Water is down to fishable levels, and viz improving, but no steelhead for me y'day or today. And I even left the flyrod at home... came armed with prime eggs, and not one bite. Nada for the plunkers I've run into as well. Didn't have a boat go by me either day.

After a phenomenal salmon season, it's time to start getting used to the odor of skunk again.

mmmmm skunk...

I stopped by Black Ck today and saw one boat at the ramp. The boat was beached and still had all of the gear, Poles etc.. in it. I believe the guys left it there while they drove back to the drop off to pick up their rig. I did not see any other boats or trucks and boat trailers. I don't know if I would have left all of my gear alone in the boat. I live here and it's a nice place to live but .........

I talked with a drift boat Saturday No fish and he didn't see any fish. It was the only boat I saw.

I almost went down there on Sat but Friday night I had an opportunity for some graveyard overtime and took it.

Glad I took the 8 hours of overtime instead.

Are the nets still in the river? Last year at this time i had 11 steelies already. where are the fish? i've giving up on the nooch, i have found another little river full of nice bright fish.

Floated the Nooch today. Wishkah cut off bridg to black creek. 1-2 ft vis. Flow at 2200. Didn't touch a fish. We fished hard for about half way then gave up and rowed down to pull out. This river sure isn't what it used to be. BUMMER........

Don't know what going on, 1 of my favorite rivers.

Checked WDF wed site, Tribe should have had nets out 12/17.

Hope it improves by the time New Years rolls around????

Would be nice, drift boater and bankies, if they'd cut the flow from the dam to about 400 cfs. Tough to "crank on the sticks" when the flow is 1200+ but I see guys do it all the time. Makes for a fast trip!!!!!!!

"Worse day sport fishing, still better than the best day working"

The nets are in Aberdeen(Grays Harbor) as I type this. A big part of the reason it hasn't been it's old self is last year, the Chehalis was netted 5 days a week through the end of March/first week of April. I've been told by reliable sources that the same schedule is in place this year.

One reason for the liberal netting schedule is the Chehalis system has been(according to WDFW) above escapement for quite a few years. Remember when the nooch had a 2 week extension in April two and three years ago? It was because the system was loaded with fish. Because there wasn't "aggressive" netting at that time, I think the tribes wanted a bigger piece of the pie and are making up for it now.

One positive I see in this is maybe a couple of winters of sub-par fishing on the nooch will thin the crowds some. It's so bad and over-exploited now that I have just about given up fishing it in winter. When I could count on 5-10 sleds on the upper float coupled with a dozen or more driftboats any given day, all winter long I drew the line......no matter though, many other "quiet" waters around with good opportunity.

Its always been a little on the slow time this time of year. :rolleyes:

Tight lines

Kevin

Opher-3 for me. Three days in a row without so much as a bite. Fished the tidewater today hoping for some fresh arrivals. One plunker and one sled fared no better than I. Water is just a wee bit greener today with viz similar to y'day. Boy it sure has been slow to clear given the nice stretch of dry weather.

Time to get some work done.

Attended a WDFW/CBFTF meeting tonight. One of the hot-button items discussed was the intensive December tribal netting schedule.... 17 days already!

They are supposedly targeting early winter steelhead, but only a few dozen have been "officially" reported in the harvest. No telling how many late returning wild Satsop coho end up in those nets. You guys can make up your own minds about what they're really targeting.

Hate to think those giant native silvers are going to be netted to extinction.

Physician,

Back to the wynoochee and your question of why it is slow to clear.....wynoochee lake is full of that water color and it will take 2-3 weeks for it to flush.

This doesn't always happen but when we get storms like we had a week ago where the southern olympics get centerpunched by storms, the wynoochee headwaters will often pump in sludge to the lake thus messing up the "clearing" schedule.