John’s Guide Service Fishing & Hunting Blog

Again, this is one of those hard to beat fisheries I am really looking forward to for future summers to come…. Great weather, great scenery, great fishing and great company… What more could one ask for?

Here’s a few more pics from the Baker Lake Sockeye Fishery that I took using my “Blackberry” phone (Hope to have my regular digital camera fixed soon)

Can only think of one thing more beautiful than viewing the sunrise on Mt Baker in the summer….

… and that would be my Beautiful wife and very best friend, Corrina!! Love you honey!!

Local Dave brought some of his family from out east out for a day of Sockeye Fishing up on Baker Lake… Even my daughter Anjelika got in on this pic with a nice Sockeye we kept for our dinner that night.

Big Chris brought his family up for a real fun day of Baker Lake Sockeye fishing and caught a nice limit of Sockeye.

Maybe a future deckhand in the making… Chris’s son David takes us back across Baker Lake to end the day and end out the pics left from my “Blackberry” and others to close out our Sockeye Season.

Next on tap… SAY IT ISN’T SO… WAHOOO… MY PERSONAL FAVORITE FISHERY… COHO MOJO 2010!!!

We had a surprise fishery this Summer here on the Skagit System with a first time every “WDFW Emergency Opener” of a Sockeye Salmon season up on Baker Lake… What a great fishery!! Very, very much looking forward to future Summer Sockeye fisheries up on Baker Lake. The scenery and fishing just cant be beat!

We were joined for a couple of days by our usual “Grumpy Old Men”, Warnie and Frank… back at it again. “The Beasts!!” Only this time around we were also joined by a few “Beauties” as well, the wonderful Marge and my summer deck hand and daughter Anjelika. We had a couple of great days of fishing up on Baker Lake for Summer Sockeye and were limited out both days before 10:00AM

NOTE TO OTHERS: I only give Frank and Warnie a hard time because to us here at Koenig household we consider them family… Oh yeah, and they dish it right back! This is my little pay-back time. If you go back through years of blog posts here there are more pictures of Frank and Warnie than anyone else… including me. (You guys better watch out though… The Dynamic Duo of Dan and Chris are making a run at your Blog Fame here!)

I certainly hope to see Marge back with you more often Frank… Love how she keeps you and Warnie in line!!! LOL

Since my camera went belly up on me in early June the Pictures below from our couple of days of Sockeye fishing on Baker Lake are from Frank’s very fancy camera. Thanks for the great time as always Frank and Warnie and thank you again for bringing Marge with you too Frank… She’s great!!

Sunrise from Baker Lake looking up at Mt. Baker… Beautiful isn’t it?

Warnie with the first Sockeye Salmon of the day! Ever heard of ladies first Warnie?

Not to be outdone by Warnie, Marge quickly puts the second and largest Sockeye of the day in the boat.

Frank’s turn with a nice Baker Lake Sockeye

Our first days limit of Baker Lake Sockeye Salmon…. Too Sweet!!

Full sun on Mt Baker… what more could you ask for? Great scenery, great weather, great fishing and great company… doesn’t get any better than this!!!

Here’s a picture of our second days limit of Baker Lake Sockeye Salmon!!

Of course I had to save the absolute best for last… My summer deck hand, my best friend, the most beautiful 13 yr old I know… My daughter Anjelika!!

The new Lamiglas Poster Child… “I swear Dad, I really like fishing with other rods other than Lamiglas!” LOL

Yeah, yeah I know… I’ve been terrible at updating my Blog and reports page. All I can say is, “I’m sorry”. Been one crazy busy summer around here for us this year.

A quick follow up on our Summer 2010 Hatchery King Salmon Season here on the Skagit… I can honestly say it was one of best Hatchery King Seasons yet here on the Upper Skagit. Looking back on all of our trips we averaged 4 - 6 Kings a day every day throughout the entire season. In the beginning of the run and also through the end of June we averaged at least 1 boated Wild Steelhead a day. We boated lots of Big Dolly Varden every day, quite a few Jack Kings, along with a few resident rainbows and even managed to boat 7 Wild Sockeye on the upper river here while targeting Kings.

My Camera died in the beginning of July so I relied on my “Blackberry” and others cameras for getting most of our pics this Summer. My “Blackberry” doesn’t take half bad pictures… You be the judge.

Here’s a few pics of the Hatchery Kings we kept throughout the June July season:

Chris with a dandy Hatchery King Salmon caught towards the end of our 2010 season.

Dan joins us for our Hatchery Spring Chinook season and takes home a couple of dandies. Actually Dan and his brother Chris pretty much fished with us once a week and was definitely “Top Dawg” during our King run. Do you even remember how many Kings you guys boated this season Dan or Chris? I know you both had some very memorable days out there this Summer, Like Chris getting spooled by a monster King Salmon or the double header on Wild Steelhead, the 32″ Dolly Varden Chris landed, and of course the Wild Steelhead Chris caught, “Over there!”

Chris with one of his many Hatchery Kings of the season.

Chris with another nice hatchery king salmon.

Jeff with a dandy Skagit River Spring Chinook!! Hope you’re feeling better Jack!

Keith and gang with a few Hatchery Spring Chinook… Think this was one of our best “hook-up” days of the season. Can’t remember exact numbers but my daughter Anjelika (My summer deck hand) says we went 9 for 12 that day releasing a couple of Jacks, 2 Wild Kings and a Wild Steelhead… and we lost 3 really nice Kings. That sound right guys?

To all those that joined us during our Summer 2010 Hatchery King Salmon Run here on the Skagit River… Thank You!! Had a great season and look forward to seeing you all again this Fall and again next Summer!!

Yesterday was opening day of our Upper-Skagit River Hatchery Spring Chinook Season… “GREAT!!!!”… To finally be back out on the water after having the entire Spring off from being on the mend from a broken wrist and two full reconstructive wrist surgeries (Get the final stitches out tomorrow after fishing!) Original wrist injury was this past Feb. 22nd, while coaching wrestling…

Also, Great to be joined by opening day regulars Gary and Lorna again. (Sorry folks, they’ve already re-booked for opening day next season too) Yesterday was probably one of the best openers we’ve seen in the past 4 years with some great weather and we hooked into 6 King Salmon including a couple of very large Wild Summer Kings we had to let go and a couple that we couldn’t help but let go… They broke us off, Ugggghhhh! (We missed our fair share of fish as well yesterday… Too many to count) Thanks Gary and Lorna for the great company and the great day, very much looking forward to seeing you again later this Summer and again this Fall.

Lorna with a dandy opening day Spring Chinook!

Today we were joined by good friend and regular Dave and his Grandson Isaac… Definitely NOT the nice weather day we enjoyed yesterday (Lots of rain) and in typical Spring Chinook fishing fashion, not the same bite as yesterday… (Spring Chinook runs are notoriously known for being one of the most finicky of all Salmon runs… One of the reasons we throw so much gear at them trying to trigger a bite. Probably the only run of fish I actually carry 18 rods in the boat for, and for good reason.) … Still as usual it was a great day of fishing with some great company! I think you’ve got yourself one heck of a future fisherman there Dave… Great Job listening to and following instruction there Isaac! We hooked into a couple dandy Spring Chinook today, quite a few huge Dollie Varden and a dandy Resident Rainbow Trout too! Thanks again Dave, I really enjoyed the day!

Dave and his Grandson Isaac with another dandy Skagit River Spring Chinook!

** Still have some Spring Chinook openings the last two weeks of June… to book an open spot give us a call or drop us an Email!

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.