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Interesting Fishing Stories & Fishing Tips

by Gordy Gracey

"The BIG FISH Story"
Biggest Sol-Duc hatchery Springer that I've ever laid eyes on...

This is an enormous Spring King Salmon by any standard, 37.9lbs!, but consider that it is a Sol-Duc R. hatchery specimen (most are 12-20lbs) and that it ate a tiny jig and was landed on 10lb line after taking us down stream through the rapids out of the hole it was hooked in, then back up 400+ yards through the rapids and into the hole were it was originally hooked and finally making one wild last run up onto the river bar...beaching it's self !! and the angler who hooked and landed this behemoth is not even in the picture!
Here's how the story goes: Twas a drippy Spring day on the "Duc",
05-21-03, Jim Merriweather and I had begun our day bright and early (8:00 am is bright and early for us anyway) fishing on the "Middle Run" of the Sol-Duc river. After hitting all of our favorite Springer spots for several drizzly hours with not so much as a "real" bite to show for our efforts, we decided to make a fast push to the take out. We hit the Beaver Grocery and Deli, in Beaver, WA. and re-supplied with the necessary refreshments and sandwiches. We dumped the boat back in the river at the Sappho hatchery (weird how Sappho, WA is next to Beaver, WA...must be a Greek thing), made arrangements with my darling wife Kim to meet us at 6:00pm at the Maxfield, rd. boat

launch/take out and we were off once again (1:00 pm). Good God!! there are people/fishermen in just about every hole we came to...and no Springers to be seen, some of these spots are a good mile through the brush and there were people already there fishing from the bank!!! GRRR....
The "Shale Hole" just above the Connelly drift has got to be open,,.ah yes...Oh NO!! that sneaky Jeff Gort is sitting on em in there. We rowed down to to say hi to Jeff, and quietly floated around the bank side of his boat to move on down river and just as we pulled in behind his boat...FISH ON! Jeff hooked up (so what's new) and the fight was on, they (Jeff and his friend) landed a perfect 15lb chrome Springer. Jeff was a gentleman and showed us what they hit it on, we said thanks, real sincere like and paddled off. That darn Jeff, if there is one guy on the river who's gonna catch the only Springer that would be him and he's in here in his 18ft Willie Boat, at 3 bricks!!
The leaning alder hole was next, now surely that can't have anybody in it....Holy S%#!.. not only are there 2 bank anglers on both sides but 3 poor lost soles in a banged up drift boat sitting right on top of the fish.....
We paddled off grinding teeth and hoping we might have a shot at a King in what ever water was left in the remainder of the run. We did run into a few fresh Springers in the "loop hole" and let them have a look at just about everything we had, they gave us the middle fin and we paddled off once again. 4:45pm, last hole, last cast....Jim: grunting, S#@! I'm hung up, must be a new limb in this....holy S#@! and the rest is history. 55min later exactly and sweet success, we even had Jeff and his client as an audience for a while. Now how did Kim get to pose with Jim's once in a life time Sol-Duc Springer? you see I forgot my camera in the truck when we re-launched our boat and when I made pick up arrangements with Kim, who works with Jim's wife Donna, she had Donna wait for Jim at Sappho to give Jim a ride back to their home in Port Angeles (Jim carpooled with his wife this morning on her way to work in Forks). Jim left the Salmon with me to fillet and vac pac, sooo...when I got back home, I had Kim pose with the beast...which as you see enhances the image of the Salmon quit a bit more than if Jim were to be holding it...really. Kim's hernia operation is scheduled for next Friday.

TWITCH'N IS HOT!
The secret is out of the bag ! aargh it's time to tell all.
Twitching jigs for Salmon, Steelhead and Trout in low clear conditions is a sure fire method for getting bit when every thing else won't even get a look. Twitching a jig is a completely different method of fishing a jig, not at all like "swimming", "pulsing", "lifting" or "drifting" a jig . It is a very aggressive motion applied to the jig in a rapid series of very short choppy twitches then letting the jig settle for a second or two and repeating the sequence while letting the jig work with the current instead of bringing it toward you. The style, size and color of jig used is also a very critical factor for success. This method hammers fish in low clear water conditions but is not very useful when water is high or off color.


The twitch & Jig technique has been my hot little secret for the last 7 summers now. It takes a little time to master the technique but once you get it down pat you won't believe the results. Not only is it super effective on summer run Steelhead and Cutthroat trout but Salmon, especially the Silvers and Sockeye, go absolutely bonkers for it. They key is in the style of the jigs you use and in the action that is imparted to them. The other little secret to Salmon slamm'n success is the hoochie enhanced spinner, this is easy to make and use. you'll see how in the upcoming article. Give these techniques a try and your arm will be worn out by the end of the day, but that's a good thing.
The link to the current tip & technique is at the bottom of this page.

Oohee yeaha boy ! got me another "hawg" on that bubblegum hot pink worm,
I was jus pich'n inta thet strukcha over theya and.... Oops, sorry I got a bit of that bassmaster fever there. Seriously though plastic worms have recently been an extra zesty producer on both hatchery Steelhead and wild Steelhead throughout the Northwest. Fishing for Steelhead with plastic worms, I believe, got it's start up in British Columbia and fishing the "worm" is really beginning to catching on as a hot technique here in the States.My personal experience is limited to the last 4 winter Steelhead seasons here on the Olympic Peninsula rivers and so far I've found the hot pink and orange/rocket red colors to be the no#1 producers in the 4", 6" and 7" lengths. You can effectively fish them under a dink float (bobber) or drift fish them in the conventional style with a 3ft leader, 2/0 hook and a pencil lead or slinky weight, NOTE: adding a small corky/winner to the front of the worm or using a floating worm works best for drift fishing applications. They also work very well when substituted for a bait trailer behind a diver AND I've heard that they also work well for those folks that like to plunk when the rivers are fairly clear.