John’s Guide Service Fishing & Hunting Blog

Sorry for not keeping on top of the Reports page and Blog updates here… Been crazy busy, as usual! (Fishing every day and then coaching HS Wrestling again in the late afternoons and early evenings)

This is just gonna’ be another one of those pic heavy “Fish Porn” posts for Ya from the past few weeks!

First to end off the month of November for Ya… lots more “Coho Mojo” pics:

Brian and Brian with a nice limit of Silvers!

Jon, Larry and Hogan with a nice limit of Silvers!

Bob, John and good friend and outdoor writer Dave Vedder with a nice limit of Silvers… and As yearly tradition has it now… Bob boated the 1st Winter Steelhead of the season (Last year it was John… same crew though) Sorry no pics though it was a Wild Steelhead and we were in a bit too fast of water to get a good pic.

Good friend Dave Stasel and his son Aaron with a nice limit of Silvers!

Chris and Dan back for another nice limit of Silvers and a nice way to end the month of November out!

Now to get in on some December fishing! Well it took them long enough to lower dam levels down enough for some effective Steelhead fishing… but we’re into them now!! Yes… They’re here!!! (Was nice pretty much having the river all to myself… I’ll share now )

Mike and gang back for some more Silver and Steelhead action… a couple of nice Silvers…

… and a nice Hatchery Steelhead for the grill!

A little snow… and “IT’S ON LIKE DONKEY-KONG” STEELHEADING TIME!!! Rick and Gang with a boat load of Skagit Steelies!! (Rick’s first 2 ever Steelhead, our 1st and 3rd of the day were dandy Wild Fish and no pics were taken in order to get them back in the water unharmed and on their way… Way to go Rick!!)

Dan and Chris back again along with friend Grant for some Skagit Steelhead action!!

Yep!! Warnie and Frank again (Told Ya there are more pictures of these two on my site than me!) Wet one out there today… hope the Skagit stays in shape!!

Had a great time as always everyone (Other than last weeks freakin’ cold arse weather!! UGGGHHHH!! Johnny no like 13 degree days on the water!!!)

More soon… I promise!! Wrestling tournaments all weekend long then back on the water Monday!!

Been a great Coho season so far this season with plenty of big bright fish still coming in to the System… hope the run lasts a bit longer! Lots of Chum Salmon showing now as well… Still impressive just how hard they really fight! (They’re just flat arse’ mean!!)

Since our last Blog entry here we were able to get in a couple more days of Silver fishing before leaving for five days on my wife’s Elk hunt. Poured rain on us the entire five days down in the lower elevations with lots of snow up in the higher elevations, lots of fog too making for very limited visibility … saw a few elk but nothing shoot-able this season for Corrina. (Bad winter kill last year) Got back out on the water yesterday.

Nov. 4th, 09′ - Dan made it back again this season for some more “Coho Mojo” and brought along his brother to share in the action. Great job guys! See Ya again soon!

Nov. 5th, 09′ - Joon also made it back again this season for some more Coho Mojo action! See again next month Joon!

Nov. 12th, 09′ - Richard, Jim (”Spazz McGee”… told Ya’ you were now tagged Jim) and Tom out for some Coho Mojo!

Well, we’ve gotten our typical Fall rains to bring us to the end of our yearly “Summer drought”, (Why do the Northwest news stations ALWAYS panic with “Drought” in their headlines at the end of each Summer?) and in typical fashion every year our October rains always end with a Silver lining… and by Silver lining I mean “Silver Salmon”! It’s COHO MOJO time!!

Had some great Silver Salmon fishing days here on the Skagit in between high waters the last week or so… and as always, Its been great company to go along with some great fishing!

“Grumpy Old Men” Good friends (We consider em’ Family now) Frank and Warnie at it again for some Silver action. See Ya next month Frank! Still have to look at Warnie’s old gray mug every day!

Dad, Darren and Gary back for some more Coho Mojo! Great to see you guys again and thanks as always for the great time and Inari… YUMMMM”!

Told Ya’ I had to see Warnie’s gray old mug every day! “Feeshin’ buddies” Warnie and Bob, back at it again for some more Coho Mojo! (Warnie IS family and is my stand-by fill in for most single angler trips… If Ya ever want a great laugh in the boat with some outta’ this world sayings, ask for Warnie to join Ya’ on our your next trip! I’m sure Frank and Bob will vouch for him!) Ya know I think there’s actually more pictures of Warnie on my site than me… go figure.

Today was the 1st full day of any serious measurable precipitation we’ve had so far this Fall… and it’s still coming down good. All this rain should push some fresh fish on up-river here, and wash out all the spawned out salmon now covering the banks of the upper Skagit here. (Gettin’ pretty ripe smelling on the upper-river here!)

Today we were joined by 1st timers with us, Dan and Bob for a day of fishing. We caught a nice limit of Silvers and who knows how many Pink Salmon we landed (They’re still pretty thick up here) Dan decided to start taking count of landed Pinks at one point and landed 60 in about 70 casts.

Dan and Bob with a nice limit of Silvers.

Great day of fishing guys! Thanks again and see Ya in a couple of weeks for some more.

… And just to get back on track here with our Blog, here’s a little “Fish Porn” for Ya of some of this months Coho-Mojo!

Brian and his nephews out for a day of Coho and Pink Salmon fishing.

Cal and his Dad out for a day of fishing.

Bob back for some more Coho Mojo!

Joon back for some more Coho Mojo!

Andy and Jen here from the East side for some Coho Mojo.

Finally, Matt and Gang back for some more Coho Mojo.

… and now I’ll try and keep the Blog all updated with the days story and fishing pics. Have also taken some video with my Blackberry, just figured out how to upload it on my “Facebook” page. Will try and figure out how to upload it here too.

One of the big highlights this Summer was taking my nephew, Dylan, out for his first ever Salmon Fishing trip with Uncle John. My Sister Kathryn, her husband Scott, my wife Corrina and daughter Anjelika all got in on the Pink Salmon fishing action this summer!

Dylan standing next to cousin Anjelika with his first ever salmon. Dylan wasn’t just quite sure how to take them at first… he liked catching them and reeling them in, but once they got to the boat he really didn’t know quite what to do with them.

Uncle John tries showing Dylan just how cool these little salmon really are. Once Dylan got to touch them and see them up close he was a little more comfortable with them.

My Little Fish Slayer, Anjelika showing off one of her Salmon for the day…. That’s my little girl!!

Aunt Corrina posing with Dylan and one of her Salmon for the day… And that’s my wife!!

My little Sister Kathryn, my deck-hand and “Net Boy” Dylan and Bro-In-Law Scott.

The whole family with a bunch of chrome bright Pink Salmon! Left to Right, My Sis Kathryn, Nephew Dylan, Wife Corrina, Daughter Anjelika, and Bro-In-Law Scott.

And to end the day, Dylan got to drive Uncle John’s boat back to the ramp! :-)

Looking forward to taking you out fishing again next Summer Dylan!

Love You, Uncle John.

Just like our “Reports” page says… I’ve heard it from everyone! I am really sorry that I didn’t keep our Blog updated with the days fishing and pics for all those out there needing there “Fish Porn” fix… didn’t realize how many of Ya missed the reports and pics. I’m back at it now and will make more time for all of Ya out there and keep on the “Reports”, “Blog” and “Monday Night Chat”.

Been one crazy arse’ Summer and I was busier than a one legged mule in an arse’ kicking contest! Now,.. Things are starting to settle down just a bit and my wife Corrina is now running the business end of “John’s Guide Service” leaving me to more time to update the site, chat a bit, spend more time with the family, and do what I do best… hunt and fish!

Our summer season consisted of a lot of King Salmon fishing:

A little Sturgeon Fishing:

…And a whole lot of Pink Salmon fishing on one of the largest Pink Salmon runs to ever hit the Skagit River, Check out the News Links below; (Yep,.. yours truly in the news)

“King 5 News Report on the Skagit River Pink Salmon run.”

“Komo 4 News Report on the Skagit River Pink Salmon run.”

Thanks to all that joined us over the Summer and sorry if your pics aren’t posted here in the attempt to play, “Blog Catch-Up” here. Look forward to seeing all of you again soon… Thank You!

After a month off getting things done around the log home and getting our garden in it was nice to finally get back out on the water for the opening week of our Hatchery Chinook (a.k.a. Springers) season.

Started off the week with some unseasonably hot weather, with temps in the high 80’s to low 90’s here on the Skagit… which made for some very high water fishing conditions! Even with all the hot weather the Skagit never did blow out or become unfishable.

Fishing all week was pretty much the usual for hatchery Spring Chinook fishing… The fish are there, the trick is just getting them to bite. We had one phenominal day of fishing along with a few tough days; Again… typical Springer fishing.

Here’s a few pics from opening week of Springer Fishing here on the upper Skagit River: (No pics of the Wild Chinook or the Wild Steelhead we caught and released this week… there has been a few around though)

Brian and crew came up for one absolutely phenominal day of Springer fishing here on the upper Skagit… Ya dont wanna’ even know how many we hooked into this day, just wish the landing ratio was a little better. Zack, where’s my king pic from your daughter?!?! I’m a believer now!! Look forward to seeing you guys again next month Brian… had a great time as usual. Thanks!!

Harold and his wife Janene (sp?) Spent a couple of nights camping at “Howard Miller Steelhead Park” and fished with us for a day as well. Betcha’ that fish tasted great on the barbeque back at camp that night. Had a great time Harold and Janene and very much look forward to seeing you guys back again for some more fishing. Sorry we didn’t get a chance to get a pic of that dandy Steelhead.

Mike and gang back again to join us this go around for some hatchery Spring Chinook fishing here on the upper Skagit. Had a great time as always and hooked into a couple of dandy Chinook including one nice Wild Summer King we released. That Wild King was just a small taste of whats coming next month Mike… See Ya then and thanks for the great time!!

To end off our opening week we were joined by Doug and Dave for a shot at some of our Hatchery Spring Chinook… Weather cooled off over night and the river went from really high and colored to dialed in and in primo shape… to bad the fish didn’t get the memo on that! We did manage to hook into a few though and Doug landed the nice Springer in the pic above. Thanks again Dave and Doug… had a great time and looking forward to seeing you guys again next month for some Wild Summer Chinook action.

Thanks to all that joined for opening week here on the upper Skagit… I had a great time and very much look forward to seeing you all again in the next few months.

Other than the cold blast of rain we just had on Easter Sunday, things are finally starting to warm up weather wise and fish wise as well!! Still slower than your average Spring Steelhead run, we’re averaging 4 - 6 hook-ups a day, but they have all been real dandy fish so far. Seems our two salt fish are running a little late this season.

Again, haven’t been taking too many pics this season… been trying to get DNA samples and scale samples and get the fish back on their way un-harmed.

Here’s a few pics for Ya from this past week:

“The Squirrel Hunter” Erika, with her first Wild Steelhead

Robbo with a “Bucket List River” Wild Steelhead

Big Tom “The Great Pumpkin” with an Easter Steelhead

Dave Maibe joined Big Tom for a day and caught his first ever Steelhead over 20 pounds!! This chrome bright Buck measured 41 inches long with a 21.6 inch girth. Congrats again Dave!!

Another pic of Dave’s big Steelhead showing just how girthy this big boy really was!

Isn’t March supposed to go out like a lion and April in like a lamb?… Well the lion is still here!! Lots of rain and wind here the past few days and I’m still waiting for the “Global Warming”!!

Yeah, I know… It’s about time I got the blog and reports page all updated. Like I said earlier in the year I was taking the Winter off and relaxing a bit in our newly finished log home and laying low for awhile… Seems like the Steelhead were thinking the same thing most of this Winter. Was a pretty tough Hatchery Steelhead season over-all and a tough start to our Wild Steelhead Run here as well and from what I’m hearing it was pretty much State wide.

Been a real low water year and our Wild Steelhead have been slow to move up the Skagit system and I’m happy to report with all the very recent rain, a rise in water levels along with numbers of fish… they’re coming! Been doing some fishing for the WDFW, Seattle City Light and The Skagit Cooperative with their Biologists and Rob Endsley, placing radio transmitters in fish, and taking DNA and Scale samples from Wild Steelhead lately in much of the system… Again, if you’re out there fishing and happen to see Rob or I out fishing while you have a fish on, wave on us over and let us get some samples of your fish if you wouldn’t mind.

Thanks to all that have joined us fishing over the past few weeks, I’ve had a great time as always and look forward to seeing you all again real soon! Still have a few April openings left for anyone thats interested!! Didn’t take near as many pics this past month as I would have liked too and I apologize to those whose pics didn’t come out. (Wasn’t the best weather for taking pics in and it seems my camera lens musta’ been fogged up on many of them… if you fished with us and any of your pics turned out feel free to e-mail them to us)

Here’s a little March fish porn for Ya:

I’ll do my very best to update regular here the rest of April for evreyone… especially those e-mailing or calling me for updates and fish porn. Book one of the remaing April dates and Lets Go Fishing!!