When I was a kid I had some great times on this little river for Sea Runs and put in thousands of hours for steelhead with very poor results.

I never could figure out why it was never open for salmon though. I gets 10 times as many Chum as Chico or Kennedy creek and a but load of silvers to boot even some Sockey. Was once good for steelhead but that was over far before I started fishing it.

Anyways I was just wondering if anybody ever fishes it.

I used to fish it alot with much the same results as you.Last time i tried to hike up from the mouth I ran nto new no trespassing signs.The upper river[watershed]would be a dream come true but alas..

They are also currently traping al the summer chumms out of it and helping them along.

Ever fish the dewwatto or tahuya?Rendlands creek is a little jewel for native cuttys.They are not real big but some of the beaver ponds on that creek have some biguns .They just redid all the roads and culverts on that system which I am hoping will help the cuttys move around a little.

I haven't fished it for a couple years, but when I did on a regular basis, it produced some mighty fine SRCs. I have hooked 3 Steelies, but never landed one there- 3wt and way too much brush. Used to hike up in there quite a ways pitching nymphs on the way upstream and throwing small streamers on the way back. I have heard access is difficult now (trespassing and numerous log jams) and not many fish. (I have a hard time believing low numbers of SRCs now that their numbers are inreasing.)

Unfortunately the word got out. Not to mention Belfair's population boom.

Might have to take a trip back for old times sake.

Curious to know any new info myself.

Downriggin'

its catch and release for everything I believe

It should have been CnR years ago. When I fished it it had lotts of trophy sea runs. Over the years I caught a few fish up to 25 inches and many 20+ inchers. Never was a pile of them but I always got a couple 17 to 20 inches.

I yousto fish the salt chuck at low tide I would walk it from the bridge down to the Canal. Those piggies would hold in all the pools when the tide went out. It was a fun place to fish I caught many chinook, coho and green sturgon on ultra light gear fishing for cutts. That was part of the excitement you never knew what species you would catch between late Augest and mid October. When the fall Chums started the cutts seemed to disapear. I would be scared of chums too if I was a cuttie.

now its selective gear rules like it always should have been. I never killed a fish out of that river. I caught many of the same cutts multipe times in a season. I scared alot of cuttie mouths in that little river.

Great Sturgeon fishing river.

Hey Rich,

Remember when you spazzed out about Tony D. writing about the Hoko, Lyre, Pysht etc? Well, some might view it a little hypocritical of you to freak out on Tony, and post a thread about the Union R.

It doesn't matter anymore.It is pretty well locked up with no trespassing signs and the bremerton watershed.Its a small brushy bugger that would discourage most people.

Yeah, I know. I wasn't trying to bust RICH's chops either, I was just saying "What's good for the goose is good for the gander".

I see your point and agree. I wouldnt have said anything about it if it was worth fishing anymore.

I grew up fishing those rivers in the 50's and 60's - except for Dewatto they were all pretty tough to limit out on even back then. Had some amazing days occasionally though. They were all fished to death years ago - in the 70's F&H started putting out maps of them believe it or not, and once the Seattle crowd descended on them it was all over. That and the developers

Dewatto used to have a race of fall run steelhead that were really amazing - they would follow the chums up and eat their eggs as they laid them. These fish would inhale skein eggs - I mean swallow them like a dolly varden - and when cleaned would have stomachs stuffed with fresh single eggs. These fish pretty much died out with the demise of the summer chum - and I guess I helped their demise too - hell, back then you just caught it and ate it no matter what it was.

Used to be Indian gillnets in all these rivers too - soon as they got their rights in the 70's they netted everything.

Perhaps if the real estate developers left a little habitat and it's not too polluted by failing septic systems, if all the meat fishermen are off the river due to selective regs, if the summer chum ever start to rebound, and if it remains unprofitable to net these little cricks, the fall steelhead may eventually come back. Lotta perhaps, though

I have caught a few of those steelhead over the years.Verry beautifull fish.