Northwest Fishing Reports

I fished Merwin this weekend with my friends Mike and Vince. The landing net was the most useless piece of gear in the boat. We got one follow apiece over the course of three days. My theory is Mike Floyd was here last weekend and all the muskies have sore jaws. I've known for years Merwin has a lar...

I wrote this so newcomers to our sport will realize musky fishing isn't as simple as getting in a boat and casting lures. It can involve sleeping with dogs, too. Some of us will do anything to get on the water.

I met Freddy, a 3-year-old German shepherd, while staying with Mike on my Merwin trip this month. Mike adopted Freddy this summer. After I arrived at Mike's place, a couple things happened. First, Freddy snatched the piece of deli chicken I was trying to eat for lunch out of my hand. Maybe that's wh...

It didn't! Of all the bad things that have happened in the last couple years -- Covid illness and death, economic dislocations and mass unemployment, war, inflation, etc. -- I have something happy to report. Amid the pandemic disruptions, of all the many things that could've gone wrong with keeping ...

This year's hot weather has kept Merwin's muskies fishable longer than usual. As of Saturday, October 15, the surface water temp is 69-70 degrees in the sun and 66-67 degrees in the shade. In past years, the fish typically disappeared when the water temp dropped below about 64-65 degrees; air temp h...

Tony Welch was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in 1935 and grew up in musky country. In his later years he lived in Portland, Oregon. I don't recall how I met up with him, but he and Mike Nielsen and I fished Merwin together many times. Tony's best Merwin fish was a 26 lb. tiger caught down by the da...

Just a heads up to warmwater species anglers that WDFW is formulating a non-native game fish policy. An advisory group was appointed last year (I'm not on it), a couple of virtual meetings have been held, and WDFW staff put on a 2-hour online presentation tonight, which I watched. There's a WDFW web...

WDFW usually stocks about 5,000 to 6,000 tiger musky fingerlings (about 14") every year, depending on hatchery production and survival. In 2019 Merwin got 1,500, Mayfield 800, Tapps 850, Newman 400, Curlew 225, Silver 200, Evergreen 300, total 4,275. In 2020 Merwin got 1,600, Mayfield 900, Tapps 1,2...

Bruce Bolding retired last year and Ken Behen is now the warmwater manager.

Hi birdman, I live in Shoreline (north King County), and fish Mayfield and Merwin out of my musky boat (Tuffy Esox Magnum). My regular fishing buddies are in their 80s now, and aging out of the sport; I'm younger than those guys (age 75) and still going strong. One of them lives at Merwin, and I usu...

This is my friend Mike with a 48 inch, 28 lb. fish caught and released in August 2006. Yours looks very similar in size. Below that is Mike's 31.15 lb. fish caught in September 2005 and released after being weighed on the hatchery's scale. Yours isn't that big. I doubt your fish broke 30 lbs., but i...

I guess I should post a correction. I get bigger as I get older, too. That's a problem.

A Seattle Times guest editorial last week urged the Legislature to stop underfunding WDFW. The writers pointed out that WDFW faces a $15 million a year funding gap while sales taxes on "purchases to enjoy fish and wildlife" annually return $120 million more to state coffers than legislators invest i...

It's about a 5 hour drive each way for me, counting a gas stop in Woodland, and I have to fight through Seattle-Tacoma traffic to get there. This time, I left home on a Thursday afternoon and it took me 3 hours just to make the 77 miles from my home in Shoreline to Olympia. Fortunately, I have a pla...

Yeah, but they get bigger as they get older, whereas I just get older.

I just spent 9 days at Merwin and didn't catch a damned thing except for a 37-incher. A 42-incher got away. After years of doing this, I've come to realize there are three decisive factors in catching muskies at Merwin: (1) Time of year, (2) weather, and (3) hooksets. This is the right time of year,...

Sign posted at Speelyai boat launch:

"Found: Tiger Muskie Fly Case. Describe. Call Bill Foss 360-231-4351"

The sign went up the day after the tournament and was still there when I left Sunday.

In our system, the military is subordinate to civilian authority, and generals serve at the commander-in-chief's pleasure. A general who disobeys or ignores his civilian superiors may find himself out of work. Who was right about the policy disputes is beside the point; historians and partisans can ...

It's always a good idea to check with your superiors when formulating big plans. General MacArthur comes to mind.

WDFW Director Jim Unsworth resigned on Jan. 24, 2018, and the state Fish & Wildlife Commission has begun searching for a new agency head. Unsworth was director for 3 years. He championed simplified fishing rules and a more user-friendly website. According to a Seattle Times story published on Jan. 2...