Defiance Bait Tank Installation

May 3, 2016

After his Seattle Boat Show tuna seminar, Defiance Marine Pro-staffer Tommy “Cornfed” Donlin stuck his big ‘ol head into my boat which was on display at the show. “Where are you gonna put your live bait Nelly?” “How about this transom fishbox? I should be able to make it flow…” Cornfed shook his head “You […]

Runnin’ Skinny with the Evinrude 105 Jet

March 24, 2016

Kitsap Marina in Port Orchard, Washington recently installed a new Evinrude 105 Jet on my 18 foot custom Waldon river sled and I couldn’t be more pleased. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve enjoyed the hole shot and hook-up of a two stroke jet pump. I’m definitely diggin’ it! I bought this sled for […]

Setting Your Crab Gear Up For Success!

August 2, 2015

One of the most underrated aspects of life in the Great Northwest is harvesting and enjoying Dungeness crab with friends and family. This wonderful tasty privilege comes with a responsibility to fish your crab pots in a way that prevents gear loss and a wastage of this valuable aquatic resource. Many pots that folks assume […]

Sitka 2015: Adjustments

June 18, 2015

Every year of our annual sojourn to southeast Alaska, I seek a pattern, a clue or a theme to the location and distribution of fish that may lead to an understanding or “edge”, eventually guiding us to a successful season. We’ve all read -with varying degrees of interest and concern- of the changes in sea […]

The 2015 Salmon Forecasts!

March 2, 2015

A sure sign of spring after a long winter is the annual arrival of our salmon forecasts and the “North of Falcon” meetings. I await the salmon forecast numbers like a kid waiting for Christmas morning. Hello, my name is Tom and I am a “salmon sicko”. After watching the numbers for a number of […]

Evinrude E-Tec: The Next Generation!

December 19, 2014

I’ve been running Evinrudes for well over a decade and honestly thought that the final word, the final step in the evolution of the two-stroke outboard engine was the transition from a carburated Variable Ratio Oiling engine to a fuel injected E-Tec with pinpoint oil injection and incredibly low emissions. I couldn’t have been more wrong. My Weldcraft […]

The 2014 Bayside Marine Salmon Derby!

November 3, 2014

The 23rd edition of the Bayside Derby coincided with the Saturday, November one Marine Area 8 & 9 opener which meant that I had to figure out a way to slide out of the final hour of The Outdoor Line Radio Show in order to hit the water by daylight! Fortunately, Daylight Savings Time ran late […]

The Four Cornerstones of Winter Chinook Success!

October 25, 2014

It’s 0640 Saturday morning, we’re between segments on the Radio Show and Rob Endsley’s pen is just flying across his show sheet. “Well, if you don’t write it, I will…now what is the fourth blackmouth point?” Rob says. Some of the best “stuff” happens in between segments while the microphones are off and Robbo and […]

Buoy Ten: Big Forecast, Big Effort and Big Fish!

August 26, 2014

The annual gathering known as Buoy 10 at the mouth of the mighty Columbia River is a special event every year but this year’s forecast of 1.6 million chinook and nearly a million coho added even more anticipation and participation! Evidence of the “participation” aspect of this year’s Buoy Ten fishery was evident at ol’ […]

Sitka 2014 Great White: NORTH!

June 25, 2014

This year’s edition of The Outdoor Line’s annual Sitka trip was a very special one. We had some Alaska “first-timers”, (I was going to say “Greenhorns” but…) some of our wives made the trip for the first time in several years and 2014 marked the Alaskan arrival of the 710 ESPN flagship, the Weldcraft 280 […]