Harrison/Chehalis? Worth taking the gear with this weekend??

Way too early... I was out there last weekend, and it was a deadzone... The river is barely a trickle.

I'd wait a month or more before going to that side... the run comes in later. i normally don't bother going there until end of October.

The vedder is where it's at right now

Cheers,
Nicole

while Nicole is right for the most part (the beggining of the main run is 2 weeks and a good rain away) I would say that if you are in the area anyways, bring a rod along. The Chehalis will hold a FEW early coho right now and even some summer steelhead so it is worth a shot.

Worst case scenario you will get a good hike, some exercise and who knows maybe some steel.

I drove up to the Cheehay after dinner, dirt low! You'll be fishing some pretty stale water there. It'll take 3 or 4 days of rain for the ground to start soaking it up at least. Pats' right, there could be some early jobs in there but they probably bolted up into the canyon when the river was up on the Labor Day weekend. On a sadder note, Nicomen Slough around Deroche is a weed infested mess >. The warm dry weather we've had out here recently has caused another heavy bloom growth, limiting your flyfishing for cutties to basically nil. Good for the bass though >

barskull said:

On a sadder note, Nicomen Slough around Deroche is a weed infested mess >. The warm dry weather we've had out here recently has caused another heavy bloom growth, limiting your flyfishing for cutties to basically nil.

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It only takes 1 good frost and all that crap will be gone Come on fall and colder temps and rain ;D

Too bad the infestation couldn't be halted permanently, its a friggen joke nowadays. Gone are the days of trolling a flatfish, or for that matter flyfishing its entire length >

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Again, first real solid frost and 90% of those weeds will be gone. Its the heat and warm water temps that make those weeds grow.

I was there last weekend and it was very very low. We hiked down towards the mouth, but didn't make it all the way. We must have been close because the roaring of boats on the Harrison were heard just beyond the trees.

Caught several rainbows at around the 10-12 inch range, including a 15 incher that was landed. Most of the trout were of hatchery stock as well. We did see about a dozen salmon at one of the deeper pools, but they were skittish, as the water was low and it was bright and sunny, and 30 degrees,,,a beauty of a day! Weren't sure what kind of salmon they were...my guess was early-coho, but a native dude that I ran into at the Healing Lodge, said it was probably sockeye. So who knows.

Saw lots of bear tracks along the sandbars of the pools too. I bet the Harrison and the Vedder are the ticket. I'm having a drought...I haven't caught a salmon since last fall. I'm due for at least one. :thumbup:

barskull said:

Too bad the infestation couldn't be halted permanently, its a friggen joke nowadays. Gone are the days of trolling a flatfish, or for that matter flyfishing its entire length >

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The weeds (milfoil?) have always been there but got considerably worse since they closed the top end from the Fraser. Ever since then the Cutthroat fishing isn't near what it used to be. We used to tube way up the Slough and have world class trout and Coho fishing. When it was open to the Fraser even Steelhead weren't to uncommon.
Now, especially during the summer the top end is all choked up. I wonder how much the greenhouses affect that area now.

The 'infestation' of snaggers below the hatchery would also be a something that needs to be halted permanently!

Well as I type this I am just a few kms from the river and she is LOW.... I went in near the Chehalis Gov't campgrounds and hiked up and down a bit....Didn't end up taking the gear out of the truck....

I did run into a guy who said he was having a lot of success getting Rainbow's...

That's too bad about the weeds in the slough... I used to love fishing in there but you guys are right... it has been getting worse every year!

Too early for the Chehalis, Vedder is your best option this time of year.