March 29 2014

I woke this morning to the sun poking through the clouds, rivers are still running high wide and muddy with a little luck we'll be back on the water by mid week

March 28 2014

Looks like a small break in the rain is on our way, its possible we'll be on the water this Monday the 31st

March 27 2014

Yup its still raining

March 25 2014

Took the day off the oars to pull a little maintenance on the boat trailer

March 24 2014

     I fished with anglers Bernie and Rick this morning, a little rain last night put the water in that perfect "steelhead green" condition, you could feel it was going to be a great day. .....
     We made the decision to fish WFO worms under a float. We hadn't been on the water long when Bernie was into the first fish of the morning, a hot wild fish that was all over the place. Bernie was on the reel when a hard charge at the boat left slack in the line, one more jump and he was off.
     We floated into our next drift and first cast Ricks bobber slid below the surface, this was Ricks first trip river fishing for steelhead and was not prepared, before he could bring the line tight the bobber was again on the WRONG side of the surface. It's ok my friend, there'll be more!
     And more there was, it was one of those days where bobbers were down time and time again but for the life of me nothing would stick there were rods crossed, too much slack or leaders breaking, at one point two bobbers disappeared almost at the same time at that point I had chest pains and my left arm went numb, when the floats reappeared and lines were slack I stated "Gentleman, you're killing me, LITERALLY!"
     At the end of the day it was 8 fish with only one to the boat, a nice little wild fish we released. Even with that it was a great day, how often do we get that many chances at a fish thats been called one of a thousand cast. ...
    

March 23 2014

     Spent the day on the water with anglers Steven and Mark and though the weather was on our side the fish made us work for them....

     We started the morning fishing beads under a float and Steven hooked up in no time only to get a couple good head shakes then spit the hook. After another hour we decided to switch to diver and coon shrimp, we sent them out a gave a few strokes on the oars and Mark (who by the way is just 14) had his rod bury and with NO hesitation had the rod out of the holder and the hook set. We fought the fish downstream maybe 50 yards, got it up to the boat where we could see it was a gorgeous wild fish, I grabbed the pliers and released the fish, we gave some high-fives and got ready to do it again.
     We moved the boat back into the current and sent the divers out again. We were halfway through this drift when Marks rod hammered again, and like a well oiled machine had the rod in his hands and control of the fish. It was another wild fish that put up a great fight before being released.
     We fished hard for the rest of the day, switching up tactics to no avail. All in all a great day, the weather was perfect, we caught a couple nice steelhead and shared the day with a couple GREAT anglers and even BETTER people!

March 23 2014

     Angler Rob joined us today to get in on some March steelhead, what he got was a lot of practice casting.......

     You see Rob had just treated himself to a custom steelhead rod built on one of Gary Loomis' new state of art North Fork blanks which is undeniably the best fishing rod blank on the planet, and to compliment it he attached a Shimano Stratic loaded with braided line. Now a fishing rod of this caliber combined with a day with us on my home stream in the middle of March SHOULD be a day to remember ....that's what I thought to.

     We fished as hard as one could fish, we hit every seam, tail out, and slot we could find. Rob casted in water I'd never seen before. Cast after cast after cast we watched a float that just refused to go down. It's hard to say what turns a bite off and on, some say barometer, others the moon phase, or it could be just dumb ol luck. What ever the answer is, these days do happen and that's why we call it fishing

March 22 2014

     If you're reading this blog then you may remember Justin, he fished with us last week on March 15 he brought his Brother and Father. Well Justin returned again this week with his Father in law and brother in law.
     When we got to the river it was evident that the word was out that there was some steelhead to be caught as there was I line to launch at nearly every launch. We decided to go high and slide the boat in over some rip rap hoping to have some water all to ourselves even if it were to be short lived and short lived it was. After an hour we tucked into a tail out that had not been fished yet and after pounding it with pink worms to no avail Justin grabbed a rod rigged with a 10mm bead and his first cast the bobber slid below the surface, Justin came back on it and fish on....fish off...the leader snapped! We re rigged and next cast fish on again. Justin handed the rod to his brother in law who fought his first steelhead up to the side of the boat it was wild and was released.
     We fished that tail out another for one more bobber down that was missed. We spent the rest of the day fishing behind other boats and while some would have a great day it was the end of our hookups.

March 21 2014

     Another great day fishing steelhead! Despite a brisk morning the sun came out and gave us a beautiful spring day. Today anglers Terry and Rick joined us for a great day on the water. We fished WFO worms under a float to produce three gorgeous steelhead, two of them were hatchery fish that we retained and the third was a scrappy wild fish that gave us a couple long runs before we were able to bring it boat side and release it.

     With some great spring weather in the forecast we'll be on the water for the next week, any day we could see the first spring Chinook or summer run steelhead of the year!

March 20 2014

     Lately here in the Pacific Northwest chasing steelhead has been a battle with mother nature we've fought sub freezing temperatures where lines freeze, guides on our rods freeze and reels freeze. We've had snow accumulations making traveling almost impossible. And we've had rain, rain, and still more rain causing rivers to blow out and stay out.
    
     Today finally the weather was on our side, the sun came out the river was in perfect shape and most importantly steelhead were on the bite!

     We hit 8 fish today, and for angler Tom it wasn't a big deal since he had fished with us earlier in the season and had some great days but for his partner Steve it was a different story as it was his first time on the butte end of a steelhead rod. Steve hit a beautiful wild fish on a diver and bait rod then he missed his next couple chances on a pink worm under a float. We came into a short slot Steve made a well placed cast the float went a few feet and down it went. Steve was on his game, he closed the bale, set the hook and was locked into a CHROME hatchery steelhead. We fought the fish downstream and after a few runs we slid the net under it and it was in the boat. Way to go Steve, not to shabby!

     At the end of the day we had hit 8 fish and landed 5, 2 were wild and released, 3 were hatchery fish that ended up in the box. March can offer some fantastic steelhead opportunities, especially when conditions are in your favor!

March 19 2014

     Fished with father and son Pete and Jake today. Got to the river this morning at daylight to find it a bit high and off color. The trip started out with Pete hooking up on his first cast, a small downstream steelhead that we released. A couple hours later jake hooked a chrome hatchery steelhead that ended up in the box. Shortly after that Pete was into his second fish of the day, another chrome hatchery fish worthy of putting in the fish box.

     The last fish of the day was again hooked by Pete, a wild fish that took us for a ride downstream where we got out of the boat and caught a quick photo before releasing.

     All our fish were hooked on WFO worms fished under a float.

March 15 2014

Today was the last trip of the season to those little streams out west, in the past month even with all the adverse water and weather we still managed to hook over a hundred steelhead, some of them will reopen June 1 for summer run steelhead but that late in the year they are far to small to get a boat down them so we will not return till next year.

     Today we fished with Justin who as a Christmas gift takes his brother and father on a guided steelhead trip. The water had dropped into perfect shape but the bite was tough, a hard day of fishing gave us 5 hookups, not a bad day at all!

     Tomorrow we are Kalama bound, back to our home stream, and we'll stay there on through the summer.

March 14 2014

Woke up this morning to rain beating on the roof while even though the weather called for light showers it poured the entire 1 hour drive to the river this morning. When we got there the river hadn't rose much but was still mudded up at that point we decided to reschedule. The drive home was just the opposite, the sun was poking through the clouds and the rain stopped. Heading back tomorrow for one last day on this stream weather is in our favor and we're hoping for a banner day then say goodbye till next year.

March 12

Had a great day on the water with anglers Jeff and Roger. This time of year there are a few smaller streams in the area that will close on March 15. These streams are off the beaten path and being late in the season they get little attention. Fishing can be very good, 10 fish days are not uncommon and we generally have the river all to ourselves. So today I was surprised to find we were sharing the stream with 3 other boats. As the day progressed the camaraderie between fellow anglers grew, and though it wasn't the banner day we'd hoped for we still went 3 for 5 on some beautiful late winter steelhead. We'll be back again tomorrow and I'm hoping to have my little river back to myself.

March 11 2014

Looking for something different to do with salmon or steelhead. ...Try pickling!
Pickling fish can be a time consuming process but the end result is worth all the efforts. While being off the water so much this season due to adverse weather I took from the freezer salmon from this last fall and pickled it and I'm telling ya ,this stuff is a home run!
I'd like to say that the recipe I use is my own but the truth is I found it right here on the www. To pickle some salmon on your own just Google "Charlies pickled salmon" the only change I make to the recipe is along with the sliced onion I add sliced lemon. Give it a try and tell me what you think!

March 10 2014

With the abundant return of smelt to the Cowlitz River we were given a short harvest season of a few Saturday mornings. This last Saturday we "dipped" just enough for a couple smokers full. Kelso WA was once known as the smelt capital of the world where every year in late winter thousands of people would line the banks of the Cowlitz River to dip buckets full of the slippery little fish, but over harvesting combined with climate change and the natural cycle of these fish their numbers have dwindled. It's good to see a good return, I'd forgotten just how tasty these little "Eulachon" are!

March 9 2014

Another storm dumped a huge amount of water blowing everything out again but today the rain has stopped and water levels are dropping in a couple days we'll be back on the water.

March 4 2014

Had a great day on the water with anglers Ken and Dave. Dave is Dave Calhoun from NW Rods, Dave is building some great rods for the diehard salmon and steelhead fisherman he's using Gary Loomis' new blanks that are without a doubt the best blanks on the planet.

We fished hard yesterday in a tough bite, we hit 5 fish and managed to get only 1 to the bank for a photo. There is some great weather predicted over the next week and with that we could see some FANTASTIC steelhead fishing. We have a couple midweek open days!

March 3 2014

Well we've been busy on the water experiencing some GREAT steelhead fishing! Water conditions have been perfect, we've had some ten fish days with a mix of both hatchery and wild. As we move into March we should continue to see some banner days. If you're looking for some great steelhead fishing now is the time, if we can lend any advice please feel free to text or email us!