Blog Has Moved

I've moved.... well, not from Oregon... but rather from Blogger to my own hosted site that will give me a lot more options.  Blogger has been a great tool to share my content... but it's time for more.

My new home is:

www.herringbytes.com

Cheap Smoke

Sometimes keeping it simple and cheap just makes sense. As a father of 3, an IT Director, and bit of an outdoorsman in between, life can get complicated and busy very quickly. Following a few years of experimentation, I've found the perfect balance of a few simple key ingredients coupled with a bare bones, no frills smoker to make a smoked product friends and colleagues devour.

Alder smoke is filling the crisp September air in my backyard as I type this now so lets start with the smoker. It's not fancy, but its simple design that doesn't even include a temperature gauge is perfect for smoking fish*. The Luhr Jensen Little Chief Smoker** from Hood River, OR cost less than $100 and has been in my cooking arsenal for more than 15 years. I'd love to have one of those "high end" smokers for beef, pork, etc.. (and maybe someday) but when it comes to fish, keeping things simple and low seems to work perfectly.

Keeping it simple, my primary brine is a dry rub with only 4 ingredients. For a Little Chief full of salmon (or trout), I use the following:

• 3 cups brown sugar
• 3/4 cup of kosher salt
• 1 heaping tablespoon chili powder

I've tried several wet and dry brines but have found that the dry rub variety somehow penetrates the fish better and makes less of a mess. With skin side down, I cover the fish with the brine and let sit out for 2 hours then cover and refrigerate overnight (total brine time is about 14 to 18 hours). In the morning, I gently rinse each piece and load the smoker where the fish chunks will sit for another 2 hours before I start smoking.

The secret ingredient... a finishing glaze of honey or jelly. For years, I've glazed about half of every batch of smoked salmon with honey. I recently found an even more mouth watering, addicting option; Kelly's Habanero Jelly. It's simple, just brush each piece of fish with jelly during the last few minutes of smoke and you've created one addicting smoke product.

*I've even done turkey breast in this smoker a few times. 1 pan of hickory chips to get a solid smoke line followed by finishing off to 165 degrees in the oven is perfect
**The Little Chief and Big Chief smokers are now made by smokehouse products and not Luhr Jensen

Buoy 10 Catching

Today was one of those days I'd only heard about.  The kind of day where it should be called catching instead of fishing. The perfect day on the water where nothing goes wrong* and there are so many fish in the river, you're almost hoping for it to slow down so you catch your breath from all the chaos.

Given the strong Coho/Silver Salmon return this year, Fish and Wildlife upped the Coho retention to 3 fish per person within the saltwater of the Columbia River estuary. Although Chinook/King retention is closed in that area, the opportunity to catch a large bounty of the better tasting Coho** makes the long single day trip of fishing the estuary much more appealing (vs. Buoy 10 Fish Camp).

High tide was at 6:09am so Erik and I met at our carpooling rally point at 3:30am and had the boat in the water by 5:30. We had a bumpy, slightly wet, boat ride across the river and up to where I wanted to start following the tide and dropped our lines in calmer waters at around 6:15. What would transpire next was unbelievable fishing excitement and chaos.

For a period of 2 hours, I literally never sat down. I was either cutting bait, baiting hooks, reeling in fish, or netting keepers. By 8:30, we'd gone through nearly 30 plug cut green label herring and hooked into 22 Coho and 2 Chinook (released unharmed). Those numbers average out to a fish hooked about every 5 minutes. If you equate for the fishing time lost to reel in and net or release each fish, those stats translates to some serious non-stop action while lines were wet. There was a time when Erik hadn't even had his bait in the water 15 seconds before getting a fish... LITERALLY!! And another time I got bit reeling in to check/change bait.

The same drill we did last month of dragging 12oz lead on bottom in 28 to 32' of water worked for us but I am not sure how much depth would have mattered. There were just so many fish in the river to worry too much about depth. My go-to flasher I wrote about in my August post once again was responsible for the lion's share of the fish. Again, I am not sure how much it mattered but it's interesting that rod got hit more frequently.

Oh what a sweet ride back to port with a limit of fish and lunch time still several hours away. It's such a relaxing feeling to be done for the day while several other boats are still launching. However, I am still left in wonder at how long that bite could have lasted had we weeded through fish in an effort to keep going. The icing on the cake was seeing a healthy cow elk cross the launch lines at Hammond as we pulled the boat out of the water.

Little boat and a very big boat

Cow elk crossing the launch lanes at Hammond

A day not soon forgotten for sure. Now, if only the Seahawks had won too!

*Well, almost. One rod did get tangled twice

**I'd rather catch the big Chinook but when it comes to the grill, I'd rather have the candy red Coho sizzling

Buoy 10 Fish Camp 2014

Where does the time go? I guess when you're moving fast and having fun, the summer just flies on by. 2014's Buoy 10 fish camp was our longest to-date at 5 days but came and went all too fast. Last year's B10 camp was a highly productive 3 days of fishing and with an even larger number of fish expected to pass through the estuary this year, expectations going into the 2014 campaign were very high.

My 6th year fishing the saltwater of the estuary and 4th year setting up "camp" was extra special as we decided to bring the family along and stay in a phat beach house.  Dave, Todhunter and I chased salmon during the day while the family played in the Seaside sand.  At the end of each day, it was great to head to a home near the water vs. the "elegant" Astoria motel of years past.  The home also had a gigantic sub-zero freezer which allowed us to vacuum pack and freeze each day's catch right away.

We kicked things off with a 3:15am departure Sunday the 17th from the Portland area and headed to the Hammond Boat Basin.  Arriving around 5 or 5:15 usually puts me in a good spot to quickly get my boat on the water.  That would not be the case this year as we were welcomed with a long launch line and a 1.5 hour wait to launch.   In the days that followed, we arrived pre-5:00am but still had at least a 30min launch wait…  next year, the boat will be moored.  

With the increased boat traffic, we tried to set a game plan and stick with it regardless of where the monkey see monkey do boat traffic went.  This year, we found most of our success hugging bottom in 28 to 32 feet of water. Even though surface water temps on the outgoing tide were 70 degrees, this year was a herring bite with 90% of our fish coming on headless green label*.

Overall, catching was great and for us, exceeded 2013’s success.  However, it’s fishing and some days are hot while others are beyond slow.  We had one day with a full boat limit* (8/21), another day where we were 1 fish shy of a limit, and another where nothing went right and we broke a rod while not able to even bring a keeper home.  It sounds like a lot of people were struggling so we’re feeling blessed with the volume of fish we were able to hook into and bring home.  

Coho / Silver (white jaw)

Chinook / King (black jaw)

Weather and water conditions this year were just as variable as the catching (hmmm…).  Earlier in the week, we had to fight the fog in the AM and some pretty rough water where later in the week, it was gorgeous from the get go.  All days brought afternoon sun and t-shirt and shorts conditions… so much so, Todhunter decided to jump over board and go for a swim before heading to port one day.

When the fishing is slow...

It’s always heartbreaking when a great trip final has to come to an end.  You know it’s a success when you’re already planning next year’s trip before the boat and gear is washed and stored.

*If I could only use one flasher, this trip made it crystal clear on which one I’d choose.  The statistics of fish caught while using it over the week was mind boggling.
**A limit is one chinook/king and one coho/silver per person.

Last Minute Smallmouth

Following our family tradition of going to the farmers market on summer Saturdays (when we’re in town and w/out company), Gavin made the left field comment that he wanted to go fishing. I’d pretty much put away all the trout, kokanee, etc… gear I’d had in the boat for our East Lake and earlier summer trips in preparation for August salmon in Astoria (excited, but ug… summer is flying by). However, the bow mount electric motor was still on so we grabbed a couple bass rods, a few crank baits, and ton of plastic worms, lizards, etc… that I have neatly organized in the garage for such quick retrieval occasions.

A quick 2 hours of casting for bass on the Willamette near our house and it was 12:30pm, we’d caught a few smallies, and the wakeboard / ski boats were making their way out to enjoy the sun. It’s impressive to see how far my oldest has come since his first attempt at casting for bass. The heat and the waves kicked in so he was ready to go home, eat some lunch, and play in the sprinklers with his siblings so we called it a day.

Zoom  worm, Texas style

Looking back at old posts and pictures, I've realized that I haven’t hooked into a bass in nearly 2 years. Maybe it’s just because trolling for salmon, walleye, etc… is easier than the constant casting and retrieving necessary to lure in a small or largemouth bass. Whatever the reason for the gap, I’d forgotten how much I like it, so I think I’ll have to make more of an effort to kill a few hours here and there with a bass rod and some plastic worms.

East Lake 2014

I'll admit, East Lake isn't the most catchy name for a family destination lake. Whenever I mention the central Oregon lake that sits at 6,400 feet above sea level I usually receive a "where?" reply. Overly simplistic lake naming aside, East Lake is one of the most beautiful, family friendly places I am blessed to have been able to take my family to for the past two summers. The lake is filled with Kokanee, Trophy Brown Trout, massive Rainbow Trout, and a few Atlantic Salmon (landlocked of course). With a boat speed limit of 10mph, East Lake is all about the fishing... Well sort of...

For my family, fishing is just an excuse to be together and enjoy the outdoors and it's awesome that Papa Dave joined us again this year. Yes, we caught plenty of fish... and no, this is not another fish don't matter as much post because catching was tough like my Father's Day Diamond Lake post.  This now annual trip really is about the smaller things like Gavin learning to steer the kicker tiller, Garrett calling the shots on when it's time to beach the boat to swim, and letting my daughter Grace bitch and moan about her life jacket just like her older brothers did at her age.  

Most of the fishing this year was targeted at Kokanee as the kids really enjoy the fast action and tasty table fair. The majority of our fishing was done by down riggers out each side of the boat with one or two additional flatlines out the back. However, this year, we also spent a fair amount of time jigging for kokanee while anchored in around 50' of water which was a kick in the pants. I couldn't tell you just how many fish we boated but it was more than enough to keep us entertained.

East Lake and the Newberry Caldera provide magnificent scenery along with the chance for some amazing thunder and lighting... like you've never seen before. At the high elevation, you're literally right in the middle of the storm and for the second year, we were on the far end of the lake when the storm rolled in. With a frightened 5 and 3 year old we booked it to the cabin to enjoy the show in safety. I really wish we'd taken some pictures and video but I guess just too distracted.

Just like the previous year, our trip to East Lake exceeded expectations. Our time with Papa Dave along with BWild and his family made the trip even better. It's awesome to see how all the kids grow both in size as well as their desire to spend time in the outdoors together.