Previous Next

What an epic day of catching and spending a great day on the river with a some nice folks. I had planned on fishing the Cowlitz Saturday but my buddies job kept him away from home all week so he never had a chance to get his sled ready so needed to find another plan to find some winter steel. Met up with Schu7498, her husband Danny, neighbor Harlan, and flyfisherguy Bob who were heading to the Humptulips for the same purpose.

Got to the Steven's creek area and brought along 2 set ups~ one for float fishing with jigs and the other for drift fishing with eggs. Since everyone was float fishing figured I would start out that route so tied on a nice looking jig and tipped with a piece of cured prawn tail and took my 1st cast. Now being a little rusty sent my 1st cast into a tree branch across the river! Darn, so broke it off and tied on another jig and this time hit the seam of the drift and watched my float dance past me when WHAM, bobber down and fish on!! I couldn't believe it but 1st cast into the water and I was onto my first steelhead of the season and it was a beauty making some good runs upstream before coming close enough in for Danny to net it. Yeah! Bonked it, punched it and onto the stringer it went!

A little while later had another bobber down but this one was acting different and came out of the water and it was a coho! Bright and fiesty it took a few runs up stream before finally coming close the bank where I beached it. Wow! I had heard of the December winter run but was surprised to land one and now had another one for the punch card.

Things slowed down a bit but Dan hooked up into one down stream on a pink worm but it threw it back at after a couple jumps so switched over to a cool looking jig I had that had a pink worm on; so tipped it with my cured prawn tail and cast up steam and once again it did a little dance before disappearing under water again! Fish on! A chromer and this one went ballistic doing some wicked runs up stream, coming out of the water but like a ding dong thought I could beach this too but just as it came ashore did a death roll and snapped my line. Alycia tried to grab it by the tail and I ran to block it's path back to the water but slid into the water and watched it swim past me with my jig in his jaw and my waders filling water. Darn! It was a nice one too but sad he had to swim around now with a jig in his jaw.

Tied on another one that looked like it and just as I was finishing my drift my bobber went down where a lot of us had hit a snag so figured I had found it too but as I pulled to get it out it pulled back and then shot upriver. Never had a snag do that before and it got tangled with Danny's line but he managed to get it off before any major disaster happened and this one I played out and waited for the net. Another coho but a bit colored but still a nice looking fish so now was limited on coho's and only needed another steelhead to round out my day.

Not long after was I was rewarded with my fifth solid take down and fish on but soon realized it was another huge chrome bright coho so handed the rod to Harlan who battled it like a pro and after many runs to get off finally came to net and ended just an amazing day for me. It was an awesome experience to share with some great people and feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to fish with them; so thanks for invite and really enjoyed your company and hope we can hook up again some day!

Look forward to reading some reports next week as I am off to CA to spend Christmas with my family and grandkids in San Diego and may be able to take them fishing at Santee lakes like I did last year down there! They put some pretty big trout in for the kiddo's! Go Hawks!!!

flyfisherguy

12/16/2013 10:49:00 AM

It was a pleasure meeting you and congrats on all your success Barry! You are a very considerate and helpful fellow fisherman in sharing your tackle with this klutz who left his main tackle bag in the car and hiked about 12 miles into that spot. OK maybe it only SEEMED like 12 miles :-) but it was a long walk back to the car and I wasn't real motivated to do it through all that mud again. By the way, I took a spill on the way back :-( ANYHOW....it was great getting to know you a little and I look forward to fishing with you again soon my friend! Tight lines!

mizm05

12/16/2013 11:46:00 AM

Nice job Barry. I was out there on Sunday. Went 0/4, with one being a chunky steelhead. I had him 5 feet from being able to bank him and jump on top of him, then a drift boat rolls through and spooks him in the shallow water. He went nuts and broke me off. Ahhh! The others all popped off out in the water. C'est la vie, I guess.

Mike Carey

12/16/2013 8:52:00 PM

Good for you. :-)

BentRod

12/16/2013 9:03:00 PM

Sounds epic Barry! Congrats!

Steelhead6438

12/16/2013 10:39:00 PM

Nice Job Barry.

schu7498

12/17/2013 12:13:00 PM

Just when you think youre a good fisherman, you fish with barry. he put us all to shame! It was great getting a chance to fish with you!

salmonbarry

12/17/2013 4:30:00 PM

Hey Schu, I was honored to have shared my lucky day with you guys and believe me, it was a lot of luck! haha I have had those days on the river too when 1 person gets the fish and everyone is using the same stuff. Thanks again and it was great fishing with you guys too!

fisherben

12/17/2013 6:35:00 PM

I never thought a coho could be that bright in December. I challenge someone to catch a chromer in January haha

jd39

12/17/2013 7:20:00 PM

Nice work Barry! Beautiful fish!

Nelly1

12/18/2013 12:42:00 AM

Nice job, Barry! That looks like the cliff hole? I've fished there a few times and only watched others catch fish, lol. You must have gotten the right spot that day!
@flyfisherguy, it IS a long walk back to the car from there. It definately feels like 12 miles.

FishWhisperer

12/18/2013 8:09:00 AM

HIGH FIVE BARRY! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

tele_maniac

12/18/2013 3:21:00 PM

Crazy cool report and pictures SalmonBarry!!! Guess you were that guy. There is always one. LOL! Best...

Easy Limits

12/20/2013 6:59:00 AM

Nice going Barry!

Leave a Comment:

Login

Flag

×

Why is this comment inappropriate?

Close Submit

Delete this comment? Provide reason.

No Yes

Edit

×

Cancel Save