Gnat Creek Wednesday Report

[Jeremy]

Fished Gnat Creek for 3 hours on wednesday. Saw three fish and hooked one. The one i hooked was the best of the three and only had a small spot of deteriorating skin on its back (First steelhead i have hooked ever!!!), the other two both had nice big patches of fungus on them. Water level was really low and most of the log jams were impassable so these fish had been in there for a while and they were all in the same hole (The one below the big rock face that comes within like 5 feet of the highway above)

[St Helens Fisherman]

Did you happen to go on down to Big Creek when you went to Gnat Creek ? Was Wondering if its same story on Big Creek.

Garret

[Jeremy]

Nope just hit Gnat Creek more area to fish and i called the big creek hatchery line and they have still only received 39 fish since the beginning of the year so i went and explored Gnat Creek a little because i havent fished it as much as big creek. Im sure they will both be pretty bad till we get about a week of good rain.

[KilgoreTrout]

I have seen several posts for Big Creek and Gnat creek. Where are they located?? Are they anywhere close to Beaverton?

Thanks,

Dave

They are just a weee bit East of Astoria, best accessed on Hwy 30.

[OR Coast Range]

From Beaverton, follow the signs to St. Hellens. Then just stay on Hwy 30 (the creeks are about 20 miles this side of Astoria).

The first creek you'll come to will be Gnat Creek. You'll see signs for the Gnat Creek hatchery and there is a pull off by the bridge. Be prepared to hike between holes, there isn't much water running. There is a lot of log jams and the water is pretty easy to read.

Big Creek is a ways past it. When you get to Knappa Junction, take a left. There is a county park right there with a few drifts. If you keep going on that same road, you'll see signs for the Big Creek Hatchery. There are a few good drifts below the hatchery. If you go back out to Hwy 30 and head towards Astoria, you'll see a side road on the right called Old Hwy 30. Take this, then take a left on one of the side roads. You'll follow the creek for a while, but its all private property. At the property line you can walk in to the creek, or you can keep going to the railroad tracks and fish the mouth.

[This message has been edited by Oregon Fish Chaser (edited 01-26-2001).]