Fire Blog

Tales, tips, secrets and more from Team Pautkze

Steelhead Trout

Steelhead Anglers: Here’s Something New to Try

By: Joe Diorio I’ve never used chartreuse eggs in spawn sacs before. To be honest I saw a FireBlog post [...]

Steelhead

Try Something New: Go Blue For Steelhead

By: Brock Kangas I’ve been fishing spawn sacs for trout and steelhead for as long as everyone else has. We [...]

Steelhead

Want Perfect Steelhead Catching Shrimp Like This? Try This Recipe

By: Travis Wendt When steelhead fishing from a boat tactics have evolved in recent years. There’s so many ways to [...]

Salmon

Try These Tasty Sacs for Late Fall Salmon

By: Kyle Deavers In some areas of the Great Lakes the fall salmon run is slowing. However, where I fish [...]

Salmon

Fall Salmon Anglers: Make a Perfect Sardine Wrapped Plug

Learn Pro Tips: Make a Perfect Sardine Wrapped Plug By: John Albrich PNW anglers are excited because for the first [...]

Salmon

The Perfect Spawn Sac for Great Lakes Salmon

Try This Perfect Spawn Sac for Great Lakes Salmon By: Jarett Carlson I spent last week salmon fishing the Great [...]

Salmon

Try This Cut Bait Prep for Springer Success

By: John Albrich Springer season in the PNW has been much better than anticipated. With that said there’s a lot [...]

Salmon

Try These Easy Steps for Perfect Springer Bait

It’s that time of year and we are already catching springers! During the early part of the season I prefer [...]

Steelhead

Try This Easy Recipe for Perfect Brined Shrimp for Steelhead Success

By: Travis Wendt We are in the heart of steelhead season and the bite has been good on brined shrimp. [...]

Steelhead

Try a Bead/Bag Combo for Winter Steelhead Success

By: James Swearingen This season when targeting steelhead in high water I’ve found that drifting a bag and bead combo [...]

Salmon

Learn to Make Durable Baits from Mature Salmon Eggs

[...]

Spawn

Washington Egg Curing Season Has Arrived: Get Your Recipe Here

By: Mike Ainsworth The rain is finally falling in Washington! This means it’s time to start curing eggs for fall [...]

Salmon

Learn How to Brine & Rig Bait for West Coast Salmon

By: Scott Feist There’s an extreme bait shortage of quality baits, especially anchovies, on the West Coast this summer. Whether [...]

Salmon

Find Out What’s Working to Catch GTA Salmon Now

The salmon bite on Lake Ontario’s Canadian waters has been hot. However, the bite didn’t start off great in late [...]

Steelhead Trout

A Pro’s Guide to Tying Spawn Sacs

By: James Swearingen It’s been a year now since I’ve been I’ve been introduced to Trout Eggs and I’m here [...]

Salmon

Great Lakes Anglers: Learn How to Make Eggs Like This

By: Kyle Deavers Since Covid started I’ve noticed a lot more anglers fishing in the Great Lakes. Many of our [...]

How to cure eggs for Sacramento River

Salmon

How to Cure the Perfect Egg for the Sacramento River

he Sacramento River is in the midst of excellent salmon fishing this season. Countless salmon are being caught drifting and [...]

MIchigan Lake Trout

Salmon

Michigan Big Lake Coho on Hot Bite

[...]

Salmon

Learn How to Make the GTA’s Hottest Salmon Bait

Lake Ontario salmon season is upon us in the GTA and fishing has been good. We’ve been fortunate to have [...]

Steelhead

Learn to Tie Epic Ontario Spawn Bags

By: Bojan “Bojangles” Zivkovic Spring has just about sprung in Southwestern Ontario and we all know what that means: March [...]

Spawn Trout

Heavy Stocking Arriving on West Virginia’s Blackwater River

By: Chris Shaffer It’s no secret that the Blackwater River is one of West Virginia’s most treasured trout fisheries. Located [...]

Steelhead Trout

Big Boy’s New Spawn Sac Cure

By: Kyle Deavers It’s seems like every winter I tend to get the same questions from anglers. They always want [...]

Steelhead

Good Steelhead Bite On the Clearwater River

By: Toby Wyatt Negative publicity has killed the crowds on the Clearwater River this year, but for the anglers that [...]

Lake Trout

Hot Lake Trout Bite On the Niagara Bar

By: Chris Shaffer For more than 15 years I’ve been hoping to fish the Niagara Bar. Meanwhile, the one-to-two times [...]

Steelhead

A Veteran Guide’s Favorite: The Tutti Frutti Cure

By: Bob Kratzer Steelhead season is upon us. For many anglers that means curing and fishing eggs. As a guide [...]

Lake Trout

Tips to Catch More Ontario Lake Trout

By: Tom Armstrong Lake trout is my favourite species to target through the ice. In Thunder Bay I’m lucky enough [...]

Steelhead

NY Salmon River On the Scene

By: Chris Shaffer With one major product launch in the rear and another weeks away I called Pautzke pros Stephen [...]

Steelhead

New York Steelhead On the Scene

By: Chris Shaffer A few years ago when we came to Lake Ontario in the dead of winter it was [...]

Perch

Tips to Catching Northern Ontario Perch

By: Tom Armstrong Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world. That brings visions of deep, crystal clear, [...]

Steelhead

Change Up Eggs to Catch More Great Lakes Winter Steelhead

By: Stephen Shen This time of the year in the Great Lakes we are forced to fish more limited sections [...]

Steelhead

California’s Smith River Has Steelhead Now

By: Mick Thomas After no fall salmon season (due to no water) we’ve finally got some good news on the [...]

Steelhead Trout

Why Natural Trout Eggs Are Perfect For Great Lakes Steelhead

By: James Swearingen We are in the heart of spawn sac season in the Great Lakes and for the first [...]

Steelhead

Chetco River Steelhead Outlook

By Andy Martin Judging by the first few weeks of the 2020 steelhead season on the Chetco River, anglers may [...]

Northern Pike Walleye

Catch Big Pike With Brined and Dyed Bait

By: Kim Anthony I just finished a seminar about brining and dying baits for ice fishing and tend to get [...]

Salmon Steelhead Trout

Introducing Pautzke’s New Trout Eggs

The Premium Eggs look fabulous because we have hand picked and cleaned them. We’ve spent more time ensuring the cleanest, [...]

Salmon

Try This Cure To Get A Perfect Red Egg

I know it seems like I constantly change up my favorite cure – and I do. The truth is I’m [...]

Salmon

Learn the Ultimate California Salmon Egg Cure

By: Scott Feist As everybody knows I’ve been a true Pautzke fan for many years, even before I was on [...]

Salmon

Try This Great Lakes Cure & Catch More Salmon

By: Kyle McClelland There’s an endless number of ways to cure salmon eggs. However, with the increase in fishing pressure [...]

Salmon

Try This Cure to Get Perfect Dark Red Eggs for River Salmon

By: Duane Inglin It’s almost fall in the Pacific Northwest and salmon have started entering rivers in effort to reach [...]

Salmon

Guidelines to Scenting Eggs The Easy Way

By: Bob Kratzer It’s fall salmon time and that means egg fishing. We all work on coming up with the [...]

Salmon

Try This Simple Egg Cure And Catch More Ontario Salmon

By: Bojan “Bojangles” Zivkovic The weather has finally started to cool down in Southern Ontario which is a clear sign [...]

Salmon

Add Fire Power for Sacramento River Salmon

By: Jeff Goodwin We are edging towards the historical peak of the fall salmon run on the Sacramento River in [...]

Salmon

Try This Simple Cure To Get Great Eggs

By: Mike Ainsworth Fall is upon us and that means it’s time to start curing eggs for fall salmon and [...]

Salmon

Use This Cure & Catch More Salmon River Salmon

By: Stephen Shen When fishing New York’s Salmon River with skein it’s important to have eggs that hold color in [...]

Salmon

Have You Fished with the Ultimate Eggs? Try the Kitchen Sink 2.0

By: Big Dave Manners Crowds can be insane when salmon fishing and it’s only going to get worse. That’s why [...]

Salmon

The Cure for Pinks

By: Todd Daniels Western Washington’s pink salmon run came in much higher than forecasted and it’s not over yet. Anglers [...]

Salmon

A Beginners Guide to Curing Eggs for Great Lakes Salmon

By: Kyle Deavers Salmon season has begun in the Great Lakes and fish are already keying in on cured skein. [...]

Salmon

Epic Bait Bite Underway For Great Lakes Salmon

By: Stephen Shen Another historic salmon season is underway in the Great Lakes where salmon fishing is incredible. Our fish [...]

Salmon

Buoy 10 Update: Way Better Than Expected

By: Toby Wyatt After a dismal preseason forecast we’ve been pleasantly surprised at how good the fishing has been at [...]

Lingcod

Epic Lingcod Action in the Gulf of Alaska

By: Chris Shaffer There’s no doubt Alaska serves up some of the best lingcod fishing in the world. And, while [...]

Salmon

Drano Lake Salmon Update

By: Toby Wyatt Drano Lake was expected to have a down run this year and it’s been slower than normal. [...]

Salmon

A Pro’s Guide to Maximizing Scent for Springer Success

By: Kyle Buschelman While anglers have been trolling the Columbia River for a few months in search of springers we [...]

Steelhead

From the Bait Lab: Spring Spawn Sack 101

By: James Swearingen This time of year most anglers think that because there’s colder water you want to use a [...]

Lake Trout

Northern Ontario Anglers Chasing Lake Trout

By: Tom Armstrong Unrelenting cold temperatures have plagued Northwestern Ontario for months. It’s been cold, ugly, consistently -30C and the [...]

Steelhead

Michigan Steelhead Report

By: Kyle McClelland Northern and Western Michigan offers exceptional steelhead fishing during the winter. However, this winter anglers have had [...]

Crappie

Fewer Bites, But Larger Fish on Bama’s Lake Jordan

By: Eric Cagle A colder and wetter winter has altered our normal patterns on Lake Jordan. It’s kind of one [...]

Steelhead

Salmon River Steelhead Bigger Than Average This Year

By: Troy CreasyJust when we thought the Salmon River and other Lake Ontario tributaries we’re going into a deep freeze [...]

Steelhead

Ontario Steelhead Preview

By: Bojan Zivkovic This year our salmon season was later than normal and staying with that theme our steelhead are [...]

Steelhead Trout

Learn A Super Simple Cure For Steelhead Skein

By: James Swearingen There’s two ways to fish eggs in the fall for trout and steelhead: in egg sacks and [...]

Crappie

Alabama River Crappie Getting Aggressive

By: Eric Cagle Fall fishing on the Alabama River can be the most productive time of the year for big [...]

Salmon Steelhead

Guide Reveals His Top West Coast Egg Cure

By: Bob Kratzer Fall salmon season is in full swing. I cure a lot of eggs this time of year. [...]

Salmon Steelhead Trout

Try This Bait: Catch More Trout, Salmon & Steelhead

By: Mike Ainsworth When our rivers were low and clear, and the fish had lockjaw a few weeks ago I [...]

Steelhead

Erie Steelhead Run Settling Into Fall Pattern

By: James Swearingen Even though our Pennsylvania steelhead season is about a month behind we in the midst of the [...]

Salmon Steelhead Trout

Guide Shares Tips To Catch Great Lakes Trout/Steelhead

By: Andy Bliss In November in the Great Lakes there’s one common denominator when it comes to tributary fishing; and [...]

Salmon Steelhead Trout

Western New York Streams Loaded with Trout/Salmon

By: Isaac Zettle Western New York is in the heart of another strong salmon return and fresh fish continue to [...]

Salmon

Learn to Cure Perfect Eggs: For Lake Ontario Tributaries

By: Ted Kessler Our salmon have changed their habits this year. Traditionally, we aim to cure an orangey-pinkish egg, but [...]

Salmon

Pro Reveals How to Get Perfectly Colored Skein

By: Kyle Deavers Most people know for the last several years I’ve been mixing BorX O Fire and Fire Cure [...]

Salmon

Learn to Make The Perfect Side Drifting Egg

By: Jason Thatcher Not every curing method is the right one for every fishing application. This holds especially true when [...]

Salmon

Niagara River Salmon Run Peaking Now

By: Ted Kessler The salmon run started slow on the Niagara River, but it’s at par right now. We are [...]

Salmon

GTA Salmon Season Still Going Strong

By: Bojan “Bojangles” Zivkovic On the heels of an excellent big lake season our GTA rivers are plugged with salmon. [...]

Salmon

This Salmon Egg Cure Is Easy as 1, 2, 3

By: Mike Ainsworth It’s fall again and that means egg fishing and curing time. While there are many complex cures [...]

Salmon

Learn to Make Durable Bait: For Bobber & Egg Fishing

By: Big Duane Inglin It’s salmon season on the West Coast and many anglers will be using a bobber and [...]

Salmon

Great Lakes Anglers: Try This Salmon Egg Cure

By: Kyle Deavers Great Lakes salmon anglers who don’t believe color matters when curing eggs are wrong. Color does matter. [...]

Salmon

More Salmon Coming To The Salmon River

By: Troy Creasy There’s been a lot of salmon swimming up the Salmon River this season. Most of them came [...]

Crappie

Georgia’s Lake Blackshear Hot for Fall Crappie

By: Scott Williams Fall is one of the best seasons to fish for crappie at Lake Blackshear. Crowds are down, [...]

Salmon

Eastern Lake Ontario Streams Loaded with Salmon

By: Andy Bliss After the incredible summer fishery we saw on Lake Ontario the early returns of spawning salmon has [...]

Salmon

Hanford Reach Still Open to Salmon Fishing

By: Toby Wyatt While most of the Columbia River is closed to salmon fishing the Hanford Reach is still open [...]

Salmon

Sacramento River Experiencing Very Good Fishing

By: Jeff Goodwin We are knocking on October’s door, which means the upper sections of the Sacramento River will see [...]

Catfish

Raw Chicken + Catfish Nectar = Tennessee River Success

By: Dustin Slinker I’ve spent decades fishing all over North America and grew up catfishing in the Midwest, but I [...]

Salmon

Klamath River Salmon Update

By: Mick Thomas The Klamath River is absolutely loaded with salmon right now. Unfortunately, we met the quota for adult [...]

Salmon

Michigan Salmon Run Kicking into High Gear

By: Kyle McClelland This fall’s salmon run has been one of the largest I’ve seen in my lifetime. We’ve had [...]

Salmon

Learn The Best Way To Wrap a Plug

By: Mike Bogue There are two ways many of us fish for salmon in rivers: we run plugs and fish [...]

Salmon

Guide Talks Borax Egg Cures For Fall Salmon

By: Alan Borges On many of the big river systems along the West Coast the water tends to be warmer [...]

Spawn

Puget Sound Coho Providing Anglers Opportunity

By: Mike Ainsworth Chinook retention has expired for the year in Puget Sound. Fortunately, there’s still plenty of coho around [...]

Salmon

How to Make Perfect Bait For Coastal Oregon Salmon

By: Kyle Buschelman The Buoy 10 madness has passed. Many of us Oregon guides now migrate back to our home [...]

Catfish

Western Pennsylvania Catfish Feeding Aggressively Now

By: James Swearingen Now that our Ohio River basin catfish have spawned they are aggressively feeding to prepare for winter. [...]

Kokanee

Stampede Kicking Out Big California Kokanee

By: Chris Shaffer Stampede Reservoir is one of California’s most consistent kokanee fisheries every year. On the other hand, it [...]

Spawn

Michigan Showing Off Excellent Salmon Bite

By: Kyle McClelland It’s been a great year for salmon on Lake Michigan. We’ve had good numbers and the size [...]

Salmon

Learn About Top Baits For August Great Lakes Salmon

By: Kyle McClelland When we first started trolling for salmon in the big lake in May, June and July we [...]

Salmon

Salmon Bite Steady Out of Eureka

By: Gary Blasi It’s been a good year for salmon fishing on the Pacific Ocean in the KMZ (Klamath Management [...]

Salmon

Feather River Salmon: Already Better Than Expected

By: Chris Shaffer We had planned to film Pautzke Outdoors this week in Southern California’s Kern River Drainage until guide [...]

Salmon

Rogue Bay Kicking Out Big Salmon & Big Numbers

By: Troy Whitaker We never know what to believe, but the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife is predicting that [...]

Catfish

Santee Cooper Cats Biting Even in Sweltering Heat

By: Chris Shaffer We had three strikes against us upon arrival to Santee Cooper lakes to target catfish in the [...]

Salmon

The Buoy 10 Preview

By: Toby Wyatt After being spoiled for many years some anglers are going to have to work harder to catch [...]

Spawn

Sacramento River Now Open For Salmon Fishing

By: Scott Feist The Sacramento River is going to be better than expected for salmon this year. It’s no secret [...]

Blue Crabs

Jersey Blue Crabs Showing Along the Shore

By: Chris Shaffer A few weeks ago I received a call from outdoor writer Tom Pagliaroli. Pagliaroli had found our [...]

Salmon

Anglers Running Herring For Great Lakes Salmon

By: Kyle Deavers Let’s be honest, five to eight years ago few anglers were running herring strips in the Great [...]

Catfish

Try This Bait: Catch More Catfish

By: James Swearingen Chicken and beef liver are soft catfish baits. Almost every time you cast them they tend to [...]

Salmon

Learn To Make The Perfect Bait For West Coast Salmon

By: Gary Blasi When targeting West Coast ocean, bay or estuary salmon brining them is mandatory. Without brining your bait [...]

Crappie

Santee Cooper Crappie Still Showing

By: TC Lloyd Most anglers don’t fish for crappie in the summer on Santee Cooper. In fact, in several days [...]

Kokanee

Impressive Kokanee Bite at Bullards Bar

By: Troy Barr For many years Bullards Bar had some of the smallest kokanee in California. This was because of [...]

Catfish

Alabama Pond Catfish Biting in Summer Heat

By: Chris Shaffer Humidity, heat, afternoon thunderstorms and longer days spell good catfishing across Alabama. While kids are still out [...]

Salmon

Puget Sound Salmon: Showing in Big Numbers

By: Mike Ainsworth On the heels of several average years Puget Sound is having a phenomenal year of king and [...]

Salmon

Klamath River Estuary Fishing Well Now

By: Mick Thomas It’s been a long time since fishing was this good on the Klamath River. I’m surprised how [...]

Spawn

Author Gives Anglers 1 Million Reasons: To Salmon Fish Brookings, Oregon Now

By Andy Martin Brookings is the center of one of the most productive feeding areas for south-migrating king salmon. While [...]

Salmon

Lake Ontario Salmon Fishing – Rated as The Best Ever

By: Kevin Davis This year has been the best king salmon fishing ever on Lake Ontario. We are catching all [...]

Salmon Steelhead Trout

Wisconsin Big Lake Serving Up Multiple Species

By: Kyle Deavers This has been one of the better trolling seasons we’ve experienced in a long time. We’ve seen [...]