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Hanford Reach Fall Chinook: Adjustments are the name of the game

It’s been a strange year to say the least on the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River. As I’m writing this we are in the midst of a pretty darn good Fall Chinook Run, and while fishing was absolutely on fire here early in the season, it has since cooled off, and been downright tough on some days.

We too have had our struggle days, and Barry and I have been very frustrated a few times this season. For the past few years the downhill trolling program has been absolutely on fire here, and we entered this season thinking that we would see more of the same, and while early in September was great, it didn’t take long for that bite to absolutely hit the skids. So, instead of just pounding away and hoping each morning would be better then the last we decided that there had to be a better way. We made some adjustments.

A little over a week ago we made the full on switch from downriver trolling 360 flashers to what is now considered an old school technique, we went backtrolling. We dusted off the plugs, shined our divers, grabbed the eggs, and went to work. We haven’t looked back since. For some reason this year backtrolling divers and eggs, and plugs has just been the best way for us to catch fish. Now that doesn’t mean other methods are not working, it just means that we have finally found consistent action after making the switch.

Backtrolling is how I cut my teeth on this fishery and it has been such a blessing to be able to fully commit to one of my absolute favorite methods for catching salmon. We are now more relaxed, our gear is in the “slots” longer, and we are catching more fish than we would if we had stayed the course. Now, I’m fully aware that the only thing consistent on the reach is that things change, and after writing this it may just be that we see an incredible downhill trolling bite, but for me, I have a little over a week left in this fishery before I head home for the Clearwater, and I’m going to spend my days relaxed and running my favorite plugs through some of the best water on the river. don’t be afraid to do the same.

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Upper Columbia Summer Of Salmon! Hot weather equals Hot Fishing!

Last week our Summer Chinook and Sockeye season opened on the Upper Columbia, and fishing was absolutely on fire! Opening day was one of the absolute best opening day’s we can remember! We had two boats out and early limits where the name of the game. while the rest of the season won’t be quite as on fire as the first two days we will see consistently great fishing for the rest of the month of July.

We are seeing great success trolling both super baits and 3.5 Colorado spinners behind 11 inch 360 style flashers. One of our keys is to really watch out speed and make sure our rods are thumping at about a 1 thump per second interval. It’s a little hard to explain, but this action really leads to more fish in the boat. For this reason we run cannon ball droppers and skip out on the downriggers. Also by running cannonball lead we are able to let all our customers drop lines and be part of the action.

We still have some open dates mid month, so don’t hesitate to give us a call and book your trip. These fish are amazing and we would love to share this experience with you. Enjoy the pictures below, the smiling faces and big fish tell the story. The Upper Columbia Summer of Salmon is an experience you need to be part of.

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Idaho Walleye Fishing

When thinking of Walleye fishing Idaho is probably not the first place that comes to mind. Most people would be quick to point to places in the Upper Midwest, places like the Dakotas, Minnesota, or Michigan, and any walleye fisherman worth their leadcore would definitely put the Columbia River high on the list, but although limited to only a handful of locations Idaho actually has some fantastic walleye fishing opportunities. The current state record came from Oakley Reservoir, and weighed in at 17.88 pounds. The current catch and release record hails from Salmon Falls Creek Reservoir and is 31.5 inches in length.

In addition to Salmon Falls Creek Reservoir and Oakley Reservoir walleye can also be found in Ririe Reservoir in Eastern Idaho, and Lake Pend Oreille in Northern Idaho. All of these fisheries have the potential to produce some fantastic walleye fishing, but for anglers looking for consistent success Salmon Falls Creek and Oakley Reservoirs are the top destinations for Idaho walleye anglers.

While Oakley is a great fishery its just a place that we haven’t really spent any time fishing. Salmon Falls Creek Reservoir on the other hand is our location of choice. As it turns out we also are the holders of an Idaho Outfitters license for Salmon Falls Creek Reservoir and we offer fully guided Walleye Fishing trips on one of Idaho’s best walleye fisheries.

Salmon Falls Creek Reservoir, locally known as Salmon Dam is a unique high desert reservoir nestled into the deep canyon formed by Salmon Falls Creek. This is a unique walleye fishery in that this reservoir has very steep drop off banks that surround most of the impoundment. A lot of the shoreline here are sheer cliffs that plunge directly into the water. These unique features make Salmon Dam a different style of fishery than most walleye fisheries around the west. Popular walleye techniques such as worm harnesses behind a bottom bouncer, and trolling crankbaits can be super effective here especially on a few of the larger mud flats. In addition to trolling anglers pitching and vertically jigging jigs rigged with bait and soft plastics typically produce a bunch of walleye. Currently Salmon Dam is absolutely chocked full of smaller eater size walleye. These 12-15 inch fish will make up most of the catch here, and with a 6 fish limit they provide an awesome opportunity to take some tasty walleye home for dinner. Salmon Dam also holds some very decent walleye over 20 inches, but these larger fish are much more spread out. When targeting larger walleye you are almost fishing for a different fish. Its like the difference in chasing young whitetail bucks and old mature bucks, it just takes a different mindset. Large walleye can be found, but guys need to be willing to fish for just a few bites a day. Most of the reservoirs big walleye are caught in what we refer to as the “steep and deep” areas. These bigger walleye will use the steep cliffs and associated deep water as refuge when they are not feeding, then move just a short distance to their preferred feeding location in sometimes very shallow water. The other thing that makes big walleye tough here is that they are predominantly a nocturnal feeder using the darkness of night as cover while they hunt their prey in shallow water.

We absolutely love the uniqueness of this fishery and our family has history fishing here, often times at family gatherings the stories told around the campfire seem to drift to a lonely night on Salmon Dam searching for trophy walleye. We would love to show you why this place is special to us. If you are looking to learn more about this fishery, or just would like a different Southern Idaho experience nothing quite beats a day on Salmon Dam with one of our awesome guides.

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Opening Day! Eastern Idaho Trout Madness.

There are few days on our calendar that generate as much hype and excitement as opening day of bait and keep season on the Snake River near American Falls. The bait and keep season on this section of river always opens the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend, and anglers across Southern Idaho look forward to this date with a cult like following. If you like to fish in solitude this is not the time or place to make your first trip to this river section, but for anglers willing to brave the crowds this is a special time of year. Boats will begin fishing as soon as the clock strikes 12 am, and the crowds and anglers will build through the morning. It is not uncommon to not be able to find a parking spot at the ramp if you launch much after first light.

Baits of choice for anglers on the opener very but the best and most seasoned anglers almost exclusively fish cut bait. In this section of river these trout are feeding on the abundant dead or dying fish that get sucked through the power plant on the dam. American Falls Reservoir is an unbelievably fertile system and the trout in the river below are definitely keyed into meat. For us sucker meat tops the list for cut bait choices, but other baits also work well, and for anglers without a supply of bait good old night crawlers are also a solid option.

The limit here is 6 trout but only 2 can be greater than 16 inches. We STRONGLY advocate that anglers fishing with bait catch keep their first two fish if hooked deep and quit fishing. Most of these fish will be hooked very deep on bait and have a tough time surviving being released. Another reason to keep only your two fish and get off the water is that almost all the fish in this area are greater than 16 inches, so although you can legally continue to fish for your limit it is best for the fishery to either quit fishing after 2 or switch to artificial lures and baits. Our typical scenario is that after we get our customers each 2 fish over 16 inches we switch things up and target the plentiful smallmouth bass. The limit on bass in this area is also 2 so by switching to bass fishing we are able to have a really cool combo bag to send our customers home with.

Although the first few days of the season can resemble a blue light special at K-Mart, the crowds start to greatly thin out after the first weekend of the season, and even on the busiest days our guides know the river like the back of their hand and can get you on fish away from the crowds. Opening day is like our new year, and is a day we look forward to. Although we are booked for the opening weekend often a year in advance, we have lots of open dates (especially mid week) including the first week of the season. This fishery will fish well through June until water temperatures warm up to the point the trout turn sluggish.

If you are interested in some of the most exciting fishing of the year don’t hesitate to give our office a call and get your trip booked now. We offer both full day and half day evening trips. Call 208-669-1569 and Dani can get you all set up.

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Snake River Spring Sturgeon

We often get asked what our favorite thing to fish for is, and I bet if you asked all of our guides you would get a different answer from each of them. One thing though that we all agree on is that Sturgeon Fishing on the Snake River in the Spring is an awesome experience.

Spring is a time of revival. The river canyon is waking up from its winter sleep and life is all around. Green grass can be seen on the hillsides where in only a few short weeks summer will be set in and the canyon walls will be locked into their dry brown look again. Just like the grasses and the birds, the sturgeon are waking up too. These fish have spent most of the winter in deep holding water feeding on whatever merger resources they can find, and now with the warming water they are on the hunt for food. Along with a search for food is an urge to spawn, and many of our fish are traveling the river system to find their spawning grounds.

Spring is definitely a movement period for these fish, and every day is an adventure in finding fish. It’s amazing how much some of these fish can move day to day, and equally amazing how some seem to stay in certain holes, content to live their lives in one sweet spot.

During the spring we often see some of our best fishing of the year in our Hells Canyon Fishery, as for some reason this time of year tends to concentrate a large number of fish in the general vicinity of Heller Bar. Spring is also a great time of year for our Southern Idaho fishery’s, but it tends to just mark the beginning of an awesome season.

If you are looking for a sturgeon adventure in Hells Canyon or southern Idaho make sure to get with us. We are full time professional fishing guides and we strive to make your trip special. We provide all fishing gear and even cook you a hot lunch on the boat.

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Hot Columbia River Walleye Action!

Fishing this past week for walleye on the Columbia has been absolutely fantastic. The water temps ranged from 45-47 degrees which means that the spawn is in full force. This means most of the larger fish are up shallow spawning, and can be difficult to catch, but this also means that you have the opportunity to find the mother load of smaller eater sized males staged in deep water adjacent to spawning areas. These smaller males don’t hang with the big females, as they can be food for the big girls.

Our best producing technique has been trolling worm harness and spinner blades. During the spring we don’t think there is a better method for putting a bunch of walleye in the boat. For a complete breakdown on how we apply this technique click here

As the spring progresses and water temperatures climb up into the 50’s we will enter the post spawn season on the Columbia. During this time walleye will disperse back to the sections of river they call home, and will aggressively start to feed to replace lost energy from the spawn. During the post spawn period we will start to see some larger fish in our catches, as age classes begin to be more mixed on food sources.

All in all we are into a great season here on the Columbia, and if you are looking to get in on some of the best eating fish on the planet make sure to book a trip with us.

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It’s Columbia River Walleye Time

Last week we started our Columbia River Walleye season, and things are off to a great start. We absolutely love fishing for walleye in March on the Columbia River as it gives us the best chance of the year to catch an absolute giant walleye. It’s not uncommon to catch fish well over 10 pounds on the Columbia during the pre spawn period, and the magical teeners are a constant reality.

During this time of year we often rely on fishing large walleye plugs like the Bandit Walleye Deeps. We fish these plugs in 10-25 feet of water. During March we are often searching for the big bite, and last week that big bite came right off the bat on Tuesday. We were probably a half an hour into one of our favorite trolls when the back rod slammed down and the battle was on. A few minutes later we slid the net under what would be our biggest fish of the young season. Weighing in at an even 13 pounds this Columbia River walleye was, after a few pictures and high fives, slid back into the mighty river to dump her load of eggs and hopefully give someone else the chance to shake her tail.

While the weather and conditions didn’t prove themselves to be perfect for chasing huge walleye we still managed to get 5-8 bites per day. Keep in mind that we were trophy hunting, and when actively looking for big fish we often give up on the chance to put lots of smaller fish in the boat. The fish pictured above ended up being the largest of the week, but we caught several other fish pushing the 8-9 pound mark.

We are super excited for the upcoming season and as the spawn progresses we will shift our ficus to loading up lots of eater size walleye. We will still find a few big fish, but our focus will change to loading the cooler instead of finding a big Walter for the wall.

April, May, and June are fantastic months, and trolling worms on spinner rigs will become our go to presentation. We will still troll plugs when the conditions permit, and there will be some great plug bites when Columbia River Walleye are focused on feeding on the conveyor belt of salmon smolt heading from inland rivers to the ocean.

If your interested in a walleye trip with us make sure to give our office a call at 208-669-1569 and Dani will fill you in on the particulars and get a date lined up for you. See you on the water

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Spring Fishing Opportunities

Columbia River Walleye

Columbia River Walleye, CJ Strike and Hells Canyon Sturgeon, American Falls Trout, and CJ Strike Crappie!

These are just a few of the options that we have right now to get you out on the water this spring with us. March is our official kickoff for our Columbia River Walleye season, and we couldn’t be more excited to chase these tasty and challenging fish. Walleye are one of the most sought after fish in the Columbia basin, and we cant wait to be out on the river chasing them.

March also means the giant white Sturgeon of the Snake River really start to wake up and feed.  We have already had some fantastic Sturgeon fishing the past month or so, and that will just continue to get better as the weather warms, and water temps make getting in the water for a glory shot even more enjoyable.  We are having great success on CJ Strike Reservoir located and hour south of Boise, ID as well as on the lower end of Hell’s Canyon near Lewiston, ID.  Both of these fisheries are a great way to get out on the water and enjoy one of the coolest fish that swims in our Idaho waters.  

March is also our kickoff for trophy trout on the Snake River near American Falls, as well as American Falls Reservoir.  March is one of the best times to spend a day in one of our drift boats fly fishing for the huge trout that call the Snake River home.  This is an amazing opportunity to try and break the 10 pound mark on some huge fish.  As March moves on and river levels rise with spring flows the power boat fishing on the river becomes the hottest bite around.  This is a fantastic fishery and its all catch and release with no bait through the Saturday of memorial day weekend.  The river fishery at American Falls is our bread and butter, and we would love the opportunity to show you why we love this place so much.  

Along with the Snake River at American Falls March also means its time to chase trophy rainbows on American Falls reservoir.  Last year Brett broke the catch and release state record with a 31.5 inch rainbow caught of the reservoir.  While this is a great fish its not even considered a monster on this system.  The huge Rainbows, Browns, and Rainbow/ Cutthroat Hybrids that prowl this huge reservoir are breathtaking, and we have the inside knowledge to put you on these amazing fish.  Along with awesome trophy opportunity we can also target the plentiful 18-24 inch rainbows that are amazing table fare.  the trout limit on the reservoir is 6 trout, although we only advocate harvesting rainbows and hybrids, as the natural reproducing browns and cutthroat are a true gems worth retuning to the river.   

Finally how can we forget the fantastic Crappie fishing at CJ Strike. In recent days the crappie are starting to break out of their huge winter schools and are now moving around much more. As of yesterday they are no yet on the banks in the spawning areas, but it might only be a matter of a week or so before we start casting to large schools of crappie. Nothing is more fun for the entire family than a day spent loading up on these tasty fish. Not only are they an absolute blast to catch, but they are also one of the best tasting fresh water fish around.

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Hot Sturgeon action at CJ Strike!

The sturgeon fishing on CJ Strike Reservoir has been nothing short of fantastic! The bite has been hot and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. Yesterday was the last day of February and Brett’s boat hooked 17 and landed 14! CJ is arguably the best sturgeon fishery in the state and catching double digit numbers is common. If you are looking for an awesome adventure catching lots of huge sturgeon then book a trip with us. You won’t be disappointed.

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Clearwater Steelhead in the Snow!

Wow, the last few days have been interested. The Clearwater region has seen a tremendous amount of snow, and that has made things a little difficult. When conditions get like this chains become a necessity when launching and retrieving boats on snow and ice cover launches. Here is a major pro tip: don’t attempt snow and ice covered ramps if your not prepared, and when conditions are like this it’s not a matter of if you get stuck, it’s when, so be prepared and have a plan.

Despite last weeks cold temperatures and this weeks relentless snow we have still been catching some awesome fish. We are in the final 3 weeks of our Clearwater Steelhead Season and it’s during this period that we often catch some of our biggest fish of the year. The other bonus is that picture of big Steelhead in the snow are hard to beat.

Technique wise this seem to be the year of the plug. After struggling in the nasty conditions on Monday we switched up to pulling plugs tipped with shrimp yesterday and had a great day. My boat had 10 or so opportunities, hooked 8, and landed 6 beautiful Clearwater Steelhead.

Looking forward to the next few weeks it’s hard to tell what to expect. The forecast is calling for continued snow, although daytime highs are getting back up into the upper 30’s and low 40’s. I’m guessing plugs will continue to be a major part of our program until river temps warm up some and river flows come up, and with all the low level snow laying around we could be back to high flows and lots of drifting in a few days. At any rate we are excited for what these last few weeks of steelhead brings, as it will soon be over, and Barry and I will be moving on to chasing Columbia River Walleye. Please enjoy the pictures, and if you see us on the water make sure to say hi.