Had a nibble in a clear hole right at daybreak and a little later climbed up the bank to get a view into it--saw about a hundred fish, mostly between 6 and 8 inches, hugging the bottom, mixed with a few larger shapes that looked to be dollies. Been thinking about it, can't reckon what they'd be. Seems late for SRC, early for smolts...could they be suckers? They're in that system and I know nothing about them...

Frustration: I'm 0 for 3 over the last two weekends. Will be honing hooks all week...hope all of you have done better!

Whitefish possibly? They tend to school up during the winter. I saw a school under a bridge on the Sauk one year, they were packed like sardines and made a dark patch on the bottom that must have been twenty feet long by fifteen wide.

Good call! Could very well be...I've never caught whitefish in there, but they sure are that size and temperament. Thanks!

They also could be the dreaded Squawfish! I have caught so many little ones like that out of the Chehalis river that I could fill a 55 gallon drum.

I'm thinking whitefish, also. If your steelhead "0 for_" numbers get too frustrating, you might want to target those bony bugeaters. With a new GLoomis whitefish rod, some gold #14 Gammis, and a hydraulics permit to screen bait off the stream bottom, you could be experiencing fishing success. Since whitefish are neither commercially sought, nor actively managed by NMFS or WDFW, the future of this fishery appears bright. Current whitefish regs allow the retention of 15 fish with no minimum size. You will have one dilemma, though...all the fish you catch will be natives.
Good fishun'.