By: TJ Hester A Reach is defined as a continuous extent of land or water, particularly a stretch of river between two bends. The 63 free-flowing miles of the Columbia River here in Eastern Washington, known as the Hanford Reach, is no exception and it’s one of my favorite places in the Northwest to steelhead fish. Meanwhile, […]
I look forward to fall in the Pacific Northwest every year. Cool mornings, Seahawks football and leaves changing color coincide with the rivers filling with salmon. As Chinook and coho migrate from the Pacific Ocean into Grays Harbor and up into the Chehalis River and tributaries opportunities are numerous. The biggest challenge is knowing where […]
By: Mike Ainsworth While some of our North Puget Sound rivers are loaded with pink salmon right now large numbers of our migrating fish are starting to stage in The Sound to start making their runs in all the tributaries, including Lake Washington. Fish are waiting at the mouth and in the bays waiting for […]
By: Duane Inglin Every odd year we have a great opportunity in the Pacific Northwest. Pink salmon (humpies) return to our Puget Sound Rivers by the millions. Right now, this fall more than seven million our on their way. That equates to approximately 3.5 million reasons not to discard humpy eggs into the river along […]
We’ve been expecting an enormous run of pink salmon in the North Puget Sound. In fact, more than six million are expected to return. Our pink run on the Snohomish River opened on Sunday and it’s been very good since the minute it did. Action is already incredible and the numbers of pinks are building […]
By: Toby Wyatt All year we’ve been looking forward to more than one million king salmon returning to the Columbia River system this summer and fall. The experts also predicted 600,000 coho. Early signs are telling me these numbers are going to hold true. We’re catching a massive amount of kings and even coho right […]
By: Bob Kratzer It’s been hot in the Pacific Northwest. There are hot fires going on. The temperature is hot. And, most important the summer steelhead fishing is hot, particularly on the Cowlitz River where we’ve been catching a lot of fish. With all of the focus on salmon the Cowlitz has flown under the […]
We’d only been fishing roughly an hour when Steven Theel saw one of our three trolling rods pegged over. He grabbed it, battled a 20-pound Chinook, brought it alongside the boat and guide Mike Barksdale of Fish Extreme swooped in with a pair of pliers and released it. “Another damn Chinook,” Barksdale said. “I don’t […]
By Mike Ainsworth We are only a few weeks into crab season in Puget Sound and so far we’ve found a lot of full pots. We’re setting our pots on the way out of the marina before we fish and it’s been limits when we return. In fact, limits have come within the first couple […]
By: Sean Orr Thirty years ago before hi tech downriggers, braided line and other essentials for deep water trolling were designed Washington’s coast was vastly unexplored for Chinook salmon by the private angler. Meanwhile, in the last 20 years these depths have been exposed and what we have uncovered is fascinating. We all knew Chinook […]