Stehekin River

[Tom Eggert]

Hello all,

I have about 4 weeks off this summer, and I’m trying to plan a few backpacking trips. I have been to Sahale peak/Boston peak a couple times, and it has made me want to go over cascade pass into Stehekin Valley and try fishing on the river, maybe add a couple day trips into higher lakes along the way. I don’t know how great the fishing is, but the idea of getting to a very remote river is appealing. I am curious if anyone here has done this and entered from the cascade pass end? Specifically, I’m curious how far downstream you need to travel before the river becomes fishable/productive. I have the time to do the whole length if necessary. Alternatively I could start from Stehekin, but I have imagined doing this as an out and back from cascade pass rather than a through hike as I anticipate leaving my car at the sahale/cascade trailhead. Thanks!

Tom

[Brian Curtis]

This is a great question. I’m not sure how far down the river you would need to go to find fish, but my best guess is that you wouldn’t have to go very far. I’m going to hazard a guess fish will start showing pretty much as soon as you get off the steep hillside and hit the valley bottom.

[Tom Eggert]

Thanks Brian!

[Brian]

I admittedly have a screw or two loose but I was on a fishing trip of a river near the ALW with a friend when we crossed a bridge on a popular trail over a maybe 20′ x 15′ pool in this creek. My friend had a 9′ 4 weight fly rod, and I had a couple of Tenkara rods. I looked at that little pool and said “I KNOW there are fish in that pool, I want to catch one”. My friend laughed me and sat down to take a drink of water and munch on a Larabar. I took two minutes to string up a level line pre-rigged with a pheasant tail Sakasa fly on a T-rod. On the first cast a small fish went for it but missed. 2nd cast hooked, landed and released a 6″ native Cutthroat. Couple more casts and a 2nd identical fish hooked, landed and released. After looking at a map I think I figured the creek is at about an 11% gradient in and out of that pool.

Most folks with any sense are looking for bigger fish, but fish can be found in pools on some pretty high gradient streams. The question is if your gear can effectively fish the small pools that can hold surprisingly large fish.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by Brian.

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[Brian Curtis]

Nice! It can be surprising just how small creeks can be that have fish. Often the fish got there because they dropped down from stocked lakes. And way back in the day Trail Blazers often stocked mountain streams.

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