This cutthroat fell for a pink Clouser Minnow this last week, it was tied on a size 6 salt water tmc. Lots of good fishing on salt water right now if you can find a place out of the wind and have some time cast.
The steelheading is starting to get good with a mixed bag of holdover fish and bright winter fish! The Cowlitz is running high right now for the lack of rain this month. As always the Blue Creek drift is turning up fish if you put in your time. The fish are spread out through the river so take some time and look for the fish.
I fished the Snoqualmie for fun a few days back and it's low and clear! The upper sections are producing a few fish but it's still a little slow. It seems that jigs and bait are the ticket on this river. In this low clear water fish natural colors and keep the jigs small, don't forget to tend to the line on the drift or the fish wont touch your jig!
The fall salmon runs are starting to heat up and its time to think about getting the boat and gear ready for big fall kings and coho! Did I mention there is a few pink salmon in the river right now? The pinks are great fun just be ready to fish with a few new close friends, its a great time for the kids.
If you can find some room on the river take a 5wt fly rod and some small pink or cerise flies and hang on! This is a great way to get started fly fishing for salmon, new casters can expect to hook-up with a few good fish. Just a word of caution, don't try to fly-fish if any gear guys are working a run. Get out and enjoy the summer sun and try something new!
The Kokanee fishing is started off strong for us, I was out yesterday and we boated some nice fish. The fish are not that deep, we ran "000" UV dodgers with a wedding ring with about 70' of line out and that was it! I was trolling real real slow just fast enough to make the gear spin. The morning and evening bite is the best, the evening bite is great and if you have time pack the fly rods and cast to some trout crashing the surface after the hatch!
It's spring salmon time on the Columbia and we will be fishing the ever popular Drano Lake! The numbers are looking to be about 12,600 this year on the Little White Salmon River and the fishing will be open seven with Wednesday closures from April 13th to May 31st. If your looking to try out a new spring salmon location this is great area to try, it's one of those places every fisherman needs to fish at least once! We will start fishing about mid April so call to book the best dates.
If you need help with lodging of please let me know, this is a small area for the amount of people that are on the way. I hope to hear from you soon.
Chris
It's October and it's time to hit the coastal rivers for silvers! The Chehalis has had a great bite in the lower river on herring and spinners. It's been a good bite just short, be ready to fish the tide change and fish it hard. I found most the fish in the shallow water about 8' deep, keep the lead right on the bottom in this shallow water. When the bite slows move up river and throw jigs in frog water or toss spinnners to the structure along the bank. When a fish hits the spinner let it pull on it two or three good times and then set the hook or you will pull it right out of it's mouth.
If you want to fish the deep holes for the big kings that are still in the rivers set up your gear like so. Slide a plastic slider on your main line and add two 8mm beads and then tie that off to a Duo-lock snap. Off the slider attach an 18" dropper with a 4 to 6 oz lead. For the "business" end of the deal run a 3' to 5' leader from the snap to a Kwikfish or a Flatfish. Drop your gear to the bottom and work your drift boat through the holding water and hold on! Keep that rod in the holder and wait till the line is flying off the reel and then just pick it up and it's fish on!
The fishing continues to be "ok" for Coho on the Green river with both spinners and jigs. Fish the jigs in the slow pools and look for the bite on the fall, It will be real soft so don't be moving all around when doing this.
The spinner bite is good in the soft water up under brush and at the tail of the pools. Throw the spinner out and let it sink a bit and then start your swing down river. Blue spinners in the size #3 worked for me this week and pink or orange on the jigs.
Use caution on the rivers this weekend and watch for sweepers in the corners after all the rain. Good luck.
Chris
Well, not a lot of fishing going on right now. Doing some chum fishing on the local rivers but with the snow and ice not much fun! Can't wait for the winter steelhead to show in good numbers in December and January. I'll get serious about it in the next few weeks, k. till then it's time to work on the gear and the boats for the new year. Here are a few pictures from last week.
Have a good holiday and be safe on the river!
Well the winter steelhead B run on the Cowlitz river is in full swing! It's kicking out some big fish and getting better each day. The fish are spread out through the system so put in some time and you will net some fish. Today I made good on a sled trip I donated to the PSA , Special thanks to Paul at Ock's guide Service for running the trip in his sled. The morning was cold and wet but we ended the day with three nice fish, not to bad.
The springer run will be showing up in the Cowlitz soon and this will be great fishing with big B Run fish and some springers to boot! Good luck on the river.
Chris