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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Metalhead mania: Angler Ron Neilson is relentless in his pursuit of steelhead on a fly

Eric Barker Lewiston Tribune

Most fly anglers see July as a time to head for backcountry streams and rivers to drift dry flies through their favorite trout runs.

Ron Neilson isn’t one of them.

On the first day of the seventh month, Neilson goes all-in on steelhead. Nearly every morning, the 75-year-old can be found casting his two-handed rod on the lower Clearwater River and waiting patiently for early-arriving steelhead to take one of his offerings.

“I like these first fish because usually they are red hot,” he said. “The last few years they have been good-sized, like most of them around 8 pounds.”

Neilson lives along the Snake River south of Asotin, Washington, and retired from the Potlatch Corp. paper mill 14 years ago. A fan of old Hardy Perfect reels, he especially relishes the music chrome-bright steelies make when they peel off line.

And if not handled correctly, he warns July steelhead can get the best of anglers.

“They won’t quit. It’s just like catching them on the coast. They have a lot of energy,” he said. “You have to get out and go downstream or you are going to need to have a quarter-mile or half-mile of backing and nobody has got that on their reel. So you better get out or they are going to break you off or spool you.”

The chance to tap into that energy is what compels him to spend days and sometimes weeks casting in futility. He’s not the only one to fish this early, but is easily the most consistent, a necessary quality for July steelheaders.

Since June 1, more than 600 steelhead have been counted at Lower Granite Dam. Neilson believes few, if any, of them are sitting in the runs across from the Clearwater Paper mill. Alternatively known as the Mill Hole or Stink Hole, it’s the place where slackwater gives way to a living river and early-arriving steelhead stack up.

When they are there, Neilson said he sees them rolling and porpoising. And when that happens, he starts to catch them.

“If they are in here, you can usually pick a few up in a week’s time. I’m not saying you are going to get them every day, but you are going to have some good days.”

He has yet to hook a fish this season, but will keep at it until – and after – he does.

“I haven’t got anything else to do,” he said. “I’m the only guy who can fish 135 days during the steelhead season and not get his butt chewed out, because I’m not married.”

Last year he didn’t land his first steelhead until July 24.

Fisheries managers are expecting the 2016 steelhead run to be similar to others of recent years – good, but not great.

A total of 133,260 steelhead are expected to return past Lower Granite this summer and fall. That will include an estimated 115,200 A-run steelhead, the 6- to 8-pounders Neilson is trying to entice, and about 18,000 B-run fish that can average 10-12 pounds and grow as heavy as 20 pounds. Last year, 123,100 A-run steelhead and 13,100 B-run fish were counted passing Lower Granite.

In a few months, when the Snake River cools and the A-run fish start heading south at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater instead of east, he’ll spend more time fishing closer to his home. The steelhead are larger on the Clearwater, but Neilson said the Snake River is more apt to produce days with multiple hookups.

Either way, he’s likely to spend more mornings than not in steelhead water, with the river curling around his legs and his fly swinging through promising runs.

“I’m really into this steelheading,” he said. “I’m not chasing women, so I’m into this.”