Kenai River Fishing

For those of you that are interested in fishing the Kenai River in Alaska and do not want to have to deal with the crowds and the large expense, check this out.

To: Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

As fishing license holders in the State of Washington, we are willing to do our part in the recovery of wild steelhead in Puget Sound. However taken alone, reductions in fishing opportunity will not recover wild steelhead. In light of recent advances in scientific understanding of the effects of hatcheries on wild populations, we believe that in any watershed where populations cannot support catch and release fishing they certainly cannot be expected to recover while large scale hatchery programs continue. We therefore believe that in watersheds where wild populations have been deemed too fragile for catch and release sport fishing the state MUST substantially reduce or eliminate hatchery supplementation to comply with federal mandates for recovery in threatened Puget Sound Steelhead.

Please take the time to read the above message and sign the petition to limit hatchery involvement in the rivers of Puget Sound and even limit the amounts of catch and release fishing in rivers with low escapement. We are at a crossroad in the management of our native fisheries and all can be lost if we do not take action now. We must fight to maintain what we have so that we can someday rebuild what we have lost. The sacrifices we make today in our obsession or hobby will benefit our future and I am willing to give it up for the hope of how it may help our native fish in the decades to come.

McKenzie Trout

While I have not fished for trout in the McKenzie in a few years, in the past spend several days a year in the late winter fishing the March Brown Hatch for its splendid cutthroat and redside trout. It looks like the locals are rallying to help keep the gene pool clean by removing hatchery fish from its waters. Read more courtesy of the Register Guard and the Oregon Fly Fishing Blog. You might also want to check out Jeff Hickman's D report as well.

Kind of a Big Deal

kind of a big deal from ryan peterson on Vimeo.

This video has been everywhere, but worth watching over and over and over again!

Nez Perce Country

Now this fall has really kicked my ass. Now we aint talking about an on river ass kicking or anything, were talkin about a hike in, knowbody fishes spot that tried to kill me throwing me down a bank and falling on my good knee (the one without screws in it). Now if that shit wasn't bad, I had to do it on a week stretch off and a couple weeks off my annual Nez Perce Fishing Extravaganza. Sitting on my ass for several days with my mangled quad and torn up knee left a lot of the domestic duties us married guys have put to the side. Bullshit because I got this fishing trip coming up and we know the shit will hit the fan if things don't get gone.

To make a long story short, my cantaloupe sized knee held up and got better, and the wife didn't divorce me for leaving her and the youngling at home. Though she should have for more reasons then one, her stubbornness reminds me of why I married her in the first place. This is yet another story in itself.













Jarrod Black on the Snake

Driving up the magnificent Snake River on the way to camp and guys who have been on the river for days brought anticipation and a mind trip around swinging a dryline in the cold productive waters of Eastern Washington. I aint going to lie, it was good, first fish in the first pass after getting to camp then it got stupid. River temps were 40 degrees when we got there and the best fishing was had then. Fish moved in in large numbers and with the first cold snap of the trip, the fish stuck around and were grabby. The slow but productive fishing the boys had before the A-Team got there was good, but it was only getting better.






















Keith Darnall with a spunky monkey.

By the end of the week the river temps rose from 40 degrees to 56 and the fish were more on the move. We had to work hard for fish compared to the first day on the water, yet still better then the good fishing had all summer. After several productive days I noticed several changes. The bitch ass subtle takes became aggressive, the surface activity increased and even the October Caddis started to come out. The larger patterns went back into the box, the heavy lines were put away and after seeing the legend Harry Lemire rise two fish to a dry in the evening, the dry line came out. The next morning led to some epic dry fly fishing and it continued for the most part for several days.

















Harry Lemire giving a lession on dry fly fishing. He had a bit of a crowd watching him.

Content with the success at hand and having several days left, and not wanting to be the stereotypical steelheader who lost their family along the way, I called it quits. The fishing was getting better but thoughts of family, home and the responsibilities came calling. Though leaving several of the boys behind, priorities led me a warm bed and spoonin with the wifey.

















The rise to this Steelhead Bee is still giving me wet dreams.


Oh and Lee, you are a fucking asshat! Learn how to cast!

Algea Killing Sea Birds

Over the last two decades there has been a huge increase in double-crested cormorants nesting in the Columbia River estuary. This species of sea bird and its colony on Sand Island at the Mouth of the Columbia estuary is the main predator for juvenile salmon and steelhead smolts. The once small percentage of juvenile salmonid predation has increased dramatically with the population boom. But now this colony as well as the other populations of sea birds face a predator of their own. Mother nature has provided an obstacle in an unusual algae bloom stretching from the Northern Oregon coast to the tip of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. Though this new predator for double-crested cormorants brings a smile to my face, it also brings concerns regarding how this algae bloom impacts juvenile salmonids struggling to grow and adapt to the high salinity of the Pacific Ocean.

You can read more about this algae bloom through Oregon Live and via Koin Channel 6 News. For more information on the double-crested cormorants of the Columbia River estuary, read more from the Bird Research Northwest.

Bacon

In honor of the best steelhead blog there ever was, we ate hearty the other night in steelhead camp. Voluntary Beatdown and some bum who wrote for it named Bacon to Fry. He's got a real name but since I never met the brother, I will just assume its that guy living in his van down by the river. You can still find him at Buster Wants to Fish.

The Loop Armies Secret

Would you fish with this guy?

Well Brother Jay Johnson, aka Boogie, Jay the Pirate, Breakfast Cook and one of the founding members of the Early Morning Freestone Pimps was stolen last summer by Joe Roope of the Loop Army. This backwoods adobo eating Filipino has been seen scavenging the river in search of steelhead. Apparently Jay just did not get enough fishing for them last year with the AEG crew and now is found on Eastern Washington and Idaho rivers like the Methow, Clearwater and Grande Ronde. I guess the rainbows of the Upper Columbia have something against him also. Poor bastards didn't know a Filipino was after them.






















Photo: Jeff Wilson

Guiding out of the Loop Army Base, Castaway Fly Shop in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Jay has been covering a lot of ground. If you guys are in search for the mythical steelhead on a dry, and like to shotgun beers, you found your guy. Check it out!