Northwest Fishing Reports

Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd take a quick moment to introduce myself. I'm brand new to the river fishing seen and I'm hooked! I went out about a month ago with Phil from mystical legends guide service on the cowlitz. We nailed 6 steelies in and afternoon trip. I got myself a 14 ft aluminum boat with a 25hp on it last week and I'm getting ready to try my luck this week. I hope to be able to contribute something useful to the site eventually but for now I'm trying to learn all I can about salmon and steelhead fishing by reading everything. I learned a lot by going out with a guide and we pretty much just back trolled with shrimp which is what I'm gonna try when I go out. Feel free to recommend any other methods that I should try, all advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jared

Be careful in your Alum boat if it has a long shaft motor when motoring the rivers.A LS motor would not be real good in most rivers other then the lower Columbia. Most guys who boat rivers use a SS jet. Others might chime in to your boat needs more then me.

Welcome aboard!

What a way to get started in the sport! Welcome aboard. I echo racfish's comments. If you don't have experience running a boat in the river, it would help to get some input from the regular river rats running the channels Especially with all the different rivers having different structure, channels, depths, flow rates depending on season, etc. Good luck out there.

Welcome aboard... I just wanted to echo that I too have a 14' Lund aluminum with a 25 hp motor (long shaft) Some people who REALLY know the river they are on might be comfortable, but myself I keep it out of rivers. One minute your in 10' if water and the next minute it's 10" of water, plus rivers hold so much ever changing debris. Think also about salt water salmon trolling, you should be set pretty good for that on decent weather days. Let us know what you are up to.:dwarf:
If you're in Tacoma, also check out America lake for Kokanee.

welcome aboard. tidal zones only with a LS motor. most rivers are jet pump territory. especially my home rivers shallow and full of hidden hazards.

Thanks everyone. Ya I was wondering about he river depths with a prop outboard. I was looking for a jet but the boat I got was too good of a deal to pass up. I'm heading out to lake Tapps tomorrow to test it out and try my luck with the fishing out there. I've never been on the water at tapps but have heard its good fishing.

I've seen that a lot of lakes have the kokanee in them. What is the best way to fish for them? Being fairly new at fishing all together other than some trout fishing when I was a kid, I really don't know what kind of setups to use yet. I've seen people talk about wedding rings but I have no idea what that is.

I have heard that the lower cow right out of the big C is decent with a prop as long as you are very careful. Also, do not attempt anchoring in swift water without reading up on it and talking to the pro's first. Anchoring in moving water can be extremely dangerous and has proven DEADLY many times when performed by novice anglers.

Welcome to the boat and have fun with the metalheads!! There is a TON of bank access on the cow

Matt

jaredpost wrote:....I've seen people talk about wedding rings but I have no idea what that is.

Welcome to the board. Wedding rings are popular Kokes and pretty much all lake trout as well as Walleye. Run them by themselves or behind a dodger. Simple and productive.

Classic wedding ring.

We have a forum specifically for trout and kokanee fishing and you'll find lot's of good info there:

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/forum/ya ... onsor.aspx

Also, you can use the sites "search" feature to look up archived kokanee articles in the main part of the web site (the forum is a seperate database):

Go to the top black tabs - "Home", then "Search". This brings up the search box. Type in kokanee and check out the results for reports and stories/articles.