John’s Guide Service Fishing & Hunting Blog

Been a few days here since my last report with Pics so rather than a lengthy Blog read I’m just going to post Pics from the last few days with brief descriptions.

Going to start off with todays Pic and work backwards because I promised young Nick here I’d have his picture up on the internet by tonight if he’d hold up one of his fish for a picture…

10/30/05: 8 year old Nick Brown put on a clinic today for his Dad and Grandpa hooking and landing not only the first Silver of the day but also the most fish, including the nice bright Chum he’s holding in the Pic above. Great day on the water hooking into quite a few Silvers and Chum. Your a little fishing Machine Nick… way to go!!

10/29/05: The Babcock boys out for a day of Silver fishing. Roy (far left) may not have hooked into the most but certainly caught the largest Silver of the day at 14 pounds. Next to Roy (working left to right) up on the deck was Dad, Roger, with couple of nice chromers, his son Jesse, back from serving in Iraq, holding his limit and Jesse’s brother Joe, the catching machine for the day, with his limit. Great time guys!!

10/28/05: Galen was the fly fishing machine on Friday hooking a bunch of Silvers, including the 2 chromers above, along with a few chuml… and all on the fly. Always a blast on the fly rod and the company was great as usual!!

10/27/05: Bill up from California for some business managed a day off to come and experience some of the Skagit’s finest, hooking into well over a dozen Silvers, including the 2 chromers above, and a few Chum as well. Looking forward to doing it again Bill!!

All in all a very productive week!!

…What more could ya ask for?

Mark with a nice limit of chrome Silvers!!

Got to sleep in a bit today and didn’t even launch till’ 9:00AM. Landed a dozen or more Silvers today and hooked a bunch of others as well including one mean arse Chum that tore it up before spitting the hook.

Another great day of Company, Weather, and Fishing… Thanks again Mark!! Great time as always and looking forward to seeing you again in a few weeks. (Hopefully with Diane along as well this time.)

Girls’ Day Out on the Skagit today…

Pam and Corrina with a nice limit of Skagit Silvers

May have been a pretty wet and drizzly day on the water but I certainly had the best looking boat on the river today with Pam and Corrina along for Girls’ Day Out.

First fish of the morning was the slab Silver Corrina’s holding in the Pic above, setting the bar high for the rest of the day. Girls landed 14 Silvers today and hooked plenty of others as well. I even had my shot at a couple, but every time I had a chance the girls would hook up again. So yes, the golden rule still applies — “Women always outfish the men.” But like I told them, “It’s not nice to outfish your guide.”

Had a great time as always and look forward to doing it again!! Thanks Pam and Corrina!!

After a week of hunting and hiking the hills it was good to get back on the water again!!

Mark with a couple of todays Silvers.

Mark was back with us today for another salmon season and this time around… no rain!! Seems just about every trip for the past 7 or 8 years now (Has it really been that long Mark? Maybe even longer? ) Mark has had some major rain to contend with while fishing with us for fall salmon. Today, weather wise, was absolutely perfect and so was the fishing!! Dont really know how many Silvers we actually hooked into today but we managed to boat 12 of them before calling it quits.

Great day with some great company!!! Thanks again Mark!

First, sorry no regular updates here over the last week… been out hunting every day this past week. (Up before dark and in late.)

Hunting Report:

- Opening day 10/15/05 Hunted locally. Jumped one legal buck blacktail, but had no shot. Also saw 3 doe.

- 10/16/05 Headed over the pass and hunted this side of Winthrop in the migration route. Saw 3 two point bucks in a 3 point or better area along with a ton of fresh deer sign and a few doe. Looked like the entire valley’s herd went through there the previous week!! Oh yeah, found a fresh cougar kill as well. Stepped on a nice juicy pile of leaves and a leg popped out. Yuck!! Kill was a few days old.

- 10/17/05 Hunted local again. Saw a few doe at first light and the tail end of one buck as he headed off into the re-prod. Jumped one other but never got a look at it.

- 10/18/05 Hunted local. Jumped a couple of nice legal bucks but never got a shot.

- 10/19/05 Local bear hunt. Found two areas with lots of really fresh sign but got screwed by rain and a strong ever changing wind direction all day long.

-10/20/05 Headed over the pass again to migration route just above Winthrop where we were on the 16th. Hiked to over 5,000 ft and 0nly saw one fresh set of tracks in an area that was loaded with them only 4 days earlier. Shoulda been some deer in here and usually are. (Hence the “John’s weather prediction… Somthing Major This Way Comes”…more on that below)

-10/21/05 Day off from guiding paying trips and decided to take a local neigborhood 13-year-old kid out for his first deer. Headed over the pass again… only this time down below Winthrop in the Twisp area. Good choice as the deer sign was everywhere and fresh. We hiked up to 5,000 feet and I first saw a monster 4×4 Mulie (Trophy class too) with a 2 X 3 Mulie by his side… Had him in my site to with an easy shot at less than 100 yds… but I didn’t. Pulled my neighborhood little buddy over and said, “Look Tye… there they are.” He drew up and fired so quick I didn’t even have a chance to give him a back up shot in case he missed. Well he thought for sure he hit it, and he is actually a really good shot, so we waited a bit before we went looking and went over everything we shoulda’ done different that moment. Looked for an hour but no blood sign… nothing. Was a learning experience for sure… for both of us. Still have one day off later this week to try and get one for myself in the morning and to take my little buddy out after school as well.

John’s weather prediction… Something Major This Way Comes:

My predicition… WE’RE IN FOR A COLD AND NASTY WINTER!! Lots of snow or rain, but somthing major!

Reasoning and hunting overview:

1. 90% of our local deer population is being seen and found in the lower elevations this season. No fresh deer sign in the mid elevations and very little high mountain buck sign around.

2. Lots of geese and waterfowl on the move all week long. Usually don’t see this many geese flying around here for another few weeks.

3. Local coyotes are already in full winter coats looking like big furballs right now. Usually looking pretty mangy right now.

4. Bear are acting pretty funny as well right now and most of the bear sign is being seen in the mid to lower elevations right now. Trees torn up and clawed like crazy in the two areas we hunted this past week and we actually found a den area already prepped for the winter ahead. In a few other high mountain units where there’s usually a ton of fresh bear sign this time of year there is no fresh sign and tons of blueberries left untouched.

5. Deer migratory route just the other side of the HWY 20 pass. Seems the deer had gone through there in a hurry in places we normally find lots of deer still making the migration. All the deer I’ve heard taken over the pass this week were taken down lower and away from the pass itself.

So how’s everyone elses season gone? Do you generally agree or disagree with the weather forecast and have you experienced the same with area wildlife this season?

Keep hearing from everyone that they’ve either read on the web elsewhere or heard from a friend that the Silver fishing on the Skagit is slow to almost non-existent.

With the recent limited visibility we may have to work a little harder for them but there’s certainly plenty of fish around…and certainly not much pressure to validate the claims of little to no fish. The runs just gettin’ under way here and were seeing fresh fish every day.

Been slackin’ on the reports Blog here the past few days and have forgotten the digi camera a few as well but here’s some pics for ya.

Jim with a couple of nice Silvers. Went two for eight on Silvers this day…and still gettin’ some Pinks (River Vermin) as well.

Dennis and Dave with a nice limit of Silvers. Went four for eight on Silver today too…more River Vermin as well too.

OK, this one’s a bit interesting. Steve and Brian with their limit of “Salmon”. Notice anything different about one of these fish? …

OK, how about now? Notice anything different about these two fish? Take a guess and leave your comment here on the Blog. (Yes, you can comment in here and read them as well by clicking on “comments” with each post) I’ll take some comments on this one and then get back to ya on the fish. Took me a bit on this one myself when first netting it. Whatcha’ think?

Damian and Tim with a nice limit of Silvers.

Even with the very limited visibility on the upper Skagit today we managed to hook into some nice Silvers.

Fly fished all day yesterday with 2 foot plus of visibility landing one nice Silver along with a few Pinks. Today we started with the fly rods with under 2 feet of visibility and decided quickly to change over to gear for some serious Silver action, landing six Silvers and a few Pinks as well.

Had a great time today guys…Thanks!!

Growing like a weed!! The newest addition to our family, Boone Dog Dundee, turns four months old tomorrow

Boone in pic above when we first picked him up at eight weeks old weighing 17 pounds.

Boone now in his new favorite night spot, sharing the recliner with Dad, at four months old weighing in at 41 pounds tonight!!

After a long day on the river and followed by some training time Boone crashes with Dad for a power nap in the recliner. (Wife is like a proud Momma when she gets a hold of my Digital camera)