Kennedy Creek 11/11/06 (non kayak)

I woke up this morning a decided to go fishing.  Got in the truck heading south not quite sure where I'd end up.  I figured I hook around Olympia and start driving towards Hoodsport.  I stopped at Kennedy Creek around 9:00 to check it out and it wasn't so crowded (meaning I had a place to stand) and lots of action.  So I fished.  Waded out a bit on the east side of the bridge and stood there as the tide came in.  It was pretty steady action the whole time I was there.  Must have caught about a dozen chums and crackered half as many in the 3 hours I fished.  I ended up keeping 2 somewhat bright hens (they still had sea lice on them) to give the smoker another go.  They had some nice roe for steelhead bait too!  A pink corkie and chartreuse yarn with shrimp smelly jelly was my bait of choice today.

-Allen

Good going, Polepole!  And good luck smoking those chums.

So what might it be like to try to fish for some steelhead from a kayak on one of the less pressured (less moaterboat traffic) rivers?  Is this something that you've ever considered?  I was down at the OE today, to buy that new mooching rod, and I mentioned to the clerk that I wanted to land a steelhead tomorrow.  And he starts telling me how great the river steely fishing can be if you can locate a good spot.  I don't know how big or small or how pressured the Bogachiel is, but he says the Bogey can be GREAT in Dec.  He says that the river fish are as tasty as the sea runs too.

So what do you think chief?  Is this a do-able sport... something to do in the months that I don't like to plan open salt water trips?

Fishin-T

I've thought about it ... but only for a brief instant.  I used to whitewater kayak so I have some river experience.  Unless were talking about a slow river,  I don't think of this as particularly safe in our longer boats.  I've been thinking about getting a single man river pontoon for just such occasions.  The guys using pontoons use them mainly for river travel, but get out and fish from the banks and not from their toons so much.  A shorter SOT could work the same way.

I forgot to mention something from Saturday.  I had just landed the first hen I was going to keep, which was hard enough to do while standing in thigh deep water.  There were waste deep trenches all around me and I didn't want to go back to the bank through the trenches with a fish on lest I fall in myself.   I was finally able to tail the fish.  I then grabbed her by the gills and unhooked her.  My stinger was somewhere in my backpack.  I put my fishing rod between my legs and started to fumble with the backpack which was hard to do as I had a fish in one hand and the backpack strapped across both shoulders.  I was sort of all messed up trying to hold the rod, hold the fish, and swing the backpack around my front, but eventually was able to get the stinger.  No sooner had I grabbed the stringer when my rod started pulling.  I had let the jig dangle in the water and a fish had grabbed it.  Ok, so my messed up position just got messier!   

The stringer was tied together so I had to somehow untie it with one hand and my teeth.  I just let the fish run, but I was a bit worried that I didn't have a great grip with my legs.  After a couple minutes of fumbling around I finally got the fish on the stringer.  The guys on the bank AND the guys on the other side of the stream were laughing something fierce.  And they all hollered loudly when I reared back on my rod and the fish was still on!  I did manage to land and release that fish ...

-Allen

That sounds like a shot for americas funniest home videos. I saw a head cam at shopko for $125 that would be fun to have fishing. It does video clips and you plug it in to your tvset.

I don't know anything about the Bogachiel other then what I read in the state parks guide that I have. It says that you can float the Bogachiel from the state park. this is what it says exactly.

"In all but high water season the river bed is an expanse of water worn rocks, with intermittent pools where trout lurk. A state steelhead-rearing area 8 miles down stream contributes to excellent runs of winter steelhead. Put in here for paddling trips down the quiet river to its confluence with the Sol Duc, some 15.5 river miles way. At this point the merged waterways become the Quuillayute river and flow on for 5 more miles to reach the Pacific Ocean."

 Now with all the rain I dought that its approachable right now from the kayak point of view. But hey if you wanted to stay a weekend at the state park and fish that area, that can't be to bad, can it?