Never have I heard it so much as I did last year… “I can’t wait for 2020 to be over with!” It’s hard to argue the point. By nature, sport anglers must be optimistic; otherwise, we would have given up our sport long ago. That’s not so true for society as a whole, but given […]
Bob’s big lingcod As the joint states of Oregon and Washington craft the salmon seasons on the lower Columbia, our community is engaging with House and Senate staff in search of disaster relief funds. It’s becoming all too common once again; we’re on the lookout for another bailout by the federal government for what once […]
Although I am not quite in the dire straits that many American families are facing in the COVID-19 crisis, things are not going all that well for the recreational sportfishing community. In 30 years of guiding, I’ve found out that it isn’t just fish that our customers need to come fishing, it’s expendable income. And […]
Whenever I lose faith in government, I default to episodes of the early 2000’s TV hit, The West Wing. I know it’s not reality, but the show has offered me some level of solace when things are going sideways at the national level, and they’re going sideways. From the president’s barbed State of the Union […]
My vision is actually 20/30 according to my last eye exam, a necessity every five years to renew my US Coast Guard 6-pack license for my professional fish guiding business, or at least what’s left of it. It’s been a hard couple of years in the fish guiding business. Last year, we had a decent […]
Photo: Bob Rees with a halibut Not even one year ago, the bag limit for rockfish in Oregon was seven fish. Today, it’s four. As we experience a downturn in our salmon and steelhead stocks, bottomfishing is only becoming more popular. Professional fishing guides, who normally stay within the confines of Tillamook Bay for spring […]
Photo: Capt. Bill Kremers with a May 2018 Pacific Halibut from Newport, Oregon It’s always a mixed bag of emotions when I fly east to Washington DC. I’m headed east to talk about a range of fishery-related issues I work on, on behalf of the Association of Northwest Steelheaders and the Northwest Guides and Anglers […]
Photo: The Slavins with springers After 20+ years on the Oregon Coast—during which a depleted stock of sturgeon contributed to the loss of a huge component of my guide business and an opportunity presented itself to work for the Association of Northwest Steelheaders—I find myself in disbelief as to the state of our inland fisheries. […]
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