Steelhead University - Steelhead U Girl Bryannna

It was so nice to be back on the Hump this weekend! With river levels and color less than ideal, we drifted the upper drift Saturday and didn't have quite the luck I was expecting. I was expecting more fish than the lower drift and maybe a few with color, but more nonetheless. What we got was dark silvers and chum! We saw a few other chinook caught, but it looked like others didn't have much better luck than us! Went razor clam digging later that night and that was a blast!

Sunday we decided to go back to the lower drift and it produced to my satisfaction. The water was a bit higher than we liked it so it was a slow start until we figured out what we needed to do to make up for the high water. We got all of our kings in our usualy hole right at the top of the drift pulling kwikfish and drifting red Fire-Cured eggs. VERY large clusters of eggs might I add. After losing a silver and releasing a few more kings, we moved on and found all of our silvers in the next honey hole! It was nice to see some silvers with size and hatchery! Still not the 15 lb silvers that I love so much about the Hump, but a few good 8lb'ers clobered our spinners and jigs! Done by 1 PM is my kind of Sunday!

I hope last weekend wasn't the start of the "normal" fall weather that tends to blow out the rivers every weekend; A girl could really get used to fishing perfect water conditions and sunny days every weekend! :)

~Bry

To say that Monday's are tough to get through is an understatement. When the fishing is as good as it is right now, Monday through Friday are difficult to get through. Still doing the lower drift, the ticket is to be open minded to all techniques. The upper drift definitely produces more fish and there really isn't anything that gets your blood pumping in 40 degree weather like hooking into a ton of kings and the occassional silver all morning!

The CHUM are here!!!! We caught one on a bait wrapped kwikfish and heard of quite a few others caught throughout the weekend! As humbling as it was, we still didn't get the limited boat but only because we released so many amazing native kings! The big fish are here and the wild fish are here! It would of course be nice to limit by noon and push down the river, but it's so much of a better experience knowing you can keep the wild stock going, pick and choose the fish to throw in the box, and fish all day in this crazy sunny weather we've been having!

Still far more wild silvers than hatchery, chum are in the mix, the kings are bigger and better than ever, and the crowds are finally dying down; No better time than to stalk salmon on the hump!

~Bry

What a great weekend again on the Hump! Saturday the nets were in until 10 AM so it was a bit of rough start but we still managed to hook into at least 5 in the first hole. As the day progressed, we were 2 coho's and 1 king shy of limited boat. A LOT of wild coho's out there. Sunday the day started out amazing! got our 3 hatchery hen chinook out of the first hole and left with just 1 coho shy of limited boat. Again, a lot of wild coho's and we got 3 fish in 3 passes for chinook on kwikfish! Tough spending the entire day looking for hatchery coho the entire river but it doesn't get much better watching your plug rod get slammed over and over again! The crowd was also much smaller this weekend and it was so nice not to feel like we were in a mall on the river :)

~Bry

Hot tomale! Do you see the size of that thing?! I wished that I was able to say that after last weekend! On Sunday I went to the Skok after staying up all night Saturday rigging new hoochie spinners in search of a coho. I actually hooked and lost a nice king on bobber/eggs in the upper river and Jeff caught a small silver on a spinner but due to some unforseen health issues (or should I say hypochondriac), we left the river at 8 am before we had anything on the bank. Yes, I said 8 AM!

I needed to hook into another fish so I bared the stormy weather and dragged myself to the Nisqually knowing that at least I can get into some pinks there if not more kings! No such luck there either! Plenty of people and plenty of dark kings jumping around but I really didn't see much happening on the other end of rods. I tried everything from bobber/eggs in my favorite bobber hole under the old hwy 99 bridge, casted spinners and twitched jigs in back eddies, free-drifted my eggs, and came home completely empty handed. I didn't even get a hit. I came home discouraged and soaking wet. The past few days and I justified not catching anything last weekend. I'm just saving all of my energy for the Hump this weekend! YEE can't wait! :)

~Bry

I think this was the last weekend of summer and I enjoyed every minute of it! Drifted the Nisqually from old highway 99 to just above I-5 on Saturday. We took a rookie and he happened to have the "good side" of the boat when we pulled divers so needlesstosay, he lost a few but it was so nice to see a rod get hit while back-trolling again. My side got some hits, but nothing stuck but I did manage to get a few floating my bobber and Pink Pautzke's Borax-O-Fire eggs with a sand-shrimp!

On Sunday, we decided to bank fish and didn't have quite the same results. Fished under highway 99 at daylight, got a couple jacks and bucks and then the snaggers took hold. We moved down river to I-5 but the tide still wouldn't be out for a few hours so we moved up a bit and found a good spot with other bober fishermen and managed to get a couple. It took quite a bit of work, moving around, and time to find the "right" bank spot on the Nisqually but it was quite nice once we got there! Next weekend is an adventure and my options are open! Maybe the Cowlitz again, Nisqually, or even Wesport for surf perch!

What another amazing weekend! I met an amazing woman a few months ago at a Puget Sound Anglers meeting and she has the fishing passion imbedded in her. She wasn't taught much and didn't grow up on the river but she got a small taste of it and has been trying to teach herself and her son. I was finally able to get them out with me and she blew me away! We were able to get them into their first Chinooks and a couple sivers! They went on their first crabbing excursion and SUCCESSFULLY fished bobber and eggs all weekend. It was their first time and Jeff did a wonderful job teaching them for me so I could fish :)

Between all of us, we hooked over 30 Chinook and about 8 silvers. As always, the jacks were around but when we did get an adult, it was well worth it because we caught some great ones! This weekend we mostly fished the lower Skok (in tidewater) because we quickly learned the adults in the upper river are comparible to large GOLDfish if ya know what I mean! Almost all of our fish were hooked on Pautzke's pink fire-cure and red borax-o-fire with a sand-shrimp above. This weeks mission: replenish my egg stock :)

The Skok is truly underestimated. Upon driving by or reading the unruly forums from others, one may think of the Skok as one of the "trashiest" salmon fisheries. And it may take some work and a little more persistence, there are some places on the skok that are actually decent places. The crowds are MINIMAL and when you do happen to run into someone, they are almost always "bait" fishermen. When you do come across someone who is just there to rip lines, they are polite and generally leave your hole in peace.

Bry and Mom

I had the privilege to take both my mom and my step dad out on Sunday and it is perhaps one of the best feelings. Comparable to them coming to my first football game to watch me cheer, except this time, they get to play in my element and experience my passion; I get to teach them for once. Maybe one day they'll understand my obsession and agree to not have family functions on the weekends. I really wanted to make sure my mom understand what to do when a pissed off 15-lb Chinook was at the other end of her line, so I "borrowed" her rod when she hooked the first one, but I didn't want her to lose it, ya know?! (sorry mom!) She hooked another adult later on and had a blast, but those dang barbless hooks kept her from landing it. My step dad patiently waited his turn and followed all directions perfectly but he unfortunately never found that hungry fish (or perhaps Jeff just found them all for him :0 ). We ended up hooking over 20 fish total the entire weekend and Pautzke's proved themselves once again. This weekend, the hot bait was simply red Fire Cure on humpy eggs! And yes, I have 2 rods, my tackle bag, and my bait cooler attached to me while I landed that fish. I wasn't quite prepared for my bobber to go down...

This weekend my time was spent in eastern Washington with my best girlfriends! The weather has been terrible here, so we went and found it elsewhere! While there isn't a ton of fishing over there, I bared my hangovers and kayaked my way around Diamond Lake in search of any little feeshie I could find. I don't know very much about fishing in lakes except fire bait, fire bait, fire bait......I wasn't equipted with the appropriate gear, but I knew the lake had bass and I was on a mission.

I slapped some Pautzke's krill oil on the back of a purple spinner blade in the most weeded area on the lake I could find and managed to get into quite a few small mouths! The biggest was only about 2 lbs and I caught several of these cute little guys! All catch and release of course; Maybe one day I'll be back to see them grow up!

For the past two weeks I have been on a mission to find me some salmon. Kings, pinks, anything! I've gone to the Skok and tried at least 8 different types of cured eggs, prawns, spinners, and sardine trying all different techniques and I can't seem to get anything other than jacks. Our group went 1 for 4 adults. It was nice because not even the "drift fishers" that use 10 ft leaders could seem to get into any fish. All 4 of our fish were hooked on bobber and eggs, 3 on my favorite Red/Pink Pautzke soaked in red nectar. All fish were on the upper river and they were large! They fought like Humptulips kings and knew exactly where the snags were which allowed them to "win the battle".

During the week, I've been heading to Brown's Point awaiting those pinks! I can't seem to get there early enough for the first part on the incoming tide so all I hear is stories of how good fishing was 2 hours ago. I've been a total of 4 times and saw about 3 fish landed. This week the tide is just right for my schedule so I'll be sure to humpies! Got my new camera (Panasonic Lumix) and I absolutely love it so when I do catch my fish, I'll be sure to document every moment :)

Well, the pinks are here! Went out to area 11 this weekend and managed to get into a school and landed 3 out of 7 in less than 5 minutes until we realized our licenses were in the car and the police boat was headed our way! We high-tailed it to the car and by the time we got back, the fish were no where to be found but it's a sure sign the pack will soon follow. That was my first taste of humpy season (I missed the last run!), and I cannot wait until they are in thick. Regardless the smaller size and mass amount, other than it being Chinook, I can't imagine anything more fun than 75 degree weather, a few beers down, and having double and triple headers all day. :)

I would love to share the pictures but I unfortunately lost a battle with the water when it came to my camara and now it is swimming with the feeshies. Got some blood and scales on my Katch Kooler and humpies on the BBQ. That's my proof the pinks are here!

It was about time I got a waterproof camara anyway so I'm off to find myself a new one before next weekend. I'm "skoked" as it was put by a Wholesale Sports member. Got a new Currado 300 ready to bobber fish the heck out of the Skok this weekend! Agenda for Saturday: catch my Skok limit by 8 AM, Pt. Defiance Derby until 11 AM, Green River wedding for two very good friends at 1 PM. Definitely need a new camara for all of that!

~Bry

Another weekend in Area 11 with nothing to show for it except a nice tan! Glad this weekend finally had some of that summer weather we've been missing. On the good side though, we did see quite a few fish caught and with the PSA Derby coming up August 6th this is a great sign!

We also headed out to Hoodsport and spotted a few pinks! It was a bit crowded over there and not many fish, but still a few fish none the less! We trolled for Chinook but came out empty handed there as well. So Sunday, I got the luxury of rowing three full size men around in Jeff's drift boat. I was glad they were all very patient and they took turns rowing once my arms finally gave out. Sorry to anyone fishing in a sled that had the pleasure of trying to stay out of my way on the Cowlitz. :)

Our Buddy Brian got an 8-pounder side drifting eggs just a bit down from Blue Creek while I was on the sticks, so the pain I'm feeling today is well worth it! The rest of us side-drifted several colors of Pautzke prawns but didn't try any other techniques and didn't manage to hook into any other fish and only saw a few caught around Blue Creek.

We headed out to area 11 this weekend and fished the evening tide both Saturday and Sunday. We didn't catch anything or see anything caught, but I think they are just waiting for derby day :)
While the weather was more like April, the fog on the water and the grey skies behind the city gave the boat ride back to the marina a little eerie. We did manage to catch something a little extra! We set the crab pots before we trolled and got a quite a few rock crab and a couple dungeness but it was a nice treat considering we were on the hunt for Chinook!

Going to Fetha Styx this week and the Puget Sound Anglers meeting to hear Terry talk about fishing for pinks. Hope to see everyone there, there will be tons of prizes and great people!

Hi Everyone! We'll, no fishing for me this past weekend but I'm really getting geared up for the July 20th PSA meeting with Terry. This is going to be a fantastic meeting with the topic being "Fishing for Pinks", but best of all, ALL proceeds will go to help out our friend Phil Stephens.

Looking forward to seeing everyone and I'll have lots of goodies to give away as well.

Hope everyone had a good 4th of July! I know I sure did! Full of events out at the beautiful Hood Canal!

Saturday, we woke up extremely early to fish the Wynoochie for summer runs and still managed to get there too little too late. The river was packed with boats and bankers and there weren't any fish to be seen. Caught a nice sunburn and even nicer allergies! That afternoon, we went to the Skokomish river to catch and release cut throat trout and I must say, it was such a beautiful, peaceful river when it's not salmon season. Between the 5 of us, we caught unlimited trout and I got my first fly fishing lesson! Needless to say, I SUCK! I think I'll stick to gear and bait ;)

Fishing off the dock on the bay is always, always an excursion in itself. The wonders that are below the sea keeps things very intersting. We caught a few Rock fish, Sea Anenome's, flounder, and Jeff even caught a small Cabazon!

Crabbing was done ALL weekend and let me tell you, I ate so good! Between over 30 crab caught this weekend, unlimited clams, oysters, and springer, there was no shortage of seafood on our camping trip.

Cheryl took my for the ride of my life on the SeaDoo and I thought I wasn't going to make it home!

While Terry was slaying fish all day on the Nush, I managed to catch zilch! I did get to take my dad salmon fishing for the first time on the Cowlitz again thinking I would definitely be able to get him into some fish. After an endless rain shower, we managed to hook up with two that he unfortunately lost. Wah wah wah....I had an amazing time and it was so great to be able to get him out and at least give him a general idea of why I miss so many family BBQ's. Can't they just have those during the week?!

Spent this weekend multi-tasking. Enjoying the sun, tying summer run jigs, and drinking beer. Tied up a mess of gear for Pinks, jigs for summer runs, gearing up for crab season, and mentalling preparing myself for my first fly-fishing lesson next weekend! Next weekend will be full of adventure and lucky for me, a three-day weekend!!

Since Terry will be fishing the Nushagak next week, no updates on my end until June 28th. I should have some new reports by then and I'm playing with some new gear.

It was the last weekend I'll be targeting springers at the Cowlitz and boy, did we go out with a bang! Came home with 6 fish for the weekend! Saturday was a slow start for me, but well worth it. I was the official "netter" for everyone else, while I could barely muster up the motivation to continue the search for my own fish.

Finally, fish on! I was pretty excited until I saw that beauiful silver bullet skyrocket into the air! My first summer steelie! My pulse was racing and I was beyond nervous. I could NOT lose this fish. I had no idea that it would jump so many times and said several times "I think I just lost it...Nope still there!"Caught that one on my favorite red Fire cure and nectar eggs with a prawn died purple!! Needless to say, I was bouncing (literally) with excitement for quite some time.

A few hours later, I caught the biggest springer of the day!Man, best and biggest fish for the day; I was on cloud 9.

While most of the springers were a bit dark, they were quite hungry on Saturday! They were biting damn near any new combo you could think of. Sand shrimp/eggs, pretty much anything with Herring scent (I got mine on pink Fire Cure'd eggs with Pautzke's Krill powder with a splash of Mike's Herring scent on a sand-shrimp tail), prawns, coon shrimp, buzz-bombs, ANYTHING!

Had another successful weekend down at the Cowlitz except this weekend, my best friend's name was JACK! Quite a few small adults and SEVERAL jacks. However, I did see the occassional 15+ pounder! Caught all my jacks on my new custom elixor made up of Pautzke's red Fire Cure soaked in a mixture a both Yellow and orange Nectar! My new favorite cure!

Also had a couple takes on a prawn soaked in the Green Pautzke's Kokanee Fuel, but unfortunately didn't get to see what kind of monster enjoyed that radioactive concoction. Plus, I think I found a new type of bait! Sour Patch Kids! I threw on a red one with my eggs and got a bite! Didn't stick it, but rest assured, I will prove this new bait enhancement effective.....

~Bry

Now that we're finally in that great time of year where the springers and summer runs are all together in the rivers and the sun starts making it's way through the clouds, it's so exciting when you hook a fish and have that slight wonder of what exactly is on the other end of your line.

It was pretty good fishing down at the Cowlitz this past weekend and fairly decent weather made it quite enjoyable! Caught my springer limit on Saturday and had a few friends catch a couple jacks on Sunday. They're hitting everything from eggs to sand-shrimp to hardware. We had our best luck with Pautzke Borx O Fire in red whereas last weekend shrimp soaked in Pautzke Purple Nectar was the key.

While I saw more jacks than adults caught over the weekend, I promise, those jacks put up a far better fight than their superior.

Didn't see any, but heard of a few summer runs caught as well so this next weekend should hold good fishing!