When do winter steelhead arrive on coastal river systems?

[masmith]

And you guys thought my post was dumb?

 

[halibuthitman]

I never thought your post was dumb.... it sounded lazy, and lacked true heart, which happpens to be worse becouse there is an excuse for being dumb, but trying to win a medal without even running a race is just sad. you want to win the girl.... without fighting the bully. get out.... fish with frozen guides, take your lumps... give the fish the respect of EARNING it.

 

[SNDSLGR]

^ There is nothing better then standing on a dark river bank in December/January, with a good friend waiting for there to be enough light to make your first cast. Shaking a little in excitement for that strike you may not even get and shaking a little more because you are already freezing. At the end of the day neither that elusive strike or the fact that you are still freezing matter, another good day standing in a river.

If that dont apeal to you- bass fishing heats up late May.

 

[halibuthitman]

^ There is nothing better then standing on a dark river bank in December/January, with a good friend waiting for there to be enough light to make your first cast. Shaking a little in excitement for that strike you may not even get and shaking a little more because you are already freezing. At the end of the day neither that elusive strike or the fact that you are still freezing matter, another good day standing in a river.

If that dont apeal to you- bass fishing heats up late May.

true dat!
ok mat, I wouldn't "waste your money' for about two more weeks, thats an honest answer, and as far as I know rain is the only thing that influences the push of salmoniods upriver, so I would guess , yes.. they hold in tidewater until rain. The point most of us are trying to make is that you have to go look, for instance, last year I had a day where I started at first light at gnat creek, gave it an hour then blazed to bigcreek, big creek was full of fishermen so I jumped in my truck and shot out to the north fork of the klaskenie, hooked one and lost it... couldnt see a fish in the river after that, so I did 70 down 101 to garibaldi, but got pulled over at cannon beach, filed the ticket in the glove box and made a left turn up to the miami, stomped a few holes to check for fish.... none , off to the wilson.. no where on the wilson spoke to me so I accidently drove all the way past it.. came down off the pass made a left turn drove towards the nehalem but got sidetracked at vernonia pond, lost my train of thought and trout fished the 45 minutes till dark.... I caught 1. Do you really want to fall victim to this kind of mental illness?

 

[Raincatcher]

:clap: :clap: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
yup!

 

[I Grade]

true dat!
ok mat, I wouldn't "waste your money' for about two more weeks, thats an honest answer, and as far as I know rain is the only thing that influences the push of salmoniods upriver, so I would guess , yes.. they hold in tidewater until rain. The point most of us are trying to make is that you have to go look, for instance, last year I had a day where I started at first light at gnat creek, gave it an hour then blazed to bigcreek, big creek was full of fishermen so I jumped in my truck and shot out to the north fork of the klaskenie, hooked one and lost it... couldnt see a fish in the river after that, so I did 70 down 101 to garibaldi, but got pulled over at cannon beach, filed the ticket in the glove box and made a left turn up to the miami, stomped a few holes to check for fish.... none , off to the wilson.. no where on the wilson spoke to me so I accidently drove all the way past it.. came down off the pass made a left turn drove towards the nehalem but got sidetracked at vernonia pond, lost my train of thought and trout fished the 45 minutes till dark.... I caught 1. Do you really want to fall victim to this kind of mental illness?

I completely believe this man because I have done equally irrational things in search of the chrome. These fish drive ordinarily sane men to venture far and wide on the mere vague hope of maybe taking one home. And until you are as good as Osmosis and the Steelhead_Stalkers, you will go home fish-less more often than not. No one dove into the water and stuck the hook in my first steelheads mouth.....I earned it by having iced up guides and snot frozen to my upper lip on those same December/January mornings that others have referred to in previous posts. There is no shortcut, and I think that everyone is basically telling you that you must put your long and tedious hours in before you will have a chance at outsmarting one, and I hope it takes you less time than it took me because I didn't have this forum to help guide me when I was getting started. Best of luck!

I Grade

 

[Mad dog]

LOL, so this question has no answer?

"This will be my first winter steelhead season.

I plan of fishing mostly the Nestucca, but will hit other coastal streams and maybe the Sandy as well. I really want to get the timing figured out primarily on the coastal systems.

When will we be seeing winters show up in tidewater? Also, will they hold in tidewater like the fall salmon runs, or do they shoot up stream quicker since the water level is higher?

Thanks. "

Now your getting it!!! :clap:

The variables that affect when the steelhead will return are infinetely many! Sometimes runs are late, sometimes they are early, sometimes when they show up depends on the weather, sometimes it doesn't!
Will they shoot upriver quickly???? Once again, the variables are infinetely many! Water temperature being the biggest factor. Cold water will really slow down fish movement, really cold water will kill the bite!
I suggest starting in early december, find some popular holes with good bank access, watch the guys that fish it closely! Inevitably, there will be 1 or 2 guys that will hook way more fish than the rest, they may show up late or not stay long, but will hook a lot of fish! Watch those fishermen closely! Probably the best way to learn a specific hole! I don't know how many guys I see fishing the wrong bait in the wrong spot, or simply don't fish the hole correctly, it takes a little time to figure out a piece of water sometimes.

 

[bigdog]

I don't think anyone said that your post was dumb and that guys post isn't dumb as well. What I do see is you were asking for help and when we were not able to provide you with a 100% chance of where and when you didn't like it. Like said by everyone you just need to get out there and fish, yes at times it is going to be very slow and can get you down thinking it will never happen, but you can't give up. Have to keep at it and keep trying. I know some people that have been going for winters for several years now and still have yet to get one. I'm sure you can get a round about time when the fish show but no one is going to be able to tell you what weekend they will be there with 100%. That will fall on the fish when they decide to make the trip and when the weather is right, river levels are at the right spot. Just get out there and enjoy the river. Every day on the river is a good day getting in to some fish is a bonus.

 

[nointrntrprts]

unfortunately

unfortunately

this is the trend of the newer fishermen - internet report, then go chase em! this is good and bad - good for me cause they end up showing up a day late and a fish short, bad for the sport cause they usually show up, trash a place, dis-respect the resource.....

as was pointed out - ya GOTTA take your lumps and show these fish a little respect.

sharing how to's and jig/fly swaps are pretty cool on internet sites - where to's and gps locations are a notta imho.

 

[bigdog]

this is the trend of the newer fishermen - internet report, then go chase em! this is good and bad - good for me cause they end up showing up a day late and a fish short, bad for the sport cause they usually show up, trash a place, dis-respect the resource.....

as was pointed out - ya GOTTA take your lumps and show these fish a little respect.

sharing how to's and jig/fly swaps are pretty cool on internet sites - where to's and gps locations are a notta imho.

Although there are the few out there that do trash the areas that we fish at, most of us want to think that it's not all the younger one or newer ones that are doing this. You can't go through the whole time thinking that every new fishingperson is the ones that are trashing the area, we all were new at one time or another and then that would mean that you and I were the ones trashing the areas. Yes there are a good amount of people trashing the areas but like we have said before, we are not going to be able to stop them all but we can try to do our part in helping to keep the river banks clean.

I just don't want to see people not helping out a new fisherperson because they feel all of them are going to trash the areas we fish. At one point and time yourself was new and rather you learned new spots from online or from other people in person, one way or another the knowledge was passed on to you and if everyone thought that all the new people were the ones that would trash the areas then they would have never helped you out.

What I'm getting at is that it isn't just the new people trashing the areas I have seen plenty of (old timers) doing it, throwing the beer cans everywhere, leaving long stretches of line, wrapers and everything eles on the river banks. Once again it is up to us that care to do our part to keep the areas we fish clean and beautifull.

Sorry if that was a little long winded.

Just my thoughts.
CJ

 

[nointrntrprts]

true

true

not pointing the finger at anyone - not saying i wont help anyone learn either... i guess my point was that if someone doesn't work for it they wont respect it. and i have talked with fisherpeople (i say people cause its men, women and children) that learned of a spot on the web - when they left it was like a trash truck just dumped its load!

i wont help folks with spots online - have seen what it does to good fishing spots. too many lurkers and gleaners to put that kind of information out there - hence my moniker.

the spots i have learned... hhhmmmm. learned how to fly fish - went to a store bought my gear and a book. learned a few techniques on casting - books are pretty cool, now utube videos can show a person a lot as well. read some odfw reports on places and learned two specific spots on trout. got pretty good at foolin' trout on the fly, another angler mentioned steelehead.... "what are those?"..... once I read up those critters another fisherdude told me of a cool spot on the Umpqua - I went and checked it out, then explored the area and WHAM..... done with trout...

long story short, I didn't look for shortcuts and get on a website to get dialed in.... took a lot of fundage and leg work to get to be a successful steelheader - just hard work and a ton of sacrifices. nowadays people want the easy fix.

a bit long winded.... and theres still more.

 

[halibuthitman]

by and large from what I have seen is the primary "trashers" of riverbanks are the local youths bettween the ages of about 16-21... its their hiding spot for drinking, hangin out, and many "other" forms of debauchery. The style of garbage and the amounts of it point to this... when I see kids drinking and smokin on a river, I tell them a trooper is comin down the river checking tags, they usally bail quick... bait fishermen appear to be the other slobs....

 

[OnTheFly]

nointrntrprts, I believe what you're saying is true that research is the key and the more you learn the better you will be able to achieve your goal. I also believe that this forum is another avenue of research and valuble information can be obtained here. No one's asking you to disclose the where-a-bouts of your favorite fishing holes but only helpfull information to get someone on their way to experience a good days fishing. For me, I look at fishing as kind of a religion, I want everyone to experience and believe in it. Just my opinion

 

[halibuthitman]

I used to see it as some level of religion.... but it looks like politics more every year... and some days... war

 

[OnTheFly]

I used to see it as some level of religion.... but it looks like politics more every year... and some days... war

I thought you once said it was like marriage.

 

[halibuthitman]

my wife rules the house like the catholic church.... and every days a battle.. so yeah... marriage, war, why split hairs? :lol::lol: just kiddin, my wifes a doll, can't imagine life without the manager.

 

[Mike123]

I used to see it as some level of religion.... but it looks like politics more every year... and some days... war

Oh man isn't that the truth! People sending threats on here in PM's because you politely tell them to handle fish better. Geesh... It's just fishing folks!

 

[bigdog]

nointrntrprts:
Yes I agree getting on the water and fishing is the best way to learn. Just look at my past post and that will show thats what I have been saying the whole time. What I'm getting at is EVERYONE at one point and time needed someone to point them in the right derection. Yes reading as a good way to get going and well here we are reading but instead of reading a book or something that one person wrote and gets the money for we are reading from many fisherpersons that have been there done that.

Like said above as well no one is asking you to give up your honey hole but it is nice to help some one get pointed in the right direction.

I have to agree with Halibuthitman, most the people that are trashing the banks aren't even fisherpersons for the most part. Yes some people that fish are trashing the banks. but it's more the others then the fisherperson.
CJ

 

[youngbuck307]

halibuthitman i fish bait and i but my cigarette butts in a pocket on my vest and take them back home with me! some of them might but wouldnt say a lot of them or most of them do lol

 

[skunk]

Just remember we all had to learn sometime. Yes hard work and sacrifice is needed, but sometimes its nice to be shown the ropes. If you don't want to post about a specific spot, which I understand, then perhaps another good way is to offer to take us newbies out, as a member here has done for me. Its easier to help new people learn one on one, or a few at a time than to take on everyone at once.