Through the morning mist, you may see elk herds on a gravel bar, eagle feeding on a spawned-out coho, or tracks of a bear or cougar on a sandbank. You’ll see some of North America’s oldest trees -- 300-foot-plus Sitka spruces, and 500-year-old cedars. But you won’t see any riverside homes, cows, gravel mines or “No Trespassing” signs.

HARTZELL TO CLEARWATER
By the time you read this, the busy time of year on the six miles between the Hartzell Creek boat ramp and the take-out at the Clearwater River Bridge will have come and gone. During early winter, thousands of hatchery steelhead bound for the Salmon River head up this portion of the Queets, attracting armadas of drift boats and lines of bank anglers.

During spring, when the road is open, action usually shifts to wild fish and the upper river. Boat-fishermen launch at Streaters Crossing or Sams River (at the campground), and the campground becomes a staging area. But steelhead bound for the upper river must first negotiate the water between the park boundary and Hartzell Creek, and anglers on the lower river have a good shot at large bright fish.

By March, when the winter’s big storms are over, the Queets usually flows within its channel and has more clarity than at any time since autumn. Indeed, glacial rivers like the Queets typically have two peak flows each year, one in early winter and a run-off that peaks in early summer.

The average March and April flows are 5,300 cfs and 4,100 cfs, respectively, down from 8,300 and 7,500 in December and January. This makes it much easier to read water and spot holding lies, and lets anglers fish with lighter tackle and lures.

Side-drifting with bait is popular with boat anglers during winter, but regulations restrict anglers to artificial lures and single barbless hooks from March 1 through April 15.

In recent years, jigs and worms have been the most popular spring-season rigs. In the Queets’ glacial waters, the standard hot pink worms get a steelhead’s attention, as do jigs with either bright fluorescent or black marabou. Plugs such as Tadpollys, Hot Shots and Wiggle Warts also take their share of fish.

Many bank anglers fish traditional drift gear. But in spring’s lower, warmer flows, large bright spoons and spinners are effective, especially on aggressive buck steelhead.

HARTZELL CREEK TO MATHENY CREEK
For safety reasons, the park was prohibiting anglers from hiking around the washout to fish above Matheny Creek. But even if you can’t get there, several miles of prime springtime steelhead water flows between the Hartzell Creek ramp and the washout. The Queets River Road provides only glimpses of the river at a couple of spots on this stretch, but it is never more than a half-mile away.

Before the road was blocked, I often clambered over blowdowns to reach a remote riffle, only to watch a procession of drift boats that had launched at Streaters Crossing or Sams River. If it’s still closed, you won’t have this problem. If you bother to hike into the river above Hartzell Creek, you’ll be pretty much alone. The term “social filter” describes situations that force people to walk more than a few hundred yards.