February 2008
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.