Football nuts have their NFL Combine and Draft, while us “salmon sickos” have the salmon run projections and the season setting process. If you’re a football fan fisherman…you’ve got a whole lot of “pre-seasoning” to do. So, in an effort to apply some “salmonid salve” to your off-season itch lets take a peek at the process of…
I just can't help it! I just get fired up over the Washington Sportsman's Show in Puyallup and the Seattle Boat Show! First up, here's a coupon for the Sportsman's show so you can print, clip and save a couple bucks on admission and spend it on a scone! Here's my Seminar schedule at the Washington Sportsman's…
BY JEFF LUND. I’m not a pessimist, but I did wonder what it meant when I turned on the heat in my truck and was almost overcome by the smell of cooked cat poop that apparently oozed into the treads of my hiking boots on the walk through my yard. What kind of an omen…
The first local salmon "opener" of 2012 is slated for January 16 in north Puget Sound's Marine Area 9. This huge piece of water encompassing Admiralty Inlet features some of Washington State's premier salt water salmon locations, namely Possession Bar, Point No Point and Midchannel Bank. On a chart or on the water, "A9" can…
We're in the middle of our second La Nina winter in a row here in Washington and the weather maelstrom that many of the meteorologists predicted, well, it hasn't materialized yet. Knock on wood! This has been the driest December on record and that's dropped many of the cricks in Western Washington to near summer…
With memories of last year's San Juan Island (Marine Area 7) smokin' hot blackmouth (winter feeder chinook) opener spinning through my head, I couldn't wait to get up to the Islands for the opener! Add the fact that I'm going to have my pard' Robbo Endsley and Island guru Jay Field on board Big Red…
To simply state that there is water everywhere just doesn't do justice to our current state of affairs. At least we are armed with more information for this season's series of November drenchers. Thanks to the new Langley Hill radar we have a better view of incoming fronts. This new view is particularly helpful to…
For the second year in a row, I've had the opportunity to fish the Marine Area 8 & 9 opener to "scout" or pre-fish the opening event of the Northwest Salmon Derby Series, the Bayside Marine Derby. Usually, there are a few "easy" fish available on opening day and you get a good read on…
Throughout all this talk of budget cuts, ocean survival and La Nina the fact remains that the hatchery steelhead are on their way! Here's why I'm looking at this year's hatchery runs more positively that the last couple years: Look at the "bumper crop" of pinks & coho we've seen this year! There couldn't be…
I was talking to guide Phil Stephens of Mystical Legends Guide Service last week about how the fishing had been recently on the Humptulips River and he exclaimed, "There's plenty of kings and silvers in there but you can't get past the infestation of chums to get to them!" Eeek…tough duty Phil! I'm still chuckling…