Flow Levels

Dennis Dauble is an accomplished fisherman who is also the author of two books... the first is "Fishes of the Columbia Basin" and it's a guide for the naturalist angler so it describes 50 or more species of fish in the Columbia Basin. The second book is called the "Barbless Hook' and it's about the fishing experience itself. Whether you are a steelhead fishermen or not, listen to what Dennis has to say about his steelhead fishing experiences because you will learn that there are a lot of factors that the fish themselves take into account and that has an impact on your ability to catch fish. "When we are talking about flows, we are talking about the discharge of the river and the seasonality of that and how floes trigger entry of steelhead into the river and also how it affects your ability to catch them. You have to fish differently at low flows than you do at high flows. I have fished the Walla Walla River ever since I caught my first under a bridge near Mount Freewater when I was 16. That led me to an addiction for steelhead fishing all over the Pacific Northwest but this time of the year, mid-November through February, I still like to fish the Blue Mountain streams. So what I have found is that steelhead respond to flow. We always get an early run of fish with that first high water event in early fall and that can be either because of an extended rain period or because of an early snow melt. There is a rush of fish that comes in then and that is when the best fishing is in my experience.