Greetings board members! Been lurking on the board for some time, thought it was time I put in a post. Seems to be the custom on the board for new posters to contribute a fish story before asking a question, so here's my amusing anecdote: me and two buddies are fishing for steelies on the Sky, sultan to ben howard. It was the first steelhead trip for one of us (not me, and not the rower). Haven't touched a fish all day and are hoping the afternoon hole will save the trip. I'm in the back of the boat throwing a spinner, two plugs are working ahead of us w/ rookie steelheader in the front seat. Left rod gets buried and rower yells "Grab the rod grab the rod!.... NO NOT THAT ONE, THE OTHER ONE-- YEAH, THE ONE THAT'S BOUNCING AROUND!!!!" After some initial confusion, rookie steelheader gets squared away and we manage to land a nice native buck about 8 lbs.

Now my question. I'm planning on fishing the 'Duc on friday and was wondering if the drift from Whitcomb to Rayonier has changed much; Bob had a post about 3 weeks ago saying the right channel above 101 in the middle drift looked blocked. Anybody drift down from Whitcomb lately? I haven't been out there since last fall, so any reports of river changes would be much appreciated.

After the biggest high water, there was some blockage there, but the last medium water cleared it back out (don't know if it received any "help").

A few spots have filled, but as usual, most holes are the same. It looks like a rock did move in the middle drop of Double Rapids ... not a big deal, just look for it and make the adjustment.

Thanks for the info Bob!

Well, how'd ya make out??

Hope he is not stuck on the branches somewhere

Nope, didn't end up under a tree, just didn't get a chance to read the board this weekend.

Fishing was fine, catching wasn't so good. Tried a float-n-jig, pulled a small HotShot, even ran a K15 through a couple holes on the off chance I'd stumble onto a springer, but no luck. On the positive side, I did see lots of redds and lots of steelies doin' their thing. Always a cool sight. Talked to one other boat who hadn't had any luck either. Oh well, beats working.

Bob, thanks again for the heads up about the new boulder in Double Rapids. That definitely wasn't there last year. Didn't hit it or nothing, but it did take a quick stop-and-pivot to keep off of it.

A small helicopter flew over me around midday, heading upstream. Was that somebody on this board? I thought I saw a post a while back about somebody who had a fishing 'copter. Is that just for fun or are you/they working w/ WDFW to count redds or something? Just curious. Looks like a great way to get to those hard to reach fishin' spots!