Welcome to Pateros, WA – Population 616 2

We had originally planned on hitting the Snake and Clearwater near Lewiston, Idaho for a few days to get our fall summer steelhead fix, but when we heard our trip was planned the same week as the Snake/Clearwater Steelhead Derby it didn't take long for my fishing partner Chad Newton and I to redirect our efforts to someplace a lot less crowded. That "someplace" happened to be Pateros, Washington, which resides in its blink-and-you-might-miss-it splendor at the confluence of the Methow and Columbia Rivers. Population 616, that's my kind of town.

A few phone calls to the steelhead junkie network confirmed good numbers of fish in the Methow and Upper Columbia and the ground was layed for a few days of goofing off in one of my favorite areas, Okanogan County. Thru the junkie network we hooked up with a landowner that owns a prime chunk of real estate on the lower Methow and most importantly, a golf cart and path to access several of the primo runs behind his little slice of paradise.

Here's Chad gearing up after cruising down to the river from Mikes house in the steelhead taxi.  

On my fourth cast behind the big rock in the right of the photo my Thill float went down and I layed into what would turn out to be a huge steelhead for the Methow. Middle of the day, gin clear water, head of the pool…take note.

With 10 pound mainline and 8 pound leader turning the bottom-augering buck was a chore, but I eventually tailed what turned out to be a 35" Methow River summer steelhead. Huge for the Met…perhaps it was lost.

Notice the tiny "Roe Bot" jig in the yap of the buck. Small egg pattern-esque jigs are deadly in low and clear water for summer steelhead. When I saw these at Outdoor Emporium I didn't buy just one, I bought all of them!

Wanting to explore some new water we hit the Big C the next morning with Chads jet boat. Black and red jigs tipped with prawns cured in Pautzke's Fire Cure are the drill on the big river, working the jigs around the rocks along the edges of the river in 10 to 14 feet of water with a sliding float.

Our next stop was the trash rack on the upstream side of Wells Dam where apparently the work crew was on lunch break. Nice way to spend lunch break, eh? Fish On!

Steelhead pour out of the fish ladder in Wells Dam and  thru the trash rack before entering the main river. Again, jigs tipped with prawn are the ticket here and the fishing can be fast and furious here when the bites on. There were plenty of fish around, but the only taker was this nice buck that Chad hit on a blue and silver Vibrax. After we made no less than 2,000 passes with the jigs he switched up to the spinner and got hammered by this spunky fish in short order.

That evening we re-launched the boat at Marina Park in Bridgeport, approximately 10 miles from Pateros, and fished an area called the "Blow Hole" below Chief Joseph Dam. The "Blow Hole" is actually an outflow pipe that burps water from the hatchery, drawing fish to it in the process. There were plenty of fish stacked up along this edge of the river and we had our chances, losing several before heading for the Mexican joint in Brewster for some din-din. These two mule deer swam right past the boat as we were fishing this area. If you're ever in Brewster the Mexican restaurant there is outstanding!

We fished the Coyote Rocks downstream from Pateros this morning for a couple of hours before making our way back to town to take a few laps around the pool. This place is an absolute no-brainer if you want to get your kids or loved one into a steelhead. Several docks jut out from the Pateros City Park and there's a boat launch across the street. Car toppers with electric motors work just fine in this setting, as well as your jet boat, bass boat, or ski boat. There's very little current and it's primarily just a jig and float show here, tossing your gear out and letting it drift slowly along until a steelhead swims past and yanks your float under. Trolling plugs also works here and also in the mouth of the Methow. The dock crowd catches plenty of fish here!

A black/red/white Sy's jig tipped with Pautzke cured prawn popped this summer run today right below the freeway bridge in Pateros. Set the bobber stop at 10 to 15 feet, throw it out there, and sit back and wait. Lot's of beaver around these parts also, if you're into that sort of thing.

Curing up prawns for this style of fishing is also a no-brainer. I buy 50 count prawns at the market, peel the tails, spinkle some Fire Cure on them and place them in the reefer in a Tupperware container overnight. Either rotate the container or shake it around every few hours to ensure that all the prawns get cured and they are ready to fish the next morning. Add scent to them if you like or they work excellent without scent, as the Fire Cure has krill in it that hatchery steelhead are very fond of.