Big Eastern Washington Fishing

When it comes to salmon fishing, I have no trouble getting up in the 4am hour (or earlier) to chase the morning bite.  However, while back in eastern Washington visiting my in-laws, I was a little surprised when Papa D wanted to get up at 4:30am to chase trout.  I was a little skeptical, assuming the size of these fish were the result of your typical "fish tale".  Regardless of size, I love catching fish so I played along and we took the 1.5 hour drive north last Thursday.

Wow!!! was I ever impressed with the size of these fish.  The fish tales are true - the average size fish we had to wade through in search of bigger ones was 5lbs.  It sure makes for an amazing day of fishing when the average size trout is 5lbs and your target size is in the 10lb plus range.

Fish in the box #1 - a football of a trout

Papa D ready to throw the small ones back

Up at Rufus Woods, each angler is allowed to keep two trout.  If we were allowed to keep more, I don't know where we'd put them.  The four fish we did bring home actually overflowed the ice chest that we'd brought for the catch.  All in all, we caught 21 fish, most over 5 pounds.  Our strategy was to keep one fish each to start so we were sure to have meat in the box and then catch and release until we got tired and wanted to keep our last two for a boat limit.

Gotta' bigger ice chest?

4 for the grill / freezer /smoker

The next two days were spent on local waters chasing walleye and bass.  After catching 5lb trout, the average size walleye and small mouth bass just seemed... well... small.  However, fighting walleye and bass is quite the battle compared to trout.  All walleye and bass were released in hopes that they continue to grow bigger so that one day they'll find their final resting place on my Weber grill.  

Thanks Papa D for a memorable weekend of "catching".  

Eyes!!

Small Smallmouth!

John Day Bass in July

"Normally" by mid-July, I've logged quite a few hours on the water chasing bass, walleye, and trout.  However, if you've been reading previous posts here, you know this year has been far from normal.  My first 2011 attempt at some warm water fishing was last weekend up the John Day river while on a family camping trip.

I didn't get to fish as much as I would have liked, but the alternative of quality family time on the water was much better.  The catching of small mouth bass was plentiful but we never did get to hook into anything of significant size.

Big G fishing plastic worms wacky style!

Little G and Big G taking a little nap at the helm

Too small, toss it back!

Transition to Summer?

With the crazy weather we've had this year, I don't think we really had a spring.... and I think we're in summer now.... at least the calendar indicates summer but it'd be hard to tell only looking out the window.

Generally, as the season switches from spring to summer, so does the type of fishing.  As I switch from spring salmon to walleye, bass, and trout; not only does that bring different types of rods, reels, and tackle to be used, but also a different boat configuration.

When we fish the big rivers for salmon, I have a large anchor that's mounted to the bow.  As we switch to warm water fishing on smaller rivers and lakes, the anchor is replaced with a 24volt bow mount electric trolling motor.  The electric motor is a nice feature as it allows us to sneak into various fishing holes without spooking the fish and also allows for precise boat positioning.