Spring in the Pacific Northwest!
Spring has sprung here in the Pacific Northwest, and I am checking things off my spring "TO DO" list. Yes I will still be taking care of the yard, pressure washing, and all the other regular stuff we all do in the spring, but this list is comprised of the things I love doing this time of year! From Western Montana to the Pacific Ocean, there are so many things to do, this is a list of my favorites. I do not know if I will get all of them done, but I like to try. I will update this post as I check other items off the list!
Here is my Spring 2024 "TO DO" list:
Steelhead Fishing - Olympic Peninsula , Washington - DONE!
Razor Clams - Long Beach Washington - DONE!
Spring Chinook - Columbia or Willamette River
Smallmouth Bass - Columbia River - DONE!
Spring Turkey - Washington, Idaho and/or Montana
Montana Skwala Hatch - Fly Fishing
Morell Mushrooms - Montana
Ling Cod & Rockfish : Oregon Coast
Walleye - Columbia River
Crappie - Brownlee , Oregon
Spring Snow Skiing
Shadfest 2024
Washington Trout Opener
Shed Hunting
Updated April 28
Spring Turkey - Montana Public Land
Spring is the time for Turkey hunting and the Pacific NW has a healthy wild turkey population in Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. My first hunt of the spring was with my son Michael in Western Motana. We hunted all public land, but were not able to bag a gobbler. It was great to get out in the mountains after the long winter. We located many birds, and saw a lot on public land, but were not able to get any to come int to us. I think it may be still a bit early in the season. I still plan to hunt Washington and possibly Idaho this spring and will update if/when it happens.
Updated April 28
Shed Hunting - Montana Public Land
Another great spring activity in the Pacific Northwest is to look for antler sheds while hiking or tuyrkey hunting. It is very cool to find an antler that has dropped from a deer or elk. On our recent turley hunting trip we we found a nice whitetail shed from this year, and an old chewed up shed from years past!
Updated April 28th
Montana Clark Fork River Skwala Hatch - Fly Fishing
The elkusive Skwala hatch is the first stonefly hatch of the year and usually happens sometime between febuary and april - or maybe it doesnt. It is the first big opportunity for the trout to eat after a long winter. Catching a trout, any trout, on a Skwala fly is always a great way to start the flyfishing year! To actually hit the river when they ar hatching is very special. We got lucky this spring and were able to get a couple of beautiful little trout to rise to a Skwala. Definately a Spring bucket list item in the pNW for any angler!
Updated April 19th.
Columbia River Smallmouth Bass:
I had an absolute incredible day of Smallmouth fishing on the Columbia on Wed April 17th. It took me a while to find the fish, but I figured out a pattern of catching them in about 10 feet of water using a Z-man Ned rig, and a small crankbait. It was an absolutely glorious day with a high temp of 65 degrees.
Here are three of the many beautiful Smallmouth Bass I caught!
Updated March 25
Steelhead Fishing on Washington's Olympic Peninsula :
March 23 - 24, fished the Olympic Peninsula with good friend Mike Codino and guide Rich Underwood. We fished the Quinault on Saturday and the Queets River on Sunday. We caught a few fish on the Quinault, but a massive mud slide made fishing tough, so we moved over to the Queets River on Sunday - it turned out to be a great decision. We caught many steelhead, highlighted by one I caught on a Norman Sandshrimp lure! It was an absolute spectacular day! You can read more about it HERE.
Here are some Steelhead Pics from the OP!
Updated March 10
Razor Clam Digging, Long Beach, WA:
No spring is complete int he PNW without a trip to Long Beach, WA to harvest some Razor Clams. I got out to the Coast on Easter weekend with my wonderful wife and daughter and we had a spectacular time! Although the weather was perfect, it was not a great tide for digging, but we were able to get a couple of limits. it was a perfect day!
Amazing day of Razor Clamming with my wife and daughter!
Check back to see my updates, I may even add more to the list!