we had planned on hitting the vedder for springs,and went up to ranger to start the day,1 guy there when we arrive,he leaves after about 20 mins, no luck,when i ask.we fish there for about an 40 min,another chap shows up,fish another 40 min,3 other guys arrive its getting kind of crowded now my bud is the first to take off up around the corner,10 mins 3 more guys show up.now i leave as well,catch my bud,we start talking,neither 1 of us feels terribly confident about catching a spring,lol.
neither 1 has had much luck catching springs,and don t really know what water they like,where they hold etc.so we start talking about steelhead,
and i say there is a summer run on the chehalis,next thing you know were in the car,on our way.
the chehalis.my first time there.nice river,water a little low and gin clear with a cool green tinge.we head up stream to the start of the canyon,fish a little,nice water seems to on the other side,but there is a guy there in waders,but no rod.so drive back down the road to a campsite,drive down fairly close to river,get out and start fishing a nice long run.weather is hot
and raining(?).after awhile we move down stream,and you can see the river has recently(2 years ago) changed course,lots of dead fall,some prime fishing water,lots of cover,prefect.but no fish.
so i change to a spin&glow,first cast,wham(?),hits hard,i set the hook and
almost yank the little guy right out of the water.damn smolt,lol.got love barbless hooks,so i unhook him and in a flash,he s gone.
we stopped at the hatchery as we left,and talked to 1 of the guys and heard the tale of the changing river,how they don t even have access to the river any more,apparently they were going to put a dike up where it changed course but the natives won t let them because now more of the river is on native land and they want the fish.but without a hatchery there won t be fish for long.he also said they won thave brood stock of springs because none can make it to the hatchery.
oh yeah,as we were leaving the campsite a old guy stopped us and told us we can t park in the campsite and if we did again he would have us towed.all in all the chehalis seemed like a great little river,we were told you can also climb a hill and go to spots up in the canyon.anyone been
up there?whats it like?i like to learn the river better,cheers.
i know its long,but its the slow season,lol