Well after reading the reports about how the upper snake was doing I decided to give it a try. So after the snow storm I loaded my first mate (9 year old son) and a friend that has fished for steelhead many times from shore and has not had one on the line.

So I took my boat to hells Gate Park to put in around 12:30 (with snow on the roads and the cougar game It took forever to get down there from Spokane) and we motored up to 10 mile rapids and started to back troll all the way down to hen and chicks. We did that twice with no luck and on the last drift we decided to head back to the launch because it was getting dark. So we decided to troll with the current to get back to the park as a last ditch effort to put some fish on the boat and within moments of turning around and getting the speed right bam fish on so I took the wheel so my friend could get his first fish. He got it to the boat and the thing jumped to say “hi” and to politely spit the hook in our face.

So amped up with a fish on we turned and motored back up and headed back down stream. Put the plugs back out to 60 feet with the mikes sandsrimp stinkum. And trolled right back over where we just got the last fish and prayed for another chance. And a thanksgiving miracle happened bam fish on and again my friend grabbed the pole and fight on but this time we netted it and with that the cherry was popped.

The plug that caught was a magnum mikel Jackson (black with sparkles) with mikes sandsrimp stinkum. I would like to thank kenbarb for the great reports that helped me decide on coming down thank you very much.

kenbarb

11/20/2011 7:51:00 PM

Good for you nellythe1th, I am so glad that you got fish!!. The area you fished produces a lot of fish and is fished a lot, the next time you are here you might want to go upriver a little farther, it narrows and the fish are more concentrated, there are excellent driftts from Ackerman Bar, to Heller Bar. Congratulations for having the guts to brave it in those weather conditions, you are my kind of fisherman.

nellythe1th

11/20/2011 9:20:00 PM

Kenbarb I would love to go farther up but I have a 18 foot hewes with an outboard and I got about half way through the 10 mile rapids and got a little worried when I was reading 3 feet on the depthfinder. Are there boat launches that I can go to get to those bars or do you have any advice on how to navigate the river. People tell me that you can get up there with a prop but I would hate to learn the hard way. Oh and that river is beautiful I look forward to going down more often. oh and how late in the season can you catch fish on that part of the snake?? Thanks nellythe1th

kenbarb

11/21/2011 7:32:00 AM

When you saw 3' on your depthfinder you were at the most shallow part of the rapid, just a short distance and you would have been through it. If a person is good at reading the water, they can navigate the river to Heller Bar and beyond with a prop boat, but eventually the lower unit will pay the price. You should be able to get to a medium size rapid just below Buffalo Eddy, there is a island at this rapid, you would take the left side. There is a shallow launch at Couse Creek, and another launch a short distance above Buffalo Eddy. It is a deep launch, quite a few people use it, it is all rock and gravel, you might want to look this one over. Go to Google Maps, you can look at these locations, even print out a river chart. The farther you go up the canyon the more beautiful it gets, you will love it. We fish for Steelhead until early March, they are there, not going anywhere, just waiting for spawning time. Ken

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