Author: Capt. Tommy Donlin

Tom Donlin our BD Outdoors Pro Contributor from the Pacific Northwest with his most current report for the week of April 25, 2022. Sounds like unstable weather could make things interesting but there is some decent fishing to be had as we stroll into Spring. The halibut opener is just about a week and a half away and Tom gives out some hot tips on where to target those. ABOUT CAPTAIN TOMMY DONLIN Tommy Donlin is our certified madman in the Pacific Northwest. He’s an amazing outdoorsman and one of our go-to sources of information in the PNW for what’s…

Winter’s tough in the Northwest when it comes to fishing, but when it turns on you’d be hard-pressed to find a location that has more gusto for their local fishery. Captain Tommy Donlin opens up the season by bringing us this early season report and goes over a few locations that will be open to fishing. Additionally, we get a little insight into targeting early season, Chinook Salmon. ABOUT CAPTAIN TOMMY DONLIN Tommy Donlin is our certified madman in the Pacific Northwest. He’s an amazing outdoorsman and one of our go-to sources of information in the PNW for what’s going…

The halibut and lingcod fishing is just getting better and better off the coast of Washington.  The cat and mouse game with the marine weather is in full effect.  After a pretty generous weather pattern early in the season, Mother Nature decided to make up for it with heavy winds and swells.  When anglers can make it offshore and focus in on structure at the edges of canyons, they are coming home with limits of halibut and lingcod. Anglers departing from Sekiu to fish Marine Areas 3 and 4 have found longer runs to the halibut grounds, brought on by…

The lingcod bite out of Westport, Washington has been nothing short of phenomenal. Maybe it was the break that we gave them, being forced off the water due to Covid. I can’t believe I just typed that, but yes, that happened. Mark Coleman and his top-notch lineup of captains at All Rivers and Saltwater Charters have been putting some great quality lingcod on the deck in short order. It’s been a live bait flounder game for the crew, using a 3-foot leader and twin 8/0 octopus hooks, and an 8oz. to 12 oz sinker, depending on current. The proper way…

When someone utters the words “Pacific Northwest”, your mind may automatically fill with coffee, rain, and large scale technology companies.  And while that wouldn’t be incorrect, the intention from this point forward will be to replace those typical thoughts and impressions with an intense introduction to the salty side of things here in the most northwest corner of the continental 48.  There are no shortage of opportunities that lie just below the surface of the water, so after you grab your double coconut mocha Chai latte (quadruple blended of course) and you’ve gotten an appreciation for the rich aviation history…

With Marine Area 5 being the only real saltwater salmon show in town, anglers are flocking to Sekiu to get their piece of the pie and they’re in luck! They are being met with thick bait balls and willing biters. Mike and Larry Surdyk recently found pay dirt and a boat full of limits by running flasher and anchovy in a helmet. KEYS TO SUCCESS SONAR: If you want to find success in the winter blackmouth fishery, your sonar game has to be dialed in. Mike Surdyk ran his Raymarine Axiom system on high chirp and found areas that held…

How To Rig Swimbait Hook You’ll often hear, or read in this case, me talk about perfection in the details. Once you have the boat and body of water, your fishing success is determined by your ability to correctly address each critical detail. If you take care of the little things, the rest will come naturally and you will get one step closer to reaching the top 10% (or better) of the fishermen/fisherwomen population. You should always have a goal of continual improvement, no matter what level you are at in your fishing journey. This creates the drive required to…

The Pacific Northwest provides some of the best fishing the world has to offer. It is also the source of some of the foulest weather as well. It is not uncommon to brave the elements in 10-25 knot winds and swells to 10-feet, not to mention the daunting river bars of Grays Harbor and the Columbia River. The graveyard of the Pacific is not something to be taken lightly. It is easy to see how this area gets its name when one of the rivers systems enters full ebb tide, directly opposing the westerly swells that hit our shores. Terms…

The ocean weather may be taking a turn for the worse and the tuna beginning their journey south, but there is no shortage of saltwater opportunities in the Pacific Northwest. The first thing that comes to mind is the winter dungeness crab fishery in the Puget Sound, and that is in full swing with great results. However, there is another option that is a little less advertised but just as tantalizing: SQUID! Record numbers of squid have flooded the Puget Sound and anglers are filling their buckets in short order. It’s your choice: boat or pier. I enjoy hitting this…

We all have those days. “Those days” are the days when things are not going the way we intended them to go but we have to make the best of the situation. On a recent trip out of Westport, Washington (SW coast of Washington State), we had one of “those days”. Our predicament on this particular day was a failed bait system. The primary pump failed and the backup suffered “infancy failure” or poor reliability resulting from manufacturing defects. We were out of a pump for the day and we knew our fragile Pacific anchovies would be deceased by the…

A lot of the anglers who fish the Washington rivers use the egg loop knot as their knot of choice for fishing eggs in the rivers. In this quick tip, I will show your how to tie an egg loop knot that will work for many applications.  The eggloop knot also works well when fishing herring or anchovies on solid tie rigs, or when you’re rigging up a salmon hoochie rig. The knot is pretty easy to tie and since it works in a number of applications, it’s a good one to have in your arsenal. To show you how to…

What is there not to love about crabbing!  It is simple, relaxing, and comes with great reward.  Here are 6 quick tips to stack your steamer full of those delectable Dungeness Crab. 1 Know your competition: The Tribal and Commercial crabbers often crab the same grounds that the recreational/sport crabbers do.  You will have a major leg up on the competition if you know where they set their pots.  My recommendation: Crab where they aren’t!  How you ask?  Look for localized areas that do not have a lot of acreage or areas that are not easily accessible from port.  Tribal and Commercial…

Salmon Commercial Way – Commercial Salmon Fishing There are certain phrases, heuristics, and sayings that you will find in American society. One would be ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do”. And one that I’m sure you’re all familiar with “Fish where the fish are”. These seem like pretty simple concepts until you try to operationalize them. “Fishing where the fish are” can be a daunting task that is as dynamic as the tide, wind, and moon, especially when chasing our coast’s Chinook salmon. This means that your global position on the earth’s surface has to be correct at…

Inshore Seabass Rockfish One of the most fun, easy, and low-pressure ways to spend your time on the water comes in the form of chasing inshore seabass. In the Pacific Northwest, this includes your blue rockfish, black rockfish, and yellowtail rockfish. There are other species, but I prefer to target Blues and Blacks because they produce a great yield, and reproduce quickly. As with any fishery or opportunity, I urge you to approach the task at hand with a plan for success. To be successful at chasing inshore seabass, your first step starts before you even touch the water and…

BODY OF WATER Everyone gets enamored with early season warm water, even some people that have been fishing tuna for years. There are a couple pitfalls that need to be avoided when reading a Sea Surface Temperature (SST) chart. The first thing you have to remember is that warm water doesn’t mean anything if it isn’t connected to the main mass of warm water coming from the south. The water has to be fully connected so that the tuna have a clear path to our coast. A lot of times, folks get confused by looking at all the warm water…

There is one apex predator that can survive the most adverse conditions. The mature adults can fit volleyballs in their mouth and their razor sharp teeth look like something that came out of a Blade movie. Wesley Snipes would be jealous. They have razor blades for gill rakers and once something begins its journey down the digestive track of this fish, it doesn’t come back. They are resilient and no other species of fish can find safe harbor when they’re around. They deserve the utmost respect and are the most prolific hunter in the waters off of the west coast…

Costa Rica Offshore World ChampionshipQuepos was the host to the 2013 IGFA Offshore World Championship, and it will be held there again this April, 2014.Costa Rica CrocodilesTake one wrong step on the way to the coast and you won’t be living the PURA VIDA (good life) in Costa Rica. These healthy crocs are protected and can be found in the river systems and nearby saltwater bays.Costa Rica World Championship BaitA successful day on the water begins long before the boat is cut loose from the dock. World class mate Marco Solano ensures that the FRENZY, a 43′ Custom Maverick Sportfisher,…

The bait tank is where the magic happens. I often tell people that my Defiance boat started out as a single bait tank on a golden pedestal and the boat was built around the tank. I’m exaggerating, but you can see how important my bait tank is to me. It ranks just under the boat itself and a close third to my Emergency Position Radio Indicating Beacon (EPIRB). The bait tank has skyrocketed my albacore catches over the years. When I first started albacore fishing, I learned to fish for them on the troll, deploying such tactics as the Franko…

The bait stop is man’s best friend when it comes to targeting large schools of albacore tuna off of the West Coast. The anchovy has been converting tuna fishermen into happy anglers everywhere since the bait started gracing the inside of our bait tanks. Thunnus Alalunga (albacore tuna) consider these fragile baits a top-shelf, tasty treat, so it pays to take extra care of your bait and choose only the best baits when targeting albacore. Consider the setting — fish are boiling 20 feet off the stern. The dorsal fins of the tuna pierce the surface of the water like…

When it comes to rigging fishing tackle, the devil is in the details. This is especially true when tying leaders for salmon hoochies — the plastic skirtsused with a flasher to catch salmon on the troll. Paying attention to the details can increase your hookup ratio and put fish in the box, making your day a memorable one. On the other hand, a few mistakes could lead to lost fish and plenty of frustration. Making a good hoochie rig for salmon fishing starts with choosing the right leader material. A hoochie by itself has no action whatsoever. If you tow…

This last weekend, we headed up to Friday Harbor to participate in the 2nd annual Resurrection Derby. What a great event! It is well run by Kevin Klein and Jay Fields, and we will definitely be doing this one again. 69 boats entered the derby (up from 47 last year) and 96 fish were caught over the 2 day derby. We managed to find some bait that served us well, and we put 7 fish on the boat over 2 days with the biggest going 16.01 lbs on the Derby Scale, enough for 3rd place and $1500! I ran the…

As halibut season comes to a close, it’s time to trade the broomsticks for the lighter buggy whips and focus your energy on another one of the Pacific Northwest’s premier game fish — the king salmon. While they are technically chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), this species has long been called the king because it’s the strongest, biggest and most elusive of the five species of Pacific salmon. Simply put, the king salmon is the boss. Anyone can troll a pink lure and catch a humpy salmon or toss Buzz Bombs into schools of voracious cohos that are in a feeding…