June 25th 2014

     Today I fished with Carl and his Grand son Ben. Though Carl has fished with us before this was Bens first in a driftboat chasing steelhead.
     Any time I hear there's going to be a teenager joining us I'm on guard, kids today are not the outdoors people that my generation was and still is. Video games, cell phones, and the Internet has taken the place of bicycles, BB guns, and fishing poles. In some ways I get it, the gadgets of today are far more than I ever dreamed of as a kid.
     Ben is one of those rare kids of today who is a blend of both worlds, while he spends his mornings with grandpa in the boat catching Kokanee, he admits going home to his electronic world.
     We started off the morning fishing coonshrimp under a float, an hour into the trip Carl's (aka grandpa) float went below the surface. ....FISH ON!  Without a second thought he handed the rod to Ben, who was now attached to his first steelhead.
      The fish did what steelhead typically do, it went CRAZY! Run after run, jump after jump, till it finally wore itself out, Ben was able to lead his fish boat side where we slid the net under it and pulled it in over the gunnel.
     There was nothing fake in Bens smile when that fish was laying on the bottom of the boat and I can't blame him. We fished hard for the rest of the day, we had a couple other opportunities at fish that just didn't stick. I went home and posted Bens photo on Facebook, a short time later I accepted a friend request from Ben who shared the photo of his fish for all of his FB friends to see, I took a moment to scroll through his Facebook page and lt looked alot like my own teenage sons. But what I did notice was that while Ben had done a lot of Kokanee fishing with his Grandpa and had had some banner mornings there wasn't a photo anywhere of him holding a single kokanee. Thats Okay with us Ben, we understand!

June 26th 2014

     Fished with Kevin and his son Jack today, who are here from New Mexico to visit family.
     We got on the water around 7am this morning, the conditions were PERFECT, I was expecting a fruitful day. This unfortunately would be another day when fish wouldn't bite, the only action we seen was while pulling divers and bait the left rod bounced then went to the water only to come right back up.....nothing. As I've said before these days do happen and that's fishing!

June 24th 2014

     I fished again today with Dave Calhoun from NW Rods. Now if you're not up to date, Dave is building custom salmon and steelhead rods on Gary Loomis' new North Fork Composite blanks and he has been building us new rods in exchange for trips. (I think I'm getting the better end of this deal).
     We didn't start real early today, 8:30 am and I can tell you it sure beats the heck out of the usual 4:30 am. Dave is one of those infectious people who you just want to fish with, he's not afraid to cast, cast, and cast again all the while smiling.
     Dave fishes a coonshrimp on a leader tied to the shank of a pink worm or steelhead jig under a float and this works for him, he has confidence in it so of course it produces fish for him. Our first fish we got to watch as it came out from behind some boulders to run his shrimp down. ...FISH ON!  A scrappy 8lb steelhead that gave a few great runs before coming to the net. NICE ONE DAVE!
     About an hour later Daves float disappeared, he came back on it and fish on again. No, fish OFF, it came to the surface and thrashed just enough to throw the hook. We were still in the same spot sitting on the anchor when Daves very next cast would give him another chance, the float slipped below the surface and fish on again! This fish would not be as lucky as the last and his fate would be laying in the fish box as well.
     The trip lasted just a few short hours before Dave was limited with a couple beautiful summer run steelhead, and me? Well while Daves fish were destined for the smoker to be consumed shortly after, my reward was another of Daves graphite works of art that will help produce limits of fish for many years to come....
   

June 24th 2014

     I fished again today with Dave Calhoun from NW Rods. Now if you're not up to date, Dave is building custom salmon and steelhead rods on Gary Loomis' new North Fork Composite blanks and he has been building us new rods in exchange for trips. (I think I'm getting the better end of this deal).
     We didn't start real early today, 8:30 am and I can tell you it sure beats the heck out of the usual 4:30 am. Dave is one of those infectious people who you just want to fish with, he's not afraid to cast, cast, and cast again all the while smiling.
     Dave fishes a coonshrimp on a leader tied to the shank of a pink worm or steelhead jig under a float and this works for him, he has confidence in it so of course it produces fish for him. Our first fish we got to watch as it came out from behind some boulders to run his shrimp down. ...FISH ON!  A scrappy 8lb steelhead that gave a few great runs before coming to the net. NICE ONE DAVE!
     About an hour later Daves float disappeared, he came back on it and fish on again. No, fish OFF, it came to the surface and thrashed just enough to throw the hook. We were still in the same spot sitting on the anchor when Daves very next cast would give him another chance, the float slipped below the surface and fish on again! This fish would not be as lucky as the last and his fate would be laying in the fish box as well.
     The trip lasted just a few short hours before Dave was limited with a couple beautiful summer run steelhead, and me? Well while Daves fish were destined for the smoker to be consumed shortly after, my reward was another of Daves graphite works of art that will help produce limits of fish for many years to come....
   

June 24th 2014

     I fished again today with Dave Calhoun from NW Rods. Now if you're not up to date, Dave is building custom salmon and steelhead rods on Gary Loomis' new North Fork Composite blanks and he has been building us new rods in exchange for trips. (I think I'm getting the better end of this deal).
     We didn't start real early today, 8:30 am and I can tell you it sure beats the heck out of the usual 4:30 am. Dave is one of those infectious people who you just want to fish with, he's not afraid to cast, cast, and cast again all the while smiling.
     Dave fishes a coonshrimp on a leader tied to the shank of a pink worm or steelhead jig under a float and this works for him, he has confidence in it so of course it produces fish for him. Our first fish we got to watch as it came out from behind some boulders to run his shrimp down. ...FISH ON!  A scrappy 8lb steelhead that gave a few great runs before coming to the net. NICE ONE DAVE!
     About an hour later Daves float disappeared, he came back on it and fish on again. No, fish OFF, it came to the surface and thrashed just enough to throw the hook. We were still in the same spot sitting on the anchor when Daves very next cast would give him another chance, the float slipped below the surface and fish on again! This fish would not be as lucky as the last and his fate would be laying in the fish box as well.
     The trip lasted just a few short hours before Dave was limited with a couple beautiful summer run steelhead, and me? Well while Daves fish were destined for the smoker to be consumed shortly after, my reward was another of Daves graphite works of art that will help produce limits of fish for many years to come....
   

June 23rd 2014

      Bobber and jig fishing, I believe, is the single most effective way there is to catch steelhead. Recently we've seen jigs cross over into salmon fishing, especially for coho.
     When in the boat I repeatedly have people ask, did you tie these jigs, and for a moment I have visions of my tieing desk, that at times is MOUNTAINS of feathers, rabbit fur, and all the other material that can be tied on to a hook to entice fish to bite.
     PINKS aka Humpy salmon, means pink jigs. Pinks show up in the Puget Sound area in odd years by the MILLIONS, literally! When on  roll I can pour, powder coat and tie 400 pink jigs in an 8 hour day. In 2009 I actually supported myself for 6 months just tieing pink jigs, I felt like a drug dealer, I'd tie 1500 jigs in a week, then meet a guy in a parking lot who'd buy the jigs from me in cash, no bill larger than a 20, then re sell them to Humpy fisherman 100 miles up the freeway. The whole thing seemed very seedy.
     Today I no longer tie jigs on that scale, but I do tie all the jigs we use, plus all the jigs we offer through our website, this is a manageable amount, and I'm not selling them to a guy in a sleazy parking lot while looking over my shoulder for the "Jig Task Force" to come out of the bushes, guns drawn, yelling FREEZE SCUMBAG! I know that some will argue the effectiveness of jig fishing for steelhead, there's now those who are fishing a single plastic bead that resembles a single egg, I've used it myself and at times its deadly. I CAN tell you this, nothing, and I mean NOTHING, has revolutionized the way we fish for steelhead more than the art of bobber and jig fishing. Today you can buy rods, reels and even high tech braided lines designed just for bobber and jig.
     If you're wanting to learn more about bobber and jig fishing give me a call, we offer an on the water introduction to float fishing, where we go over reading water, gear selection, and presentation, you'll leave feeling confident I promise. I think I've said enough on this topic, besides I've got jigs to tie, and if you already fish a jig for steelhead, save some fish for the rest of us!

June 22nd 2014

     Ginny and I had the day off together so we loaded up the dogs and headed to the beach for the day!
     Our first stop along the way was just outside the small town of Skamokawa Wa at Skamokawa Farmstead Creamery. The story behind this place is heartfelt, the owners rescued roughly 50 goats and began their dream of making cheese. Now this is a GREAT story of a couple of amazing woman doing the right thing, they have a love for animals that you feel as soon as you arrive, their animals are so spoiled and so loved that for a moment you'd like to be a goat. Then there's the cheese, WHO DOESNT LIKE CHEESE? This stuff is good, cheese like Feta, and my favorite the Garlic Dill Chevre. Everything they use produced or grown locally. They are still under construction as they rescued their first goat less than a year ago, even so the Skamokawa Farmstead Creamery is worth the stop. You can find them on Facebook.
     Once we got to the beach we did the usual beach combing, eating ice cream in Long Beach, and of course a stroll out to the North Jetty where we came across an angler packing a 20lb king back to his car. He posed for a photo and when I asked him what he caught it on I was surprised to hear Blue Fox Spinner, not a herring or anchovy under a float, not a Buzz Bomb or Pt Wilson Dart Jig, but a Blue Fox. ..Hhhmmm, I think I have some of them!
     Here in SW Washington we live in a great area, there are SOOOOOO MANY things to do and see all in a days drive. Im sure in your area , where ever you are it's the same. So in the words of my late mother, YOU KIDS GO PLAY OUTSIDE!

June 21st 2014

     Prepared for the Saturday morning regatta we were on the water this morning before daylight, this would give us at least a half mile of river to ourselves before the Saturday crowd showed up.
     I fished today with brothers Buzz and Jerry, this was a Christmas gift from their sister Joice who has fished with us several times over the last 6 months. An hour into the trip while pulling divers and bait Buzz's rod buried. ...FISH ON! Buzz grabbed the rod from the rod holder to be latched into his first steelhead, but I didn't last long. A fresh summer run steelhead is a wild fish that is sometimes out of the water more than it's in, our fish made a hard charge at the boat, put some slack in the line and came off......DAMN BARBLESS HOOKS!
     Jerry's rod would be the next to get bit, another crazy fish that ran, jumped, wrapped around a rock and broke the leader all before the rod was out of the rod holder.
     Another hour later Buzz's rod buried again, Buzz grabbed the rod only to find nothing there.
     Steelhead, especially summer steelhead are a crazy fish. For someone who's not fished steelhead before it's hard to explain to them that this is not a fish where you set the hook and then just lead them to the net, on the Columbia River and all its tributaries barbless hooks are mandatory, KEEP THE LINE TIGHT, OR LOSE THE FISH!
     For a fish that is often called the fish of a thousand casts, hooking 3 on their first venture in steelhead fishing isn't bad, but going home having been beat is frustrating. Buzz and Jerry will be back, they are fisherman, and that's what we fisherman do.

June 20th 2014

     When I get in the boat in the morning with someone for the first time I never know who I'm fishing with. Now sure we've talked a bit before the trip, names exchanged, times to meet are set and directions are given but beyond that it's a roll of the dice who I'm spending the day with.
     This morning I had the privilege of fishing with Walter, Walter was an intelligence officer during WWII, and had some amazing life stories to share. Normally my day is focused primarily on one thing and thats putting fish on rods, I keep a constant watch for safety issues, share conversation, but underneath I'm doing all I can to find fish. Today it was Walter who stole the day, listening to him was beyond what you see on the history channel or more real than what you read in history books. Walter has a very unbiased view of the world and how it's run, today at the age of 78 he may not be on top of his game but he's still very up to date on what's going on in the world. Walter is a very well read and well traveled man, he shared with me stories of luncheons with various foreign dignitaries, and heads of states, he was in Dallas watching JFK roll past him the day he was assassinated.
     For Walter, our day was not as fruitful as he had hoped, we had gotten a late start in the morning and most of the water had been fished over before we got to it. For myself, the day was priceless, it was over before I knew it, and I left feeling like I got the most out of our day together. It goes to show you can't judge a book by it's cover, you never know who you're sharing space with, whether it be a seat in a boat or who is in line ahead of you in the grocery store. We all have a story to tell, and when we take the time it's amazing what we hear when we listen.
     

June 15 2015

     I wound up this morning with the day off, let's go for a drive!
     Now while alot of anglers I know look forward to spending this day every year fish with their Dad, this is NOT what I do! You see while I am a father to a GREAT teenage Boy, Sage, we do not fish together.
     When I learned I was going to be a father, and to a boy to boot, my thoughts of the years ahead ran crazy.  I imagined spending weekends with my son to be, outdoors. I imagined him one day learning to row ME down the river chasing steelhead and even the day when he'd be taking the boat on his own with his buddies.
     When his mother and I were first discussing baby names I had friends who were giving their pets names Like "Loomis" and his mother asked if I'd ever consider naming our son after something as tacky as a fishing rod.....Of course not I replied! Now she was or is not a fisherperson, so when she came to me with the name Sage, and was explaining to me the meaning of its origin, all I could think of was high end graphite rods from right here in the Pacific Northwest. ...PERFECT!
     This may have been where I went wrong.  You see I didn't share this info until after the birth certificate was signed, where after I bought Sage hats, Sage T shirts as well as Sage stickers for the car. I was the only one who appreciated all of this, and my son who by the age of 5 made it clear he was not a fisherman (preferring video games) once told me "Dad, I can't believe you named me after a fishing rod".
     Today my son and I are very close, and even though he'll neve chase winter steelhead, I love him as much as any father can love a child. And our drive today? Well we headed east to Goldendale Wa to visit the Stonehenge replica, stop for occasional snacks such as alligator jerky,  and just by coincidence, of course, the drive took us right past the Home Valley Grocery store where they do the hottest coon shrimp steelhead bait I know of, was it wrong of me to stop, I mean it was Father's Day right!?!

June 14 2014

     I fished with angler Seth this morning along with 2 of his closest buddies, this trip was a Father's Day gift for Seth from his Wife. This is Seth's first Father's Day, as his baby boy was at home with Mom waiting for Dad to hopefully bring home dinner.
     Weekends are tough, so we decided to launch up high this morning hoping it would give the weekend crowd who was congregating in the lower river to clear out before we drifted down to them.
      Right out of the gate this morning we had a bobber disappear. ...FISH ON! Not  bad way to start the morning. After a few hard and powerful runs we got our first look at the fish....SALMON. Yes we're still closed for salmon, the fish made a couple more runs before we were able to pull the fish boat side and release it.
     The three of them fished hard the rest of the day, and though we heard of a few fish hooked (mostly salmon) we would not hook another fish. We talked about the upcoming fall salmon return (one of the best return predictions since the 30's) and they set a date to come back and chase Coho.
     See you in October Seth, this trip salmon will go in the FISH BOX!

June 13 2014

     When we got off the river yesterday it opened up and started raining, when I got up this morning there was 6 inches of water in the bottom of the boat. ...THATS A LOT!
     When we got to the river it had come up, not a lot but some, and it had definitely colored up. Now im not one to believe in wives tales, one of the best steelhead days I've ever had my clients had been eating bananas one after another, setting bananas down to set the hook. Then there's others such as wind from the east fish like it least, wind from the west fish like it best, the list goes on.
      My clients today we're GREAT fisherman, on the surface they play many roles, but their core is fishing, and right away they bring up the topic, will fish bite on a rising river. Now I can't tell you yes or no on that, I can tell you I've spent thousands of hours fishing in what I thought to be perfect conditions never to produce a bite. My clients today we're NOT on the fence on this theory, our river was still rising from the night before rain showers and every cast they made (despite the fact that fish were caught in front of them) was worthless effort. Now I've been on fishing trips where my heart is just not in it, for what ever reason, and I'd do about anything to swim to shore. Knowing the signs of this, that my clients were thinking of the truck not the water in front of us we made the decision to call it a morning and reschedule when conditions were more favorable.
     Now again I'm not one for wives tales, but I am one we believes in confidence, confidence in your presentation, the water your fishing, as well as the conditions, in fact I've seen more fish caught on confidence than anything else. If one is to believe in wives tales, today was Friday the 13th, maybe we were doomed from the start.

June 12 2014

     Being on the water everyday one season just rolls into the next and while for the most part I'm on the same river year around the way we fish it changes.
     Our mornings are starting at daylight in beginners hole, casting into the same drift alongside the same people who've been fishing the same area for years. There's anglers such as Big Paul, who until this year has floated the river in his black Fishrite with the pink pinstripe, a boat that originally belonged to Guide and Fishrite rep Rick Johnson, I still remember the day in early spring of 1992 when that boat rolled of the truck at Mahaffeys bait n tackle. Last year Big Paul sold that boat again and is this year riding front seat with his fishing buddy Arlin. In mid June every year I start looking for Neil and his wife Wong who fish from the bank in the rainbow park area, they to are here fishing summer run steelhead, today was their first day back and for the next 6 week they will be part of my daily life as we fish together with in the same area where they walk the beach. Wong reminisces often and tells the story of the 31 pound steelhead she caught on the Quinault River, it was February and just the day before she had landed a 22 pounder.
     Today I fished with Merle and his son Roman, it was a slow day, Merle managed a beautiful chrome steelhead to the net that took a coonshrimp under a float. Through out our day we had a few more opportunities that were missed.  This year marks 30 years of rowing the Kalama, while in hindsight it seems like forever ago, it still seems like yesterday when Rick Johnsons Black Fishrite driftboat with the pink pinstripe was parked in the parking lot of Mahaffeys store and I thinking who would row such a boat, then when hearing it belonged to the Guide Rick Johnson, pink pinstripes all the sudden became cool!

June 11 2014

     I fished again today with local rod builder Dave Calhoun of Northwest Rods. Dave is carving his way into the custom salmon and steelhead rod business by building very quality no frills rods, and I can tell you he's doing it RIGHT!
     Today Dave delivered us 2 new custom rods that are designed just for twitching jigs for coho, 8ft one piece with a light tip and heavy backbone, along the lines of a steelhead plug rod only in a spinning model. Tied beautifully on Gary Loomis' new blanks, these rods are going to deliver exactly what we want them to do.....PUT COHO IN THE BOX! Thanks Dave, as always these rods are a home run!
       Today we fished coon shrimp under a float in low water conditions. Dave managed to put a limit of chrome summer run steelhead in the boat while using one of his custom float rods.
     As I've stated before, high end rods will not guarantee fish, but having the right rod for the application is a must and Dave is dedicated to building just that. If you're looking for a new rod to chase salmon and steelhead I'd recommend you talk with Dave Calhoun at NW Rods.

June 6th 2014

     Back on the water this morning, not wanting a repeat of yesterday we needed to change things up.
      Today there would be no bait, no bobber n jigs, just spinners! Two guys who can fish a spinner well can do some damage, you can cover water with a spinner like nothing else, no need for light leader, even in low summer conditions I run braid right to the hook I know some anglers insist on using a piece on mono as leader but I've never felt the need to.
      Today did not feel like the same river we fished yesterday, right away a chrome 5 pound steelhead slammed a #4 vibrax , after some crazy runs it spit the hook just feet from the net. A few casts later and another fish on again a chrome fish that wasn't as lucky as the first and ended up boat side. We hit several fish through out the day all of them spitting the hook, the disappointing cost of barbless hooks.
     If I had ONE lure to choose from to chase summer run steelhead, a spinner would be my only choice!

June 5 2014

     Back on the water today after being sick for the last week.
      We were on the water at daylight this morning to get in on the bite at the lower hatchery creek in beginners hole. When we pulled in there was already a boat leaving which told me that nothing had been hooked yet and that he was moving to look for fresh fish downstream leaving this dead water for us. What happens here at daylight is usually a precursor to what the rest of the day will be like, and after an hour and seeing nothing hooked we too moved on, "its going to be one of those days" I thought to myself.
    We worked every piece of water for the next 4 hours like it was a plate of ribs, it always amazes me how a river or piece of water that you know has fish can almost seen void of life, cast after cast after cast and not even a bite. After 5 hours we had that talk and agreed we call it an early morning and reschedule.

June 1st 2014

     I woke up this morning feeling much better hopefully this is the end of it.

May 31st 2014

I'd rather get stitches than be sick.