John’s Guide Service Fishing & Hunting Blog

Today Matt brought (Double Trouble ) Ryan and Ryan back with him for a go at Winter-Run Steelhead here on the Skagit… Rule for next time Ryans: No staying up till 3:00AM the night before fishing!! …and note to self, Gotta come up with nick-names for the two of you so we don’t get the, “Ryan set the hook!… No other Ryan” again.

Had a great time as always with Matt and the Ryans, (who actually aren’t that much trouble at all…but someones gotta give em’ a bad time ) Missed quite a few fish today and lost a few as well but managed some Steel and quite a few Dollies including one monster Dollie for the day.

Look forward to doing it again guys!!

Got my fix today!!! Feelin’ much better now

With all the recent rain and high flows the Skagit has been marginal at best since last week… and I was gettin’ cranky being all cooped up!!

Been re-scheduling trips all week including todays which opted for better fly fishing conditions because of the forcasted high winds and rain. Wife basically kicked me outta the house for the day to go out and get my fix of fishing. ( Yes, I’m addicted! Get real cranky when I’m not on the water or in the woods… and am told I’m hell to live with. ) So,… hooked up the boat and headed out with another local old-timer up here to do some fishing. Water is quite a bit higher than we normally like to fish it but had great vis at 3 - 4 feet today so we headed out.

Got my fix just being on the water and actually get my biggest fix putting others into fish, but the Steely in the pic above was ceratainly a nice bonus for the day!!

I’m all better now… you guys are safe to call again! hehehe

Brad and Aaron with a couple nice winter-run Steelhead.

Skagit this morning was up and marginal at best visibility wise but we decided to go for it anyways until the dam releases reached us… at least got in a good half day of fishing, hooknig into the couple nice chromers in pic above before the river rose a couple of more feet on us.

With the warm temps and light rain today could be marginal tomorrow as well fishing wise.

Had a blast guys!!.. and thanks again!

Sorry no up-dates lately… had some car problems with Heathers car last week that just are not worth the money to remedy so we did a little fishing trip re-scheduling and went out and bought another Suburban over the weekend. A nice 97′ fully loaded Burb. (Will take some pics soon) All good now and back on top of things again.

Bruce and Tod with a few nice Winter-run steelhead and yet another Silver for the season!

Took Gamefishin.com owner Bruce (Looks like Genghis Khan on Crack in Pic above! hehehe ) and one of his forum board’s contributing members Tod (Iceshark) out to get Tod into his first ever “landed” Steelhead.

Missed a couple first thing in the morning and then Tod finally hooked up ( with a friendly nudge from his guide, “Tod you planning on setting the hook on that fish?” )
Fish On!! and Tod had landed his first Steelhead! His second fish was a dandy Dollie on the very next drift. Bruce boated a few Silvers and then we hooked into another Steelhead for the day which Tod again landed. (His first ever limit of Steelhead) CONGRATS TOD!!! Lost a few others and then Bruce landed his Steelhead for the day.

Great job guys!! Definately a bit tougher on the water today than it has been the past couple of weeks… but we still faired pretty well! Water was quite a bit lower and a bit cooler today than it was over the weekend and on Monday.

Look forward to doing it again sometime guys!

Weekend of December 10th and 11th:

Another great weekend to be on the water!! Lots of boat traffic all weekend… but good times and camaraderie amongst all, it seemed. Met a lot of new people on the water this weekend and everyone fished really well together… even with all the anglers.

Finally got to meet Kris, who saved the day yesterday when I broke the pull-cord on my kicker motor, not once but twice. Kris just happened to have the right socket I needed to fix the problem. Thank you again Kris… I owe ya one!! (Hope ya got your alternator problem all squared away.)

Got to meet Matt and his yellow Lab out for a day of fishing… nice to meet ya, Matt! And also met a nice guy, I never did get his name, who helped in the launching of my sled in the morning… Thank you!! Next time I’ll try and introduce myself… and thanks again if ya read the Blog page here!

Had a blast fishing this weekend!!

Sing and David with a nice limit of Skagit River Hatchery Steelhead.

Saturday, December 10th:

Joined today by Father / Son team, Sing and David, and great friend and fellow guide Bill Meyer, helping out tons in the boat, for another great day of fishing. (Actually Bill did most of the work… I just ran the boat and fished along with Sing and David ) Thanks for another great and fun day, Bill!! Boated our limit of Steelhead and quite a few Silvers as well.

Jim and Jason with some nice Hatchery Steelhead and Silvers for the day.

Sunday, December 11th:

Had a blast today with (Old Man) Jim and (Hard On The Parts… and hook set) Jason, for some more Steelhead and Silver Salmon action on the Skagit. Was another great day on the water for both Steelhead and Silvers today!! We beat the snot outta the water we fished today and I look forward to doing it again with you guys!! Thanks for a fun day!!

Brian with his limit of Hatchery Steelhead and Silvers.

Was another cold one out on the water again today!! Temps in the AM in the mid 20’s and didn’t seem to warm all that much during the day either.

Fishing was a bit tougher for us today than last weekend and I think the colder water temps and the very low gin clear water above the Sauk had somthing to do with that as well… but we still managed our limit of Steelhead and Silvers once again, along with some more nice sized Dollies and another nice Cutt.

Had a great time today Brian!! Look forward to seeing ya again, perhaps next week sometime.

QUOTE FOR THE DAY: “BAIT THE HOOK WELL; this fish will bite.”
- William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing

Richard and Ryan with their limit of Hatchery Winter Steelhead.

One of our first two Wild Steelhead hooked for this Winter Steelhead Season.

Warnie and Tony with three Hatchery Steelhead and one of two more Silvers for the season.

Like the title says… So nice to be Steelheading again!!

Theme of the Weekend: “I Like New York in June !” ( had to be there for the singing guide routine… I was in rare form this weekend )

Had a GREAT day yesterday with Guide buddy Bill Meyer and his two clients, Richard and Ryan. Had a last minute cancellation for yesterday and invited Bill to bring his clients along in the sled for some Winter Steelheading on the Skagit. ( Had a few days off prior to yesterday and was really getting stir-crazy not being on the water ) Real nice having another guide along in the boat to help with rigging rods, ect. Went 7 for 10 on Steelhead yesterday, along with 4 Silvers, a bunch of nice Dollies and the biggest Cutthroat Bill or I have ever seen. (Wanted a pic, but was a double header with the Wild Steelhead in Pic above… so Cutty went on its merry way and we went in persuit of the Steely. ) Also, if anyone is looking for a great guide for the Snoqualmie or Skykomish, Bill’s your man! Drop me an e-mail or give us a ring and we’ll gladly give you his number.

Another GREAT day today with Tony and Warnie!! Went 3 for 6 on Steelhead, 4 for 7 on Silvers ( two Silvers in decent enough shape to keep) and also landed two Chum and a bunch more real nice sized Dollies.

So nice to be Steelheading again!!! Was just about all Salmoned-out for the season… and another great salmon season it was! Don’t get me wrong here, hooking into any salmon is still an absolute blast for sure, just been in to so many of them since June in AK for Kings, to Pinks in late summer, then Silvers and Chum up to now, that I really am… just about Salmoned-out for the season.

* Still have a few openings the next few weeks for Winter Steelheading… some weekday spots still available and only Saturday the 17th left for weekend spots in December. Give us a call or drop us an e-mail ASAP to fill any of our open dates as spots will go quickly.

** Remember to drop your family members a hint that John’s Guide Service Gift Certificates are available and can be easily purchased on line.

And back by popular demand…

QUOTE FOR THE DAY: “That is Winter Steelheading: long hours of cold, interminable work, punctuated with breathless moments of excitement.” Steve Raymond

Boone now ready for training time

Boone is now 5 1/2 months old, weighing in at 64 pounds, and taking to training extremely well ! Obeys the sit, heel, stay, and fetch commands very well and will come, heel and sit on whistle commands too. Been working with him daily with the throw dummies and decided to start working him on Ducks this past week. Shot a few the day before Thanksgiving and brought them home for Boone. At first all he wanted to do was lick and smell them. Started working them in with the throw dummies this last Friday… put on my duck coat, have a throw dummy in one pocket and frozen duck in the other pocket. Threw the dummy enough times to get him going and then switched out for the Duck. I’m a very proud Papa indeed!! No mouthing or agressiveness at all towards the ducks… Boone just grabs it by the wing and brings it right back to me. (his mouth is not quite big enough to get around the Ducks yet)

Boone ready to start with training

Boone bringing back throw dummy

Throw dummy retreived

Boone ready for Duck training

Boone getting duck

Boone on retreive with Duck

One last Pic with Boone and Duck