Wayne Kruse’s Pick of the Week: Drano Lake Steelhead
Published 4:30 pm Wednesday, August 3, 2016
No, it doesn’t produce all the magic moments we all look for when chasing steelhead — no standing navel-deep in 33-degree water, no ice in the guides, no leak in the waders, no numb fingers — but it does have one huge advantage: lots of fish. A run of some 265,000 Columbia River summer steelhead is currently passing “Drano Lake,” and many of those fish swing in to the lake’s cool water as a quick escape from the big river’s much warmer temperatures.
Drano Lake is the pool at the mouth of the Little White Salmon River, some 12 miles above Stevenson and across from Hood River, Oregon, and the fishing there beats almost any other steelhead fishing in the state when the run is in progress.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife creel checks there last week, including wild fish released, counted about a fish per rod for boat anglers. For the previous week, 42 boaters kept 29 steelhead and released 16. The agency counted 40 boats on the pool Sunday morning, and biologist Joe Hymer in Vancouver said both the participation and the catch is increasing. The fishery should remain good through Labor Day, he said, with nice fish from 7 or 8 pounds up to 13-pounds plus.
Most of the action involves anchored boat plunking with float and coonstripe shrimp or prawn, or trolling spinners on downriggers. Some night fishing is done, using blinking lures, and fly fishing can be good from prams or inflatables. Bank plunking is pretty much limited to a small area called Social Security Beach, Hymer said.
