NEWSLETTERS members only - Adobe Acrobat Required Non-members can review these free issues. 6/8/07   10/6/07   9/18/07   11/29/07   12/8/07 June 20, 2008 Don’t use sharp hooks. Hooks/lures right out of the box are often not sharp enough! Even hooks that scratch your finger-nail when you drag the hook across it are not sharp enough. Hooks that even dig in, and “skip” over your finger-nail when you drag the hook across it are not sharp enough... ... click for more May 2, 2008 The simple troll with a quarter ounce sinker was all it took, with four anglers marking roughly 120 hookups (single, barbless hook, not necessarily landed) and grabbing one quadriple. ... click for more April 24, 2008 Yes, it’s bewildering. No, we’re not mocking your state’s department of fish and game. Everybody’s scrambling to provide both protection for fish and angling opportunities, in that order. ... click for more April 4, 2008 Anyone who's ever cast a fly understands the challenges of the sport….Time of day, season, water depth and date make up just a partial list of variables that may separate a day to brag about from striking out ... click for more March 21, 2008 It works for him, and for his family’s boat in a big, big way: Dale’s Troll (DT) is a unique rig, a triple threat that works with spoons or flies. It’s part of his system. ... click for more March 3, 2008 One way or another, the pair lasted two hours on a dock in a cool drizzle—no problems staying “moist”—fueled by coffee and chocolate, testing rods from a soft four-weight to a stiff eight, with a five and seven in between. ... click for more February 12, 2008 Excerpts from the latest WDFW bulletin say it all. “Spring is more than a month away,” begins the first paragraph. “Ice fishing is also still an option,” starts the next. ... click for more January 24, 2008 Follow This Direction Exactly: Experiment. Now. Right. Bit of a paradox, we know. Fishing Coaches creates Gameplans designed to give members the most precise, “foolproof” instructions possible: where to go, when (and when not to), who to call, what tackle to bring, lures to use, rigging, techniques ... click for more January 17, 2008 Fishing Coaches is interested in developing a squid scenario. So if this happens to be an area of your expertise…please let us know! ... ... click for more January 7, 2008 If you fish bait, do not “cull” your trout, releasing smaller fish while hoping for something larger. Bait-hooked fish too often die, for one thing. For another, it’s illegal: the fine for culling is enormous... ... click for more December 29, 2007 ...if you can’t wait to spin that new Christmas reel, double-haul your Hanukah rod, cast that collection of new Kwanza crankbaits... ... click for more December 17, 2007 Steelhead are tough. Tough fighters, sure, but what we mean is finding them in numbers that meet Fishing Coaches Scenario criteria. ... click for more December 8, 2007 The Nisqually (#221) wasn’t fishing too well before the week-end flood raised flows from 200 cubic feet per second to just shy of 10,000. While we should see major subsiding this week, it’s hard to say when conditions will improve enough to justify a visit ... click for more November 29, 2007 ...consider the challenges presented by chum salmon, AKA “dogs,” and their distant second cousin, Prosopium williamsoni, commonly known as Mountain Whitefish. As quarry they couldn’t be more different. ... click for more November 13, 2007 Chum in saltwater estuaries: fishing has been fair around the Hoodsport Hatchery north of Potlatch, where 68 anglers caught 73 salmon on 11/10. ... click for more November 5, 2007 If fishing’s what you want, then most any trip’s a good one—or should be. But for catching, getting the most current reports is a critical part of the game, as these reports reveal: ... click for more October 24, 2007 Two young fathers, fishing with their kids. One had a pair of young daughters with corn-silk hair, the other a son pushing ten years, tall for his age—and excited as could be to land one of the Cohoes Dad hooked up with a long cast. ... click for more October 10, 2007 ...their first day, they hooked five species of fish—chums, Coho, Sockeye, Whitefish…and lots of Humpies. ... click for more September 18, 2007 Begin with a how to at our office in Bellingham at 10:00 a.m., Saturday 9/22/07 Then those who like will mount up and, an hour’s drive and 45 minutes walk later… ... click for more September 7, 2007 Summer won’t last, you know. Here’s some Fishing Coaches Gameplans you might want to look at post haste. ... click for more August 20, 2007 It’s not a do-it-yourself Scenario. But if you plan this trip right, bring friends, food and drinks, you can save money, hook hundreds of fish and send heavy iceboxes home. ... click for more July 17, 2007 While we certainly admire single species purists— tournament bassers with more tackle than Norway, the dry fly artist casting a size 22 midge upstream to rising fish, ... click for more July 6, 2007 Summertime, and the living is easy. Unless you happen to be a hooked trout, salmon or steelhead that an angler is willing or obliged by law to release alive. ... click for more June 21, 2007 A pair of other FC members and I fished 2 1/2 days on this Columbia River Scenario last weekend, looking for hard-fighting shad. We found them. ... click for more June 8, 2007 Did Somebody Say "Smallmouth?" If not, they should have, as 75 hookups per person per day is not unheard of. BROWNLEE RESERVOIR: is still producing, and bigger bass than usual, along with plenty of crappie and perch. ... click for more June 1, 2007 Dale and another FC member hit this private lake in BC last week. The two of them combined to hook-up more than 150 (one hundred and fifty) leaping Kamloops in a weekend ... click for more May 23, 2007 Private water, catch-and-release, fly-fishing only, trip on Douglas Lake Ranch....a great chance to practice early-season streamer and midge fishing techniques on a lake where you’re more apt to see a bear in the distance than crowds of anglers up close! ... click for more May 15, 2007 Whatcom Falls Derby. Nobody got lonely. Everybody landed a hot dog, at least, and 20 finalists caught 40 fish in less than that many minutes. ... click for more May 1, 2007 Padden Produces. Fishing Coaches President Dale Dorcas and 3 FC members did just as we’ve been suggesting for a month, hitting the opener on one of the lakes stocked up to the Fishing Coaches’ minimum. ... click for more April 11, 2007 We think it’s best that Laurie Zavala tell you her story her way, because, well... we just couldn’t express her excitement any better than she has, while reporting on wild 8lb trout she caught on March 11, 2007. ... click for more March 12, 2007 Opening Day on most Washington Lakes is often a fishing festival, with more anglers lining the banks and boat launches than a lake may see again all season. The WDFW plants heavily, hoping folks will go home happy, which for most means a handful of meal-size trout in the cooler. ... click for more February 9, 2007 Fish all you like—or all you can bare—but the realities of mid-winter catching reveal why bears hibernate and other species migrate to warmer climes. ... click for more January 31, 2007 One of our newer Gameplans is a guided catch-and-release Scenario on the Skagit for Bull Trout and Dolly Varden with Rob Endsley. Terrific fish, these — big, beautiful, savage... click for more January 11, 2007 Whenever you’re considering a trip to fish a river or rivers, make sure to check the data available from the United States Geological Survey site -- see sample chart... click for more

OTHER NEWS

12/18/06 Folks! It’s only wet, windy — barely freezing...

Nisqually River: fishing for bright chums is heating up. The runs are coming in now, though it can be a trick to find them in latte water. We expect peak numbers around December 25, so make sure to check the new Gameplan! And remember to carry a spare rod when you ride off to battle these brutes. Rufus Woods rainbows…here’s another fishery that will go gangbusters February 1 through 15 — and another new Gameplan to check out. Triploid trout larger than many salmon? One of the neat things about Rufus is that typically the fish are close to the surface. Close enough, in fact that we’re considering a fly fishing GP there in the future... Whatcom Creek: We’re still waiting to hear the final numbers, but were frankly disappointed by the run this season. Perhaps the reason why: three or four years back vandals killed more than a million Whatcom Creek Hatchery fry. What never went to sea can’t come back. Finally: While Seth tried mightily to identify a Nooksack chum Scenario this year, for fish like the one below, "blown out" is a pale way to describe river conditions. How blown? During the November storm, one fork of the river went from less than 200 cubic feet per second of flow to 9000 cfs in less than three days... And last week, another fork increased volume by six times in 12 hours. Not a day to wade... especially out to an island. Maybe next year.

12/1/06 Members Getting out there! After spending most of our spring and summer in the office writing Gameplans... In the middle of the most miserable weather...

Seth grabbed Member Curt the end of last month, to explore the (faint) possibilities of a late season kokanee Scenario on a lake we'll tell you more about later. Cold, cold clear morning, little wind, nothing rising; but 90 minutes of trolling did produce three, maybe four bumps, two fish on and one, named "dinner," in hand. Dale reports that Whatcom Creek is putting out fish, six and eight pounds and up -- some fairly right -- although more slowly than usual for this time of year. The crowd can get thick on both sides of the stream, so early, early mornings on week-days really are your best bet. Note that some day we see heavy flows coming out of the lake, so arrifve prepared with longer pieces of tubing and pencil lead weight. Dale's also beginning to suspect that the lower the tide, the lower down the angler line-up you're likely to see fish hit, and visa versa. Make sure your rod is stiff. A whippy stick will makes it tough to control your drift, even tougher to set the hook when the time comes. Seth took lessons from Dale at Whatcom -- place was popping -- then, as promised, headed out to research a Nooksack chum scenario. Now is the time of year all right, but Seth's been watching the the CFS bounce up and down more than 5000 cfs a day--from 600 to almost 6000 (See chart attached.) The real problem, however, is water clarity, as he discovered when he trekked to the river two days after it dropped...only to find agua Ovaltine. The good news is that he did see big, bright fish, determined bucks surfing upstream through a riffle too shallow to wet their gills. So Whatcom's a go, now, for what Dale calls "Sociable Anglers," while the Nooksack's a "wait," with more rain forecast as far as the satellites can see.

9/19/05 Catching Scenario ID #302 Dale and his dad did some father/son bonding. The two combined for 106 hookups that day on bass to 17 inches. Last 3 holes were approaching 1 hookup per cast. No other parties fishing in the pools they fished (while they were fishing them,) the whole day. Got close to 5 Big Horn Sheep, and saw 12 Deer. Scenery?...it's the deepest canyon in the continental US!

The Columbia River System was great! This is the 3rd trip they’ve taken there this year. The scenery was not too shabby. The biggest fish was an 11 foot long sturgeon. On what was likely the "slowest fishing" trip of the three the two still managed to hook into over an estimated 200 total pounds of fish in 2.5 days. Over ninety-five percent was catch and release.