Nick Amato brought this nice winter-run steelhead to the boat using side-drifting tactics. His hard work paid off with four steelhead for two anglers on the morning run. Photo by Gary Lewis

You have to earn winter steelhead.

Success is in relationship to the work you put in: Penetrating the quiet fog over the river, sliding your drift boat down a muddy bank, navigating through a patch of ice-covered boulders. When you find the school, you may just get one cast to drift your bait or run your jig through the slot. But it's all worth it when the fish grabs the steel and tail-walks in a crash of surface spray and foam.

It has never been easy. You find the fish and then they're gone and the search starts all over again. Information is often the difference between success and failure.

Water or the lack thereof, was the topic of conversation all over the Pacific Northwest last winter. Many rivers did not get enough rain to bring in the fish. Instead, steelhead trickled in, often unnoticed and unheralded. While some rivers fell so low that steelheaders hung up their waders, other rivers produced extraordinary fishing.

This year again we'll watch our calendars and the sky. And like every other year, nature will have her way with us. But winter steelheaders are optimists, and we're ready for the challenge.

Here is our forecast for the Northwest's best winter steelhead fishing. We've talked to many of the premier fishermen in both states to help you plot your course to steelhead success. We'll tell you which rivers offer the most fish and where you've got your best chance at hooking a 20-pounder.

OLYMPIC PENINSULA
Local anglers call the Olympic Peninsula the steelhead capital of the world. And why not? These waters offer legendary fishing from late November through April for strong runs of hatchery and wild fish. Olympic Peninsula rivers are short and steep, averaging 30 to 40 miles in length, and run straight into the ocean.

Thanks to catch-and-release regulations, management that keeps nets out of the water for a few days each week, and the fact that steelhead don't have to run a gauntlet of sea lions, many fish make it back to peninsula spawning grounds each year.

Hatchery steelheading peaks in December. These fish average 6 to 8 pounds. In February and March drift the Sol Duc, Calawah, Hoh, Bogachiel or Queets for your crack at fish that average 10 to 13 pounds and may weigh close to 30. In 2003, guide Jim Mansfield (360-374-9018) caught his best ever steelhead while fishing the upper Hoh. Taking quick measurements of length and girth he let it go and then ran the numbers. That fish would have weighed about 33.8 pounds, bigger than the current Washington state record!

Anglers are looking forward to another good season. Mansfield recommends watching the river flows before heading out. He won't fish the Hoh, one of his favorite rivers, when the water is rising. This glacially fed river heads in the rainforest and can gather 200 inches of rain a year. For up-to-date river flows, go online to http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/rt.

You'll have the best fishing when the water is emerald green with 3 to 5 feet of visibility. Some anglers cast flies or spinners or drift a jig and float. From a drift boat, try side-drifting with cured roe.

WESTERN WASHINGTON
Last season saw one of the best runs of big native steelhead in many seasons on the Snoqualmie, Skykomish and Snohomish rivers. A lot of big fish were landed in the 17- to 20-pound range.

Wild fish began showing up, mixed in with the hatchery fish, about the middle of December. Rumor has it that a 36-pounder came out of the Skagit. Eli Rico of HotShot Guide Service (206-469-0567) landed a 30.4-pounder on the Skykomish and a 22-pounder on the Snoqualmie. "Because the water was so clear, I used lighter gear and summertime tactics," he said. "We boated four to five hatchery fish a day and two to three wild native fish each time out." He predicts a similar bonanza of fresh chrome this winter.