Where to fish steelhead?

[Bodofish]

Well put Nate. The biggest learning curve is reading the water and putting gear in the right place. Not to mention where to park the car and were to walk to on the river. It all adds up. Take the 10,000 casts or pay a guide to show you. Easy peasy, right?

[Brat Bonker]

Or just try for five years like I did and learn the hard way. Last winter was the first time I even touched my steelhead punch card to mark and I got ten marks total and already 3 this season. just do some research, call guides they normally help out. Big thing is fish when there are fish in the river becuase if there are no fish then you are wasting your time. Always fish close to your feet first and then work your way out and do not stand in the water unless it is really important. If you respect others, others will respect you and you might just learn something from the local "pros" like I did. Trial and error, huge math problem basically.

[returnofthefish]

Five years? Wow, thats what I call dedication.

[Brat Bonker]

5 years to land one, but I had hooked a lot of natives and my first hatchery came from the skookumchuck a liitle over a year ago. First time steelheading was I believe either at the wynoochee or humptulips when I was 11. First steelhead I hooked was a summer run at the skagit when I was 12 and it broke off, hooked ever since.

[OFFDAAHOOK]

first steel i caught in wa was 4 year ago by accident ..i was fishing for chum for da first time in late oct at green river in auburn.in my second cast got a chum, woo hoo and few cast later got a beautiful 14# steel funny thing they hit a little white bead ,ever sinse ive prolly got hundreds of steel i guess i been lucky,they been easy to catch for me.

[Brat Bonker]

Thats a cool photo on the bottom, glow ball 2 limits in a matter of hours. I have tried glow balling a couple times atthe cow but with no luck, what is your setup slayer?
Yeah, same with me, once you get that one, the rest will be easy. The day at the skook when I got my first hatchery, I ended up hooking like 10 more that day and I hook some where around 30 in 4 trips this year at the skook.

[OFFDAAHOOK]

Thats a cool photo on the bottom, glow ball 2 limits in a matter of hours. I have tried glow balling a couple times atthe cow but with no luck, what is your setup slayer?
Yeah, same with me, once you get that one, the rest will be easy. The day at the skook when I got my first hatchery, I ended up hooking like 10 more that day and I hook some where around 30 in 4 trips this year at the skook.

i quit fishin skook cuz its like going to da tilten hookin fish every other cast plus i favor bigger rivers skook fish are recycled boots imo..my rig is a 6' leader #4hook #14 glow corky lets just say most fish i caught at blue was less than 20 feet away while others were bombing it across

[bbordeau]

Here you go, I wish this map had existed when I first got going. These are all easy to access bank fishing areas on the Snoqualmie - use them at your own risk as water levels fluctuate and they can be very dangerous for wading. Overall, they stretch primarily from Big Eddy (near Tokul Creek) down to Depot Park in Duvall. It also includes a few spots on the Tolt. To my knowledge these are all public fishing locations so make sure you hang your WDFW tag in the windshield.

http://goo.gl/maps/NAvD

Good Luck!
Brian

[bbordeau]

By the way, if you're new, you'll hear a lot about when to fish a river - usually, after rain while its on the drop. Here is a link to the washington stream flows if you haven't seen it already. This is what everyone is talking about. On each river, there are certain measuring spots that indicate what the flow of the river is in Cubic Feet Per Second or CFS. Don't go fishing without consulting the streamflow map. You'll hear about rivers being "blown out" - that happens when the water is on the rise from a storm (different than snow melt) and the water is high and muddy. You'll hear people refer to water color as steelhead green - at that point, visibility is greater than 4 ft. The Snoqualmie often gets this way sooner and stays this way longer than the Skykomish. I use the Gold Bar station for the Skykomish and the Carnation station for the Snoqualmie. For wadable conditions, I usually go when Gold Bar is below 3000 CFS or the Snoqualmie is less than 2000 but you must use your best judgement at the river.

http://wa.water.usgs.gov/cgi/realtime.data.cgi

Good Luck!
Brian