The Fishin' Magician

October 24

There is a fishing party going on in Pateros. Steelhead fishing is off and running and bright, early season fish are being taken right in front of Pateros Lakeshore Inn. I fished here last week and although my trip was almost comical for the number of fish I missed, we did see others doing well. The docks are packed with anglers, and while we fished from my Jetcraft just the Pateros side of the bridge we saw two fish landed. I got one fish on a bobber and jig right off the bat in the estuary, and missed a couple more while I was messing around in the boat. We saw anglers catch steelhead further up the estuary either dragging bobbers and jigs, pulling plugs or casting from the point below where the Methow enters the broad, estuary. My fishing partners and I missed a couple more fish further up stream, and didn't have any luck while making drifts off the Rocks. I am anxious to get back to Pateros. There are fish there and I want another shot at them. Remember, no bait is allowed in the estuary, but is okay on the main stem Columbia.

October 26

I had a spectacular day of fly fishing on the Methow River last week. I was invited by my fishing buddy Jim Passage to join him for a day on the river with guide Jeff Brazda, and this was only my second time fly fishing the river in recent years. We used indicators with two flies below it, and tossed them into holes that Brazda pointed to as we floated down the river. He knew a lot of spots, and we were busy. We missed a bunch of fish, but both Jim and I managed to hook some. We lost a couple, but at the end of the day we had a nice stringer of hatchery steelhead to take home. It is a very exciting way to fish. Brazda would control the boat so that we got long drifts out of our casts. He made very few changes in our flies during the day. He knew what they wanted. He did make constant adjustments to the distance from the indicator to the flies as the depth changed, much like what we do when fishing a bobber and jig. The last fish I got I had to chase down stream about 100 yards. What fun!

October 29

I will be adding an exciting new feature to the FishingMagician.com web site beginning in November. Both the Fishing TV and Cooking TV Shows will be available through the web site and viewers may watch each episode at any time. Starting with the shows in November, it will be possible to open the Fishing or Cooking TV pages, see the shows available for the month and simply click on the "Watch Now" tag next to the episode that you want to watch. The viewing window will allow you to pause and fast forward like a normal video. I think you will be impressed with the quality of shows that are currently being scheduled, and I am creating new shows all the time High Definition format. These will be added as we enter the seasons for which they are relevant. I have a large audience viewing the shows via streaming on a local cable network, but they have to be viewed at the time the shows were being broadcast. Now you can watch the shows at times that are convenient for you; anytime and anywhere that you have a connection. It is my hope that this will greatly expand the access to these entertaining and educational programs-the only ones dedicated to our region and locally produced.