2026 Olympic Peninsula Springer Season Recap
Today is July 22 and yesterday night we pulled back into our driveway at around 11pm after getting 7 kings to boat in Sekiu, with one really nice hatchery king retained and another lost after a long fight…but that’s not what this post is focused on. Springers. Springers, springers, springers.
It’s been a little less than a month since we last went out looking for springers in the Duc, so for me at least (a few other guys are still gettin them) springer season is over. To start, our first full springer season was full of frustration, joy, pain, and learning. I feel like from what I have learned over the last couple months, this is par for the course when it comes to springers in the Duc. The Duc. It is also important to note that this recap is essentially exclusively regarding our springer season on the Sol Duc.
In April I partially tore a tendon in my left hand hauling firewood around the property, so naturally on opening day May 1, I rowed the Lower End, injuring my hand further. The first part of May we floated the Lower twice, and had two fish on, but lost both. One on divers in the channel below Sand Rock and one on a k13 at the first hole, Tree hole. Then we banked a bunch with no luck and then we started hitting various holes in the hard boat / raft on anchor. We floated the Q a few times as well but by this point, late May, these fish were really pissing me off. We had floated with Jack twice, once on the Hatchery run and once on the Shuwah run and we got our fish, but I wanted to get a hang of this on my own.
Things started to turn around for us when we landed a nice hen at Dimmel at 8pm on May 17th on eggs. Hooking, fighting and landing that fish was such an amazing feeling. It felt like the impossible had been achieved.
These laser green twitchers were the best part of Springer season!
Naturally we kept going back to Dimmel for the “evening bite” but never ran into one there again. It seems that Dimmel stops holding fish as much when the water starts to really drop well below 1 board. So in future, we will not rely on that spot as the season progresses.
Next up was Motel hole. We really worked Motel hole, where I re-injured my hand yet again. At first we hucked a whole lotta eggs and shrimp in there and had a few takes but nothing that prevented me from getting pissy. So once I started getting fed up with throwing bobbers in there, I got out the twitchers and started hammering the hole with the laser green twitchers I tied up for the season. One day around noon, BAM, BAM. Two nice takes and I lost both fish by the boat…at this point I was feeling like I was simply not a good fisherman. But one important lesson was learned….they will bite those laser twitchers…I don’t have to have bait.
Next the season shifted to even more bank angling focusing on Sand Rock and Moriarty whenever I could find the time. We would bring the bait in case of last resort, but always opened up with the twitchers. It paid off big time. Hauled three really nice fish out of there on twitchers in just two days.
After those days at Sand Rock, our springer season sort of petered out. Being unable to row due to my hand injury limited our options a bit, and our attention quickly turned to the Straight, but we learned a lot of valuable lessons to stow away for future reference. Here are some of them:
The pros, the guides who catch upwards of 200 fish a season, springers are their whole life for these two months. They get up at 2 (or earlier….or just don’t sleep) and they float every day. They’re good because they work harder than everyone else.
These fish can bite in the evening.
They can bite things other than bait.
They like the edges of things (current edges, ledges, etc), like all other salmon / steelhead.
They are bastards.
To sum up, it would have been real nice to row more during this season, but it was a blast, it was miserable, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. It thoroughly prepared me for next season. Laser green twitchers will be all tied up and ready to roll next year.
