NWWC PODCAST: Mike Zavadlov gives up the goods on Sol Duc springers
POSTED June 3, 2011 / 7:30 a.m.

FORKS, Wash. - You know you've had a good interview with an Olympic Peninsula guide when General Zog takes off his headphones during a break and says "Man, that was some good s*it!"

Indeed. In this case, the supplier of said information was Mike Zavadlov of Mike Z.'s Guide Service, who we caught just as he arrived at the head of the Connoly Drift on the Sol Duc River.

XHOP ABOARD MIKE Z.'s DRIFT BOAT FOR SOME KILLER INFO on the Sol Duc's spring Chinook fishery.

SPRINGER FEVER: Stay tuned for afternoon announcement of extension
POSTED May 13, 2011 / 5:50 a.m.

VANCOUVER, Wash. - Here's hoping that Friday the 13th turns out to be a lucky day for Columbia River spring Chinook anglers. A Columbia River Compact meeting this afternoon will determine whether sport anglers will be allowed to fish the lower river again after a historic stampede of May springers precipitated a run-size upgrade from 198,400 to 210,000.

Here's what the wags in the Pacific NW fishing media are saying:

8ANDY WALGAMOTT'S EDITOR'S BLOG at Northwest Sportsman with the mid-week read.

8ALLEN THOMAS OF THE COLUMBIAN files his report on the possible reopening.

8BILL MONROE OF THE PORTLAND OREGONIAN with his original report on the run upgrade.

SPRINGER FEVER: I have become "People Who Sleep at Rest Areas" ...
POSTED May 9, 2011 / 8:30 p.m.

SEATTLE, Wash. - 6:00 p.m., Friday evening, May 6, 2011: Give my two unlucky 48-quart blue coolers the evil eye as I yank the big, white 120-quart job out of the shed for a Wind River spring Chinook dive bomb run.

The blue guys are my bananas — killing, slowing or otherwise messing with the action over the past few fish raids to the Columbia — so they have been permanently moved to inactive reserve.

Plus, if you’re going to catch Man Fish, you need a Man-Fish-sized cooler, and the white one might as well be a freakin’ coffin for all but the biggest of kings that head up the crick. Why hasn’t this occurred to me before, I briefly wonder.

SPRINGER FEVER: Deep science: Check PIT tag numbers for upriver clues
POSTED May 9, 2011 / 7:50 a.m.

CARSON, Wash. - That sneaky, sneaky Rob Phillips. While many of his counterparts have been doing laps in the Drano 500, he's quietly stationed his Yakima Bait-wrapped sled at the mouth of the Wind River for the past week and hammered the springers.

Dig a little deeper in the Fish Passage Center website than just the raw numbers and you'll find hidden nuggets of info. Like, for instance, the passage of PIT-tagged fish bound for specific hatcheries on the Columbia River system.

8CHECK OUT THE LATEST DAM COUNTS as the 2011 springer season shifts into the second half, with upriver fisheries beginning to pop

SPRINGER FEVER: Bite moves upriver to mid Columbia, Drano, Oregon City
POSTED April 28, 2011 / 11:50 a.m.

LYLE, Wash. - All it took was one little Facebook post by Yakima Bait Co. pro-staffer Bob Barthlow of Rivers Northwest Guide Service to kick-start the buzz about the upriver springer fishery. When you post a photo of four springers in the fish box and say "By 9:30, two more to go", you get the attention of a springer-starved band of freaks. Including me.

8CHECK OUT BOB BARTHLOW'S FACEBOOK PAGE and pay attention to the Springer Fever page as reports of improved action on the Willamette and mid Columbia begin to filter in.

SPRINGER FEVER: Lynch picking up springers on mainstem Umpqua River
POSTED April 28, 2011 / 9:50 a.m.

LONGVIEW - You're at the mercy of Mother Nature lately if you're trying to find springers on the Umpqua. Unfortunately, she hasn't been in a very forgiving mood: water condtions have been brutal. Still, there are a few fish being caught, as shown by Chad Lynch of Chad Lynch's Guide Service.

Lynch is hosting Big D. and Nick Petosa for steelhead on Friday. Be sure to tune in Saturday morning for the Road Trip Recap!

SPRINGER FEVER: Focus changes to South Coast as Rogue bite heats up
POSTED April 4, 2011 / 7:12 p.m.

GOLD BEACH, Ore. - All this attention on the Columbia and Willamette rivers, and the best spring Chinook fishing is percolating 250 miles south/southwest of PDX in the Rogue Valley.

While the lower Columbia closed to sport anglers on Monday, South Coast anglers like NW Wild Country blogger Andy Martin and Paul Lefebvre racked up another strong day on the Rogue, which has quietly been a much better spring fishery than the Big C and muddy Willamette.

We chatted with the Rogue River Crew on April 16 on NW Wild Country. Podcast coming!

SPRINGER FEVER: With lower Columbia now closed, time to spread out
POSTED April 5, 2011 / 10:50 a.m.

LONGVIEW - It somewhat alarms me to see a thread titled "Springers are over ... what's next for you?" on one of the local fishing blogboards. Yes, April 4 has come and gone, and yes, the lower Columbia is currently closed for spring Chinook. However, as Walgamott so dutifully reported on Monday, springer season is far from over.

8HERE'S A LITTLE INFO ON THE COWLITZ RIVER to help you wile away some time until sport anglers are allowed back out on the Columbia below Bonneville Dam.
8IF THE WILLAMETTE EVER FALLS BACK INTO SHAPE - kidding, the Willamette will be THE place to be before long - here's some good general information on the fishery.

SPRINGER FEVER: Murky Columbia, Willamette call for Big Al's Fish Flash
POSTED April 2, 2011 / 1:50 p.m.

PORTLAND - It's been a season of cold, murky water on the lower Columbia River. As Wild Country guest Bill "Swanny" Swann stated on the air two weeks ago: "If you aren't fishing with a flasher, you're basically aren't fishing." Suffice it to say, the gentleman in the picture above agrees.

Below is Buzz Ramsey's rigging for herring behind a Fish Flash, with some notes from Buzz:
n "You can use either a spreader or a free-sliding sinker rig - I'm a little old-school, I like a spreader - but a lot of the guides prefer the free-sliding rig in case it gets hung up in the net and the fish takes off."
n "A single bead-chain swivel halfway down the leader removes more twist than five swivels on either end of the leader."
n "With a solid-tie mooching rig I run the hooks 4 inches from eye to eye for green-label herring."
n "I'll run 40-pound mainline but 25-pound leader - the smaller leader is necessary to keep from tearing the bait."
n "Let the fish take it. I know it's said over and over, but anytime you're fishing herring, let the fish take it down three or four times before you set the hook."
-JS

8NWWC BLOGGER ANDY MARTIN hopped aboard the Yakima Bait Willie with Buzz, South Coast guide Dave Castellanos, Walgamott from NW Sportsman and Portland-based writer Terry Otto. Here's the 42nd Street Report. (March 26)

8OUR PORTLAND-BASED COMCAST BUDDY Owin Hays of Outdoor GPS (on the air on Comcast right after us on Saturday!) gives us the scoop on the I-5 bite. C'mon, Owin, we need more biters! (March 19)

8TRYING TO GET THE LOW-DOWN on the early-season bite, we tap into our springer sensi, Buzz Ramsey of Yakima Bait Co. Buzz had already landed his first springer of the young season, and offered up some sound advice. (March 12)

8BUZZ AT THE BASSMASTER CLASSIC??!? As a matter of fact, yes ... but it's not long before this PODCAST EXCLUSIVE turns straight to spring Chinook as Buzz lays out the pre-season advice. (February 19)

8SWANNY'S FIRST SPRINGER TRIP is in the books. How did he do? Tune into this pre-pre-preseason Q&A with one of the recognized highlighners of the Columbia River spring Chinook fishery. (February 12)

8SCRATCHING FOR OUR FIRST SPRINGER report on the Willamette River, we connect with Outdoor GPS host Owin Hays in Portland. Is February 5 too early for a springer report? Hell no! (February 5)

PORTLAND - Some information is timeless. Like, for instance, the following springer podcasts:

8UNBELIEVABLY DETAILED HERRING INFO from one of the most detail-oriented, creative anglers on the West Coast. Val lets loose some previously hush-hush information about brines, scents and cures, including the "Hot Tail" herring mix. KILLER!

8THE LEGEND HIMSELF, CLANCY HOLT holds court on the most likely locations to bang out an early-season spring Chinook. Put these spots on your to-do list this month: Multnomah Channel, Cathlamet.

8KEEP UP WITH ALL OF OUR WILDCASTS at the NW Wild Country On Demand Center.

SPRINGER FEVER: Walgamott's 2 a.m. wakeup, and a day on the Big C.
POSTED March 30, 2011 / 6:20 p.m.

PORTLAND - I'm a sucker for a good flame-run story ... as long as I'm not the poor bugger reaching for the alarm clock at 2 a.m.

Northwest Sportsman editor Andy Walgamott made one of his infamous down-and-backer trips to the Columbia River last weekend to fish with Buzz Ramsey, Andy Martin, Dave Castellanos and Terry Otto. It went something like this:

8WALGAMOTT'S FLAME RUN TO THE COLUMBIA starts at 2 a.m. and finally comes to a halt at 7:10 p.m.

SPRINGER FEVER 2011: Buzz Ramsey lands a Columbia River springer
POSTED March 30, 2011 / 4:00 p.m.

PORTLAND, Ore. - As many times as I've fished with Pacific NW icon Buzz Ramsey, I can't say that I've ever seen him land a fish. No kidding. Maybe that's because I'm always fishing in Buzz's boat, and he's playing the role of dutiful host.

In this short YouTube clip, Buzz finally gets the chance to feel the tug of a bright hatchery springer, as guide Eric Linde and Berkley rep Stefan Gambel look on.

You go, Buzz!

-JS

SPRINGER FEVER: Hit-and-miss springer bite continues on Columbia River
POSTED March 30, 2011 / 5:30 p.m.

PORTLAND - Quick Columbia River text report from Bill "Swanny" Swann of Swanny's fishing: "4 for 4". Not bad, considering his answer to the question "seeing any other fish caught?": "Nope."

Despite continued guide reports to the contrary, fisheries managers indicate that the catch rate on the lower river have spiked, as reported by Walgamott in his latest blog over at Northwest Sportsman:

8NWS BLOG ON RISING CATCH RATES on the Columbia River around Cathlamet.

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