After chasing Steelhead and Kings for past couple of weeks it was nice to get the call from a friend who wanted to try some bass fishing. He likes Goodwin because it's close and he always out fishes me there, so off we go. We started by checking the old familiar spots and caught several 14" smallmouth but nothing of size so we slowed down and went deeper [ 10-12' ] and started picking up some fish on grubs in the 2-2 1/2 pound range. I then started throwing a deep diving craw pattern crank and on my first cast caught about three and a half pound fish that should have been a five pounder but had a caved-in post spawn belly. To mix things up I started throwing a Skitter-pop in about two feet of water and caught three or four largemouth and had several that missed the lure. None of the largemouth were very big [ 1-2 pounds ] but to me there is nothing funner than top water fishing. Overall a real good time and I out fished the man on his home water!
Four on, four off ! June9th
This was one of those days, great to be on the river, great group in the boat, great weather and no fish landed! The river was in perfect shape and not many other fishermen today. We spent most of the morning sidedrifting eggs with no luck, about 9:30 we switched over to bobber-doggin with E-Z eggs and started to get take downs. It seemed we were all a little slow on the hook set as we had a lot of long distance releases. Over the course of the day we had a couple of fish close to the boat but not one made it to the net.......it happens right? Overall a good day on the Sky, we saw several nice forkhorns in velvet and a couple of mink on the shore eating a Dolly.
Here a King there a King! June 6th
On the Sky again with an old friend and client. He does not get up early so we hit the river at the break of 10:00 [ even late for him ] and as usual for him he hooks up right away and then starts lecturing about the knuckleheads that think they need to be on the water before the sun is up [ I know he is talking about me ! ]. So we have one nice hatchery King in the boat and then we go several hours with nothing and then see a guide with six clients side drifting hook a toad of a King and fight him for a good fifteen minutes. All the while the guide is trying to keep the boat and the fish from backing down into swift and log filled water . There was no way the guide could get off the tiller so he was trying to teach on of the clients how to net, talk about trial by fire! Needless to say they lost the fish which was a hard piece of chrome that was about thirty pounds. I'm not sure how you manage six clients much less get your boat on plane with seven grown men in it, and believe me several were full figured! Overall a nice day on the river, several fish in the boat and we saw a few others caught, all Kings today no steelhead.
June 1st Skykomish opener
It was great to be back on the river finally.........kinda-of ? I was first boat to the launch [ Lewis st. ] arriving at 3:10 am to make sure I wasn't pressured as I was launching alone and remembered last years fiasco. The next guys showed up five minutes later and were really cool helping me with the boat, from then on it was not so cool in fact it was a circus. I have never seen so many boats on the river with the only exception being the every other year Humpy navy. After everyone spread out it was manageable and turned out to be a beautiful day, sunshine and mid-seventies after the morning clouds burned off. The fishing was slow and we didn't touch a fish and saw no hook-ups in any of the guide boats, then at about 11:30 I hooked into a monster Steelhead which was without a doubt north of twenty pounds! After a great battle I lost the brute after it's third major run when it went about four feet in the air and did a crazy spin move at the peak of it's jump, what a rush! After that it seemed everyone was hooking up as a wave of fish passed through, we managed several more take downs that resulted a couple of bright hatchery brats, and a nice native King of about 12 pounds that was safely set free. All fish were hooked bobber-doggin using E-Z eggs with a small orange lead corky to hold them down, I love those things no mess and they stay on forever and at least for today they out fished shrimp and real eggs. While the crowd was manageable there were several guides that seemed to forget all their river ethics and would cut off our drift, had their clients cast over us and just about swamp a couple of shore guys that I know took water over their waders. C'mon fellow guides you know better that that and you're not teaching your clients the real basics of being on the river, there is more to the experience than just racing to the sweet holes and fish in the boat!
Palmer pays off again !!
May 20 2014- Just returned from a trip to Palmer lake. Had a great group of three who I have fished with for years. We caught many Largemouth over five pounds and Big John caught a personal best largie that went 7.5 lbs. While we did O.K. on the Smallmouth it was a little slow so we spent most of our time hunting for largemouth in the shallows. Each afternoon when the wind came up we switched over to Kokanee fishing and they did not disappoint. Daily limits were easy to come by with multiple doubles and even some triples. For all five days all fish caught were taken within three feet of the surface flatlining small spoons and weddingrings tipped with Power Maggots. The Kokanee were fat and healthy with great looking firm flesh though not as big as in past years, that being said 14"-16" Kokes are still prizes and outstanding eating. We stayed at the Chopaka Lodge cabins and as usual had a great time. The Sky and Skagit open June 1st for Kings and Steelhead we still have openings so book soon before all the slots are gone! We also have some days open for the Baker Lake Sockeye season ( July 10- Sept. 7 ), this is a great fishery and the scenery is outstanding.
Dates Still Available!
Baker Lake Sockeye: Mid July to September (some dates still available)
Lake Chelan: 7/26 - 8/1 (Just had corporate cancellation)
Snohomish Slough Silver Fishing: September 15th - October 15th
Lake Sammamish and Lake Goodwin Bass Fishing: May - October
Skagit River: June 1st - February 15th Kings, Steelhead, Dollies, Silvers
** These make great Father's Day gifts!
Skykomish Kings and Steelhead: Open June 1st !