Capt. Tommy Donlin

Capt. Tommy Donlin, the BD Outdoors Pro Staff representative for the Pacific Northwest, has more than 20 years of experience fishing the waters from Sitka, Alaska, to Clarion Island off the coast of Mexico. He chases everything that swims off the Washington coast, including tuna, salmon, lingcod, halibut, crab and shrimp. Tommy spends countless hours on the water hunting and honing his fish-catching skills. He is a firm believer that the devil is in the details and strategy is everything. "Prior to each trip, I run through the game plan in my head minute by minute, making sure that I haven't missed anything,” he says. “Then I go out there and execute that plan.” Tommy is also a pro staffer for Defiance Boats and gives many seminars throughout western Washington. He's extremely active on the Washington Forum on www.bdoutdoors.com.

Articles: 22

Capt. Tommy Donlin Articles

Fishing Reports

Halibut & Lingcod Report For PNW

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 …

all river and saltwater charters

all river and saltwater charters

Fishing Reports

Lingcod Bite Is Going Off In Westport

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 …

Fishing Fishing Reports How To Fish

Introducing Fishing The Pacific Northwest – Halibut And More!

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 …

Fishing Reports How To Fish

Fishing Report | Sekiu Blackmouth

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 …

albacore tuna

Making Tuna Fishing Great Again – Albacore Arrive

Boating Tips Fishing Tackle How To Fish

How To Rig a Better Swimbait

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 …

camo gage

Boat Accessories Fishing Clothes

Grundens Gage Weather Watch Meets the Northwest Pacific

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 …

squid tips

Boating Tips Fishing

Washington Squid Fishing | Squid Fishing Techniques

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 …

Tuna Tips

Boating Tips How To Fish

Dead Bait Tips for Tuna

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), …

tuna classic

Washington Tuna Classic Results

Boating Tips Fishing How To Fish

How To Tie an Egg Loop Knot

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 …

crab trapping

Fishing Gear How To Fish Seafood Recipes

6 Tips for Crabbing: K.I.S.S.

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 …

Boating Tips Fishing Fishing Lures Fishing Tackle How To Fish

Salmon – The Commercial Way

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 …

offshore fishing

offshore fishing

Fishing How To Fish Marine Electronics

Chasing Washington’s Inshore Seabass (Rockfish)

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, …

offshore washington

offshore washington

Fishing How To Fish Marine Electronics

Reading SST Charts for Pacific NW Tuna

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 …

fishing tips

Fishing Fishing Lures Fishing Tackle How To Fish Saltwater Fishing

Chasing Modern Day Godzilla

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 …

2013 Offshore World Championship Quepos Costa Rica

Costa Rica Offshore World Championship Quepos was the host to the 2013 IGFA Offshore World Championship, and it will be held there again this April, 2014. Costa Rica Crocodiles Take one wrong step on the way to the coast and you won’t be living the …

Dial in Your Bait Tank

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 …

Selecting the Right Tuna Bait

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 …

Boating Tips Fishing Fishing Lures How To Fish

Washington Fishing | Build Your Own Salmon Hoochie Rigs

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 …

Blackmouth Salmon Action at Washington’s Resurrection Derby

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 …

how to

How To Fish Saltwater Fishing

How To Catch King Salmon – Long Live the King

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 …

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