FISHING
Low Doesn’t Blow The Ichtertz family’s annual fish camp leads to confidence in new ways, waters to fish for Oregon Coast steelhead. By Sara Ichtertz
F
earing the trickle – low water – whatever will I do? The comfort levels I have obtained over the past four years angling for these majestic fish that stole my heart greatly have had to do with river levels. Winter storms. Raging rivers. Waiting. Timing. Learning to fish the drops. Figuring out ideal levels on each stream. It all felt like a lot at the time. But I now know that the storms and following high flows help steelhead make their way home. That makes fishing the drop natural to me and somewhat simple now. Through trial and error, I learned when to hit those coastal rivers and find those eager, pissed-off winter fish that light up your life in the coldest of days! Bouncing the bottom, they grab ahold of you in that high olive water, slamming your rigging with conviction, leaving very little room for questions – fish! Oh, how I love it. I gained some serious knowledge and confidence fishing the winter rivers this way.
BUT SOMETIMES RIVERS are far from high olive and dropping. They turn the most incredible shades of emerald green – you must see it firsthand to truly understand the beauty, as words just are not good enough.
“The happiness we share up those rivers, out of service, in a world that seems quite broken at times, is the success I desire as a mom,” says author Sara Ichtertz, here with husband Leroy and son Nate at their annual fish camp, where she conquered low waters and the lad caught his first steelie with a bead under a float. (SARA ICHTERTZ)
Fully addicted to steelheading, I too know that rivers will not always be constantly dropping, and so it left me to ponder, That low, beautiful water – whatever will I do? The amazing thing about discomfort in life and in fishing is it forces you to learn. To think. To challenge your comfort in search of success. Stepping outside my comfort zones in life hasn’t always been easy. I thrive on comfort, to some degree. That is one of the reasons I would drift fish every day until the day I die, if the rivers would allow it. I gave bouncing the bottom a whole lot of love, time and devotion. In doing that I found comfort. At the
same time I found this crazy amazing joy in hooking these fish regardless of water conditions. Feeling that first headshake of it all, I knew I wanted more, and I know the more ways I can approach a winter river, the more lethal I actually am.
FAMILY FISH CAMP is by far the very best time of the year for me. Honestly, the best thing about Christmas is knowing winter camp is just around the bend, and the anticipation of it all has been and probably always will be mildly insane. What will the river be doing? It’s a roll of the dice because we plan this trip around my husband Leroy’s vacation, which needs to be put in for nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2018
Northwest Sportsman 93