No...it's not all doom and gloom. Some VERY nice fish are around. I haven't been out myself due to work, but I will be soon! Can't wait.

The Tug is the Drug!

Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

No kidding. Between the fish, work, rivers, WDFW and my own ineptitude, the odds are long.

I think he means river closures,or so I've heard,which really puts a damper on my plans for a trip up there next month.

On Monday I was at 3Rivers Marine, dropping my boat off for some work to be done. Driving from Wenatchee to Woodinville by myself was surreal. I had the radio off, and just enjoyed the dam near 50 years of life/fishing memories flood back as I wound up the Wenatchee and through Tumwater Canyon (CLOSED) where my dad and I spent countless days in the 70's.

As I descended Stevens and I approached Index, I remembered the mid-80's on the South Fork where we would fish the Falls at the boundary line for winter runs (until the State got wise and adjusted it further upstream). There were GIANT fish in there in January that we lost when they decided to leave the pool! Also, the North Fork (snaggy friggin' NF) could be a hidden gem when it ran "gin clear" once the temps and water level dropped from a high water event. We would glow-ball directly above the bridge at Index, after spotting our prey from the bridge by the lone street light at the intersection. Those fish even had sealice on them sometimes. (CLOSED)

All the Upper Sky water I fished from the mid 80's to the early 2000's, mostly as a bank maggot, but some drift boat trips. The people I'd befriend in Big Bend so I could park at their yards so I didn't have to beat the banks (and I could get to the better spots quicker). The reflection I had done with my own life, by standing on rocks in that section of River, thinking and sorting out my own life's problems during my teenage and early 20's while catching fish was my "therapy". High Bridge was my 1st drift boat ride ever! Remembering my dad tell me the story of his 1st "real" steelhead at the mouth of the Wallace the year after I was born (he didn't consider summer runs on the Wenatchee "real" steelhead, too easy to catch). The crowds at Sultan taking out/launching, the picket fence of guys on the cracker bar. Walking over in the middle of the day and being "that guy" by making a half dozen casts and catching 2 fish and being done! Breakfast/dinner at the Sportsman Diner before it burned down. I never really liked fishing from Sultan to 2-Bit, too boring for a kid. Good water just boring to me. 2-bit could be awesome! At Lewis Street, twice I remember waves of winter fish coming in a few hours after a tide change in January. EVERYONE had fish, it was just incredible!! Launching behind the Reformatory in the late 80's-90's(Indian Hole, Hanson Dairy Hole) held big natives, and we'd float all the way to Douglas Bar (had a key). Also the chum were dime bright into early January back then too. Winter quarter was very difficult to keep grades up at the UW back then.

After I dropped my boat off, I decided to drive back on I-90, so I cut across through Lewis Street in Monroe. More memories! Fishing the Lower Snoqualmie behind Carnation Farms...walked in one time with a buddy and got into a mess of fish coming out of the Snohomish (CLOSED) and it was just a really neat experience. Nobody around, we just hooked/lost/broke/landed, and finally killed fish. Globalling big summer runs beneath Snoqualmie Falls in the 80's was quite a thrill, lost alot of them too when they decided to leave the big pool! Winter fishing the Raging (CLOSED). I then drove through TOLT (CLOSED), which I never fished but my dad did as our good family friends had a house right on the river. Pops caught a few fish out of, but Dick knew it really well and at times in the late 70's he would do very well on it. It was really cool!

Most of us could pen the same song with just "a drive around the block", especially you "local" guys that grew up on these rivers. Just a sad state in general that basically, the entire state is fu%&ing closed to steelhead fishing!!!

People that haven't charged a glow ball with a camera flash haven't lived.

This all reminds me of the late 70s and al thru the 80s, too...

Fish on...

Todd

Ya I know, that's why I said rivers and WDFW. Gotta have faith!

Back when there was actually good fishing in the Cowlitz and I was a lot younger, rolling down there in early December at 8 in the evening, glowballing up a limit before midnight and then another after midnight, and slogging out that long muddy trail back to the boat launch in the dark with four fish...that was really fun.

Fish on...

Todd

Don't forget trying to get a fire going out of wet alder too.
Where there is smoke there isn't always fire.

Whoever dreamed up that flash idea was a genius! Dad stole one from my mom's Canon AE-1, and I stole one from photography class. They sure beat the whimpy ass charge you got with the neverready batteries in the chrome flashlight with the red slide button. You remember the flashlight from the jockey box, cause you left the other one on the kitchen counter with the extra batteries. It didn't really matter cause that red slide button would get pressed in your vest pocket and then the batteries would die anyway.

Truth. I am sure I remember a few nights when it was cold and clear...but those may be wishful thinking.

I for sure remember a bunch where it was 39 degrees and rained all night.

Fish on...

Todd

This is an interesting thread. Lots of great memories and stories but almost all are tied to steelhead. When I moved up here for grad school (UW CoF) in '72 steelhead were some sort of mystical fish that took a gazillion hours of staying in a cold river in the rain to catch one. Jokes aside, steelies were about more than just the catching and eating; there was a connection beyond that. Salmon were food. You went salmon fishing to catch dinner. You went steelhead fishing for other purposes.

Perhaps that "other purpose" has been lost not only in we anglers but in the managers an beyond. A fish, any fish, is simply for catching. How can regain that view, or do we want to?

Speaking of salmon, I'm sure others remember just how good the blackmouth and resident coho fishing was at the peak of those programs.
My family spent a lot of memorable days chasing both out on the sound.
SF

Yes great thread!
Christ, Winter Blackmouth was amazing. We had a boat dry docked at Narrows Marina early 80's. Drift mooch w/ a fresh cut plug was our choice although lots of "Meat Liners" around then. I remember a dude got busted for selling Blackmouth to restaurants. He had no limit and it caught up w/ him. It was that good. One season the marina elevator broke and only a few had their boats in the water and could get out, so no one was around in the evenings. I remember coming in one night and the dock covered in Blackmouth from end to end. Those were the days! Blue boat Frank, or meat line Bob, are you out there?

Kudos to AcidAngler for starting this thread. It has really shed some light on how grim fisheries are these days compared to the past. This leads me up to a quote from another board for you young guys that might not realize how bad it is. Keep in mind I never got to experience my Grandpas heyday either, and what I thought was great wasn't, compared to his time. "A curious thing happens when fisheries decline. People who aren't aware of the old levels, accept the new levels as normal. Over generations, societies adjust their expectations downward to match prevailing conditions". I guess what I'm thinking is, we can't keep adjusting downward or it will be gone.

No pics but fishing remains decent. in the last 3 trips dad and I have hooked 13 fish with 10 to hand. so not terrible. there's enough to make it worthwhile. still hate beads they've resulted in most of the fish lost. anyone have any better rigging ideas?? 12lb fluoro 14mm soft bead on t peg #1 octo hook 3" from bead.

Drop the 3 inch to 2 inch, reel 1-2 turns before setting the hook...

I got my first, a small buck, on the Puyallup at Anton's. Must have been 1970 because I think I was 7. Not really much of a story, but I remember it bit a pink pearl corkie and I beached it pretty quickly with a heavy spinning rod and green Penn Spin-Fisher reel that my dad used for plunking.

The next year or so we started going to the Cowlitz with my considerably older bro who moved down outside of Centralia specifically to be closer to the Cowlitz. We would drive down what became the Blue Creek trail as far as we could then cross the creek by walking on a couple old car bodies. There were typically more fish on the bank than there were fishermen. Simply crazy by today's standards.



We used to hit the Tilton a lot, mostly in the summer. Caught a few winterruns on the way to or back from the Cowlitz. One summer (pre-'80...?) I was trout fishing way up the road from my brother when the hatchery truck pulled in right in front of me and dumped in a couple hundred springers. It took a while, and about all the gear I had, but I finally beached two. Had to scrounge up some heavier line scraps from the riverbank after several spoolings. God I'd love to have a video of that.