Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 2724 Nov 9-23 | Page 12

12
FRESHWATER
Nov 9 - 23, 2018
WHAT’S HOT
came ever closer to the boat. When Mike
was in position with the net, I elevated the
rod tip a bit and started to bring the king
to the surface.
First glimpse revealed that it was a
handsome chromer. Time slowed down,
closer and closer the fish came to the net.
It was going to happen, I had the fish
in the Kellogg Death Grip and then the
hooks pulled free and my big bowl of
yummy smoked salmon slid back into the
current and disappeared forever.
This wasn’t going to be the “turkey
shoot” we’d been hoping for. We were
going to have to earn every bite and every
fish…
Some fishing trips are about the fishing.
Some are about the company and some
are about both. This trip was one of those.
My cohorts for the day were master guide
Mike Bogue of Mike Bogue’s Guide
Service and the other was legendary
outdoor writer, angler and hunter John
Higley. Mike has been a Sacramento River
salmon guide forever. John was catching
fish and killing game when Mike was in
diapers and I was yet unborn.
When I put the trip together I was just
looking forward to a lot of laughs and
smack talk with a couple fellows I really
respect and admire. As the date of our trip
neared and the salmon fishing got better
and better and the kings being caught
above Red Bluff got bigger and bigger I
got really excited.
“Don’t count your salmon before they’re
in the boat,” John warned me over the
phone in the days leading up to our trip.
Continued from page 1
“Why the negativity,” I pondered.
The bite was outstanding and getting
better. Sure, a tiny little storm had passed
through the north state, but heck I’ve
caught kings in sideways rain from the
Feather River to the Kenai. John must just
be over thinking things…
When dawn broke and I saw that tea
colored water dotted with dead leaves
and twigs, I could hear John’s dire words
echoing in my mind and I knew we were
in trouble.
They say there is no substitute for expe-
rience. John sensed the warning bells and
his feeling of impending doom were spot
on. That’s what 1,257 years on the river
will do for you!
The most important fish of the day for
any outdoor writer is the first fish. That
fish ensures you’ll get photos and a story.
The only thing worse than going fishing
and getting skunked is going out to write
a fishing story and getting skunked. With
deals like that you don’t get a fish dinner
and you don’t come home with a story.
After I lost the first salmon of the day,
we knew it was time to put on our game
faces and get serious or we’d being going
home with empty sacks!
The rest of the boats around us in the
Barge Hole were doing worse than we
were so Mike decided to move downriver.
“We might get skunked, but at least it
will be more secluded down the line,”
Mike quipped as he fired up the boat’s big
jet engine.
We fished one spot and then another,
with a grab here and there, but nothing
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VOL.37 • ISS. 24
Mike Bogue hooked this husky king on October 5 and passed it off to Cal Kellogg. The fish
is now residing in John Higley’s smoker!
Photo by JOHN HIGLEY, Redding.
firm. And we weren’t seeing many salmon
roll or jump. Our luck didn’t change until
we came on a big slick run that showed a
good amount of salmon activity.
“Well that’s a spot that never holds fish,
but they are there today. The color in
the water and the debris has the salmon
moving around and holding in odd spots,”
Bogue related to Higley and I as he lined
the boat up.
When Bogue
told us to drop
them, Higley and I
thumbed our massive
T-60 Flatfish to the
bottom. Mike had
wrapped the plugs
with fresh sardine
fillets and slathered
everything with
Mike’s Lunker
Lotion. It was time
to seal the deal.
John hooked up
first. It was a big fish
and after a time it
just pulled off. John
was doing everything
correctly and the
fish just got away.
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Next Bogue hooked a fish and handed it to
John. John put the fish into the net and the
skunk was off the boat.
After John was on the board I had a
terrific grab, but came up empty on the
swing. Minutes later Mike hooked up and
handed me the rod. The 11-pounder put up
a good fight, but ended up in the fish box.
We had limits, which was a lot more than
our fellow salmon anglers on the river
could say that day. It was tough!
Mike was putting his clients on lots of
20 to 35 pound kings before John and I
decided to go fish and shut down the bite
in the process. Mike’s clients went right
back to catching big fish the very next
day…GO FIGURE!
If you’d like to get out on the Sacra-
mento and try for a big bad trophy kings,
jump on the boat with Mike Bogue. Late
fall run chromers are coming into the river
and those are some of the finest fish of the
fall.
Give Mike a call and tell him
you want a trip just like
he took Cal Kellogg and
John Higley on, except
you want a big chrome
bright 25 pounders!
[phone].
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