Fished the Tucannon around Starbuck for 4 hours today. Didn't see any steelhead yet, even though there are some fish in the river. Flow as about 150 cfs and water was a clear/green. I tried beads, jigs, and crawlers. First trip in a while completely skunked, didn't even catch a trout, even though I saw several rises tight to the banks. Though to myself should of brought the fly rod and c&r for trout. The fish numbers should improve, but this is frustrating. If I didn't enjoy being on the water so much I would have wizened up and quit this foolish steelhead chase. Maybe time to switch to walleye, although records show late March and early April are when the majority of the fish come in. I didn't see any other rigs fishing, usually there are a few parked along the roads. Stopped at Spinners in Starbuck for coffee on the way home, no reports of fish at all. Between the flooding and lack of fish/fisherman the small river towns are suffering.

Getting around the banks is easier than the past because so much brush has been knocked down. Should make back cast room for summer fly fishing. Areas with rip rap or large structure in stream remain basically unchanged. However pools, gravel runs and banks in most other places are completely changed. Like the lower Walla Walla, holes I have relied on for fish in the past are gone. Many of the fallen trees have moved, some deposited in very inconvenient places. A crossing tree I caught a fish below last fall was broken off at the bank and came to rest in a deep pool 200' downstream.

MGTom

3/5/2020 9:54:57 AM

P.S. if you lost a set of Toyota? Keys at mead ranch they are now in the chech-in box on Smith Road.

PatrickC

3/7/2020 8:35:59 PM

Great report. These days with all the river closures a guy almost doesn’t know what to do with himself. Keep up the hunt.

Yakhusker

3/10/2020 9:40:37 PM

Miss fishing the Tucannon, Touché and Grand Ronde. Beautiful area indeed. Keep up the attempts. Better than not being able to go at all. So fun to hook a sterile on such small rivers.

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