WILDCAST HIGHLIGHT: 60 minutes with a Pacific Northwest legend
POSTED Dec. 20, 2009 / 8:10 a.m.

SEATTLE - I always feel smarter after a conversation with Buzz Ramsey. The Pacific Northwest's most recognizable fishing icon has become a close friend over the past 11 years, so there's hardly a week that goes by that I'm not dialing him up at his Klickitat office.

For some reason, though, we've always been crowded for time on the mornings when we've had Buzz join us on Northwest Wild Country. This Saturday, Dec. 16, we got so caught up in our conversations about the 2010 Columbia River spring Chinook forecast - and in Buzz's perspective on the history of plugging and side-drifting for steelhead - that we blew right through the entire second hour

The First :30: We set the table last week with our exclusive Wild Country Q&A with US v. Oregon Technical Advisory Committee chairman Stuart Ellis, so this weekend, we kicked off the two-month-long debate on management of the spring run. Buzz has 30-plus years on the front line, so his perspective is exceptionally valuable.

The Second :30: Who better to ask about the history of plug-pulling for steelhead than the man who set TWO I.G.F.A. WORLD RECORDS IN ONE YEAR fishing plugs on the Thompson River? This is great storytelling as Buzz takes us back to his 1984 records, and even further back to Eddie Pope's creation of the Hot Shot.

8LISTEN TO THE PODCAST OF OUR EXCLUSIVE 60-MINUTE Q&A with Buzz Ramsey of Yakima Bait Co.

YAKIMA BAIT FIRST WATER: Dec. 5 with David Johnson
NEW Dec. 6, 2009 / 5:30 a.m.

The Yakima Bait Co. First Water journied down to the North Coast of Oregon on Dec. 5 for a two-part discussion with YBC pro-staffer David Johnson.

As we've reported here at NWWildCountry.com lately, David has been quietly racking up good numbers of late-fall Chinook using the new Mag Lip plug, and he's also starting to see a strong push of winter steelhead into the Wilson, Kilchis and nearby Tillamook-area streams..

8CLICK HERE FOR THE DEC. 5 YBC FIRST WATER with David Johnson.

BUZZ BLOG: Here's what's on Buzz's Christmas-shopping list
NEW Nov. 29, 2009 / 5:30 a.m.

You know what they say: “The only thing certain in life is change.”  And that statement is more than true when it comes to the wants and needs of the outdoor person in your life. 

For example, it wasn’t all that long ago that a Coast Guard approved floating cushion was what many boaters carried to meet the required personal floatation device (PFD) rule (is my age showing?) . Regulations have changed as boaters must now carry a Type I, II, or III life jacket for each person on board.  And while wearable life jackets definitely have their place, inflatable life jackets (they are rated Type III) are what many anglers are switching to and make a habit of wearing as part of their everyday boating apparel.

After all, they’re so comfortable you sometimes forget to take them off, which is why I once ordered dinner while wearing one.

8CLICK HERE FOR BUZZ'S SUGGESTIONS for the outdoorsman/woman on your Christmas list.

YBC FIRST WATER: Martin checks in from the Chetco River
POSTED Nov. 22, 2009 / 6:40 a.m.

BROOKINGS, Ore. - There are very few fisheries where you kick yourself for whacking the first two 35-pounders of the morning. The Chetco, turns out, is one of those fisheries.

8CLICK HERE TO LISTEN as the NWWC First Water takes you to southern Oregon, where guide Andy Martin ran Mag Lip plugs on opening morning of the fall Chinook season on the Chetco. The report: two 35-pounders in the box, one 45-pounder released, one 50-pounder released.

SALMON REPORT: An epic opener on Oregon S. Coast's Chetco River
POSTED Nov. 19, 2009 / 8:40 p.m.

BROOKINGS, Ore. - Opening day of salmon season on Southern Oregon's Chetco River produced limits for many of the boats on the water, and some of the hottest action seen in years.

Our group caught its limit within the first hour of fishing, and then caught and released more fish, including a king close to 50 pounds, before arriving at the takeout before lunch. There were salmon in every hole and the bite was incredible.

We got two hookups as we were letting line out while running the new Mag Lip FlatFish.

The Chetco opened Thursday above the Highway 101 bridge after being closed since March. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife was concerned about a smaller-than-average return to the Chetco, as well as low flows. Heavy rains earlier this week prompted the opener.

Thanks to a closure of ocean commercial fishing the past two years in Southern Oregon and California, we were seeing what's turning out to be a much bigger-than-expected run on the Chetco.

ODFW easily got all of its fish for the hatchery, the fishing in the estuary below the bridge was better than normal, and during the opener, there were fish everywhere.

The hot lure during the opener was Worden's new Mag Lip (previously known as the M2-SP FlatFish, in combinations of chrome, chartreuse, green and pink). I wrapped the plugs with sardine fillets marinated in Pautzke's Nectar, and flatlined them out of my drift boat.

Salmon fishing also has been hot on the Smith and Elk rivers. After this weekend's expected heavy rain, the rivers should be in prime shape for Thanksgiving week.

Andy Martin is an Oregon and Alaska fishing guide. While he catches plenty of trophy halibut and some of the biggest salmon outside of Alaska, the Chetco has been his home river for over 30 years. His Web site is www.wildriversfishing.com

SALMON REPORT: Mag Lip lights 'em up on Oregon's Elk, Sixes rivers
NEW Nov. 17, 2009 / 7:30 a.m.

SIXES, Ore. - For the past week I've been fishing the Smith River, but yesterday headed to the Elk River near Port Orford, Ore. The river is full of salmon right now, with a good mix of bright fish and dark fish. We landed around a dozen salmon, and kept limits of bright fish. We also landed several jacks. Many of the fish were hatchery fish. With no ocean fishing the past few years, there are a lot more salmon coming back to the Elk this fall.

The river is low and clear - you have to drag your boat over several gravel bars - but there are a ton of fish in it right now. We caught them on bobbers and eggs, back-bouncing eggs and sand shrimp and a few on plugs. With rain expected this week, it should be really good.

Eggs cured in pink Pautzke Borx O Fire have been working best, especially when combined with a live sand shrimp. The egg and shrimp cocktail works better since the eggs create a more powerful scent trail to trigger aggressive bites.

When running plugs, we've been using the new Mag Lip, which dives deeper when flat-lined and when run way ahead of the boat.

On the Smith, there are plenty of fish in the lower river, especially the Bailey Hole and Piling Hole and fishing should get even better with this week's rain.

-Andy Martin
Wild Rivers Fishing

WILDCAST CENTER: Yakima Bait's Spada discusses Vibric on Wild Country
NEW Nov. 2, 2009 / 7:30 a.m.

SEATTLE - We've been whispering about the new Wordens' Vibric salmon spinner by Yakima Bait Co. for a couple of months not, but on Saturday, Oct. 31, we got the opportunity to introduce this sweet new piece of coho/steelhead hardware to the general public when YBC's Mark Spada joined us on Northwest Wild Country.

8CLICK HERE to listen to the podcast as Shangle and Herzog run through the mechanics of Yakima Bait's newest entry into the salmon market.

-JS

SPONSOR NEWS: Yakima Bait takes over NWWC's First Water segment!
NEW Oct. 23, 2009 / 7:30 a.m.

GRANGER, Wash. - We're proud to announce that Yakima Bait Company is the new sponsor of the Northwest Wild Country First Water, one of the signature segments of America's best outdoors radio program. The first live, on-the-water segment of our show will incorporate well-known YBC personalites such as Buzz Ramsey, and some of the most trusted pros in the business: Eli Rico, Jim Stahl, David Johnson, Andy Martin, Bob Barthlow, etc.

Mag Lip makes its debut: Many of you have probably followed the metamorphosis of the M2-SP FlatFish to the all new Mag Lip. Pay close attention to this page for exclusive Crash Test content on Yakima Bait's hot new plug, and on some great new coho spinners as well.

Welcome aboard, fellas.

-JS

SPONSOR NEWS: The Mag Lip makes its official debut throughout PNW
NEW Oct. 23, 2009 / 7:30 a.m.

GRANGER, Wash. - Burn this name into your cerebral cortex: Mag Lip.

One of the hottest salmon/steelhead plugs in the Pacific Northwest got a hot new name this fall, thanks to the folks over at iFish. Technically, the Mag Lip isn't new in the "unproven" sense of the word: under its former name - the M2-SP - this deep-diving plug had already started to elbow its way into the consciousness of salmon and steelhead anglers from Alaska to California.

The name was just hard to remember. But, remember this: The Mag Lip is a K-I-L-L-E-R plug. Here's the official word, courtesy of Buzz Ramsey:

BUZZ BLOG: Making a case for the spinner for salmon and steelhead
NEW Sept. 9, 2009 / 8:30 a.m.

With plenty of steelhead and salmon lurking in nearby rivers, now’s the time to give spinners a try – here’s how to fish them.

Likely due to a spinner’s sonic vibration, fish respond to spinners by striking them savagely.  Their built-in weight makes spinner casting easy while their vibration-producing blades attract fish in waters ranging from slow to fast moving.  In short, the right spinner will produce almost anywhere salmon and steelheads hold.

8 CLICK HERE for Buzz's advice on effectively fishing spinners for salmon & steelhead.

BUZZ BLOG: Buzz turns in his scorecard from the Buoy 10 killing grounds
NEW Aug. 31, 2009 / 10:30 a.m

ASOTRIA, Ore. - Just got this quick missive from Yakima Bait Co.'s Buzz Ramsey:

"At Buoy 10 is where Jason Resser, Jim Sproul, Mike McGuire, Larry Ellis and I caught our limit on Saturday. Although we tried herring (normally the most effective bait), all fish were caught using red-and-white spinners produced by Yakima Bait.

With 700,000 Coho now returning and the daily bag going to 3 fish September 1, we may again have to try our luck. 
 
This was the final day of a 5-day trip where our boat kept 49 of 100 salmon landed and 1 steelhead that happened to be fin-clipped. Although the numbers varied each day, overall only about half the coho landed had the required-to-keep missing adipose fin." 

-Buzz

BUZZ BLOG: Over a million reasons to hit Buoy 10 this month
NEW Aug. 7, 2009 / 8:30 a.m.

Now is the time to plan, gear-up, and fish the mouth of the Columbia River for a mixed bag of Chinook and coho. The reason: the Columbia River is expecting 700,000 coho and another 500,000 Chinook to flood the big river from now through late September.  

Since the waters extending west from Buoy 10 to Buoy 4 (known as the Columbia River Control Zone) are closed to all fishing regardless of run size, the area just east of the number 10 Buoy and an imaginary north/south line extending from it is the first place you can ambush salmon as they enter the Columbia River mouth.

8 CLICK HERE to read the rest of Buzz's inside scoop on the 2009 Buoy 10 bite.

BUZZ BLOG: Ocean salmon a million strong: how, where to get your coho
POSTED July 20, 2009 / 3:30 p.m.

Over a million strong and the easiest of salmon to catch: Coho salmon are what many anglers are now chasing off the Oregon and Washington coastline. 

Although past ocean regulations have, at times, been confusing, this year’s large run offers seven-days-a-week fishing, and has made daily limits more normal than not.

For example, the ocean zone covering the majority of the ocean off Oregon - from Cape Falcon to Humbug Mountain - is currently open daily for the taking of up to three fin-clipped Coho and will remain so until a total of 110,000 coho are harvested.

8 GET BUZZ'S ADVICE on how, when and where to find coho off the Columbia River.

BUZZ BLOG: Summer steelhead showing up in force on Columbia tribs
NEW July 7, 2009 / 4:30 p.m.

In case you haven’t noticed, better than usual numbers of Summer Steelhead are surging up the Columbia, Willamette and their respective tributaries. As of this writing, the fish counts at Bonneville Dam and Willamette Falls are near or above 22,000 and 13,000 fish, respectively. 

When it comes to steelhead, it’s the Skamania stock of summer steelhead that make up the entire Willamette run, and the majority of the early hatchery steelhead bound for tributaries entering the lower Columbia. On the Columbia River above Bonneville Dam, most of the early Skamania fish are headed for Bonneville Pool tributaries like the Hood and Klickitat rivers. For summer fish passing the fall at Oregon City, most are headed for the upper Willamette and Santiam system.

8 CLICK HERE TO READ Buzz's advice on how to take advantage of this explosive summer opportunity.

BUZZ BLOG: Casting spinners an effective way to catch trout
NEW May 26, 2009 / 5:30 p.m.

Trout are attracted to spinners due to their size, color, flash, and vibration. While the above factors play a role in attracting hungry trout, spinner vibration is credited as the key to spinner appeal. And although some companies tout theirs as the only one producing sonic vibration, in reality, all spinners generate underwater noise created as their blade spins through the water.

Of course, spinners come in a variety of different blade shapes, which mostly affect pulling resistance.  For example, a narrow blade shape will perform at faster retrieve speeds while producing minimum drag - meaning they can be more easily pulled through the water.  Wide blade shapes generate more cranking resistance (drag), especially when pulled fast, but will maintain high action and blade vibration at the slowest of retrieve speeds.

8 READ BUZZ'S SPINNER TIPS in the May Buzz Blog.

Copyright © 2009, Northwest Wild Country Radio Network, All Rights Reserved