After a week-long road trip to Southeast Alaska, I think I may have found some of the best fishing on the planet. That is if you like yanking on halibut until your arms feel like they’re full of wet cement and hooking so many coho salmon that it seems a little like bluegill fishing out of a 5-gallon bucket.

And the best part of the deal is this angling paradise is relatively close.

My base of operations was Juneau, which is a short 3-hour flight from Sacramento, with a stop in Seattle. On assignment for Fish Alaska Magazine, my orders were to explore and report back on the fishing opportunities available in the waters within easy striking distance of Alaska’s capitol city.

On day one, my assistant Khevin and I rented a car and buzzed around the Juneau road system, where we found massive amounts of salmon in all the small streams we visited, catching more than we could count on fly and conventional tackle.

Khev with a Fish Creek Humpy

Khev with a downtown coho at the DIPAC hatchery

Glacier Bay/Icy Strait

The next day, we were flown out to South Passage Outfitters near Glacier Bay. South Passage Outfitters (SPO) is located smack dab in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness and caters to small groups of anglers (and wildlife enthusiasts) who like to go the unguided route. Guests stay in beautiful cabins located on the shores of Gull Cove, each with stoves, beds, hot showers and flush toilets. Home-style meals are provided in the spacious cookhouse and after breakfast, you hop into an 18-foot skiff and disappear for the day.

The main lodge at South Passage Outfitters

The fishing is a do-it-yourself type of affair and is a really sweet deal for guys like Khev and myself who are tackle junkies and like to set our own schedules. Each morning, we’d woof down some breakfast at about 5 am and wouldn’t come back until after 8 pm. The many bays and passages in the area were teeming with sea life and we had a ball jigging halibut in 30 to 150 feet of water with swimbaits.

Halibut happy in Icy Strait!

Most of the fish were perfect “eaters” in the 20- to 40-pound class, though I nailed one about 70 pounds and another guest got one that was closer to 100 pounds while we were there. The waters of Icy Straight pump out some gargantuan halis as well, but we really didn’t target the monsters (too much work!).

We also jigged up so many rockfish on light bass gear that it got silly.

Rockfish were more than thick in some spots

As far as salmon fishing went, there were good schools of coho around, but they were deep for some reason and fishing for them 180 feet down didn’t appeal that much to our light tackle sensibilities.

There are also abundant freshwater streams around SPO that hold runs of salmon, trout and dolly varden, but we were having such a blast catching halibut that we didn’t even mess with them. There was simply too much to do and too little time in which to do it.

Other that the two other boats from the lodge, we never saw another angler (there were a few commercial salmon trollers, but that was it) and it felt like that corner of the state was ours alone to explore. In fact, we saw a lot more whales (up close and personal, I might add), sea otters and porpoise than humans. It was definitely a place we felt like we needed another 6 weeks to explore!

Gull Cove and Icy Strait beyond

Off to Angoon

The second part of the week, we were sent to Whaler’s Cove Lodge in Angoon, which is a fully guided (though they do have self-guided packages as well), luxury outfit located in one of the most perfect and unique fishing spots in the state.

The Whaler's Cove Lodge beachfront

The waters off Angoon are typically very calm (the area only gets about 36 inches or rain a year) and harbor one of the largest herring populations in the world. There’s also a prolific salmon hatchery nearby and several freshwater streams to top it all off.

The combination of huge balls of herring and tons of salmon just a mile or so from the lodge makes for lots of fun as Khevin and I found out. The two days of saltwater fishing we did resulted in so many ravenous coho that we started throwing bass stuff at them just to make it more of a challenge (it wasn’t – they ate all the plastic worms, dropshot rigs, Flukes and swimbaits we threw at them) and we probably caught 30 to 50 a day without much effort.

The coho at Whaler's were overweight slobs!

We also found excellent halibut fishing like we had at Gull Gove and continued our “Three Bounce Policy,” which stated that we’d move to a new spot if our jigs bounced more than three times on the bottom without a bite.
Just for record, we rarely had to move.

Khev with yet another halibut hooked up

The whale watching at aptly-named Whaler’s Cove was also fantastic.

A nice bonus to the fishing

On our final day, we went on an epic quest up one of the area’s lovely freshwater streams, where we found lots and lots of salmon and dolly varden – many of which were all to happy to inhale our spinners. In the afternoon, we paused from casting at the base of a 15-foot cataract to watch salmon trying to leap over the obstruction, which was an awesome sight.

Whaler's Cove had some sweet freshwater fishing too.

So I guess what I can say in conclusion is this: regardless if you’re the do-it-yourself type angler or prefer the lap of luxury, you can’t go wrong with the waters near Juneau. I know I’ll go back…soon!

Okay, so maybe the comparison to the Kenai is a bit much, but the Sacramento River in Redding, CA is one of the best trout fishing destinations this side of Alaska. While the rainbows here don’t reach the epic proportions their cousins to the north do, they are chunky, solid fish that provide some superb year-round angling.

Team FishWithJD was on the scene a few days back and we found (before the rains hit), a beautiful river with hardly a soul on it…and plenty o’ trout in the 2- to 4-pound class — we landed somewhere in the neighborhood of 30+ fish a day.

Here’s a quick photo log…

Drifting under the Sundial Bridge in downtown Redding

This fish was just a bit smaller than average...

Another triple! Pretty much sums up how the fishing was...

You'd be hard-pressed to find more beautiful fish. From the heavily spotted models...

...to the nearly un-spotted, Lahaonton cutthroat-looking ones.

One afternoon, we jumped over to Lake Shasta, which could still use some water...

We didn't mooch up any kings, but it was a damn fine evening!

The Cypress Street Bridge...not a place to get sideways in a boat!

Okay, so our first few days on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula didn’t exactly pan out from a steelheading standpoint. Cold rain, sleet, poor fish returns and rising water all conspired against us. But Days 1-3 paled in comparison to what awaited us on our final day…

Mike B. called it the “wost conditions” he’d ever endured on a river. I put it right up there behind the famed “Hunt for Mr. Hogito” day on Oregon’s Elk River many moons ago. Big Worm said…well…he didn’t say a thing but it’s safe to say he’d rather been somewhere else…say in a hot tub with a couple French bikini models, for example.

Anyway, it came down in buckets all night long and by dawn we realized that the hatchery run on the Sol Duc was probably going to be our best bet. As you can see from the photo above, however, the water was already getting a little murky at the put-in. Once we shoved off, however, the water looked pretty good….

Still holding it'ss color okay...

But the rain kept coming down — sometimes at a rate of around 2-3 inches per hour and it was only a matter of time…

Mike B. takes a turn on the sticks

The first hours or two, it felt like we had a chance. We ran our baits through some pretty sexy water but no grabs. In fact, every boat we encountered had the same report. The highlight was running through some fun chutes and rapids…

Yeehaw!

The only things that kills a steelhead bite worse than a rising river is…a cold rising river. And that’s exactly what we had. Rain melting snow upriver, bringing the flow up and the temps down…the double whammy! A about 10 am, the local guides raised the white flag and bailed out….

See at the cafe!!

We diehard (aka: “stupid”) drifters, however, opted to keep fishing and enjoy the scenery. We even pulled over for lunch…

Does this taste like plastic to you??

Then right before our very eyes the inevitable happened…she blew out on us!

Time to go home now!

Of course, that’s about the time the 40-50 mph winds kicked in and nearly blew us upstream. It took some serious team work to row against the gale…

Big Worm burning about 1,000 calories per stroke

Watch out...my eyeballs might pop out!

The take-out is how far??

We eventually made it to the take-out and got the boat on the trailer…

Finally!!

That evening in Forks, we encountered some interesting folks. Including, the Mullet Twins, who were super cool…

Hey man, introduce me to your sister!

Iron Maiden rocks, dude!

Apparently, the vampire book/movie Twilight was based in Forks and the place was absolutely crawling with vampi-ro-nerds the whole time we were there. Most of them were just kids running around looking for vampires. But I’m pretty sure I saw a real one in the parking lot right at sunset and when he looked at me, it made my skin crawl…

Care for eternal life??

Luckily, we got outta Dodge and on Saturday we made our way home. We left Forks on a crisp, 20-degree morning and pointed her south for a little 18-hour drive in the country.

Burr!

So, the fishing was abysmal and the weather just a hair worse…in fact I ended up with pneumonia when it was all said and done…but our mission to the OP was still a good one. In my book, anytime you can go float down a beautiful steelhead river with some buds, it’s a win. Especially when you have a legit chance at steelies in excess of 20 pounds. It wasn’t to be this time but there’s always next year…

This week Baxter, Big Worm and I left the Golden State and made the marathon 473-hour trip north to the “OP” — Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Why would we drive a bazillion miles and swap the 71 degrees of California for 42 and steady rain? Duh — giant steelhead of course!

Well, at least in theory…

Like most trips, this one didn’t quite go as planned. Here’s the photo diary…

The rivers of the OP are incredible and, as Baxter says, “make you really horny…”

Epic country

…which was definitely the case pretty much everywhere we went. Very sexy water!

Sure looks fishy...

But alas, the fish just aren’t here in big numbers this season. On the first day, we landed 3 but I dropped my digital camera over the side and we have no photographic evidence of that (sure, that’s what they all say!). The next day was slower — we had three legit grabs on plugs and pink worms fished under floats — but no fish to the boat. Did I happen to mention that the scenery was epic?

There's a 20 pounder around here somewhere!

So, I guess I have established that the area is beautiful and the rivers just ooze steel appeal. Besides the flora and fauna, we enjoyed launching at some “creative” spots…

No paved 4 lane launches with floating docks here!

We’ve also had a ball snooping around the local tackle shops in the evenings. Here’s Big Worm stoked to see an end cap stocked with the products he manufacturers:

The CEO likes what he sees at Forks Outfitters

Hey ,Christmas is only 217 days away!

Forks, WA is home to the whole Twilight thing, and though we didn’t run into any vampires (we think), we met a bunch of friendly folks on the river like these boys who showed us the proper line down a narrow spot…

Follow us!

…and some spey guys like this dude who was also getting soaked and skunked like us — only he had a better excuse!

Well, needless to say, not the fishiest fishing trip…but you know how it is– that’s not so much the main goal anymore. And at least Baxter has shot the whole thing on his circa 1989 Handicam (which he had set to “night vision” for an entire day).

Soon to be a major motion picture event!

Well, with steelie fishing pretty slow in the low, clear flows of California rivers, Reilly and I headed north this week for Oregon to see how things are looking in that neck of the woods.

Well, let’s just say conditions were pretty much the same…no rain in 2 weeks, freezing nights and below-average fish returns. The rivers were trickles and fresh fish hadn’t moved in to any of the systems in a looong time.

Still, it was a chance to get outta Dodge and see some new water — and hang with ol pal Nick Amato, editor of Salmon Trout Steelheader Magazine. Luckily, Reilly’s got a place on the Oregon coast, so we had a place to crash…

Reilly & Nick: We're gonna catch one Thissss Biggggggg

As I said earlier, most Oregon streams were so slow that even Nick, a crusty veteran of decades of Oregon steelhead fishing, seemed surprised by the lack of water.

Time to bust out the super stealth gear!

We hopped around to several drainages and found the same thing everywhere…more rocks than H20:

Know a good rain dance??

Our first day, we spent more time wandering the aisles of the local tackle shops, but finally managed to get wadered up and on the water by 3 p.m. Under sunny skies, the fish were pretty hunkered down in the vodka-like pools and very much on the skittish side. Slinging bobbers and jigs resulted in a couple near misses and I landed the only fish of the day on a Mad River Manufacturing Worm Jig under a float, a small but very jumpy hatchery hen:

Chalk one up to the worm jig...

On Day 2, we opted for a larger river system rumored to have a better than average shot at a 20+ pounder in it, which took us through some remote back roads…

Hope there's not a logging truck around the next corner...

…and across one rickety old bridge:

Don't look down...oops...TOO LATE!

While the scenery, weather and camaraderie were excellent, we didn’t have a single bobber-down…though a fish in the 20-pound class rolled at my feet. Had to have been a late coho…at least that’s what I told myself!

Anyway, the next day we got a little more serious about fishing and got on the water…um…around noon. Hey, there’s no sense killing yourself when the water temps are in the high 30’s! The weather was again beautiful and the scenery was worth the the trip…

Can't beat the view...

No big surprise…fresh fish weren’t exactly pouring into any of the rivers, but we found some biters on Wednesday.

Hurry...this water's f%$&ing freezing!

Here’s Reilly with a fish working…

Nick overseeing the acion

We fished floats exclusively, mostly with worms, roe and jigs:

Steelhead food

We probably had close to a dozen bobber downs and maybe landed 9 or 10 fish, most of which were downers. But hey, any day you can get out on the water, B.S. with the boys and get a few grabs, it’s all good in my book.

This downer was no downerfor the boys.

Okay, so in Kauai last week it was mainly a trip to hang out with the family, but you know I couldn’t be surrounded by all that water in Kauai and not wet a line!

Generally, the the inshore fishing there didn’t seem all that hot, but there were enough critters around to keep things interesting.

Most mornings before the gang got up, I’d head down to the beach and see what was happening. On the reef near our place in Princeville, I used GULP! worms to catch a whole bunch of brightly-colored critters like this blackspot sergeant, which was the poster child for the most recent Name that Fish Contest entry.

Mostly, however, the fishing was just an excuse to get out enjoy the awesome, Jurassic Park scenery of Kauai…

Speaking of rainbows, the trout season on the island opened early while we were there (yes, there are rainbow trout in some of the higher elevation streams on Kauai), but I just couldn’t get really fired up about trying it somehow. Peacock bass were also in season but, again, it was tough to pull away from the view at the condo…though when I learned there were bonefish down on that beach to the right, I got motivated to put down the cerveza and grab the rod again!

Well, the bones didn’t want to play, but fellow river rat guide Mike Moore and myself hooked a few decent fish off the beach in Hanalei in the early mornings. Mike got a nice barracuda on a Kastmaster one morning and I hooked a something huge on a Fluke the next that would have spooled me had I not broken it off. We didn’t have much of a chance on the big stuff with trout tackle, but jacks like this were about the right size. This bad boy ate a DOA C.A.L. jerk shad right at my feet.

We didn’t get offshore, but did enjoy some seriously good raw maguro (ahi) a few nights. Overall, not a really fishy trip, but a good time was had by all.

On Friday, the Vin-Man and I made our first-ever trip to Pyramid Lake. It’s funny that we’ve lived within 3 hours of the place forever, but neither of us had ever made the trip over the hill. Friday’s mission almost didn’t happen — I had a last-minute guide trip cancellation and I made the call to the Vinster at about 9 p.m. Thursday night.

So, a few hours later, off we went — woefully unprepared in terms of tackle and knowledge.

Well, the short version of the story is we had nice weather and a great time — but only two bites. We’d never seen a Lahontan cutthroat before, so we were stoked to see how beautiful these trout really are.


While we worked hard with plugs and spoons fished 20 to 45 feet down, we weren’t able to scratch much. There were several boats around us and we never saw a net fly. However, clients of the local charter skipper, George Molino, landed 50 fish to 24 inches that same day! Obviously, there’s something to having the home field advantage and a trip with the dude is probably well worth the price of admission.

The fly guys on the ladders didn’t seem to be doing all that well, either…

Oh well, we still had a great day with very nice weather. Coming back over the Sierras, the view was spectacular that evening. All in all, a fun day — and we saw just enough to make us want to go back soon!

Sometimes, the real world gets just hectic enough that you just have to say F-it all and check out for a day. Go back to the basics like eating junk food, talking about spots and celebrity hotties… and, oh yea, maybe mix in a little fishing, too.

To that end, nothing beats a road trip. Of course, with jobs, family and all the other stuff that keeps us so busy these days, extended roadies are tough to come by. One-dayers, however, are easier to pull off. That’s exactly what trusty side-kick Reilly and I embarked on yesterday.

With most Coastal rivers blown out from the big storms and the majority of stuff close to home either muddy or snowed in, we opted for a little wild trout fishing in the “upper” Lower Sacramento River near Redding. After stocking up on high calorie, low nutritional value snacks, we dumped the Red Rocket in at the Posse Grounds and started hunting trout…

Well, let’s just say it was a beautiful day…warm and plenty of snow around. The surroundings were nice, but the trout bite in the 45-degree water was..um..less than red hot.

By noon, we had to make the call…grind it out the rest of the day and hope the bite picked up as the water warmed, or move elsewhere. The Sac’s rainbows are gorgeous, but I wasn’t feeling it. Plus, we steelhead addicts were starting to shake like strung-out junkies. All morning, we could feel the Trinity calling from just over the hill..and by the afternoon, it was like a tractor beam, insatiable and undeniable. So, we pulled the plug on the Sac portion of the program and put the ol’ girl back on the trailer and made tracks for the mountains.

We didn’t have a whole lot of time to work with, but figured a couple hours on the upper Trinity fishing for steeies might cure the shakes. First things first, of course — a stop was in order at the Plug and Jug in Lewsiton for more provisions (think sodium, sugar and cholesterol).

At the Lewsiton Bridge, there was a good foot and a half of snow on the ground when we pulled in. I’m sure we tripped a few of the locals out when they saw the boat — probably wondered who the idiots were who were going to try to run the upper river in a jetboat!

Obviously, we had no intentions of boating…and quickly hiked through the winter wonderland to the couple riffles below the bridge. Here’s Reilly trying his best to remain vertical. Felt soles and snow aren’t always the best combo…

The river was extremely gorgeous all dressed up in her winter colors…

And it was in this sweet little run that, on my first cast, had an adult steelie come up to the surface and follow my float for a few seconds.

A couple casts later in the same spot, Reilly goes bendo…Okay, so she was a skinny little downer, but she actually pulled some string and put up good scrap in the cold water. Plus, she was a steelhead which helped, just for a bit, to curb our jones.

Ahhhh….steelhead….good for the soul, wouldn’t you say?

And perhaps the even more spirit-healing moment…

See ya, baby and thanks so much for the dance…

Three hours of sleep, 421 miles, 2 Gatorades, 1 Rockstar, 1 Sobe, 2 Snickers, a Hostess apple pie, 2 Egg McMuffins, a bag of jerky, $150 in gas and 17 hours from door to door…

Worth every penny — and I didn’t even put a hook to a fish all day.

On a warm night recently, the boys and me decided that it might be cool to give topwater striper fishing on the Delta a go. After all, I’d been getting 12-20 topwater blowups per morning on my guide trips. On a nice calm evening, I reasoned, we could put the serious hurtin’ on the fish…

So, we got down there just a bit before sunset and our juices were really flowing…this was going to be one of those epic, can’t miss trips!



Immediately, we found some roving schools of micro stripers that smacked our lures nearly every cast, but we had bigger fish to fry. The excitement level kicked up a few notches as the sun started to set. Not a wisp of wind…flat calm and perfect!



After a short run, we were on the glory hole, just in time for a serious dose of “Red Sky at Night, Sailor’s Delight…”



But, unfortunately, the awesome sunset was the highlight. I did hook a nice striper in the 12-pound class not long after this photo was taken, but that was it for the topwater. We tried several spots without another touch. It was an amazing night out there, however, and we were totally stoked to be there anyway. About the only sound was the coyotes chasing rabbits in the distance…

On the run back home, we stopped under a bridge that had some lights on it and pitched swimbaits under the overhang and caught about 1/2-dozen smallish keepers before heading home.

An awesome night, but I’m not totally sold on throwing the surface baits after dark….

Okay, so what’s wrong with this picture??



Give up? The problem here is….this is the Yuba City (CA) Boat Ramp along the Feather River on Oct. 5. In what should be prime chinook salmon fishing time, there was only one boat trailer in the lot. Just a few years back, this place would have been wall-to-wall rigs, but with absolutely no salmon showing up this season, nobody’s fishing.

Of course, we did anyway. It was one strange trip…

Normally, I guide all 31 days in October and I haven’t had a day to go “fun fishing” in October since about 1998, but with this year’s crappy salmon returns, I had a day to fish with a couple buddies yesterday, The Vin-Man and BR.

After launching Vin-Man’s boat, I noticed a school of American shad (what the??) milling around at the ramp, so BR ties on a jig and promptly hooks a couple…er…October shad. And that pretty much set the tone for the day.



Over the years, I’ve caught plenty of late shad on the Feather in August and early September on eggs fishing for kings, but I’ve never seen them in October. Methinks something a little weird is going on…shad, but no salmon, in the fall.

After seeing exactly zero salmon roll on the Feather, we took a side trip up the Yuba — mainly to test the shallow-water capabilities of Vin-Man’s boat (tested, indeed!), but also to see, just for curiosity’s sake, how many salmon were in the system. In a couple of the fishier-looking spots, we ran some plugs and came away with 1 sluggish take-down, which resulted in this beauty…



BR was nice enough to pose with the hideous thing, but in the interest of full-disclosure, it was I who hooked this jumbo squaw. BR wanted to bonk it and then had second thoughts — with no salmon eggs or smolt to eat in the future, we kinda felt sorry for this guy and let him on his way.

On our complete 12-mile run on the Yuba, we saw fewer than one salmon per mile….absolutely depressing! A couple of intimate encounters between the jet’s intake and the river’s cobble proved to be the most exciting parts of our day, but Cap’n Vin-Man did a nice job and got us home safely…had he spied that tree in the water a nano-second later, things may have been a little more interesting than we would have cared for, however…



As thoroughly disheartening as it was to see & catch more American shad and squawfish than salmon, a good time was had by all. I’m always grateful to get a chance to get out and fish with the boys now and then. Thanks, man. Maybe we’ll have to go bluegill fishing in December or try to chase winter steelhead next July!