I’ve always been chided by, well, everybody for my lack of fly fishing expertise. The sad fact is, I really have no defense to the criticism. Most anglers careers follow some type of meaningful progression. You know, dunking worms as a kid in the local pond to fly fishing in some exotic destination. Unfortunately, my […]
By Josiah Darr. When it comes to drift boats there are a fairly endless number of options and accessories available if you have the money and are willing to spend it. Do you want a metal boat? Fiberglass? Maybe a classic wooden boat? Willie and Koffler make great aluminum boats and Ray’s River Dories makes […]
After two years of perseverance hunting the rugged west slope of the Cascades in Whatcom County 14 year old Justin Miedema finally got a chance at his first black bear. Justin took the 250 pound black bear at 370 yards with a 140 grain bullet from his .270. “The bear just folded after the shot,” […]
It kind of sounds like an oxymoron when you first read it. Scouting with a 2 year old…really??? She isn’t actually two yet, but at 20 months she’s close enough. This is our third trip into the woods now and I’ll admit the first two were a little rough. On our first voyage we walked […]
When I marched into the house with my new “Butt Out” field dressing tool from Hunter’s Specialties a few hunting seasons ago my wife gave me the look like…”now what?” “It’s the most innovative field dressing tool since the invention of the knife honey”, I announced in the kitchen as I held it up to […]
Luhr Jensen came out with a handful of new color schemes for their ever-lethal Kwikfish last year that flat out tore up the coastal salmon for us last fall. The three K-15’s on the left in the photo below worked great for both kings and silvers last fall and Luhr Jensen just released the new […]
I’ve always liked to have a handful of twitching jigs in my box tied up with Flashabou. The smaller 1/4 ounce jigs have been a favorite of mine in low and clear water for years and lately I’ve found that larger jigs tied with some bling will also hammer the cohos in the fall. The […]
All I can say is…Finally! Storm’s new Arashi crank bait could definitely be a game changer. The Arashi comes with a self-tuning eye that eliminates the need to gently bend the eye to the right or left to achieve the proper action. If you’ve ever done this you know how finite the bend needs to […]
This past summer the Alaska Department of Fish and Game required all charter fishing vessels in Southeast Alaska to carry a rockfish release mechanism on board at all times. Since I own such a vessel in Craig, Alaska it was apparent I was going to have to change how we do things on the bottomfish […]
There are few products that I’ll give my blessing to before I field test them in the fish-filled waters of Southeast Alaska. I spend my summer months running salmon and halibut charters in Craig, Alaska, a place where very few reels last more than a couple of days. Read on to see how the Daiwa […]
