Dewatto River Steelhead Recovery

Threatened under the Endangered Species Act, steelhead in Hood Canal's Dewatto River may have a chance. With numbers plummeting over the last decade, twelve agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife have joined together to breed captive native steelhead from the Dewatto River. They reared them at the Lilliwaup Hatchery and released last May. Identical programs are underway on other Hood Canal rivers such as the South Fork Skokomish and Duckabush Rivers. With luck, mother nature and the help of the agencies involved, these juvenile steelhead may help the small self sustaining population that remain and help steelhead return to the Kitsap Peninsula. Read more courtesy of the Kitsap Sun.

Warning, this post may offend some of you who have read the Arati article, The Genetic Effects of Captive Breeding Cause A Rapid, Cumulative Fitness Decline in the Wild. My only stance on this is it should only be done when it is absolutely necessary.

Thompson River Steelhead

The 2008-2009 steelhead return on the Thompson River was the worst in the history of this fabled river. The escapement was estimated at under 850 fish. Read more here.

A Couple Cool Blogs

B-rad here is the descendant of a great Southwest Washington steelheader. He is one of the only true dry line steelheaders I know that is not taking Geritol daily. Disgruntled like all true traditionalist Northwest Steelheaders, Brad here will let you know what's on his mind in no time. Our arguments and conversations keep me on my toes and I am sure his blog will be no different. He is also the only guy I know that has been able to skate up a summer this season. Check out his blog So There I was.



















Mike Doughty is back at home again after spending some quality time in Iraq. That is I think he hasn't been deployed again. Mike has spend several tours in the Middle East with the Air Force and has managed a blog in order to keep his sanity. Being away from fishing and the outdoors is one thing, but to also be away from his children is another. Check out Mike's blog Trout Tripper and see what one of Americas real hero's is doing. With any luck we will see him with some West-side chrome later this summer.

Sights from the River

Found this little guy next to the river.































Peamouth Chub



There is nothing like walking down the river and finding a fish orgy. There was at least five hundred peamouth chub going at it.

Living in the Land of Skunkville

The Green Butt Skunk






















The Animated Skunk























And the skunk that I don't know anything about.

The kitchen sink has been tossed this month to no avail. The month is not over, but if I have another day on the river where all I get is takes from smolts and juvenile cutthroat, then I might need to throw rocks and fish Teeny style. Somebody do the rain dance!!!

20 Sub 3

Many years ago I was turned onto a fly called a MOAL. This mother of all leeches was tied and designed by Derek Fergus of Salem, Oregon. Now I did not know it at the time, but I later found out this was a great all purpose leech for various salmon species, steelhead, bass and just about any aggressive meat eating fish. The more I got into looking at Derek's flies, I found that he was one of the more creative fly tiers in the area and guy that did not have the problem looking outside the box when it came to both tying flies, fishing, and business.

A few years ago Derek stepped away from the everyday fishing industry and joined a group of friends in the creation of a company called 20 Sub 3. Named after a radio channel used on hunting trips, this group of outdoor professionals have slowly built a company directed at high quality outdoor merchandise that can be purchased directly, skipping the local distributors. Now Derek, nor myself have anything against the local fly shop, but as we have all seen in the modern outdoor industry there has been a big change in that all the products found at the local fly shop can be bought at the local big box store at a cheaper price. I will always support the local favorite fly shops, but searching out other options such as products from 20 Sub 3 also allows you to find other options sold directly from the company at reasonable prices and without the mark ups.











20 Sub 3 covers camping, hunting, fishing gear, watches, canine and other outdoor accessories. I suggest checking out some of his flies and move on from there. You can also find out what Derek and 20 Sub 3 is up to on their blog. Fans of Hawg Quest will also find his familiar face on many of their fly fishing episodes.

Chad 09

You read that right, Chad, not shad. That is what we call the American Shad that we have swimming up the Columbia River in my household. These damn herring that were brought to the West Coast from some dumb ass from the East Coast many decades ago are returning for their annual orgy in the Pacific Northwest. Many rivers including the Umpqua, Feather, American and Columbia Rivers are starting to see them and my mid June, they will be everywhere.















Oh and you might hook one of those on the bottom right. Landing them is a different story though.

I took the opportunity after yard work to join the locals at Bonneville Dam for some catching not fishing. Well really, it was fishing. The numbers going over the dam are not that great yet and since the weather and water levels have not been good for the old steelfaces, I took this opportunity to give my new Echo 61010 Switch Rod a try.






















Now you guys that have fished for Shad at the Dam know it is an interesting heterogeneous mixture of cultures that pursue them. I took it upon myself to try and fit in, especially because I was the weird one with one of them two handed fly rods.

Here is a good article regarding Fly Fishing for Shad in the Columbia River, written by the great spey sensei Steve Buckner