A lot of years ago I used to fish the Kalama R. and Washougal R. (where they originated) for the Skamania strain of early summer steelhead. They are the earliest arriving summer steelhead that I can think of off-hand. I recall getting some 'pilot' fish in March while we were fishing winter nates. By mid-April these fish would be coming into these and many other rivers in good numbers. The locals used to call them 'springer steelhead'. I haven't fished for them specifically for a long time - only catching them on Clack spring 'nook trips. As well as being an early run, they have always been the best fighting hatchery produced fish around! I haven't heard much about them this month. I am very curious how these runs are starting to shape up. We had a poor return of winter brats, but a good return of nates with good ocean survival conditions. Because of that I don't know what to expect, and would like to fish for them in May after landing some springers to eat. These fish also are planted in the Lewis system, Cowlitz?, Wind, and Klickitat in WA and in OR's Willamette tribs; the Clackamas, Santiams, and McKenzie rivers. Even in mid-west streams. So, have a good number of them started to show up yet? Thanks for any info. - RT

I have read stories about these spring steelhead and have seen pictures of them talk about beautiful fish.

After reading Herzog and McMillian praise these fish as the greatest gamefish, I have dreamed of catching one but sadly very very few wild springers exist today.

Truly a great loss!!!

Someone from down on a SW WA river was recently quoted saying they've been getting a late winter run like they used to.

RT,
Now that they have limited our fishing between March 15th and April 15th we don't get much of a oppotunity to fish for these springer steelhead. Although I hadn't planned to tell anyone but a partner of mine and I fished March 14th on the lower part of a SW WA stream and he hooked and landed a chromebright early spring steelhead. It was full of fat, beautiful red gills, and the smallest egg skeins I have ever seen. There also is two confirmed early summer run catches on the NF of the lewis by guys I know while plunking for springers in the main river.
I have a question for you though. Were the spring steelhead truly wild to this area or were they just hatchery summer runs that returned real early.. My father and some old timers told me that they were true wild fish that came in around late march and early february. But my question is, since they never used to clip hatchery fish were they true natives???
Keith

RT,
I tagged a hatchery Skamania strain summer steelhead on March 13th. We got 2 that day on the N. Santiam. Since then we have been getting them pretty regular.
The Kalama is getting quite a few right now also.
Hopefully this summer will be a lot nicer to us than this winter concerning steelhead #'s.

On the Washougal we refered to the hatchery fish fish in May as early returning summer runs. However the feish we refered to as springers WERE native fish that were sexually immature that entered the river from FEB- MAY. They were not early summer runs they were and actualy spring steelhead and would be far in the upper reaches of the system by the first week of June. The mongrel steelhead knows as the skamania stock is the single worst biological mistake WDFW has come up with.
The last 30 years of fish management of the Washougal is the story of the Skamania steelhead. In their wake is a desolate river with virtually no wild steelhead in spite of superb habitat and WSR regs since 1985.
Skamania steelhead traditionally entered the river in June and July and hung out in the deepest slackest pools making sport only for snaggers.
The skamania hatcher must have changed it's practices in recent years because the river is absolutely devoid of steelhead most of July and August. The wind river is no longer planted with hatchery steelhead and wild fish are rebounding maybe the river will be open for steelheading someday. About 100,000 skamania fish are planted in the Klick but you never catch them most fish there are wild or strays from other systems.
I guess my bias is pretty straight forward i think the skamania hatchery is a waste of money and their product destroyed the river I love. As far as I am concerned the Skamania hatchery should be shut down imediatly and all the smolts they have there should be destroyed.

Robert Allen 3,
You have answered the question I had concerning wild spring steelhead. Although, when you said the skamania strain is a waste I beg to differ. Whether or not it is the problem of why the wild fish had dissapeared I don't know but for the summer run fishing in the washougal and many other southwest WA streams it has been great, as long as they stock the smolt to return. We had many days last year on the washougal catching 4-15 fish in a outing through the beginning of august, even amongst all the swimmers. You still catch a few of the wild fish or perhaps they are just misclips. I will agree that it would be nice if the wild fish were still there because they are definatly more aggressive and a hell of a lot easier to catch.
Keith

Here in upstate N.Y. our summer runs are of the Washougal strain and they dont start running our rivers until may/june.But the thing is,the only ones that do come in are all 4 year old fish.Approx 15-18 pounds,something else very few and I mean very few people target these fish.Im talking about the Salmon river here in upstate N.Y. where on a weekend during the fall salmon run we could have thousands of people fishing for salmon.part of the reason so few do fish for these skamania is there reputation as being hard to catch,but thanks to this site we have learned about techniques used to catch them.(jig and float).I cant wait,bring on summer!

A friend of mine has caught a couple of hatchery summers on the Sandy lately and I've heard of others caught.I't appears to be an average to above average return but only time will tell.By mid May they are in the Clack and the Sandy in good numbers.The Skamania strain of steelhead are good fighters often jumping numerous times.I used to fish the Sandy and Salmon(until it closed for steelhead) rivers religously for summers but now I live closer to the Wilson and thats where I spend most of my time pursuing these fish.Unfortunately the summers in the Wilson are not Skamania strain and they don't fight as good although they are fat healthy looking fish and excellent to eat.

A brief history lesson.
1802 and 1929 the upper Washougal was ravaged by the two yacolt burn wild fires
from 1898-1916 mines also ravaged the upper Washougal the river and it's tributaries were filled with sediment and flowed poisionous mine tailings as gold ,silver copper and lead were mined. then the yacolt burn was logged and the timber was sent downstream in floods as splash dams were dynamited.
Then two power dams and a grist mill restricted fish passage and flooded spawning habitat. And in 1947 the Washington pollution control comission calculated that the Camas papermill was polluting the lower river with toxic effluent equal to that of a city of 1,155,000 people. Yet after all this WDG index pool counts done in july at around 500 summer steelhead per year.
more recent studies have shown 62% of washougal wild summer steelhead enter the river after august 1st. that puts run istimates in the neighborhood of 200 fish fotr a damed and logged cesspool. These fish are survivors!!!
Then in July of 1956 the Skamania hatcher is completed. The innitial stock started with just 153 steelhead and provided a sport catch of 25,000 fish in 20 different river systems.
By 1980 the yacolt burn had healed and was a maturing forest, the dams were gone and the mine tailings disipated and the camas paper mill cleaned up. yet the return of wild summerruns to the washougal was only 100 fish and 1983 index counts showed only 12 wild summer steelhead. 1985 89 summer steelhead and 1986 a very good year 233 steelhead were counted.

SO to put it simply inspite of improving habitat,and less angling pressure wild steelhead have declined since the initiation of the Skamania hatchery program.
Also durning the 1980's an attempt was made to form a Washougal river native broodstock but all the fish caught by anglers for the project were IHN positive. IHN is a disease that was spread throughout the system by infected Skamania hatchery fish.

Make no mistake the Skamania steelhead is the single largest factor in the decline of wild steelhead in the Washougal river and probably everywhere they are outplanted. I will point out again to the rebound of summer steelhead on the wind river in the first year of no Skamania hatchery plants!
No Skamania fish = more wild fish!

I dont know how long skamania strain fish have been planted on coastal rivers but it would be interesting to know how much they have affected the wild summerruns out here.

One thing for sure is that we get a very large return of theese fish for the ammount that they plant. Maybee we are lucky and have a good stock of theese fish. Last year was the best return I have ever seen.