West Coast Outfitters

My name is Mike Schmitz Jr., named after my dad of coarse who moved to forks in the late 70’s to pursue a career in guiding. Being from NW Oregon he was very familiar with good fishing, steelhead and salmon, but Forks was and always will be top area to find trophy salmon and unbeatable steelhead fishing, not only just in Washington but in the world.

Having a guide as a father, and a successful one at that, puts a kid a step ahead of the rest when it comes to growing up, learning techniques, rivers, woods, proper fishing etiquette and appreciating the outdoors for what it is.

It all started very early in age, standing in the back yard, a 6 year old with a level wind in my hands, repeatedly casting the lead he had tied to it at a 5 gallon bucket in the back yard. Back handed, underhanded, behind the back, you name it and I was out there trying my best to get a splash. 

I’d caught many fish by this age holding a plug rod while dad on the oars but it was my first fish on drift riggin that hooked me.

Standing on the bank while dad up cutting firewood, I casted repeatedly into the riffle just happy to be casting at something other than a bucket. There were a few other adults I didn’t know below me fishing the good water and dad of coarse didn’t want me in there way so I had to fish above all of them in the shallows.

I remember the fish tugging before I grasped what was going on, being 6 and just used to the pole folding over the bow of the boat and dad’s voice cutting through me to jerk.

I tried to remember all I could because dad being busy cutting wood couldn’t see any of this going on, but that didn’t stop me from screaming at the top of my lungs for his guidance once again, for I’d never even fished from the bank before and thought the fish could only be landed with a net.

Well he never did hear me and I somehow got the 6 lb hoh hatchery steelie on the bank. Left my pole where it lay and grabbed the fish like I was carrying an infant and headed for dad, fish still flopping while I ran. Ill never forget the look on his face when he turned around, he was speechless and forever I was hooked.           

Ten years later there I was still at it, skipping Spanish class, borrowing a friends dad’s boat and hitting the rivers. I was catching as many fish as everybody else and at the same time trying to dodge where dad was floating and hoping nobody would rat me out.

I knew by then I didn’t want to ever move away from forks, or very far from it. I had my first clients when I was 17, a walk in fishing trip with 4 guys that were friends of dad’s clients. When I turned 18 and graduated somehow, dad pitched in half for my very first boat, him still not knowing that I’d been doing class 3 white water in the sol duc for a year now, so I played on and let him teach me how to row.

He’d tried letting me a few years back but patience when there was fish to catch wasn’t always practiced. I just carried on like a natural at it. I didn’t even till him why I’d got the d- in Spanish class until I was 25. He just shook his head and said I knew you started rowing to well to not have something up your sleeve.

I spent the next few years taking his extra clients and working for other guides and deep down I still wanted to be the one making the first cast. It took a couple more years and lots of fish before I’d felt satisfied, having caught steelies over 20 and plenty of 50lb kings, satisfied to a point where it became a better feeling to be the reason somebody else was catching the fish.

When I started having those kinds of feelings, I knew it was time to get busy at the guiding business. Still to this day when I take friends it is a surprise if I make 10 casts.              

Elk hunting came about a whole different way. Dad was always so busy fishing in the fall so we only got to deer hunt. Everything I know about elk hunting now was completely self taught and lots of hard lessons learned.

I killed my first elk at age 21; also on the first day I ever archery hunted, and am still only hunting with archery equipment, have killed some good bulls over the past few years and have led clients and friends into much nicer bulls as well.  I do still only book 1 archery hunt a year because I love it so much that I want the rest of the season to myself.      

I’m currently 29 years old,  I’ve been fishing for the better part of the 25 years with a professional teacher always at my side.

He still won’t admit that I can out fish him but he darn well knows it. I wouldn’t get the weekly call from mom wanting fish if he could, then again after his back surgery got him out of the business, he don’t hit it near as hard as he used to.

I’ve got the reputation for being the laid back guy on the river, I just love being out there and doing our best. I hope you feel you’ve gotten to know me a bit better and look forward to sharing some stories and taking those fish and elk pics that hold the memories.