[andre]

I'm wondering if anyone has any reports, not that I'll be able to get out. I'm hoping to live vicariously through someone else's print. I will say down in Oregon the early numbers over the dams appear to be good and many of the rivers are kicking out fish. I know of a guide friend that got three on one trip and two the next day. Let's all keep our fingers crossed for steller returns of nates and look to something like a D'schutes 'clave or a Cow 'clave?

andre

 

[juro]

Guess not too many folks are out for steel in the lull period between spring nates and summer missiles. The Sky/Snoq/Green gets nice early shots of summer fish which couldn't give us more trouble than the spring fish did this year... early mornings, muddler heads, leeches and prawns.

A three-banger on the Cow, Kalama, and East Fork Lewis was a typical Columbia trib run for me in the ol' days. Each are less than an hour apart on I-5 and a good rendezvous for Portland / Seattle clavers. Sometimes I would start on the Cow and never get beyond it for the fish that I was getting into, other times the Kalama would be the ticket. The one I fished least was the East Fork despite the fact that I rarely got skunked there. I think it was the fact that I could hardly get past the other two rivers on an outing without taking the whole weekend.

I once landed a huge May summer run buck fishing from the gravel pit to the cut bank just below the riffle downstream from Daybreak. Talk about shoulders. The last time I fished it I was staying at my brother's place in Portland and shot up there for the morning. I fished the stretch for a while, then it started to downpour. I ran up to get my jacket and came back. Landed a 31 inch hen on my second cast after the rain. I think the fly was a purple magic (marabou wing wet fly w/ crystal ribbing).

If it were me out there right now, I'd be swinging a fly from the far bank on the bend below Barrier Dam on the Cow for hellacious action. There would be plenty of fish hanging around the boat launch riffle and in the island channel if the river height is less than 10.3 gauge feet. If you gave it a few weeks and floated it the place would be full of summer runs, I usually landed my first chromer on or before fathers' day. This ain't the Sauk or Skagit by any means but it great entertainment.

 

[Doublespey]

Juro and Andre have pretty much got it covered - the SW Washington streams (and Andre's Oregon rivers) are the hot ones right now. I've also heard a few reports of early summers coming from the Peninsula, but not many.

The rivers up here around Seattle are mostly closed - the only open one is the NF Stilly. There are supposedly a few pods of native Spring fish still around, but I haven't gotten a chance to fish for them yet. The water has been high, too, so if you want to go check the levels with the USGS site as the lower/middle Stilly is our version of BC's Kispiox - the River Out~

Tight Lines!

Brian

 

[andre]

Well, with the typical Rose festival weather I thought I'd sneek out and spend some time on a couple local streams, namely the Cow and the EFL. I only could manage a couple hours each; the Cow was flowing at 11.6 with the Salmon season closed to extremely low escapement this river was as peaceful as I've seen. Juro I only saw 3 sleds in about two hours! I tied on a Thunder and Lighting with a loop knot, waded ankle deep and flicked about 20' of line and leader on the water immediately as thought my fly had been track through the air a fresh hatchery trout grab my fly, strip and release. Wiggle and waggle the long (7136) rod just enough to get line out of the tip top to attempt a cast. Quarter my cast slightly down stream again BAM! Another trout, again and again these trout came to my fly. I came to the conclusion the hatchery trunk must have dumped just prior to my arrival. I packed up and left after catching close to 30 trout. Wish I had the 3wt.

EFL, Friday evening I was going to Oregon City to see if I could find Eric scoping the Shad thing. I actually got to OC only to discover I had to pick up some stuff at our Vancouver office. I trudged though traffic picked up the stuff and bee lined it to Daybreak Park. I walked up stream to the long sweeping bend that feels like it should stacked with bright finning steelhead.

The water was low and clear, I skated a muddler through runs, tailouts, and riffles with no results other than a few smolt smacking the skating fly around. I better get some results soon and get Juro's Wheatly seeing as I have lost a tackle bag with much of my summer gear and flies. With the resent rain the rivers have risen dramatically and will drop nearly as quickly. I plan to get out again soon even if only for a couple hours. One of the locals I know who fishes the rivers of SW WA and PDX often got a 36" chromer a couple weeks ago and has reported multiple other fish coming to the fly. Signs of good things to come?

Andre

 

[juro]

Great report... it does indeed sound like a good summer season to me! I remember some unbelievable summer returns... 1986(?) I'll look back thru my records but some years, the SW columbia tribs were packed with steel from May thru the winter run. High teens fish all over the place.

I know if I were still living the blissfull life of a guy with steelhead in his homewaters, this would be a summer I'd be very focused on based on the news so far.

Nothing will stand between me and my autumn trip this year!