Fishing Guides

I just finished a fishing trip to Buoy 10 on the Columbia River with guide Casey Kelly of Northwest Columbia Fishing Adventures (
). The trip start to finish was excellent.
Casey is a long time guide in this area and works as hard as any person I have ever fished with. For this trip he even had a deck hand named Junior. Junior was incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. He worked from sun up to sun down, always doing something to make both the client comfortable and successful and keeping the boat in order.
Picking and using a guide for a particular trip requires some work on the client’s part. Considering the rather unique waters of the mouth of the Columbia River, it is essential that the guide thoroughly understand both the fish catching part, but also the safety involved for all on the vessel. Casey thoroughly briefed the safety features and procedures before we even talked fishing. He also spoke to the comfort factors of the trip… it was going to be bumpy and wet at times. Just part of the fun. We also talked about the likelihood that we would be confronted with sea lions while reeling in fish and what to do if that occurred. It did occur and was quite an experience as these very large animals were very close and not to be denied their meal.
During the trip Casey covered a huge part of the river mouth searching for just the right «spot». We fished and travelled hard on the trip and were rewarded with our limits. During our trip we were greeted with a whale and its calf breaching directly in front of the boat, adding to the enjoyment of being very close to nature.
For the business end of the process, Casey was communicative about all aspects of the trip. I contacted him numerous times about small details and each contact was met in a timely and friendly manner. He made it easy at every step of the process.
Would I use Casey Kelly (Northwest Columbia Fishing Adventures) again. Yes I would and have already booked another trip with him next month. If you want a guide who is knowledgeable, professional, and personable, you can’t go wrong with Casey.

Christian barely talked to us, mostly his friend and phone. Sat for a while as he did bait. He’s not one to answer questions in a friendly manner or explain anything, felt like we were bothering him. Took us to smaller river, caught limit (which was only one opposed to other river which would be two). Off water in 2hrs. 3 stars is for catching fish. Was just an uncomfortable person to be around.

I booked a sturgeon fishing trip for my husband’s birthday before I read any reviews, which is not like me. After securing the first half of the whole payment (non-​refundable), I read reviews and then became extremely nervous. Would the guide show up? Would he be rude? I stressed for weeks before making the 7 hour drive to Woodland, WA. My husband and I decided that, worst case scenario, we would at least be near the coast and there would be other things to do. We would find a back up plan if needed.
The evening before our scheduled trip, Christian called me to verify the time and place that we would meet and to make sure we had the correct fishing license. Prior to this call, and since the initial booking, Christian was quick to answer my emails.
Christian was right on time the next morning. Is he a super outgoing, friendly, chatty guy? No. Did we pay for that? No. We paid for a fishing guide. In preparing to launch the boat, Christian was very focused on the task at hand so we stood back and waited for instruction and, while waiting, enjoyed the nature around us.
Our trip was seven hours long. Christian gave great instruction and coached through the process when needed. We had to battle some big fish and he was encouraging when I started to wear out getting the fish to the boat. He got excited about our catches and was great about making sure we were able to take photos before releasing the fish. We caught a total of 36 fish! It was fun and totally worth the money.
Once we got the hang of things, a few hours into the trip, Christian did start accepting calls from clients but would put the phone down immediately if we hooked a fish or if he needed to bait and cast another pole. As small business owners we understood that you can’t just not take a client call. You can, however, make sure to put the focus on the current paying client, and he did.
Like I said, he’s not super chatty. He’s an introvert’s dream. If it had just been Christian and me on the boat we probably wouldn’t have had any small talk of any kind and would have been happy just catching fish. My husband initiated small talk, mainly about hunting and fishing, and he and Christian had some interesting conversations in between catching monster fish.
This was my experience. I feel terribly for those who have had bad experiences, but it’s only fair to share a good experience too. I like to think that people can change and grow and learn from past mistakes.
I would also like to note that Christian didn’t even mention the second half of payment. I tried to hand it to him before the trip and he told me we would square up later. I paid him after the trip was over.
The trip itself– catching 36 fish, many over 5 feet long– is a 5 out of 5.

I paid for a trip for my family and he cancelled twice. The first time was at 4am when we were headed to meet him. We rescheduled and kept in close contact on the days leading up to our trip. His wife (or girlfriend) called the night before to tell me he was burnt out and the fishing sucked but he rescheduled us with another guide. I kindly declined, told her I understood his frustration and asked for my money back. The conversation went bad at that point with him yelling and cussing at me in the background. Needless to say I never got my money back. I also found out he has a history of poaching.
I would not recommend him to my worst enemy! I’m only giving his 1 star because I have to

I had the most amazing experience with Christian Witt! Sorry to read some negative reviews here because I can’t say enough nice things about my experience.
My brother and I took our blind father sturgeon fishing. We had a perfect day! Chris was patient and helpful with my dad. I would recommend him and will certainly go again.
We caught 18 fish including a TROPHY! It was 8′ long and too large to bring into the boat. Chris was wonderful.

Christian took us fishing for winter kings on the Lewis River. My Dad and I had an unbelieve experience. We caught three nice kings over the Christmas Holidays. All three fish cut very well. We had never fished this run before and were very curious about it. We lucked out with a clear day and ideal river conditions. My dad and I are going to make this an annual trip when he comes into town for the holidays.
Thanks for the unbelieve memories with my Dad!

I REALLY wish we had read the reviews on Unilocal (wouldn’t have thought of looking on this about fishing trips) prior to purchasing the guided trip for my father, brother and fiancé for Christmas. They were scheduled to go Sturgeon fishing and were very excited since none of them had the pleasure of that before (hence why it was chosen). Well, they all took the day off work, drove the 3 hours, stayed in a hotel and were expecting to meet Chris at 4:30 am that Friday morning. Well, HE DIDN’T SHOW UP. They couldn’t get a hold of him, waited for almost 2 hours, and decided to just drive home so they could salvage some of their day and fish up near Seattle. Around 9 or 10 he finally called them back to say that he would take them now, but it was far too late.
They scheduled to go the following week because he still owed them the trip, so again, they took the day off, stayed in a hotel, and went fishing. Well, he was late that morning, but at least he showed up. They had nothing good to say about him as a person AND Sturgeon fishing was closed about 4 days prior — had he shown up to the original scheduled, they would have gotten to do what I paid for them to do. So how much money did they lose on top of the cost of the guide? A LOT.
Moral of the story: DO NOT BOOK WITH HIM.

My wife purchased a Groupon guided fishing trip with Columbia River Fishing Guide service as my 2012 Christmas present. I was very excited to receive this as I’ve often heard about the spring chinook salmon run on the Columbia as being one of the best fishing experiences around.
I booked the trip with Christian Witt for a date in April and everything looked good. In mid-​February, I called Christian and told him I had a shoulder injury and therefore would have to re-​schedule the trip for a later date. He said that would be OK.
I called him later that spring, when my shoulder had healed, and we set up an August date for the trip. Early in August, I drove 130 miles and booked a motel room in anticipation of a 5:00 am trip. The night before, Christian called me to say that the other party had cancelled and that the trip was off. I had driven 130 miles and secured a motel room and because of the cancellation was out well over a $ 150. In my conversations with Christian, he did not seem to be concerned with the situation.
Later that summer, I called Christian a couple of times to try to re-​schedule a date to fish. But by then he was booked with fall hunting trips and said he would have a tough time fitting me into a fall trip… no guarantees.
My experience dealing with Columbia River Fishing Guide service (Christian Witt) has been very poor. I’ve been fishing with many other guides and he ranks at the bottom of the list. My interactions with him over the phone have, for the most part, not been good. He never once made an effort to contact me (by phone) to fit me into one of his trips. His demeanor over the phone has been poor. I phoned him a number of times to try to book a trip and was never successful.
A few days ago, my wife e-​mailed Groupon and told them about the awful experience she and I had received in dealing with this company. Groupon responded with an apology and credit towards future Groupon purchases. This was gladly received as we use Groupon on a regular basis… great company!
In summary, do not go with Columbia River Fishing Guide Service (Christian Witt). They are not good and as a public, we should put them out of business!

I will never do business with this man again. He was very difficult to schedule with and then he DIDN’T SHOW UP for our trip. We were waiting for him at 5:30am and met another pair waiting for an outing with his company. He ruined the day for 4 people and 4 fishing licenses and (no surprise) I never heard back from him. We used the time waiting for him to search the internet for all the bad feedback that is posted about him. A little too late — my mistake, please don’t make it yours.

My wife and I purchased a Groupon for an 8 hour fishing trip with this company. We have been down a number of rivers with guides and consider some of them friends. I was somewhat surprised when we called the day before to confirm and find out where and when to meet because we were told to meet at the Arco AM/​PM in Woodland at 10:30 AM. How we would manage to get in an 8 hour fishing trip was a question, but my wife and I figured we must be going to fish into the early evening. NOPE! We met our guide, whom I assume was Christian (only because that was who I spoke to on the phone) at the Arco station at 10:30. I say assume because he never did walk around and introduce himself to anyone that I saw. We waited while he gassed his truck, then became angry that people were in the way at the pumps and drove his truck across the street to the Shell to gas the boat. Then we followed him through Woodland to the launch point. By now the time was after 11 AM and we were not yet fishing. We ran out the Columbia about 7 miles and began to troll and then anchored to let the tide troll for us. To frame a picture, it was a beautiful day, water was calm and it looked like it would be a nice day to fish. But being able to drive a boat and throw a lure in the water does not a guide make. I don’t think our «guide» could have told you who anyone was, or where they were from or anything else. There was no conversation whatsoever. For the better part of 4 hours, except when my wife hooked a small salmon, Christian sat facing away from us at the back of boat using his cell phone. At 4:15 PM he announced we were done for the day, and when my wife pretended to not hear that and asked where are we going now (ostensibly to fish, since we hadn’t approached 8 hours unless you counted when I was brushing my teeth at my house getting ready to go) he said «In.» I knew the folks in the back row of the boat had driven all the way from Toppenish, a goodly drive, and they thought they had purchased an 8 hour trip as well. As it goes with good country folk they were too polite to complain but they were not happy. I hope this guy doesn’t live off of tips or repeat customers because he will starve. I am not saying he is a bad person because I don’t know him. How could I? We never spoke. But he does need someone to show him how to be a guide.

We purchased a Groupon for an 8-​hour fishing trip on the Columbia River. Having fished for years and been lucky enough to go with some very good outfitters, we were looking forward to meeting a new guide and a day chasing salmon.
Christian has an awesome, flashy boat that gets up and scoots. Good equipment with fresh lines and comfy chairs. Now the down side…
His attitude seems to be one of not giving a rats’ backside if he gets to know his clients, gets into fish or even if we are present in his boat. Once we were in the water (11:15 am), dropped lines and settled in, he completely ignored us in favor of chatting endlessly on his phone or whatever else came to mind. I know, he was talking to his other buddies on the river to see if anyone was into fish, but still. I dont expect witty banter, a flashy song-​and dance or juggling, but dude, at least talk to your clients.
He then announced that since the very limited gill-​net season had just ended, that the chances of catching anything were very poor. If that’s the case, why not reschedule folks and stay home? Who wants to go to a fishless river, and then find out the outfitter you go with already knew it? I didn’t expect us to all limit-​out, but at least going with a good chance of getting into fish is the goal here, isn’t it? It’s pretty clear that we were just filling seats and his gas tank.
At 4:15, he announced it was time to go in, that the tide was over (we were back-​trolling so the lures were carried upstream, a logical way to set up) and we were done for the day. Not exactly the advertised 8-​hour trip, now was it? We passed about 40 other boats on the way back, and they didn’t seem to think the tide was anywhere near over.
What completely hacked me off, was that when we all reeled up to go home, every single line and lure was sporting a lovely coat of algae and water weeds. So even if we were surrounded by fish, no one was going to hook one. If he’d not been so busy ignoring us, he may have thought to check lines. With six poles in the water, one of us reeling in to check and then trying to toss out would have been a mess.
And heck, I was the lucky one on the river today. When we arrived at the dock, the woman checking for tags and taking DNA samples said I was the only person out of something like 200 people, she’d seen come through with a fish.
I dont know if we got short shrift because of the Groupon or if he just had other things on his mind, but I think he just called this one in. Pretty sad, considering one of the other couples we had in the boat drove four hours to get there.

After he screamed at me for 7 min. about a question on pricing I decided not to go with him. I would never want to be stuck out on a boat with this guy.

My experience with Christian Witt of Columbia River Fishing Guide was very unpleasant. I have provided 1 star for our guide Christian Witt in this review, but that is generous. I would have preferred to have left NONE.
Although Christian is a knowledgeable fishing guide, his attitude and demeanor toward us as his clients was very unprofessional and abrasive. His language is profane, and it did not feel as if he made taking care of us his priority. At best his behavior is aloof.
On the final day of our 3-​day trip, we arrived at the beach at the scheduled time of 10am. Christian helped us board the boat and then left us waiting in the boat for 20 minutes while he walked 100 feet down the beach to help another fisherman (who was not part of our group) set his poles. While we had been boarding the boat this other fisherman had wandered up to our boat to admire Christian’s lures. Needless to say, to leave us waiting in the boat for 20 minutes was not the best start to the day.
Christian eventually returned to the boat, and we eventually made it out on the water to set anchor to wait for fish. Within the hour we had a bite on the pole. HOWEVER, the fish had hooked itself on the pole of Christian’s girlfriend Tammy (who had joined us for the day — Tammy was not part of our fishing party). At the time the fish bit, Christian was at the back of the boat taking on his cell phone (speaking profanely to another client)…Tammy was smoking a cigarette so she was not prepared to set her hook. INSTEAD, it was Mike (a member of our party) who reached over and set the hook… Once Mike had set the hook, Christian (now finally paying attention to what was happening on his boat, put down his phone to YELL at Mike «That’s Tammy’s fish») Yikes!
Now I don’t have a problem with Christian’s girlfriend Tammy joining us for the day, and I don’t mind her catching fish… HOWEVER, here is my understanding of how a professional fishing operation should be run… YOU SHOULD LET YOUR PAYING CLIENT CATCH THEIR LIMIT OF FISH BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO LET YOUR GIRLFRIEND FISH.” When we discussed this matter with Christian at the end of the day, his temper flared.
Now overall, I had a great time on the fishing trip, because it was a relaxing way to spend some time with my father, brother and friends, but if I were to return to Washington, I WOULD DEFINITELY NOT CALL CHRISTIAN WITT TO BE MY GUIDE. — Attitude truly is the difference maker and Christian’s attitude is BAD.
If you are fishing in Washington, I hope you have a great time and catch lots of fish, but I would advise you to stay away from the services of Christian Witt of Columbia River Fishing Guide.