During the 90's I have mostly been jetsled fishing; due to serious back probs. But I recovered to the point of enjoying rowing some challenging river sections again the last 3 years or so; such as the N.F. Nehalem hat run.

Yesterday I took turns rowing Gary Till's Willie driftboat, and Shane too, up high from 6th Bridge slide launch down to 1st Bridge on Oregon's great Nestucca River. I used to often guide for winter steelies up there because not many would row that section (similar to the Spruce Run dwon the mid big Nehalem River, so would have a lot of good water without a lot of fishermen. Since it was about a half foot lower than the normal 'don't run it' level we could not avoiding smacking a few boulders there. No prob - it's not my boat. Nah, the Willie chine came thru that with flying colors. But a bigger thrill was getting to see an old favorite river section after many years away. I have been doing this with other old favs the last 2 seasons and it's great to just be there again! And to see some changes brought forth by the huge floods of early '96. Also great to row some NW Washington rivers for the first time the last couple years also.

There are a few changes to this run we did Friday, but it still has a bunch of primo holes! Mostly great steelie water, but a few good 'nook holes too. Unfortunatly there weren't as many fish present as we expected. I hooked 2 and landed 1, but that was all we got. Same for some guides that ran 4th Bridge down too. The best fishing was way down low from Three Rivers down, because of re-cycled brat fish.

With the great early winter steelhead return, it seems a number of rivers have dried up a bit of fresh fish. This could be from a number of things - long stretch of high water spreading them above the boating runs, a typical drop off between early run and second Jan. push of brats, and because coastal river bars have been windy rough and the fish will often wait it out until less sand gets in there gills when the weather and ocean swells calm down before crossing the bars into the rivers. We will soon know. And then there is the late nate season!

RT