Wynoochee River Winter Steelhead

My friend Tim and I made plans for a weekend of steelhead fishing in the Forks area this past February. We made plans on drifting the Bogachiel and possibly the Hoh River.

We got to the Wilson Rd. ramp on a beautiful Saturday morning and excitedly got Tim’s driftboat on the water. The Bogey was low and gin clear and we knew right away that it was going to be a tough day of hunting.

The drift to the Leyendecker Rd. take out was uneventful. Don’t get me wrong, we were treated to a rare sunny and picturesque day on the Bogachiel. But we weren’t there to get a sun tan and to look at the scenery. We were there to play with Mr. Steelhead!

We spent the night at the Forks Motel and decided head to the Wynoochee River in the morning. The next morning we woke up to ice – sheets of ice. It was white knuckle driving for Tim from Forks all the way to Quinault Lake on highway 101.

At one point the truck and the driftboat went completely sideways after hitting a particularly icy bend. Instant visions of being on the ditch and the driftboat crashing on guardrails flashed before our eyes. Luckily, Tim was able to gain control and kept the vehicles straight and tracking. Catastrophe averted. Mission is still on.

We got to the Nooch, made arrangments with the turn-around service for a Wishkah Bridge to Black Creek drift, and then it started raining – wait, it gets better. We seemed to have forgotten our sand shrimp in the fridge at the Forks Motel. Dang! That’s about about 20 bucks worth of sand shrimp chillin’ inside the mini-fridge. Luckily, I still had about half a dozen in my bait container that I left in the driftboat from yesterday’s scenic tour of the Bogey.

Halfway down the drift we were working a river bend that was putting the hurt on us. Tim just lost a favorite plug from a submerged log and I have already re-tied at least four times due to the snags. With my last shrimp precariously hanging from the hook, I made a cast and hoped for the best.

I felt the bottom, mostly gravel and a few larger rocks, then nothing. Instinctively, I yanked my rod and lo and behold connected with Mr. Steelhead – ahem, excuse me, it was Mrs. Steelhead. She went left, right, under the boat, up in the air, pulled some line, and slapped the water in protest - she showed me her Kung Fu.

This one made my knees weak just like the first steelhead I ever caught. But my Kung Fu was better and we eventually landed her. She was a typical cookie-cutter hatchery hen. We estimated around 6 lbs, long-bodied, and chrome bright.

We didn’t pick up any other fish with the rest of the drift. But the one that we caught was all we needed to deem our weekend trip a success.