by JD on September 30, 2010
If you’re looking for some insight on how to catch coho on, let’s just say “non-traditional methods,” be sure to tune into Northwest Wild Country Radio on Seattle’s AM 950 KJR (or get the web stream). I’ll be on with host Joel Shangle and his wacky band of radio misfits sometime in the “I shouldn’t be awake if I’m not fishing” hour…or 7ish…yakking about catching silvers on stuff better suited for a bass pond.
by JD on September 30, 2010
Daren DeLuca and a 50 pounder...caught from a kayak!
There’s something really special going on in California’s Monterey Bay right now…a white sea bass bite of epic proportions that’s been blowing up for several weeks, with no obvious end in sight. Guys are going just a mile or two out, making some live squid and then hooking lots of fish in the 30- to 50-pound class.
Check out our Monterey/Santa Cruz
Fishing Reports page for complete details…
by JD on September 30, 2010
Apparently, all the effort was worth it!
Well, this month’s Hawg Contest shows that you, the voting public, appreciate a good fishing tale and some good old fashioned effort!
Chris Mayes’ Trinity River steelhead was the smallest fish entered (by far) in the September Hawg of the Month Contest, which featured an impressive list of big fish, yet it won by a landslide, earning 36% of the vote and trouncing even his closest competitor, Greg. M’s 30-plus pound striper (23.3% of the vote), which could have eaten Chris’ steelie. In fact, Chris’ steelie is the smallest-ever monthly winner in the history of the contest.
Apparently you guys loved the gripping tale of how Chris, despite the odds, bested this fish (click the link above to read the story)…and we think that’s pretty damn cool, too. For his efforts, Chris moves on to the Hawg Bowl Playoffs in late December and will compete for a free fishing trip with us. To enter your big fish, click
HERE. For the final results for all of the September entrants, read on…
[click to continue…]by JD on September 29, 2010
You can never catch a squawfish when you want to.
We were two hours into our trip and Mac and I didn’t have one lousy squawfish to our name. We couldn’t buy one, not even a nibble. Oh sure, we started getting bites about 30 seconds after we’d dropped the anchor and put our lines out, but they were all stripers.
“Crap, another striper,” Mac says as he hauls our 20th bass over the side. “When you’re fishing salmon out here, you can’t keep the squawfish off your baits. But now, I couldn’t catch one to save my own soul.”
And so it goes until darkness sets in. We’ve caught more 8- to 14-inch micro striped bass than we can count but our squaw total still sits at zero – and we’re bummed. [click to continue…]
by JD on September 28, 2010
Buzz and his bull
Buzz Ramsey is probably the most recognizable salmon and steelhead angler on the planet. Normally you’ll see him in magazine articles or on TV, hoisting up some chrome monster, but the guru of graphite also knows his way around a rife as well…Ramsey just returned home from an epic moose hunt in northern B.C. where he bagged this massive 61-inch bull. His hunting partner, John Weinheimer, harvested a beautiful 55 incher on the same trip!
The guys were hunting with guide/outfitter Mike Danielson of
Little Dease Ventures. According to Ramsey, the hunting area Danielson has exclusive rights to hunt contains 3,400 square miles of wilderness — an area larger than Yellowstone National Park!
by JD on September 28, 2010
Merc's are tough, but they're not bulletproof!
Colton Harris-Moore, AKA “The Barefoot Bandit,” who bizarrely became somewhat of a folk hero after going on a 2-year crime spree that included breaking into dozens of homes and committing burglaries in Washington, Idaho and British Columbia and the alleged stealing of at least five planes, despite a lack of formal flight training, was finally apprehended in Harbour Island, Bahamas on July 11, after police shot out the engine of a boat he stole.
Now, of course, the 19-year-old Bandit’s getaway boat is up for sale on eBay. For those of you with $110,000 laying around, the vessel is a 2002 model 32-foot Intrepid center console sportfisher with twin 275HP Mercury Verado outboards…in great shape, aside from a few bullet holes. Don’t worry, though…the motors will be in working condition upon purchase but the bullet holes will remain. In addition to the shot gun blasts, the boat has some nice Uzi holes in it as well. For more pix and info, click
HEREby JD on September 27, 2010
The Master shows you how!!
With fall salmon runs in full swing in the West and out in the Great Lakes, you guys have no excuse for not sending in some fresh new Smoker of the Year pictures! If you’re unfamiliar with the contest, the basic gist is this: When you catch a fish that’s…well, let’s just say…a little past its prime, be sure to snap a quick photo or two (if you don’t mind touching it!) and email them to us.
At the end of the year, we’ll let the general public vote for their favorite and the winner gets a prize. For more details, click
HERE and for inspiration, take a look at
previous entries.
Now, to help ya take a prize-winning shot this year, we’ve enlisted the help of Harrison Ibach (pictured above), the world’s greatest Smoker Hunter and the sole member of the Smoker Hall of Fame. Ibach’s work in this field was light years ahead of the competition and it looked for a time that he’d never be beaten, but he inexplicably retired right at the apex of his career and has not been seen in person since. It took some doing, but we finally coaxed the hermit to speak with us through an interpreter (he hasn’t spoken English in over 3 years!) via ham radio from a remote island in the Azores archipelago where he is currently plotting a comeback. He wouldn’t give any verbal clues to his success but instead sent us this diagram via passenger pigeon. It’s pretty self explanatory and you’d do well to heed his advice. Also, pray he doesn’t get back into the game because it’s over if he does!
by JD on September 24, 2010
Co-ho-ho! Christmas is coming early to the WIlamette Valley!
Oregon is on fire! No, not literally…but damn, do they have some fish up there this season. The bag limit for Columbia River Chinook was just increased and now the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife just announced that the daily bag for silvers is now 3 per day on several Willamette Valley area streams!
Effective Sept. 23, the daily bag limit for coho salmon increased to three fish on the Willamette, Clackamas, Sandy, Molalla, Santiam, Yamhill, South Yamhill and Tualatin rivers and Eagle and Gales creeks. Prior to the rule change, the limit was two coho per day.
The increased bag limit was prompted by recent information that indicates strong returns of coho this year. Through mid-September, more than 4,000 adult coho have already passed ODFW’s fish counting station at Willamette Falls. In addition, strong returns have also been observed at ODFW’s Sandy Fish Hatchery and on Eagle Creek, a tributary of the Clackamas River.
[click to continue…]