When the lull hits...

I always notice around this time, right between Thanksgiving and Christmas when there's a pause in the action. People are busy doing stuff, battening down the hatches. Others are with family, sports, obligations... Hope you all are doing well out there whatever you're doing - yeah, I see you there deleting your fish porn browser history too, you sick biscuits. Stay off those jet sled websites...

But seriously, whatever you're doing, I hope you're well and ready to get out real soon!

Fred "True" Trujillo

Indeed! Battening down the hatches at least in the Puget Sound region. Weekends have been real windy for PS standards, like sustained 25 knots and gusty to 50 knots, which makes for poor kayaking outlook.... some small weather windows here and there during weekdays that often conflict with other obligations, so there's that too. I echo Fred's sentiment that everyone is doing good and enjoying the season as best they can. Stay safe out there!

Fred,

During this time of year when I can't be on the water and its too cold outside to play with my kayak gear, my fish "porn" activity is usually on the rise..........  Kind of like gardeners who are receiving seed catalogs.  Pouring over everything in anticipation for the upcoming fishing season.   



 

I have perceived some whispers of winter steelhead recently. I suppose that will turn into a drumbeat soon. Steelhead ponderings aside, I have caught myself wondering lately why we have six kayaks and probably 36 fishing rods when I only go maybe once a month anymore.

Because when you do go, you are fricking kick ass ready! 

Similar problem here. Don’t get out enough but have been having some pretty decent success at Merwin. Fun fishing and super tasty table fare.

Remember, someone always catches a springer in Feb!!

I'm usually trying to hit the river for Steelhead or the lake for Cutts this time of year, but lately the "family/sports obligations" are keeping me hopping.  No time to fish! 

Happy Holidays to All!

I try to fish through the winter if possible. The limiting factor for me is finding soft water near me and the winter storms shutting down the passes and highway. If you are looking for winter fishing, the Columbia retention for sturgeon starts on January 1st but the quota is met fairly quickly. Brooders are released in to popular local lakes and are fun to target. Walleye on the Columbia is good all winter till it blows out with the spring runoff. My feet usually gets cold first so I started stuffing toe and hand warmer between my sock layers and that seemed to help. Bundle up and get out there.

That looks so cold! I mean so cool! Actually both. Seems that safety is paramount fishing in those icy conditions and for large fish, I am not geared up yet for that, I don't have a dry suit yet so I use a wetsuit or combination neoprene pants and dry top so I get cold after a while even fishing snow-free Puget Sound or Puget Sound area freshwater. Seeing fish like that nice sturgeon sure motivates me to up my winter kayak fishing gear. Cheers and congrats.

That looks so cold! I mean so cool! Actually both. Seems that safety is paramount fishing in those icy conditions and for large fish, I am not geared up yet for that, I don't have a dry suit yet so I use a wetsuit or combination neoprene pants and dry top so I get cold after a while even fishing snow-free Puget Sound or Puget Sound area freshwater. Seeing fish like that nice sturgeon sure motivates me to up my winter kayak fishing gear. Cheers and congrats.
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Thanks! Safety is always first and especially tricky in cold conditions and when dealing with large fish. A drysuit is the way to go in colder conditions. You might keep an eye on CL and some of the other sites for deals on suits. I just saw a kokatat angler suit in good condition for $250 in PDX and I know of a couple of other anglers that got smoking deals on suits.

I do a lot of kayak fishing in Montana in the late fall and early spring in air and water temperatures around freezing, sometimes when it's snowing.  A drysuit with a bunch of layers underneath it allows me to do this comfortably and relatively safely.  The limiting factor for me is when the air temperature gets enough below freezing that my line freezes together in my reel, and I get excessive amounts of ice forming on the line guides on my rod.  At somewhat colder temperatures ice forms on the hull of my kayak. Another problem is that the roads to many of the launch sites which I use get blocked by snow, and I have to slide my kayak down the road on the snow.  In the winter I eventually give up, mothball my kayaking gear for the winter, and switch to ice fishing. But Flathead Lake almost never freezes over completely, and well before ice fishing on many other lakes becomes impossible because the ice has started to melt around the shoreline, the weather inches enough above freezing to persuade me to dig out my kayak fishing gear again and head back to Flathead Lake.

I do a lot of kayak fishing in Montana in the late fall and early spring in air and water temperatures around freezing, sometimes when it's snowing.  A drysuit with a bunch of layers underneath it allows me to do this comfortably and relatively safely.  The limiting factor for me is when the air temperature gets enough below freezing that my line freezes together in my reel, and I get excessive amounts of ice forming on the line guides on my rod.  At somewhat colder temperatures ice forms on the hull of my kayak. Another problem is that the roads to many of the launch sites which I use get blocked by snow, and I have to slide my kayak down the road on the snow.  In the winter I eventually give up, mothball my kayaking gear for the winter, and switch to ice fishing. But Flathead Lake almost never freezes over completely, and well before ice fishing on many other lakes becomes impossible because the ice has started to melt around the shoreline, the weather inches enough above freezing to persuade me to dig out my kayak fishing gear again and head back to Flathead Lake.

New product outlook.  Kayak cart with snow skis instead of wheels. Now that would be a hoot!   

New product outlook.  Kayak cart with snow skis instead of wheels. Now that would be a hoot!   

Actually, I've done it.  Colt Killed Creek, formerly known as White Sands Creek, is a beautiful 16 mile roadless Class IV whitewater run in the headwaters of the Lochsa River, on the west side of Lolo Pass.  But to get to the put-in, you have to go over Savage Pass (6,063 feet), and then drop down 1,800 feet to the launch site. And Savage Pass is blocked by snow for much of the runoff period.  In order to bag the first run on White Sands each year, a friend and I made bike carts which had skis mounted under the frame of the cart.  My cart was made of welded tubing, and my friend's cart was made of wood.  The drop-ins for the bike wheels were made of angle iron.  We would drive up as far as we could towards Savage Pass.  When the snow got too deep for our vehicles, we'd put the carts onto the snow on their skis, strap our kayaks onto the carts, load our drysuits, PFDs, and other boating gear into the kayaks, and strap our bikes and the wheels for the carts on top of the kayaks.  Then we'd haul the carts on the snow over Savage Pass, which was typically 4 or 5 miles on the snow.  When the snow became intermittent, we'd put the wheels onto the carts and start pulling the carts with our bikes.  At first we'd have to deal with a lot of snow drifts, but as we descended from the pass the snow would disappear, and we'd have a screaming downhill to the launch site at the Colt Killed Creek trailhead.  We'd stash our bikes in the trees, and recover them when the snow melted out and we could drive to the launch site to run the creek.

On two different years a porcupine or some other critter ate the leather off my bike seat, probably because it was salty, so I started carrying my bike seat down the creek in my kayak.  Then some critter chomped the rear tire of my mountain bike, so I started hanging my bike in a tree.

I've included a couple of pictures of the creek, so you can see why it was worth all the hassle of getting over Savage Pass on the snow.  It's a beautiful run with fun whitewater.

Snow isn't the only obstacle to running Colt Killed Creek, formerly known as White Sands Creek.  Logs are another obstacle.  We were usually the first people to drive into the Colt Killed Creek trailhead, which always involved cutting out some downed trees.  In some years there would only be a half dozen trees down across the road, but there were a couple of years when we had to cut out 75-100 trees to get to the launch site.  In some areas I would stand on the running boards of the lead vehicle as we moved from one downed tree to another, because it wasn't worth getting inside the vehicle.  And the first trip down the river was always extra exciting, because you never knew when you were going to come roaring around a corner and find a log across the river.

Man, that is some determination!

Good on you. It is some beautiful water, but I'd probably be to lazy to do all that to get there....

Especially with no fishing on the intinerary!

Have you fished it?

Man, that is some determination!

Good on you. It is some beautiful water, but I'd probably be to lazy to do all that to get there....

Especially with no fishing on the intinerary!

Have you fished it?

I haven't fished White Sands/Colt Killed Creek.  That's always been a whitewater trip for me, not a fishing trip.  There is OK fishing on the Lochsa River, and there is a salmon hatchery at the confluence of White Sands/Colt Killed Creek and the Crooked Fork, which is where the Lochsa starts.