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This year has proven one of my best yet for putting salmon in the kayak. After a slow start in March and April, I hooked eight and landed six spring Chinook "Springers" on the Willamette River. All were hatchery fish and most were 30-plus inches. They were all caught with my red and orange hand-tied spinners and Pro-Troll 360 flashers. The Springers were caught in May and June, typically the end of the season. These two months seem to be my most productive. Two years ago, I landed six, and had two, two-fish days. This year, I never hooked two fish on the same day, although I had more days catching fish. Most days were spent focusing on the tide changes, and I was usually off the water by noon. I was fortunate because the run was about 25 percent lower than expected and many anglers had a rough season. I spent July fishing for smallmouth bass in the Willamette and Columbia, and spent a few days in August anchored in the Columbia fishing for fall kings. The fall season p...

SUPin' New Ok, that's a cringe but accurate. I recently bought my first SUP and I am onto a new experience and project. The goal is fly fishing on the SUP in a variety of situations ranging from small lakes to large rivers. Ultimately I want to catch a steelhead or sturgeon from it. The board, a Lifetime Amped, cost only $240 with a paddle - an excellent deal from Dick's Sporting Goods. It has a some scratches and the foam decking has bubbled in a few places but overall, it's a cheap intro to a SUP. It is 11 feet long, weighs less than 50 pounds and includes a small drop-down rudder or fin. It's hollow and seems to have a well designed hull. My first trip was to Benson Lake, really a pond, in the Columbia Gorge. A few days before the trip, I read it had been stocked with trout. If true, the lake offered me a chance to catch something on my first SUP trip. Safety First Since in was early April, I put on my dry suit and PFD for safety. After gearing...

Check out my video here Moving into our new home has meant change. Mostly good with new remodeling challenges, more space and the joy of living with big trees. The new home also meant returning to a tighter budget. My family spent 10 years getting our previous house fixed up allowing me more time and money to spend on fishing. Since I spent most of the money from the sale of my aluminum fishing sled, I have to returned to a limited budget until we get through the big house projects. The challenge reminded me how I started out with my Old Town Otter and seeing how I could make it into a fishing kayak. Because I traded one of my kayaks for some work on the new house, I was in the need of a fourth kayak so we could take friends out on the water. I decided this was the perfect reason to create a video series on building a budget fly fishing kayak. The series would also be a nod to other kayak anglers, like  Zoffinger , sharing their tips on fishing kayaks. My goal was to spen...

This year promises a record run of salmon on the Columbia River. Follow the record sockeye run earlier this summer, more than a million chinook salmon are expected to make the journey inland to spawn and die and hopefully create a new record run. According reports, the majority of fish are headed for the Hanford reach and Idaho tributaries . Although the Columbia may be experiencing good chinook runs, our neighbors in Alaska are not, at least the late run Kenai salmon . In preparation for the run, I picked up a new 10-weight fly rod, floating line and a reel (all for less than $150) that I am hoping to test on a strong chinook. And I want to catch it while standing up on the Hobie PA14. I figure I have about three weeks to accomplish this and I hope to a have successful report soon. Stay tuned for more.