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Hello all in ND from JustDave in Oregon. Spring Chinook are showing in the Columbia system with the peak in April. Forecasted to be 500,000 or so heading upriver. Only clipped fish may be retained. Most will run 10-20 lbs with 30+ mixed in. Many, many guides out this way to take you out. Most rivers are still kicking out Steelhead although most are native and can not be retained. Quite a few 20lb+ fish have been reported in the last several weeks. Several rivers have Brood Stock fish mixed in and some are recycling fish from the hatcheries to the lower rivers for another run through the Gauntlet. Winter runs will continue through March and into April, and summer runs are beginning to show. Trout fishing will improve as the water warms. I personally have been targeting the Steel on the Coastal rivers. Just about any tactic has been working for everyone, drifting corky and yarn, eggs, prawns, shrimp, bobber + jig, flies, it's all good. I put a picture in the Wall of Fame in January of one of the fish from this year. I've been here 50+ years, advice is free. If you've not been here before, make plans to visit. You'll love it. Pack some cheap rain gear, even if you plan on summer visits, just to be on the safe side. We just never know what will roll in. Last year I managed to catch 23 varieties of fish around the state, so no matter what your target, you should be able to find it out here.
Just Dave
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Hey Justdave.
Welcome to bft! Hope you like it. If you have any questions just ask. Wish we had some more trout streams in north dakota. theres not very many good streams till you get closer to montana.
tell us some more about the trout fishing!!
thanks
Michael
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Hey there Dave, Glad to see you stopped by[  ]! Again Welcome to BFT! We don't have so many trout streams in north dakota. But if you venture to the black hills you will always find trout! You will always catch trout with a flyrod there. I'm thinking/planning on taking a trip down there this summer. Hopefully it will work out. Also here in nd is that Lake Sakakawea has some of the finest Chinook salmon fishing in the nation. The best times to go are in spring and fall. Enough about trout and salmon. HOWS THE BASS FISHING IN OREGON??[cool][cool]
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hey justdave
thanks for all the info on the trout very interesting, maybe next time i'm in oregon i'll have to try the trout fishing.
Hey hows the bass fishing up there, do you do any?
thanks
Michael
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I don't Bass fish very often. Once or twice a year for a change of pace. There are quite a few lakes along the coast highway we'll fish when we're camping down there. There has been a controversy in some of the state as some people thought a few of our trophy Trout fisheries should have Bass and Crappie. I don't have as much of a problem with it as some people, but I don't fish those impoundments much anyway. My boy and I have mainly targeted Salmon, Steelhead, and Trout for the last few years. He brought well over 100 Steelhead to the bank last year, and will likely catch between 200 and 300 this year. He fishes 4 or 5 times a week after classes and on weekends. Unfortunately I work and get out on weekends only most of the time. I am going this afternoon for a couple hours though. One of the nice things living where I do, I can get to fishable water in 10 minutes, prime Steelhead water within 30. Within an hour, I can get to probably 50 different rivers that have Steelhead and Salmon. I'm an hour from the ocean, and an hour from the snow in the mountains.
JustDave
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hey just dave
thats cool you steelhead fish iv always wanted to catch one. thanks for the info. by he way if you have anypics you should put them on here [ ]
thanks
Michael
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Wall of fame for January has me with some chrome. December shows one of the fish my son caught and released. Not sure how to get them into post, but I've got a few to make you drool.
Just Dave
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Hey Dave, Let us know how your trip goes.[cool]
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hey dave
that would be cool to see some pics from your trip.
To put pics on a post just scroll to the bottom when you are replying and it should say attachment then browse and you click on browse to put pic on there, then when you find it you click upload attachment.
if you have any questions just ask.
Michael
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Test of uploading pics. Comes out as an attachment. This is my son with one of his fish from early '03. It went 17-18 lbs. He had one day at the end of March, 8 fish landed over 14 lbs each with the biggest pushing 20.
Just Dave
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Thats one nice steelhead![cool]
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hey dave
WOW!!!! thats a pretty nice fish . Wish we had fish like that in ND. i'd really like to catch one like that.
thanks for the pic
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Now I'll give you a virtual tour. Picture yourself in this spot. No one for miles around, this fish takes it in the upper part of the hole, and decides the ocean is really a better place to be. If your drag it set too tight, he's gone. So you've got it lose enough for him to peel off 50 yrds in about 6 seconds, rod tip by your hand, you put on the brakes and he starts slowing, he goes airborn, two violent head shakes, snap. You don't care, the adreniline is just suging, your hands are shaking, and you're trying to replay everything in your mind, what just happened. You compose yourself, tie up again and start the process over, only to have the last one's cousin grab your stuff, the fight is on, only this one isn't quite as smart and stays in the general vacinity. The fight is on, he makes a run, you turn him and gain some ground. He makes another run, goes airborn, not once but twice, thrashing, spraying water. You turn him again, feel him loosing some strength, gain lots of line. Five minutes has gone by, you know you've got him now, you're still shaking from the first fish. You bring him in, reach to tail him, he don't like that at all, and off he goes again.
Just Dave
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Now that sounds like some good action. I love it when those little chromedomes just toy with you.
By the way, welcome to the site and thanks for sharing the nice pics.[cool]
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That's one nice picture of god's country[ ]! I'm looking forward to seeing more!![cool]
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Wanted to add a couple Trout pics from the east side of the Cascade mountains. First is my boy on the Deschutes River, second is in Washington on Rocky Ford Creek. There are some nice fish to be had if you know where to go.
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Hey there Dave, Nice pictures you there. You and your son seem like you two just nail the trout and steelheads! You guys seem like you are great with the flyrod. That's something that I would like to learn this year. We dont have very many streams in north dakota but we do have a lot of great trout and bass lakes. The people I see are always catching something if they are using a flyrod. If you ever stop in north dakota country, give me a holler and maybe I can show you the great fishing we have here in north dakota.
Keep em coming!
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hey
Nice Pics!! Keep em' Comin[ ]
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We do ok with the fly rods. I've been fishing out here for over 50 years now, and Andrew over 20. I took up fly fishing about 5 years ago at the urging of my son who had started 5 years before that. The first year wasn't much fun, the fish few and far between. It's just like any type of fishing, the more you do the better you get. Mainly in the summer months and to be able to fish some of the "fly fishing only" opportunities out here. Most of my fishing is done with my spinning rods. Andrew has his spinning and casting rods as well as his fly rods. One of the nicest things for me is the quality time I get to spend with him. It has always been that way for us, and to have that quality of relationship with your children is pretty special. It also gets me out of one heck of a lot of Honey-do's when I have to spend time with our kid. I'm dropping off another roll of film tonight, should have some more recent pics to post if that's what you're looking for. Don't know if I'll ever get to ND, but I will hook up if I do. Same goes out this way. Winter Steelhead are winding down now. Most of the hatchery fish (keepers) are done, with a few rivers still producing. The native runs are in the rivers, which means less pressure (a lot of guys won't fish for something they can't keep), and the fish are typically bigger and smarter. There have been quite a few caught this year over 20 lbs. Spring Chinook are just starting to be caught now. They are smaller (15-25lbs average) than the Fall fish (25-45lbs average) and will last into July and August. We'll start to target them in April and May when they get into the coastal rivers.
Just Dave
I attached a couple pics from last week. No meat, but nice water. First is Salmonberry R. which has an all wild run. We saw a couple but no biters. The second is Andrew chasing a big buck down the Nestucca R. This fish came unbuttoned way down around the corner in the background when we ran into a wall on our side of the river. Great fight, fish wins.
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If you know about reducing sizes of your photos it is easy,
just keep them under 500 pixels wide and you canup load most every photo using the attachment feature under the edit screen.
just click Browse, find your photo then click upload photo. takes a minute on dial up. but pretty easy. If you need help with resizing photos there are a number of ways to do it.
sure would be nice to see your prize catches....
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