Bardo and I fished the lower Quinault today with Inky Charlie. The water was a bit on the murky side, and the river level came up about 9 inches to a foot while we were fishing, but we had a great day on the river. Can you say "We were the ONLY boat on the river!", and mean it? We could. :p

We had a number of fish hit, and landed two steelhead, both hatchery hens. Neither one was a bruiser, but they were still nice bright fish. One neat thing was that we caught about 7 or 8 cutthroat from 12" to 16". Saw two otters, a few eagles, lots of mergansers and 6 other fishermen.

The thing that I brought away from the trip was how much Inky Charlie knows about the river. He has an intimate knowledge of the Quinault and has participated in a number programs to make the fishery what it is today. This man makes his living off of that river, and does so in a respectful manner.

If Bardo doesn't have him booked up solid, a trip with him is well worth the price.

P.S. Brad, If your pictures turned out, could you please post them, my $30 camera decided not to download the one you took. Must have been the camera.

Andy