Back when I was a full time river guide here in Washington one of my favorite fisheries was the Skagit River catch and release season for wild steelhead. The season was set up for March and April when the majority of those big bruisers were headed upstream and man-o-man do I have some memories from…
There's a scary statistic out there stating that if a youth doesn't experience hunting or fishing by the time they turn 18, there's a slim chance of him or her becoming an outdoor enthusiast in their lifetime. So, when my son Matthew turned 18, I knew it was well past time to get his Hunter…
I was having lunch with a few friends last week and somehow we got around to telling stories about funny mishaps we had on our boats. I remember sitting there laughing and thinking to myself, “Boy, I’m sure glad I don’t have stuff like that go on anymore, I mean I’m pretty dialed, a real…
BY JOHN WHITLATCH. It all started with an unexpected phone call about 18 yrs ago. I had just graduated from high school and was struggling to become a professional fishing guide. The summer days were growing long and warm when my neighbor and long time family friend Randy Bovy called. He wanted to take his…
It's been said by wiser men that I that "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity". Well, the Marine Area 7/ San Juan Island opener is surely an opportunity and all the fishing we've been doing up north definitely counts as preparation. Bolstered by our experience in southeast Alaska and the reports coming from Nootka and points south, the…
By Tony Floor, Director of Sportfishing Affairs, NMTA Yep, the calendar never lies. July is here and it represents the kickoff to so much to do and so little time to do it. If you take the time to Google the word, July, you’ll learn a number of things. For many, it suggests the 4th of July,…
The June first river opener on several area streams has been marked on many an anglers schedule for many a day. Why??? Most Puget Sound rivers closed on February 28th -if not earlier- so to the opportunistic angler paying close attention might observe that the salmon and steelhead have been unmolested for at least three…
This year's much anticipated Columbia River spring chinook run has been a mirror image of our "spring" weather: underwhelming at best. April was a near bust for both the sun and the springers as low water temperatures slowed the early running chinook's accent up the Columbia to a mere crawl. In fact, the sport anglers…
Approximately 300,000 anglers will swarm the lowland lakes of Western Washington for "opening day" on April 30th, the largest attendance of any opening day here in Washington. Hundreds of thousands of rainbow trout ranging from pan-fryer sized eight to twelve inchers to the coveted and beefy triploids are pumped into over a hundred lakes west…
Spring is upon us and with it lingcod, rockfish and halibut seasons. So, if you've still got fish in the freezer… You, my friend have a problem that is probably starting to look more like Styrofoam than fresh fish. Fortunately, there is a much better solution than deeming the contents of your freezer "Crab bait"….