Three of us decided to try fishing for steelhead around the Wawawii boat launch on Saturday the 19th. The weather was excellent all day with no wind and mostly sunny conditions (about 45 degrees). I was in a tee shirt most of the day. Water conditions was marginal with only about 18 - 24 inches of visability.

We started fishing about 9:00 am with our first hookup of the day at 11:00. The fish was a kelt (spawned out fish returning to the ocean) about 36 inches long. We promply returned it as it had lost most of its weight (only about 9 -10 pounds) and was pretty shabby looking. The fish was likely a 16 pounder when it first past this area to spawn. We fished hard until 4:30 with no other bites.

I spoke to three separate groups of shore fishermen and they did not have a single bite between them. I also spoke to two groups of boat fishermen with no fish between them either. Given the condition of the fish and the lack of success by the other fishermen I would not recommend this area for atleast two to three weeks to let the river clear up. If there is a rain storm or melt off the river will not be fishable for some time after that.

Looks like I will have to find some good trout fishing at local lakes untill the river is fishable in early March or I might just wait for the spring chinook later this year

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