Jon’s Outdoors Fishing & Hunting News

Hey Everyone, February 26, 2008

This has sure been a busy couple of months doing sportsman shows. I feel like that old Hank Snow song when he was singing “I’ve been everywhere man I’ve been everywhere”. I started in Sacramento, CA then to Puyallup, WA then to Portland, OR then to Pittsburgh, PA then to Reno, NV. I leave in the morning for Redmond, OR then in a couple weeks to Spokane, WA. YEE HAA then I get to start fishing. I really like doing the shows. I get a chance to meet a lot of people and also get to see a lot of hunting and fishing spots all over the world. I think I have myself talked into an elk-hunting trip for this next year. I just have to decide where to go and who to go with. I do have it narrowed down to a couple spots. I can’t wait. Anyway, we have been booking a lot of trips and I wanted to let everyone know what fishing and hunting is available for this year with us. As most of you know, but for the new subscribers to the newsletter I will let you know again, that we run two outfits. I have been a fishing guide on the Columbia River for a lot of years. I fish for sturgeon, salmon and steelhead. I will be fishing from the last week of March through most of July. We also own a hunting outfit in Wyoming that is also awesome. We hunt mule deer, whitetail deer and antelope. We have about 200,000 acres of private land that we have leased from a bunch of different ranchers in the area and our success rate is fantastic with very good accommodations. First, here is what’s going on in the fishing.
There will be both keeper sturgeon and salmon fishing going on the end of March through the first couple of weeks in May. We are all kind of anxious about the salmon run. We are told that we are supposed to get a huge run this year and they are letting us fish up by Bonneville Dam. This is my stomping ground so we should see a lot of salmon. We will be sitting on anchor using sardine wrapped Quik-Fish and also using some spinners. This is very effective in that part of the river where the currant is running at a fast pace. If you are planning on heading up there with your own boat and have not fished up there before be very careful. The river runs very fast up towards Bonneville Dam and with all the snow we have gotten this year it will be at it’s worse. Make sure you have at least 300 feet of rope and a heavy anchor. This time of the year we see many boaters get messed up in that currant. If you are not familiar with it and you are heading up and not sure of how to fish it please do not hesitate to give me a call or if you are up there just ask one of the guides you see for some advice. Most guides up there are pretty good. You will run into a few boneheads but if you do just go to the next one and ask. We would rather help you out then see you mess up a half a dozen boats. Once you get a fish hooked up you will throw your anchor ball over and float down with the fish so you want to make sure you have a lot of room because you will go down river fast and especially if there is an east wind. If you are unsure if what is going on then just book a trip with a guide for a day then you can get a feel of what is going on. Here are the dates I have available for March through the first couple weeks of May. Remember we can only keep sturgeon on Thursdays through Sundays. I have March 27, 28, 29, 30, April 4, May 1, 4, 8, 9, 10 and 11 for keeper sturgeon. I have April 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 14, 16 for Spring salmon.
On May 16th it will open for shad fishing on the Columbia River and that is when I will start fishing for the giant sturgeon. This is so much fun. These fish will average 200-400 pounds and to watch a fish like that tail walk behind the boat while you are fighting it is pretty good stuff. Here are the dates I have from May 16th through July: May 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, June 2, 3, 4, 16, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 and most of the first half of July. After July I will be heading to Wyoming and doing some maintenance of the bunkhouse getting it ready for hunting this year. But, before I talk about our hunting I have to tell you this joke that was emailed to me.

Four guys go fishing. After an hour, the following conversation
took place.

First guy: “You have no idea what I had to do to be able to come out
fishing this weekend. I had to promise my wife that I
will paint every room in the house next weekend.”

Second guy: “That is nothing, I had to promise my wife that I will
build her a new deck for the pool.”

Third guy: “Man, you both have it easy! I had to promise my wife
that I will remodel the kitchen for her.”

They continue to fish when they realized that the
fourth guy has not said a word. So they asked him.

“You haven’t said anything about what you had to do to be able to
come fishing this weekend. What’s the deal?”

Fourth guy: “I just set my alarm for 3:30 am. When it went off, I
shut off my alarm, slapped my wife on the butt and said, are we
making love or am I going fishing? She said don’t forget the sun block.

Let’s talk some hunting. I am so excited about our hunting outfit out in Wyoming. The last couple years have went great. We had 64 hunters last year and all filled but two and the two that didn’t fill could have. It is unbelievable how many animals we see in a day. You can see some of our hunters for the last couple of years at:
www.kodakgallery.com/gimmeago
It is a great place because we have hunts for everyone. No matter what you limits are we have a hunt for you. If you like covering the country and getting right out and hunting we have leases for you to hunt. If you have limitations of how much walking you can do we have hunts for you also and everyone has opportunities to get your animal. Our bunkhouse is very nice. It has 4 big rooms that sleep 2-4 people and each room has it’s own bathroom and shower. We hunt deer and antelope and they are very plentiful. I also have to get into the turkey hunting some because there are so many turkeys out there it’s unbelievable. You can see a few hundred turkeys everyday. I have to hire a turkey guide and just let him/her do nothing but turkey guiding. Anyway, I have room for one more group for a rifle combo deer/antelope hunt for 2008 and I am full and I am booking for 2009. I do have room for a couple archery groups for combo hunts yet for 2008 and again I am also booking for 2009. We do have room for antelope hunting only for rifle and archery for 2008. The draw is coming up. The deadline is March 15th. We will have leftover antelope licenses but you never know about leftover deer licenses. When you give us a call my wife will walk through the whole drawing process with you.
Give us a call if you are interested in any fishing with us on the Columbia River or hunting with us in Wyoming. We would love the opportunity to hunt and/or fish with you. Thanks again for being great customers and for you that haven’t got to get out with us yet we are sure looking forward to doing that with you. Have a great day and talk to you soon.

Hey Everyone, November 23, 2007

Well, it has been a while since I sent out the last newsletter. I have gotten phone calls and emails from different ones wondering if I was still alive. I am still kicking and ugly as ever. We have had quite a year. From working for that friend of mine in Alaska this last summer to starting up the hunting in Wyoming this last fall I have been busier then a one armed paper hanger but have loved it. I have so much to talk about in this letter but I will try to keep it to a minimum so you won’t get too bored with it. I might even spare you from another bad joke or maybe not. We will see how it goes.
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and now it is that Christmas frenzy time of the year. If anyone needs my Christmas list just give me a call. Okay, I am kidding but since it is Christmas time and it is a celebration of the birth of Jesus and kids all over the world are making out a Christmas list it reminds me of a joke. Haha! There was a little boy that wanted a new bike real bad so he decided to write Jesus a letter. He wrote, “Dear Jesus, if you give me a brand new bike I will be good for two weeks.” However after the little boy seen what he wrote he realized that being good for two weeks was not going to happen so he tears the letter up and starts another. “Dear Jesus, if you give me a brand new bike I will be good for one week.” But after reading it back to himself he again realized that being good for a week wasn’t even possible. So he starts another letter. “ Dear Jesus if you give me a brand new bike I will be good for a whole day.” The little boy read this back to himself with a bit of confidence but after thinking more about it he knew that even for a day was not going to happen. So very down and out the little boy was walking around the house sulking and wishing for a new bike. After walking by his mom and dad’s room the little boy noticed a statue of Mother Mary on their dresser. The little boy had an idea and took the statue, put it in a shoebox and slipped it under his bed and started another letter. “DEAR JESUS IF YOU EVER WANT TO SEE YOUR MOM AGAIN!
Okay I couldn’t resist now let’s talk about what’s been going on with the hunting and fishing. This is how this last year went. After the sportsman shows I fished here on the Columbia River from April through the first part of July. A week after that we flew out to my son’s graduation from basic training in Oklahoma. I am very proud of him. He joined the army and scored well on his test so he got to choose what he wanted to do and he chose ranger airborne medic. He is doing great and has another graduation this December 13th from the first part of his medical training. He is now an EMT. After graduation he gets to come home for a couple weeks then he starts his airborne training. Anyway, we went to his graduation then a couple days after we got back I headed to Alaska and worked for a friend of mine on Prince of Wales Island. It went pretty good. I learned a lot about the fishing up there and just love it. However after the season was over the friend of mine decided that he is going to sell his boat and farm the salt guiding out to other guides. So after seeing that I was not going to be working for him next year I thought I would look to do my own gig in Alaska. We found some land and are now in the process of buying it. I will have more info on this as soon as I know more of how it will pan out. We are excited about it. The land is right on this lake and is a beautiful place for a vacation. I can’t wait to get the cabins built. The hunting up there is very good, the fishing is better and the beauty of Alaska is even better. So please be patient with me about getting this up and going because I would love to have everyone come fish and hunt with me up in Alaska. It will be worth the wait.
After I got back from Alaska I fished salmon on the Columbia River for eight days then a couple days after that we headed off to Wyoming.
The Wyoming hunting is AWESOME! If you didn’t hear, we bought a deer/antelope hunting outfit from a guy that had it for about 30 years. It is a very reputable business and it is everything that he told me it was. We have a new bunkhouse with each room having it’s own bathroom and shower. All of our hunts are done on private leases and the tags have been 100% to draw so everyone that puts in gets to hunt for sure. We had about 60 hunters and all but two filled there tags but more importantly then that I think everyone had a great time. I have fantastic guides working for me and I think everyone went away weighing more then when they got there so the food was great also. It must have been good because the first week of next year is already booked from hunters that were there this year. We have mule deer, whitetail deer and antelope. This is a hunt that anybody can do. The hunts are as hard or as easy as you want them to be. The ones that like to get out and hunt, we have some good hiking for you and for the ones that are limited for whatever reason we have leases for you. Last year we had a guy in a wheel chair take a mule deer and an antelope with his bow. This is a hunt for everyone to do. Some of my family even got to hunt. My 18-year-old daughter came over with me and guided, gutted, skinned and cleaned for me and did an awesome job. She also took a dandy antelope and a whitetail deer. My wife while she was over also took an antelope and I didn’t want to loose out so I took an antelope also. I have some of our hunts online so you can look at them if you want. www.kodakgallery.com/gimmeago and go to 2007 hunts. If you are interested in hunting with us next year just give me a call or send me an email. I will talk about this a little more later on.
Now that I am back from Wyoming I am getting ready for the sportsman shows starting the first of the year. We will be doing six shows again this year. Here are the shows we will be at and their dates:

January 17-20 Sacramento California
January 23-27 Puyallup Washington
February 6-10 Portland Oregon
February 13 17 Monroeville Pennsylvania
February 28-March 2 Redmond Oregon
March 20-23 Spokane Washington

Please stop by and say hi. In some of these shows we will have booths in different parts of the show for our hunting and fishing but I will be at one of the booths. But I will be looking forward to seeing you.
Here is my schedule for next year of hunting and fishing. I will do shows through March. April through mid July I will be sturgeon and salmon fishing on the Columbia River. Hopefully I will be in Alaska in August working on the cabins and doing some fishing of my own. If this all works out then I will be looking to do some horse-trading. I am trading some carpentry work for some hunting in Wyoming or fishing is Alaska which ever. I have some coming already but if you are interested and have some carpentry experience please contact me. Then after I get back from Alaska I will fish for a week or so on the Columbia for salmon the first part of September then I will head to Wyoming after that. That sounds like a good year doesn’t it? I told my wife if I just had two more months in a year, one more day in a week and two of me this would be a cakewalk.
Anyway, with all the sportsman shows I am doing the fishing is booking up fast and there will always be room in the hunting but it is also booking. Our prices for the fishing on the Columbia River will be going up a little for next year. We are $150 per person now and it will go up to $175 for next year. If you book before January 1st we are still going to honor this years price. So, if you are looking for a day of fishing with me or looking for a great Christmas gift just give us a call. We would love to get you on the book for fishing next year. If you are thinking about hunting with us in Wyoming next year keep in mind that the deadline for the licenses are March 15th. Give us a call and we will walk through the process with you. We will generally always have leftover tags available but the easiest way is to do it before March 15th.
Thanks again for being great customers and I hope that the Christmas holidays are extra special for you all this year. Remember to take that neighbor kid fishing or hunting with you. You will make a difference for that child. Talk to you soon.

Hey Everyone, July 2, 2007

The Wyoming F&G has posted the left over tags on their web site. I was told by the F&G that it would be July 10th but YEE HAA they got them out early. There is both deer and antelope available in most of the units we hunt. For all of you that are interested in hunting with us this year please give us a call before you buy any tags so we can tell you what unit to put in for and then you can go on line and purchase them. You will not want to wait long because I was told that last years left over tags sold in about a week. Here are our prices again just incase you need them. We have 2 rifle buck antelope hunts. We have what we call our motel hunt. This is a 2-day hunt and you take care of your own accommodations. My guide will pick you up where ever you are staying in Buffalo and take you out to the leases. This hunt is $1400. We have a 3-day antelope hunt where you are staying at one of the ranches and we take care of all the accommodations and this hunt is $2200. We have a 3-day rifle deer hunts and on both of these hunts you are staying at one of our ranches. The mule deer hunts are $3400 and the white tail hunts are $2700. We offered a combo hunt special at the sportsman shows this last year and we will continue the special this year and that is $3900 for a deer/antelope combo hunt. The dates for these hunts will be determined by which tags you buy. We have a split season in the areas we hunt. A few units we hunt are October 1-14 and the other side open October 15 through November 15.
When you purchase your tags give us a call back to verify it and at that time we will take the deposits for each hunter. We require a $600 deposit for each hunter and the day of the hunt we can take care of the balance.
If you have any questions about any of our hunts please contact us and my wife or I would love to answer any questions you might have or maybe you just want to talk hunting that is okay too. Thanks and talk to you soon.