Northwest Fishing Reports

I used small (size 16-20) zebra midges, hare's ears, and PT nymphs on Crab Creek and others with good success. Remember to keep em small and fish em slow.

A buddy and I found a small stream south of Sprague, say maybe 8-10 miles past Fourth of July Lake. It's Cottonwood Creek if memory serves. He was good about this stuff....sniffing out trout where nobody else could. Sorry, I can't remember the state route as I've been gone a couple years, maybe Rout...

Thanks, Dave! Bummer on the indicator fishing.....I know how much you love it! Like we've discussed before, I believe fish feel more secure in 20-30' of water and will feed there instead of the shallows, if there is a food source present deep. Glad to hear you and your father got into them, even if ...

Slackers.

Here's an arctic grayling I caught last year on Piledriver Slough near Eielson AFB, AK. These fish are chicken noodle soup for the fisherman's soul, as they are they first fish to arrive after several months of winter!

You E. Washington fly guys are killing me! Every day, day after day, I check WALakes.com for fishing reports on 3 of my all-time favorites......Amber, Medical, and Coffeepot. But NO, 20 days of nothing since March 1st. I have to wait until mid-May or possibly later up here in AK to toss a line, so I...

I have fond memories of drifting size 18 chronies and nymphs in Crab Creek during January and February. The water was lower then due to little runoff and the fish were podded up in the holes. Some days were colder than others but the fish always cooperated......and the rattlesnakes were thankfully a...

In past years, folks have gotten their vehicles stranded there during icy/greasy conditions. That hill is very steep. Vehicles were left for days until the weather warmed and the road melted to a muddy mess!

Makes sense, as a trout's food supply is in the shallow and weedy areas. I've seen many an ice fisherman get skunked in 15-20' of water while my buddies and I have nailed em in 5-6' of water. Same thing applies here in AK. During a major feed the majority of char are caught in 3-7' of water, right o...

Very true, Mark.....dangerous cold. We haven't been above -25 in the last week. Overnight lows still dropping to -40. Locals are saying this is abnormal for this time of year, as these temps don't usually arrive and stay until January. It's so cold in the interior that people aren't ice fishing. I'm...

-40 up here in Fairbanks! Wish I could send you guys some of it......you'd be drilling holes within a week! I want to go out again but it's just painful, frightful cold up here.

I managed to talk my youngest boy into an ice fishing trip this weekend. Headed back to our local lake for a few hours. I set up the Eskimo shelter and heater for him so the cold wouldn't ruin the experience! We didn't throttle em, but the boy got first fish, most fish and biggest fish honors. It wa...

Five of them, Marc. One in each bedroom, one at the dinner table, and a large therapy light right beside my recliner!!!

Oh yeah, it's brutal, Marc. I've never experienced weather like this at this time of year, of course. We had all the vehicles winterized upon our arrival. Thankfully we have a heated 2-car garage but I'm having to "plug in" the third one! Honestly, as long as there is no moisture in the air and now ...

Not this year, G-Man......Alaska.

I may have to drool with envy in the Spring while you guys are hammering fish, but at least I'm the first one with good ice! Definitely the first time I've ever ice fished on Halloween! My local lake, Polaris, has 4-6" of solid ice, due to our overnights lows in the single digits and daytime highs i...

We're iced up now in interior Alaska! I'm heading down to my local char and pike lake tomorrow, where I'll drill some holes and check ice thickness. After our arrival here late last March, the Sportsman's Warehouse in Fairbanks had it's usual spring clearance of ice fishing equipment. As I suspected...

Thanks, Joe.....but that's a different rod. I'll post a pic of the 5-piece pack rod that I DIDN"T BREAK!!! lol. Try as I might, I can't find another. Sometimes companies come out with a good, quality product for a year or two then discontinue them. I bought two of these Eagle Claw Trailmaster III pa...

Keep the fish small, Joe! I've never used one but have read about them, more of a small stream rod. I have 2 Korean-made Eagle Claw Trailmaster III 8.5' 5/6 fly rod combos that I bought a dozen or so years ago. These 5-piece rods came complete with smooth, fully functional reels w/awesome drag and c...

Another batch of 16-17" arctic char for the smoker! FYI, these fish are cousins to lake trout, bull trout, and eastern brook trout (actually a char). I miss those fat, fighting e. Washington rainbows, however these fish continually save the day!