Hermann Creek reports?

[Gizmo Man]

HI: Anyone try fishing at Hermann creek, near Cascade Locks.

Any reports, methods etc, would be appreciated.

Giz...

[Oakie Drifter]

You are right when you say Herman creek has "cooled off" when it comes to fishing. I have fished there, now ten years, every year. Yes, last year was disappointing but this year is even more so. I have been skunked every time this year where as previous years took out many limits of steelhead and salmon mostly during the month of August.

I know that the fish like that cool water when the Columbia gets warm, and I know that everyone has said that the Columbia is warm right now, BUT, if you go check the temperature of the water off this site...http://www.cqs.washington.edu/dart/adult.html. you will see that it is actually two degrees celcius cooler than the previous years. Two degress means alot to the fish. The Columbia, unfortunately, is too cool to make my old fishing holes any good. I am very sad that!
So, I have a new plan. I, as of today, purchased alot of anchor line, a large bouy, and am going to learn how to anchor up off Govt. Island where some friends of mine have been fishing and doing well! In fact, my buddy today caught two chinooks there and Im just waiting for them to come off the river, as Im going to drive down to Chinook landing and meet them to see the fish and to get a quick lesson on how to rig up this anchor system!
Yesterday, we went to Eagle Creek and trolled our little hearts out trying EVEYTHING without a single bite. I sure did mark alot of fish though!!!! More later!

[chuck 'n' duck]

Giz

Sorry about the report of Herman Creek being hot. Apparently, according to the two posts above, it is anything but. I got my update from a friend who works with somebody that reported hooked six fish on the fly in the past three evenings. Can't verify it, so maybe it is a bunk report.

Sorry,

Chuck 'n' Duck

[Oakie Drifter]

C 'n' D, I would guess that someone did get that many steelhead on a fly lately up there. Fishing there is funny that way sometimes. Good or lucky, I think good. The fish are out further than usual and have had a bad case of lock jaw. But, it reminds me of the fishing report I got today from the mouth of the Lewis River. I was told by my friend that there were about 11 boats fishing there today, and the only boat that caught fish was the one with four guys in it and they caught eight fish and released four. No one else could touch a fish! Whats up with that????

[Gizmo Man]

First, I would like to thank you, who responded, for taking the time and giving informative information.

I fished the mouth of the Lewis for a couple of hrs. this pm. The wind blew most off the river. When I got there about 2, the wind laid down some. There were 3 boats trolling and 2 anchored. One of the anchored boats got 2 silvers. The guys I talked to trolling did not own up to having any fish.

I did not catch any. The wind came up as the tide turned about 4 so I left.

Any ideas out there for tomorrow???(a place out of the wind)

Thanks, Giz...

[chuck 'n' duck]

I was wondering if anyone would bring this topic up.

With the Columbia this warm, the steelies are looking to cool off. They will nose into the cool creeks that feed into the Columbia before proceeding back up the big river. Herman Creek, Eagle Creek, and many others are very good spots to target these fish. I have not been to Herman in a couple of years, but I have heard that the fishing is hot right now. I no longer go because that place is like a "steelhead farm", there are just tons of fish stacked up in the mouth of the creek. Many of the fish are unintentially snagged, and after being played out and released, have a very low survival rate. It is not uncommon to see chromers washed up on the bank due to such circumstances.

Back when I did fish this spot, my favored method was the flyrod with an intermediate sinking shooting head attached to floating running line, 10-12' leader, and a slightly weighted size eight woolly bugger. My favorite colors were black and red or brown and orange. Olive is productive too. Just cast out, wait until the line has sunk to the desired depth, and then slowly strip in the line. The steelhead here are very lethargic and they do not take very hard. There will be the slightest tap indicating a steelhead has inhaled the fly. The best times to hit the creek are early in the morning and in the evening.

I have also seen people plunking sand shrimp or eggs on the bottom and doing very well.

I would recommend that anybody fishing here try to break-off fish that they have foul hooked. Fish hooked in areas that give poor leverage to the fisherman (i.e. side or tail) are very hard to get to the boat in a reasonable amount of time. This increases stress on the fish, and reduces their chance of survival upon release.

Good luck and tight lines,

Chuck 'n' Duck

[finclipped]

This fishery is slowly going away. Two years ago the fishing was hot. Last year it slowed down and this year has been disappointing. A few fisherman are dialed in and doing pritty well, but I see a lot of fowl hooked steelhead on flies.

The mill use to ship saw dust out of the channel next to the creek. They would load up at Herman and consequently needed to dredge the channel to keep it deep enough to get barges in and out. I believe the deep cold water of Herman Creek, drew the fish in for a cool shot of water. For the last couple years the "hole" has been filling in with rocks and gravel and the fishing has tapered off. I still see some fish being caught toward the mouth of the creek, and most of them are caught on flies. The method in the previous post, indicated the best way to fish for them. Not what it was, but still a shot at catching a fish.