2009 » October » 8

**All of the fish in this post were fairly hooked and caught in a deep fast pool on drift…..released quickly and unharmed.

You do the best you can when you are a salmon and steelhead addict stuck in an Indian summer. Native American Summer? Who knows. Anyway, like I said you do the best you can. The fish are less than fresh and what bright fish were left a week ago are no longer. These coho are craving a water level change for some relief, that’s for sure. It makes them tough to catch and really spooky. It truly is a challenge when you have these conditions. What can you do? Maximize each day you can by having a rod in one hand and a gear bag in the other (thanks Bear)…and a dream of catching that big one…whatever it might be.

We are finding fish and getting away from people. But having to hike far and work hard and long to do it. Lots of casts, lots of rigging and re rigging…and lots of released fish. We’ve only kept one tributary fish and it was a dandy…. This being said, the CR has spoiled us. The quality of those fish is so amazing. I’m putting pretty much everything else back now unless it’s out of the big river just recent. Like I said. Spoiled. Besides, there’s still fresh silvers being caught in Astoria. Wow. That means the CR season is not finished.





I had the pleasure of hiking one of my favorite coho rivers with two friends I’ve had for almost 30 years. NS & Big Burge. Wow. Just to say that makes me feel old. But then again….you’re only as old as you feel, right? Fishing with these two friends makes me feel young and catching salmon or steelhead with them is just an added bonus. I’m happy to share some still pics from our trip the other day. Sorry, I have no pictures of the awfully blatant poaching anglers I chased off. Evidence. Always destroy the evidence. Tips up.


Here Big Burge releases a huge fair-hooked buck…EZ EGGS fish….his second in a week with this method…Burge will show us his riggin on a tutorial…it’s sweet.


Yikes. That’s a pig.




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