Skykomish River Summer Runs!

Spent all last weekend fishing the upper skykomish for summer steelhead. Saturday morning started the day fishing below Reiter, went 0-2. The wind had really picked up ( normal 11 o'clock gust's), so it made it a little tough to get a good hook set.

Sunday, went 2-4 on the upper section . Took a lot of stalking down low in the brush, and special casting techniques to hook fish.

All in all, was a good trip! There is nothing like chasing steel in shorts and a T-shirt!

Tight lines,

Tony

My, oh my!!

This fish was caught by me over the weekend in my secrect location. This fish weighed 21 pound 3 oz, and was one hell of a fight! This being a hatchery fish from another river, it is by far the largest hatchery fish that I have hooked into to date. It was hooked by drifting a 6inch cotton candy pink worm a... This shows to prove that large hatchery fish still do exist in the local river of western washington.

Tony

Olympic peninsula Hoh River

Went and fished the Hoh river this weekend, and all in all, it wasn't to bad. Most fish that I hooked into were hatchery brats, but there were a few natives here and there. For those of you wanting to make the trip, I would reconsider your choices. The river is kind of low and the fish are few and far between. If you are planning to float the river HA! You better get there damn early, and pick the best launch, because there will be about twenty other boats right on your tail the entire day.

And, I would like to give Matt Nelson thanks for letting me and my dog sneak onto his boat. Matt Nelson has been fishing the Hoh for over twenty years and has some of the best tips that side of the sound.

Columbia River above Wells Dam

Just returned from my trip to Pateros Washington, and despite the bone chilling 20 degree below wind chill, and navigating iceberg's coming out of the Methow, it was very fruitful. Using my brand new Skookum Steelheader cataraft, to float along the seam where the Methow meets the Columbia, I was able to pull two nice Steelies! Both were about 10lb wilds, and fought like 20lb pigs. If you ever have chance to fish this piece of the colunbia I highly recomend it. Not a whole lot of people can handle those kind a conditions, but man is it worth it!

Tony

Wynoochee and Satsop rivers

Well, the waters have come back to normal and the weather is just awesome! Fishing on the other hand, was poor to fair on the Wynoochee, and the Satsop over the weekend. Not sure what the deal was, but should have been a lot hotter than it was.

I started the day a couple miles from the take-out bridge, and worked my way up river about seven miles, but NOTHING!! I used up almost everything in my arsenal(Roe, Sand shrimp, Pink worms, and Gear etc..) but to no avail.

Out of all the drift boats on the water that day ( like forty!!!!) I talked to a few( about nine), and only saw one fish in their boats, and said a few broke off.

I ended the day on the Satsop river just above the boat launch on Middle Satsop RD. NW of the over pass. It was a nice piece of water with a couple nice holes. I was able to pull one chrome hen with sturgeon sized sand shrimp and pills, drifting on the bottom. I have to mention that where I was fishing, was private land. If you would like to fish it you must get permission from the owner.

I'm thinking that the middle of this week, and into the weekend should be picking up, but who the hell knows!

Tony

Green River/ Puyallup

Had some extra time to kill yesterday, and decided to hit some local rivers. First stop was the Puyallup river, fished 120 yards above the 512 bridge but to no avail. Second stop was the Green(king county), threw in just above the highway 18 bridge, and work my way down the the log jam, and "nothing"! All I hooked into the entire day was two old nasty chum boots. Where are all the chum? The river should be full of them, maybe I'll go up to Metzler tomorrow.

Tony

Cowlitz river-

Fished the cowlitz river over the weekend, pick up three Bright coho(Barrier dam), and one nice winter run steelhead(Blue creek). Saturday night Glow-balling was not to good, water conditions were just to murky, and the visibility was at like about three to six inches. Friday thru sunday, saw 7 steelhead taken at blue creek, the end of this month should start to really pick up.