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[bentrod]

Since I can't get up there for another week, I decided to do some steelheading.  It was opening day on the upper columbia, and I took a friend of mine out.  We boated 12 steelies (8 of which were hatcheries).  Big fish was only 12 lbs. so don't get too excited and crash our party.  It was, however a pretty good day on the dam-controlled flow. 

[kellya]

Cant beat that. Do the steelies go up the danm? is it in the states?

[bentrod]

they travel as far as Chief Joseph Dam in Washington.  Our dams are being improved for fish passage each year.  Too little, too late as far as I'm concerned.  But, at least there's enough returning hatchery fish each year to make a fishery. 

[allwaysfishin]

that's cool bentrod..... ahhh steelies in october.... i think a trip up country.... houston, terrace.... maurice...... copper.......hmmmm steelhead and moose hunting...... i'm gonna book the hotel first thing in the mornin 

thanx for inspiring me bentrod...

[bentrod]

I'm pretty pumped also.  I'll get one more trip in this Friday, then it's off to BC.

[Steelhawk]

Welcome to fish our BC rivers, but our rivers here probably will not yield 12 steelies in one day.   

What are we not doing right to deserve that kind of fishing 

[allwaysfishin]

you been fishing the wrong rivers steelhawk . If a guy is willing to drive 12 plus hours from the LM.... there are a few rivers that still have excellent fisheries for steelhead.... and big ones too 

[Steelhawk]

Big ones yes, hmmm, for summer runs, the Thompson, the Dean, the Skeener system, Kitimat.... Probably 12 steelies for a total trip, but 12 steelies a day ? Perhaps the Stamp, once in a while. Back then, I had 25 wild beauties from the Gold, but the river divers there are struggling to count enough fish for a healthy stock now. So where are these secret rivers that we don't know    

[Steelhawk]

By the way, I forgot to mention this interesting story about steelheading in the States. A while ago I posted on fishing forums to sell my newly bought Patagonia Beefy wading boots because I didn't like the studs for walking on rocks. The guy who is a member of Fishbc and who lives in White Rock came to buy my boots. While chatting about fishing in general, he told me he is a retiree crazy about steelheading but only fishes the American rivers, because he thinks there is no comparison in the number of fish if not size, and he thinks some rivers in the Olympic Peninsula have fish just as big. He mentioned the Russian in Northern CA, the Oregon rivers such as Deschute, Williamette, Rogue, Umpqua etc., the Idaho rivers such as Clearwater, the Snake, the Salmon etc. and the Washington rivers such as Kalama, Cowlitz as well as those in the Olympic Peninsula. He talked about 20+ fish /day routinely in some rivers down south, so I am not amazed by Bentrod's report. I guess the Americans have way too much financial resources to stock their rivers and our BC government don't. But hey, I thought we have billions of surplus and they have trillion of deficits. Why? 

[bentrod]

I'm not very familiar with steelheading in BC, so I can't make the comparison.  However, I don't know if it's as much a matter of money, but political will to force development and industries to develop and operate responsibly.  We also don't allow gravel extraction in our streams.  If the tribes and power industry don't mess things up, we might have a pretty sweet fishery one of these years. 

[Sandhead]

Oregon and Washington Rivers have some amazing steelhead returns. But you know what? The columbia doesnt have chum or pinks like we do here in British Columbia. And I would say even on the Dean you arn't going to catch 12 steelhead in one day. Not a chance. And the guy in white rock that is fishing the american rivers is smart. if you want to catch steelhead in quantity its alot easier to drive 8 hours south than 12 hours north.

I'm just happy that i've accomplished my fly fishing goal of landing a steelhead on the fly. I dont think anything beats that, except maybe a summer run steelhead on a dry fly... But in order to land that steelhead i had to travel hours north, and spend lots of time learning the ropes...

[bentrod]

headed back out today in the rain.  Those damn weather people can't predict a thing.  I guess it doesn't matter much however if the fish are biting. 

[bentrod]

skunked   Oh well, I figured I was using up some credit with 12 fish the other day.  I'm headed out after coho and springs tomorrow.  Leave some room on the flow for me.