Jon’s Outdoors Fishing & Hunting News

Hey Everyone,
How is everyone doing? We are all fine here. I have been busy fishing for both spring salmon and keeper sturgeon and it has been awesome. We limited the boat yesterday for salmon and had 3 guys that had never caught a salmon before. They were stoked. It is always exciting for me to see the looks and actions of a first timer getting their first fish or game animal. It is the rewarding part of my job that just keeps me going. I think that everyone needs to reflect every now and then about your first fish that you landed or the first big game animal you shot. Some of you have heard my story of my first deer I ever shot. Growing up me dad never spent time with us teaching my brother and I about hunting or fishing so we learned it on our own. I was a hunting/fishing nut from an early age. I never got to do it much until I was about 12 years old where I could start getting out on my own a little. Anyway, I didn’t know anything about a buck or a doe or a season or a caliber you were supposed to use. I knew nothing except I loved going shooting with my .22 that I bought when I was about 10. Well, we moved to a little town called Ethel WA. When dad backed the U-Haul in the driveway, we saw 5 deer in the back yard. I went nuts. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, deer right in my yard. This was a dream come true. Did you ever see the movie “Where the Red Fern Grows”? That was me. I couldn’t stop thinking about those deer. Are there more? Will I ever see them again? Does that happen a lot to just have deer come in your yard? Well, one day I was out shooting my .22 single shot out in the woods behind our house and I could not believe what I was seeing. Three deer were standing not 30 feet from me. You have been there you know how hard my heart was pounding. I was shaking so bad that I thought there was something wrong with me. I had never heard of buck fever. I had never heard about a buck. But, there were deer right in front of me and I was loving it. I had to shoot one. I aimed my .22 at the head of one and there was no way to keep that gun steady. I was shaking uncontrollable. I held it as steady as I could and shot. Two of the deer ran off but one stayed there. I am sure just laughing at me but for whatever reason that one deer stayed. I loaded another shell, took aim and shot again. The deer just starred at me. Feeling like I was going to loose a chance of a lifetime, I loaded another shell as fast as I could, aimed and shot again. Again I missed. Did I tell you this is about 30 feet away? I had just been shooting fir cones off the trees at three times the distance and hardly ever miss but I couldn’t hit this deer at 30 feet. I loaded again and missed again. I did this eight times. Finally, the ninth shot I hit the deer and it dropped like a rock. I did it. I shot my first deer. I was jumping up and down. I was yelling and laughing. I had shot a deer. I could have died right there and been happy. I started gutting this trophy out and I am sure that was a site. I had never seen so much blood in my life and boy did that gut stink when my knife cut it wide open. I got it as cleaned out as I thought it should be and started dragging it home. I was about a half mile from our house so I figured it would be best to drag it to the road then to the house. I wouldn’t have to go through all the woods this way. I started dragging that deer and it sure got heavy but I kept going. I drug it right down Larmon road to my house. I am sure cars had to of went by and seen what I was doing but no one stopped and my chest was stuck out as wide as a 12 year old boys chest could stick out. I finally made it to our driveway and ran in the house yelling for my dad to come out and see what I did. Hey dad I shot a deer and at that time all deer hunting education was brought out. “You what?” Dad had managed to pop my whole bubble. I found out there was a season in which you had to hunt in. I found out there that bucks are boy deer with horns and does are the girls. I shot a girl deer. I found out there are guns you can use and guns you can’t use while hunting deer. A .22 is one you can’t use. There was nothing I did right in that hunt. But, one thing else I found out. Venison is good stuff. I did it wrong but I will never forget that first deer. After that I hunted every chance I had. A good friend of mine named Don and I spent every bit of time we had hunting together. My grandpa got wind of what I did and sent me out a 30-40 Krag and that was my first hunting rifle. The first doesn’t have to be the biggest to be your best. While remembering your first hunting trip or fishing trip, think of a kid around you that might need some a chance at his/her first. It is rewarding.
Let’s talk some fishing. Keeper sturgeon is red hot right now. Sunday we were done by 9:00am. I had a group that had to catch a plane so we had to be off the water by noon. It never fails. You tell me we have to be off the water at a certain time and we will hook an oversize sturgeon 10 minutes before we have to leave every time and we did just that. That poor guy worked so hard on that fish to get it up as fast as he could and he did it. We pulled anchor and I cleaned fish as fast as I could. They made it okay and that was a great day. I have had something happen that I can’t remember when it last happened. I have had two cancellations for this week. This is a prime time keeper sturgeon fishing folks. I could have booked these days 25 times but life happens sometimes. If you can go on a short notice it is open for full boats both the 17th and 18th of this week. Give us a call and we will get you in for those dates.
Spring salmon fishing is red hot also. We are doing great. I was told by a biologist to not plan on fishing past the 20 of April. He thought the quota would be reached. I have not heard anything yet so if you want to book a spring salmon trip I have the 21 and the 23 open. You have to understand that the F&G can close it at any time so we may not be able to fish but it is worth getting on the books just in case. We are getting limits just about every day and everyday it keeps getting better.
Remember May 16th we will start fishing for the trophy sturgeon. I have a few dates left in May and some in June. Give us a call if you want a lot of fun and some bragging rights. The first of July we will be doing some combo sturgeon and salmon trips with some steelhead being caught. We will do that through mid July then I am heading over to Wyoming to do some carpet work in the bunkhouse.
Remember if you didn’t get your hunting draws you were hoping to get, you can still hunt. I will have antelope tags available so give us a call on that if you are interested.
Thanks and keep safe in the outdoors. Don’t forget to take a kid fishing or hunting with you.

Hey Everyone, March 10, 2008

I hope everything is fine in your neck of the woods. I have a week off before I head over to Spokane, WA to do my last sportsman show so I thought I would get a newsletter out. It seems lately that my letters have been rushed a bit with too much business and not enough life in it so let me get you caught up on what is going on in our life.
It was fun last year to have my 18-year old daughter help me out over in Wyoming. She did everything from cleaning rooms to guiding and gutting. She might make out to be a good kid anyway. She will be back out again this year to work with me again. She shot a goofy horned antelope last year and a nice little whitetail. It is so much fun watching your kids hunt and take an animal. I am not sure if that isn’t the most satisfying thing to watch. Our 15-year old daughter wants to come out this year and shoot an antelope. I can’t wait. My wife and I also took a couple of good antelope. It was my wife’s first big game kill and now she is planning her caribou trip, lion trip and I think she even mentioned a sheep trip. I told her to get another job. You can see last seasons photos at: www.kodakgallery.com/gimmeago

My youngest son is doing well in the army. We are very proud of him. He finished basic last summer then graduated from his medic school. After that he got into Air Borne and graduated from that now he is in Georgia getting ready to get into RIP then Rangers. He is one beat up kid. I talked to him the other day and for the first time I could hear a bit of anxiety in his voice. He said he was no way going to quit but he was hurting. I reassured him that this isn’t for the weak. That he is in an elite group and it is supposed to be hard. I am sure he will do well.
My little 3-year old grandson is growing like a weed. He runs the place. He keeps telling me that he wants to shoot an antelope then gets mad when I tell him we can’t do that right now. He goes and gets his gun and grabs me by the finger to head out hunting. That boy doesn’t have a chance.
Stacy and I have just been busy with shows. It has been going very well. I did, for the first time, the RMEF show in Reno. It was great. I am sure we will be doing that show from now on. What great people I met there. It seemed like all the egos were left out at the door and that everyone no matter what you were hunting was important. The down side is that those dirty rotten no good $&%&% slot machines. I NEVER win anything on those yet I keep trying. I went over to the show with an old buddy of mine. That Friday night we called our wives to fly over and spend the rest of the weekend with us. I am glad we did because my buddy’s wife won $1300 and my wife won $300. THANK YOU GIRLS!!! Although they did forget the sharing part of the money. Oh well we had fun.
We are still booking hunts for 2008. We are all full on our deer hunts for this year and we are starting to book for 2009. We do however have room for antelope hunts. October 12, 13 and 14 which is early season on the east side of the highway and we opening for the later hunt after the 15th for the west side of the highway. If you are not familiar with where we are, we are in the Buffalo/Sheridan area of Wyoming. Lots of animals and we have a lot of land to hunt them. We have about 200,000 acres of leases from ranchers all over that part of the country. The draw is easy to get however to make absolute sure you get the draw the dead line is coming up March 15th. I am sure we will have left-over tags but you never know.
I am still booking for fishing trips here on the Columbia River. I have 4 spots left for spring salmon. Those dates are April 8, 9, 14 and 16. We are supposed to get a huge salmon run this year and we are already hearing of fish going over Bonneville Dam so it looks like we will get them. I still have a couple keeper sturgeon dates left May 1, 9 and 10. The Trophy sturgeon season will start up on May 16th when the shad season opens. I do have trophy sturgeon dates left. I have May 20, 21, 27, 28 and 29. In June I have June 2, 3, 4, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 26-30. In July I have most of it open.
I have not announced the dates for fall fishing because I thought I was going to go on an elk hunt this year but we are going to wait and do it next year. Therefore, I have the second week of September open at this time. This will always book up so give us a call if you want to do some fall salmon fishing with us.
This would not be a newsletter without a bad joke so here we go.
A group of hunters got a pilot to fly them into the far north for elk hunting. They were quite successful in their venture and bagged six big bulls. The pilot came back, as arranged, to pick them up. They started loading their gear into the plane, including the six elk. But the pilot objected and he said, “The plane can only take four of your elk; you will have to leave two behind.” They argued with him; the year before they had shot six and the pilot had allowed them to put all aboard. The plane was the same model and capacity. Reluctantly, the pilot finally permitted them to put all six aboard. But when the attempted to take off and leave the valley, the little plane could not make it and they crashed into the wilderness.

Climbing out of the wreckage, one hunter said to the other, “Do you know where we are?”

“I think so,” replied the other hunter. I think this is about the same place where we landed last year!”

Okay I told you it was a bad one. Anyway, thanks for being great friends and customers to us. We always look forward to fishing and now hunting with you. If you haven’t yet been out with us I just want you to know that we are looking forward to the opportunity to do so. Thanks again and give us a call if you are thinking about a hunting or fishing trip.

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.