I know . This is life beyond fishing. I will be re-visiting the Pacific Northwest on a mission to catch steelhead ,the last 2 weeks of march ,ish. Still have to nail down the dates,but I plan on 2 weeks. I would post this on the main board but that board is stuffy and boring. Which of you crazy fkers is down to fish? I am from California and so obviously that must mean I can't catch a cold right?


BTW I prefer drift fishing or throwing hardware from the bank. Wait I'm from California there are no steelhead rivers here.

I'll fish with you a couple days. March would work fine. I don't know what the steelhead forecast looks like, but I can usually scratch up some fish.

PM me.

I will Dan. I plan on spending a few days in Oregon with friends and fishing some of the old stomping grounds on the North coast . Definitely a week of hard fishing in Washington where the fish and weather co- operate

That's crazy Robert - I was just thinking earlier today if you were still going to head up this way and if so, I was going to offer a day or two on the river or a centrally located place to crash if'n you needed one. So I'll fish ya' too if'n you want...

Chit man, we could have a Dark side rally! I'm sure other fine doods would be down. LMK.

Well ,um yeah! I will keep y'all posted . Last time I came up there it was a rented house type deal. This trip will be more flexible because I have a few people I need to see,my oldest friend in P-town among others. I'm gonna try and take as much time as I need .

Drag Rusty up here with you - we'll make him carry the beer.

Avid,

Just be sure the main reason for traveling up here is to visit folks and not the fishing. Steelheading has collapsed here. You actually have better steelhead fishing in CA than we now have in WA. It's crazy, I know, but this is how our world is now.

I am up on fisheries decline Salmo. That being said I have caught and released hundreds of fish on some of the most depleted runs in the world,and luckily for me,I can read water. But I also want a change of pace,and by the time I hit the states or WA/OR our runs will be downstreamers or done with,so I think I will make the best of it. And yeah I have peeps to connect with.

Lol I will be checking in with him. He's a busy guy. Maybe he can get a couple days to go play

So it's all your fault. Thanks.




joking. It's all our fault.

It's just geographics. The streams south of the golden gate are hurtin. I seldom fish for those anymore,but will a couple times a year during peak times. But it's nothing for us to drive 7 hours to fish the Klamath ,or for me to run a long weekend to the Chetco.

Yeah, that.

Be in touch.

Fish on...

Todd

You must be one of those who don't know how to fish then.

Regarding winter steelhead I would say fly fishing is the last method I would employ.

You guys are true role models.

I take that responsibility seriously.

I will out fish you.

That would make you a roe model.

Lol, You must be high.

Nope the Lord has put me on this path.

The hast madeth me a drift fishing master .

Just skip to the 2:00 minute mark.

He's on a mission from God.

Who's Zed?
Zed's dead baby. Zed's dead.

Nah man. I'm pretty fvkcing far from ok. What now? Lemme tell you what now. I'mma call a couple of hard pipe hittin' N****S to go to work on Holmes here...with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch. You hear me talkin' Hillbilly Boy? I ain't through wit' you by a damn sight. I'mma get midieval on your ass.

Strange droplets of moisture fell upon my windshield this morning.

The sky is moistening.

The fish shall rejoice and man shall grip his rod.

Jules: Does he look like a bitch?
Brett: No!
Jules: Then why are you trying to fucck him like a bitch?

Vincent: Aw, man. I shot Marvin in the face

It's a chopper, baby.

In other news ,I would like to thank all the folks who have extended their hospitality to me via this thread and through pm. I'm excited to get back up to the PNW.

If you make it to Washington, stay off that river named Puyallup. No fish, lots of gun toting thugs, and the water runs uphill

I was thinking the Skokumchuck , a cross between one ditch and another.

U catch those in the "Owners Hole"?

something like that....

Close ups of the head so as not to reveal the secret "owner's hole" location is a nice touch, too.

Note: Evo fishes for chum on purpose, as evidence by landing them, taking photos, and posting the photos on the internet. Not an indicator of upward mobility on the social - economic scale. Or fishing scale, for that matter.

I can't believe you beat up a guy for posting fish pictures???
You guys really prefer to suck ass.



"In other news ,I would like to thank all the folks who have extended their hospitality to me via this thread and through pm. I'm excited to get back up to the PNW."

This is what it's all about bitches.
Leather pants and steelhead.
Rock on.

Note: Salmo can't catch fish, so he switched to fly fishing 100 years ago as an excuse to mask how sh!tty of a fisherman he is....

Salmo fishes out of a Lund.

He doesn't need to catch fish to be noticed on the river.

I remember when I used to target chums.

Fixed that for us all.

That is almost true. Gotta use both hands and most of the 10 fingers I still have left.

I hear that Hanker guy not only needs two hands but has had to resort to using toes too!

MFer. I gotta get in on that action! You're a guide, right?

Lol..I'm dead

Done.

You're welcome.

in 3 trips with Robert, ive hooked 11, 10 and 10, thats just out of his boat...

ive also caught a few Steelhead out of the Duckabush, Dosewallips, south fork of the Sky, the Snoqualmie, Skook, Green, and the Puyallup...

i target whatever swims and if it bites my sh!t, so be it... there are also B run silvers around, and they will bite this sh!t as well... im not going to huck spoons all day when i can bang out 10 fish per hour in some instances, fishing is supposed to be fun, and i have fun....

im also known to catch bass on dick nite's



and fat fvckin trout on Koke gear

The infamous Yellow Rod!!!!!

We have a winner!!!!!

best fvcking 25 bucks ive ever spent... matter of fact, i bought another one i was so impressed with it....

i generally run weight with my Koke gear instead of riggers, and glass rods are needed for that... i used to use my Lami S Glass, but retired that after i bought those 2... they show the dodger thump excellent, and also work great in riggers if i do use them...

8 foot 4-10 is perfect for what im doing....

Roosevelt smallie?

Lol...lord of the chums.

Yeah... Can't wait to go back...

Hopefully the kokes will be hanging around down there next time....

Its on the bucket list for sure.
Those rainbows there are beauts.

Friend of mine who is the best steelhead fisherman I've ever met says when he lived in Kodiak Alaska he used to catch chums in the salt that were staging and he said they were the most insane fish he had ever hooked. Far be it from me to hate on Chum. I caught one in the Chetco once incidentally , I think they look pretty cool.

What's wrong with you ?

Nice photo Evo, I would love to catch a few Chum's, those bastards are a kick in the ass ! I can't believe how fast those nice Chum runs have dwindled. Thanks for sharing.

ya know, thats the thing... the WDFW said that the runs were low, blah blah blah... the last 8 years or so, the Chum have been wiped out of this system...

till this year....

the Indians were supposed to pull their nets, as agreed, and some have, a few havent... even tho, this has been the best Chum fishing/run ive seen in the last 10 years...

while there are B runs around, this is one of the worst years ive seen for the late Ho's in this town...

anyways, rather odd the amount of fish that make it up river to spawn when the nets are pulled...

aint that right Salmo....

Chums are nasty, but they'll definitely put a bend in yer' rod. Doggies in the salt are not too awful either. Many have told me fresh salt doggies are decent table fair, but I wouldn't know. Fvck that [Bleeeeep!].

Nate - I hope you aren't eating those Smallies. Or maybe I do hope you are eating those Smallies. I can't decide.

Barf.

Really clean, cold fresh water Smallies are actually pretty good table fair (think Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin fish etc..The Columbia doesn't count)…..but there is not a chance in hell I'd eat one from Western Washington.

Bass suck as table fare.

Yeah...Cali bass. No chit Sherlock. The water has to be FREEZING cold. The meat is completely different and much more firm and similar to Walleye, only with more bones. Cali bass are mush ass, which explains Hank.

I've been fortunate enough to take a couple 2 week trips into the Boundary Waters. Many, many miles by canoe with many crappy portages. 100's of lakes covered of all sizes. We caught loads of pike, walleye, lake trout and smallies. 5 - 8 lbs. smallies all day long. They were good to eat and I'm really not much of a fish eater. Firm clean white meat that was welcomed in the skillet after a long day of paddling and catching big fish. That's all I got.

And I won't!

Puke.

I wonder if they're hand fed crab meat?

Not to quote myself, but on one of those BW trips, I caught a Laker that actually stopped our canoe dead cold in the water. Light spinning trout rod loaded w/ 8 lb. to a 4 oz. banana & trolling spoon out the back of the canoe held between my legs. It stopped the fvcking canoe dead cold mate! North of 25 lbs. 6 of us ate the entire thing in camp that night like a pack of ravenous wolves. We were on like day 12 of 14 and starving. I have the entire fight videoed on VHS somewhere (from one those old 1980's HUGE VHS camcorders). I was maybe 13 - 14 years old then. Those were great times.

I ate smallmouth one time and I didn't hate it.

Make some squaw candy out of the ones on the salt.

Yummy.

Funny I picture something else when I read your description.

Somehow my post on where I have steelhead fished got deleted. Bunch of swine.

Fishing is irrelevant here.

Lol.. The fly flossers are the worst. If you have to resort to that you should just hang up fishing in general.

I watched these kids flossing the sh!t out of fish on the Grays one morning when it was blown out. The one kids says " I can't believe they are slamming this little black fly!!" . Newsflash youngster,they weren't. That reminds me,I fished the Humptulips too,but omitted it from my list,that got deleted. Caught coho,buddy got a steelhead that day,near Stevens Creek. I think that's what it was called,I'm just a lowly Californian and it was 15 or so years ago.

The grays, those were the days.

Dude!! You named the ______ river, ______river, _______river, and even the ______ river. Fuk you and the donkey you are riding up here on. You think name dropping some rivers will give you relevance and street cred on the Puy? Meh

I dont know who it is, caught the sombeech on my game cam. Not a huge critter, some say he/she is built like Mike Tyson, so i wouldnt fuk with it.

Wishkah Hamma Hamma Lyre and Duckabush. Obscure enough? These are all on a map. Anyone with half a brain can figure this sh!t out. Sometimes people ask me what rivers can you catch fish on. I tell them every creek from San Luis Obispo to Alaska probably has fish in it.

So does that mean you and I won't be throwing any "bent metal" together?

Don't worry about it. There's no more fish anyway and everything is closed, so not talking about certain places doesn't matter any longer. You aren't spoiling or ruining anything as they've already been spoiled and ruined. Anyone that tells you otherwise is only fooling themselves. The old days are long gone and they are never coming back. Forever. It's a hard truth that some of the old timers don't want to hear.

This post confirms that, yes, you can read a map, and apparently sober enough to do so, which is amazing in its own right.

I flip you schit at times, doesnt mean i wouldnt fish with you. Wish you luck on your trip to Wa

It really is amazing,since I don't drink ,dum dum. Also,I bet I can outfish you.

Same here,and sorry I called you dum dum,dum dum.

Is Mike Tyson a brand of potato?

I still can't get over how he's wearing a fvkcin' moomoo and long johns.

It looks like a onesie to me.

its a Mossy Oak t shirt, Nike shorts, and long johns... oh and flip flops with socks on...

Socks and sandals guy.....you're not one of us.

it was winter...

It was from a Pemco commercial ya dope. jeez, you don't know how to have fun.

fvck Pemco..

To Catch a Predator Mailthief

Says jake from State Farm.

i use Esurance..

My guess was The General.

Its amazing what you guys can extrapolate from a blurry picture.....

If you blow that photo up,the guy is built like a linebacker.

"For a great low rate you can get online, go to The General and save some time!"

esurance is Allstate. Solid company. You're in good hands and all that.

For sure. I guarantee no mail was stolen that night.

Never use Geico. Trust me.

Hey, don't shoot me; I'm just the messenger. Accidentally hooking a chum is one demerit. Keeping it on and landing it after knowing that you have a chum on is two demerits. Fishing for chum on purpose was unknown back when the demerit system was created because anglers fished for species that they would be willing to take home and eat. Even catching a dark steelhead counted as a dermerit if you kept it, neutral, as in no gain no loss, if you released it. Yeah, it was a different world fishing-wise then.

Actually Salmo caught more fish than he could carry, and decent help became scarce, so he switched to fly fishing to keep the creel weight down and avoid exceeding the legal catch limit. I was the reluctant conservationist.

Hey now, no need to be harshin' on a fine boat manufactured out of recycled beer cans. In that sense, basically the same as yours.

And then you turned 18, grew up and stopped fishing for scrap fish. It's a good thing. Heck, I fished for sculpins when I was a little kid. I had no standards whatever back then. Maturity happens. Except not in Evo's case.

Ain't that the truth Paker? And the best we can come up with is too many hatchery pinks and chums being released in AK and Japan as the reason. There must be a jack-booted conspiracy around that offers a better explanation. Probably somethin' like WDFW's inferior hatchery practices.

Of course your fish don't count. BTW, have you ever caught a fish without the help of a guide. Curious fishermen want to know.

Hey Nate, that's right! You're figuring out this fish biology and management stuff real good. Runsize = the number of fish caught (legally and illegally) plus the number of fish that escape to spawn. So if fewer fish are caught in the ocean, Puget Sound, or anywhere, then more fish return to the river where you catch them. But if you don't keep them, they continue upstream to spawn, so count as part of the escapement instead of as part of the harvest.

However, runsize and escapement may have no relationship whatever to productivity, capacity, and diversity of a population.

Just so we're clear here, fly flossing ain't fly fishing, Darkside notwithstanding.

Ya' know, even though I've razzed a person a time or two about fishing for chum salmon, I actually appreciate the lowly chum. Chum, along with pink salmon, are an important part of the ecosystem. One of the weird things about those species, is that even though they smolt as fry, they often have as good as or better smolt to adult survival rates as Chinook. So the ones that avoid being eaten - not easy since bull trout, cutthroat, and sometimes large coho smolts eat scads of 'em - must be pretty tough little buggers.

And even though I razzed Evo for fishing for chums, his photos of them are pretty good. Much better than his moon pictures from years ago.

Well this thread was fun.

I guess the mood just strikes us right sometimes.

"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats".
- H. L. Mencken

I would have liked to have fished with you back then. I would have helped and it would have been great fun. I never got to experience the real "good old days" and our old timers in their prime. And that really bums me out.

Is it better to have love and lost or not loved at all?

fvcker.

I remember a day on the Satsop in the early 70's that resulted in one of us in the boat landing 4 fish in excess of 20 lbs, with one of those fish pushing the 25 lb mark.

It wasn't me that caught them.

It was still pretty cool to witness a day like that, though.

I caught my first steelhead in 1973 in the creek within walking distance of our house in Shelton. It was about a 10 lb hen and I caught it on a red and white Dardevle spoon. At that time, you could stand in downtown Shelton and catch a fair number of steelhead out of Goldsborough creek and never have to drive anywhere.

Ah, the good old days.

Better to have loved and lost? Yeah - I think so.

I've been Steelheading Washington for about 13 years now with hundreds of days on the river if not more. I've been a "part" of exactly (2) fish over 20, both from the same system. I've been real close to breaking that 20 pound mark myself, but as the days and fish tick away, I'm less inclined to believe that I ever will join the "club". And that really sucks to think about. Knowing that your #1 bucket list fish is all but out of reach. Not having "ever loved" really, really stinks.

My only consolation is listening to my friends and others share their wonderful stories of really big fish. I love to listen in; share in their enthusiasm and see their faces brighten, but at the same time, I'm crying on the inside.

So when other fisherman talk of not leaving the resource to their kid's kids and future generations, just know that it's not some non-descript date out sometime into the distant future. It's really today and more accurately, yesterday.

I caught a 23# flat back couple years back on the op.
Wasn't in a boat or handed off either.

I'd post pics but I would blow the spot. Sorry.



Sounds fun. I still have a few of those daredevle spoons.

I landed a large buck on a river that will remain unnamed so as not to offend any of you sensitive bastards on here. I was drift fishing a pink work that I got from a certain worm manufacturer before he went back into business,of which I still have a small amount of those original worms. This was before team "hey look at me I'm a guide".

I digress. So it's late March,almost April. I'm on the nunyaphukinbusiness
river in whereverthephuck USA. I hope that's better. Anyway I'm fishing downriver from a buddy who isn't very skilled at catching fish on his own,so I plunk him in some easy water and he lands a little hatchery turd on bait. I am down from him where that tailout drops into fast heavy water that spills into a big flat. Money spot.

I cast up in the heavy water and halfway through I get a big grab. I set up and it responds with a few heavy headshakes. I'm thinking I hooked a decent fish maybe mid teens ,I dunno. I call to my friend. He runs down and says "how big??" At this point I haven't seen the fish. I say " I think it's a good one,he's bulldogging me. Maybe mid teens,15 maybe? The fish comes up and rolls in front of us and he says "how big???" I say "Please don't talk to me now. It's the biggest damn fish I've ever hooked,I'll tell you that!"

So below this flat the river drops into some really swirly water and into a boulder garden in a big bend in the river. A nasty stretch to be sure. The flat is ,150 feet in length maybe. So I'm fighting this fish and it just wont give up,I gain a little,he runs back to the bottom of the river and keeps head shaking,and sliding backwards down the slot. I can't do anything with him. I was using 15 pound mainline? Maybe 12 it was long ago. I had an xmg 50 med heavy rod. So I had some backbone but that fish did whatever he wanted. Fought like a king salmon.

So I finally get him to the bank and he does exactly what I don't want,and takes off down towards no man's land. CRAP! I ended up beaching him in the last ditch effort,and a grassy bank with a 4 foot drop into swirly water. I tail him. I'm a big dude,back then 230 pounds and my hands aren't small and I can barely grab the tail wrist. The fish is not cooperating and I can barely get a hold of him. We try 3 times to get a photo but he was just unruly. After the third attempt I let him swim off and my buddy said "WTF I wanted a picture" and I said I'd rather that fish go make more,they are too special to me.

So we snapped a couple of it in the river while I was fighting it. But they don't give real scale to that fish. I was easy 39 or 40 inches. with I'm guessing a 20 inch 21 inch girth. I'm not calling it a 20. But I know how big that [Bleeeeep!] was. He fought for 20 minutes and I really hope he lived . It was fkn awesome! Anyway,I have landed some killer fish before,a 16 pound hen on the ^%$Y^&%& barbarosa river in CA beat my ass and broke me off . That one still hurts.

Exactly. I can pretty much guarantee I will shake hands with another trophy one of these days.You gotta fish where they live that's number one.

I should have added that I still fish and have hope. That very next cast could be the one. When I'm able to fish, I do fish pretty hard. I'm with other really good fisherman & stickmen in great water at the right times. I have faith - I just know my odds are slimmer due to the current state of affairs. That's all.

I mean, it's still my #1 bucket fish and I ain't dead yet!

So very true Avid. And that's the problem. Not many call WA home any more. Or most other places, for that matter. Darn shame.

By bucket list fish, I mostly mean a WA 20. I know I could head in a certain direction and greatly increase my odds. If it happened there, I'd gladly take it too. But it would be much sweeter here wouldn't it?

#1 Bucket Fish = WA 20# steelhead
#2 Bucket Fish = Grander Blue
#3 Bucket Fish = TDF Ocean Run Browns

#1 Bucket Animal = Any legal WA Roosie Bull (Archery)
#2 Bucket Animal = Yukon | Alaskan Bull Moose (any means)
#3 Bucket Animals = Tie for Caribou, Sitka, Coues, Shiras, Musk Ox

I should marry a rich bitch. Headed to Medina - BRB....

Absolutely. The buck in my story was colored up . Still fkn cool. But that hen I landed on the Trask (whoops,spot burn,sorry guys,KMA) that one year that ran me 3 holes down and soaked me when I tailed her,every bit 15,stands out. So awesome! That's why I love the lower Klamath. It's fish are 3-5 pounds but they are so violent and purely chrome and lovely fresh out the salt that it's one of my all time favorite fisheries. Don't tell though because it's a secret and not many people fish the Klamath. The upper Trinity is the real sleeper. Only 100 fly guides a day up there. Pristine!!

Now yer' talkin'. If'n I can't catch a biggun, I at least want to catch a specimen. I caught a 16 - 17 buck last year with Bantam that was just simply perfect in everyway. Gorgeous fish.

Good luck tomorrow dude. That 30 is right around the next bend.

#1 Bucket Fish =Large B.C Steelhead ,somehwere up thar in steelhead big buck country.
#2 Bucket Fish = Big Stripers on the east coast. Those pigs in the surf,
#3 Bucket Fish = Fly in heli or float plane coho in Alaska. Like some remote assed river. With some guide dude holding a large gun so I don't get eaten by a Kodiak bear or stomped by Bullwinkle.

#1 Bucket Animal = My girlfriend tonight with the lights fully on
#2 Bucket Animal = I don't hunt
#3 Bucket Animals = did you say musk ox?

I should marry a rich bitch. In woodinville

Yeah a Musk Ox. Preferably a Greenland animal. Think about where they live. Hunting is a lot more than just killing - but you know that.

If'n you marry a Woodinmilf Wino, we'd be neighbors. Make sure she has a hot little sister with a trust fund. Then we leave them and go to BC with all their money. I like this plan.

Well. I'll be fkn her sister too.

Where is this spot hanker? You get one guess.

The buck I got was 23# right on the money and was in the fresh for 3-5ish days.
You're right, I want a 30 now. I don't know bout that one. Anythings possible I guess.

Only if she's not aware of my existence.

[ nose snort sounds ]

Nick - if you spend every weekend on the peninsula this winter, you stand a decent chance of getting that 20 lb steelhead. You also stand a decent chance of not getting it.

Gotta get yer arse out there to even have a chance, though. Keep your head down and keep casting - they're still out there.

That's what I thought. Shut yer fookin mouth.

Nah, but stay upset and not catchin fish junior.

Uh...I'm pretty sure he catches plenty of fish. More than most.

Tons...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.livesci...california.html

I didn't say which ones were my favorite,franker.

Leather pants suck and don't breath.