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!

Wynoochee River, WA (Coho & Chum)

I've been in the area for a month now and have found a place in Montesano. So many people that I work with may not be thrilled to work out here but mostly that is because they have been DE-RURALIZED! Yes it does rain a little, 80+ inches compared to 40+ in Seattle annually. Yes, the best place to get what you need is Wal-Mart. Yes, the closest "big-city" is Olympia. However, 2 miles west from my house is one of the better hatchery steelhead fisheries in WA the Wynoochee River, 4 miles east of my house is one of the top wild steelhead fisheries in WA the Satsop River, and 1 mile south of my house is a great all-around river including sturgeon the Chehalis River. Not to mention the close proximity to all the Coastal-Olympic Peninsula rivers.
This blog actually facilitates a multitude of days where co-workers and I tried to fish the mouth of the Wynoochee River for pretty much any salmon but were mostly targeting Coho and Chums. I personally never managed to hook one but a friend hooked several and showed me picture proofs. Although I haven't caught anything I am still learning. Tried various spoons, flies, and drift rigs, but no luck. It didn't help that most days we got out to fish the nets were in the river.

Summary:
Location: Wynoochee River near Montesano, WA; Twin Bridges
Time: 6pm-9pm
Rod: 8 wt w/ floating line, 8 wt w/ sinking tip, medium spinning
Tackle: Chartruese, orange, blue, white, peach, & pink varied colored streamers and flies, green, orange, and pink pixies.
Fish: 0
Species: Coho, Chum, & Steelhead
Biggest Fish: N/A
Smallest Fish: N/A
Rating: 6/10

Metolius River (Upper), OR

So I am sitting at work on a Friday afternoon at 3pm and my buddy Jon text me, "Metolius? . . .  Locke style?" My response was quick and simple, "Leaving in two hours, see you there." By 11pm I was there at camp and we cracked open some beers. "Locke style" means that you leave way too late, with little planning, to go somewhere for less time then it took you to go there, and no one understand why except you.
My buddy brought a friend, planned to fish Saturday morning and then head over to Redmond to pick up a canopy for his truck. That didn't matter to me because I was at the best place on earth, could fish all Saturday, stay and extra night, and drive home Sunday. Which is exactly what I did.
I didn't catch any trout on this trip but weather was nice and it's always a pleasure to come to this river.

Read this for more info.

Summary:
Location: Metolius River, Camp Sherman, OR, located about 100 miles (2 hrs) east of Salem, and 20 min from Sisters, OR
Time: 9am - 7pm
Rod: 5 wt w/ floating line, 5 wt w/ sinking tip
Tackle: 8 black stone nymph, 18 rainbow warrior, 18 zebra midge, 18 copper john hybrid, 10 Clark Stone, 10 Rogue Stone, 8 black and brown Pat's Stone, 16 lighting bug, 18 rainbow warrior
Fish: 3
Species: White Fish
Biggest Fish: 14"
Smallest Fish: 11"
Rating: 8.5/10