What? A one star report from a guide? No way! I'll keep it honest, you can't win them all. Plus, riding the boat with friends can be more fun that working all day for one fish.

Fact is, fishing is slow down there. For the first day of fishing closed up north, I got to take a couple of my friends out for a boat ride pro bono. After a late night on Blue Friday in Olympia, my crew was rethinking the 5am wake up. Hair of the dog I said!

We drifted White Bridge to Black creek, and it was bony! Low water, clear water. There were a couple places where it's prudent to get out and walk the boat through the logs. Skinny through the tail outs, we scraped bottom a couple of times.

Spent more time hanging out then fishing, so it made for a fun day. No take downs, no fish for us. We heard of 5 fish being taken from the flotilla of boats. There were a lot of boats too. With the amount of boats and bank anglers we fished with, 5 fish was a pretty low number. In the end, the highlight of the day (fishing related) was when we were re-rigging the rods and 3 steelhead shot upstream right under the boat.

Good news is, my new heating system kept the boat toasty and warmed the coffee. It was great hanging out with my friends I hadn't seen in over a year though! It was their first time fishing too, although I wish they'd've caught, it's nice to spend time on the water.

We need some water in the system, and a little time for it to heat up. The run on the Nooch is a late one, so in a week and a rain, we're going to see the action heat up. The fish run on average a lot larger than their cousins up north too. The stretch below white bridge was the most productive for the boats we floated with, and I anticipate the run will be much more productive than the Puget Sound rivers gave us this year. Give me an email and we'll talk about the best time for you to get out and catch some steelhead with me.

Tight Lines and Go Hawks!

Nate Treat Fishing
Official WashingtonLakes.com Sponsor

"Specializing in Fishing Instruction and Shore Guiding on Washington's Rivers."
NateTreatFishing.com

---