Postcard from British Columbia
April 25, 2008
Greetings from B.C., where we’re currently on the 2008 Steelhead Safari! Joining me this year are The Vinman and “Go Home” Kinne.
Despite the lowest water conditions I’ve ever encountered here in April, we had a nice first day of steelheading. Here are some of the highlights…
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Super Trout: The Donaldson Rainbow
April 4, 2008
While I’ve never been a big fan of the hatchery “round-tailed” rainbow trout that get planted in waters throughout the West, I have to say that the Donaldson strain rainbows of Nor. Cal’s Lake Amador (and other places) are extremely cool “truck trout.”
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Top 5 California Kokanee Lakes
March 6, 2008
What are the Top 5 California kokanee salmon lakes to keep an eye on in 2008? It’s an interesting question considering the Golden State is home to many excellent koke waters.
So long, Cordova!
September 13, 2007
Sadly, we had to say farewell to Cordova, Alaska today. Reilly & I had a great ride fishing the road system from a rental car for the past 8 days. Considering we’d never been there before, we figured things out pretty quickly — a conservative estimate is we hooked 250 to 300 silvers during our trip and, in reality, probably more. The trick was to adapt quickly to the ever-changing water levels. We went from low and clear to 7 inches of rain in two days and then back to low, back to high, etc. You get the picture.
Our final two days were incredible…
More carnage from Alaska
September 12, 2007
Since I last checked in from Alaska, we’ve had 7 inches of rain (and small craft advisories) in just over 2 days here in Cordova…we’ve fished through it all, though. When all the rivers were flooding, we found coho in back sloughs that looked like bass ponds and we absolutely killed them on a bassy-like technique that will remain a secret…
Postcard from Cordova, Alaska
September 7, 2007
After our quick fishing tour of Anchorage yesterday, we hopped on a plane to Cordova this morning and fished our asses off in a variety of spots. At Hippie Cove, there were thousands of chrome (and big) silvers laying in the salt water off a spawning stream mouth. They were rolling all over the place — you can see fish jumping behind Tim here…
Running amok in Alaska
September 7, 2007
Reilly and I hit the ground running in Alaska today. We had a 1-night layover in Anchorage before we head to chase the giant silvers of Cordova, so we rented a car and burned up the highway to Willow Creek. All the local reports said that the fishing sucked, but it turned out nicely for us as there was nobody on the water. Plus, we caught some nice fish, like this beautiful rainbow…
3.3 Million Pink Salmon headed for WA State
August 31, 2007
Okay, Evergreen State anglers, it’s time for a little fun! Since we’re in an odd-numbered year, it means pink salmon (humpies) will be flooding back to your local rivers any day now.
The WDFW’s forecast is for 3.3 million of the little buggers this year — 1.3 million more than they predicted in the last pink year, 2005.
The pint-sized salmon are a ball on light tackle and are also great for kids and families. You can catch them right now out in Puget Sound as they start staging to head up for the spawn. Small spoons, spinners and jigs are the ticket.
Then, the fish will make a made dash upstream and that’s when the fishing really gets good…
Kokanee on Steroids
July 28, 2007
Sep “Don’t call me Zep Henderson” Hendrickson,” of Sep’s Pro Fishing just got back from a trip to the Holy Grail of kokanee fishing, Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming. He said that, while the fishing was spectacular, the average size of the kokes was down this year.
Here are a couple “dinks” that Sep’s pal, Shirley Spediacci caught on the trip. The one on the left measured 24 1/4 inches and weighed 5 pounds, 2 ounces. The other shaker was only 23 inches and 4 pounds, 8 ounces.
San Francisco Halibut fishing
May 30, 2007
To someone from outside the area, it may see odd that San Francisco Bay can produce some red hot fishing action for a variety of species. After all, the bay is the center piece of an immense and sprawling mega-metropolis and is surrounded on all sides by densely-packed civilization.
Despite all that, fishing remains good and, right now, California halibut are the main focus for anglers. On Wednesday, I headed down to the bay to see how the bite was going and I wasn’t disappointed…
