My highlight fisheries of the year were: summer run steelhead on the Sky; Lk. Washington Sockeye; Fraser River Salmon; Buoy 10 (not because the fishing was hot, it's just that you can't beat Long Beach in August); Snohomish River Coho; Yakutat Coho; and catching my first fat Tacoma king (thanks to Bob D).

My bombs: Elliot Bay Kings; the Jan/Feb steelhead season on the Sky; Wind River (just can't get those toothy fish to bite!, and yes, I know I'm the only one that has this problem!).

What about you guys? What were some of your highlights and bombs for the year?

[This message has been edited by Bobber Down (edited 12-12-2000).]

Highlights: Moving to Port Angeles from Dri-cities, Yellowstone Fly Fishing in June, Neah Bay Silvers on the fly in Sept.

Bombs: low water conditions this fall making river silvers and early steelhead fishing tough. Port Angeles saltwater fishing.

Highlights(in rewind from present)- Early BIG brats in SW, Quillayute kings & coho(every year), Snohomish and tribs coho, toutle coho, sky summerruns, Unbelievable springer and summerrun action in april may...where ?, sky c&r...got one 42x23=28+

Bombs!!! Sky chums(compared to recent years) Samish kings(more people than fish by 10x)thanks F&H LIES. Hoh river kings(got a few, but man hard work) Eilliot bay kings, seacreast kings(for me anyways 100+ hrs 1 coho)

Overall its been a great year, especially if you can drive and go without sleep like normal people. Thats one great thing about Washington....the fishing is always hot somewhere you just have to be willing to drive. Oh, and having fishing buds all over who fish 150+ days a year helps too!

The highlights of the year for me was watching my oldest Son boat a 30 lb nook' at Pt. Defiance this summer (his second salmon), putting one of my good friends on his first steelhead this July on the Cowlitz and for me the Nisqually kings and the great fall silver run on the Cowlitz. On the frustrating side was like you mentioned BD, the Wind River springers. Only trip there this year was spent fighting strong east winds for 2 1/2 days and not fighting any fish. Hope to see a Columbia main stem springer season this year with all of the predictions of good returns.
Another big highlight for me was all of the great people that I have met, fished with, or have come to be friends with through this and some of the other NW discussion boards!!!
Good luck and tight lines, Jeff

High lights would be: #1 Sockeye #2 West port
# Neah bay halibut/sea bass #4 Bouy 10
Bombs would be: #1 Low water conditions #2 Wind river #3 Elliot bay #4 Chehalis river
#5 Elk river (Oregon) and tribal netting every where!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good luck, STRIKE ZONE

I thought the Green river silver run was excellent. Olympic summer runs were also awesome. Illwaco offshore silver was incredible, limits in less then an hour.

Bombs= chum runs almost everywhere
Elliot bay fishing
King fishing in Tillamook area rivers
Low water early winter runs

highlights...
after 15 years of effort i finially caught my first winter steelhead on a fly from the Sauk river.
Awsome summer of fly fishing in montana
wuith more that 30 fish over 20 inches.
Awsome first ever trip to BC where i fished the Babine for 8 days and caught steelhead to 17lbs on flies

bombs??? didnt have any I was however dissapointed with Depuyes spring creek near livingstone montana
not because of a lack of fish but because the fish were so used up they had all obviously been caught many times over and were rather beat up

Highlights... landed 2 kings this past summer, 50 and 51 lbs. respectively.

Bomb... Lived in P.A. last winter and though I managed to catch a few, from what I saw and read the winter steelhead season was poor. Also, now living in Lynnwood and hoped to spend some time on the Sky this spring, oh well.

Highlights: That gorgeous blonde gal that I met in Leavenworth while springer fishing. She even made me breakfast. How could I forget her?

Bombs: Montesano...oh, god, Monte Square motel, that troll that I woke up next to. I almost had to chew my arm off!!

Oh, yeah, fishing was good for the most part with steelies over 20, lots of silvers and chums although somewhat short-lived. I would have done better except some moron ran a stop sign and toatalled my Willie boat last March.

Justin

Raves:
--Montana/Idaho trout fishing--never tried it before, but after a week on those beautiful fish-filled streams I know I'll be back...
--Steelhead on the Stilly...caught my first half dozen steelies on the fly, though I lost easily three times that amount...my buddy also caught his first on the fly.
--Silvers on the Nooksack...haven't been much of a float fisherman before, but now I'm a convert...landing a dozen fish in a couple of hours does something to a guy!
--Kalama steelies...like, duh! (And on the fly, too!)Had luck in the SW area in Feb, June, August, Sept...hmmm...think I'll be back!
--Silvers off the beach in my backyard.
--Working the lakes on the island with muddlers boated me a 20", 2-18's, 2-16's, and quite a few 15" cutts. This year I want to catch a cutt on a dry fly in February!

Rants:
--Finding out my fishing buddy is moving to Eugene next spring...sometimes the company beats the catching. What will I do without him?
--Low water...the chum I saw were beat up and spawning low in the rivers...ditto the silvers in some places. All I want for Christmas is a good, long, rain...
--October/November on the Stilly gave up no steelies for fishkisser...despite upteen hours flailing away...
--Finding out the Skagit/Stilly/Sauk would be closed put a pause on my plans to buy a two-hander spey rod.
--And my biggest rant of all: There aren't any rivers on this island!

The highlight of my fishing so far was landing three coho in area nine all over five pounds. The low point was when the Chum in Chico Creek never really ran. I think it was cause of lack of rain and those damned killer whales four years back.

Highlight: Samish kings. After four days of the big zero I was rewarded with 3 days of 10+ hookup and limits of kings each day.

Vedder River chums. After one day of fishing it took 3 days for my arm to stop hurting.

Skykomish, Caught summer and winter runs, got spooled for the first time and caching fish from underneath the people’s feet who wade out to far

Bombs: Drive for an hour to fish and having my corsair die after two casts and being the day after I picked up another one of those peace’s of sh**.


SAIKit2em, I hope you were wearing two raincoats when you SAUKit2 that troll

Hairball, yes, sometimes it is necessary to double up on the hefty bags. And no, Dave, I don't know what that smell is...I haven't started filleting the sardines yet.

Best dog fishing i have ever had, small creek, lots of good people, not combat, but more than cozy fishing, and loads of chum. Good limits had in an hour or less.

Worst, well there is no worse, as it has been said for years, a day fishing is better than any day working.

Best:
The night I went to my favorite local river for summer runs and hooked 5 fish in a period of 1 hour, one of which I hooked and landed in total darkness.

Worst:
For me, well it seams, that there are more worse moments than best moments.
Worst #1:
Running full blast to get to the creek and cork the best rocks for my buddies at Reiter on opening day and having a near asthma atack in the process. I had the best spot...Rick pulls the trigger, I cast and my lead flys out of my rubber tubing and in turn I get a massive backlash. 10 minutes later I get to make another cast and what do you know??...Deja Vu.
Worst #2:
Going 0 for a million on Nooks on the Hump this fall. I get one trip down there, rods are buckled everywhere and I cant seem to land a fish.
...and to put the icing on the cake. I hook a large nookie drifting eggs. Did realize it was hooked untill Reiter Rat was like "SPECIAL!!!...its a fish" and I look up and there I see the big nook with my eggs and cheater in his mouth. I then shout "Whoa ****, my eggs are in that fishes mouth!!" I proceed to set the hook and what do you know, WHIFF!!!. Thanks to Reiter Rat though for puttting me and Sean into loads of fish!!

------------------
Ryan S. Petzold
aka
Sparkey and/or Special

Highlights were twin Hoh River natives around 17 lbs. on back to back casts last March and great summer run action on my favorite SW Wash. stream all summer long. Not many low points this year, just the fact that I could not find time to get out to the coast this fall.

Best: a small hood canal tributary for silvers. It was unbelievable.
Using my driftboat.
Jeff Head with my buddy Josh.
5 fishing trips in a row and not getting skunked.
Worst: Chico Creek
My luck... haha

The best:

Westport....it was the best ocean fishing I've ever experienced.

Fall summer-runs....As good or better than years past.

Friendly ocean conditions.(for the fish)and a long-term forcast for those conditions to remain.

A high (very high actually) jack salmon count this fall that bodes well for next year's run.

The worst:

Lock-jawed salmon at bouy 10 and Johns river....the fish were there but had no appetite from gorging on the abundant schools of bait fish.

Half the state's sledders fishing the Wynoochee last winter (and surely this winter too.)

The closure of North sound rivers this winter that will send the masses to the coast.

My old trusty shimano bantam 201 finally cashing in after 16 years of great service. This one hurts!!!! God, that was a good reel. They can only be cleaned and rebuilt so many times. Certain parts finally wore out that I can no longer find.....crap!

BEST:
Discorvering the Vedder in Chilliwack B.C., fishing like it's supposed to be. 30 - 40 fish days. Coho by the hundreds, kings 40+, and chums to bruise your arm all in one day.
Lots of fish this year in all the combat holes, Carbon, Blue Creek, and the others.
WORST:
Seeing more and more trash on the rivers, trying to pick up as much as i can but appears to be a losing battle, still tryin' though. My steelhead hook up ratio is good per time spent but having trouble landing these beauties. Only seem to be landing about 1 in every 5 hook ups. Oh well!!! Still having fun every time i go.

I only went to the Snohomish system a few times for silvers but the fishing was great when I did go.
The tulalip bubble was great this year too, except for the one fish limit which can make a really short day for the zero dark thirty morning bite.
The Wind was a bit of a bummer, lots of wind and nofish for my boat, the locals must have some seceret juice, saw lots of fish caught, mostly in a small handfull of boats.

Highlights:

Flyfishing for landlocked salmon on the dam hole on Grand Lake Stream in Maine with my brother. I met him in Beaufort, N.C., and we drove up pulling his boat to a really nice lodge in West Grand Lake, near the stream. We were expecting only small mouth bass on the many lakes around West Grand Lake. We stopped at L.L. Bean's on the way up and everybody said the landlocked fishing was over. We got to the lodge and the landlocks were still stacked below the dam. For five days it was up before breakfast to fish the landlocks, back to the lodge for breakfast, out to the lakes for small mouth (great fun on a bug rod with deerhair poppers), back for supper, then to the dam for landlocks until dark. We were the only ones at the lodge, they rearranged their meal schedule to accommodate the fishing schedule. Then there was the Scotch and cigars in front of a fire back in our cabin before bedtime. Heaven on earth.

Bummer. Having to leave.

Highlight no. 2. We stayed the next week for our family vacations on the water near Boothbay Harbor in Maine. Caught Striped Bass using small live tinker mackerel right off the dock in back of our rental.

Bummer. Having to leave.

Highlight no. 3. A week flyfishing on the Ruby River near Sheridan Montana in August. The Ruby was in great shape despite the lack of rainfall and the fires burning. We never saw a fire, but you almost always could smell some smoke. Very little pressure on the river due to bad overall publicity due to fires, lack of rain, etc. Lots of big browns on hoppers. Thank God for hoppers so fly fishers like me don't have to be very skilled.

Bummer. The Big Hole was closed due to low water. I hope this didn't depress the fish to the extent that they won't recover by next year.

Highlight no. 4. A great morning on the salt off Cabo San Lucas. Nothing big, but lots of 10 to 15 pound yellow fin tuna. They make a great first run and we took some fresh fish to a local restaurant. Had a big plate of raw tuna and all had dinner on tuna cooked three different ways, along with a big bucket of ice cold Pacifico, all outside overlooking the harbor.

Bummer. For some reason, my credit card would not work down in Cabo. Barely had enough money to get back home. Highly embarrassed to have to leach off my hosts to conserve scant cash.

Highlight no. 5. Two great days on the salt off Mazatlan with two good buddies and a great host. Looking for billfish but found none. Again, lots of yellow fin and, this time, a good number of dorado jacks. Good fighters on light gear. Again, had this cooked fresh at a local, seaside restaurant. No credit card problems this time.

Bummer. A Costco-sized case of Montezuma's revenge. Now I know exactly what that is.

Highlight no. 6. A three-day camping trip to the Tucanon river with a fishing buddy and his dad and sister. Tons of rainbows on any fly you cast. We even got in on a deer hunt after my friend's sister spotted a wounded deer by the side of the river. She went out to the road, flagged down two hunters and they finished off the wounded animal. There is nothing like sitting around a campfire with friends, telling stories and drinking beer after a great day's fishing. No bummers to report here.

Highlight no. 7. Concentrating on the Kalama this entire year and learning a little something about a few holes. Caught a little something of everything the river had to offer in each season. I fought a huge fish for about fifteen minutes and that was an intense thrill. I originally thought it was a spring salmon, but the more I think, it may have been a huge steelhead. That's what the friend I was with thinks. I'll never really know.

Bummer. I nearly drowned myself one day on the Kalama, stupidly trying to wade across the river. Was swept down a thigh-deep unfeatured riffle into a long, deep, slow-moving pool. Waders filled half-way up. I'll always remember how the sky looked from underneath the water as I got sucked into that pool. I'll never forget the relief I felt once I was able to bob back to the bank and crawl out of the river onto the bank.

It's been a great year!

Best was 8lb native on a DRY fly on the Ronde, 3 summerruns landed on wets in one day. Worst was hearing of the upcoming n. sound closures, my goal was a 20+ lb sauk/skagit native on the fly this spring.

Highlights:

1. Fall silvers on a few rivers, both north and south. Every trip meant all the hookups I wanted, and leaving for home with two fat egg-laden hens at the end of the day.

2. Hitting my own personal Zipperlip this summer three times. First day, seven steelies hooked, five landed. Second day, four hooked, all landed. Third day on limited time, two hooked and landed. Two hatcheries in the cooler each day.

3. Fishing the "tough luck" chums on the Skykomish until my arms ached. Fished the TU chum derby, weigh-in at 3:30, fifteen fish later back in town eating breakfast at 11:00, watching the Husky game at the Keg 'n Cue in Monroe, then weighing in #2 and #3 in the derby.

4. One week later, taking my girlfriend for her first salmon fishing trip back to my "spot" on the Sky. She hooks seven and lands four chums. Better than that, they hooked her. She can't wait to get out fishing since then.

5. Last big one, fishing the upper S.Fk. Stilly the last day of October. Many silvers, but six steelies, four nates and two hatcheries. This in about four hours.

Bummers:

1. Missed the Baker R. sockeyes by a week. Caught one all day. Heard "shoulda been here last week" forty times.

2. Broke two GL3's this fall. Still broken in my basement.

3. Closure of the spring steelheading in Puget Sound. Major bummer. Hope you coasties don't mind a few million more fishermen this spring.

Not a very good year for me after having my best year in 1999. I did manage to get some summer runs at the not so zipperlip river near the Oregon coast. Last two trips there on Labor Day and Fathers Day weekends I managed to get some steelies. Caught my first river silvers on the other side of the canal this fall. The best part are the eggs in my freezer.

Totally skunked on the northwest side of the Olympic Peninsula this year fishing for steelies. I think the low/slow water had alot to do with it. Did have one takedown on a plug the first and only time I went down in a driftboat last spring. Got an agressive bite last week, first cast, on a sandshrimp, on a small river that reminds me of the river I fish in Oregon.

Whew! Where to start...

Highlights....Sekiu coho! In thirty years I've never seen coho fishing this hot in the Straits...Olympic peninsula summer steelhead, was the best steelheading I've ever seen out there!! Numbers of both hatchery and wild steelehad were amazing. Every stream was gangbusters from June through October. The best fly fishing this side of the ***** River in B.C. Sea run cutthroat are at their greatest populations also, the entire south Sound beaches were crawling with big, wild sea trout....and then the coho fishing in the river on the coast!! God, I miss summer!

Lowlights...only the fact that because of low water in November, chums were never there.

So far, it's been a fabulous early season on the Coast for winter runs. Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends...

At the first of the year it was the nates on the home rivers EF, Kalama, Washougal, we took several in the teens but only one on the washougal over 20. Took 4 trips to the penninsula and released many, many fish on the Bogey, Duc, Calawah, upper hoh, and the D** well a fun small creek up there. The hoko and liar elwah and dungenous in the spring were awesome.
For springers didn't go much further than my backyard NF Lewis, Kalama, Willamette had some great days with one day hooking 14 on the Lewis. Summerruns- Unreal fishing on the Lewis's Kalama, washougal-three 7-9 fish days, Big White salmon with days catching over 20.
The silvers- I've never seen the # of silvers that I did as the Lewis. It was tougher this year than others to get these buggers to bite but overall my buddy and myself probably boated 400-500 silvers in Sept-Nov. Chinook- we probably hooked a couple hundred chinook also incidently there, We had several 6-10 fish days out at the mouth of the cowlitz with the highlight fish being caught by my boss who hasn't fished much in his life, he took a 51 lb. king on Aug 26th absolutely a georgeous fish.
For the winter fish we have only just begun,

The vicious cycle that keeps me smiling and alive and going strong every day is ready to begin again and I just can't wait for this spring, summer, fall, winter, spring, summer, fall, winter. It never ends!!!!!!!!

------------------

My canidate for bomb of the year is Allstate insurance company.

Dec 21 1999 my son was towing my jetsled up interstate 5 about 1230 in the afternoon. Clear day no rain dry streets.

traffic slowed and the sled was rearended by a gal from california, she received a ticket from WSP. We were not contacted until jan 13 2000, and then they claimed our tail lights were not working properly. WSP disproved that fact. Allstate hired a "marine surveyor" loosely used term. He said my boat was worth 1500. scrap price was 80.00 I ahve had to hire an Attorney and another marine surveyor to disprove the original. My surveyor says my boat is comparable to a woolridge alaskan 18. Their surveyor says the boat is comparable to a hewescraft river runner. weled construction comapred to riveted construction and material thickness, mine is 140 thousands, hewescraft is .120 bottom .060 sides. PLEASE DO NOT USE ALLSTATE INSURANCE THEY WILL SCREW YOU. My insurance will not cover due to the fact my was towing the boat with his truck. His insurance says they will not cover because it is not his boat and the insurance commissioners office says they can do that legally.
Beware everyone who tows a boat and double check your insurance.

Flyfishing for Coho and Cutties in the salt with Capt. Keith Robbins was the most fun I have had in 3 years.

Montana sucked this year, but it was pretty and better than working.

Really Good:
- Wind Springers
- Lake Michigan Kings and Steelhead
- Peninsula Summer Steelhead and Silvers

Really Bad:
- Seacrest Summer Kings
- Samish Summer Kings
- Hoh Fall Kings



[This message has been edited by Hohwaiian (edited 12-24-2000).]