Northwest Fishing Reports

Lately all I've been getting at are steelhead. Not complaining, but after catching 5-10 pound fish I find myself itching for spring already! I know for all the die hard steelheaders it's blasphemy, but there it is. I've dropped my line test down to 4 lbs, use ultralight rods, and still these hatchery fish can't hold a candle to a bright chinook or a feisty coho. I want some BIG fish!!! HAhahaha! Anybody else feel the same? Theres gotta be a place with bigger fish out there. Want to fight something that can pull back for a change. Can't wait for the springers.

I heard there is supposed to be a huge run of springers on the Big C, and it's tributaries....

I know right? I was reading the email from the WDFW and almost forgot that January isn't even over with yet. Somebody's gotta catch the first one, right?

Right now, I'd be content to catch a mess of 8 OZ perch! LOL
I returned from out of state a couple weeks back to assist/support my better half through cancer treatment. Kinda a foggy, "what the hell do I need to do" mindset set in. Throw in that blasted snow week that removed the possibility of getting her out for a "Last Blast" fishing trip before she started treatment and I've got some real frustration going on.

I do hear ya Nate! There is nothing like the fight of a big a@@ KING whether it be in the ocean or river. I usually just get my kings in just my couple days at Westport each year and then I'm on to my next little fishery. I certainly don't fish as much as I would like.

I know now you feel Nate wasn't too long ago we could fish the sky till april catch and release big wild steel now i gotta drag my drift boat over to a little stream on the coast to catch big nates till april. Wont be long now be headin south back bouncing eggs, flat lining wraped 16's on the K for tastey spring kings. Just have to be patient

Heres a sign of the blues. I finally got a two day weekend to fish before the closure. I went drifting the Snoqualmie. I get to Tokul where my buddies family live and park there to fish the Cable hole. I get down there make some casts and decide I better put my lic and punchcard in my pocket to fish. I cant find it. I look in my napsack and my waders . Everywhere. I stopped fishing and came home to find my license on the dinning room table.Skykomish tomorrow with license.

racfish wrote:Heres a sign of the blues. I finally got a two day weekend to fish before the closure. I went drifting the Snoqualmie. I get to Tokul where my buddies family live and park there to fish the Cable hole. I get down there make some casts and decide I better put my lic and punchcard in my pocket to fish. I cant find it. I look in my napsack and my waders . Everywhere. I stopped fishing and came home to find my license on the dinning room table.Skykomish tomorrow with license.

After putting in that much effort to fish. That there is a conundrum. Damn, do I toss a couple of casts or hope to find the wallet and license back in the truck? If you do make a couple of casts, the paranoia sets in about someone hiding in the bushes waiting to pounce. In the end, ya wish your wallet had a gps tracking devise for just such an occasion.

Hey Moto I did fish and knowingly so. Its a different feeling that I didnt like.Everytime someone came by I was paranoid. I wrapped it up. The Snoqualmie has Wardens on it all the time.I was up near Tokul so I left. Its horrible. As I get older I am getting respondsible and more respectful. (Darn it)

racfish wrote:Hey Moto I did fish and knowingly so. Its a different feeling that I didnt like.Everytime someone came by I was paranoid. I wrapped it up. The Snoqualmie has Wardens on it all the time.I was up near Tokul so I left. Its horrible. As I get older I am getting respondsible and more respectful. (Darn it)

I know the feelin. The one that comes with discovering the bone headed mistake, after getting where you were goin. My conscience always get's the best of me. I have my childhood upbringing to blame!! I think I'll sue my parent's.

Im with you nate.
My main fishing season is august ! Skok kings.
but gonna go for steel for the first time real soon

Well...I'm waiting for spring for the bass, but I get what you're saying. Right now I fish for trout. MarkFromSea...best wishes for your better half.

MarkFromSea wrote:Right now, I'd be content to catch a mess of 8 OZ perch! LOL
I returned from out of state a couple weeks back to assist/support my better half through cancer treatment. Kinda a foggy, "what the hell do I need to do" mindset set in. Throw in that blasted snow week that removed the possibility of getting her out for a "Last Blast" fishing trip before she started treatment and I've got some real frustration going on.

I do hear ya Nate! There is nothing like the fight of a big a@@ KING whether it be in the ocean or river. I usually just get my kings in just my couple days at Westport each year and then I'm on to my next little fishery. I certainly don't fish as much as I would like.

Yea, you dropped off the face right quick for a while! Glad to have you back, but I wish the circumstances were better. Best wishes for your girl! Man, what with the closures and gas prices, I can't wait for spring.

Thanks Nate and Bass! I'm pretty sure she'll be hauling in the fish faster than I by the time the weather warms. The radiation started last week, 4 days of getting zapped. Her first chemo is Monday, tomorrow. She's getting good care so hopefully a couple months should get her through the worst of it. Then it's fish on baby!

yo got to get into some big nates nate! I feel the same way ive caught 20 steelhead this winter and only 2 have been over 10lbs. Some of them took 15 seconds to land. But I haven't caught a native yet. Hopefully I can get some vedder hawgs this year cuz I know that when I hook a 15 pound native it ain't coming in without a fight.

MarkFromSea wrote:Thanks Nate and Bass! I'm pretty sure she'll be hauling in the fish faster than I by the time the weather warms. The radiation started last week, 4 days of getting zapped. Her first chemo is Monday, tomorrow. She's getting good care so hopefully a couple months should get her through the worst of it. Then it's fish on baby!

Your enthusiasm, good spirits and overwhelming, warm attitude. Will be more instrumental than you can possibly know. During this troubling road bump in life. There will be a roller coaster of emotion. That is where your upbeat sense of humor and positive attitude will radiate itself in a comforting way. Being attentive and having extreme patience. Will test a relationship to its limits during times like this. You find out just how much someone cares for you, buy what they are willing to do for you, when you are unable to do them on your own. At times, the person on the receiving end feels guilty for feeling like a burden. Due to the independence being stripped away and dependence taking the place.

I am not winging it when I say there is a roller coaster of emotion. I lived it. Even as positive, and upbeat, of a laid back person I am. They come. I have sat with my dog at my feet and balled my eyes out from fear of the unknown and the feeling of being a burden to those that volunteered months of help and support.

What I have written is intended to be positive, and not be perceived negative in any way.

I wish your wife and yourself the best possible outcome, and I know an even stronger relationship comes from it. .......

Or else you buy a bigger boat so there is more room between you.

Thank You MotoBoat!
I'll pass that one on to Robyn. Thanks for the heartfelt insight into the emotional side of Robyn's fight. Currently, I look at it as a job and we just need to "Git Er Done!"

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It's time to get back to fishin! I came across this vid in the wee hours of this morning while searching on you tube for worm farming vids. Couldn't figure out where to post it here, it says it's a bass fishing vid, they do catch some awesome sized bass BUT they seem to catch even more jumbo trout and some bothersome squaw fish. Hope you enjoy the blast from the past and an option to clear those winter time blues!

Nah, I am good. Steel to me still rank as one of the hardest fighting fish out there, I caught a king that was 26 lbs on the scale that pales in comparison to the 17lb steel i got last March- both from the bank, on the same gear -. Not to mention that it is very possible to have a double digit salmon day, which just doesn't happen with steel (Tokul creek and some other smaller creeks/tribal creeks aside- which my humble opinion is that those fisheries are not too sporting -). Steel are a smarter/pickier/ more sensitive fish which means a better challenge. Also, if one wants bigger steel- there are some places that couldn't be better right now for a shot at a high teens metal head. Anyway.....All my opinions- go get em~!

nat wrote:Nah, I am good. Steel to me still rank as one of the hardest fighting fish out there, I caught a king that was 26 lbs on the scale that pales in comparison to the 17lb steel i got last March- both from the bank, on the same gear -. Not to mention that it is very possible to have a double digit salmon day, which just doesn't happen with steel (Tokul creek and some other smaller creeks/tribal creeks aside- which my humble opinion is that those fisheries are not too sporting -). Steel are a smarter/pickier/ more sensitive fish which means a better challenge. Also, if one wants bigger steel- there are some places that couldn't be better right now for a shot at a high teens metal head. Anyway.....All my opinions- go get em~!

Pound for pound steelheads are brutes, that's for sure. The individual fish may not put up as much fight as another one though. I've had 10 pounders that rolled over and lazy eyed me in thirty seconds, and I've caught 20 pounders that are amazing fighters and go toe to toe with a same sized king. I love catching steelhead too! Although I have had double digit days on steelhead at other places, not just at the meat holes. But man, to get at the wild ones I have to drive for 4 hours, since they've shut down the local rivers, and that just isn't in the books unless I'm getting paid Can't blame a guy for looking forward to the next big run! Those kings are brutes when you get 'em bright and shiny and they just get bigger than steelhead.