Steelies up by Faraday?

[madoc]

Howdy all,

I normally go up to Faraday lake later in the summer for hatchery rainbows, but I know that I have seen steelhead down in the river below the dam - anyone fish that area?

 

[ArcticAmoeba]

Yes, the upper Clack still has a very small run of legit, wild Steelhead. They mostly run up the Callowash, but some head up some little creeks that I know of. Almost none are reatinable, as they capture all the clipped fish at the Dam, and run them down to Feldheimer Rd. or Barton Park and let them hit the gauntlet again. It is best to not target these fish, due to the already low return numbers, but the stretch below the Faraday Dam does get some Chinook. Used to be called the Jig Hole back in the day.

 

[adambomb]

steelies indeed

steelies indeed

i fished faraday this AM from 7 to 12 and i probably saw 30 steelhead. i saw them solo, i saw them in schools of 3 to 7, i saw them swim upstream, i saw them swim downstream, i even saw a coulple go airborne like freakin dolphins! the only thing i didn't see was one with my lure in its mouth! i dont know if some were the last of the winter run, they looked kinda rough, and had white spots around their heads. but the other ones were more full of life and probably early summers? any advice on landing any of these fish would be greatly appreciated.

 

[FishFinger]

Jig and bobber have been know to pull more than a few steelhead out of faraday.

 

[osmosis]

Fish lower in the clackamas and you have a shot a being able to keep a hatchery fish. There are so few wild steelhead in that river nowadays that there is no reason to harrass them for simple C&R.

 

[metalmania]

I didn't think it was even legal to angle for salmonids above north fork reservoir.

 

[FishFinger]

Fish lower in the clackamas and you have a shot a being able to keep a hatchery fish. There are so few wild steelhead in that river nowadays that there is no reason to harrass them for simple C&R.

If Osmosis chimes in as he did, I'd heed his instructions and not target natives. I was looking through a buddies fish photo album recently and several of the pictures (from '04) included some nice hatchery steel plucked out of Faraday via bobber and jig. However that was 5 yrs ago and a lot can change in that length of time.