Cowlitz river plunking

[ASHQUACK]

Corky's grandson Beau guides  now for steelhead and salmon. He's become a real fish catching force.

[PointBlank]

Sounds like this thread has brought back some great memories! Not much of a fishing report from me… had 2 solid drive byes before noon and then they started to jack the water up and debris started to mess with the lines so we called it a day… always a fun time though!

[BigGoonTuna]

Corky's grandson Beau guides  now for steelhead and salmon. He's become a real fish catching force.

Heh, I see that guy all over the Washington fishing facebook group, never drew that connection before.

I'm a little young to have any Corky stories, but I'm sure I saw him down there and my dad used to talk about him.  My dad's steelhead mentor was an old WWII sub vet named Bud, he lived in the South Bay grange in Olympia.

I did spend a lot of time anchored off the clay banks in my dad's boat in the '90s-early 2000s before boondogging became the top fishing method down there.  He still has that old sled, it started out red and white, then black and white, then army green, now it's been camo for about 10 years.  Doesn't get out too much these days, though.  What we would call good fishing these days wouldn't have been enough to get most of the old timers out of bed back then.

[metlhead]

Always wondered about the term boondoggling. Been doing it many years before that term came out. Pre-kicker days, we just called it free drifting. Dad dragged the inner tube full of river rocks as an anchor. Slipped back just enough to get that perfect drift. Probably hell on the habitat, but less two stroke smoke evened things out.

[2MANY]

Yup before the guys came down from the Skagit and showed the Cow boys how to freedrift with oars everyone drug their anchor or something.
Man once we started freedrifting with noodling rods in the 80's it was like cheating.

[metlhead]

I do recall those huge Skagit sleds intruding upon our southwest territory.