Northwest Fishing Reports

...and yes, spinners and spoons would be the way to go, just cast slightly upstream and reel as needed to keep it spinning as it drifts through. Check the regs though, I believe it's single barbless hooks only.

The upper Quinault River has some decent rainbow trout fishing. I've hooked into some hefty ones there. Not a whole lot of hiking but beautiful area. Check the WDFW regs, but it's open from the lake to the National Park boundary, release wilds.

From my experience, Lake Wenatchee is more consistent but the fish are a bit bigger, brighter and tend to be more feisty on Baker. Deeper on Wenatchee as well. The wind does tend to pick up there, particularly after 11am or so, but can be an all day thing. I've had luck just beating up in to the win...

Spare battery? or make friends with an RV'er that has a generator.

You're good to go, there's pontoons, kayaks, row boats, all manner of watercraft out there. If the wind picks up you can always head back to the nearest shore and wait it out for a bit. I'd bring some oars just in case. Most of the fishing is at the north end of the lake and Shannon Creek campground...

I agree to error on the larger rod. With all the boats out there it's nice to be able to horse it in if you need to get away from other boats, DR cables, etc. Last year I used both my salmon DR rods and steelhead rods (6-12lb) and both worked fine, the steelhead rod was definitely bent over a lot mo...

Does anyone know what specific marine areas are affected? What is considered Puget Sound?

Whats wrong with the bow mount? Not sure why you'd need a kicker in addition. I can relate to wanting something that will idle down though, i have a 20HP yamaha 4 stroke on my 15' and it just won't get down to sockeye slow...so I've added a electric trolling motor and it works great.

I'm going to be on Orcas over the weekend, and shorebound. Any opportunities for fish out there from shore? Obstruction pass maybe?

Thanks!

Welcome to the PNW. I don't have any particularly special rod/reel for pinks. Almost anything that you can cast well would work, so longer is better in general. I use my steelhead setup which is a 9'6" 8-12lb rod, the reel is a shimano 2500 series spinning reel with 12lb test mono spooled up on it. ...

I spoke with a friend who works for the forest service, whom had spoken with WDFW, and he said there is only one authorized guide on Baker Lake. Others are welcome to apply for permission, but haven't.

I'm going to be in the Chelan area next week and wanted to give the sockeye a try at Lake Pateros, but seeing as they are now closed for retention I'd like to give the Chinook a go. I've never fished Chinook there before and am just wondering what peoples typical set ups are? Anyone care to share a ...

I am hopeful that this low water and drought like conditions are just part of the cycle. In the meantime the one positive i can find is the opportunity to see the river channel and structure like we never have before. Get out and recon for when the water is back and it should pay off. Find the holes...

I fished up there on Sunday. One thing I noticed was that everyone I saw boating fish had really short leaders, shorter than what I thought the typical sockeye set up was. It looked like about 8" was the standard that folks we're using. I'm used to 12-18" and started with about 15". After seeing thi...

NEVER shift an outboard motor into gear, forward or reverse, if the motor is not running. There is a dog clutch to connect the drive gear to the driven gear and if the motor is not running (or the prop spinning) and the teeth aren't lined up perfectly, it won't go into gear. Attempting to force it ...

Just a quick boat size question; I'm considering a 14' Smoker Craft Alaskan with a 20hp Yamaha. Mostly for fishing lakes, but would occasionally like to hit up Rocky Reach, Wells Dam, etc. for sockeye and Chinook. Would that size suffice for those trips when i did make them (3-6 times a season)? Tha...