Winter Steelhead Spots

[DannyLeslie]

Hey guys been on this site for a whole but am new to steelhead fishing. I have this weekend off and I am wondering where some decent spots are for steelhead. Any info is much apriciated.

[BentRod]

Reiter on the Sky is closest to you.

[DannyLeslie]

Are you meaning behind the state salmon hatchery?

[BentRod]

Yes, downstream from there. Well known spot. You can find directions if you search the forum. That or Tokul creek will be your best bests probably .....look up when the area's close to fishing though. I think Tokul is open until Feb. 16, but don't quote me on that and I don't know about the Sky.

[DannyLeslie]

I've been up there once during the silver run. Alright thanks man

[Gringo Pescador]

Are you meaning behind the state salmon hatchery?

The salmon hatchery is on the Wallace...

[DannyLeslie]

All i know is it's behind the hatchery.

[DannyLeslie]

What color steelhead jigs are good this year? I've seen pink imitation worms used to but it depends on the visibility level.

[BentRod]

Same colors as past years....pink, pink/white, pink/black, peach/white, red/white, purple/black....etc.

[DannyLeslie]

Went out to our local bait and tackle shop here in Everett and picked up 5 different setups.


Orange jig
Pink and white jig
Black and red jig
Orange and black plug with silver wings
Pink imitation worms

Now I'm not sure what will work out of these but I'll be finding that out on Saturday. Thank you bentrod for the info.

[blurock]

Skykomish: Reiter Ponds (That's Gold Bar, off Reiter road which is the Sky Trout hatchery NOT the salmon hatchery) will close Feb.16th
There's access on both the hatchery side (Reiter Road) And the Highway side (HWY2 past Zekes)
Snoqualmie: Tokul Creek (That's Fall City, the Snoqualmie Trout Hatchery) will close Feb.16th
Wallace River: (That's Start Up) From mouth to 200 feet upstream of the water intake of the salmon hatchery will close Feb.16th

All good spots, and a quick google search or look around this site can get you directions to all of them, another viable option is always the Cowlitz River (Blue Creek or Barrier Dam) if you're up for a bit of a drive south. Blue Creek is the Cowlitz Trout Hatchery, and Barrier is the Salmon hatchery. If you were going to do that, I would just fish Blue Creek, when you get there both up river of the boat ramp, and down river of the fishing boundary (marked by signs on either side of the hatchery intake pipe) produce fish. You can Bobber and Jig fish, or drift fish, and there's plenty of people to watch and pick up pointers from. If everyone else is fishing their bobbers two feet in front of them, I'd try it too if I were you. The waters been high down there lately, and the fish usually stay tight to the bank.

Reiter and Blue Creek (and Tokul to a different extent) are going to have the most people around. Use that to your advantage and sorta copy what they are doing (at least for your first time or two out) It can shorten the learning curve a lot. Even better if you can strike up a conversation with someone, and get some pointers. (But maybe that just works for me cause I'm a girl)

Anyway, if you head down south, I'll either be on the Skook or the Cow this weekend, if you see me say hi, and I'll try to point you in the right direction.

Good luck out there!!

[DannyLeslie]

From the sound of it, my dad was saying we are headed up to rieter road by the trout hatchery.

[blurock]

Awesome! Fish as close to the hatchery creek as you can find space, they stack up in front of it. Jigs work good. Pink and Shrimp/orange are great choices. If the waters colored up after all this rain, you could cut one of those worms down, and put them on your jig too. Reiter doesn't usually get too horribled colored compared to the lower river though, so you should be fine. Good Luck!

[DannyLeslie]

And thank you so much for the info! May have to meet up next season for the kings and silvers if your up for it.

[3footvis]

FYI I think Tokul is the only open one for steelhead around here

Skykomish River: From mouth to Highway 2 bridge at the Big Eddy Access will be closed to all fishing on Feb. 1, 2012.

Skykomish River: From Highway 2 bridge at the Big Eddy Access to confluence of North and South forks will be closed to all fishing on Feb. 16, 2012.

[blurock]

FYI I think Tokul is the only open one for steelhead around here

Skykomish River: From mouth to Highway 2 bridge at the Big Eddy Access will be closed to all fishing on Feb. 1, 2012.

Skykomish River: From Highway 2 bridge at the Big Eddy Access to confluence of North and South forks will be closed to all fishing on Feb. 16, 2012.

Reiter is open for Steelhead till the 16th
As well as the Wallace below the hatchery.

After the 16th the whole Snohomish system will close to fishing for all game fish until the new seasons regulations come out or they release a new emergency rules.

[DannyLeslie]

I've looked it up and it's Febuary 16th.

[DannyLeslie]

Well we went up to reiter yesterday morning. We got there at about 6am and there was already 10 cars there so we didn't get an ideal spot up at the hatchery. We were there for a good part of 3 hours with nobody getting any hookups out of the 35 guys there on both sides of the river. So we left there and went up to money creek, nothing there. Went to the south fork of the sky by the bridge and again nothing. We got skunked all day long. I think I'm done till August rolls around and the kings and silvers roll in.

[3footvis]

FYI I think Tokul is the only open one for steelhead around here

Skykomish River: From mouth to Highway 2 bridge at the Big Eddy Access will be closed to all fishing on Feb. 1, 2012.

Skykomish River: From Highway 2 bridge at the Big Eddy Access to confluence of North and South forks will be closed to all fishing on Feb. 16, 2012.

Reiter is open for Steelhead till the 16th
As well as the Wallace below the hatchery.

After the 16th the whole Snohomish system will close to fishing for all game fish until the new seasons regulations come out or they release a new emergency rules.

Oops, thanks for the update. Read the regs wrong.