Fishing News - 2/3/02
From: Rob Endsley and Kevin Erickson
Fisherman's Heaven
www.fishermansheaven.com
What We’ve Been Up To:
The last time we sent out a newsletter, Kevin was in mid-season of officiating high school basketball games, and as
usual, Rob was fishing. Some things never change, but at least Kevin is nearing the end of the high school basketball
season and looking forward to some free time. Every ounce of Rob’s free time, however, will soon vanish with the
arrival of the wild steelhead in February. Once the big natives arrive, Rob is a tough one to keep track of, and if you
do run into him he’ll probably have some drool dripping from his chin and that "distant" stare that signifies a "goner".
Speaking of steelhead fishing, Rob got a bunch of close friends together back in early January for the first annual
Snoopy Rod Classic, held on Washington’s Bogachiel River. Yes, that’s right, the "Snoopy Rod Classic!!!" We all know
how tough it is to land an explosive steelhead on our new technologically advanced, Lamiglas fishing rod. Well, imagine
landing one on a Snoopy Rod!!! Rob bent the rules a bit to include Tweety Bird, Taz, Scooby Doo, Mickey Mouse, and Star
Wars rods, but no matter what rod you chose, the favor would be greatly tilted in favor of the metalheads.
Like the first rule wasn’t bad enough, Rob threw an even bigger twist into the rules to throw the gang completely off -
Whoever nets a fish gets to keep it! If your fish dances a little bit too close to another boat and they happen to net
it, well, it’s their fish. This rule resulted in several boat collisions, a net wrestling contest, a contusion caused
by a flying marshmallow, and more expletives than we care to write into this newsletter. In the end, 8 steelhead were
hooked between the two boats and a total of three were landed, including a beautiful wild hen landed by Kevin Kent. Rob
took first place with a 6 pound hatchery buck, and coastal guide Bob Ball took second with a 5 pounder.
What was the point of all this? Aside from wanting to redline the fun-meter, Rob’s main focus was to come up with a
charity event that would help kids get into fishing for salmon and steelhead. What better way than to reduce a bunch of
steelhead guides to the level of 3 to 5 year olds (for all 6 of them, that wasn’t too hard) and then cut them loose on
the river? The proceeds of which would go to purchasing rod, reels, and tackle for kids who may not otherwise be able
to go fishing. This years Snoopy Rod Classic merely served as a test run and we suspect that Rob will have quite a few
boats in the tournament next year.
Kevin and Rob just received confirmation from KVOS that Fisherman’s Heaven will indeed be on for another season and the
gears are already in motion for another great season of shows. We’ve got an awesome lineup for next seasons shows, but
we’re not going to let the cat out of the bag just yet. Next fall Fisherman's Heaven will also have some new features
that we think will greatly improve our presentation and approach each week.
February Fish News:
Seems like every time we get a monster flood up here in the North Puget Sound it takes a while for the steelhead to sort
things out. The big flood we had the second week of January was no different. Reports from both the North Puget Sound
Rivers and the Olympic Peninsula are that steelheading has been tough for the last couple of weeks. It's actually
pretty typical to get a lull in the winter steelhead the latter part of January, but super-floods always seem to put the
exclamation mark on it. The good news is that the big wild fish are already starting to trickle into most of the
premiere North Sound and Olympic Peninsula Rivers, and it won't be long until they're in the rivers in force. If you're
looking for that trophy winter steelhead, now is the time to do it, as the big bucks always seem to set up shop ahead of
the rest of the run.
Other GREAT news from the North Sound is that it's very likely that the Skagit system will be open for it's traditional
catch and release season in March and April (we'll say "likely" until we have the bulletin in our hands). The exact
"when" and "where" won't be decided for another couple of weeks, but they said it was a "go". If you're new to this
newsletter, the Skykomish, Stilliquamish, Skagit, and Sauk Rivers were all closed last spring due to projected poor
returns. Since the adoption of catch and release regulations on these rivers back in the late 80's, they have all
become destination rivers for steelhead enthusiasts from not only our own country, but from all over the world. But,
even with catch and release in place, Mother Nature decided several years ago that she'd reduce the runs returning to
all of these systems and it resulted in the eventual closure of these systems. The opening of the Skagit will be a boon
to the entire area this year!
Other good news from the Pacific Northwest is that the Columbia River is once again expecting a huge return of spring
chinook. This years estimate puts the run at approximately 350,000 springers, which will once again be a huge shot in
the arm for the northwest sportfishing industry. Right on!!!!
Have you been dreaming of your own driftboat ever since you caught your first steelhead on a guided trip? Get the Rolls
Royce of boats that will last you a lifetime...Lavro gets you where the fish are!
http://www.lavroboats.com
Sincerely,
Rob Endsley and Kevin Erickson
Fisherman's Heaven
www.fishermansheaven.com
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