I'm far, far beyond the annoyed or irritated stage. I'm far into white hot, slam my expensive fishing gear into the ground rage. Literally.

I've had at least a half dozen people tell me how fishing the Yakima River below Horn Rapids Dam would result in exhausted arms, and a never=ending Nirvana of catfish pleasure. Don't worry about the 15000 mph current, the catfish love it. If you try to fish springers, you'll be bored with all the SMB and channel cats you catch. Throw spinners, eggs, bobbers, or bait, and you'll never see the end of the catfish or bass.

Well, I think all of you are totally full of you-know-what, and I don't mean it nicely, in the least positive terms. I've spent hours on that river, losing tons of gear on the bottom, struggling with the 15000 mph current, and I've yet to see a catfish bite. This is at least the 10th trip. The current is far too strong, and I fail to see how to hold even a frozen bait on a hook for more than one cast. In terms of spinners/lures -- they're gone within minutes due to the rocky bottom and the 15000 mph current. Put heavy weight on the bottom to hold it there, and it is gone in minutes. Try to use a bottom bouncers steelhead rig, and you still lose either bait or rig within seconds.

I'm done with catfish and this stupid river and all the "I just inhaled nitrous" reports/advice from y'all. Screw the salmon smolts, they deserve to get eaten, even under the dubious assumption there are a tidal wave of channel cats in that river...