Sturgeon Fishing on the Snake...Trip 2

Hooked: 11

Landed: 11

Just got back from our 2nd fishing trip of the season for sturgeon on the Snake River.  Our first day out we landed an 8'7" with a 39" girth.  It took an hour and 40 minutes for the client to land it.  Here are some pics.

Here It Is! The Boat...Stage 1

As promised, here is the first picture of my fishing boat, being built by Hells Canyon Marine.  As it is we'd better not take on any water!  This is the first stage.  Pretty soon they'll wheel it inside the shop and start bending it into shape.

Salmon Run is all Hype

It looks like all the hype about the expected, great spring chinook run was just that, all hype. Louis and I have been out with all the other fishermen on the Clearwater and things have been real slow. I've seen a few fish caught, but nothing like expected. Today we had two on, and fought strong winds. But we're professional fishermen and we're going to be out here everyday, because we all know that "the worst day fishing is still better than the best day at work."

Getting Ready for Salmon Season

I'm keeping my eye on the fish count, and it looks like the spring chinook are slowly making their way toward the Clearwater. I'm thinking that my fishing partner Louie and I should probably see if we can't catch one this week. I tell my wife it's Research and Development, and if I'm going to be in the business, I'd better get as much R&D in as I can!



By the end of next week I should have some pictures of my new boat being built by HCM!

DREAM COME TRUE...in progress

I have exciting news, folks. My dream of owning my own company AND my own fishing boat are about to come true. My good friend Pat, owner of Snake River and Clearwater Guide Services is selling out. Come steelhead season I hope to have all the paperwork done and on my way to being the owner of Clearwater Guide Service. My wife has also agreed to become even poorer with me by building our own fishing boat. HCM is drawing it up, and hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll have some pictures posted of the progress.

We're a little scared, a little nervous, but a lot excited about this new venture. You'll still catch me driving tour boats up the Snake River in the summer, but you'll probably find me fishing on the Clearwater most days.

Sheep Creek Spring Break

This year we spent spring break at Sheep Creek up the Snake River. We endured rain, sleet, and a pretty good blizzard one day. The girls had fun hiking all the trails. Fishing was slow, but we saw a lot of sheep, including a dead ram we tied up for the fish and game to retrieve. My wife and oldest daughter hiked around Suicide Point our last day, and as luck would have it, it was the only day we saw sunshine.

Looking upriver from Sheep Creek toward Johnson Bar.

Hiking to Johnson Bar.

Snow storm up Sheep Creek.

Dead ram we spotted on the way upriver.

View upriver from Suicide Point.

Fishing on the South Fork

It's March, the steelhead have been in the south fork of the Clearwater River for a while now, so my fishing buddy Louie and I decided to try it out.  On the weekends it's combat fishing, but today we found ourselves a nice, long, deep hole with no one in it.  We hooked two fish in an hour using bobbers with "Just Jigs."

                                                            Louie's 19 pound keeper.

                                             Here's my St. Patty's Day 13 pounder.

The Big One

I caught my biggest Steelhead ever just a couple weeks ago on the Clearwater River. It was 40 inches long, 20 lbs. I tried to talk my wife into getting it mounted on my wall, but we decided to smoke it and eat it and wait for a bigger one to display in our house.


Here are some pics from our latest fishing trips on the Clearwater.

Who says fishing isn't romantic?! These ladies had fun accompanying their sweethearts on a Valentine's Day fishing trip to the Clearwater.

Here's the main difference between a Snake River and a Clearwater steelhead. The Clearwater fish are consistently bigger. That doesn't mean there aren't nice fish on the Snake, but size does matter. For beautiful scenery away from traffic though, the Snake River can't be beat.