been fishing with Marcus and Tyson in this area for about 3 hours and we were ready to go back to camp. I was sitting on a large boulder waiting to leave. I was done fishing. It was a bright, sunny day. As I sat there resting, a large, light and dark brown striped beetle landed on the rock right next to me. I picked it up, put it on the fly I had on my fishing line, and dropped it into the white foam and bubbles of the stream directly below me. Immediately, a fish came from below and took the beetle right off the top of the water. I was surprised to say the least because I had just tried that with flies earlier with no luck. Also, how could a fish see it on top of the water through all of the bubbles and foam! In 30 years of camping at Mt. Rainier that is the only ‘big’ fish I have ever seen there. We let him go.

2. No fishing license required to fish in the Park. In addition there is little knowledge or encouragement by Park rangers or personnel regarding fishing there anyway.