Wynoochee River

The Wynoochee comes out of the southern Olympics, through Wynoochee Lake and its dam, and runs south, about 60 miles in all, to the Chehalis at Montesano. The dam is what sets it apart. It was built for flood control and water supply, and it evens out the flows below it, so the Wynoochee holds its shape after rain better than the Satsop or the Humptulips, and it is often fishable when they are not. Below the dam it is a mix of tight timber-country water up high and long runs and deep holes lower down, nearly all of it reached through private and timber company land.

It has steelhead almost all year. Summer steelhead are in from June and hold through the fall, a rarity on this side of the Peninsula. Winter steelhead come in two waves: a mostly hatchery run that enters in December and peaks in late January, and a mostly wild run that enters in January and peaks in late February. The season runs to March 31, with selective gear rules above Old White Bridge from January. Coho and a modest number of Chinook come in during October and November.

Read the flows at the gauge above Black Creek, at the bottom of the classic drift. Because the dam smooths the water, the window is easy to read: about 600 to 1,900 CFS fishes, around 1,700 is good, and above about 1,900 it is too high to fish a fly well. Past about 3,000 it is out. Most anglers here fish gear, but the runs from Old White Bridge to Black Creek swing well, and summer steelhead in the upper river take a fly in clear, low water.