Edmonds Pier - King Salmon

Well, after a very dry Fall, Winter & Spring for the salmon fishermen off the Edmonds pier there has finally been a little salmon action. We had two of the regular pier guys hook and loose very respectable kings off the pier yesterday. Both fish were in the upper teens or low twenties and unfortunately had an affinity for the barnacle / mussel covered pilings of the pier and broke free. Hopefully this is just the start of what we hope to be a good season. We have heard of a few kings that were caught and released on the Possession Bar over the past few weeks by individuals that were jigging lead minnows such as Point Wilson Darts for lingcod.

Lake Stevens Kokanee Fishing

With this past weekends Kokanee Derby over the angling pressure on the lake has dininished substaintally. There was perhaps a half dozen boats plying the waters this morning. The bite has been definetly a first light bite with the greatest portion of the catch coming from dawn till around 7:00 a.m.. The fish have been getting a little deeper over this past week with catches as deep as 50 feet. The fish are growing quite rapidly and putting on weight. Most of the fish are in the 13 -14 inch range with an odd larger fish.

Cured Skein Eggs for Steelhead & Salmon

With the upcoming salmon and steelhead seasons coming up this next week (some on June 1 some on June 4th) I thought I would mention that we have cured skein eggs on hand for these fisheries. They are cured whole as to allow you to cut your baits to the size you desire.

Nice 50 lb Ono (Wahoo)

Here's a really nice wahoo that Tim Bauer caught yesterday off the leeward side of the Big Island. The 50 pounder was caught on a live Opelu. Very nice catch Tim!

Spring Chinook Closed on Kalama and Lewis Rivers Beginning May 28th

Due to extremely low returns of Spring Chinook on the Kalama and Lewis Rivers the season will close effective May 28th. As of May 20th the Kalama had only 11 adult spring Chinook return to the Kalama Falls Hatchery, well below the hatchery brood stock goal of 400 fish. On the Lewis less than 100 fish have entered the traps, well below the 1,300 fish escapement goal.

2 Additional Halibut Days in Marine Area 3 & 4 (Neah Bay and La Push)

The WDFW has given us two additional days of halibut fishing in Marine Areas 3 & 4 (Neah Bay and La Push). These two areas will be open on June 2 and June 4. There was additional quota left after the prior openings to allow the additional days.

Sekiu & Pillar Point (Marine Area5) Halibut

For those of you that are die hard halibut fishermen. Don't forget that the season opened today in the Sekiu & Pillar Point area (Marine Area 5). This season runs from today, May 26 and runs through June 18. You are able to fish just 3 days a week on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays. So if you have not had your fill of halibut fishing you can hitch up the boat and head west.

11th Annual Port Angeles Salmon Club's Halibut Derby

Don't forget the 11th Annual Port Angeles Salmon Club's Halibut Derby will be held this Saturday and Sunday, May 28th & 29th. Tickets and information are available online at www.swainsinc.com. This is a really large event with $20,000.00 paid out in prizes. The top prize is $5,000.00 and goes down to $135.00 for the 3oth place.

In speaking with Norm Metzler, one of the Salmon Club's board members he said that though overall the halibut fishing has not been as good as what was seen last year there has been some really outstanding fish landed over the past couple of weeks. The largest over 170 pounds and a number pushing over 100. Norm mentioned that the fishing has been more productive in the area from Green Point and east, with the Sequim, Dungeness and Dallas Bank areas turning out the better fishing.

Good Luck to everyone.

Columbia River Tributaries - Chinook Fishing

We have had some good reports coming from the Columbia River Tributaries this past weekend. The Wind has been turning out some very good reports this past weekend with those fishing good eggs and shrimp doing well. The Icicle River put out a number of fish yesterday for those fishing this little tributary of the Wenatchee. Yes, the river was in good shape!

Nice Sitka King Salmon

Here's Kurt Klussmann (one of my past employees) with a nice Sitka king slamon which he caught while fishing with Capt. Eddy Sissom on the Storyteller. The fishing has been quite good up there for the past couple of weeks. It looks like the ADFW was correct with the abundance index and we should see a very good Chinook fishery this year. We have been hearing good reports from just about everyone in SE Alaska so far this season.

Lake Chelan Kokanee Fishing

Here's a really nice mess of Lake Chelan Kokanee caught by Daniel Coffey, Bob Schmidt, Pasquale Mastantunono and Timothy Coffey while fishing with Jeff Witkowski of Darrrel and Dad's Family Guide Service. A nice 5 man limit of these tasty land locked sockeye! The additional laker was an after thought, putting down a couple of lines down while cleaning the kokanee. The fish were caught on Mini Cha Cha Squiders and Wedding Rings fished either behind Double D Flashers or Flashlites. Why all the Mack's gear! With Bob Schidt of Mack's on board you wouldn't expect to fish anything else - would you!

Nice catch guys!

If you would like to fish either with Jeff or Anton on Chelan or other area waters you can give them a call at 1-866-360-1523.

2nd Annual Lake Stevens Kokanee Derby Results

Here's the run down on how the 2nd Annual Lake Stevens Kokanee Derby results:

Total Adult Tickets Sold - 240
Total Kids Tickets - 65

Biggest Kokanee
1st Rachel Dye - 1.61 lbs. - $1000.00 sponsored by Dick Nite
2nd Randy Costallo - 1.33 lbs. - $ 500.00 sponsored by Ted's Sports Center
3rd Derick Whitaker - 1.20 lbs. - $250.00 sponsored by John's Sporting Goods
4th Jeff Galliger - 1.20 lbs. - sponsored by Triangle Bait & Tackle

Biggest Kokanne Bag Limit (10) fish
1st Carl Huswick - 9.93 lbs - $500.00 sponsored by 3 Rivers Marine
2nd Butch Spafford - 9.52 lbs - $250.00 sponsored by McDaniel's Do It Center

Biggest Trout
Butch Spafford - 1.18 lbs - $500.00 sponsored by Trout Lodge

Kids Division (any species) Sponsored by Greg's Custom Rods
1st Mackenzie Ramsey - 4.04 lbs - Smallmouth - $100.00
2nd Neil Blain - 3.5 lbs - Smallmouth - $75.00
3rd Nate Metcalf - 1.04 lbs - Kokanee - $50.00

Thanks to everyone that participated in the event and to all of those that helped put it together!

Last Minute Lake Stevens Kokanee Information

With the 2nd Annual Lake Stevens Kokanee Derby tomorrow, I though I might give you the last of the minute information on the fishery that I heard today. Overall the fishing has been a little spotty the past couple of days. The folks that I spoke with that had fished this morning found that it was an early morning bite with the best bite from dawn to 7:30 and was a real scratch fishery after that. The guys that are in tune with the fishery got their limits early and in turn off early. There was a lot of pressure on the lake today with around 50 boats fishing. Undoubtedly many derby participants trying to fine tune and get things figured out for tomorrow. Many folks did not fair well today with many I spoke with getting skunked and some just ending up with a fish or two. Hopefully the early morning bite was due directly to the flat water and sun that we have seen the past couple of days. Looks like we will have a change in the weather and will have cooler overcast weather and may even have a few sprinkles.

Hope that all of you fishing the derby have a great time on the water and lots of fun with your families and friends.

Thanks to everyone that has put their time and effort into putting this event together and an extra big thanks to everyone in the tackle industry that has shown such support.

Good Luck to you all!

Extended Shrimp Seasons

We have been granted an additional day to fish spot shrimp in six areas of Puget Sound next week on Wednesday May 25.

Areas set to reopen include the Discovery Bay Shrimp District, Marine Area 8-1 (Skagit Bay/Saratoga Passage), 8-2 (Port Susan/Port Gardner), Marine Area 11 (Tacoma/Vashon Island), and a portion of Marine Area 10 outside of Elliot Bay, west of a line from West Point to Alki Point. These areas will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. .

Hood Canal will also be open on May 25 as previously scheduled, and will open for one additional day June 8. This area will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. .

Limit 80 spot shrimp.

Sitka Fishing

The salmon fishing has been fairly good the past week or so in Sitka and we are also getting good reports out of other areas of South East AK. Here's a couple of photos from Sitka today. Jim Faro, one of our good friends in Sitka with an average sized king and an eater halibut. The weather and water appears to be quite nice!

More Shrimping Opportunities

We have heard through the grapevine that there will be some additional shrimping opportunities coming up this next week in some of the Puget Sound Marine Areas. We should hear exactly what will open tomorrow! I will post the openings when we get the official notice!

"New" Colors of Silver Horde / Gold Star Mini Dodgers

Silver Horde has introduced some "New" colors of their popular Gold Star Mini Dodgers which are extremely popular with Northwest Kokanee anglers. They have come out with some of the "Creme" series colors that have become mainstays in the Kingfisher series of salmon spoons. In these new dodgers they have come out with the following "Creme" series.

Cookies "N" Creme
Irish Creme
Strawberries "N" Creme

Also "New" are "Splatter Tails", a new addition that really stand out with the stand out UV finishes which have been applied. This is the run down on the "Spatter Tail" series.

Hammered U.V. Purple/Pink Spatter Tail
Hammered U.V. Chartreuse/Flame Spatter Tail
Hammered U.V. Green/Chartreuse Spatter Tail

If you would like any of these "New" finishes give us a call and we'll be glad to ship them to you. They run $6.69 ea. Call (425) 743-9505

Sorry! We have "NO" Lake Stevens Kokanee Derby Tickets Left

We have sold out of the Lake Stevens Kokanee Derby tickets. You might give one of the other vendors a try, though we have heard that most have run out of have just a couple! Next year, remember to buy your ticket early!

Good luck to all of you this Saturday!

Cowlitz King Salmon

Here's Shawn with a nice 21 pound Cowlitz king salmon that he caught last Thursday. He and his two other fishing partners ended up with six total salmon for the day with the other five in the 5 - 9 pound bracket. The smaller fish were taken on a diver with a plug cut herring fished behind and the larger on a Yakima Bait Mag Lips plug in the searcher color pattern.

Sitka King Salmon - Looking Good

If you have a trip planned to Sitka in the near future it appears that the fishing is going to be quite good this year. The ADFW's pre season forcast of a better than average number of king salmon appears to be correct. I spoke with two of the better Sitka skippers yesterday and both commented that the fishing was "Really Good"!
The kings went from 13 - 25 pounds. Not large by any means but quite plentiful. It did not take very long to get your 2 king limit (Non - Resident) or 3 king limit (Resident). Hopefully we should have some fish pictures in the next few days!

Hot Kokanee Fishing at Lake Stevens

John Thomas of Rotten Chum Guide Service emailed this photo of a really nice mess of kokanee that he caught with clients last night at Lake Stevens. It is very apparent that the fishing has really turned on the past few days! With the out look for great weather and good fishing it will make for an outstanding day for the derby this weekend.

We have just a few tickets left for the 2nd Annual Lake Stevens Kokanee Derby, so if you are wanting to participate in it make sure that you get your ticket quickly!

If you would like to book a trip with John give him a call (425) 280-5494.

Weekend Halibut Reports

Overall, I would have to say that the halibut reports that we have been getting from the Straits and the local halibut spots have not been anything like it was last year! Not to say that we have not been hearing of halibut being caught but overall the success rate is far below last years. With the better tides this past weekend we though that we should have seen better results than we saw during the first week of the season. It was in fact a little better but not significantly such. The outer banks such as Eastern, Dallas, Partridge and Hein put out a few fish, but nothing was better than anyplace else. All I can say is that it is what it is and all that one can do is to go out and put in some time. One thing that I can pass on is that the guys that anchored and put in the time seemed to do better than those that drifted. Two more weeks of fishing left for the season on the Eastern Straits and Puget Sound.

Don't forget about the 11th Annual Haliut Derby on Saturday and Sunday May 28th & 29th. put on by the Port Angeles Salmon Club. For derby information and buying tickets online go to www.swainsinc.com .

2nd Annual Lake Stevens Kokanne Derby - Saturday May 21st

The 2nd Annual Lake Stevens Kokanee Derby will take place this Saturday May 21st! Ticket sales have been brisk and we are down to our last 10 tickets. With the weather looking to be quite nice on Saturday you have no excuses for getting out. The fishing has been good for the past couple of weeks so we should see some very good results. Remember that adult tickets are $20.00 and limited to 300. Kids 14 and under are "Free" and we have no limit on them! So pack up the kids and take them fishing ! There are some "Great" prizes both for adults and the kids. You can get tickets at these various locations!

Greg's Custom Rods (425) 335-1391
John's Sporting Goods (425) 259-3056
Ted's Sports Center (425) 743-9505
3 River's Marine (425) 415-1575
Triangle Beverage & Bait (360) 568-4275
McDaniel's Do It Center (36) 658-1544
Hook, Line & Sinker (360) 651-7304
Holiday Market (360) 757-4361

Stop by for your ticket or any information!

Kokanee Fishing - Lake Stevens

The kokanee fishing at Lake Stevens has turned on and is producing quite well for the past few weeks. Though the number of fish that one catches has been dependent upon how knowledgeable one is on the kokanee scene, but overall we are hearing that just about everyone has been at least catching some. With the better fishing we should see some very good results on the 2nd Annual Lake Stevens Kokanee Derby coming up this weekend.

John Thomas of Rotten Chum Guide Service managed to fish himself this past weekend and managed to land a couple of limits of these great eating landlocked salmon. They were able to limit in three and a half hours fishing Dick Nite Dodgers trailing beaded spinners tipped with a maggot and smeared with Dick Nite DNA Scent.

John has some "great" 4 hour evening trips for kokanee on Stevens at a very reasonable price, so if you would like a good evening outing or would like to see how the fishery is done by one how has mastered it give John a call at (425) 452-2357.

Kids Fishing Event - Twin Lakes County Park (Gissberg Twin Lakes)

There will be another "Kids Fishing Event" this next Saturday at Twin Lakes County Park (Gissberg Twin Lakes) in Smokey Point. This is the final kids event that has been hosted by the Everett Steelhead & Salmon Club as well as other State and Local Orginazations. This will take place from 8:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. and is open to all kids from 5 - 14 years old. For additional information you can visit the Everett Steelhead & Salmon Club website at www.esscwa.com .

I would like to give a big "Thanks" to the Everett Steelhead & Salmon Club for all of the time they and everyone else that has had anything to do putting these events together for the kids. These events have exposed many kids to the sport of fishing and hopefully has steered them in this direction for the rest of their life.

Big Mess Of Lakers and Kokanee

Here's a real mess of lake trout and a few kokanee that Loni and Todd Estep of Everett caught while fishing with Jeff Witkowski of Darrell and Dads Family Guide Service on Lake Chelan. The largest weighed 8.2 pounds. While it rained all day long it did not effect the fishing in any way. The fish were caught fishing Yakima Baits U-20 Purple Glow and Luminous Chartreuse Flatfish as well as Mack's Cha Cha Squidders. They hooked 22 macs to end up with 18 in the box. They had three double headers that day.

If you would like a day on the water with Jeff or Anton give them a call at 1-866-360-1534.

Spring Chinook Re-Opens on the Lower Columbia

Spring Chinook fishing will re-open on the lower Columbia River tomorrow, Sunday May 15! With a run that has come in late and larger than what the preseason estimates were we have been given through June 15 to fish these choice salmon 7 days a week! Both boaters and bank anglers can fish from Rocky Point / Tounge Point upriver to Beacon Rock. Bank anglers only may fish from Beacon Rock upriver to the fishing boundary below Bonneville Dam.

You will be allowed to retain 1 hatchery Chinook as well as sockeye and hatchery steelhead. Make sure to read your regulations as to limits for these species.

With so much going on at the present time fishing wise it will be hard to make a choice as to what species to go and chase! What ever fish you decide to chase have a good time doing such!

Razor Clam Dig

Once again we have been granted an additional razor clam dig on the Washington coastal beaches. Here's the run down on the openers.

Wednesday, May 18, 7.52 a.m., -2.2 ft., Twin Harbors
Thursday, May 19, 8:38 a.m., -2.0 ft., Twin Harbors
Friday, May 20, 9:23 a.m., -1.7 ft., Twin Harbors, Mocrocks
Saturday, May 21, 10:09 a.m., -1.1 ft., Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks
Sunday, May 22, 10:56 a.m., -0.5 ft., Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks

Have a "Great" time on the beach!

Kokanee Fishing - Lake Stevens

The kokanee fishing at Lake Stevens has been getting better every day with the warmer weather and in turn the lake water warming slightly. Many of the regulars are now having no problem in catching their limits. The fish have been from the surface down to the 20 foot depths and are running in the 11 -13 inch range with an odd fish pushing to 15. Most of the fish have been coming off a dodger with a wedding ring style offering dragged behind. The lure is generally tipped with maggots or shoe peg corn!

Don't forget the 2nd Annual Lake Stevens Kokanee Derby coming up on Saturday 21 May. There are still tickets available.

If you are looking to gain a little fishing knowledge on these tasty landlocked sockeye you might want to book an evening trip with John Thomas of Rotten Chum Guide Service. He has been doing quite well in a short 4 hour evening trip and landing 14 - 18 fish for his clients. He has a "Great" deal for these evening trips that makes it quite affordable. Give him a call at (425) 280-5494

Seep Lake Bass and Crappie Action

John and his buddy Mike had an outstanding trip to Eastern Washington fishing the scab rock seep lakes of Grant and Adams Counties. They found some outstanding fishing this past weekend. The bass were just ready to start bedding and they found the action to be quite good. John found these fish in the very lightly fished seep lakes that abound in Grant and Adams counties. You can stop by and John will be glad to fill you in on this fishing as far as the type of gear and where to look to find this type of fishing.

That Crappie that Mike is holding pegged the scale at 3 pounds! An outstanding sized fish, no matter where you might fish! And, it's still swimming!

Kokanee - Lake Chelan & Palmer Lake

The kokanee fishing has been very good at Lake Chelan, though the fish are in the 9 - 11 inch range there are really good numbers. Jeff Witkowski emailed yesterday and mentioned that he caught 40 yesterday out of wich he kept his 10 fish limit. Mini Cha Cha Squiders in purple and pink fished behind Flash Lites accounted for his success. Though the fish are smaller than the usual 12 -14 inch average at least the kokanne fishing is better than last year both in numbers and size.

Palmer Lake, for those willing to travel, has been one of the hottest lakes for kokanee so far this season. The fish have been running from 15 inches on the smaller side to fish that are pushing the 21 inch mark. Though it is quite a long drive the fishing is definitely worth the time and the extra expense to have this class of fishing.

If you would like to fish Chelan for lakers or kokanne with Jeff you can book a trip through Darrel and Dad's Family Guide Service at 1-866-360-1523.

Halibut Reports - Mutiny Bay - Straits

We have been getting better halibut reports yesterday and today from both the local areas and the straits. One of the customers had a pair of halibut out of Mutiny Bay yesterday a 25 & 35. We also had two other customers that had one each on their boats, one with one about 14 and another in the mid twenties. The weather was a little on the rough side yesterday and even in Mutiny Bay it was rocking and rolling. Today with the weather being considerably better many have been able to get out into the straits and fish the outside banks. We have had a number of good reports coming in with a good number of fish being landed, the largest around 50 pounds. Hopefully we will see another nice day to get out tomorrow.

Ling Cod Area 9

Overall, I have seen a better than average ling cod season for those getting out there. Most everyone that I have spoke with has been getting at least some fair action on these tasty bottomfish. Those fishing lead heads and plastics, swim baits and those that have been fishing live baits such as shiner perch or flounders have all been connecting. Though many of the popular areas have been fished very hard since the opener and the fish have been educated, for those willing to put in the time there will still be lots of lings to be landed before our season closes on June 15th.

Chelan Lake Trout

Here's a nice catch of lake trout from Lake Chelan that were caught by Bob Meiger and Frank Hunt from Camano Island. They fished a half day trip and caught the fish on Yakima Baits u-20 flatfish in Luminous Purple and Luminous Chartreuse as well as Mack's Lure Cha Cha Squidders.

They hit 11 lakers and managed to put 8 in the 4 - 6 pound range into the fish box plus 1 bonus Kokanee. They fished with Jeff Witkowski of Darrel and Dad's Family Guide Service. If you would like a trip give them a call at 1-866-360-1523.

Shrimping Wednesday May 11th

Don't forget that there is an additional day of shrimping locally this Wednesday in Marine Areas 8-1, 8-2 & 9. The fishery will be from 7:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.. There are additional openers in some of the other Marine Areas with different time constraints. Make sure to read your regulations, as there have been some changes this season to the shrimp regulations.

Silver Lake Kids Fish-In Saturday May 14th

Don't forget about the "Silver Lake Kids Fish-In" this Saturday May 14th at Thorton A Sullivan Park at Silver Lake in Everett. This event has a limited number of participants so give the Everett Parks a call for registration. (425) 257-8300 ext. 2. This is a "Great" event for the kids and a good way to get them introduced into fishing.

Lake Chelan - Lakers & Kokanee

Here's a nice mess of lakers caught by Garin Fifer, Garrett Oberfelder and Jack Austin. This was Garin's birthday party for his 13th birthday. Nice catch guys!

Anton Jones of Darrell and Dad's Family Guide service emailed these photos of some recent catches he had with clients. He sent me some additional information on what's happening in his neck of the woods. Here's the rundown he sent me.

What continues hot is trolling Lake Chelan for Lake Trout on The Bar early in the morning. Kokanee are biting all over the lower end of Lake Chelan. Also, continuing is trolling for planter rainbows on Roses Lake.

Troll the Bar in the morning for nice quality fish. Use Worden U-20 Purple Glo Flatfish.

The Kokanee bite is going strong throughout the lower end of Lake Chelan. Trolling those Mack's Lures Mini Cha Cha Squiders and Kokanee Pro Wedding Rings rigged behind Mack's Lures Flash Lites caught plenty of 11 inch Kokanee. Bait those presentations with Pautzke's Fire Corn in Natural and Orange. Fishing just above the bottoms of the schools you see on your sonar to get you into the bigger more aggressive of those dwarfed landlocked sockeye.

Roses Lake is still fishing great for planter rainbows with some nice 16 - 18 inch triploids thrown in for additional excitement. Trolling Mack's Lure Mini Cha Cha Squiders in rainbow worked terrific.

If you would like to fish with Anton, contact him at 1-866-360-1523.

Cowlitz, Drano & Wind River - Spring Chinook

We have been getting "Great" reports from all of these place for those targeting Spring Chinook. The Cowlitz boys have been getting good numbers of springers in the section of river from Mission downstream to I-5 this week. There has been some "Fair" bank fishing for Chinook at the Barrier Dam section for the bank fishermen. The Drano Lake and White Salmon crowd have been trolling the usual assortment of Brad's Mag Wigglers, Mag Wiggle Warts, Wordens M-2 SP in Fluorescent Red, Fluorescent Red Black Tiger Stripe and Fire Tiger color patterns. Prawn Spinners and plug cut herring have all been producing fish. The numbers of fish going over Bonneville dam have soared over the past week! We should see some good fishing at least for some time.

Port Angeles - Sequim Halibut

Just got off the phone with Norm Metzler in Port Angeles. It sounds as if the halibut fishing is considerably better in this area compared to what we have seen in the far eastern portion of the area. He said that the fishermen in that area averaged about 1/2 a halibut per boat. Definitely better than what we have seen in Mutiny and Admiralty Bay the past couple of days. Norm mentioned that the largest fish he has heard of pegged the scales at 70 pounds. We had one of our customers in today that had fished Dallas Banks yesterday and had two fish one around 15 and another around 35 pounds.

Kid's Fishing Event - May 7th 2011 - Jennings Park in Marysville

Though it might be a little on the rainy side tomorrow, get the kids in their rain gear and head up to Jennings Park in Marysville for the Kids Fishing Event that will take place from 8 am - 11 am. The event is for kids 5 - 12 years old. Don't forget a couple of cans of food to help out the local food bank! This is a great way to get the kids involved into fishing!

Fish Lake Trout Fishing

We have had some very good reports on the trout fishing at Fish Lake (lake Wenatchee) by a few customers over the past couple of days. The fish are not the largest, ranging from 10 - 13 inches but they are very plump and healthy and very willing to take just about any offering. The guys we spoke with were trolling leech patterns and caught and released all the fish they wanted. This would be a great place to take the kids for a sure bet fishing trip. The Cove Resort has a nice dock that you can fish from, rents boats, has some camping spots and can give you up to date fishing reports. Give Scott or Nadine West a call (509) 763-3130 at the Cove Resort.

Mutiny Bay / Admiralty Bay Halibut

Overall the reports that we have been getting today from Mutiny and Admiralty Bay were not fantastic! There was perhaps upwards of 150 boats that came and went today in these areas and we heard of perhaps a half a dozen fish amongst them. Wouldn't say that is anything to write home about. Even with the higher than average tidal flow I would have thought that there would have been a better bite during the first few hours before the tide started to really ebb out! Perhaps the evening tide will produce better! We'll just have to wait and see! It's amazing to see how much participation there was on this halibut opener. I think I put somewhere around 7 1/2 miles of Spectra line on reels yesterday alone!

Lake Stevens Kokanee

Lake Stevens kokanee fishing is starting to heat up a little bit more every day. Mark Spada from Yakima Bait was up there yesterday and managed to get a nice mess of fish. He mentioned that the regulars were also getting fish and those that were not tuned into the kokanee game were struggling with a few fish. But at least everyone was at least getting some. The ticket for Mark was a Yakima Bait Luminous Pink Tiger Silver Magic and a UV Trout Dodger.

Halibut Season Opens - Thursday May 5th

The Puget Sound and Eastern Straits Halibut Season opens this Thursday, May 5. Everyone has been anxiously awaiting the season and getting all their gear ship shape. We have been extremely busy the past couple weeks getting everyone set up for the season. We did hear of a few incidental halibut caught Sunday by the boys targeting ling cod. All of them wish that the season had been open so they could have retained them. We have lots of halibut gear in stock as well as an ample supply of purple sized herring. We will have some dyed blue and green spawner herring in tomorrow afternoon.

Free Line For Kokanee Derby Participants

Anyone fishing the Lake Stevens Kokanee Derby can receive "Free" Sufix Elite 6 or 8 pound monofilament line on their reels just by coming by with their ticket! Just stop by and show your ticket and we'll be happy to fill up your reels! We do have a limited supply so don't hesitate too long!

Thanks to Normark / Rapala for their support of the derby!

Ling Cod Opener

The reports that we had in today from those who went out ling cod fishing was nothing short of good. Most everyone that we spoke with had no problem in getting their legal ling cod. Many fishermen caught a number of fish that were both under and over the slot limit, but everyone was happy with the opening day results. Here's an over sized ling that was caught and released by Matt yesterday. We didn't hear of any one spot being hotter than any other place, nor one bait being better than anything else. If you were not fortunate to get on the water yesterday you still have through June 15th to get out there.

Kokanee - Lake Stevens

With the warmer weather yesterday, not only did it agree with most of us it also agreed with the kokanee at Lake Stevens. Though I did speak with some anglers that did not do exceptionally well yesterday I did speak with some that managed to catch limits. Those that did get limits mentioned that it was no slam dunk by any means and that they had to work to end up with their fish. Most found the fish fairly shallow (from the surface down to around 15 feet). Most said that they saw a good number of fish showing on the surface. The fish that were caught were in the 10 - 13 inch range. Hopefully, we will see some improvement over the next few weeks.

Don't forget the Lake Steven's 2nd Annual Kokanee Derby May 21st!

Lake Chelan - Lakers

Here's a "Great" catch of nice lake trout caught by Brad Davison and his dad Cameron Yarbough of Chelan fishing with Jeff Witkowski and Anton Jones. This was the result of four hours on the lake fishing with Mack's Cha Cha Squidders and Yakima Bait U-20 Flatfish in purple glo.

You can contact Anton or Jeff at 1-866-360-1523. Darrel and Dad's Family Guide Service.