She's gonna get BIG!!
Nnorthern California’s gonna get dumped on this week, effectively washing out the great steelheading that was going on on rivers like the Eel. Check out where the guidance plots say she’s going to go — up over 100,000 cfs — later in the week!
Obviously, it’s going to be awhile before anybody gets back out on the creek!
This huge king carcass measured 59 inches...without the tail!!
Holy crap! Get a look at this: Ray Fairfax sent in this photo of a giant Chinook salmon carcass he ran across earlier this winter while steelhead fishing on the Smith River in Northern California.
“We were fishing the Bailey Riffle and found a salmon carcass of amazing length,” says Fairfax. “All that was left was the jaws and backbone, but what a fish it must have been! I straightened the backbone out the best I could and laid my STR1025C Loomis down next to it. It measured 59 inches…minus, of course, the tail!!”
Fairfax says that the jaws looked almost as if the fish was a female, which is even more mind-blowing!
“If you add a conservative few inches for the tail, how big was this beast?” he asks.
Well, just for comparison’s sake: Les Anderson’s 97.3-pound
All Tackle World Record Chinook was 58.5 inches long!! Of course, we’ll never know how big the King of the Smith was in his prime…but let’s just hope he spread a bunch of his genetic material around!
And here’s another one: The 50.7 incher found dead in a tributary of the Sacramento River a couple seasons back:
GIANT SALMON CARCASS FOUND 
Here's the flyer Bass Po made up for my seminar on Sunday
Baced on the early season forecasts, river salmon fishing in California is looking like it will be pretty darned good this summer and fall! So, to get you tuned up on all the hot techniques to make you successful, stop by Bass Pro Shops in Manteca this Sunday, March 11 at 3PM and check out my river salmon techniques seminar. Should be a good time…and I even have some cool prizes to hand out!!
Come by and say Hi! Here’s a
Map to Bass Pro Shops.
by JD on February 28, 2012
Imagine a springer going airborne through the trees! :)
While California’s Department of Fish & Game seems to largely have given up on providing opportunities for the state’s hunter’s and anglers, our much more progressive neighbors to the North continue to do things to make people want to buy fishing and hunting licenses…
This time, the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife is trying to develop a new springer fishery on the Coast Fork Willamette River, which is a dandy-looking little stream that I always drool over when I drive up I-5.
The department plans on March 12 to release about 210,000 chinook salmon smolts into several reaches of the Coast Fork Willamette downstream of Dorena and Cottage Grove reservoirs to the river’s confluence with the Middle Fork Willamette in Springfield, in hopes of establishing a recreational fishery between Cottage Grove and Springfield. If this initiative is successful, anglers could be pulling adult hatchery spring salmon out of the Coast Fork Willamette when the fish return as adults in 2014.
[click to continue…]by JD on February 26, 2012
The Champ (James Overstreet photo)
Chris Lane of Guntersville, Ala., won the Bassmaster Classic Sunday by more than 3 pounds, fending off hard-charging Greg Vinson. Lane’s victory was his second Bassmaster tournament title of 2012. Each came with a qualification for the 2013 Classic.
Lane brought 51 pounds, 6 ounces to the scales over three days to claim the 2012 crown of professional bass fishing and the $500,000 first-place prize. It was his first Classic win.
Vinson, of Wetumpka, Ala., had a 47-15 total. Finishing third was first-day leader Keith Poche of Pike Road, Ala., with 45-15. Fourth was 2008 Classic champ Alton Jones of Woodway, Texas, whose tournament total was 45-14. Ott DeFoe of Knoxville, Tenn., shot from 15th to finish fifth with 44-14. Read the whole story @ Bassmaster.com
by JD on February 24, 2012
Photo: James Overstreet
There’s a loooong way to go yet, but Keith Poche, in his first-ever Bassmaster Classic, is sitting atop the leader board….just barely…after day 1 of the event, which is being held in his home state of Louisiana.
Poche weighed in five bass for a total of 17 pounds, 13 ounces, just edging out Greg Vinson, of Wetumpka, AL, who had 17 pounds, 12 ounces. There’s obviously a lot more fishing yet to come in the Classic, so we’ll have to wait and see if Poche’s local knowledge can see him to victory.
Other notables on the leader board include: Edwin Evers in 8th place (16-3); Aaron Martens in 14th (13-14); Alton Jones in 16th (13-13); Kevin VanDam in 27th (11-0) and Michael Iaconelli in 31st (10-7).
Read all the details at
Bassmaster.comby JD on February 23, 2012
Okay, surf perch fans, time to get your freak on! The always epic Sand Crab Classic Perch Tournament is rolling into Santa Cruz for its eighth consecutive year on March 10!
This is one of the best-run and fun events we’ve been to and it’s all for good cause, too: Proceeds go to the Monterey Bay Trout & Salmon Project. The Sand Crab Classic always sells out, so if you want in, you’d better hurry — entries will be limited to the first 300 anglers. (Sign up HERE) For complete details on the derby, read on… [click to continue…]
by JD on February 22, 2012
Eric Haataja and Browntosaurus
Talk about super-sized! Check out his potential new All-Tackle Length Record for brown trout! This massive kpyed-up buck measured 38.2 inches (the current length record is 25.2 inches)and was caught in Milwaukee Harbour on Lake Michigan by Eric Haataja, who was casting a skirted jig.
The fight lasted 10 minutes…after which, Haataja snapped a couple quick pix and then released big daddy to go about his business. If approved, this will be the new length world record for browns. The length record is a fairly new catch and release category so that anglers can get recognized for trophy catches without killing the fish. Read more at
IGFA.org