Fishing for springers on the Columbia River is best described as “grinding” since the bites are often so few and far between. Our season in 2024 was definitely defined by the word grind, however it also made us better spring chinook anglers and this blog post will outline why that is.
Right now, every river salmon fisherman in the PNW with proximity to saltwater is trying to figure out how to get it done on the tidal push of chinook coming their way. I want to explore this topic of “timing the tides”, but also highlight what is now my new favorite lure!
If you’ve been a follower of our YouTube channel (you should be!), you know that we ran out to Neah Bay not long after the June salmon opener for a single-day incredible turn-and-burn trip. And on that trip, we hooked into 8 quality chinook but lost 6 of those, and only landed 2.
I’ve recently made some changes and have gone 11 for 11 on quality chinook since those changes. This blog post is to highlight what exactly I changed.
What’s really going on with the Chehalis River winter steelhead season of 2022-2023? Why are recreational anglers being denied access to consume hatchery steelhead and coho which have been raised for the purpose of consumption via the license fees we’ve spent?
Is this all to protect and conserve the vital wild stocks of steelhead whose numbers have dipped precipitously over the last decade and haven’t shown signs of recovery?
Some of the answers may surprise you…
The long-anticipated (dreaded?) clarity on regulations for the Washington coast steelhead season has arrived. Keep reading to be enlightened (disappointed?)…
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but things are not looking good for our Washington Coastal Steelhead season in 2022-2023, in fact, my “too early prediction” is that we won’t have seasons on *most* of our favorite coastal rivers this year.
Historically, the Puyallup and Carbon Rivers are places you can fish 7 days a week for several months of the summer/fall, and thousands of people each year look forward to this wonderful part of the calendar.
However, in 2022 the fishing regulations have changed significantly, limiting how many days a week these rivers can be fished and the months they are open. This blog article gets to the bottom of why things changed.
WDFW Announced recently the closure of salmon fishing in Marine Area 5 on odd days in the month of July which has caused some anglers to consider canceling their trips to Sekiu.
If you have been used to catching your limit of spot shrimp in depths of 250+ in recent years, then 2022 has been a serious curve ball.
We typically shrimp in Hood Canal and we have a spot we hit where we routinely pull up 100+ shrimp per pot in 45-60 minute soaks. So on the first mid-week opener in May when we were pulling up 20-40 shrimp per pot in the exact same spot, it was a bit of a head scratcher.
I don’t usually like to be the guy who sounds the alarm on a fishery to give it even more attention but…if you are thinking you can wait to get in on the incredible chinook fishing going on in Marine Area 11 right now, you may be disappointed