tiny coastal stream 20+pounder. Also, what about Kalaloch Creek?

My uncle, who lives in Clearwater (near Forks) has always said that he has some secret spot on a Creek near his house. I decided to head up there with him last Sunday and witness this first hand. We found the spot and I said "no way" because the creek is probably only 10 feet wide and only 3 inches deep in most places. As he positioned his nightmare jig in the only deep hole I saw all day his bobber barely hit the water when SPLASH. After a 30 second horsing match with 20 LB. Maxima he hoisted a beautiful 20+ pounder near the surface and gently released the fish to go on its way. In such a small stream, light line will only leave you fishless as there are so many logs and hang-ups. There's really no room to let such a fish run. This was only ONE of Several fish landed that day. No, this is not Kalaloch or Goodman Creek.. I'd bet that many of you have driven past this little creek a million times and not even thought twice about it. My question is this:
Do these tiny coastal streams routinely get fish like this. Why doesn't anyone else fish them. What about Kalaloch creek. I'll be up there on Feb. 15th. Does anyone wanna come exploring? I'd love to bust some brush with some fellow forum members. Someone who knows that area of course. I have heard that if you time this creek at the right time it can be amazing, with NO people. Let me know.....
Cuthroat

Yes they do, but keep in mind that talking about waters like this on this BB is going to make you REAL unpopular. How good do you figure a tiny creek like that would be with a dozen guys crawling around? If somebody finds your uncle's "secret creek", he's going to disown you.

Just curious if you checked the regs. to make sure you were fishing legally. Many of the small streams are not open for fishing as they're on the June 1st to Oct. 31st schedule.

Hey fromcuthroattosteelies: send me an Email I live in your area and would love to go exploring with you, and I won't blab about the Secret Spot.

Sounds like you had an awesome experience Cuthroat. Congrats! I can understand your excitement and desire to share about this, but I agree with Dan that these are zipperlip rivers and best kept under your hat.

Ron

Do you think that I would actually disclose the location of the creek. No way. I must admit, I did fib a bit pertaining to the location of this stream. It's actually much farther north. But the facts are all true.

Small creeks do hold fish - salmon, steelhead, SRC, etc.

Why don't they get much pressure? Here's a few reasons:
1) Timing is even more critical
2) Fish are easier to spook
3) Access generally sucks - unless you like hacking through salmon berry, black berry, and devils club... Just to get to 1 hole, then do it 5 minutes later to try to find another hole
4) If you just spent an hour hacking your way to your 'secret spot', and find someone already there, that would really suck!
5) As noted earlier, the waters are often closed, because these fish are probaly actively spawing and easy to harass
5) And most of all, the experience, while fun, is not what steelheading is about for most of us - we search for that 'classic' steelhead water, with the long deep runs, tailouts, slots, drifts, deep pools, riffles, ect. If you don't catch fish, at least you enjoyed your surroundings...

But if I lived by a smaller stream that was open to fishing, I would certainly find a few 'hot spots' to hit when the larger waters wern't working for me.

Have fun exploring...

I'm sure your uncle will be happy to hear you fibbed a bit. What you have there is "holy water" that you should enjoy for yourself.......and be happy your uncle shared it with you, you must hold a special place in his heart for him to share a place like that. Congrats on your find.......my advice is to keep it "hush, hush".

I should also add that'd I'd recommend bringing your cell phone (if you get a signal that far out) and watch your back. Local poachers love these little streams right in their back yards. Easy pickings and little to no enforcement...

Let the treasure hunt begin

I agree with Dan, "special water" is a sacred thing. Your uncle must have trusted you with the location. The last thing that you want, is to show up one morning ready to play with the jerk on the end of your line to find crap littered all over the ground, trash, dead carcasas,.....you get the idea. Be careful who you share it with.

When I die, I hope Heaven has a fly shop.
Tight lines.

bank walker,

I am with you. When are we leaving? My tank is full.

Hey, don't trust this Fish Chaser guy, he blabs about everything.

There aren't thaat many "Zipprlip" streams out there, that you REALLY shouldn't have posted this at all. This is how zipperlips becomme hotspots. First you gae a location, then narrowed iit down by saying it's up north of it. I have an idea of what creek you're talking about. It's best to keep it hush hush. Only share it with yourseelf. I've personaally seen a zipperlip or two thta i only told 1 good friend about. Took him into confidence and showed him a sacred trouut river in WA that produced big Bows'. Went back by myself a few weeks later and thee he was, with FIVE of his buddies. It just kept getting worse. Now Ii only hit this river occasonally if I hit a certain other fishing spot (notice the very wide generalization) and it's a dead river except for the stocked fish which isn't much fun compared to the big Bow's they used to have.

Hell, I remember when the Nooch had almost no trafic at all, I'm sure general Zog does too. I only have a few zipperlips left, and they stay ZIPPED. Oh well, here's the directions to hem, North of the Columbia, south of the Sstraiit of Juan de Fuca, East of the Pacific, and west of the Ccascades, happy hunting.