2009 » May » 24

It’s not every memorial day weekend (halfway through actually) that I can write a post like this one…..but I’m always happy when I can report something like this. Between the four of us (Sal,Magic, Pigstick & me), three different rivers were fished in two days with those numbers on the board you see above. 7 of these 10 were landed which is an above-average ratio for me at least. I contributed a 2 for 3 stat to the group. There’s quite a few highlights from all these stories….because every fish is a story of it’s own. Here’s some tarter sauce for your fish…..

VIDEO HERE!!


..First off, some words from the angler…with Sal Monidae…..”It is turning out to be a good weekend. I was out on the main river–fishing the bubble on one of the Gorge tribs, and was finally rewarded with a really nice surprise –two springers, one about 6-7 lbs and the other about 14-15 lbs. Needless to say “it is about time for me!” I had fished this area on five previous trips and had only had the pleasure of great friends, scenery and observing others reel in fish. Anyway, I hope most of you are getting a chance to enjoy this amazing weathert and least some time fishing your favorite river or lake.

So, I’m real proud to show off my very own Pop’s catch yesterday, as unknowingly; we were each springer fishing a different river and both caught limits of salmon. You taught me righ, Sal. Now here’s your glory! Seriously though, great job!

….”Words”…continued..
It was a great weekend to be on the water. There must have been something going on with the moon or the stars cause those are all very nice fish and good stories behind them. For my trip, the weather was nice and there was only a little breeze which is unusual for the area. We were trolling wiggle warts and I was on a boat with Captain Brian and two of his local guys-Ian, the marlin catching Kiwi and Greg , a local expert at controlling chinook numbers.

This was my fifth trip with Brian and on the others I had not been much of an active participant in the fish catching. I tagged the smaller fish after about 35 minutes of fishing. It was great to see the rod get ripped and better to see the fish in the net. The other fish came about 40 minutes later and was a very good fighter. It started out feeling like a snag, threw in one complete jump, clearing the water by a couple of feet while displaying the wort glued to the side of the mouth, before sliding into the net. We thought we were onto something but only got a couple of whacks with scales left on the hook for the next 3 hours.

My thanks for captain Brian for the trip and Ian for fish tested wiggle wart

NEXT>>>>>>>
Next up out of our 4 man out (so far) I present to you the drift-fisherman-extraordinaire….Mr. Magicsoul!! Brent is a legitimate contestant for “THE BEAST AWARD” which I should be announcing by Wednesday….once I get all the reports and pics. Bravo, Magic man, Bravo! You’ve gotta tell these readers about that fight!! Was that a “triple-lindy” back flip that fish did or what it more of a summer salt from a gymnast? Either way, wish I would’ve been there for video. Great you could get me these fantastic pictures of this beautiful fish!






Those are awesome.

NOW, let’s move on over to Pigstick and I who fished together Friday night…started the weekend out the right way…..Although Pig beat me out onto the water by a couple hours, luckily for documenting purposes, he didn’t get anything until I got there…I might have had to show him which rock to stand on………


This fish of Chris’ was a blast to watch him fight. I was able to grab some video of this fight before I had to abandon the camera for the net. The further that steelhead took him down, the more he buckled down on it. I slid down a little hill to a boulder where he lifted the fish repeatedly in between it’s runs until I could swoop down with the eagle grip…I mean with the salmon net.

I had run straight home from working a nine hour day that started at 445 that morning…..grabbed some sodium sulfate roe that I had thawed the night before…and ran out the door. I took four rods down to the river in the blazing spring heat of the afternoon…and fish ‘em under a float. I’m basically half-way drift fishing under a float and half way swinging. In low light, the bobber doesn’t hurt a thing and I’ve caught both salmon and steelhead both ways. Here’s a couple little salmon (27 and 30inches) that couldn’t resist either method. I also lost a nice summer toad. That fish caught me sleeping.







I kept the first little guy and he gave us these fillets with which had the family over for fresh fish BBQ…



Make sure to watch the video located at the top of this post. Cheers and good luck out there to you all. Send me your “THE BEAST” contestant fish pics for a Team Salmon hat after the season ends.

H3llcat