Jon’s Outdoors Fishing & Hunting News

Hey Everyone,

I know this is one of the latest newsletters I have written. I usually get them out the first of the month but I have been so busy that I haven’t been able to do it but here it is. I have a lot to talk about so I am going to get right into it. Let’s first talk about Gimme A Go Fishing Adventures and fishing for shad and the trophy sturgeon. We have had a fair season on the trophy sturgeon this year. We have landed some giant fish. It is so awesome to see a 300-pound sturgeon blast out of the water and do a tail dance. You wouldn’t think that a fish like that would be so acrobatic but they are. We had one the other day jump 5 times and 3 of the jumps were less then 30 feet from the boat. They make great videos. But, it hasn’t been all red hot. We have had a few days this week that were pretty slow. When a weather front comes in those sturgeon just do not eat like usual. It’s not like they are migrating through like a salmon does. Those sturgeon are there but just off the bite. It’s kind of funny sometimes because when they are on the bite you only need a couple rods out to keep everyone busy but when they are off the bite you could have 10 rods out and it wouldn’t matter. I guess this is what makes fishing for these great white sturgeon so fun. I will be fishing the trophy sturgeon through the first week of July. I still have a couple dates open the first week of July. I have room for a couple people on July 1-3, I have a open boat available July 4-6. Give us a call if you are interested in doing some trophy sturgeon fishing during that time we can also do combo trips for trophy sturgeon and steelhead. The steelhead will start running the first part of July. Also, I still have room in the afternoons for shad fishing. This is a fun fishery for everyone. Lots and lots of fish to catch. The mornings have been a bit slower for shad fishing but the afternoons have been very good. Also, I am going to be fishing one week in the second week of September for salmon here on the Columbia River. The full days are already booked but I will start booking half days and the afternoon salmon bite can be good sometimes so let me know if you are interested in that.
The end of July I will be heading to Prince of Wales Alaska. I was going to be heading there July 15th but my son will be graduating from boot camp the end of July and I am not going to miss that. We are very proud of him and by the way he is doing great but I can’t wait to get there to Alaska after his graduation. I sure was jealous to hear how well they did up there on the spring steelhead. They had a group the latter part of May catch 92 steelhead in 6 days. That is a lot of steelhead. You can read about what is going on up there on our other web site www.thornebaylodge.com. We will keep you updated week by week of our hunting and fishing that is going on. We still have a couple spots available in August if you are interested and we are also booking of 2008. This spring the TV show Hawg Quest was up there and they had a great time and said they will be back. One of the guys I am working with up there got some great video of a monster black bear. He was trying to hunt it with his bow but just couldn’t get close enough. You can see a part of the video on the web site. It’s a dandy. I told him he was just letting it go for me when I get up there. I am looking forward to doing some hunting myself while I am there. I have never taken a bear with my bow and I am so excited to do that this year. I will let you know how that goes.
Talking about hunting, we will know about the left-over tags July 10th for our deer and antelope hunts in Wyoming. I will be sending an email out as soon as I know what is available. Last year there were over 1000 antelope tags left over and I was told they were gone in a week so when I let you know you will want to get on line and buy them. Then once you have bought your tags give us a call so we can get you on the books. The archery hunts are in September and we want to get you in for the last week. That is when the antelope are in full rut and they get a bit crazy at that time. The rifle deer and antelope hunts are in October. That is for mule deer or white tail deer. Then in November it is White tail deer and antelope only. You don’t want to hunt antelope too much past the first week of November because they are loosing their horns at after that. I am getting very excited about hunting with you all over there this year. It will be great. You just can’t believe how many animals there are over there. My 17 year old daughter wants to learn to guide so we will get her licensed up this year and let her start learning. I think she will do very well. We are heading over to Wyoming in July to start getting things ready. You can see more about our hunts at www.jonsoutdoors.com.
Well I can’t get out of here with out you hearing a bad joke so here it is. This guy walks into a bar and goes up to the bar to order a drink. As he is ordering his drink he notices a blond gal sitting beside him. He leans over to her and asks here if she would like to her a blond joke. All ruffled up she says you better wait on telling me a blond joke. You see this girl beside me? She is 5’ 8 and 165# and she is a world champion kick boxer and she is blond. The girl beside here is 5’ 10 and 185# and she is a champion boxer and she is blond. The girl beside her is 6’1” and 220# and she is a body builder and she is blond and the girl beside here is 5’ 10” and 240# and she is a weight lifter and she is blond. Now, do you want to tell me a blond joke? The guy jumped up and emphatically said NO NO there is no need for me to tell you a blond joke because if I have to explain it 5 times it just isn’t worth it.
Okay I am scrapping the bottom of the barrel for jokes but that is the best I have lately.
Anyway, give us a call if you are interested in any of these trips. We do have a couple days available for Columbia River fishing. There are still openings in August for a trip with us in Alaska and we will have left over tags and dates available for hunting with us in Wyoming.
Thanks and I will talk to you soon. Remember to take the opportunity and take a kid fishing or hunting with you. You will be blessed more then you can imagine.

Hey Everyone, May 9, 2007

How is everyone doing? We have had a very busy spring. On all the keeper sturgeon days in April I was doing double days. I did a full day then a half day. Getting up at 4:00-4:30 am and getting home at 8:00-8:30pm everyday was a lot easier 10 years ago. I am becoming a big fan of “The Nap”. But, we did it and had some good trips however we had a few slow ones too. Folks, in this newsletter I am going to jump right into something that I am probably standing as a minority but I just believe I am right. Some of you have been getting my newsletter for several years now and you have heard me get on my soapbox well I have to do it again along with some ranting and raving. We have a great problem arising in our sturgeon and spring salmon fisheries. In years past we have always started our keeper sturgeon fishing in February and went through mid May. Those days are done. I have videos of early March where we are throwing back 15 or more keeper sturgeon a day and a lot of those are in the 50 inch range and we are doing that along with catching 40 other sub legals. Those days are gone. Why? What is going on? What do we do to fix it? We have the biggest population of White Sturgeon in the world and it is in one of the most beautiful places in the world, that being the Columbia River Gorge. I have fished the Northwest since I was a teenager and this is the worst I have ever seen. A couple of weeks ago I was talking to one of the F&G guys at the dock and he told me that they can account for 400 over size sturgeon killed by Sea lions. I know that you will find a lot of grammar and spelling mistakes in my newsletters but this is not one of them. I said 400 not 40. WE CANNOT SUSTAIN THAT! I remember about 4 years ago and this is when the F&G started messing with the sanctuary below Bonneville Dam. The F&G were in an uproar when we had 36 oversize sturgeon that came up dead. We were averaging about 12-15 a year and this was off the charts to them. So, they reacted and lowered the sanctuary. For you that are not sure what I am talking about. Years ago we implemented a sanctuary below Bonneville Dam and it is for a place that the over size sturgeon can go and spawn without being bothered. This was fine then when the 30 some sturgeon came up dead they lowered the dead line to give them more protected water. This was a political move and had nothing to do with the fish. I have too much to write about so I am not going to get into that too much but I will say that the lower river has been trying for years to close the fishing below Bonneville Dam so that when people book fishing trips the lower river is the only show in town. They have to book a lot of people to fill those big cattle boats. Lowering the dead line was a tool for them and not for the fish. There has NEVER big a fatality of a sturgeon being caught by rod and reel when done correctly. Anyway, there was an uproar of 30 some trophy sturgeon coming up dead and now we are seeing 400. We have to do something about that and do something about the fact that the keeper sturgeon in the spring are not coming up river. I know that I am kind of jumping around in this letter but I think it all is related. First we need to remember that the sturgeon are eaters and they are going to migrate to the food source. Since I was a kid the food source for keeper sturgeon in the spring was smelt that came up river by the millions and fill most of the tributaries of the Columbia River below Bonneville Dam. Now for the last many years we are seeing the smelt run depleting at a rapid rate and the spring sturgeon fishing has been falling at the same rate. I believe but I can’t prove it that that is the reason for our spring salmon run being so bad also. When you would catch a spring salmon in the lower river in March they would be stuffed full of smelt. The smelt are gone and so are the spring salmon. The difference is that salmon can replenish every 3 years. It takes sturgeon decades. Now for the trophy or oversize sturgeon, this is huge. It takes a female sturgeon 23-28 years just to get her reproduction system and a male 15-18 years. We CANNOT sustain the killing of these wonderful fish. Just this year in my little world I have seen 4 trophy sturgeon killed by sea lions and there is over 100 miles of river that the sea lions are working. Up to 5 years ago you never heard of a sea lion killing a sturgeon and now it is an epidemic. Sea lions are smart mammals and once they learn something it is taught to them all. I see more sturgeon killed by sea lions then salmon. But, what do we do? Sure we would all like to go hunting and take out these sea lions but are they are protected Federally. Are you going to jeopardize your hunting and carrying a firearm for a sea lion? Not me. We have to do something NOW. We are already have an impact that we cannot sustain and we will see closed fishing in 10-15 years when the impact hits us. See what happen to California’s sturgeon fishery when they were able to keep over size sturgeon for so many years. They fish all day now for 2-3 bites that is why they come up here and fish. Our slowest day is better then their best day and it is because they killed off the breeders and it takes so long for sturgeon to become adults. Here is where I am not going to be very popular. I believe we need to act now. Today. Immediately. I think the river from Bonneville Dam down to the mouth should be closed to catch and release only and the commercial nets and personal nets for smelt should stop now. I know we get some great bait from these commercial boats but we all have to hurt and bleed a little for the fishery. The sad thing is that it will get political and there will be one group that will pay for the whole fishery. That is wrong. The whole river needs to close to killing these fish. This is why I believe this. I think if we let a few million sturgeon make it through the threshold of 60 inch (which is our limit of size to keep) then we can flood the breeder age with fish and the impact will not be so huge in 10-15 year. I want to catch sturgeon with my grandkids and hopefully their kids. Until we can get the laws changed with the sea lions and start seeing the smelt come back we need to do our part for conservation and everyone needs to sacrifice. I don’t know why we still have commercial gill nets in the river anyway. We are the only fresh water in America that I know of that allow gill netting. You know if I was smart enough to do it I would get it on the ballot and let the people in Washington and Oregon vote if we should allow gill netting in our rivers. Running hounds for lions and bears along with baiting bears were sure taken away from us so why can’t we do this? I guess that is another newsletter. Anyway, I am going to send a letter with this information to Washington and Oregon F&G and also to the Commissioners. If you believe in this please join me. If you have any questions just contact me and I would love to talk to you about this. But I will tell you that I have customers that book with me since I started my business every year for spring sturgeon. A lot of them always booked in Mid March and it was good fishing now they are all fishing as close to the end of April as they can. I have heard all the excuses why the catching is slow on the Columbia River and the one that makes me laugh the most is that the river temperature is too cold and the funny thing is that I bought into this also for a few of the slow years but not any more. I have caught sturgeon on the Columbia River when ice was floating down and the river was just above freezing. No, we have to act now. If the sea lions quit killing sturgeon today we still have to do something to flood the fish into the spawning age and that is stop killing fish. As Forest Gump would say, “That’s all I have to say about that”.
We are still fishing hard and every day. We have been getting our keepers on most of the days and we are starting to see the trophy sturgeon coming up river a little more every day. We hooked up 3 trophy sturgeon a week or so ago and it will keep getting better as the shad come up. The shad are the main food source for the trophy sturgeon and we average around 5 million a year. My mid May we will average 4-8 trophy sturgeon a day that are 200-400 pounds. These fish make the best videos you can imagine. They will tail walk as good as any marlin and then dive as fast as any tuna and the great thing this is done in fresh water. I still have a few dates available and at the end of the letter I will give you available dates for trophy sturgeon and shad fishing in May and June.
Shad run about 2-5 pounds and they are a blast to catch. This fishery will start May 16th and it usually will last through the first week of July. I love watching kids fish for shad because they are all pros in just a few minutes. I have a lot of group that book half-day trips for shad to get their crab bait for the year. Shad makes the best crab bait I have ever seen. I even took some to Alaska with me last year and caught some halibut using them. I even hooked some shark on them. It is a great time.

PRINCE OF WALES, ALASKA

Remember I will be heading to Alaska July 15th and guiding for a good friend of mine up there. This is an awesome place. We are Southeast Alaska on Prince of Wales Island in Thorne Bay. We are on the Inside passage side of the island so it is like fishing on a lake. Everyone can halibut fish. We don’t have to use 2, 3 or 4 pounds of lead. We only have to use 16-24 ounces. The place is beautiful and I think every day we were fishing last year we were seeing whales and porpoises. The island itself is also beautiful. It is chuck full of rivers that are full of trout and in August fill up with silvers, pinks and chum salmon. My wife and I love it up there. The guy I am working for is such a great guy. Like I tell people, I have had many job offers up in Alaska and have never took one because the situation I have here on the Columbia River is a great one but the business my friend is offering is also great and I couldn’t pass it up. I would not be there if it wasn’t an first class outfit. We still have room for bookings this year and since there is still available room in August that is where I would recommend. You can learn more about Thorne Bay Lodge by going to his site at www.ThorneBayLodge.com or to my site which is www.JonsOutdoors.com. If you have any questions about our Alaska trip please contact me.

HUNT WYOMING

I am so excited about buying this hunting outfit in Wyoming. I can’t wait to get over there in September. I have picked up 2 more leases which are supposed to be good mule deer leases. One I know is but I have not been on the other but the guy I bought the outfit from assured me it was a good one and this guy is the greatest. He and his wife have been so wonderful to work with while buying the business. They have helped us in every way they can. As you know the Wyoming draw for deer and antelope was over March 15th but we are positive that there will be left over tags available in July. I called the Wyoming F&G and I was told July 10th we will know. Now a lot of you have been contacting me about the left over tags. Here is the real deal. The minute I know on July 10th about the left over tags I am going to email every. You will have to go on line and buy your license. The antelope licenses are $238 and the deer licenses are $273. Last year I was told that there were over 1000 antelope licenses available and they were gone in about a week so you will want to jump right on this. This is awesome hunting and very good facilities. Last year when my daughter shot her antelope I think Larry told me that she was the 627th successful customer in a row and that is for archery and rifle hunting. Folks there is a lot of game. While staying with us and after you have taken your animal we are not just going to send you home. We want you to stick around and just enjoy our place and do some management on the prairie dogs. They are all over some of our leases. If you are interested in a hunt this year or next give me a call some evening and let me tell you about it.

Well, on the home front I also have some news. My 20 year-old son is going into the army and he leaves next Monday. I am very proud of him but scared at the same time. He scored very high on the test and got to choose just about anything he wanted to do. He chose Ranger Air Bourne Medic. I guess he has some real intense training to go through. I know a lot of you are going through this with a son or a daughter also so you know what I am feeling. If you think about it please pray for him and all of our troops to be safe. Thanks.

I think I have given you all enough to read so I will get off this sticking computer but I first want to give you the dates that I have available for May and June. I have May 16, 22, 23, 30 and 31 available. I have June 7, 9, 24, 27, 28, 29 and 30 available. For shad fishing I usually fish them in the afternoon after my full day trip. Believe me a half-day is plenty. Just give us a call if you are interested in any of these dates.

Also and I hate to do this but as everyone knows the gas prices are going out of the roof. We are all feeling it. I did not go up in my price this year like most of the guides did however I am going to have to for next year. Starting 2008 my prices will be $175 per person per day. Now if you book with us before January 1st, 2008 you will still get the $150 per person price. I hate doing this but we really have no choice. Thanks for understanding.

Well thanks again for being such great customers also remember school will be soon and there will be a lot of kids that do not have the opportunities to go hunting or fishing. Take a look in your community and see who you can take with you on your next trip. You will be blessed beyond belief. Talk to you all soon.

Hey Everyone,

Well, how is everyone doing? Things here are doing great. I am all done with sportsman shows for the year and they went real good but I am glad I am done. Now it is busy time on the Columbia River doing sturgeon fishing. It is fun doing those sportsman shows and hearing men getting an ear full from their wives about the money they spend on hunting and fishing. I know that a lot of men want to get their wives involved but it sure is funny sometimes.

It reminds me of the 4 rednecks that planned a fishing trip together for the next year. They spared no money for this trip. The day of the trip came and they rented a motor home, rented a boat, stayed in this beautiful lodge, bought all kinds of fishing gear and the whole trip they caught one little old trout. On the way home one of the guys said, “Do you all realize that this one trout cost us about $12,000?” Then one of the other guys said, “Wow, it is a good thing we didn’t catch two of them.”

I am pretty fortunate. My wife and most of the kids like to fish and hunt. As a matter of fact, I think my 17-year-old daughter is going to need some counseling. She is really getting into hunting and fishing. Last year she hunted with me over in Wyoming and we both got our antelope and she has fallen in love with that hunting. She wants to learn to guide over there so this year I am going to let her start doing that. The other day we were at a car lot because she is looking for a little pick up. We were looking at a Chevy Colorado and the salesman was telling us about it when my daughter while looking at the bed of the truck said, “ Dad, we can easily get 2-3 dead antelope in the back of this.” I just laughed and walked away. I am not sure what the salesman was thinking. You all will be hearing in a few months about her business she is starting. She is gong to start a booking agency for hunting and fishing trips all over the world. A friend of mine has this business and is going to work her into it. Anyway, you will hear about that later. Right now we better talk about what is going on with the sturgeon and salmon fishing.

Keeper Sturgeon

The keeper sturgeon season is looking a lot like it did last year. We didn’t get much of a smelt run again this year so the sturgeon are all spread out up and down the river from the mouth to Bonneville Dam. We are starting to get more fish everyday but it sure started slow. This last week we caught a lot of fish and had a great time but getting the keepers were not as easy as they should be this time of the year. I think the Sea lions did better then the fisherman. That is so bad out there. We saw a Sea lion kill another oversize sturgeon. It was about 8-9 feet long and no telling how old it was. This fishery is not going to withstand the killing of all these breeders. I am not sure what we are going to be able to do about it beings they are federally protected but something has to be done. Five years ago you never even heard of a Sea lion eating a sturgeon but no it is epidemic. Sea lions are such a smart mammal and they just teach what they learn to each other and the rest is history. Anyway, I am sure it will be like last year and the fishing will get real good real fast. If you are out sturgeon fishing and didn’t get any smelt to use just go down to most any grocery store and get some squid. That has been doing very well. I am using squid and wrapping a sand shrimp in them. It seems to be doing just as good if not better then smelt and a lot more available. We have been fishing below Bonneville Dam and we are finding most of the fish in the deeper water. I have been doing most of my fishing in water that is about 80 feet deep. The river is running high so be careful in the power water. Make sure you have a minimum of 300 feet of rope and a break away anchor. Be safe and give yourself enough room between boats. Remember a lot of us have a lot of anchor rope out so if you are too close above another boat you can get your gear in or lose a good fish in the rope. Good luck out there. If you are looking to do some sturgeon with us this year, I am going to give you my available dates at the end of this newsletter.

Thorne Bay Lodge Alaska

I am looking forward to getting up there in Alaska this July. The fishing is so good up there and the beauty of Alaska is breathtaking. We still have some room to book so if you are thinking about coming up and fishing with us please give us a call. Since we still have a few spots left in August I would recommend that if you can. The silvers get so thick that time of the year. It is a lot of fun. We are also booking for 2008.

Dates I Have Left for Columbia River Fishing

Here are the dates I have available on my boat. I had a cancellation for this week Friday April 6. The end of April is going to be some awesome sturgeon fishing. I have some catch and release dates still available. If you want to catch a lot of fish without a lot of crowds and don’t really care if you keep any then these dates are for you, April 23, 24, 25 and 30. I am taking $100 off of a group of 4 on these dates. It will be some great fishing. In May I have May 4 and 5 available for keepers then on the 16th of May it opens for shad fishing at which time we will start seeing a lot of the big trophy sturgeon. I have May 22, 23 30 and 31 available. In June it will also be some good trophy sturgeon fishing. These are the big ones averaging 200-400 pounds. Lots of fun and they make some great videos. In June I have June 7, 9, 17, 24, 27, 28, 29 and 30 available. Also the shad fishing will go through June. This is a fun fishery for kids of all ages. Lots of action and they are fun to catch. I do half-day trips in the afternoon for shad. In July is when I head to Alaska and I will be there through the first week of September. I am booking one week on my boat for fall salmon. It is the week of September 9 through the 15th. I have the 9th, 10th and 15th available. If you want to fish but none of these dates will work for you give me a call anyway. I have talked with a couple friends of mine that also guide out where I do and I am going to start booking their boat for them. These are great guys. I would not use them if they weren’t. They will also guide my customers while I am gone to Alaska and Wyoming. If you are interested in any of these trips please give me a call while the dates are open.

Thanks again to all of you. I still think I have the best customers on the river. You all make my job easy and I look forward to every trip with you. Talk to you soon and remember to take a kid fishing or hunting with you.