The fishing in Washington State is legendary. Brook trout, cutthroat and rainbows are plentiful in many of Washington’s Lakes because these fish are adaptable and prolific in their spawning. But sometimes they’re too prolific; this is termed “uncontrolled reproduction” and is something that happens in many of the high lakes. Such dense populations affect the fish themselves, so fishermen; the WDFW...

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Night temperatures are falling and that’s a sure sign that fall is just around the corner. It also means that fishing for Kokanee and landlocked Chinook is coming to an end. On a positive note, September, is a month when you can catch some of your biggest fish of the year; catching these big fish can be a challenge. Like all Salmon, these fish are reaching the end of their life cycle. They are no ...

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As I write this I hear the first of the fall rains hitting the roof. Normally this would cause me to make sure my coho river fishing gear is all in order and ready to go. This year, unfortunately, many of my normal fall salmon fishing locations are closed in order to protect the low forecasted return of coho. My plan instead is to get back to trout fishing. Before I got into salmon fishing, ...

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There’s an Alpine Kokanee Trifecta that is often over-looked compared to the more well-known and popular kokanee fisheries. What if I told you that within an hour and a quarter of traffic-free driving from Seattle you could enjoy pristine Alpine lake fishing with little to no other boats on the water and have the chance to catch generous limits of kokanee every time out? No way you say? It’s true ...

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We had been fishing a deep run on one of my favorite fall rivers for Chinook. I knew there were fish here as every once in a while a king would come up and roll on the edge of the seam. The year before we had fished this same river and learned a valuable lesson, which was the Chinook preferred our cured eggs with a small piece of sand shrimp tail. Knowing this we stopped off at our relied upon gas...

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Many anglers with expensive gear in the right place and time leave fishless because they haven’t learned or practiced finer points of Pacific Northwest fishing. Below are suggestions. Use a New-ish File and Sharp Hook Worn or rusty files work, but not as well, and they take away valuable fishing time. A new file can turn a hook from dull to razor in a few strokes. A related issue happen...

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Here in the Pacific Northwest it seems like salmon and steelhead get all the glory. I've only met a few people who fish for yellow perch, and many of them talk about it in whispers - like they are afraid to admit it in public. However, perch fishing can be a lot of fun, and they are quite tasty. It is a great way to get kids into fishing. In this article I'll go cover everything you need to ...

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It’s a wonderment to me how someone comes up with a lure design for fishing, especially some of the salmon and steelhead baits. Pink worms, black jigs, orange plugs, rubber hoochies, and so on makes me think that some junior college dropout drank too much beer one night with his high school buddies and soon they were playing pranks on each other while fishing the next morning. “Hey Joe, try this p...

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I decided to try something a little different fishing this spring. Usually, I’ll use a wide variety of lures to catch trout and bass from the lakes I visit from April into June but this year I decided to use one “Go-To” lure. My choice, the Mack’s Lure Promise Keeper® Spinner. It’s long been a favorite of mine fishing alpine lakes in the Cascade Mountains during the summer months. The slim profile...

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Great fishing holes and hot spots can be easy to find when you live in the trout rich Pacific Northwest. However, just finding a good location on the river is only the start. Once you find yourself standing at the water’s edge, what’s next? Take a moment to read the water. Locating the fish can be pretty easy if you know where to look. Fish are creatures of habit and the one thing that neve...

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We all like to hear our buddies fishing stories but without pictures no words can do justice in relating the experiences. After hearing about the “20 pound steelhead” or “50 pound Chinook” our first reply is “Let’s see the pictures” and of course when our fishing partner starts back peddling about not having a camera or the batteries were dead we dismiss the exaggeration as nothing more than a tal...

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Fishing a new body of water of which you’re not used to can be intimidating at best. There may be particular lakes and rivers that you have “dialed in” where you know what to use to catch more fish; but fishing a new lake or river has its own challenges in and of itself. In previous articles and seminars that I teach, I emphasize to my fellow anglers to use the tools available to find out as m...

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