Mother Nature has sure sent us for a loop. Big snow storms, impassable roads, snow and rock slides, not being able to get to boats, ice, slush and mud, HUGE rocks blocking the road, you name it!  Ladies, WOW! We can’t thank you all enough for being so understanding, rolling with us throughout all the setbacks and uncertainty with such positive attitudes. You have been fishing your hearts out even when the weather and river conditions have not been the greatest. All of our guides and deckhands have had extra long days and save the day calls. We thank you guys so much too, this all couldn’t be possible without you!

OK! Now for the fish stories! Because, yes besides all that Mother Nature has thrown at us we still got ladies on the river and catching steelhead!!

On 2/5 Jessica DeMeyer-Frazier’s group was the only boat out and they showed up to the ramp to 10 inches of snow that happened overnight! They fished thru snow ALL day long. Mike and Tommy said they didn’t give up at all and it paid off with 4 steelhead to the boat.

Snowy day for the DeMeyer group

Lindsay Sherer 24″ Hatchery

Elaine Banbury with bait boy Tommy and her wild fish!

Kali Houdek all smiths with her 24″ catch!

Ice, Ice, Baby!

Thursday. 2/6.

We were supposed to have 2 boats out but the road was impassable to Vinegar and ours and we couldn’t make it to the boats. Everyone rallied and we were able to get another boat and guide to take one group out same day. The other group was bumped to the next day after we got a guide lined up. Brandi King’s group, Reel Knotty Hookers, made it out with Sam and had an excellent day after such a hectic start! Brandi especially had a pretty epic day landing 3 hatchery putting her in First Place Most Fish and 4th Place Biggest at the time. Christy Barker reeled one in too!

Rich and Tommy shoveling the ramp to get Sam’s boat in the water!

Doing what we can to get the ladies fishing!

Christy Barker, whoo!

Brandi’s first catch of the day!

And her second….30 inches!

Brandi’s third with bait boy, Colt!

Reel Knotty Hookers

Our fun, adventurous Friday 2/7.

The road to vinegar was still impassable but the river did come up enough so that our guides were able to run upriver in the morning in the boat to grab the boats trapped at Vinegar. They brought them down to fish Spring Bar and Hammer Creek. 6 boats out total, catching lots of fish! To cap off the day we had a shuttling frenzy (Thank you Lenard for being ready to help us out and everyone else local that offered to help!!) and a hike around a huge rock slide to get everyone safely back to town.

Huge Rock slide

Our troopers, So-FISH-ticated Ladies, Laurie Anglen’s group, landed 2 steelhead with Rich and Chad! These guys are high school friends with Laurie and they always enjoy catching up on the river!

Brette Shakespeare’s beautiful 29″ Steelhead

Meg Hiatt and her cute 21 incher

Nikki Sauerland from Andrea Yoakum’s group landed a 23″ Hatchery with Sam and Beaud.

Marcy Grant’s group reeled in 3 steelhead total, couple wild fish for Joey Wirth and Dena Everett. A hatchery catch for Maura Laverty.

Joey and bait boy Brian with her catch!

Dena’s catch!

Maura was thrilled about her steelhead!

Kerri Tucker’s boat with Brooke Littrell and Carry Shirley just killed it out there putting 5 fish on the board between the 2 of them, a few wilds and a couple hatchery..Carrie Shirley is now in 3rd Place for Most Fish!

Carrie Shirley and Billy!

Brooke Littrell wild catch bait boy, BIlly and Captain Rob!

Brooke Littrell wild fish catch!

Carrie Shirley catching those fish!

Saturday 2/7

A lot of rain today but the ladies still stuck it out so that they could catch some fish! Every boat caught steelhead and there was 5 boats out!

Tanya Vandermeer’s group was out there with Rob and Billy, and landed 2 steelhead. Tanya with a 22″ hatchery and Brandi with a wild! Rachel Eida’s group went over the hill to Hells Canyon and reeled in a wild fish and 25″ hatchery.

Heather with her wild…the fish, not the bait boy.

Eidal Group!!

Kellie’s happy fish face!

Kandie Malone’s boat hit Spring Bar in the rain with Mike and Tommy reeling in 3 steelhead and a trash fish! Diane Cloudt popped her Steelhead cherry, catching her first one ever at 23″! Kandie Malone landed her 25.5″ keeper. With Sami Malone also catching her first steelhead, a pretty Wild fish!

Diane, so happy with her catch and her bait boy!

Kandie Malone catching dinner!

Sami Malone with her wild catch!

Kandie’s trash fish prize!

Tommy unsnagging those lines like the exceptional bait boy he is!

 

Marceen’s group had a whopping 9 fish day upriver. Marceen Price led that charge with 3 steelhead, 2 wild fish and a hatchery. This puts Marceen in 4th Place for Most Fish! Dixie Milliken caught a wild and a hatchery fish. Teri Coombs got a 25″ hatchery. Gretchen Forkan reeled in a wild one. Jodie Jensen landed a nice 29′ hatchery!  Jill Thomas also landed a 25″ hatchery steelhead.

Amber Jones group also made it happen at Spring Bar with a total of 6 steelhead to the boat. 3 hatchery and 3 wilds. Amber Jones got a whopper landing her in 2nd Place Biggest Fish! Nice job, girl!!

Amber Jones 31.5″ Hatchery with her dynamic duo Brian and Rusty!

Cindy Hunter and her 26″ hatchery

Tracie and her 30″ hatchery, all smiles for bait boy and WWB lady!

If you want to have your pictures featured on our blog email them to [email protected]!

26th Annual WWB Prize Packages

STANDINGS:

Biggest Fish:

1st Place: Stephanie Holt – 34″ Hatchery Steelhead

2nd Place: Amber Jones – 31.5″ Hatchery Steelhead

3rd Place: Samantha Scheller – 31″ Hatchery Steelhead

4th Place: Cassandra Neider-Folkman – 30.5″ Hatchery Steelhead

Most Fish:

1st Place: Brandi King ~ 3 Fish – 77 Hatchery Inches

2nd Place: Carrie Shirley ~  3 Fish – 51.5 Hatchery inches

3rd Place: Marceen Price ~ 3 Fish – 49 Hatchery Inches

4th Place: Carissa Tullis ~ 2 Fish – 55.5 Hatchery inches

Note: Idaho Fish and Game will not permit Wild Fish to be measured.  For this reason, only Hatchery fish will be included in determining total inches.