Casey Kelly

Great news! Washington has given fishing guides the green light to take customers fishing!  I’m so very excited to get back on the water with all of you and get back to catching some fish after a long hiatus.  Right now we are in full blown Kokanee salmon beat down mode on a daily basis.

Kokanee are landlocked sockeye salmon that reside in many Washington and Oregon lakes that are both stocked and naturally produced.   Two of the best lakes in either state are right in my backyard. Lake Merwin, and Yale Lake.  Limits of kokanee are caught on both these lakes on a daily basis and we are so fortunate to have them.

  Both lakes have beautiful scenery, and Yale has a great view of Mt. St. Helens!  The daily limit of kokanee are 10 per person, which adds up to quite a bit of delicious fatty sockeye salmon meat.  If you’ve ever eaten a kokanee, you know that they are some of the richest, oily and hearty fish for their size.  Kokanee on merwin average 12 inches, but in late spring we find fish that are pushing 15-17 inches daily.

  It’s tough to contemplate going fishing for such a small fish, but what they lack in size, they make up for in flavor and constant action.  Kokanee fishing is a great fishery for kids as well.  Kokanee fishing is definitely one of the best ways to get those kids out to enjoy fishing without getting bored.

  After we’re done kokanee fishing, it will be time to start targeting sockeye salmon and steelhead on the Columbia River.  Sockeye fishing will start heating up in the first week of June and will last through the end of the month.  Their will be a ton of fishing opportunities coming  this summer so get ahold of me asap to discuss what else there will be to do this year and when.  Fishing season is finally in full swing, let’s go catch some!

First off,  I must confess that I have lagged on posting updates on fishing since the fall of 2019. It was a very busy and also a very successful season to say the least. I will definently make a greater effort in keeping updated on all the info that will be happening for the remainder of the 2020 season.

As we all know, things have been put on pause in Washington and Oregon since March due to the Corona virus outbreak.  We all stayed in our homes to stop the spread of covid 19 and it appears it is working.  This has been a very challenging time for all of us and definitely the longest month and a half of my life!  As restrictions are starting to slowly relax, it’s time for me to let you guys know what’s going on with the upcoming seasons.   The guiding community has been hit extremely hard by these shut downs and we are very eager to get our customers back on the water asap.

Fishing in Washington has been closed since March,  but on May 5th recreational fishing will reaume to household members only for now. I anticipate guiding will resume sometime between late May – late June.  Unfortunately the Spring Chinook season will have came and gone by then but other opportunities will be plenty for the rest of the summer through winter.

The first species  of fish we will be targeting when guiding reopens are Kokanee salmon. Aka landlocked sockeye salmon.   This is one of my favorite fisheries we have!  Limits are the norm and the action is non stop until the boats limit is obtained.  We typically catch Kokanee through early July before we move on to summer steelhead. Summer steelhead fishing is a blast in the tributaries of the Columbia River year after year!  We target summer steelhead with light tackle while drifting down the river fishing from one spot to the next. Summer steelhead are hard fighters and often are very acrobatic making the fight that much more exciting when they get hooked.

After summer steelheading slows down, I plan on moving my operation to Astoria Oregon to start targeting bottom fish such as Ling Cod and Black bass among many other species that we typically hook while bottom fishing. Bottom fishing is a great way to fill the freezer with delicious white meated fish and limits are very typical during this fishery.

Our Salmon season in Astoria will be a bit different this year regarding when we start fishing, and when the season ends.  This year we will start our Fall Chinook season on August 15th and it will run until August 27th.  The Astoria fishery is also known worldwide as the Buoy 10 fishery.  People travel from far reaches to participate in this fishery year after year due to it’s high probability of catching their limits of both Coho and Fall Chinook.

Fall Chinook and Coho salmon are coming fresh out of the ocean to start their migration up the Columbia River to the final destination to spawn.  We follow these fish from the ocean all the way to the tributaries of the Columbia every year catching great numbers of fish on the daily.  Another season  we will participate in will be catch and release and also catch and keep Sturgeon fishing.  The Columbia River sturgeon are some of the meatiest fish in the entire US and we are so lucky to have them.

After the August Buoy 10 fishery is over, fishing for salmon remains strong all the way into November making for a very long season to get the opportunity to catch them.  September and October are dynamite for fall chinook fishing on the Columbia and its tributaries with nice weather and tons of fish to catch!

As we fight through this virus that has gripped our country, one thing has remained true through the entire thing. We as humans need to recreate and connect with the great outdoors and fishing is one of the best ways to do so.  I’m so very looking forward to seeing all my old customers and meet new ones into 2020.  If you have any questions or just want to talk fishing please give me a call and we’ll chat about what’s going on in the great northwest fishing scene. 360 910 0612. Looking forward to a great fishing season with you! Continue Reading

Fishing the past few weeks has been nothing short of amazing! The forecast for Chinook salmon was originally not that great this year, but it’s proving to be a phenomenal with tons of chinook in the Columbia and its tributaries. On another positive note, the Coho salmon forecast was set to be massive, and its proving to be exactly what the predicted! The next three months is my favorite time of year. Once the Coho and Chinook salmon enter the tributaries of the Columbia, our tactics of catching them completely changes. We will be using a much more “hands on” approach to fishing for these salmon with light tackle while casting on our small SW Washington rivers. It’s such a blast targeting salmon on smaller rivers because the constant action and moving around to find them, and with this years catch rates, it won’t be too hard catching high numbers of fish daily. After seeing how many fish were getting caught in the ocean and the lower Columbia this year, I can’t wait for the rest of our fishing salmon fishing season in the tributaries! Get out while the fishing is hot and don’t forget steelhead is up next!

Columbia River fishing report: The past few weeks we have been targeting Kokanee Salmon on the lakes of SW Washington. Now, its time to switch our gears to steelhead and salmon! We will targeting steelhead throughout the month of July, and then we move on to the world famous Buoy 10 fishery in Astoria Oregon. This year, the Chinook forecast is equal to last years, which even with a smaller than average return it was still very good. The bright spot of this years fishing forecast is we are expected to get nearly a million Coho Salmon back to the Columbia River! And with that, we will be expecting to see limits increase due to that large forecast! Once we move into the tributaries, the limit on Coho could be as many as 6 fish per person! In August, we will target salmon with fresh anchovy’s and herring while trolling. Trolling is a technique that allows us to cover a lot of ground looking for schools of fish willing to bite. The ticket to being successful while trolling is using the freshest bait possible while rigging that bait in a matter that makes the bait resemble a wounded fish. In order to make our baits appear to be wounded, we rig our hooks into the fish in a fashion that puts a bend in them. This makes the fish spin in tight circle while being trolled enticing a feeding fish to strike. Trolling speed is the second most important part of success in any troll fishery. If baits or lures are spinning too fast, salmon have a harder time getting a good look at them, and many times salmon don’t want to chase them down. Trolling too slow is also not good because it doesn’t give the bait a proper spin that salmon just don’t like. There are many more factors that make for a successful day on the water including tides, currents, weather and obviously the amount of fish that are around. Being dialed in on all these things is what it takes to be consistent at any Northwest fishery. We are ecstatic that we are expecting such a large return this year! Don’t miss out on this summer’s steelhead and Fall Salmon fishing season! It will be one to remember!

The Columbia River Fishing Season for Spring Chinook has been an up and down ride for most the most part. Some days we had fantastic fishing and other’s not so much. That’s how fishing can be sometimes unfortunately. Today was the last day of the set season but the good news is we will have an extension for this Sat and Sun. We are only at half of our quota so far so I fairly confident there will be another extension as well. Feel free to give me a call to see when the future openings will be. In the mean time, we are going to start fishing kokanee on Merwin and Yale lake. Kokanee fishing is an absolute blast and I feel fortunate that we have such beautiful lakes stuffed with one of the finest eating fish on the planet in them! Columbia River Fishing season is upon us so let’s get out and catch some!

After a short winter break it’s time to start making plans for this year’s upcoming fisheries.  First on the list, we have our Spring Chinook run starting soon in mid March.  This year we get the rare opportunity to fish all the way till April 10th!  Not only that, but the lower Columbia River will be closed all the way to Woodland Washington which just so happens to be my home waters.  These fish will have not seen any gear all the way from the ocean, which will make for some fantastic fishing despite a little smaller forecasted run.  Spring Chinook are the most sought after salmon in the world and with one bite you will know why.  When these fish hit the market they are typically 52-57 dollars a pound!  Get ahold of me soon to get your seats booked because they will go fast.  Next up and probably one of my favorite fisheries is Kokanee Salmon on Lake Merwin and Yale lake in SW Washington.  We are already catching good numbers of Kokanee which indicates this years fishing will be dynamite.  Kokanee, although not large they are the best eating fish next to Spring Chinook that we have.  When things really heat up late March -July it’s nearly every day occurrence to catch the whole boat worth of limits.  The limit on Kokanee is 10 fish per person so when all is said and done you’ll leave with a pretty darn good haul of meat.  It’s that time of year again to start thinking about getting out on the rivers and lakes and start catching dinner and even possibly a memory that will last forever.

It was a great season on the Columbia this year but unfortunately it was cut a bit short due to lower than predicted Bonneville Dam counts.  The good news is the counts have really went up the last few days and things are looking promising for future runs of fall chinook.   Recently, we have been targeting the tributaries of the Columbia the past couple weeks with great success! There’s a lot to look forward to in the next couple months of fishing.  First, we are able to keep any Chinook after Oct 1st on local tributary we are fishing.  These fish are big, bright, and a blast to catch!  Still have some great dates left for that fishery.  Next up will be Coho salmon fishing in Late October, early November.  This fishery is one of my favorites due to a hands on approach casting and catching a lot of fish.  You can’t go wrong in the months of Oct and Nov so get on board before we all go into hypernation for the winter.