On an Olympic Peninsula river, pink worms enticed this 22-pound wild steelhead to hit Capt. Mike Baxter's line. Photo courtesy of Steve Carson.

A pod of about half a dozen bright steelhead was holding in a short glide. They hadn't spotted me yet, so the fish were holding in that water, unconcerned. I had coaxed a landowner into letting me fish his stretch of the Naselle River in Washington, and was probably the first angler to approach the fish that day.

Staying in the cover of the bankside brush, I sent a single red unadorned corkie drifting toward them down the glide. On that first drift, as often happens with undisturbed fish, one took the bait gently into his mouth.

I struck quickly. The fish bolted upstream, shaking his head to dislodge the No. 4 hook. Later, after a fine tussle. I admired the nice hatchery hen -- a good one, at about 9 pounds. The fish was chrome-bright and still carried a pair of sea lice near its tail.

Before the rest of them got wise, that school of steelhead would yield another hatchery fish -- this time, a fine buck.

My fishing partner for the day had just landed a bright, 6-pound winter steelhead in a small glide above. He had spotted a pair of fish, and got both of them to take his corkie. He landed the one after a crazy fight on the 6-pound-test we were forced to use on the small, low-running river.

Working undisturbed steelhead is a treat that every steelheader loves. But all too often, we find our favorite river jammed with boats and packed with shore anglers. The best, most productive steelhead rivers are well known. In Internet discussions and bankside talks among the Northwest's steelheaders, the term "combat fishing" often comes to the forefront.

The Cowlitz, Bogachiel and Chehalis, among others, attract the lion's share of interest -- and rightly so.

At one time or another, however, most of us have yearned for a little peace -- and some room for ourselves.

There are plenty of streams in Washington where an angler can find some solitude. Most of them are small compared to the big-name rivers, too small for boats and not attractive to guides. Some offer little public access, and others are just plain difficult to reach.

To get in on this kind of fishing, you're going to have to knock on doors or do some serious hiking and brush-busting. You'll also need some basic knowledge of how to fish smaller steelhead waters, and probably have to give up on the luxury of a boat.

All of these streams get fished some by local anglers, and see some level of competition.

Rick Ereth of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said that anglers are good at rooting out and exploring new spots.

"They go to our Web site and they check the catch rates," he said. "Then they look them up on a map, and go out and try them."

In other words, there's no longer any such thing as a secret steelhead stream.

Keeping that in mind, here is a small sampling of some of Washington's lesser-fished steelhead waters.

WILLAPA BAY RIVERS
This shallow bay along Washington's southern coast is fed by a number of good steelhead streams. Most of them receive good runs of hatchery and wild winter steelhead.

Hatchery fish return in December and January, and the wild runs enter the rivers in February and March.