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[mattyo]

Hit up the chehey hey today with my fishing buddy. Made it there at about 930. Little bit of a late start. Started fishing at the bottom of the canyon. Water was absolutely beautiful, with a nice bit of color. A little bit low but good color for the chehalis(not gin clear)  .  No love above the bridge so on to the hatchery for a little walk. Walked down the hatch channel and to my surprise COHO!!!!!. By no means were these 100 or so coho clean but it makes me think a clean coho could have been found at the begining of Feb. After a good 1\2 hour of bush-wacking go to our chosen spot. Nice little run of about 100 yards. Threw blades, roe bags, worms and a jig. No action for me Buddy yells Fish On!! Could it be the first steel of the year for him. I ran over and began to film. Wouldn't you know? It was a coho in full spawning colors. Not mouldy, but ready to do its thing. Amazing to see these fish here in what is pretty much March . We continued walking down the mainstem of the river. Stopping at some sweet low water spots throwing everthing in the vest but came up empty. Explored a lot of the river all the way to the mouth. We decided to call it a day at about 3 o'clock. Awsome day out there and only seeing 6 people all day made for some peaceful fishing. Talked to a guy at the hatch, he said no winter runs have made it in the hatchery this year? Must be a pain in the arse to get brood stock out of that river. Heard of an 8lber caught yesterday and also saw a couple of pics on another forum of a big steel in the canyon today. Gnarly day on the river without gettin any head!!!! Might hit the veds tommorow. Tight lines guys

[Mike D.]

That is sad to hear that no winter steel has made it to the hatchery yet  I wonder if the 4 inches of water they need to travel through to get there is a reason why..... let just hope that they have decided to go up river and are coming down later..... hasn't been a stellar year up there thats for sure....

And yes you missed out on the chrome coho  I landed a nice 12 lb chromish (bit of a tinge of red in him) wild buck up there 3 weeks ago  was like yes steelhead get it to my knees in the water and was like wow....it had a snout on him like I've never seen before!

[mattyo]

Good on ya MikeD Nice to hit a chromer (coho)in Feb!!. Too bad about the lack of steel. I wonder when we will see the results of not diverting water toward the hatchery . This year for me wasn't all that good with mabey 10 fish to hand? Might already be seeing the poor returns that could be expected. I wonder what it would take to get fisheries to make a somewhat permanent flow going towards the hatchery? 

[Fishin_Squirrel10-4]

If they are serious, think they just might close the season off for steelheads
I think the gill netting earlier in the season might have damaged the run for the vedder and other small rivers. That's just what I think

[kingpin]

Good on ya MikeD Nice to hit a chromer (coho)in Feb!!. Too bad about the lack of steel. I wonder when we will see the results of not diverting water toward the hatchery . This year for me wasn't all that good with mabey 10 fish to hand? Might already be seeing the poor returns that could be expected. I wonder what it would take to get fisheries to make a somewhat permanent flow going towards the hatchery? 

Steelhead brood stock come from WILD fish not hatchery fish. I'd be more concerned about how many steelhead have been tubed by brood stock anglers rather than if there is water near the hatchery for the steelhead to get in. 

im more concerned that there isnt enough water for them to get to the hatchery, making it easier to get the brood.

[younggun]

no water = no fish, basically whether they make it to the hatchery at all depends if they can get into accessable spots where the brood guys can access them. Stuck in the harrison not being one!

[younggun]

i like that idea!