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Puget Sound Crab and Squid! Steelhead updates - Harvest Recreation Last week of 2022!
Feb 5, 2025
We finally got out and did a bit of crab and squid combo trip on Puget Sound, leaving from Point Defiance and heading north to drop our pots and then search for schools of squid. We even got to participate in a squid party...as in when a bunch of watercraft converge on a small area to jig up squid. I was just grateful not to have run over a kayaker!
In terms of Steelhead, do you know which month is better for catching winter steelhead between 1962 and 2020, December or January?
Well, we've got the data and the answer to this question and we're gonna try to get you setup for success to hook that first steelhead in 2023.
I also have a big personal announcement to make that I'm super excited about, you're gonna have to watch the vid or follow me on social media to hear about it.
This video is sponsored by Columbia Sportswear's Newton Ridge Hiking Boot. Seriously, I fell in love with this shoe before I discovered I could promote it through Amazon's Creator Connections program.
You can buy with the below Amazon link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089FGDDDX?ref=t_ac_view_request_product_image&campaignId=amzn1.campaign.2A0SSRF6POJES&linkCode=tr1&tag=pnwbestlife06-20&linkId=amzn1.campaign.2A0SSRF6POJES_1672442057740
Probably my favorite piece of new merch to share with you all as well. Hit me at kyle@pnwbestlife.com for any and all of it. Don't forget to check pnwbestlife.com for all your helpful info.
Let us know what you liked, what we can do to improve and your own ideas for harvest recreation opportunities this week.
Sub to the channel for more content like this coming at you more consistently going forward.
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0:00
oh double
0:03
all right we finally got out and did
0:04
that crab and Squids combo trip on Puget
0:07
Sound I'm gonna tell you everything
0:08
about it how we did and we got Rivers
0:10
dropping into shape and steelhead
0:12
swimming up these Rivers intros it's
0:14
gonna be the perfect opportunity to go
0:16
after it next week do you know which
0:19
month is better for steelhead
0:20
historically is it December or is it
0:22
January we're gonna answer that question
0:23
for you tell you everything you know
0:25
about steelheading coming up in the week
0:27
ahead and then last I got a personal
0:29
announcement to make that it's got a big
0:31
deal to me excited to share that with
0:33
all of you and what it means for your
0:35
head but first the highlights
0:37
[Music]
0:39
all right so we finally got out and did
0:42
some crabbing and squidding with the
0:44
with the boat and peeping sound and left
0:46
out Point Defiance and headed north oh
0:48
this is your first crabbing trip
0:51
first crabbing trip
0:53
you gonna be a good girl
0:55
yeah well we're baiting the pots right
0:57
now you can't be all up in the bait
0:59
you know we dropped our pots and uh
1:01
locations from 70 feet of water to about
1:05
140 and we had we had crab Keepers good
1:09
success at both 70 and 140 but only in
1:13
one particular location and dropping
1:15
them in some of the little Bays that are
1:17
between Brown's point and Redondo then
1:20
we headed up to Redondo and Des Moines
1:21
and we're just looking for for squid big
1:24
big schools of squid you know we kind of
1:26
got spoiled a few years ago when there
1:28
were all those big schools of squid all
1:31
over the sound in the daytime you could
1:32
just you could just see them all over
1:34
your uh your your finder you know those
1:36
big horizontal line we didn't find
1:38
anything like that you know we we saw
1:40
some other people out squidding from the
1:42
boats and and uh you know but it would
1:44
just we we ran our Electronics through
1:46
the area and we didn't we didn't find
1:48
that so we uh we we kind of looked
1:50
around and finally we came back to
1:51
Redondo and joined uh kind of the squid
1:55
party here and uh there was just there
1:57
were not many marks it was it was
2:00
grinding it out a few here a few there
2:02
here's here's the one double I got
2:05
um you know while we're out doing this
2:06
but it was good I mean everyone's a good
2:08
spirits you're out on a winter day you
2:10
know end of the year and you're you're
2:12
pulling up squid I mean how how awesome
2:15
is that
2:17
yeah
2:20
right down here
2:22
double
2:28
so I forgot we went and retrieved our
2:30
pots
2:34
lots of ribs
2:47
oh my Lord that's a red rock yeah you
2:50
thought that was a day yeah and normally
2:53
you know I like to throw back the the
2:55
Red Rocks but man there were some huge
2:57
Red Rocks in one of the pots and we got
2:59
a few keeper dungys as well so I mean I
3:02
mean you you only need a few crab to
3:05
make a fresh crab Feast it's kind of
3:06
meal thing and oh my goodness I love I
3:09
love that it's uh it's not something
3:11
I've done a lot this year
3:13
um but uh when we get to do it it's an
3:15
absolute laughs
3:20
yeah well that's a nice part
3:23
that's not a bad pot
3:29
there's one at least one or there's
3:31
Keepers in there that one right there I
3:33
think we got three Keepers look at that
3:35
guy that's bigger than the gauge
3:38
oh yeah
3:40
we gotta talk a little bit about what's
3:41
new
3:45
on on the personal front as I said in
3:48
the opener I've got a special
3:49
announcement I got selected for the
3:52
Puget Sound
3:53
Rec recreational fishing
3:57
I got selected for the Puget Sound
3:59
recreational fishing enhancement fund
4:02
oversight committee that's right the PSR
4:05
fefoc and I'm definitely gonna I'm
4:08
looking forward to being uh serving on
4:11
that committee and serving your
4:12
interests the recreational angler and uh
4:15
see how we can just make things even
4:16
better in Puget Sound so definitely uh
4:19
your thoughts about that drop in the
4:21
comments uh I'm gonna be you know
4:23
highlighting uh a number of different
4:26
things all all year long in 2023 as uh
4:29
as a big part of being on the committee
4:31
is is communication and sharing with all
4:33
of you what's going on and hearing your
4:35
feedback as well and uh yeah the more uh
4:40
diversity of thoughts and opinions uh
4:42
out there the the better so all right
4:45
also uh I just published the Cowlitz
4:47
Springer 2023 salmon fishing article and
4:50
uh take a look at that there's a couple
4:52
graphs on there regarding the Run size
4:54
and escapement history for the Cowlitz
4:57
downtown up on pnwbestlife.com and then
4:59
also the hunting a review of my 2022
5:02
hunting season it was it was quite
5:04
extensive I got to deer hunt for uh you
5:07
know uh each month of The Fall season
5:10
and had many experiences incredible
5:13
learning uh opportunities and I write
5:16
about a lot of it in that article as
5:18
well as the first time getting to go
5:19
duck hunting geese hunting and um yeah
5:22
it's just incredible year of growth for
5:24
me you know hunting is not something I
5:26
did Growing Up and really I'm I'm new
5:30
when it comes to you know just in the
5:31
last few years uh starting that Journey
5:34
but I've spent a lot of time in the
5:35
woods spent a lot of time learning and
5:38
uh there's just some things that that
5:40
are that are um uh I don't know just the
5:44
things that might might help you if
5:46
you're on that early stage of the
5:48
journey uh take a look at the Articles
5:50
up there pnw bestlife.com you know and
5:52
and related to that you know I felt you
5:55
know as much time as I spent on the
5:56
water uh really the last years spent a
5:59
lot of time in the woods hiking foraging
6:01
scouting hunting and I just I made an
6:05
important uh conversion in my life an
6:08
important life-changing decision uh you
6:10
know my whole life I've been a I've been
6:12
a sneakers guy I've like my everyday
6:14
shoe I was a runner for a while I'd run
6:16
a couple marathons and running shoes
6:18
pair of sneakers that's been like my my
6:21
daily shoe and I just recently uh made
6:24
the switch in the last week to a hiking
6:27
boot hiking shoe guy that is my now my
6:30
everyday uh my everyday shoe and and
6:33
this video sponsored by the Columbia
6:36
Sportswear Newton Ridge uh hiking boot
6:40
here you know I I bought the shoe first
6:41
and kind of fell in love with it and
6:43
then uh and then got this opportunity to
6:45
promote it you know if you're looking
6:46
for a hiking boot for 2023 or maybe
6:48
maybe making a switch similar to what I
6:52
made with regards to daily shoe uh I
6:55
mean you never know you might be driving
6:56
from from here you know know one uh for
6:59
one reason and realize you could you
7:01
know stop on the side of the road and
7:03
you go grab some some mushrooms or do
7:05
some scouting or or whatever you know
7:07
these things are waterproof they got
7:09
these incredible grips on the bottom and
7:11
uh and they're really comfortable to
7:12
wear all the time so uh you know when I
7:15
first got them actually working around
7:16
the house all day uh because I was I was
7:19
pretty stoked about it and they're just
7:20
really a really comfortable shoe and and
7:22
they don't feel like a a boot you know
7:25
they're not big clunky like a boot and
7:27
um
7:28
yeah so that that's my that's my big
7:30
life-changing switch
7:33
[Music]
7:35
all right I said I talked about what was
7:37
historically the best month of steelhead
7:39
fishing and uh you know for for Coastal
7:43
steelhead uh I've got all the data and
7:46
we've we've crunched it we've uh We've
7:48
we've chartered it and uh calculated and
7:51
the best month historically four
7:53
steelhead fishing is actually the month
7:55
of January it's not December it's
7:58
January a lot of times people uh you
8:01
know they they hang it up after you know
8:04
after the New Year you got the nothing
8:05
between Christmas and New Year and
8:07
everyone's Out Steel heading well this
8:09
this year right nothing week was just
8:12
just torrential downpour and rivers
8:15
getting you know jacked way up on the
8:16
flows and so it wasn't a great wasn't a
8:18
great week to get steelhead but you know
8:20
what is going to be a great week to
8:21
catch steelhead next week the first week
8:24
of January that's right January is a
8:26
better month historically but uh also
8:29
the setup is perfect these rivers are on
8:31
the drop uh you've got uh you know the
8:34
rivers that you can fish developed with
8:36
Washington you've got the bogus Shield
8:37
you've got other Coastal no-tellum
8:41
Creeks that uh you have to leave the
8:43
rags what's open what's not and uh yeah
8:46
there's a there's gonna be opportunity
8:48
in January go hook that steelhead that's
8:52
the month to make it happen
8:58
it was a recreational opportunity of
9:00
course that that's number one go
9:01
steelhead fishing right we just talked
9:03
about it go get out there go steelhead
9:06
fishing uh if you're on a coastal River
9:09
with Selective gear run a bead go with
9:11
the model Lauren Sweet Cherry pink uh
9:14
you know something Peach maybe you know
9:17
these These are the colors that that are
9:19
that are typically really good for you
9:20
and uh you know when it comes to when it
9:22
comes to Southeast Washington rivers you
9:25
can still use bait you don't grab the
9:27
jig pattern you know a nightmare jig
9:29
powder you you or there's other jig
9:31
patterns that work as well but if if
9:32
you're new to this and you're just
9:33
looking for something and I don't want
9:34
to put the I don't want to fish with the
9:36
wrong thing throw a nightmare jig on tip
9:39
it with a little bit of prawn the kind
9:40
of neat you get you know at the grocery
9:42
store comes Frozen in a package and uh
9:46
you know throw that on the tip of your
9:48
jig just just a little Pinky Nails size
9:51
worth of prawn and and uh watch lots of
9:55
videos I put out there other there's
9:57
other great videos too about about how
9:59
to how to float fish for winter
10:01
Steelhead and catch your first steelhead
10:03
in 2023 make it happen you know for me
10:06
uh I love to go steal that fishing next
10:08
week but I might actually go east of the
10:10
mountains and I might go over to uh the
10:12
place in proser and uh get some some
10:15
goose hunting revenge on the ones I
10:17
didn't get uh last month so uh you know
10:21
we'll see we'll see about the the
10:22
weather set up and other factors that I
10:24
gotta figure out but uh that's something
10:26
I'm excited about it's open every day in
10:28
Yakima County until January 29th and
10:30
tomorrow is the last day of winter crab
10:33
assuming I get the video out on time
10:34
today January or December 30th uh you
10:38
know you've got one more day if you get
10:40
out and get some winter crab it's it's
10:42
been good it's been good in Puget Sound
10:43
a lot of different areas uh you know go
10:46
get some go eat some New Year's crabs on
10:49
New Year's Eve lastly I just got the
10:52
navy blue version of the pnw best life
10:54
hoodie and I think this is the best
10:56
looking one super excited about that
10:58
drop me drop in the comments hit me at
11:00
Kyle pnw bestlife.com and uh you know
11:03
still doing low volume here uh so we
11:06
kind of got to work it out but uh hit me
11:08
up there and I'll get you one of these
11:10
hoodies whatever your plans are New
11:12
Year's Eve New Year's stay safe get out
11:14
there enjoy an incredible opportunities
11:18
we have for Harvest recreation in the
11:20
Pacific Northwest see ya
11:26
thank you
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#Outdoors
#Fishing