Ralph Wahl’s March Madness
Each March as we gear up for “March Madness”, it’s important we remember Ralph Wahl – who will forever be associated with the Skagit River and the month of March.
Ralph Wahl first learned about steelhead fly fishing from Zane Grey's writings about his Rogue River exploits. His actual introduction to the gamefish occurred while he was a high school student. His Stillaguamish River summer-run was fly caught, and fishing with only the fly immediately became a lifelong resolve.
As he came to understand the summer steelhead, Ralph began expanding on the known limits of winter steelheading. This sport called for drift rods and bait, and the fly was deemed strictly a summer-run enticement. But to the south, Eel River anglers were pushing into December for their fly sport and winning recognition through such publications as Field & Stream. Ralph knew this, understood their methods and set out to duplicate their successes on home waters, particularly the Skagit, a great and noble river that has remained through decades as one of Washington's premier producers of anadromous trout and salmon.
The need to put a fly on the bottom was recognized and how to finesse it there appreciated. There was, however, little that could be done about tackle then available. All fly lines were silk and whether left undressed, or varnished and rubbed with graphite, the result was a rather slow sink. Experimentation had to involve both fly colors and a given fly’s sinking rate. Ralph began with extra-stout hooks. As he tied them, the body became floss, soaked thoroughly with fly head cement, or several layers of tinsel. Wings were tied short; hackle was sparse. The overall result was severe compactness with the desired fast sink. Color was less of a problem; reds and oranges with perhaps a touch of brown or yellow offered baitlike attractor colors in a traditional form.
The first dressings to promise consistent success-and thus deserving names-were the Lord Hamilton and Lady Hamilton. They made their appearance in 1940. Other patterns were to follow: Painted Lady (1945-it's presumed the original didn't involve fluorescent materials), Winter Fly (1962), Paint Pot (1963), Purple Charmer, (1964), Wahlflower (1965), Winter Fly-gold body (1966) and Redwing (1967).
By continuing to experiment with dressings and searching out the most effective fly drifts, great winter steelhead were eventually landed. Such happiness wasn't hoarded, and Ralph sought to introduce others to his sport, notably R.O. Olson, a judge who ultimately became a member of the Washington State Supreme Court. Judge Olson learned his lessons well; before his passing he and his wife were to take many prizes in the Field & Stream fishing contest.
Ralph had an article published in Field & Stream in 1943 about Washington's winter steelhead fly fishing. The story had as its climax the capture of a sixteen-pounder-then an immense "rainbow" by magazine nomenclature standards, there being no contest category for steelhead.
It is important to know that at this time Washington had received almost no national attention regarding its winter steelhead fly fishing. Wahl's article being a unique exception. Even such an obvious vehicle to fame as the before-mentioned Field & Stream fishing contest was for the most part denied: winter-January through March-was traditionally closed to trout, and contest rules reflected this prejudice.
Ralph was then a prominent businessman (Wahl's Department Store, Bellingham) and wholesale purchasing took him to New York City. He used the opportunity to drop in on Field & Stream's offices and register a complaint regarding the restrictive nature of their contest rules. They welcomed him, wouldn't admit his suggestion had any merit-and changed the rules a year later to include a twelve-month contest!
Washington's anglers were quick to capitalize on this more democratic gain and began registering prize-winning steelhead. By the late 1940's a rather select group of Washington winter fly fishing steelheaders had evolved: Ken McCloud, Enos Bradner, Walt Johnson, Wes Drain, R.O. Olson, Al Knudson, and Ralph Wahl. There were others, but I think these gentlemen probably then represented the best of a slowly-growing minority.
As Ralph developed his fly-tying skills, he looked to Jim Pray and Peter Schwaab for inspiration at the tying vise, and his early winter patterns, the Lord Hamilton and Lady Hamilton (1940), and Painted Lady (1945), were compact and optic-like. Al Knudson sometimes used 5/0 to 7/0 Carlisle streamer hooks to take his marabou flies down. Wes Drain, the finest tyer in the lot, took a twenty-pound, seven-ounce Skagit steelhead in 1947 on a fly he came to call Drain's 20. No one claimed a larger fly-caught steelhead in Washington for twenty years. When that finally happened, it was Ralph Wahl who settled the matter with a Skagit steelhead of twenty pounds, eight ounces (see image).
Painted Lady - Tail: Orange goose primary strip. Body: Flat silver tinsel. Body stripe on each side of four strands of fluorescent red or pink floss. Tie in at the tail and bring forward at the completion of the tinsel body. Tie at head and lacquer in place. Paint top of the body with fluorescent yellow paint. Wing: Orange over yellow bucktail. Head: Black with a white iris and black pupil.
Pictured Below: Ralph’s “Big One”, twenty pounds, eight ounces, caught on March 3, 1967 at his famed “Shangri-La” on the Skagit, side images: early optic-type flies tied by Ralph Wahl for use on the upper Skagit, bottom side image, a rare color picture of a Painted Lady that Wahl tied, which sold at auction for $180 in 2020.
