Wynoochee River, WA (Winter Steelhead)

As I mentioned in an earlier blog I live really close to this river. I haven't fished it near as much as I have wanted to, but now my buddy has a drift boat and its time to give it a drift. We have watched the river for weeks and it has come into pretty good shape. Putting in at the 7400 bridge we set a drift down the river. We were no alone. Talking with other anglers we had heard many different methods to fish the river. After our new found confidence the week before on the Kalama we were feeling pretty good. One method that had been discussed is getting behind th line of boats that drift the river and fish a small single egg. See many fishers use big globs of eggs with little success. Following them with a single egg fly has produced in the previous weeks. We tried this and many other methods; new hot shot plugs, slip bobber, egg bouncing, flies, and other plugs. Unfortunately we didn't catch any fish after floating all the way down to whit bridge. Checking in with other fisherman, every other boat had two fish landed. Most of what they were using we cured sand shrimp. Noted for next time.

Summary:
Location: Wynoochee River near Montesano, WA; Twin Bridges
Time: 7am-4pm
Rod: 8 wt w/ sinking tip, spey rod, spinning rod, & bait caster
Tackle: Purple egg sucking leach, single egg fly pattern,  yarn balls, bubble gum wiggle wart, hot shots, and other plugs.
Fish: 0
Species: N/A
Biggest Fish: N/A
Smallest Fish: N/A
Rating: 6/10

Kalama River, WA (Winter Steelhead)

After floating this river last weekend we had gotten smarter about what are plan of attack needed to be. We brought a couple more plugs, picked up a few tips, and found a weekend were the river had cleared up a little more. The Kalama is a funny river. It will rise really quick and drop extremely slow. If you hit it when it is right then its hot. Today turned out to be one of those days. Putting in again at red barn, we paddled up river a hair to hit the tail out of the put in. First hole = first fish! A long lean hatchery steelhead caught on a blue pirate. Excited we moved our way down the river. In the spot we had hooked up the weekend before another fish, this time a much smaller hatchery fish, but still another fish. Then just above the lower hatchery at the very start of a tail out my pole got hammered. Luckily for me, my drag was way loose and the fish was able to run. We could tell it was big and it was chrome. Pulling the boat over Kyle jumped out with the net, ran to the bank, and down river from me. I on the other hand, clumsily caught my back foot getting out of the boat and did a rolling maneuver keeping my pull tip up. Figuring out my drag as I made my way to the shore and a conveniently located beach continued to fight the fish. After a great fight we managed to land it in the net 50' down river. In the process of removing the hook we found the plug had been broke by the fish during the fight and somehow managed to stay intact enough to land the fish; a beautiful, chrome bright, wild steelhead. Getting the picture off we let him go. Continuing our float we hooked up one more time at beginner hole but lost that fish. What a great day.

Summary:
Location: Kalama River, Exit 32 off I-5, near Kalama, WA
Time: 7am-3pm
Rod: 8 wt w/ sinking tip, spey rod, spinning rod, & bait caster
Tackle: Purple egg sucking leach, black and purple streamer with an egg bead, yarn balls, bubble gum wiggle wart, blue pirate, silver/pink and other plugs.
Fish: 3
Species: Steelhead
Biggest Fish: 16lb
Smallest Fish: 6lb
Rating: 9/10

Kalama River, WA (Winter Steelhead)

My co-worker and twin brother went halfsies on drift boat and invited me to come float with them down the Kalama. It was there second float ever in the boat so I was pretty honored and excited to go. We had heard that the steelhead were coming in well. Getting to the river there was about 5' of clarity and the flow was a little high but that was expected. Deciding to put in at red barn we began our float down the river. Our tactics were to through just about everything at them. In places we could plug we plugged. I plugged a diver with sand shrimp, and the other rod we plugged a bubble gum wiggle wart. We also bounced yarn balls where we could, slip bobber & drifted jigs, and of course even fly fished. About half a river mile down when we of course were all not paying attention the rod with a wiggle wart got hammered. In the time it took Kyle to pick the rod up and start to reel the fish had broken it's way off. Not being huge plug fisherman we only had two others to pick from. We tried both and with no prevail. It was a great opportunity to learn the river and get a feel for the boat though. We didn't manage to hook up again but had a great day on the water.

Summary:
Location: Kalama River, Exit 32 off I-5, near Kalama, WA
Time: 7am-3pm
Rod: 8 wt w/ sinking tip, spey rod, spinning rod, & bait caster
Tackle: Purple egg sucking leach, black and purple streamer with an egg bead, yarn balls, bubble gum wiggle wart, and other plugs.
Fish: 0
Species: N/A
Biggest Fish: N/A
Smallest Fish: N/A
Rating: 7/10

Satsop River, WA

Back in September I drove up this river with a Dalton, scouting along the way and stopping at Schafer State Park. They were actually closing up the campground for the winter when I ran into a local who was a real nice guy cleaning the fire pits out. He took me to where in the middle of the park was a nice hole and explained some of the other places to fish on the river like the "S Hole" just below Decker creek. My co-worker and I figured today we would go give it a shot. Parking at the state park we tried fish the hole there and various other ones. The river was getting higher by this time and the clarity wasn't ideal but much better than the Wynoochee we had scouted earlier today. We did spot a few fish above the bridge which is closed this time of year but none below. Will have to try again later.

Summary:
Location: Satsop River, near Elma, WA off Highway 12
Time: 3:00-5:00pm
Rod: 8 wt w/ sinking line
Tackle: Purple egg sucking leech
Fish: 0
Species: N/A
Biggest Fish: N/A
Smallest Fish: N/A
Rating: 6.5/10

Kalama River (Fall Steelhead)

I had scouted the river the week before and it was looking pretty good. There was a good flow and gin clarity. My buddy Dalton wanted to take a trip to Portland and so we thought it would be a good idea to try and fish for the day. Having not fished much past Red Barn in recent years I took him up to a hole I knew can often produce some fish. The river was still gin clear and it was obvious there were no fish. We stuck around and fished for maybe an hour in case any were to come through but none did. We got back in my truck and headed down the river and stopped at a few other holes to see if we could see any fish with no luck. Beautiful day though and great flow on the river.

Summary:
Location: Kalama River, Exit 32 off I-5, near Kalama, WA
Time: 2pm - 6pm
Rod: 8 wt w/ sinking tip and floating line, spinning rod with slip bobber
Tackle: size 4 or 6 egg sucking leach or woolly bugger in black, purple, and olive
Fish: 0
Species: N/A
Biggest Fish: N/A
Smallest Fish: N/A
Rating: 6.5/10

Westport Marina, WA (Coho & Crabbing)

Being that I had some luck catching Coho a few weeks previous and my buddy wanted to come out and see me, I thought we could go give the marina another shot. Worst case we would catch some crabs and best case we would catch both crabs and salmon. As we drove out there it rained like a mother and continued while we geared up at the truck. The second we locked up the skies open and the weather turned nice. The day was slow and we didn't see a school for a really long time. Then finally we saw a school swim by with no luck. We chased it most of the way down the marina. Another came by and the same thing. The third school swam by and I my pixie had all but cleared the fish and as I went to pull it up and try to cast again one broke away. Unfortunately I had already committed the spoon out of the water and the fish had no chance to take it. We did catch some crabs though. Also, we stopped in at the Half Moon for lunch and by gosh that place is nice for the area. The waitress was cute too.

Summary:
Location: Westport Marina, WA
Time: High Tide
Rod: Mid-Light Salmon Rod
Tackle: Green, orange, or pink pixies or flying-j
Fish:0
Species: Coho
Biggest Fish: N/A
Smallest Fish: N/A
Rating: 6/10

Westport Marina & South Jetty, WA (Coho & Ling Cod)

I have gotten pretty good at crabbing out here but have also seen a bunch of people fishing for sea bass or other fish. My buddy let me in on some knowledge that they actually plant hatchery coho right in the marina. When the fish return, they have no idea where to go and so they do laps waiting to be caught. Said buddy Paul and my friend Dalton came out and we decided we would give it a shot. Why not do a little crabbing while you are trying to fish as well. The lure of choice by locals is a Flying-J by Mapps but I prefer a pixie. Basically what you do is you claim a section of dock or a bridge to a pier and sit and wait for a school of coho to swim by. When you see them you cast in front of them and try to get there attentions. It's pretty cool because you can see the whole thing unfold and as your lure passes by they will ignore it or one will break off and hammer it. Which in my case I was able to do! During our time there we maybe saw three schools pass. Doing this at high tide makes it much easier because of the distance from the pier or bridge to the water and gives you good opportunity to crab. You must keep in mind that there are barnacles on all the piling and a braided line is recommended.
Eventually Dalton's brother got bored and we packed up and went to fish the jetty. Out on the jetty we drift fished a bobber with a jig for bass or put on some hearing to try to catch some ling cod off the bottom. I had no success but Kevin was able to land a pretty nice ling cod.

Summary:
Location: Westport Marina & Westhaven State Park/South Jetty, WA
Time: 9am - 5pm
Rod: Mid-Light Salmon Rod
Tackle: Green, orange, or pink pixies or flying-j for coho, jigs for sea bass, and hearing for ling cod.
Fish: 2
Species: Coho & Ling Cod
Biggest Fish: 6lbs
Smallest Fish: Legal Ling Cod, I saw it through a bag
Rating: 9/10

 

Skies out thighs out!