Larry Stauffer has a passion. The seeds of his passion, sown in his youth at his father's "duck shack" on the lower Skagit River, reached fruition in Idaho's high country when Larry's arrow found a Pope & Young class herd bull elk. Taking a record class bull elk with a bow is an event in and…
Over the next two weekends there are literally thousands of dollars, hundreds of prizes and a few boats on the line. Welcome, my friends to Derby Days! The Edmonds Derby this weekend and the grand finale of the Northwest Salmon Derby Series: The Everett Coho Derby Sept 18 & 19 will add a little spice…
It's the last day of August, Labor Day weekend looming and it's raining like its autumn already. While some may lament the end of summer, I'm more bummed over the closing of the best Marine Area 9 & 10 selective chinook season in memory but also looking optimistically forward to autumn angling opportunities. Robbie Tobeck…
Every now and then you're asked to do something that, well, you've never thought about doing before. Such was the case when the phone rang last spring and Cannon product manager Dave Maryanov said: "Hey Tom, what do you think about having us out to the Puget Sound area this summer to shoot our new…
Ok, so maybe it's a little late in chinook season for an in-depth plug drill but it's only early August and there are still kings to be caught so… Let's get pluggin'! When we talk about salmon trolling plugs off of the Cannon Downriggers we need to draw some distinctions between flasher gear and the…
Plugs are cool. Salmon plugs, steelhead plugs, bass plugs, cedar plugs for tuna, plugs with teeth marks… you know what I mean. When you have to use flashers off of the Cannon Downriggers to provoke a strike, so be it but it is such a pleasure to play a fish with nothing between you but…
Selective salmon fisheries: they are the law of the land and our pathway to increased opportunity in our local waters. By my way of thinking, if I get to fish more days in increased areas in prime time?…I’m IN! Yes, it’s a pain to release those big, wild kings but given the choice between fishing…
It's no secret that Robbie Tobeck and I enjoy a laugh, especially at the others expense. Partially it's a WSU Cougar/UW Husky thing. It's also a native Washingtonian/Florida transplant thing. Our penchant for pickin' on each other has led to the infamous "tuna vs. salmon" debate, the blue water vs. green water conflict and now…
The second half of our Sitka adventure featured some new faces, new places and a couple complete surprises! After the weekend storm that left us looking for inside areas to fish, the "deck had been shuffled" with regard to the migrating chinooks distribution along South East Alaska's coastline. Our challenge was to again locate fish…
The annual pilgrimage to Southeast Alaska is an event that my friends and I look forward to each and every year. You never know what you're going to get on the fish or weather front and this season held many surprises on both accounts! Our first day was sunny and flat calm. Our 28' Stabicraft…