Fishing With a Guide

I moved from Kennewick, WA to the Everett, WA area about thirty years ago. I was used to fishing for small trout, bass and perch. Not sure of where to go fishing I first went to different sporting good stores in the area and they all gave me ideas on where to go fishing and what to use. Most of the information turned out good until one sales person said he uses a guide to find the good spots.

I decided to try that and was extremely pleased with the results. The first guided trip I went on was out of Everett and they fished for salmon in the Puget Sound. I chose that because I had never been on the Sound and never fished for salmon. Will that hooked me on fishing for salmon. Even through it is like combat shoulder to shoulder fishing, the deck hands handled everything very well. Everyone was good about following the deck hands orders and we all caught fish. Also, the reason I chose to try this first is because I did not have a boat  and even if I did I didn't know where to go. I enjoyed this so much I started going fishing on the Washington coast using charter boats.

It didn't take long to decide to go with a guide on some of the rivers. The advantage here was I could ask the guide a lot of questions and watch him rig up his line and see how he hooked up the bait. If you pick a good guide you will find they are very good and even eager to share their knowledge on how to rig up and showing their best spots for fishing. All the guide I ever went with would do everything they knew how to get you your limit of fish.

Once a friend and I went out with a guide fishing for steelhead on the Snohomish River. We were early for the run and we knew it. As the day went on with no luck the guide want to know if we had ever fly fished and we both told him we had fly fished a few times but we were not real great at it. He dug out two fly rod and we anchored on a small island in the river. We got out and he gave a few lessons on fly fishing and we walked to the narrow side of the island. The guide showed us where there were several pink salmon and let us just have fun. We were catching pinks on just about every cast. They varied in size from five to twelve pounds. We were doing so well that the guys fishing on the other side of the river wanted to know if we wanted to sell them some salmon. Can't say we weren't tempted even though I believe it is against the law to sell the fish.

Guide fishing has several advantages. One is usually all the gear and bait is provided. Another it is cheaper than paying for your own boat. It seems if you have your own boat everyone is your friend and wants to go fishing but no one want to pay for the gas or anything else. Another good thing is the guide usually will fillet your fish out if you want.

I have moved back to Kennewick and thought I would be disappointed about going back to fishing for the small fish again. Not true. I enjoy trout fishing with the grandchildren and I have found a great fishing guide to take me out on the Columbia River fishing for salmon and I caught my first sturgeon. So, it seems I have the best of both worlds.

Don't Forget Your Camera

   Another very important thing to be sure is in your tackle box is a disposable camera. You might even consider a camera you can put under water. That way you can put your hands and camera under the water when the kids are reeling in the fish and they can have the picture of their fish. You will be a hero for that.

   Beside, once you can talk the kids into using the fishing pole holders and leaving the rods in the holders, you will have a lot of pictures of them goofing around. Those pictures are as great or greater then the fishing pictures.

   The reason I said to bring a disposal camera is because you don't want to pull out your nice digital camera and drop it in the lake. This plays havoc with the camera. You might take your cheap phone too or at least put it in a waterproof bag. I speak on this through experience. I dropped a cell phone in the water and it cost me $250.00 to replace the phone. Please protect your things with waterproof bags.

   It is rewarding to have you camera with you when you go fishing without the kids. It's nice to take pictures of the landscape early in the morning. It is so beautiful and relaxing to just to enjoy it all. I like to put my head into the wind as we are riding the boat and just smell the wind and the bank. On three separate occasions I saw coyotes looking for something to eat, I saw geese trying to protect their nest from a fox. One of the times I saw deer and their fawns playing on the bank. One time we got very close to the river bank and say a miss of antlers in the brush and when we went over there we saw three very large 4 point and one 5 point buck. The antlers were all in velvet. This was beautiful and you guessed it, none of us in the boat had our cameras. Now that memory is just in my head and all I can do is talk about what I saw, not show anyone.

   One time I was standing on the bank, drift fishing for salmon on a small river by Everett, WA, Nothing happening so I cast my rod and let it set on the bottom and put my rod in the rod holder and I set down. After a while I heard the brush and the small trees move and something was coming towards me. I was a little concerned since we do have bear up there. Will as I was planning my escape a big doe came out of the bushes and when she saw me she froze. After about a minute the doe started very slowly backing back into the brush, not taking her eyes off me. It took a couple of minutes but she backed to where she felt comfortable  about turning around and leaving. A little while later I heard something coming up the river and when I turned around it was the doe walking in the water coming straight at me. She saw me but did not seem afraid and continued to walk up the river past me. Again, a Kodak moment lost.

   So, sit back, enjoy the scenery, put your rod in the fishing pole holder and wait for the action on the banks or in the water. Hopefully, it doesn't all happen at the same time. At the very least you want to take pictures of the fish caught.

Fishing with the Grandkids

   I never got to go fishing with my dad. He was always working trying to pay the bills. My brother and I  had to work after school and on the weekends with dad. He had a landscaping business on the side and we mowed lawns and removed trees from the clients yard. So there was no real play time.

   I never went fishing until I got married and several of my high school classmates and their wives got together and went fishing. I had a ball. When children came along we still went fishing but mom stopped going and stayed home with my daughter and then work got in the way and then another child, a boy. I worked in the retail field and was always promoted to management and that meant  a lot of hours and weekend working. Then a divorce came along when my daughter was seven and my son was two and I moved away so no fishing with my children.

   I moved to Wenatchee to work in the jewelry retail field as an assistant manager. That meant a lot of hours too. I meet a guy in Wenatchee who just fished all the time and I started going fishing with him. We fished for about every kind of fish, mostly trout, salmon and a little steelhead.

   I meet a young lady who after a period of time fell very much in love with. We got married after a couple of years and I bought a small 12 foot boat. I put on a fishing pole holder on both sides and fished the Icicle River up in Leavenworth. No motors allowed so I learned how to row a boat. Not an easy thing in fast water.

   My wife and I moved to Lake Stevens, WA. Most of my fishing ended except for some charter fishing. It was good and probably cheaper than a buying a bigger boat. That went on for several years. One day I went to my wife and said our grandchildren were growing up and I didn't want to miss their childhood like I did with my children. She agreed and we put the house up for sale and a week later it was sold.

   We moved back to Kennewick, WA  and bought a new home. Going fishing with 5 grandchildren is a challenge. There is really no need for you to take your fishing rod because they want your attention all the time. After all, the fun is watching them.  If you can get them to put the fishing pole in the fishing pole holder for any longer then a minute you have made quite an accomplishment.  I'm hoping that some of what I tell them gets thru to them. Especially that they learn patients and leave the pole in the fishing pole holder a little longer each time and maybe they will catch a fish. They are awesome.

   I have made from scratch each of them a fishing pole. They got to pick out the color of the rod and the color of the thread. I am hoping they will teach there children to fish and maybe pass the fishing rod down to them if the pole last that long.