Northwest Fishing Reports

Im pretty new to drift fishing. How is the drift from 7400 bridge to White bridge

It's pretty straightforward. There is a boulder garden that can get dicey in lower water, but the rest of the way is smooth sailing and shouldn't give you much of a problem. The garden is a straight shot between some rocks, I go left and ride straight through. There are rollers in higher water that are fun, and two more to aim between at the bottom.

It's probably safer than white bridge to black creek in my opinion. Less wood, for one thing. It's long, and in low flows be prepared for a long day, lots of boon dogging water. Bobber dog the edges, right up under the trees. You'll lose a lot of gear if you're not careful. If in doubt, fish right.

Stay alert and keep your eye around the corner and you should be okay as long as you're confident on the oars.

Nate, is that the stretch we did the video on?

Yep.

Here ya go. Is the rock garden at the three minute mark? I can't remember if we got it on film or missed it.



Hey Nate - 4,912 views.

Wow, that's a lot of people that have seen me be awkward on camera. I still can't stand watching myself, I fast forward. That wasn't the rapids, I think it was on the approach though. You'll know when you come up on it, it's noisy. There are a couple of rocks in that section, then it islands out, right is a tiny side channel, left is the fun part.

All in all, it's an easy drift.

@KBF1961 - what are you drifting in, and what rivers have you been down before, I can give you a comparison.

Thanks for the info. How long did it take ya? Do you remember what the flows where?

natetreat wrote:Wow, that's a lot of people that have seen me be awkward on camera. I still can't stand watching myself, I fast forward. That wasn't the rapids, I think it was on the approach though. You'll know when you come up on it, it's noisy. There are a couple of rocks in that section, then it islands out, right is a tiny side channel, left is the fun part.

All in all, it's an easy drift.

@KBF1961 - what are you drifting in, and what rivers have you been down before, I can give you a comparison.

HA ! 15' aluminum drift boat. First drift. In my defense though I have been running boats for many yrs. Im a tugboat captain.

I picked up my driftboat in march in Bremerton and drove straight to the wynoochee to fish and learn to row. Its an easy and safe river to learn to row on. Both drifts are easy in higher flows, and still relatively easy in low flows. When its low you can just get out if you need to. First drift i ever did in my boat was white bridge to black creek and did it with a breeze, second day i did 7400 to white bridge, little tougher but still pretty easy. I think we hooked like 17 fish in those two days as well.


Heres a video i made on the nooch as well!

Great vid Thanks. Im going to be getting on that river pretty quick

I have been told that I should look at the Wynoochie to float my toon. I am looking to break in my toon and myself on a river as soon as baseball season is over. My plan is to hit a nice and easy river with other people around just in case I effe it up. I have absolutely no issues on lakes but I know rivers are a different matter all together. I was hesitant at first about trying the nooch, but watching Nate's videos helps some. Anybody thinking about floating it want some company? Would prefer to do this with some backup.

kbf1961 wrote:

natetreat wrote:Wow, that's a lot of people that have seen me be awkward on camera. I still can't stand watching myself, I fast forward. That wasn't the rapids, I think it was on the approach though. You'll know when you come up on it, it's noisy. There are a couple of rocks in that section, then it islands out, right is a tiny side channel, left is the fun part.

All in all, it's an easy drift.

@KBF1961 - what are you drifting in, and what rivers have you been down before, I can give you a comparison.

HA ! 15' aluminum drift boat. First drift. In my defense though I have been running boats for many yrs. Im a tugboat captain.

It depends on the flows how long it takes, when it's low there are some flat spots that will take forever. It's about 14 miles if I'm not mistaken, but you're boat should handle it just fine. The upper launch is 4x4 necessary, especially if it's muddy.

For your first drift, it's very reasonable, and before it gets anything close to technical you'll have 5 or so miles of rowing under your belt to get the hang of it. Another good beginner drift is to drift from barrier to Blue Creek on the Cowlitz. Not technical, no real hazards and it's also very fishy! If you'd like to get out and learn some of the drifts before you go down yourself, you can book a trip with me and I can show you the ropes. And if you'd like, give you some rowing lessons as well in my pavati.

Always remember, no matter how easy of a run you can always mess up or have something go wrong. Like losing your boat/gear/ect. or even worse.
There is a lot of people who go down in the sillest ways were no one ever should have just because they stopped paying attention thinking it would be a cake walk.

How does the Humptulips compare? Would that be a better river to start on?

kbf1961 wrote:How does the Humptulips compare? Would that be a better river to start on?

Not until fish are there. The Hump is more technical, a lot more wood in the corners. I'd wait until fall to do that run, when there are kings in it. Everyone starts on the Wynoochee, bring someone that knows the river your first time out and you'll be fine.

natetreat wrote:

kbf1961 wrote:How does the Humptulips compare? Would that be a better river to start on?

Not until fish are there. The Hump is more technical, a lot more wood in the corners. I'd wait until fall to do that run, when there are kings in it. Everyone starts on the Wynoochee, bring someone that knows the river your first time out and you'll be fine.

Anybody want to join me?

7400 gate may be closed. the timber company is going to shut down access here. they are concerned with the increase in traffic here.

Yea I read the thread and saw the picture on WFF. Not a good sign. It's such a popular drift though, I'm finding it hard to believe that they'd close it completely.

spoke with the company. they said they were concerned with increased traffic on their PRIVATE haul rd. tons of traffic equals tons of road damage equals tons of maintenance. also the sand shrimp containers and other just basic litter has not helped along with the tons of press and overall disrespect of the place. by winter next year the gate will close and increased haul traffic will begin stemming from increased logging on the far side of the river. since no one seems to ownor use a radio the liability and likelihood some wingnut towing a boat racing the rest of the circus to the put in will meet a log truck is high. company says its not worth it. great job out there to everyone that loved this access to death.

I haven't seen that there has been a significant trash problem at the bridge. No more than most maintained WDFW access areas. I'm not saying that it's okay to litter, it's not, but it doesn't seem that significant. The roads on the other hand will see a lot of wear with the traffic that it gets on that put in.

This really closes down 14 miles of river to fishing. This is very bad. If we though that February was crowded last year, think about how crawded it will be when we can only drift black creek. I don't think we can really blame boaters, I'd blame the company for not wanting to deal with them. They don't have to let us use it, but it's a PIA that they won't now.