August 17th 2014

     When we head out for a day on the water whether it be on a boat or from the shoreline there's so much to be aware of and when we do it under the influence not only does it become a safety issue but you miss out on what's brought us there to begin with.
     Here in the state of Washington as in a few other states the use of marijuana has become legal, and before I go any further on this I'll state where I stand on this. I voted for the legalization of marijuana, being illegal I feel it plugs up our judicial system, fills up our over crowded jails and is far less dangerous than alcohol, I know this because I drank a fifth of whiskey a day or MORE for 15 years which completely destroyed my life, I ended up going through an intensive inpatient treatment center, and while going through all the emotional, legal, and financial hell I was going through I never heard anyone say that they smoked some weed last night, crashed the car and abused their family, do I think that weed is the healthiest for our community. ...NO but I think its healthier for the community to stop arresting people for it. With that said.......
     When you show up to a guided fishing trip, your guide wants to give you a memorable day where your safety is most important and of course you catch fish. When you book a trip with me we are fishing small tributaries where the angler is actively involved in the success of the day, you are not sitting in a boat seat staring at a rod waiting for a fish to commit suicide on your hook, with me you're casting, you're learning to read water, you're waiting for a bite that if you don't respond to immediately you miss your chance and on a slow day that  chance may be your only chance at landing a steelhead.
     I understand that getting out to go fishing for a day means relaxing on a day off, for many that day includes drinking a couple beers with your buddy, or now here in Washington, blazing some weed, it's my personal opinion that these things are safe in moderation, but I WILL tell you that when you show up to a guided trip with me, if you're under the influence whether it be alcohol or weed, your chances of catching fish are extremely diminished.
     As a guide and probably with most guides we eat, sleep, and drink fish. We obsess over catching fish and how to help our clients catch fish, we want you to have a successful day and come back and fish with us again, but when you show up "high" , that makes our job extremely tougher. I'm writing this because now that marijuana has become legal, the number of people showing up for a guided steelhead trip under the influence is growing, and I notice that it's THOSE trips where our catch average drops horribly. It's a LEGAL right to smoke weed and I respect that, I voted in favor of those rights, but when someone fishes with me for a day and leaves having not caught fish it's hard for me to not take it personal, that I could have done something more, but if someone has decided to show up under the influence and its clear that its hindering the chance to catch fish there is nothing I can do to fix that. Drink and smoke my friends, it's your legal right, .please just do it responsibly.
    

August 16th

     With the coming of fall every year means fall salmon, and this is by far the busiest time of the year, not only does it mean catching hundreds of salmon in a couple short months, it also means curing eggs.
     I took the day off from the river to cure eggs. Eggs are one of the best baits there are for catching salmon and steelhead. Many theories exist as to why fish will eat others eggs, my beliefs are that for fish like resident trout eggs are a huge source of protein, but for fish like salmon that do not eat once they come into the tributaries to spawn, I believe they eat the eggs of other fish to ensure the survival of their own. Again this is my own belief.
     When it comes to curing eggs or bait in general many just assume that I have my own secret recipe, but that is not so. Tackle store shelves in our area are packed with salmon egg cures with labels like "Double Neon Red" or "Bloody Tuna Recipe" , these are powdered cures where you just sprinkle the cure on the eggs, message it into the "skein" , let sit a while then your eggs are ready to use or freeze to use at another time. I use the analogy that in the race car world there are those that build race cars and those that drive them, I don't want to create a good egg cure I just want to use it.
     Over the next few months I'll need to put up nearly 100 quart jars of bait to be used the following season, this means after spending a long day on the water chasing salmon, it also means long evenings curing eggs. If your doing eggs for the first time yourself, first determine what species you're targeting whether it be salmon or steelhead, for steelhead I like "Pautzkies" and for salmon Scott Ammerman who is an Oregon Coast Salmon and steelhead guide has his own line of cures, once you've got the eggs in front of you just follow the recipe on the label and this should result in PERFECT eggs.  Good luck!

August 15th

     I fished with father and son today Chad and Mike. Right off the bat this morning they informed me they could not catch steelhead, they were both new to the sport and after several trips where they hooked fish but never landed any, they were convinced they were jinxed!
     The advantage of fishing over alot of fish, that bite, is you get to make mistakes. You get to miss a few bites, you get to leave too much slack in the line, and eventually your going to get on top of things and finally land a fish. Well that's
what happened to Chad and Mike today.
     We started out with a slow morning, casting and casting after fish after fish with not even a bite. About midmorning we came into a run and finally bobber down.....then bobber up!  In this same drift this scenario repeated itself several times before Mike yells FISH ON!  It was a nice little hatchery fish that fought well before surrendering to the net, finally they had landed a steelhead and I can't tell you what that meant to him.
     We left that spot and floated into another hole that produces fish almost daily, Chad makes a cast, his float goes a few feet before disappearing from sight Mike comes back on it...FISH ON AGAIN! This fish to would put up a great fight before the net was slid underneath it. At this point it was high fives all around, Chad and Mike, father and son had come out together and successfully landed steelhead!
     Heading out to fish steelhead a few times a year and going home empty handed doesn't mean you can't catch fish, like anything it takes practice, and lots of it. If you fish steelhead in January, chances are conditions will change when you come back in March, the same applies again in June, and when conditions change so do techniques, so in essence the learning curve starts over with every trip. Today all Chad and Mike needed was the chance to make some mistakes and then apply what they learned on the next opportunity until finally they put it all together and bobber down resulted in fish landed.
     So with anything in life, don't let a few mistakes take away your confidence, if you head to the river convinced you can't catch fish chances are you probably won't.
    
    

August 14th

     Alarm goes off at 5 am, my girlfriend and I carpool into town together, meet clients at 6:30, chase steelhead till around 1:30 pm, load up the raft and head to self wash car wash to pressure wash boat, pick up girlfriend at 4:30 make the 45 minute drive home, eat dinner, return calls and messages till 8pm then hit the hay to do it all over again the next. This has been a routine every day since father's day, thats 58 straight days of chasing fish.
     Steelhead fishing has been good this summer, warm mornings and steelhead that will bite make it hard to want to take the day off, before you know it February will be here with rainy cold days that will have us wishing for the days of steelhead fishing in shorts and t-shirts.
     It's been a great summer with plenty of excitement, at the top of the list is steelhead!  We've seen some truly great fishing with some 15 hookup days. We've had many first time anglers catch their first steelhead and some caught more than one. My Girlfriend Ginny and I headed to Neah Bay to do some fishing ourselves, we caught king salmon out at Swift Sure bank and seabass and ling cod inshore in the kelp beds, only to go home and be back to guiding steelhead trips the next day.
     Other exciting news, you've heard me mention Dave Calhoun from NW Rods in previous posts. Dave was recently given the co host spot on the outdoor tv show Outdoor GPS, CONGRATS DAVE! We fished with Dave a week later and did a live broadcast from the river for the show which was VERY COOL! Thanks again Dave.
     There's still PLENTY of summer run steelhead around, but most local anglers are getting geared up for the upcoming fall salmon return. The ocean has been fishing good for salmon for over a month now, legendary salmon hot spot Bouy 10 is producing fish and the first fall salmon were caught on my home stream the Kalama River this last week, in no time the Pacific Northwest is about to go CRAZY with salmon!
    If you like to fish I hope you've been able to take advantage of some of the great fishing taking place locally, if you're looking to get in on some steelhead fishing before summers end we have some open days and if you want to fish fall salmon with us you need to book NOW as those dates fill fast. As always if you just have a question as to what's biting where or what to use we're always willing to help, if we can't help you we'll put you in touch with someone who can!