Jon’s Outdoors Fishing & Hunting News

June, 2008 Archive

June Newsletter

Saturday, June 7th, 2008

Hey Everyone,

Is it summer at anyone’s house because it sure hasn’t got here in Oregon yet. I have never complained about our wet weather here in the Northwest but I am getting close. I haven’t had the top off my boat all year. In April I had more snow fall on my boat while fishing than all my guiding years combined. This global warming is a killer. Well, we know that summer is just around the corner and that means it is time for the kids to get out of school. YEEE HAAA all the moms are saying. But, this is a great time for sportsman to get kids involved in the hunting and fishing. I need to get on a soapbox for a second. We need to start coming out of our comfort zone and start inviting our neighbor kids and kids that we have around us to fish and hunt with us. I was reading a magazine the other day and I am not sure of the numbers without going and looking it up again but it was scary to see the numbers falling of our next generation of sportsman. Kids are just not getting into the hunting and fishing like years past. They are our future of keeping hunting and fishing alive and well. We have many more of the population that would love to stop our rights to hunt and fish. Our guns are at risk of being taken away more then ever before. I am not going to go political in this newsletter but I will say that I am scared of what is going on. Folks, look for kids to get out with you. When you take kids out, go at their pace not yours. If a 2-hour fishing trip is all they can do to stay excited then make it 2 hours not 10 hours. They will want to come back if they are comfortable. Remember, being out is new to a lot of them. On my boat I see dads bring their kids out for a fishing day and the dads want to make it this macho thing. The dad has his $300 gortex on and the kids have a WallMart garbage bag on they call rain gear. Make them Comfortable and fun then they will want to come back. Allow them to have the freedom to make mistakes. It’s okay they will learn. I had a father and son out one day and the kid hooked a salmon that turned out to be a bit more then 40 pounds. That dad was on that kid so much about keeping his rod up, keep the line tight, get on the right side of the boat and it went on and on. The kid was so scared not to loose the fish. He didn’t really care if he got the fish at this point he just didn’t want to loose it and make his dad mad. I finally said, jokingly but serious to back off and let him enjoy this fight. We got the fish but when I put it in the net the kid really didn’t care. He was just relieved he didn’t lose it. I doubt if that kid will ever fish with his dad when he is older. It is just a fish and nothing more. We have got to change our definition of a successful day. We should not equate our success to a day that we kill a fish or a deer but that we are out in God’s great creation and we get to spend time with others and we have an opportunity to share our experiences with the younger. It is such a blessing to see a kid out fishing for the first time or seeing his/her eyes when they see their first herd of elk for the first time. It WILL come back to you 10 folds. Anyway, I will get off the soapbox and talk some fishing and hunting now.

BIG STURGEON ARE IN

We are having a blast catching these big sturgeon out here on the Columbia River. Every year I still get wowed when I see a 300-pound sturgeon tail walking behind the boat. We had one the other day that jumped out if the water 4 times and on 2 of the jumps there was probably a foot or two of air between that fish’s tail and the water. Because of the big snow fall from Oregon to Canada we are having an incredible snow melt this year and that is making some very high water to fish. We are not seeing too much problem with getting the sturgeon but we are having trouble with the shad bite for bait. The early morning shad bite has been very slow. By mid morning when the light gets on the water then we are doing okay. If you are new to this newsletter and/or fishing out here in the Northwest let me give you a run down of what we are catching. Right now we are fishing for the trophy sturgeon. They are the big breeders that are migrating up the Columbia River to spawn. These sturgeon are big and old. Kind of like me. A female sturgeon is 23-28 years old before she even gets her reproduction system. A male is 15 plus years before he has his. We know that a sturgeon can live over a hundred years so these are some old timers. Our average sturgeon that we are catching right now is about 200-400 pounds. It is all catch and release of these breeders but they will make a video you will watch over and over. We use shad for bait. The American Shad average about 2-4 pounds each and we get a few million of these fish coming up the Columbia River every year. We go up in the morning and beside this year we have enough bait in 20 minutes. Shad are very fun to catch and make a great fishing trip for kids because there is a lot of action and they are very good fighters. Anyway, we catch these shad and use them whole for bait. It is pretty impressive to see a 4-pound bait used in fresh water. I have had a lot of people tell me the shad we are catching is the biggest fish they had ever caught. It is a lot of fun. Now through the summer is a good time to catch the trophy sturgeon. We will have a bit of a bonus this month also. We will be able to do some combo salmon/sturgeon trips. We are going to have June 21-28 open for salmon fishing. These are the big king salmon. It is not our biggest run of the river but if you get one it will be a large salmon. Catching a summer salmon that is 30-40 pounds is not uncommon. But, we will be able to do both if you want and I do have a few dates left. I will give you those dates later.
I am going to fish through the middle of July. In July we will also be able to do combo fishing trips. We will be able to do trophy sturgeon and steelhead at that time. You get into a bunch of steelhead you are talking about a lot of fun. Then we are heading to our bunkhouse in Wyoming to do some maintenance. Doesn’t that sound like fun? But, I have to get ready for our hunts this fall. By the way, if you did not get your hunts that you put in for, we will have Antelope tags available for this year. I have room for 12-15 more antelope hunter for 2008. Give us a call if you are interested in that.
Well, let me give you some dates that I still have available for fishing. For June I have 16, 17, and 24-27 available. July is mostly open at this time. We will be catching shad through June and usually the first week or so of July. Please give us a call if you want any more info about any of these trips, hunting or fishing. Thanks about talk to you soon. Remember take a kid with you on your next trip.

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Oregon Sturgeon and Salmon Fishing in the Columbia River Gorge

June, 2008 Archive

June Newsletter

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