If you haven’t had a chance to get out on our local small streams to do some fly fishing, better get at it. The Icicle River will at the end of the month. Many of the other small streams will remain open until the end of October, but typically the water temperatures cool to the point that the fish go dormant prior to this date and it’s not worth fishing. Most anglers have switched over to steelhead fishing by then anyway. Steelhead seasons should open soon on the Upper Columbia River and all the tributaries this year and the announcement with all the details should be out soon. Over 18,000 steelhead are forecast to pass over Priest Rapids Dam this year, and that is more than enough to provide a fishing season. There is are going to be a high number of wild fish in the mix this year, which is good news for recovery. It isn’t such great news for anglers that like to take a steelhead home for dinner. They will likely release a lot of wild fish this year, and I want to remind them to do this without removing them from the water. I also expect that the size of the steelhead taken this year will be smaller than those taken last year, overall. I’m saying that there won’t be some big fish but most of the run is expected to be comprised of “one salt” fish, and that means smaller.