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March 09, 2010
Oclaire Enstad with a very nice Forks steelhead caught while fishing with Mike Z.
I
was also fortunate enough to fish with Mike this weekend and had
a fantastic trip. See report below:
Submitted by Mike Zavadlov
Been a great week of Winter Steelhead fishing. Other than a a day or two late last week weather has been pretty good. Rivers are in good shape and fresh Steelhead are present in every river that is open to fish them here on the west side. Cowlitz River has been fishing fairly well for Steelhead and a surprising number of Springers have been caught this last week. Look for this river to only get better for late hatchery Winter Steelhead this week and for the rest of the month. Springer will build in numbers but are there from the Barrier Dam down to the mouth. Freedrifting eggs will take both Steelhead and Springers. If you don't want to Freedrift try Back Trolling one of Wordens FatFish or if fishing the bigger deeper holes the M2-SP will work perfect when wrapped with a sardine. Best colors for Steelhead have been the Metallic Silver Blue Green (MSBG) as far as M2-SP Flatfish I will try to have a plug or two out with some chartreuse on them. With the water running clear it's hard to go wrong with plugs in metallic blues and greens. Other rivers like the Nooch and Satsop fished pretty good over the last few days with some nice hatchery fish and wild fish being caught in both. The Nooch was fishing very well early in the week. These rivers should hold up and produce this week. This is the time of year when there can be a monster in any part of those rivers.
Here is a picture of Mike and his 16 pound Springer we caught March 2nd on the Cowlitz river. Gonna be a great year for Springers! A few other fish we landed this week...been a great week!
Mention Salmon or Steelhead University and receive 15 percent off a trip for two. Now booking Winter Steelhead and Spring Chinook For more info call Phil Stephens, Mystical Legends Guide Service Call (206) 940-0052 or E-mail
Fishing on the Cowlitz has been pretty good the last couple weeks, some big fish...even some limits. We've been covering lot's of water for our fish, sidedrifting, plugs/baitdivers have all been working. I took the weekend off to fish the OP with a couple buddies, didn't catch anything huge, but released some nice "teeners". Now back to work, I'll be running Cowlitz river steelhead/springer combo trips for the next month...and I have some open dates. See you on the river!
Bob Barthlow Rivers NorthWest Guide Service (509) 952-9694
No report this week
Submitted by Todd Girtz, Steelhead University No report this week Bruce
Warren, Fishing
for fun Guide Service
Fishing has been pretty darn good the last few days. Weather has been great, a little cold in the mornings but beautiful when the sun comes out. We had lots of chances and put some very nice fish in the boat. Turned loose a few with too many fins. If you haven't booked a trip yet there is still time as I have some seats available. There are a few springers showing as well as an added bonus if wer'e lucky enough to get one
Rob Sweem, R&K
Guide Service Submitted March 02
Well, the nice weather had to come to an end sometime, and it did for us earlier this week. Mother nature unleashed a nice big rain storm over the central coast, and Montesano was well hit with it. We floated from the 7400 line down to White bridge a couple of days last week, and even with the heavy rain and constant bailing of the boat the fish were more than willing to take our offerings. Side-drifting yarn balls was the technique of choice and seemed to work even better than eggs. I am a huge advocate of yarn, not that eggs don't work but yarn seems to always pay off, and you don't have pink fingers for the next couple of days. All in all pretty good fishing, a few nice hatchery fish were taken for the bbq, and a few natives sent back to gain a few more pounds. I will be out in the central coast are for a few more weeks, if you want to get out shoot me an email or give me a call.
Andy Shanks, Island
Guide Service
No report this week
Tyler Davis, (360)-771-7802
Here are a few pics from this last week on the Bogachiel river. We used a varity of methods to target these Chrome fish. The first few days the river was up a bit and had a little color to it (about 5 feet of vizibilty) so we were mostly free drifting eggs and backtrolling Tadpoleys in my favorite plug holes. The chrome and orange hearing bone was by far the best producer this trip. As the water level dropped and and conditions became low and clear we switched our presentations to float fishing, primarily using jigs. The best producer was a chrome and silver tinsel tyed by the Skagit legend Ron Metcalf. Thanks again to all that joined us this week, I will be over Fishing the Bogachiel, Sol-Duc and Hoh In late March and early April for more steelhead and Spring Kings. I've still got some dates available. Then it's down to the Lewis to get in on the heavy springer fishing anticipated this year for the Columbia and it's tribs.. Dont miss out on the record run predicted for that area. I have days availble from April 15th through May 15th. We are running a weekday special this spring for Kings.. 3 persons for $450.00 all bait and gear included just bring a lunch, license and a cooler for your fish.
Submitted by Wayne Ackerlund E-Mail or Call 1 (888) 6 Skagit - [1 (888) 675-2448]
Submitted March 02
The Sturgeon fishing in the North Puget Sound is off to a great start. There are a lot of fish in the area right now. Last year we averaged 5 fish per trip and our best day was 14 fish. All the fish that we catch are keepers or oversized. We are fishing them in very shallow water which makes them a lot of fun to catch. At times you can see 25 - 50 fish swimming around the boat.
For more information or to book a trip please give me a call. Thanks!
Mention Steelhead University for our Special Rate Brett Basim
No report this week
Ray Vermillion No report this week Chris Horton Submitted March 02
Got a chance to fish the Cowlitz this weekend...we went 7 for 11 with 3 fish being the bigger late run fish. The largest was 15lbs and was a thick fish...a couple came on plugs and all the rest side drifting yarn and anise scent. Look for this run to get better and better.
Submitted by John Thomas, Rotten
Chum Guide Service
The Sol Duc is in great shape running at 3 boards and 12 ft of vis. The river is dropping slowly. At this water flow the best techniques will be plug pulling or float fishing. For plug pulling stick with wordens flatfish or Luhr Jensens Kwikfish in the small ot meduim sizes. The colors that have been working for me have been silver, Silver/red dots, flame, flame/red dots, green hornet, green weenie, blue streak and flounder. Float fishing in the upper river has been best with a Mad river worm in Pink, Nail Polish pink or pink haze with a white or chartruese jig head. Aero jig and Beau MAc jigs in pink, pink/white or night mare jigs are the best. Have also been playing with a new jig that we are working on with a small light on it and they will be out on the market soon. Look for them as they are very good. The fishing for snider hatchery fish will continue for a couple of more weeks. The native run will only get way better with each day.
The Calawah is in good shape running at 587cfs and dropping with unlimited vis. A little to low float now. The best techniques for the Calawah will be Plug pulling or Floatfishing. For the plug pulling stick with Wordens Flatfish or Luhr Jensens Kwikfish in the smaller sizes. For the color of the water stick with silver, Silver/red dots, Flame, Flame/red dots, green weenie, green hornet or flounder. For float fishing we have using lots of Beau Mac jigs in Cerise, Pink/white and Cerise/white. Though my favorite is the Aero Jigs in Pink, Cerise and the Peach. I also use our own design of Black head pink and chartruese rabbit. I have had great luck on Mad River worms in pink with a chartruese head. Fish are spread out from the mouth all the way past the forks. Remember that above 101 bridge it is selective gear rules. It is all wild fish from now until end of season. Bogachiel River is in good shape running at 27.06 ft and with 12 ft of Vis. River is dropping slowly. The best techniques with the given water flows and color will be to pull plugs, sidedrift or floatfish from the hatchery down and above hatchery stick with plugs or floats. For plug pulling stick with Wordens Flatfish or Luhr Jensens kwiikfish in the smaller sizes. For colors i like to use Silver, Silver/red dots, Flame Red, Flame red/ red dots, green weenie, blue streak, michael jackson, flounder and green hornet. For sidedrifting we have been using two #3 vision Hooks and a #12 cheater in flame, chart/red dots, green/red dots, rainbow, glo orange, orange clown and glo green. The best bait has been eggs cured in pink Borax-0- fire or prawns done the AGS way. Float fishing has been best with Beau Mac jigs in Pink/white, Cerise, Cerise/white or Orange/peach. Aero Jigs in Pink, Hot Pink, Pink/white, Pink/peach and Nightmare have been good. Mad River Worms in 4" in Glo Pink, Nail Polish Pink, Pink/Chart Tail and Bubble gum pinkon a 1/8oz jig head in white or chart head has aslo been very good for bigger fish.
The Hoh is in good shape running at 1480cfs with 7' of vis in upper river and 5' in the lower river. River is dropping slowly. Lots of fish are spread out from the mouth all the way to the park boundry. The best techniques in this little more colored water will be to Pull plugs or sidedrift. For plug pulling stick with the larger plugs like K-13 Kwikfish or a T-4 flatfish. Color's loke silver, Silver/flame Back, White/red, Claire- a- bell, grren hornet and flounder. For sidedrifting in the upper river this prime time to fish 6" long Mad river worms in pink, Methiolate and flour orange. In the lower river fish 2 @ 2 vision hooks a #10 cheater in brighter colors like flame, chart/flame dots, chart/green dots and rainbow. I like to use a little bigger baits, so cut your eggs a little bigger and add a mad river egg to the bottom for a little more scent. This will only get better as the water drops and clears.
Submitted
by Bob Kratzer Submitted March 02
The water has been dropping after last weeks rain and the boat pressure is slowing. All the rivers are producing good numbers of fish though out the systems. The Hoh had good vis. on the upper river and 2 feet in the lower. They are netting only 24 hours this month so there should be great fishing this month. The Sol Duc and Calawah are in great shape with 5-8 feet of Vis. and the Bogy has 3-4 feet and fishing good. Mike Z
Submitted by Mike Zavadlov
No report this week Please check out my new video - The Klickitat is awesome!
Call or email Tracy Z.... phone (509) 369-2366
Submitted March 02
We've had a lack of rain and snow this year causing the river flows to be well below normal. This makes the river more susceptible to temperature swings. We had a cold snap roll in on the 19th and lasted until the 23rd. This caused the river flows and water temperature to plummet and slowed the catching down significantly. All of our guides really had to work at getting clients into fish and literally had to camp out on top of them to induce a strike. It was some tough fishing by any measure. By Wednesday we were on the mend and even received a shot of rain. By the weekend things were back into full swing and catching improved on the entire river. Success on the lower river (Below Orofino) has started to become more sporadic. As the season continues there will be less fish available in the lower stretches of river. The upper stretches were hit the worse by the cold snap, but recovered quickly. The NF saw an improvement in catching this past week as the final pushes of fish moved into the system. The SF also had a small push of fish move in on Thursday and Friday due to the small increase in flow from the rain. It is very low and clear. Standard low water tactics are a must, back trolling divers-n-bait, plugs and of course bobber-n-jig/bait are producing the best results. Fly anglers nymphing has also done very well. We had a fly client hook 6 and land 5 on Saturday.... Way to Go Bob!!!!
This Coming Week: Its going to be the same tune that we've been singing all year.... The river is below normal and there isn't too much rain predicted for the week. However on the plus side, the night time lows are staying in the low 40's / high 30's, so we won't see a dip in water temperature like we did last week. There is rain predicted for Wednesday and Thursday and this should cause an up tick in flow for Friday and Saturday and move some fish around. A quick note regarding the table fair of these fish... They have been in the system for a long time. Any fish harvested should be destined for the smoker. There are still a few decent fish available, but most have past their BBQ prime. Make sure you have a plan for the the fish that you harvest. Lower River: (Below Orofino) The flow is currently 3690cfs @ 6.3 C. With the predicted rain the flows should pick up and Pink House to Harpers will be a great option.Anglers will continue to do good with floats\jigs and back trolling diver and bait. The final pushes of fish will be moving through the lower river and those anglers in the right place at the right time could have some awesome fishing. Upper River: (Above Orofino) The current flow is 2390 CFS @ 5.5C. This is still less than ideal conditions, but they are the best that we've seen so far this spring. Low water tactics are a must. Micro jigs, small baits and egg patterns work well during this time of year and water conditions. Fish are holding in the heads of the deeper buckets, but will move if pressured, be sneaky. The catching on the Upper River is good and should remain good in the weeks to come. We are usually pushed off the river by mid March due to poor river conditions, but this year may be different. We may be able to go into April if the river condition, and quality of fish are in our favor. North Fork: The catching on the NF picked up with a new push of fish entering the river last week. Depending on the fishing pressure it could fish pretty good over the next week or two. South Fork: The forecasted rain should bring more fish into the South Fork. Success on the lower river should be good. There are fish throughout the entire SF system. Us proper etiquette and clean up after yourself. We'll be wrapping up our season soon, don't miss out on the last couple weeks. We still have some open days, book now. The catching on the Upper River has been good and should remain good in the weeks to come.
Submitted by Ryan Pitcher
No report this week
Doug Richert
Submitted March 02
North Oregon Coast Report The past week has been one of the more productive ones so far this season. I received Reports of multiple fish days as well as limits of hatchery fish. The Nestucca, Trask and Wilson have seen the majority of fisherman. All three rivers are seeing late returning Broodstock steelhead (any hatchery fish that are in the Trask are strays from the Wilson). Reports of larger than average fish have been common this year. All three rivers previously mentioned will be productive through april. Fish are spread out through these systems. Both boat and bank anglers have had good success. K11's, #35 hotshots, and #40 hotshots have produced. Top color patterns have been Doctor death, cop car, blue pirate and silver with pink dots. Side drifting eggs and sand shrimp has also been productive. Drift fisherman have been successful using very small clusters of eggs, either naked or with small tufts of yarn. It has been critical to keep the presentations small. Jigs have also produced. Lighter patterns seem to be more productive. Peach/white, baby blue/white, pink/white. Look for the remainder of this week to be productive as well. If you have a chance get out, the springers can wait. :
Chris Salter No report this week
Mike Glass
No report this week
Paul LeFebvre
A client of guide David Castallonas holds a pair of Chetco River steelhead caught March 4 side-drifting roe cured in Pautzke's BorxOFire with size 4 Eagle Claw hooks. Sudden surge in steelhead surprises Chetco anglers BROOKINGS, Ore. - Anglers on the Chetco River received a pleasant surprise the first week of March as the water dropped following heavy rains to end February. A surge of fresh steelhead combined with big numbers of recently spawned fish moving downstream yielded some of the highest catch rates of the season. "Some boats were getting eight or more fish a day early in the week, with some big, fresh fish mixed in," said guide Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing in Brookings. "Fishing was good in the lower section of the river and as high as the South Fork. Fresh steelhead and down-runners are spread throughout the system right now." The Chetco blew out Feb. 26 after more than 4 inches of rain fell on the coast, but when it dropped back into shape March 2, fishing was good. More rain was expected this week, which could bring in another batch of bright fish. "A few hatchery fish are still being caught," Martin said. "With more rain expected, we should see decent fishing well into the middle of the month." The Chetco closes to fishing March 31, and typically still produces fresh steelhead after each rain in March. "We are still getting fish on roe cured in Pautzke's BorxOFire, but some of the fish also are biting shrimp," Martin says. "We'll take a single Pautzke salmon egg and a small cocktail shrimp and side-drift them. That seems to work extremely well late in the season." Dave Mueller's 21-pound steelhead from late January is the biggest confirmed steelhead of the season on the Chetco, although several fish in the high teens have been taken.
To book a trip, call (206) 388-8988 or e-mail wildriversfishing@yahoo.com. -
Andy Martin
Fishing the local Portland rivers has been
consistent and steelheaders are enjoying a great season
on the Clackamas and Sandy rivers. Side drifted baits, jigs,
and plugs are taking the majority of the fish. The spring
chinook bite has been off in the area due to dirty water
and should spark back up on this next big tide series. Looks
like it's going to be a warm, low water year due to no snow
pack. We will have to see what happens in the coming weeks.
I will continue to fish steelhead until the bulk of the
spring salmon come in then it's off to the Columbia and
Willamette to backbounce and troll. I do have a few seats
open. Ian Premo
No report this week
Rob Brown (503)
665-2257 Jack
Glass, Hookup Guide Service
No report this week
Submitted March 02
Fraser Valley Report Fishing in the valley is really starting to pick up. Gerry was out on the Vedder on Monday with a guest from Montreal who landed a nice 8lb hatchery steelhead. Reports from some of our other guides are about the same. water conditions are good and fish are moving in on a daily basis. Sturgeon Ryan has been out guiding the past two days with some excellent results. Yesterday he landed 10 fish, 1 over 5ft. Best baits have been roe and Eulichons but last week it was lamprey and worms so I would guess that if you find the fish, it is not really gonna matter that much what your using. Our next peak sturgeon season is in the spring, which brings our annual migration of the Eulachon (small bait fish) to the Fraser River to spawn. Food in winter is scarce so when the Eulachon arrive the Sturgeon are eager to feed, it's not uncommon to hook 15 to 20 fish in a 6 hour trip. If you're looking for a great spring fishing adventure, sturgeon/steelhead combo makes for a great angling vacation.
Vedder River
Water conditions on the Vedder are excellent, good numbers of fish being caught throughout the river. As mentioned above, Gerry is producing fish on every trip out which is pretty normal for him. Float fishing bait is the ticket right now but as water temperatures rise, the fly fishing should begin to produce better results. Trout fishing in the Valley The Upper Pitt River sea-run Bull Trout fishery is almost hear. End of May through the month of June is best. Book now as we limit the number of anglers per day on this river. Last year our biggest trout was 12 lbs but we did manage quite a few fish between 8 to 10 and lots of 4 to 6 lb trout. Our best day was 40 fish on the fly so don't miss out on this world-class fishery. Check out these fish from last year. http://www.guidebc.com/photos/photofly2.asp There are several local rivers that offer some great winter trout fishing on the fly. Although these rivers can sometimes be difficult to reach due to bad weather, they are definitely worth the effort. We will continue to offer guided trout fishing throughout the winter for those anglers looking for some real adventure. Please give us a call or e-mail to find our more about our winter trout fishing adventures. To Book Your next guided adventure, call us Toll Free 1-866-771-3474 Remember to conserve your catch Tight
Lines and we will see you on the water Vic
Carrao
just got back from Oregon had the opportunity to fish the Clackamas river with with Jake & Roger from Clacka craft drift boats as well as Nick Amato we had a blast, the weather was incredible we managed to hook 3 steelhead between 6 and 8 pounds it is a beautiful river. I am home now to stay done with long distance road trips for this year ! The weather has been very warm Gord has been out on the water and has reported hooking good numbers of Steelhead on a couple un named rivers swinging a string leech with a light sink tip as the water has been low. The photo attached is of Splash Gordon with One of his Fine Steelhead caught this week... Stay tuned the water will bump and the steelhead will be on the move. Seems to be good numbers of fish holding in the Skeena down river from the hog line. Well that's all for now.
Gill McKean, Westcoast Fishing Adventures
www.westcoastfishing.ca
No report this week
Tracey John Hittel Kitimat BC Canada 250 632-9880 250 639-4277
No report this week David Murphy 1-877-218-6600 or Email murphy@island.net
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