Winter Steelhead: Sight vs. Smell

November 27, 2013

An interesting question came up on my Facebook page the other day that’s often talked about amongst us steelhead fanatics. What’s the most important factor in getting a winter steelhead to strike…sight or smell? I would say without a doubt that sight, and more importantly presentation, is the biggest factor in getting a winter steelhead […]

Northwest Outdoor Report

March 16, 2013

I-5 Stretch Producing Springers on the Columbia Eric Linde from Linde’s Sportfishing in Vancouver, Washington says that about a third of the boats are catching springers on any given day on the Columbia and traffic has been light so far. Linde says he’s been getting a few bites a day fishing just above Interstate 5 […]

Cured Tiger Prawns for Steelhead

January 6, 2013

How many different colors can you make your Tiger Prawn? I guess the question should be, “How many different colors of Nectar does Pautzke’s actually produce”? If you said 5, then you are on the right track. With that, we will stick with the basics just to make sense of it all. If I start […]

Scent: The Key To Successful Crabbing!

July 16, 2012

One of the greatest things about living near coastal waters is enjoying the world-renowned delicacy that is dungeness crab. However, the tasty crustacean is highly sought-after and those anglers that fish the best bait are, more often than not, the ones who will be enjoying a crab dinner! With any type of bait fishing, establishing […]

“Went Springer Fishing”, just couldn’t keep the Trout off.

April 27, 2012

“Went Springer Fishing”, just couldn’t keep the Trout off… Sometimes you just have to say the heck with the boat dealio and revert back to a much less involved, relaxing kind of day. I love these kinds of spring days.  The ones where you call up a fishing buddy and say, “hey, let’s go bank […]

How to Cure Shrimp

February 21, 2012

Fishing coon shrimp for salmon and steelhead isn't a new technique. Pacific Northwest Anglers have been employing the procedure for decades. Nonetheless, in the last few years the application has seen an influx in interest, likely a reflection of modern formulas that make brining the shrimp easier and more efficient than in the past. There […]

Rigging a Slip Float for Low Water Winter Steelhead

December 22, 2011

We're in the middle of our second La Nina winter in a row here in Washington and the weather maelstrom that many of the meteorologists predicted, well, it hasn't materialized yet. Knock on wood! This has been the driest December on record and that's dropped many of the cricks in Western Washington to near summer […]

Rags to Riches on the Quinault River

March 4, 2011

If you remember my Salmon River blog back in January where I mentioned that you'd better get to the Quinault River after it comes back into shape. It's in shape folks and now is the time to be there. Like…right now! The Quinault gets it's far share of gagger-sized steelhead in the 20 pound range […]