Find water, find fish, when the rains come, so will the fish. I heard the Green was fishin. And the Umpqua has been smokin.

It IS lackluster. All the hatchery areas around me and some good river miles are now closed. Fawk, I hate it more and more every year.

Weather forecast......lot's of rain, rivers rise.....then drop, fast....the next 10 - 17 days should be the indicator for this winters hatchery steelhead run...........


Go Seahawks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I usually catch a bunch of these hatchery fish before, on, or around Thanksgiving in my area. We have had several good high water scenarios since than. Some years we get them okay in October.

I just started tying leaders for steelhead season yesterday. I gave up on coho about a month ago, fishing was still good but I am over it.

When discretionary time is at a premium, you have to cherry pick your days. I could let you know about steelhead season sometime next week (probably won't).

I let my die-hard buddies tell me about the fishing when conditions are tough.

This next batch of extended weather will go a long ways towards showing this season's hand. Lots of blown PS rivers by Saturday. What remains afterwards will tell the story.

The fish just aren't there... Period... Every good to great hatchery steelhead season ive had the pleasure to partake in(long time ago on the westside) The runs came early and often, with the exception of an occasional late run. You guys will see a spurt after this next rain event but its not gonna be wack n stack. More interested in how many Natives roll in??

On the eastside, these cats were crying in their keystone light over just 100k steel over lower granite dam, versus 2-300k. Even with our low numbers, its been multiple fish every trip. Instead of a holding lie baring 10-20 steel, this year there may be 5-10 home,stil equates to fish on!

Spent 15yrs plying the S-Rivers, and stil call the Sky my favorite, but it flat out doesn't have any #'s anymore... I don't care if 15 fish were caught at Reiter today, that's a joke... when 70-90 are landed per day, there are fish around..

Rain has just started to fall around here. I'm hoping for some good things!

This season does suck. Many river hours logged with success that can be counted on one hand. I recall a conversation a couple of years ago with a reliable inside source that this was the year we would have poor Winter Steelhead returns in the Snohomiish system due to poor management decisions and unfortunate things that happened to the smolts. This condition will continue on to next Summer's returns for the same reasons. But there are many other factors that have affected all systems as well, most of which have to do with ocean conditions and survival. habitat loss, indecriminate gill net practices, buget cut backs, ect. But instead of whining about how poor fishing is, perhaps each of us divert that energy into doing something to improve fishing not only for ourselves, but for future generations. I am not an expert or a fish biologist, but I think each of us know in our hearts and minds that if we can stand together in unity, make our voices heard, we can make positive changes for all.

Get ready........get those "yarnies, leaders, corkies, etc. at the ready mode. Rivers in my area are dropping fast.....plunkers are probably leaving for their favorite spots as I keyboard this.

No real rain forecast this week............next weekend could be the one that tells about this SH winter run season.

Be safe, be nice......remember the rivers aren't yours, every fisherperson has the same right to be there.

I haven't even given the Sky a shot in 2014 yet. How is the pressure on it? Lots of people, or are people pretty discouraged and staying home?