Went out for a 3/4 day trip on Sunday (2/20). We've been having these cold, cold mornings so I wasn't really expecting to find aggressive fish, but I wanted to get out anyway. Fished hard most of the day and did manage to find one pretty little native hen. I snapped a quick pic before she bolted back into the turquoise:

There are still a few summers in our SE WA streams, but you may have to do quite a bit of searching for them.

The above message is a re-post. I noticed that the link to the photo gallery was dead, so I editied the pic into the message.

Great Fish. Are you gonna share with us your stream or late season techniques?

I figured I'd fill in the details if someone inquired--so it was on the Walla Walla and while I started out with a jig and bobber set-up, the water was too fast and shallow so I switched to a small gold spinner, which eventually did the trick.

I was just curious how high up on the walla walla your fishing. I understand if you don't want to tell me, but I've been fishing hard the last two weeks on the Touchet with no luck....I'm desperate for hope.

Jig On,

Metalhead

I got in at the Swegle Public access area near the Whitman mission. The fish was caught maybe a mile or so upstream from there. I tend to cover a lot of water--I probably fished 3-4 miles worth of river last Sunday. There should now be fish throughout river and I would imagine the peak of the distribution to be located near the state line at this point in the season, but there will be a few more trickling in until the general spring thaw (which may not produce much flow this year). I'm a little disappointed to hear of your poor luck on the Tuc and Touchet--I was considering hitting those again soon. Will probably go anyway, but might just head all the way to the 'Ronde instead.

Good luck!

Your a great guy E-mann, thanks for the info, good luck on the Touchet, don't let my bad luck discourage you. I'm sure a fisherman of your caliber will find a few steelhead on that beautiful little river.

Jig On,

Metalhead

I was looking at my notes from last year. I didn't get into any Steelhead on the Touchet until the 1st part of March. The weather has been different this year, however I haven't given up.

I am a bit concerned about the water levels..