Enter 2013

Well, I haven't posted anything new in a long while due to a lack of content from not hitting the water in over 3 months. We welcomed our new baby girl Grace into the world in early November and now all of the sudden it's the end of January. Looking at the calendar coupled with my noticing the depleting stock of salmon in the freezers tells me it's time to get going. As always, a new year brings the planning of new adventures and I am having fun documenting and looking into ideas for the year.

Although no fishing this winter, I have been taking care of business getting ready to hit it hard again in 2013. Just after Thanksgiving, I did my annual bait pickup in Scappoose, OR and now have 35 dozen green label herring crammed into the freezer waiting for spring. Additionally, just last week my boat was at Northwest Marine Solutions for a 3 year checkup/service on both motors. It's hard to believe I've had my Hewescraft for 3 seasons now, going on 4 this year but she's all tuned up and ready. They also fixed a faulty bilge pump which makes me a lot more comfortable going into the rainy springer season.  The 2013 springer season details will get set in early February so shortly after, I'll be outlining my game plan.

2 Fall Days

I love the fall - prime salmon fishing, college football, fall harvest, foliage, etc... With the exception of fishing, fall 2012 is one for the memory bank with a new daughter on the way in November and Oregon State Beaver football setting a winning streak record. Fall fishing however, was nearly non-existent with September and the better part of October passing without my wetting a line.

Vernita Bridge at dawn

I could blame work and a new baby girl on the way but I think life just took over this fall, eliminating my opportunities to hit the water in any capacity. With October nearing and having not fished since Buoy 10 and Curlew Lake, my 4th annual trip to The Hanford Reach upriver on the Columbia was in jeopardy as well due to hunting season conflicts with Papa Dave (antelope in Wyoming and a select elk unit in Washington).

Generally, prime time on The Reach is the first week in October and ideally we fish it 3 consecutive days. This year, we were limited to a last minute 2 day trip toward the end of the season in mid October which capped off my fishing for 2012... but I'll always take what I can get.

I do have to admit, The Reach isn't where fisherman go to catch and bonk fresh, chrome bright salmon; that's what the ocean and the estuary are for. I say that with all due respect and with the fisherie being one of my favorite places to be... It is however, a great place to go for big fish, decent numbers, and some of the most beautiful country blessed by God. It's always a blessing when I get the opportunity to be on the 25+ mile stretch of water.

This year, I kept my boat in the garage and jumped into Dave's boat which allowed me to relinquish the stress of being captain and just kick back and take in the scenery. While fishing two rods, we were able to put a couple 20lb fish in the box each day with a couple jack salmon in the mix as well. Fish pictures are limited this year as all my pictures were taken with my iPhone. I hope to get a few more rods going in the boat next year but just blessed we got to go this year, and always a blast fishing with Dave.

From One Fish Camp To Another

I first wet a line in Washington's Curlew Lake in 2007 and haven't missed a summer since. Amazingly, the experiences and memories get better and better each August. With each trip around the sun, my kids' appreciation and enjoyment of the outdoors increases exponentially making Curlew an extra special place... but more on that in a bit.

Fishin' Buds

Similar to last year, our week of family time at the lake was preceded by 3 days of intense salmon fishing in Astoria, OR; over 500 road miles away. What an experience it was again this year to fish for 20+ pound salmon on a Saturday, clean the salt off the boat at home, switch from salmon gear to lake gear, and then make a 9+ hour boat pull to Curlew Sunday where the rest of the family eagerly awaits fishing for trout.

Garrett with the view from our cabin

Season six is going to hold a special place in my memory bank. Each morning, Gavin woke me up saying "Daddy, do you want to go fishing?". In recent years at the lake, my routine would be to fish early each morning with Papa Dave and be back to shore as the kids woke craving Papa's famous breakfasts. Gavin's attention span during the morning bite wasn't something to write home about, but his desire to be outside and on the water blew away any expectations. Equally entertaining is his desire to use his own fishing rod. It's a light spinning outfit so fighting a 14" trout was like catching a whale for him. The down side was we lost a few fish on leader breaks, but what a blast for us both.

Gavin and the morning catch

In 2010, we started our own version of "redneck yacht club" where we tie up the boats together in the middle of the lake and drift. It's been a great way to hang out, eat, swim, etc... while we beat the heat. Gavin insisted that we always have a line in the water as we drifted and much to our surprise actually caught a few small trout in the process.

Fishing while swimming

In my earlier years fishing Curlew, it was all about intense fishing with a primary objective of catching as many fish as possible. The desire to switch from intense fishing from sunup to sundown to simply sharing the outdoors with family has been a blessing. Sure, catching fish is the goal but the time spent with my boys and the family outdoors is priceless and Curlew Lake has been the perfect avenue for that. What great memories!!!

Got Trout?

Okay, to some of the fishing details...

It's amazing how each year is different from the previous. I take detailed notes of what works and where following each trip and it comes in handy. Regardless, each year requires a day or two process to learn something new and find the fish in order to meet or beat the success of the previous year. As a result, we're starting to really get to know the ins and outs of Curlew Lake... when we decide the trip is too far and aren't able to go (I hope that is never), maybe an article on what we've found would soon be in the works??

This year, we found a hole that was 2.5 degrees cooler than the rest of the lake. The cooler water with the higher outside temps produced some of the chunkiest fish we've pulled out of Curlew without having to go very deep. Our standard rig is a 1 to 2oz cannon ball on a slider. We occasionally use down riggers but they can be a hassle so it's nice to catch the majority of the fish without them.

Papa Dave loves cleaning the catch

Buoy 10 Fish Camp

The fourth season as mariner and captain of my own vessel in the saltwater of the Columbia River estuary continued with three consecutive days of intense and productive fishing. Deer and Elk hunters setup their respective camps in the fall so on the 16th of August, Papa Dave and I setup "fish camp", which consisted of staying in an Astoria, OR motel for a few nights. After a successful "warm up" trip earlier in the week that included a boat limit of Chinook, anticipation and expectations were high for a memorable experience.

Big fish make Papa D smile!

Buoy 10 is a "tidal fishery" which means the size and timing of a high or low tide can greatly impact when a Chinook or Coho will enter the river and where they'll likely stage once in the estuary. On an incoming tide, the flow of the river is literally back upriver (which is quite the site to see) and usually brings new fish in with it. In order to maximize opportunities to put fish in the box and given the massive size of the estuary, it's critical to have a predefined game plan as well as a backup plan for each tide and location for a given day (a plan C doesn't hurt either).

At the Hammond cleaning station

Over our 3 day stay at fish camp, we landed 1 native Coho (Silver Salmon) that was released unharmed (only fin clipped hatchery Coho can be kept) and over 15 Chinook (King Salmon) keeping only our daily limit each day with most fish in the 18lb to 25lb range. As we worked the tides according to our plan, we also had to work our bait and color combinations. Earlier in the week during my warm-up trip with Bryan B, all of our fish came on herring. Interestingly, during fish camp, not one of our fish came on herring with a variety of large spinners being the bait of choice.

My fish

I never get tired of fishing with my father in-law and getting the opportunity to spend consecutive days in a fishery that's at the top of my list of favorites made it extra special. The freezer is full of candy red salmon ready for a variety of grilling and smoking recipes. Fish Camp 2013 is only 354 days away, making plans now - who's in?

1/10th of the week's catch!

Side Note...

Hawg Quest at Buoy 10

Hawg Quest is a weekly television show on the Root Sports network that covers various fishing adventures in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and BC. Interestingly, their tricked out Wooldridge sled appeared next to us and quickly had a fish on. Not wanting to look too much like a groupie, I secretly snapped this picture as they posed with my boat on camera. (Hawg Quest Website)

Easy Like Sunday Morning

The Columbia River Estuary, better known in the salmon fishing world as "Buoy 10" usually starts to fill with salmon during the first part of August and 2012 is no exception. It's still just a bit early for the mad dash up-river but the best tasting salmon known to man have started to arrive in decent numbers.

As July came to an end, my electric bow-mount-motor was stowed to make room for the big water anchor. The walleye, trout, and bass gear relinquished their designated locations in the boat and are neatly placed on the garage shelves making way for the various tackle options used to entice king/chinook and silver/coho salmon to bite.

Not bad, 10min of fishing and the first fish is bonked!

My 2012 Buoy 10 salmon seeking campaign started early Sunday morning with fishing buddy Bryan arriving at my place around 3:15am for the 2 hour boat pull to the Hammond launch, down river from Astoria, OR. Anticipation is always through the roof leading up to fishing the estuary so the drive can feel like an eternity. With a 5:30 launch time followed by 45 minutes of boat prep, bait cutting, and a boat ride out to the south side of the Desdemona sands, we dropped lines at 6:15am in 21' of water. Add 10 minutes of dragging a plug-cut herring and I had the first Chinook bonked and in the box.

Bryan with a couple nice B10 Chinook that cut candy red

By 9am with our two rods, we'd landed 4 Chinook with 5 chances, losing one on the way to the boat (naturally that was the largest of the 5). High tide wasn't until 11am so the plan was to fish for Coho through the first part of the slack but we couldn't scrape up even a native to toss back. After about an hour with no fish and the steadily increasing wind mixing up a heavy chop in the 2.5 to 3' range, we called it a day and headed back to port just after 10am; big smiles on our faces with a limit of Chinook.

Chrome bright in the sun

Bass and Yellow Cats on the John Day River

Along with another family of two boys, we took the kids camping via boat only access on the John Day River last year and just had to do it again. For 2012 it was the 4th of July and joining us were 3 other families - 9 kids, 8 of which were boys equating to a fun and rowdy bunch. Despite my fishing boat being outnumbered by two wake board / ski / tubing boats in our group, I was able to get a little boat and bank fishing in.

Gavin and the first bass of 2012 - long arming, Roland Martin style...

After getting camp setup, Gavin and I got things started off chasing bass with plastic worms and lizards. In between jumping into the river to cool off, we hooked into a few nice small mouth near several rock piles and boulders. Gavin is practicing his casting and is getting okay at it. However, on day one of our trip, he threw his rod overboard while trying to cast, sacrificing it into the depths of the John Day. (he's lucky we never go anywhere with just one of anything but he was done casting for a while)

Chasing channel catfish only to find several (small) yellow cats!

Last year (see post), I fished the John Day exclusively for bass. This year I expanded the game plan to include channel cats from the bank. With 1oz. of lead (which was probably too much for the slow current) on the bottom of a leader and a night crawler up line 16", we could hang out at camp with the group, waiting for a fish to bite.

Waiting for a catfish to tug on the line

Buddies Rhett and Gavin killing time on the river

As always when we go camping, we brought enough food to last a month, so we had no intention of killing and grilling any of the fish we caught. All the bass and cats caught where tossed back in the river in hopes they grow for us next year.

Washington Walleye

It's probably crystal clear by now that I absolutely love salmon fishing. However, a little known secret would be that summer walleye fishing is a very close second.  Not only are they an excellent eating white fish, but when you find em', the action can be non stop chaos. The challenge (and most enjoyable part) is searching the lake to find where they're holding up.

Eyez!!!

Walleye fishing is generally associated with the Midwest.... but don't tell anyone, Washington and parts of Oregon have their share of both healthy numbers and trophy size walleye. I was recently blessed with catching (and releasing) a 10lb+ trophy walleye of my own. I've heard many fisherman say "if their isn't a picture, than it didn't happen" so if you're having a hard time believing it, take a look at the video of a trophy, as well as some perfect size eaters. (Turn up the volume!!)

Generally when we're fishing walleye, we'll keep all of our catch in the live well. At the end of the day, we'll pick just a few that we want to take home for the grill and release the rest back into the lake. The best tasting walleye tend to be the small to mid-size fish in the 14" to 18" range. I am told anything larger has diminished quality (but of course are more fun to catch). I've personally never kept/eaten anything over 18" but eating a few of the mid-size fish suite me just fine.  

The good eatin' size

My Trophy!!