The Washington State Walleye Circuit’s 2012 season began on May 5^th & 6^th at Potholes Reservoir with the Rod Meseberg Spring Walleye Classic.  This tournament is based out of the Mardon Resort and put on by the Meseberg family, the Central Washington Fish Advisory Group, and sponsored by Spokane Valley Marine.  My partner for this year’s potholes tournament was Jason Bauer of Northwestwalleye.com.  The Forum on Northwestwalleye.com is the place to go if you want to discuss walleye fishing in Washington State or if you are interested in tournament fishing, check it out.

During our 2 days on the water Pre-fishing, Jason and I found that the fish seemed to be spread out and roaming quite a bit and not holding to certain areas or structure.  The fish also seemed to be in a negative feeding mood as all of our fish were lightly picking up the bait and just holding onto it for a second.  Having the extremely sensitive 7’6” Homewater 763-C rod in our arsenal made it very easy to detect these light bites.  Even though the fish were scattered, the ones that we did catch were between 19”-23” and very heavy.  Our plan for the tournament was to pull worm harnesses and slow death @ 1.1 mph or faster and move between the many different spots we had in the crab creek area.

Day 1 began at 7:00 am and came with moderate winds and partly sunny skies.  Our strategy was to immediately hit a well-known community spot just off of crab creek channel called the refill hole and then to bounce around to our multiple other smaller spots.  We immediately picked up a couple of 17” fish at the refill hole and then started bouncing around to our other spots.  As the day went on, we seemed to struggle locating the fish that we saw during pre-fishing.  We ended the day with only 6 bites and landed 5 fish for a total of 9.18 lbs. which put us in 34^th place.

Day 2 began at 6:00 with little to no wind and again partly sunny skies.  This time we decided to stick with our 3 best spots from pre-fishing and did it ever pay off.  The fish were biting much more aggressively and the quality of fish were the same as we had seen earlier in the week.  When the day was over, we ended up weighing in 6 fish between 19” and 22 ½” for a total of 17.08 lbs.  Our 2 day total of 26.26 lbs. was good enough for an 8^th place finish.  A big congratulation goes out to the husband and wife team of Mark and Shirley Olson for winning the tournament with a total of 33.22 lbs.

We would like to thank the Meseberg family, all of the sponsors, and George Allen along with the rest of the volunteers that made this tournament possible.  Team Fetha Styx next tournament is at Banks Lake for the Big Wally’s/Valley Marine Spring Walleye Classic on May 19^th and 20^th.

Tight Lines and good fishing!

Rod Hewitt

First off I want to thank all  the people I had an opportunity to fish with over the course of the steelhead season, old faces and new ones as well, I am looking forward to fishing with all of you again soon!  Well all the rivers around here are closed now, we had amazing fishing the last 9 day opener we had on the Wenatchee and the Methow rivers. Double digit days were the norm and the fish were great, fresh and feisty! The Okanogan was open for another week but the river was hit and miss with water levels but some guys had some very good days up there right at the end. It was a great opportunity to break out the Pautzkes fire cure and get my eggs cured for springers.

Now we are looking forward to spring chinook on the Icicle river in Leavenworth. That fishery will begin mid May and last through July, we will fish it into the first couple weeks of July. I will be doing a blog post about fishing that river specifically as we get closer. Also an egg currying blog and a herring curing blog to help get everybody set up for springers, we are expecting a great run of fish! I am also getting set up to be a product rep for Star rafts, we will be selling the same rafts we use all year long, these are the toughest, best rowing rafts out there for any price! I will be talking about these lots more as we get set up so if you or somebody you know is in the market for the best raft out there let us know we will treat you right! This will be a busy fun month and half as we wait for springer season so check back soon, and for updates also stay connected with what we are up to on our Facebook. We are booking trips for springers right now with the hot month of June filling up so get your dates in soon. Thanks for looking check back soon!

Originally Posted on Bobber Down Guide Services’ Web Site

Check out their website and give their blog a peek.

Shortbus flashers in action:

Congratulations, Jeff! Glad you’re excited — here’s to many more!

Tell us about any special “firsts” you may have in the comments below!

Wenatchee and Methow Rivers are to re-open for steelhead! The rivers have not been fished for 2 1/2 months and the fishing should be excellent.

We are booking trips on these rivers with open dates right now, as I couldn’t book trips until it was announced. They will be first come, first serve — get your day now. If you don’t get in this year, you will have to wait until next fall for steelhead action.

We will be fishing these fish with jig and bobber mostly. You can click here and check all the regs for this special fishery. There should be fish dispersed all through the river, so spread out and enjoy fishing in the spring sunshine!

I will post again with a report after a few days of fishing and let everyone know how it’s been. If you have any questions feel free to email!

See you on the water,

Brad Wagner
brad@fishwenatchee.com

Originally published on the Bobber Down Guide Service Fish Wenatchee blog.

With springer season approaching rapidly, we want to see your best fishing videos from this season! We’re looking for a video shorter than 4 minutes that shows your best fish, your creative abilities with a camera, and the crazy action you see on the water.  Get us, and everyone else, excited to fish! 

To qualify, all videos must feature a Fetha Styx fishing rod.  All videos that meet the above requirements will be sent a Fetha Styx hat, and the winner, as chosen by Fetha Styx, will win fishing rod for your style of fishing.  We’ll take entries until May 15 and choose a winner by May 22nd.  

To enter, upload your video to YouTube, make sure it has Fetha Styx in the title and tags, and post a link to it in the comments below.  Next time you go fishing, take your camera out on the water and catch some action!

Having been without a boat since November due to a blown powerhead, saying it has been great to get back to fishing would be an understatement. I was able to make it out to Norris Lake this past week to practice for the first Halls High Fishing Team tournament. After almost two years of trying, I have finally gathered enough people to start our own official high school bass fishing team.

I caught quite a few nice smallmouth on Norris by throwing a swimbait on a 7’2″ Fetha Styx Homewater Bass rod. This upcoming tournament should be a good one and I know I will have an advantage due to the sensitivity and light weight of my Fetha Styx rods. In the mean time I will be prepping my tackle and equipment for my first FLW Everstart event March 22-24 on Lake Seminole in Bainbridge, Georgia! I can’t wait!

Some lessons are hard to learn. Just after landing this trophy size cutthroat trout in my moment of triumph I broke the tip on my brand new Fetha Styx rod due to carelessness.  However, thanks to the good folks at Fetha Styx, they got me fixed up and back on the water hunting for the big one. Thanks, Fetha Styx

The Okanogan River is open, free of ice and fishing very well. We fish this Eastern Washington river with the same technique we fish the Wenatchee and Methow rivers, using the deadly jig and bobber technique. We will be floating in our Clackacraft driftboat or in our 14″ raft with full fishing frame.

We have had some very good days on this river at this time of year in the past few years, and expect the same this year! As with all trips, we supply all gear including Fetha Styx rods and Pflueger spinning reels and custom made jigs that we make just for this river that fish cannot resist.

We are still waiting to hear about a possible re-opening of the Wenatchee river, but as of now it hasn’t been decided yet — keep your fingers crossed and hope for an opening soon! We are booking trips for this fishery right now and have dates open so get your spot now. We are also booking trips for spring chinook on the Icicle river in Leavneworth and it’s starting to fill up, so go to www.fishwenatchee.com and get your trip booked now.

Looking forward to fishing with you!

Brad Wagner
brad@fishwenatchee.com