2011 Clackamas River Summer Steelhead

Daylight Savings Time is back, and sunrise is coming in at an ungodly 5:50am.  Factoring in the time it takes to drive to the closest fishing hole, get dressed, feed the cats, brew coffee, and load all my gear, I’ve got to be up and awake at 5:00am to even think about making it to the river at sunrise!  Well, I had every intention of getting there at sunrise this morning, but when my alarm clock went off, I quickly and deftly hit the snooze button–maybe even twice–and then stumbled groggily around, fed the cats and waited for the coffee to brew.

Despite my diligence, I arrived at my fishing hole a good 15 minutes after sunrise, but to my surprise, I had the whole place to myself!  Close enough, right?  I saw a few boats side drifting through my spot as I walked down there, but when I reached water’s edge, it was all mine.  James should have been coming down any time now, so I set some of my gear down to save him a spot, and moved upstream about 30 yards to start fishing and work my way back down.  As I drifted my “Clark Special” yarnie through some slow water, I felt a small fish just barely tap my hook, but I set the hook on it anyway, and to my surprise, there was a steelhead on the end!  I fought the fish for a few minutes until he was tired enough to start pulling in, but because of a few bank mishaps this year (James, Clark and I have all had a few disasters) and also Clark getting into my head about the 8 pound leader possibly being a little too light, I let the fish get two extra bonus runs to wear it out.  I saw that it was a hatchery fish and was going to get bonked, so I was ok to stretch this one out! Two bonus runs later, I had a nice summer steelhead on the bank!

So, I called James and told him to “get down here!”, and he reported he would be down in 20 minutes, so I turned and went back to fishing.  Suddenly, not two minutes later, the guy fishing across the way hooked up and fought a nice fish, too!  I called James back and he updated his ETA to be 10 minutes!

The Summer Steelhead appear to be on their way upriver in force!  In addition to my summer steelhead buck, we saw 3 other fish jump, and I hooked up a second time, but this time, the fish got my lead hung up and the steelhead got leverage enough to pull off.  A fisherman downstream from me where the fish was hooked up said “oh man, that was a nice one!!”

Clackamas River Summer Steelhead

Here’s a close up.  I think this fish was probably in the 10 to 12 pound range.  I tossed a few fillets on the barbecue tonight and they were excellent!  A few more pieces are going in to the Little Chief smoker tonight, too!  So, now I’ve got another “to-do” for tomorrow morning at 5am before I can go fishing!

After an epic day like today, I’ll be back down there tomorrow morning–not necessarily at sunrise, but close enough is fine!

Jeff with first hatchery Clackamas River Winter Steelhead of 2011

The mercury dropped into the teens during the night, leaving it a balmy 26 degrees out just in time for some fishing!  We decided to wait a little while before going out to give the fish a chance to warm up, so it was around 28 when I left the house.  For such a cold day, the fishing was pretty hot, as you can see by the picture!  James and I both had an epic day of fishing, and a nice chrome winter steelhead is perfect way to close out the month of February!

Keep on reading…

James Winter Steelhead Hookup!

James arrived on the scene a few minutes before me.  I walked down the trail and no sooner did I say “good morning!” than James whipped up his rod in a nice solid hook set and FISH ON!

Nice bend in the rod. Big Steelhead on!

This big hen totally inhaled James’ home-tied yarnie and took off!  We think it was a hen because it stayed underwater with the occasional surface thrashing, no jumping. At least Bill Herzog says that’s a general rule of identifying steelhead.

James winter steelhead during the fight!

The fish was a fighter, and refused to get into a good position to get its picture taken!  Finally, James was able to get it close to the bank, where I put my camera down to assist, but suddenly, James’ line broke, and the fish escaped within 5 yards of the bank!  But, take it from me, that was a big fish, probably a big native winter steelhead hen, so it was perfectly good that it took off to continue upstream!

Jeff's turn to hook up!

James got the action started and fought that big fish before I even got my line wet, so I decided to quit spectating and join in the fun.  A few minutes later, I hooked into a steelhead on one of my own yarnies soaked in Captain Wally’s scent!  This steelhead did some major thrashing and popped out of the water on the surface.  I bet if the water was a little warmer, that fish would have gotten some hang time!

Jeff's Winter Steelhead Buck taken on Yarnie!

Since the last steelhead I hooked up with came unpinned at the bank, and we also had some line breaking mishaps, I took extra time and care to play this fish right, and got him to the bank.  I wasn’t going to lose this one!

Jeff holding Winter Steelhead like an AK-47

They can’t get any fresher than this!  Look at the chrome on this fish!  James also pointed out my AK-47 grip!  Ha!

We each proceeded to hook up again, but this one was the only one we landed!

Steelhead University has some great maps and descriptions of the Clackamas River, too

James' Keeper Willamette River Sturgeon

James and I hit the Willamette River for some 2011 opening-day winter Sturgeon Fishing on Thursday 2/17!  As you can see by the pics, we hooked up with some nice fish!  James was the big winner, catching the biggest sturgeon of the lot, which was a keeper!

Jeff while Fishing for Willamette River Sturgeon

I finished in second place to James’ keeper sturgeon, but it was non-stop action all day, and we boated between 20 and 30 fish!   We were out there with Kevin Newell at Total Fisherman Guide Service.  More pictures and videos below, keep reading!

I don’t think either of us slept the night before.  My alarm clock went off at 5am, and I leapt out of bed like a crazed firefighter, getting dressed, grabbing my gear and setting a new land speed record to West Linn, to pick up James, and setting a second speed record getting out to Northwest Portland to get to the Willamette River.

James fishing for Sturgeon on the Willamette River

We arrived at Fred’s Marina on Multnomah Channel easily 30 minutes before the scheduled meeting time and we were out on the water and fishing quickly!  Kevin put us right on the fish and it didn’t take long before it was FISH ON!

James' First Ever Sturgeon

James hooked up with the first fish of the day!  This sturgeon was James’ first!

Jeff with a Willamette River Sturgeon

I hooked up next!  The weatherman predicted rain and snow all day long, so we had our full raingear ready to go, although it was sunny and clear with a cold wind.  Not quite enough to keep us off the water.

A few more shaker sturgeon caught and released, but then, the monster sturgeon hit!  Look at that sturgeon peel off the line!!

Finally, James got the sturgeon to the surface where it was netted!

James with his Keeper Sturgeon

Oh yeah!  Can you tell James was pumped up?!  Nice fish, James!

Jeff Willamette River Sturgeon Fishing

Here’s another one of mine!  We had so much fun, we lost count! Some of the other boats were looking pretty envious!

We’ll definitely book with Total Fisherman again in the future.  In fact, if anyone else sees this post and goes on to book with Kevin Newell, mention that you saw this post on JkbWorld.com and tell him to break out his top secret sturgeon bait!

Tasty Sturgeon Fish and Chips

Sturgeon Fish and Chips!  Man, those were tasty!!  Here’s the recipe:  take fresh sturgeon, cube it up, roll it in flour mixed with Tony Chachere seasoning, roll in some egg, then panko crumbs, then back through the flour.  Pan-fry until they get nice and browned.

James' Broodstock Winter Steelhead on Clackamas River

The Clackamas River has a great broodstock program where certain people are allowed to catch big native steelhead, transport them up to the hatchery in a livewell and then allow the steelhead to spawn up at the hatcheries, growing a decent population of big fish that enter the Clackamas River in Late January, February and Early March.  These big fish are big fighters and have a lot of color!

James Hooks up with a Broodstock Winter Steelhead Native

And James hooked into one of these big fish early in the morning on February 12th with one of his custom yarnies!

(keep reading!)

Winter Steelhead Thrashing in the Water

The steelhead thrashed on the surface and made some really powerful runs and kept James at bay for a few minutes, but he got the fish turned, and it barreled toward the shallows.

Broodstock Winter Steelhead hung up in the brush

Suddenly, the steelhead dashed in amid the branches along the bank, and James’ line caught in the brush.  I dashed into the shallows to try and unhook it before the fish got leverage to spit the hook, when suddenly, the line broke.  I had maneuvered in between the fish and the channel of the river and thought to myself “I’ve seen and heard about people flipping a fish onto the bank from the shallows”, so I moved in, just as the fish was deciding to move back out, and we both splashed in the water, but then I caught a glimpse of it’s adipose fin, so it was a wild fish and was going to fight for another day.  This was a big fish, another 15 to 17 pounder!

Native Winter Steelhead on the Clackamas River

My red, orange and peach yarnie drifted its way across the Clackamas River’s rocky bottom, bouncing inches from this massive Native Winter Steelhead!  The secret sauce called the fish in and it hit lightly–almost not enough to notice.  But then, the yarnie caught in the Steelhead’s teeth long enough for me to think “Fish On!!” and set the hook!  I knew right away that this was going to be a big fish–at least the size of the coho salmon from the Fall.  My reel screamed as the fish took line and headed downstream.  I gave chase and caught up, to it.  It thrashed in the water a few times and didn’t leap out of the river (I think that usually that means its a hen), but I saw the really vibrant red striping on a gray-green fish.  I’m not sure I’ve seen one that color before!  I felt the fish give in a little bit, so I pulled it into the eddy, out of the current, and shouted to an onlooker to see if he could spot the adipose fin, since there were a lot of native fish in the river, and release it quickly if it were.  The Winter Steelhead rolled on the surface again, revealing that it was wild and would fight another day.  I moved in closer to try to tail the fish for the release, and the onlooker splashed into the water, to get a closer look, which spooked the fish, who made a run out of the eddy, rolling, and popped the hook and yarnie back out.  That fish tore out of the eddy and back to the depths.  Wow!  What a rush!

This was the second annual Super Bowl Steelhead!  It definitely fought harder than the crazy coho’s of the Sandy River.  No photo, but it looked just like the picture above.  I’d guess about 17 pounds, but I’ll never know for sure!

Steelhead University has some great maps and descriptions of the Clackamas River, so check those out, too!

Yaquina Bay Crabs

We went crabbing out in Yaquina Bay yesterday morning and got a some Dungeness Crabs and a few Red Rock Crabs!  We had some for dinner on Paula’s famous Grilled Cheese and Crab sandwiches!  Make sure you use Tillamook Cheddar if you try this at home.

Also, for all my East Coast friends who don’t get the “We’ve Got Crab Legs” reference, see the video below!  You may also remember the episode of Deadliest Catch where Jonathan Hillstrand of the Time Bandit was singing that song.  Well, here’s where it came from:

We took these fun crab shots of some of our Dungeness Crabs from back in 2006.

Crab with a Beer

Sandy River Chinook Salmon - The Hook-Up

Salmon fishing on the Sandy River had been pretty hot early on with a few Coho Salmon caught, but for the last two weekends the rivers cleared and the bite cooled off.  Saturday morning (October 16th) was cold with the suggestion of frost on the car’s windshield as James and I set out into the freezing mist to see what lurked in the river that morning.

James set up shop at the top of the seam and started working his way down, and I started at the bottom and worked my way upstream.  Right off the bat, James noticed a big fish rising and swimming around below his spot, but the fish swam out of sight before he had a shot at it.  I worked my way up with a slight variation of my homemade custom spinner when something big slammed my spinner!

My Shimano Sonora’s drag screamed as the big salmon ripped line out while making some powerful runs.  Finally, I managed to get it under control as it tired out  and started working it toward the shallows where we got a glimpse of the monster.  James pointed and shouted “That’s the same fish!!”, meaning the same one he had spotted earlier.  We also noticed that it had a full adipose fin, so we knew that this one was going back.

Sandy River Chinook Salmon

After I got it into some shallower water, I tossed my rod down to quickly unhook it for a photo or two.  Look at the beak on that fish!

Sandy River Native Chinook Salmon

This Chinook was at least 20 pounds, and my biggest fish from the bank yet, so you can see that I was pretty jazzed!

Sandy River Chinook Salmon Getting Released

Landing this fish was a lot of work, and the salmon seemed a bit tired.  So, I spent about twice as long as usual pulling it back and forth in the water to make sure it was aerated and strong enough to swim off on its own, and eventually, it did, swearing that it wouldn’t touch another spinner again.

James with his Sandy River Coho Salmon

It’s official!  As of yesterday morning, James is on the board and back in the game, picking up his first salmon in a while!  And what a nice Sandy River Coho Salmon hen to make a comeback with, too!  Nice work, dude!  She was chock full of eggs and cut nice and pink.  This bright fish hit one of the top secret JkbWorld-design custom spinners that I rocked the Sandy River with for Coho Salmon last week!  I think it was his new waders!

We cured James’ salmon eggs with a mix of borax and sugar.  We hope to post some fish pictures later this year when get them into the water.

Whitey waiting by the Little Chief Smoker for James' Sandy Coho Salmon to be done

James made some sashimi with the fresh salmon.  The rest, he left for the Little Chief Smoker.  This time we (Tuxedo helped) did a nice teriyaki marinade with a roll in some sea salt followed by about eight hours in some alder smoke.  Our resident feral yard cat, Whitey, knew something good was smoking in there and wanted to make sure she was first in line!  This turned out to be one of the best batches yet!

Coho Salmon from the Muddy Sandy River

After steady rain all week, I thought to myself that the fish would be on their way in to the local rivers and the Fall Coho Salmon fishing season would be on its way.  So, I tossed around the idea of fishing on Saturday 9/18/2010 in the early morning.  I usually fish the Clackamas River, but I was tossing around the idea of heading further north to the Sandy River.  Paula and I had plans in the afternoon on Saturday and then there was a Beavers game on tv, and it would probably be raining, so late Friday night, I set my alarm and turned in after midnight.  Maybe I’d go fishing, maybe not.

Despite my poorly made plans to get up early and hit the river, I barely dragged out of bed.  I glared at my alarm clock until it turned itself off.  I almost went back to bed, but I knew that if I did, a few hours later, I’d be kicking myself thinking “Damn, I should have gone fishing!”  So, I shook off the sleep, took entirely too long getting my gear together and headed out.

Sandy River in the Mist

I arrived at the Sandy River about 45 minutes later, feeling much more awake after drinking my coffee along the way.  It rained pretty hard overnight and there was mist and gray skies all over, but the river looked to be in a very fishy shape.  The water was not clear, but dark.  There were also silver Coho Salmon rolling and wakes from the pods of fish moving upstream.  I tossed my homemade spinner out into the river for about 30 minutes, watching the fish moving upstream, always seeming to be just beyond where my spinner landed, when suddenly I felt a strange tug and my rod bent over!  Now, I had some technical difficulties with my heavier baitcasting rod, and because I wasn’t really prepared and hadn’t fixed it yet, I just grabbed my steelhead spinning rod because time was a’wastin’.  My steelhead rod (Ugly Stik Lite XL) is extremely flexible, so I was in for a rodeo.

The fish I hooked was BIG!  My baitcasting rod seems to have a little bit more backbone and you can control the fish a little bit more.  My Ugly Stik, however, seemed to be a little overmatched, so instead of standing my ground, I had to run down the bank to keep the fish at bay.  The salmon made some powerful runs and you could hear my drag screaming across the river.  I don’t know how much time it took, but it was a battle royale, but eventually, I got the salmon to come close to the bank and was shocked that it had a big adipose fin, signaling that it was going to fight another day since it was wild and illegal to take.  So, I got it over to a good spot, tossed my backpack down and reached for my pliers to quickly unhook the fish, but at exactly that moment, the salmon, in a moment of glory, made a mad run and broke my line!  I think that fish was 20 pounds and maybe a chinook or a big coho salmon.  I was going to look at the mouth when I unhooked it, but I didn’t make it that far.  I’m going to have to figure out how to tell based on the tail and spots.

Anyway, that got my adrenaline pumping and the muscles in my arm had that good burning from fighting a strong fish!  I’ll take it!

Stylish Salmon Tote

So I retied another one of my trusty homemade spinners.   I had a little luck with this same spinner last fall when I caught and released a Siletz Coho Salmon and then earlier this spring I saw some dark, soreback Coho Salmon follow my spinner in while fishing on the Clackamas.  So I kept tossing the spinner, working my way down the bank, covering lots of water right along this nice seam when again, something came tapping on my spinner that didn’t feel like the bottom.  I was still jazzed from the earlier salmon that I ‘released’, so I set the hook without a second of hesitation and to my excitement, it started pulling back with a vengeance!  It leapt out of the water right away, which Paula’s dad, Clark, said usually tells you its a Coho.  Once again, I had to run down the bank, and then back up the bank, and then back down the bank to keep the salmon from breaking my 12lb mainline and 8lb leader, but after a few minutes of cardio for me, I got the fish close, tailed it, took a quick look at the mouth to identify it as a Coho and flopped it on the bank.  Bonked, tagged and bagged!  You’ll notice the picture above I’ve got a stylish new salmon tote bag with a convenient carry strap.  This was a from a folding chair that broke, and it made a great bag to pack a fish out in.

Hook Nose on the Sandy River Coho Salmon

Check out the hook nose on this Coho Salmon buck!  Pretty cool.  This salmon was about 11 or 12 pounds if my crappy fish scale was accurate.

Jeff posing with Saturday Sandy River Coho Salmon

Check out the MotoSport logo!  Maybe they’ll put my picture in the catalog.  No?  Ok, I agree.  Bad idea.  (Also, just so there’s no confusion, that fish IS adipose-clipped–it looks odd in this picture.)

Anyway, there was no doubt that I was going fishing tomorrow, and I was pretty sure that as soon as James heard that I’d gotten into some fish, that he’d be coming along too.  However, that night, the rain came back in force, and we weren’t sure what shape the river would be in.  We got up at the crack of dawn and headed north to the Sandy again.

Jeff fighting the Sunday Coho Salmon on the Sandy River (JRW Photos)

The river was the color of chocolate milk, but as we worked our way downstream, I tossed my spinner into a fishy looking spot, and I must have put it right on top of him, because this salmon clobbered my spinner as soon as it hit water, splashing and showing us its tail.  For a split second, James and I stared at it in amazement, and then rodeo was on again.  I admit, it’s very convenient to have a personal photographer along to capture the exciting moments.  As usual, James got some great pictures!  You can see the Coho Salmon’s head popping out of the water toward the end of the fight.

James fishing the muddy Sandy River

As the morning progressed, the weather got clearer, but the river got muddier so we continued moving down the river looking for another biter in all the muddy water.  There’s James downstream a ways fishing.

Jeff posing with Coho Salmon from the Sandy River (JRW Photos)

Now, you may or may not have noticed that both days that I wore a black MotoSport tee shirt.  I’m not saying that it’s good luck and that you should rush out and buy yourself one (probably two), but the fact is, I got a salmon each day that I wore one.

Anyway, the fresh salmon right off the barbecue was awesome, and you can bet that we’re fishing again next weekend, too!

Paula's Trout - 1/2 of First Double

Two weeks ago, we took the canoe out on a lackluster 2010 maiden voyage.  So we took it out to Estacada Lake for the first time this year, and the Rainbow Trout fishing was HOT!  We were making our very first pass and BOOM, both Paula and I had fish on!  Double!

Jeff's Trout - Other 1/2 of Double

After we boated our Rainbow Trout, we tossed our lines out again and resumed the troll, and within a few more minutes, we had another double!  Paula and I were tied at two fish each!  At this rate, we should be finished quickly… or would we?

There were some big ones out there...

There were some good-sized trout in the lake, too.  We were using slightly larger hooks than everyone else, so naturally, our fish would be a little bigger.  I caught the largest trout this time around.  (Of course, it didn’t top Paula’s Super Trout)

Blue Skies for part of the day

I limited out quickly with my 5 Rainbows, while Paula was still on 2!  Paula, always dignified, refused to let me “help” her by leaving my rod out there and pass it to her.  No Pity Fish for her!  So, while she reeled in fish #3, I took time out to take some pictures of the sky.  It started out with nice blue skies, but then as soon as we got out, it switched to gray and drizzle.

Gray Skies and drizzle for the rest

But, we had our rain gear and were prepared, so as soon as we put on our rain gear, the drizzle took a hint and almost immediately stopped!

Paula's 4th Rainbow with the Hot Lure!

Even though she wouldn’t take a pity fish, she did take my hot lure and immediately, she started to hook up!  Here is Paula with her fourth trout!

YouTube Video Here once I post it.

Here’s Paula getting her last fish of the day!

o/~ It's the circle... the circle of Trout! o/~

Paula posed our two limits for a photo before we cleaned them.  Think of the Lion King theme song…

Preparing the Rainbow Trout for the Smoker

After eating two barbecue roasted rainbows for dinner, with mango slices and some bok choy, I prepared my apple-juice marinade to marinate the rest of them overnight to put them on the smoker in the morning.  These will be good!

So, I lead the 2010 Estacada Lake series.  Paula conceded defeat yesterday evening:

Jeff and I went trout fishing today and we both caught our limit! I must admit though, he limited out way before I did, and won fishing bragging rights of the day. We are going again tomorrow, and the race will be on again!

We’re going out again today to see if Paula can tie it up!