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: This fall there were less coho salmon "in front" of the returning hatchery steelies leaving the possibility…
Gerald Sexton downed this 4×4 blacktail with guide John Koenig in the Skagit valley Big blacktail bucks seldom leave the confines of their worm holes in the jungle on the wet side of the Cascades and when they do most of their movements are nocturnal. They are big because they don't make many mistakes….
Fishing buddy Steve Maris and I hit the Olympic Peninsula bright and squirrely on Tuesday morning in search of an elk. We drove for three hours in the dark, launched the driftboat on river "X" at sunup in a what-the-hell-are-we-doing-here rain storm and then floated downstream, poking our way into alder bottoms and potential elk…
As many of you may have heard, the state is proposing license fee increases for hunting and fishing in Washington. First of all, I hate calling these things fees, let's call them what they are, TAXES. That being said, they are a user tax and if there is any tax I can live with then it…
The calendar still says "2010" but the 2011 Northwest Salmon Derby Series is now officially underway! The Bayside Marine Salmon Derby served as the lid lifter for the 2011 edition of the 16-stop Derby Series. A event-record 276 anglers came out, answered the challenge and responded by taking the largest chinook in the 19-year history of…
Alexandria, VA – November 4, 2010 – The sportfishing community commends the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson for its decision to reject a sweeping petition to ban lead in all fishing tackle. The petition, which was submitted on August 3, 2010, by the Center for Biological Diversity and four other groups,…
FROM THE US VENISON COUNCIL- Controversy has long raged about the relative quality and taste of venison and beef as gourmet foods. Some people say venison is tough, with a strong "wild" taste. Others insist venison's flavor is delicate. An independent food research group was retained by the Venison Council to conduct a taste test…
John Whitlatch from Reel Adventures put Ray into this Methow steelhead BY RAY GOMBISKI. Exactly one year ago I was invited on a centerpin trip with John Whitlatch of Reel Adventures. John is a premier guide on the Kenai River in Alaska and for years has touted the centerpins effectiveness for steelhead. One trip was…
My luggage has been packed for three weeks now. King salmon on the coast, mule deer in the Okanogan, honkers at Potholes, blacktails on the Oly Pen, and just as I'm unzipping my travel bag to empty out a backlash of hunting and fishing attire my new Droid does-everything-but-dishes phone buzzes half away across the…
I received the latest issue of Sport Fishing Magazine yesterday in the mail and as I flipped through the pages I read an editorial that just blew my mind! The article was by Doug Olander the editor and started off by telling of a group called National Resources Defense Council that wants people to boycott…