March. Schizophrenic as an ax murderer with a side job as an ER Doctor. One day you’re basking in spring-like temps, flat calm waters and the next you’re trying to catch your hat before it blows off your head as the wind knocks foam off of the whitecaps. So, when we saw a window in…
I know, I've got it bad… I await the salmon forecast numbers like a kid waiting for Christmas morning. Hello, my name is Tom and I am a "salmon sicko". After watching the numbers for a number of years (never mind how many…) I've found that you can "call some shots" by digging into the forecast…
Formerly known as "Presidents Day", this national holiday has been hijacked by local salmon anglers and derby organizers! The Hot Plug and Olympic Peninsula Salmon derbies offered over $30,000 in cash and prizes during one of the best winter chinook or "blackmouth" seasons in recent memory, which certainly added up to a memorable three-day weekend! The 25th edition…
The third stop on the 2011 Northwest Salmon Derby Series was the Roche Harbor Invitational and I have to say that it is one of the best run events that I have ever had the pleasure of participating in! Start to finish from the location, to the wonderful Roche Harbor facilities, the fishing and the…
Marine Area 9 opened up on Sunday January 16th and the weather forecast was calling for south winds 10-20kts. Instead of pushing the forecast I decided to stay home and watch the Seahawks playoff game. In retrospect, it would have been less painful to ride whitecaps in a cartopper. Monday was a national holiday and…
Around these parts, the modern benchmark for a great fishing year was 2001. In that year, Columbia river springers hit a 25 year high, Puget sound chinook & coho crowded area streams, pink salmon were "every cast" thick, nearly 300,000 sockeye streamed into Lake Washington and winter steelhead fishing was smokin'. Now, ten years later,…
A foursome of young bucks fell upon some good luck earlier this year as they were pulled from the icy waters and swift currents of Stephens Passage by a group of locals out to enjoy the last few days of recent sunshine. The deer were found far from shore, presumably fleeing one of the many black bears…
At Mar Don Resort the concept of an "Off Season" is unknown. Potholes Reservoir is open year-round and even if it freezes solid, there is always something to hunt and fish for. In fact, we visited MarDon the second week of December and the "dead of winter" was anything but dead! The walk down to…
The summer chinook season in Marine Area 7 closed at the end of October and with it, one of the best kept hot fishing secrets in recent memory. In other words, it was just smokin' for hatchery chinook and the locals kept it quiet! Nevermind that some of us had deer and elk on the brain…
If you say "Thanksgiving", I think "Steelhead" and so does Ryan Bennett of Reel Deal Guide Service! Ryan and I had planned to head down to the Cowlitz one week ago but the snow storm that snarled traffic changed our minds in a hurry. So, we waited a week, got up early on Monday morning…