littleriver
12/15/2007 12:32:00 PMGuys in the boats were mostly boondoggling with eggs.
I used to have a jet boat and do the same thing but haven't worked this area for winter runs for at least 5 years.
It just got too crowded and noisy in the run below blue creek where all the fish used to hold.
The rearrangement of things at the hatchery has greatly improved the way this popular fishing hole fishes. At least in my opinion anyways.
There's a lot more room in the hatchery pool for the boats to move up and down (e.g. it's wider) and the shore fishers have a much better shot at the fish than
they did with the old arrangement. Before the rerouting of the outlet shore bound sporties would have to walk a long ways down the river to access the good spots.
This walk included the wading of blue creek itself and the shoreline below blue creek is steep and rock with a high overhanging clay wall behind. Some years back, on a very rainy day,
a portion of this clay wall collapsed and killed one of the sporties fishing below it.
So, if you don't mind a little company Blue Creek is a much better place to fish now than it has been in past years.
I should also repeat the situation with the "outflow culvert". This culvert is about 100 feet downstream from the boat ramp and the rule is that
non-handicapped people can fish to within 100 feet of the outflow. Handicapped folks can fish right at the culvert outlet and it's interesting to watch that activity.
There were a couple of handicappers fishing the culvert outlet and they were doing very well. Saw at least two landed there. There are so many steelhead trying to get
up to the hatchery that they sort of stack right and the pool there and you can see them splashing around.
Anyways, back to catching fish. I'm sort of relearning this fishing spot this year. Got tired of the cold and wind you had to deal with in the jet boat and the cold messy way your hands feel after rebaiting your hook with salmon roe a few times.
So now I'm just using corkies and fishing from shore. Will take me a few trips to get the knack of catching them that way, but it's definitely a lot warmer and a lot less messy.
I used to have a jet boat and do the same thing but haven't worked this area for winter runs for at least 5 years.
It just got too crowded and noisy in the run below blue creek where all the fish used to hold.
The rearrangement of things at the hatchery has greatly improved the way this popular fishing hole fishes. At least in my opinion anyways.
There's a lot more room in the hatchery pool for the boats to move up and down (e.g. it's wider) and the shore fishers have a much better shot at the fish than
they did with the old arrangement. Before the rerouting of the outlet shore bound sporties would have to walk a long ways down the river to access the good spots.
This walk included the wading of blue creek itself and the shoreline below blue creek is steep and rock with a high overhanging clay wall behind. Some years back, on a very rainy day,
a portion of this clay wall collapsed and killed one of the sporties fishing below it.
So, if you don't mind a little company Blue Creek is a much better place to fish now than it has been in past years.
I should also repeat the situation with the "outflow culvert". This culvert is about 100 feet downstream from the boat ramp and the rule is that
non-handicapped people can fish to within 100 feet of the outflow. Handicapped folks can fish right at the culvert outlet and it's interesting to watch that activity.
There were a couple of handicappers fishing the culvert outlet and they were doing very well. Saw at least two landed there. There are so many steelhead trying to get
up to the hatchery that they sort of stack right and the pool there and you can see them splashing around.
Anyways, back to catching fish. I'm sort of relearning this fishing spot this year. Got tired of the cold and wind you had to deal with in the jet boat and the cold messy way your hands feel after rebaiting your hook with salmon roe a few times.
So now I'm just using corkies and fishing from shore. Will take me a few trips to get the knack of catching them that way, but it's definitely a lot warmer and a lot less messy.
Mike Carey
12/15/2007 7:03:00 PMlittleriver,
Thanks for the info. It's been years since I fished Blue Creek and the drift below. I actually started fishing the river from an 8 ft sport raft with a 8 hp motor. Side drifting - I had some big rocky waves to deal with when the jets roared by me. Probably a crazy thing to do... anyway, with gas the way it is and working like a dog I doubt I'll hit Blue Creek, but it sure sounds interesting. I remember that 1/4 mile woods walk in the dark to the prime holes for shore fishing. We did a WL.com cleanup there about 5 years ago or so. It's in the archives for stories.
Thanks for the info. It's been years since I fished Blue Creek and the drift below. I actually started fishing the river from an 8 ft sport raft with a 8 hp motor. Side drifting - I had some big rocky waves to deal with when the jets roared by me. Probably a crazy thing to do... anyway, with gas the way it is and working like a dog I doubt I'll hit Blue Creek, but it sure sounds interesting. I remember that 1/4 mile woods walk in the dark to the prime holes for shore fishing. We did a WL.com cleanup there about 5 years ago or so. It's in the archives for stories.
littleriver
12/17/2007 8:57:00 PM8 HP should have been barely enough to get you up the run between the hatchery pool and the blue creek pool, but barely.
I have a 7.5 foot livingston I use in the hatchery pool during summer months when flows are down around 2500cfs. I just row and anchor
and cast for src's (sea run cutts). Did real well in 05 and 06 but only hit it a couple of times this year and there wasn't much action. Either I was a bit
early or the run didn't show up. SRC's are fun because they don't turn off the feedbag the way the other anadromous species do when they get in the river. They feed aggressivly on insect life in the water and you can watch them come up to the surface to feed during the evening hatch. A very idylic scene on September evenings to watch the hatches, the rises, and there will usually be half a dozen or so fly fishermen working the fishery.
But when december rolls around and the flows are in the 10,000cfs range and the wind is cold and the river is jammed with huge noisy jet boats it's like you're on a different planet.
No way that 8 foot sport boats or 7.5 livingstons are going to compete.
However, I should note that this new arrangement means you don't need a jet boat to fish blue creek. Water is plenty deep in the hatchery outlet pool for prop driven boats (but you're going to want at least a 15 hp outboard) as long as you are just going to work that pool. I saw two prop driven boats working the pool on the 12th.
I have a 7.5 foot livingston I use in the hatchery pool during summer months when flows are down around 2500cfs. I just row and anchor
and cast for src's (sea run cutts). Did real well in 05 and 06 but only hit it a couple of times this year and there wasn't much action. Either I was a bit
early or the run didn't show up. SRC's are fun because they don't turn off the feedbag the way the other anadromous species do when they get in the river. They feed aggressivly on insect life in the water and you can watch them come up to the surface to feed during the evening hatch. A very idylic scene on September evenings to watch the hatches, the rises, and there will usually be half a dozen or so fly fishermen working the fishery.
But when december rolls around and the flows are in the 10,000cfs range and the wind is cold and the river is jammed with huge noisy jet boats it's like you're on a different planet.
No way that 8 foot sport boats or 7.5 livingstons are going to compete.
However, I should note that this new arrangement means you don't need a jet boat to fish blue creek. Water is plenty deep in the hatchery outlet pool for prop driven boats (but you're going to want at least a 15 hp outboard) as long as you are just going to work that pool. I saw two prop driven boats working the pool on the 12th.