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Volume 17 • Issue 5
PUBLISHER
James R. Baker
EDITOR
Andy “ODFW/WDFW document reviewer” Walgamott
THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS
Dave Anderson, Scott Haugen, Brad Herman, Jeff Holmes, MD Johnson, Randy King, Sara Potter, Buzz Ramsey, Bob Rees, Angus Vlasaty, Troy Wilder, Dave Workman
GENERAL MANAGER
John Rusnak
SALES MANAGER
Paul Yarnold
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES
Janene Mukai, Tom St. Clair
DESIGNERS
Kha Miner, Gabrielle Pangilinan
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Emily Baker
OFFICE MANAGER/COPY EDITOR
Katie Aumann
INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGER
Lois Sanborn
WEBMASTER/DIGITAL STRATEGIST
Jon Hines
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CORRESPONDENCE
Email letters, articles/queries, photos, etc., to awalgamott@media-inc.com.
ON THE COVER
February is prime time for broodstock and wild winter steelhead everywhere from the Oregon Coast, where Larry Joyce hooked this hatchery fish last season, to the Cowlitz River and beyond! (SARA POTTER)
IN MEMORIAM
Jim Kujala, 85, “elk hunter and sportsmanconservationist extraordinaire” and namesake of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s annual Jim Kujala Volunteer of the Year Award for his service over the decades on a very wide range of fish and wildlife projects.
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30 BIG GAME YEARBOOK
Our 14th annual celebration of the Northwest’s premier fall hunts features readers’ and writers’ pics and stories from 2024’s deer, elk, black bear and bighorn sheep seasons!
33 EVOLUTION OF A GHOST BUSTER,
50 CHASING ELK: A RECAP OF MY 2024 NORTH IDAHO HUNT, by
60 ’TWAS A GOOD SEASON, by Randy King
Jeff Holmes’ Q&A with Tri-Cities-based guide TJ Hester details why, how and where to troll plugs and fish jigs
Mid-Columbia River in the dead of winter for the biggest bugeyes of the year!
95 OF RARITIES AND RARIN’-TO-GO FISH
Between super-early springers and wild and broodstock steelhead, February serves up plenty of Oregon angling opportunities. Bob Rees of The Guide’s Forecast shares his monthly Beaver State fishing outlook.
115 CATCHING A REAL UNICORN
February through April is when to catch the biggest wild steelhead, right? Not so fast. Angus Vlasaty batted away not only that conventional wisdom but high water to land a beast of a late December winter-run. He recounts the epic fight and catch!
119 BOBBERDOGGIN’ FOR COWLITZ STEELHEAD
With the peak of the winter run approaching, Buzz Ramsey taps two top names in the guide world for a tutorial on bobberdoggin’ Southwest Washington’s productive Cowlitz River.
126 OUTDOORS MD Changes Come To Smelt Dipping
Scrumptious smelt draw thousands to the banks of the lower Cowlitz River in winter, but have you heard about what’s new for the 2025 season? MD Johnson irons out the wrinkles should the oily little fish grace us with their presence this month and next – and writes you a prescription for dipping your limit!
COLUMNS
106 FOR THE LOVE OF THE TUG A Date Worth Remembering
Sara long ago fell “head over heels” for Oregon steelhead, giving them her whole heart in hopes of sparing herself from any more relationship heartaches – only to find deep love in a man who’d never fished for winter-runs. She shares their memorable Valentine’s Day date on a coastal river.
119 BUZZ RAMSEY Boat Fishing Strategies For Crowded Rivers
No doubt about it, a boat gives you access to more steelhead waters and techniques – just as it does every other Northwest fisherman. So how do you deal with all the traffic on the rivers these days? Buzz shares strategies for beating the competition and finding fish.
148 ON TARGET Chase Coyotes And Rabbits, And Keep An Eye On Oly
Dave W. offers up some of the best loads for songdogs everywhere from Westside forests to the marshes and sage-steppe of the greater Columbia Basin as well as a late-running meat hunt, but he’s also keeping a close eye on your gun rights as Washington lawmakers get to work in Olympia.
155 GUN DOG Stretch Bird Season With Late-running Turkey Hunt
Oregon’s still relatively new beardless turkey permit season runs through the end of February, making for some fun late-season opportunities with your hunting dog, but it’s not the only hunt to be had. Scott details what’s all on tap!
50 Becoming A Hunter – Dave A’s big backcountry bull.
60 Chef In The Wild – King clan’s 2024 deer success, plus Chef Randy’s Taco Mac recipe.
THE EDITOR’S NOTE
Thanking Commissioner Molly Linville, sportsman-friendly Douglas County rancher who was replaced from WDFW oversight board in 11th-hour move by outgoing governor.
DEPARTMENTS
30 THE BIG PIC 14th Annual Big Game Yearbook: Bucks and bulls, first kills, families who hunt, and much more!
75 THE DISHONOR ROLL
Large rewards, no takers; Jackass of the Month
77 OUTDOOR CALENDAR
Upcoming fishing and hunting openers, special events, workshops, deadlines, more
79 2025 NORTHWEST SPORTSMEN’S AND BOAT SHOW CALENDAR Event schedule, venues, show links
THE EDITOR’S NOTE
The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission not only lost a key member for sportsmen, but some of its last shreds of dignity and open-mindedness when Molly Linville wasn’t reappointed last month.
Linville, a Douglas County rancher and former federal wildlife biologist, got the word from Governor Jay Inslee’s office in the final 150 hours of his administration. While Linville told me she was disappointed not to serve another term, she added that she could “say without hesitation … I have really enjoyed representing rural communities and the sportsmen and -women of Washington and I have loved working with the incredible, dedicated, and professional (Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife) staff. It’s been an honor to be a part of the management of the amazingly diverse fish and wildlife species in this beautiful state.”
NAMED TO THE commission in July 2019, Linville served as its vice chair for two years, as well as headed up the Habitat Committee and was a member of the Wildlife and Wolf Committees, all while managing her and her husband’s 6,000-acre cattle ranch in beautiful lower Moses Coulee. That made her a pretty rare bird on the commission – a hardworking stiff among retirees, holding down two jobs, as serving on the citizen panel overseeing WDFW policies is a gig in itself.
Prior to that, Linville was on WDFW’s Wolf Advisory Group, which provided her with “excellent training” on transforming conflict around conservation and which she thought would be a good skill to bring to the commission. It was – especially given the level of conflict these past few years as Inslee and some of his appointees and a concerted effort to “reform” state fish and wildlife management have thoroughly roiled the scene. A recent review by the Ruckelshaus Center (see The Big Pic, January 2025 issue) found that many close observers believe the commission has become “dysfunctional.”
LINVILLE WILL BE remembered as a thoughtful commissioner who did not like to be rushed into making decisions. She did her level best to prevent the commission from unnecessarily wounding itself, whether that be on wolves or cougars or bears, and while trying to get along to go along with fellow members, she also wasn’t afraid to fact-check her colleagues in real-time either.
“This will harm an already ineffective commission,” commented Mitch Friedman of Conservation Northwest about her ouster on my Facebook post last month reporting the news. “Molly served as a thoughtful and informed commissioner, open to all views, which is what we need in polarizing times. Inslee became captive to ideologues on wildlife issues and leaves a tainted legacy on both the commission and the agency.”
Portions of the sportfishing world still smart from Linville’s 2020 vote to tweak hard-won Columbia River salmon fishery reforms, but she was a good commissioner for hunters and diverse interests.
“The state of Washington has lost the services of the best commissioner I have seen in my lifetime,” Brian Blake, a former Democratic state representative from Aberdeen who headed up the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, told me.
Fellow former AGNR committee member and former Republican state Representative Joel Kretz of Bodie Mountain was even more blunt: “This sucks.”
Continued on page 26
Molly Linville. (WDFW)
IN HER PLACE, Inslee appointed Lynn O’Connor, a Ferry County retiree active in the regional Rotary Club. It was a boggling choice and decision, but if O’Connor’s name rings a bell, it’s because she was attacked by a bear while hiking with her dogs last fall on her and her husband’s 1,000-acre property above Lake Roosevelt. Her initial reaction to punch the sow three times, wounds that required hospital treatment and her request to state game wardens not to kill the offending bear were widely reported on.
O’Connor told me her plan for the commission was “to listen and learn for a while … I bring no agenda except a desire to serve in a group that listens to many different perspectives in the hope of creating sound, balanced policies.” In a Capital Press article, she distanced herself from bomb thrower Timothy Coleman and his litigious Kettle Range Conservation Group, where she served on the board of directors in several different capacities in the early 2010s, but the connection bears watching. The Press also reported Inslee was leaving the critical reappointment of Commissioner Jim Anderson up to new Governor Bob Ferguson. So why not leave Linville’s up to him as well? Why push O’Connor through at the last moment? It literally only added to the dysfunction around the appointment process that Inslee and his minions created.
I guess we’ll see what O’Connor brings, if Ferguson doesn’t recall her first (to do so, he would have to ask for the resignations of all unconfirmed state board appointees), but one thing is for sure: She has very, very, very big boots to fill. Speaking of, I want to say thank you, Commissioner Linville, for your service and time. I appreciated your work and work ethic, the way you ran meetings, the civility and cheerfulness you brought to the commission in a rough, dark patch, and the wise words you spoke from the heart. Best of luck with the ranch, the cows and all the wildlife and habitat you’ve got there. –Andy Walgamott
With one of just three muzzleloader quality elk tags for Central Washington’s Cowiche Unit, Nathan Craig and friends scouted hard to get in position on the early October opener for a chance at this beautiful sixpoint bull. Craig nailed the elk with a 30-yard shot out of his .50-caliber frontstuffer. He was assisted by buddy Mike Bolt on the call and critter spotters Brett Armstrong and his own son Cash Craig, who in November also made good on a Cowiche antlerless tag with this cow, his second. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)
Evolution Of A Ghost Buster
By Troy Wilder
Jayce Wilder’s passion for the outdoors started at a very young age. When he was just 5 years old, he fell in love with the woods and
the wonder they provided. Without fail, he would run around with me and his uncle Kelly whenever he had the chance.
There was something about learning from the land that Jayce couldn’t get enough of, and that was evident in how he was always up for the challenge, no matter what conditions were thrown at him. He never complained or stopped; he just wanted more exploration.
While enrolled in the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Mentored Youth Hunter Program, Jayce soaked up everything he could to learn the right way to do things. Hunter safety was at the top of that priority list – everything from how to properly use a gun to what to look out for in the woods. I knew within the first few days that Jayce was going to become one heck of a hunter.
WHEN IT CAME time for Jayce to head out with his own tag, the first hunt was amazing! He drew a late-season Evans Creek youth deer tag, and we spent every day in the woods for that hunt. We saw well over 20 legal bucks before The One finally stepped out, an amazing blacktail.
Afterwards, the passion continued, and Jayce could not wait for the next season to start. He continued working on his blacktail hunting skills, stepping out with me every chance he could get. With his persistence, he was able to bag another one, and although it was his smallest, he still learned a great deal from the hunt.
With each hunt, his skills progressed, and he learned that sometimes you even catch a little luck while you are in the woods. Blacktail number three was a prime example. As Jayce and I were finishing a walk, he decided to hang back for a bit longer. It was an ordinary opening weekend and we were mostly just putting together ideas and a plan for the season.
Out of the blue, our dog Duke let out a loud sneeze and out jumped a scared spike elk, which ran off in a frenzy. Jayce continued his hunt and ran across a white spot near a tree. Lo and behold,
Jayce Wilder knows where Oregon’s “ghosts of the forest” – blacktails – live! He smiles over his 2024 buck, the latest of several he’s taken after putting his whole heart into figuring out the stealthy species. (JAYCE WILDER)
It all began for Wilder with this blacktail, taken in 2018 on a youth controlled tag for the Evans Creek Unit. He bagged it the season after going through the state’s Mentored Youth Hunter Program. (TROY WILDER)
as well as fishing career take off in these pages over the years, from stripers, Chinook and turkeys as a lad, to an archery elk in 2022.
he identified a mature blacktail in the distance. Taking his time, he raised his gun, centered on the target and took the shot. He knew right away he had connected but waited for the buck to pass before we tracked him back to his spot of rest. It was another great buck harvested by Jayce.
NOW JAYCE’S PASSION had hit a whole new level. His love had expanded into shed hunting and using e-scouting with his favorite app. He spent countless hours looking at land and scouting areas for sheds. He strategically placed cameras to scout bucks throughout the year, learning the land like it was his own backyard.
He would encounter his hardest hunt after his fourth mature blacktail. Here he went further than any time before, spending days in the woods trying to observe the animals and their patterns. When season finally arrived, Jayce went out and found a mature blacktail. He was able to get a shot at the massive buck, but quickly saw that he had missed. Immediately he called me and let me know what had happened. We analyzed the situation and I advised him to “go right back into the area tomorrow and see what happens.” Wouldn’t you know it but the next day he got another chance, and this time bagged a huge mature forkedhorn blacktail buck.
Jayce continued to learn and grow throughout his hunting experiences, and then last May, he left for the Air Force. Still, he always said he would do what he needed to make it back for hunting season. Fast forward to last fall, and he was able to coordinate leave and make it back home to Oregon for the last week of regular deer season.
Even so, Jayce had started planning his trip well in advance and when the day came to jump into the woods, he and his buddy Leland took off to find a 2024 blacktail. Around midday, they hiked into a rock bluff that Jayce knew hosted fine bucks. He watched a decent five-by-four, deciding to let it walk, and right then a large four-pointer stepped out 30 yards below him. Jayce took aim, let out his breath and snagged another
Proud dad Troy Wilder poses with his son and his big 2023 forky. “Jayce learned from a very early age that hunting is about much more than just taking an animal. It teaches patience, passion, observation and to always persevere, never giving up. Jayce has been successful in many other areas of his life based on these principles,” Troy writes.
amazing blacktail. He called me immediately and shared his joy.
JAYCE LEARNED FROM a very early age that hunting is about much more than just taking an animal. It teaches patience, passion, observation and to always persevere, never
giving up. Jayce has been successful in many other areas of his life based on these principles; however, hunting will always be his favorite. It’s not about the trophy, but about being able to provide food for family and friends over the years. I know with Jayce around, we’ll never go hungry. NS
Longtime readers have seen Wilder’s hunting
(JAYCE WILDER)
(TROY WILDER)
Logan Braaten’s 2024 deer hunt took him from the wide-open reaches of the northern Columbia Basin to snowy northern forests traveled by two- and fourlegged hunters alike before he put his tag on this really nice whitetail. He was hunting with his dad Eric. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)
Joe Morcombe smiles over a nice Okanogan County mule deer taken during the Evergreen State’s general rifle season. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)
Gary Lundquist made it 50 straight years in a row of tagging a Washington deer – half a century! – with this Chewuch buck, taken on a special permit. “Only took 23 points,” he joked. No small amount of his overall success has come on the old family homestead on blacktailrich Orcas Island, but Lundquist also knows his way around the muleyrich Methow Valley.
(KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)
What’s that they say about teams and dreams? After Chris Daniels (in orange vest) drew the coveted Chelan Butte bighorn tag with 27 points, he and his crew spent many “intense days of scouting” along the Upper Columbia unit for him to be in position on the midSeptember opener to connect on this near-full-curl, 8½-year-old ram. Then came the hard work of getting the animal off its rocky perch, an endeavor that took much of the day. “We didn’t need any special climbing gear, but had it not been for the agility and bravery of my son, I’m not sure what I would have done. Slow and steady saves the day,” says Daniels, here with son Brendon (middle left), buddy Dan McKimmey (far left) and bro Tom Daniels.
(KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)
Maralee Moore made it not just in our Real Women of Northwest Fishing issue back in December, but our 2024 Big Game Yearbook too – top that! She got her muley on a northern Douglas County antlerless permit. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)
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Korben Herman was first on the board this past season for his family, bagging this orchard-raiding black bear while hunting with his sister
and father Brad.
The Herman Family ChroniclesHunting
By Brad Herman
Between son Korben, daughter Danica and myself, fall 2024 was a great hunting season. We put lots of meat in the freezer and I created some great memories with my kids and father in-law. When I pull a package of meat out of the freezer and it is from one of the kid’s animals, I thank them for helping to feed the family. Here’s how it all went down.
KORBEN’S BEAR
My son Korben, 14, was lucky enough to be
invited to a friend’s house where he would be able to hunt bears. My friend has seen a lot of bears there, and they were damaging some of the fruit trees in the orchard.
We spent several days hunting and Korben had an opportunity at a bear but missed. We had only seen one bear and he was getting a little disappointed, but we kept after it knowing that he would get another opportunity.
My daughter Danica, 15, was also there trying to bag a bear, but she had not gotten an opportunity yet. I set her on one side of a hill and Korben on the other. Since we knew there were bears around,
they were a little nervous, so I was doing my best to walk between the two of them to make sure they felt safe.
I had been talking with Korben and was walking back to Danica when I heard a loud gunshot. Given the lay of the land and trees, it sounded like it had come from Danica, so I started moving quickly to get to her location when Korben yelled, “Dad!” I thought he was just going to ask if he should stay put or come with me.
Danica
(BRAD HERMAN)
Then there was another shot – holy cow, I realized, that was my son shooting! So I turned around and headed back to him as he shot again.
Korben was so excited. He was pumping his fist and happy with his success. His first shot, taken at 50 yards, broke the bear’s back, and the second and third were heart shots.
It was a big bear. We are guessing it weighed around 360 pounds. I’m so proud of this young man!
DANICA’S BUCK
Danica has been lucky enough in the past to draw a youth blacktail doe tag in a unit about 20 minutes from home. Last season was her final year of being eligible for a youth tag, so I was very happy that she had been selected again. It just so happens that the unit she drew the tag for is also open for any buck, so
she could shoot anything she saw.
We’d been to the area we chose to hunt a few times and hadn’t seen anything, so we decided we would go to a different spot and try our luck. Luck was not with us there: A sign next to the gate indicated that the area was now closed.
Darn, so now what? Danica made the decision to go back to the first area. We walked into a big clearing. As we stepped up to its edge, we heard some gunshots below us. Danica looked at me and said, “Great, now there aren’t going to be any deer around.” I told her to hang in there, as gunshots do not neccesarily mean no deer will be around.
We needed to cross a part of the clearing so we could sit down and watch over a draw, and as we were doing that, a couple of does jumped up and started moving up the hill away from us. I told
Danica, but since we were in the middle of the clearing, there was nowhere for her to rest her rifle for a good shot, forcing her to shoot offhand. I ranged the deer at 220 yards and she shot twice but appeared to have missed. Still, I told her that we needed to walk up to where they were and look for blood just in case she’d hit one.
We made it to the ridge the does were on but did not find any blood. Danica and I ended up being separated by about 50 yards and as I looked down the hill to see where she was, I saw a deer standing broadside below her. “Danica, there’s a deer,” I pointed out. She could not see it because there was a snag between her and it, so she moved to where she could, found an old stump to rest on and put her scope on the deer.
That’s when she realized it was a buck, so rather than taking the shot, she looked
Danica’s now a two-time entrant in our Big Game Yearbook, first in the 2021 edition with her first deer, a doe, and now in the 2024 issue with her first buck, this great three-pointer! (BRAD HERMAN)
up the hill at me and said, “Dad, it’s a buck.” “Just shoot it,” I replied, knowing that since she had a hair tag, it did not matter.
Danica hit the buck with a 170-yard shot. It hunched up and took a few steps, so she shot again and hit it again. The buck walked downhill away from her and either laid down or fell over.
I got down to her and told her I was not sure if it was dead or not and to keep her rifle ready to pull up and take a quick shot if needed. As we were making our way to the deer, she stopped and said, “Dad, I think that is it laying down there.” I pulled my binoculars up and sure enough, the deer was laying there looking directly at us. I told Danica to shoot it again. She found a stump, laid across it and shot, this time at 150 yards, but she missed, so she shot again, this time aiming right below its chin and got it.
When we got up to the deer it was a very nice three-pointer. It was Danica’s first buck, too, and had been a great hunt. I couldn’t be prouder of this young woman.
As we were dragging her buck out we ran into the people who had taken the shots below us when Danica’s hunt had just started. They had shot a spike, and so Danica got to drag her nice three-by-three by them and show it off. She held her head pretty high as they praised her for a job well done.
DAD’S DEER
In years past my father in-law Ken came up to go deer hunting with me, but last year my mother-in-law’s mom passed away, so things were not going to work in the same fashion as previous falls. However, my in-laws were still able to come up and watch my daughter in one of her volleyball games, so they opted to stay for a couple days. Although Ken was not going to be carrying a rifle this season, he still wanted the opportunity to go out with me and be an additional set of eyes.
We planned to walk into an area we had scouted earlier in the year and had seen several large bucks. I was set that this was the only place I was going to hunt because I knew what was around. I always
wait until I can see well enough to shoot rather than walk in in the dark and bump deer and not realize it. We had made it through the first big clearing, but I wanted to hunt the clearing in the back because that is where we have seen the deer and where I had gotten one the season before.
As we were getting to the beginning of the first clearing, we stopped to glass, and lo and behold there was a deer. I set up my tripod and pulled out the spotting scope. It was a buck. After closely looking him over I determined he was only a forked horn, so he was not legal. But then Ken said he thought it was bigger than that. It turned out he was looking at a different buck than I was – good thing I had that second set of eyes!
The buck Ken was looking at was legal,
so I set up on the tripod to take a shot and had Ken range the buck. It was at 400 yards, a long shot for someone who is shaking with a touch of buck fever, but I took the shot and hit it. After missing with two followups, we moved closer, to about 300 yards, and I shot and hit it.
As I was trying to get on the buck for another shot, it went out of sight. I was not sure if it had gone down or if it disappeared behind a hill. I walked up to where it was last seen and did not see it. Knowing it was likely down, I started a grid pattern and after about five minutes I found it. It was a really nice five-by-four. On the left side, a kicker point comes off the back of the eyeguard that is hard to see in the pictures. It may be the biggest blacktail I have shot to date. NS
While Brad’s nice blacktail buck just might be his biggest of the species to date, it was his kids’ harvests last season that made him the most proud. (BRAD HERMAN)
San Juan Islands blacktails were hit hard by an adenovirus outbreak several years ago now, but there are few still around. James Parker, 13, took his tall-tined spike with a meat-saving shot to the neck with his shotgun. It was his first deer. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)
November 2024 issue cover gal Emily Foytack (below left) was back at it last season! Home for the weekend from college, she downed this Southwest Washington four-pointer – five if you count those eyeguards. Not to be outdone, her brother Bryce (bottom right) got his first elk and their mom Jackie (right) got it done as well! (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)
Ashley Masters-Hall “outdid the boys” yet again with this pretty nice blacktail. She and her dad Skylar, whom you may recall as the Kalama cougar kitten rescuer (see The Big Pic, October 2023), hunted a mix of public and private land over six days, and while Skylar caught this buck on trail cams at 3 a.m. plenty of times, it was only the second time it showed itself in daylight. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)
Last fall was a “banner” big game season for Randy Hart Jr. and son Brennon. They filled their freezers with a six-byseven bull and a cow elk (bottom middle and left) from the Eatonville area near Mount Rainier, as well as a pair of Walla Walla-area mule deer bucks (top left and bottom right). Brennon also guided his brother-in-law Jon Wilkenson (below) into his second buck. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)
Chasing Elk: A Recap Of My 2024 North Idaho Hunt
BECOMING A HUNTER
By Dave Anderson
Moving to a new area you have never lived in or hunted presents unique challenges for any hunter. In 2021, my wife Kristina and I decided to move back to Idaho. For work, it made sense to settle in Coeur d’Alene. I had lived in Idaho years ago near Salmon, which is quite a bit different than CDA. While living in Salmon, I had the privilege of guiding hunts in the rugged and breathtaking Frank Church Wilderness. This was before wolves were introduced, and elk hunting was as good as I will likely see in my lifetime.
Things have changed in that region; it is not as productive as it once was. However, it is still worthwhile for those willing to put in the work. Ideally, I would have liked to move back to Salmon, but with my current
job, it just is not quite feasible.
A big part of our decision to relocate was to give our boys a better upbringing. Moving from Western Washington to Idaho was driven by our desire to raise our boys according to our beliefs and values while also including them in our passion for the outdoors. Another factor was the improved hunting opportunities that Idaho has to offer.
FINDING NEW TERRITORY
After moving to Coeur d’Alene, I knew I would not want to hunt close to town. I enjoy hunting in less crowded areas so that I don’t feel like I am intruding on other hunters. I started researching hunting areas that were hours away in different counties and units, looking for less pressured spots. Thanks to some waypoint swapping with friends in Washington who had hunted one of the areas I was researching, I had a starting point.
In 2022, we hunted with close friends and managed to tag a cow elk. We had other opportunities but unfortunately were not able to seal the deal that year. By 2023, we were able to harvest two cow elk as a group. We were successful by scouting for sign and thinking like elk. Asking ourselves, “If I were an elk, where would I be?” we began to narrow down promising areas.
THE CAMERA GAME
My work requires a lot of travel across North America, and when I am home, my priority is family. Unfortunately, that meant setting up
When the elk disappeared from an area they’d frequented before the start of Idaho’s 2024 season, author Dave Anderson had to push deeper into the backcountry to relocate them, a move that yielded this one-shot five-by-six bull. (DAVE ANDERSON)
game cameras has been on the backburner since moving here. Back in Washington, we used cameras exclusively on public lands without issues – aside from one camera that fell victim to timber harvesting. It did make for a funny video, but I lost a $150 setup when it was all said and done.
For 2024, Kristina encouraged me to get back out and set up the game cameras again. For some reason, I had been hesitant to do so, fearing that others might vandalize or steal them. However, keeping the cameras locked away in a safe at home does not do any good; they need to be out
in the woods to be effective.
So on September 21, we packed up and headed to the mountains with my tote of game cameras. We placed them in an area I wanted to explore further. Since it’s a few hours from our home, I could not check the cameras as often as I would have liked, but setting them up also became an opportunity to teach my boys about wildlife and tracking. I turned it into a game, asking for their help in looking for clues about the types of animals in the area and their travel patterns. Watching their excitement and eagerness to learn
was a highlight of the trip. My boys are like sponges and it is so rewarding to teach them things at such a young age, hoping they will remember and apply this knowledge as they grow.
In hindsight, I should have listened to my wife and started placing cameras earlier in the season – back in May or June. But despite the late start, we were still able to gather some valuable information. One of the areas I was looking at showed signs of spikes, cows and branch-antlered bulls and even a dandy bull moose. That was enough intel to give me a clear starting point.
THE HUNT BEGINS
Shortly before my hunt, we unfortunately learned that we would not have family available to watch our boys, which meant Kristina could not join me on our elk hunt. While I thoroughly enjoy hunting solo and being out in the woods by myself, I also cherish the moments spent with my wife, as hunting is something we both love to do together. I was bummed she would be unable to come with me, but I also had friends from Washington who were joining me for the week. I was happy to have the camaraderie and also eager to explore the area I had in mind.
On day one, I checked the cameras and discovered that the location where I had placed them had turned into a ghost town on opening day. Elk had been present almost every day leading up to the season, but vanished afterwards.
Still, given the high number of elk in the area, I could not believe they had all been spooked away, nor did I think that was the case. So I decided to remove the camera I had set up near a watering hole and stow it away in my pack, then go search for fresh signs of elk activity.
Within a couple of miles, I found a marshy area with water and green grass – a haven for elk. The fresh droppings were still steaming, and the air was thick with elk scent. I knew I had found my spot for the next day, the opening of a three-day cow elk season.
SHOOTING STAR
On day two, my friends and I arrived early at the area where we had dropped off their side-by-side and my four-wheeler. As I exited the truck, I spotted a bright
Anderson’s helpers – wife Kristina and sons Ryland and Barrett – on the trail in Idaho’s backcountry where he would hunt for elk later that fall. The excursion to set up trail cameras doubled as an opportunity to teach the boys all about wildlife. (DAVE ANDERSON)
shooting star, and I can give you one guess as to what my wish was.
That morning, I made a huge mistake – a mistake that I have made before: I did not wear a headlamp while unloading our machines in the dark. I ended up tripping over the trailer and landed hard on my knees and elbows. I was lucky not to break any bones, but the impact left me with scrapedup skin on both my knees and elbows. It hurt like hell, and I felt pretty foolish. Even though I was bruised and bleeding, I was thankful I had not been carrying my rifle.
After gathering all my stuff, I made my way up the mountain to the area I planned to hunt for the day. As I walked in, I reverted to my old hunting habits of taking a step, glassing the surroundings and checking the wind more carefully than I had in recent years. I cautiously approached the area where I’d found fresh sign the previous day.
Once I reached the bottom of the marshy area, I realized I could not approach from the direction I came in; I needed to walk a mile or two past the area and circle back from behind. If I had walked
straight in, my scent would have spooked everything in the timber above.
After navigating my way around, I glassed the area to ensure there was nothing below me. I found a game trail and entered the tall, dark timber of the national forest. I was prepared to spend the entire day taking a step and glassing, but I had not made it far into the timber – just onto a small spine ridge – when I saw an elk stand up from its bed. Since I could take either a cow or a bull that day, I was ready for anything.
To my surprise, as I raised my Bergara MgLite rifle chambered in 7PRC and looked through the Leupold VX5 scope, I realized I was staring at a decent North Idaho bull less than 50 yards away. I squeezed the trigger and dropped it with a single shot. This was also the first bull I had shot while using a suppressor, and I was amazed at how quiet it was – my ears were not ringing at all.
Being alone, I pulled out my Garmin inReach to text my wife and some friends. “Bull down!” I messaged Kristina and, as always, she replied, “Seriously?” It was a bittersweet moment: I was grateful to have
harvested this bull that would feed my family and friends, yet I wished Kristina had been by my side to share in the experience.
After giving thanks to the animal, I quickly got to work, breaking down the bull into quarters and packing it up. I managed to send an inReach message to my friends to let them know I had a bull down. Within a couple of hours, we were able to haul everything off the mountain and back to a local cooler to hang for the rest of the week.
REFLECTIONS
Reflecting on this hunt, I realized that by returning to my roots and embracing the strategies that have brought me success in the past was key. This hunt reminded me of the importance of preparation and going back to the basics. Spending time scouting in the offseason, checking my wind more frequently and implementing the step-and-glass approach truly contributed to my success.
And who knows, maybe that shooting star played a small role in the outcome of the hunt as well. NS
“Spending time scouting in the offseason, checking my wind more frequently, and implementing the step-and-glass approach truly contributed to my success,” states Anderson. (DAVE ANDERSON)
“Been a good year,” says Chad White, and we ain’t gonna argue about that! He followed up his successful mid-September archery elk hunt –taking this bull with a 30-yard shot after using cow calls to bring it in – with a solid mid-November blacktail buck. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)
The Ramseys tagged out in 2024, Wade (below) on the last day of season in Washington’s Grayback Unit with a 257-yard shot, and Buzz (right) in a Western Oregon burn area in early November. (WADE RAMSEY; BUZZ RAMSEY)
We’ll call Chad Smith’s black bear season a draw – he saw several bruins in Washington’s high country but wasn’t able to make it happen – but he was able to notch his deer tag on this blacktail during a solo October hunt. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)
Author Randy King (top middle), his sons Cameron (with brother Noah) and Jordan (bottom middle) and buddy Mac (bottom left) all successfully tagged out on deer in Southwest Idaho last season. (RANDY KING)
’Twas A Good Season
CHEF IN THE WILD
By Randy King
Ihad my hands on four different deer this past hunting season and I am blessed for it. Indeed, I count my blessings that I could harvest a deer and be with three others while they did the same.
As we put a bow on 2024’s Northwest big game seasons this issue, I look back at my highlight reel and see that hunting is more than about meat – it is about connections.
MY BUCK
My little buck is a story of context. My son had missed a cow elk the day before, leaving his confidence shaken. So when the time came, he asked me to pull the trigger on the little buck we had snuck up on. Soon enough we had meat down.
But only after I missed my first shot.
While I didn’t love missing, in retrospect I did love showing my son that
missing a shot happens and that we are all vulnerable to buck fever.
For the most part, I am not a picky hunter; taking the first legal animal is my primary goal.
MAC’S BUCK
Twelve miles, 5,000 feet of elevation gain and 30 does later we spotted my buddy Mac’s deer. Then the work began. It was a slow and methodical hunt, one where I had to take the back seat to another hunter’s decisions. I was a packer and spotter that day, not the expert (or Dad, for that matter).
MAKE MORE OUT OF MAC AND CHEESE
Mac and cheese screams Americana. I think soul food, Kraft and high-end restaurants doing low-end food (with their noses up in the air). That said, most things food have a history of being around well before the good ol’ USA was an inkling in the founders’ eyes.
Mac and cheese is a good case in point. The first known recipe comes from 160 BC in Cato the Elder’s De Agri Cultura, in which he describes a layered dish called “placenta” made with cheese and dough sheets. Naming conventions were a little weird back then.
The dish persisted through the Middle Ages, appearing in 13th-century Italian cookbooks as “lasanis” and “lasagne.” By
1390, a recipe for “makerouns” reached England, as documented in The Forme of Cury, a royal cookbook. Throughout medieval Europe, the dish evolved as aristocratic families swapped kitchen staff. This has a long tradition – kitchen staff would often be shipped between locations to offer up a variety of dishes for the royal families. And, often, they would know royal secrets and get sent somewhere distant as a result. Inadvertently, this caused recipes and traditions to move all around the world!
FOR A LONG time it was thought that Thomas Jefferson and his enslaved chef James Hemings introduced macaroni and cheese to America. While Hemings
did study culinary arts in Paris and likely prepared the dish for Jefferson, pasta dishes were already known in Colonial America. Several British cookbooks containing pasta recipes, including Hannah Glasse’s work, were present in the libraries of founding fathers like Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. While Jefferson didn’t introduce it, he did popularize it.
By the early 1800s, “macaroni” specifically meant dried tubular pasta. Black women, particularly enslaved cooks in Southern kitchens, became the true custodians of the macaroni and cheese tradition in America. They perfected recipes and passed their expertise down through generations, establishing the dish’s place in soul food cuisine.
The cultural dissemination of macaroni and cheese occurred during the Industrial Revolution in the US. As pasta production became mechanized and more affordable, social reformers promoted it as nutritious, economical food for the working class. Fill the poor with cheap carbohydrates!
A breakthrough came in 1898 when the US Department of Agriculture successfully cultivated durum wheat domestically, improving American pasta quality. Durum flour is preferred for pasta due to its protein and starches. Basically, the pasta stays al dente longer.
As a cheap and filling dish, mac and cheese became hugely popular during World War I and the Great Depression. In 1937 Kraft introduced the Kraft Dinner to the public and it blew up in popularity.
Culturally, mac and cheese is an interesting dish. It is both fancy and blue collar. A quick meal in a box, and something that can be accompanied by lobster – comfort and fancy all at once. It has even spawned dehydrated food options. Mountain House's Creamy Macaroni and Cheese and Chili Mac come to mind. I do not eat the latter for reasons that cannot be discussed in a food article. My kids, however, have informed me several times that Chili Mac “tastes better than it should.” I believe them. After all, mac and cheese and chili are both delicious.
Below is a version of it you can try that does two things:
1) Scratches the mac and cheese itch while being a little more upscale than a
Taco mac – ground venison with macaroni and cheese topped with jalapeños, red peppers and tortilla strips. (RANDY KING)
www.dreamcatcherbeef.com
Mac shot well and we came off the mountain the same way we’d gone in – in the dark and laughing. It was a great day.
CAMERON’S BUCK
Having two-thirds of my boys on a hunt while suffering a slight hangover was great. We had had a wonderful evening at my aunt’s house, telling lies and drinking whiskey. Then for Cameron to find a little whitetail buck and all three of us to pack him out was a nightcap on the joy that is hunting with your children.
JORDAN’S DOE
Three generations of King boys wandering the sage and glassing up deer – a practically perfect day, no matter the outcome. The fact that we could sneak up on a mule deer herd like they were antelope, get young Jordan in position to harvest a perfect doe and be back for an afternoon nap? Man, we are blessed. NS
box of Kraft;
2) And is another use for that ground venison in the freezer that is not for spaghetti or tacos but a fill-in for either on a Tuesday night dinner.
TACO MAC
1 pound ground venison
3 cups shell-shaped pasta (aka conchiglie, if you’re trying to impress someone)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
1 can (12 ounces) corn, drained
1 can (10 ounces) Rotel Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies
½ cup sour cream
2 tablespoons taco seasoning
1⁄8 cup butter
1⁄8 cup flour
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste
TOPPINGS
2 jalapeños, sliced into rings (remove seeds if you prefer less heat)
1 red pepper, sliced into strips
6 corn tortillas, sliced into strips
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, and get your pasta water boiling while you’re at it.
Brown the venison in a large pan. Remove and set aside. In the same pan, make your roux (fancy speak for mixing melted butter and flour). Cook for a minute, then slowly whisk in the milk. Keep stirring until it’s thick.
Time to get cheesy! Add both kinds of cheese, as well as the sour cream, corn and Rotel to your sauce. Stir until it’s all melty. Add the meat back in, along with the taco seasoning.
Meanwhile, cook your pasta for about 75 percent of the suggested time stated on the box. Drain it when it’s still got some bite. (The pasta will finish cooking in the oven surrounded by cheese – just the way I would want to go …).
Mix your cheese/meat sauce with the pasta and pour it into a baking dish.
Top with the jalapeños, red peppers and tortilla strips. Bake for 25 minutes or until the top is crispy.
Enjoy. Serves three to four (or one to two if you’re having a bad day). –RK
CONNECTICUT
Connor’s and O’Brien Marina Pawcatuck, CT connorsandobrien.com
Defender Industries Inc. Waterford, CT defender.com
O’Hara’s Landing Salisbury, CT oharaslanding.com
MASSACHUSETTS
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Captain Bub’s Marine Inc. Lakeville, MA captainbubsmarine.com
Doug Russell Marine Worcester, MA WorcesterBoating.com
Essex Marina LLC. Essex, MA essexmarinallc.com
McLellan Brothers Inc. Everett, MA mclellanbrosinc.com
Action Marine & Watersports Inc. Holyoke, MA actionmarineholyoke.com
Bill’s Outboard Motor Service Hingham, MA billsoutboard.com
Merrimac Marine Supply Methuen, MA merrimacmarine.com
Nauset Marine-Orleans Orleans, MA nausetmarine.com
Obsession Boats East Falmouth, MA capecodboatcenter.com
Portside Marine Danvers, MA portsidemarine.us
Riverfront Marine Sports Inc. Salisbury, MA riverfrontmarine.com
South Attleboro Marine North Attleboro, MA www.sammarine.com
Wareham Boat Yard W. Wareham, MA wareham-boatyard-marina.com
Billington Cove Marina Inc. Wakefield, RI bcoveyc.com
Jamestown Distributors Bristol, RI jamestowndistributors.com
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DESTINATION BIG SKY MONTANA
BLACK OTTER GUIDE SERVICE
Dive into the heart of Montana’s wilderness with Black Otter Guide Service, where generations of expertise meet unparalleled adventure. Whether you’re seeking the serenity of horseback pack trips in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, the thrill of guided fishing on the Yellowstone River, or the challenge of hunting in Montana’s prime backcountry, Black Otter offers unforgettable experiences tailored to you.
COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)
Large Rewards, No Takers
Federal and state managers have been throwing around massive cash rewards for information on the poaching of nearly a dozen wolves in the Northwest over recent months, an all but futile gesture but one guaranteed to keep the illegal killings of the hot-button species in the news.
In a January press release, Oregon wildlife officials offered a combined $131,400 for tips on the deaths of eight wolves across that state over the past year. Meanwhile, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service anted up $30,000 for three separate Central Washington cases over the past six months, including two wolves killed in Klickitat County. USFWS also played the sympathy/anger card, releasing more details on the death of one of those animals near Goldendale in early fall, reporting it “died from a gunshot wound that led to its starvation over the course of days or possibly weeks after it dragged itself to a water source without the use of its back legs.”
THE REWARDS – SOME large enough to alter lives – are meant to tempt those in the
know to talk and are advertised as payable once a tip results in an arrest, conviction or restitution penalty. But despite plenty of offers as wolf numbers and poaching incidents have mounted in the region, actual payouts have been nonexistent.
“There has not been a cash award [given] specifically for a wolf-related poaching case,” Captain Kyle Kennedy, the Oregon State Police’s communications manager, told The Oregonian for a January article. “Although we have received tips related to cases, those tips have not led to the successful conviction or identification of a suspect.”
About 50 wolves have been poached in Oregon since the early 2000s, reported the newspaper.
It’s the same in the Evergreen State.
“Staff can’t remember any cases where a reward has been paid out in a case of an illegal wolf-killing case in Washington in recent history,” says Staci Lehman, a state Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesman. “We do know, though, that rewards help increase public awareness of poaching cases and bring attention to
JACKASS OF THE MONTH
What the hell is the deal with mass wastage of waterfowl?
The past few years it’s been piles of mallards and other ducks dumped in ditches with no meat taken off them. This past season it was the presumed sluicing of 20 coots and a loon found dead on Wanapum
Reservoir between Wenatchee and Vantage.
Necropsies showed the birds, which were found below Quilomene Bay and near Scammon Landing opposite Sunland Estates, had been hit with small shotgun pellets. The stupidity is believed to have happened Friday, November 22 or early Saturday, November 23.
Loons are a protected species and there are only a couple dozen known breeding pairs in Eastern Washington. Coots have a
By Andy Walgamott
the harm that illegal killing of wildlife can cause by reducing biodiversity, which in turn can result in it taking longer to consider a species recovered and downlist it from endangered.”
Given the environmental and animal rights organizations that typically offer rewards and the role some have also played in throwing monkey wrench after monkey wrench in states being able to manage the predators’ return, it’s not hard to see why some folks may not be willing to rat on friends, neighbors or others to the groups.
Amaroq Weiss of Arizona’s Center for Biological Diversity acknowledged to The Oregonian last month that their rewards across the decades have resulted in just three prosecutions across the entire country. She argued that the offers are more about “saying that a wolf’s life has value,” attempting to head off future kills and raising public awareness on the poaching.
WHILE MONETARY REWARDS at worst appear to be essentially toothless and at best are sure to lead to free advertising across media, for the record, Oregon also offers a standing reward of five preference points for the controlled tag draw for info on wolf cases. Five is as many points as the state offers for bighorn, mountain goat and moose poaching tips, and one more than for deer or elk. Washington offers up to 10 deer or elk special permit points for info on wolf cases.
As this page has made clear over more than a decade and a half, I’m not a big fan of poaching, including the illegal killing of wolves, or wastage. But it’s clear cash ain’t working to stem the tide.
daily bag limit of 25, and while you might only ever shoot and eat one, wasting 20 of the game birds is dumb and illegal.
The case had the venerable Wenatchee Sportsmen’s Association offering $500 for info, and state rewards or bonus points are also available. Tipsters should call (360) 902-2936 and use option 1, report at wdfw .wa.gov or text WDFWTIP to 847411. Here’s hoping the public is more talkative than with wolf poaching.
Despite a nearly $54,000 reward, no arrests or convictions were ever made in the early 2022 poisoning of six Northeast Washington wolves before the statute of limitations for the case ran out last year. (STEVENS
CALENDAR OUTDOOR
FEBRUARY
1 Statewide veterans and active military waterfowl hunting day in OR and WA; Statewide youth waterfowl hunting day in WA; Late white and white-fronted goose opener in OR Mid-Columbia Zone; Catch-and-release fishing for wild steelhead opens on portions of WA’s Skagit and Sauk Rivers
5 First of seven tentative February smelt openers on WA’s Cowlitz River (others: February 8, 12, 15, 19, 22 and 26) – info: wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regulations/smelt
8 Late goose opener in OR Northwest Permit Zone (open daily); Late goose opener in WA Goose Management Area 2 Coast and Inland Units (select dates; state wildlife areas and federal refuges closed)
8-14 Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select WA Coast beaches, dependent on marine toxin levels – info: wdfw.wa.gov
8-18 Late white goose season dates in WA GMA 1 (open daily)
10 Spring black bear permit application deadline in OR
15 Spring black bear permit application deadline in ID; Late white goose opener in WA GMA 4; Brant, sea duck and Harlequin duck mandatory harvest reporting deadline in WA; Last day of steelhead season in select Puget Sound terminal areas
15-16 Free Fishing Weekend in OR
16 Last day of Wilson’s snipe season in OR Zone 1
19 Last day of late goose season in WA GMA 2 Coast Unit
20 ODFW Introduction to Hunting in Oregon Workshop ($, register), Tualatin Cabela’s – info: myodfw.com/workshops-and-events; Date OR spring black bear permit draw results expected to be available by
22 Late goose opener in OR South Coast Zone
24-March 1 Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select WA Coast beaches, dependent on marine toxin levels – info above
28 Last day of bobcat and fox seasons in OR; Last day of beardless wild turkey permit season in OR (select units and private lands)
MARCH
1 Metolius Arm of Lake Billy Chinook opens for fishing; Fishing opens on numerous Eastern WA lakes; First of seven tentative March smelt openers on WA’s Cowlitz River (others: March 5, 8, 12, 15, 19 and 22) – info above
5 Last day of late goose season in WA GMA 2 Inland Unit
8 Bottomfish, lingcod, rockfish and cabezon openers on WA Marine Areas 1-3 and Area 4 west of Bonilla-Tatoosh line
8 Lingcod opener in Area 4 east of Bonilla-Tatoosh line
10 Last day of goose seasons in OR Northwest Permit and South Coast Zones and white and white-fronted goose season in OR High Desert and Blue Mountains Zone
15 Last day of bobcat, fox, raccoon, rabbit and hare seasons in WA; Leftover OR spring black bear tags go on sale at 10 a.m.
16 Blackmouth opener on Areas 10 and 11
19 ODFW Introduction to Hunting in Oregon Workshop ($, register), Tualatin Cabela’s – info above
20 Mandatory hunter harvest report deadline for WA GMA 1 snow geese and GMA 2 Canada geese
31 Last day WA 2024-25 fishing and hunting licenses valid; Last scheduled day of winter steelhead season on WA Coast; Last day of cougar season in WA – quota info: wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/regulations/big-game/cougar; Last day to buy WA multi-season permit application – info: mywdfw.org/multi-season-special-hunt
APRIL
1 New fishing and hunting licenses required in WA; Opening day of spring black bear hunts in select ID and all controlled OR units
1-7 Youth turkey hunting week in WA
8-14 Youth turkey hunting week in ID
11-13 48th Annual Oregon Knife Show, Lane Events Center, Eugene – info: oregonknifecollectors.com
2025 BOAT AND SPORTSMEN’S SHOW
CALENDAR
Acres and acres of antlers, boats, fishing and hunting gear, and more are on display at this month’s outdoor shows. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)
FEBRUARY
Jan. 29-Feb. 2 Vancouver International Boat Show, BC Place and Granville Island, Vancouver, British Columbia; vancouverboatshow.ca
Jan. 29-Feb. 2 Washington Sportsmen’s Show, Washington State Fair Events Center, Puyallup; otshows.com
This well-lit hole near Tri-Cities’ Cable Bridge is occasionally good for a big walleye and is safer than many of the dark, remote stretches nighttime walleye anglers frequent on the Mid-Columbia in winter. But even in the glow of town, as everywhere on the big river at night, safety is a huge concern. Guide TJ Hester warns anglers to assume that boats cannot see them and to play defense to avoid collisions. He also reminds anglers that cold weather angling means lots of tops on sleds and windshield boats that make safe steering more difficult. Keep your eyes and ears open at all times when taking part in this unique fishery. (HESTERSSPORTFISHING.COM)
Night Fishing For Trophy Walleye
A Q&A on trolling plugs and jigging the Mid-Columbia in the dead of winter for the biggest fish of the year.
Story and captions by Jeff Holmes
Kennewick’s TJ Hester is one of many guides in the Tri-Cities area who fishes walleye, and that number of guides has grown quickly over the last decade as steelhead opportunities crashed and news spread that the world’s biggest walleye are caught in the winter on the Columbia River in and around Tri-Cities.
Some of those 15- to 20-pound female walleye have been caught during the day, but many more are caught at night. Hester’s lucrative
guiding business now targets fishing big plugs for egg-filled female walleye staging for the spring spawn. The socalled “big girls” hunt prey in an effort to get fatter yet on the big baitfish of winter under cover of darkness.
Hester has gotten really good at this night fishery over the last decadeplus, and he is without a doubt one of the most accommodating, kindest and funniest guides you can spend a winter night with prospecting for Columbia River gold. Our conversation about the fishery and his approach to it follows.
Jeff Holmes Why would anyone choose to drag around lures in the darkness in the wintertime on a giant, dangerous river?
TJ Hester It’s a two-parter for me. The main reason is to catch a giant walleye, obviously, when the females stage for the spawn and have a couple pounds of eggs in their bellies, making them the heaviest they’ll be all year. My clients (and I) want to increase the odds of catching a big one, maybe even a record, and trolling plugs in the dead of winter sure seems to be the most popular and effective way to
FISHING
do it in most cases.
The second reason why I think it’s gotten so popular is there’s not a whole lot else going on this time of year … and it’s really fun. There are more wintertime steelhead opportunities in the Tri-Cities area this winter after a decade of very limited opportunity, and that decade of low steelhead numbers has contributed to a lot more interest and investment in wintertime night fishing for walleye by the angling community.
News has also spread beyond the Northwest that pretty much all of the biggest walleye caught in the last 30 years have been caught in and around Tri-Cities, so along with lots of regional interest, my boat is often full of Midwesterners looking for their unicorn fish.
JH Can you generalize how the fishing, or rather the fishery, has been over the last few years and what changes
you’ve seen? How is it looking so far this winter?
TJH In my opinion, the fishing has been steadily great, but it’s been different in the last few years.
Back when we first started doing it, we caught a lot fewer fish, but generally we caught bigger fish as opposed to now where it feels like the opposite. With fewer fish to compete with, the few fish we had got bigger and fatter. Something has happened to make our hatches much more successful, so we catch a lot more fish, but it’s harder and harder to find the big ones every year. We still find a lot of 10-plus-pound fish all the time, but the 16-pluses are getting rarer.
Record-challenging fish are still caught every year, however, and in the last two winter walleye seasons the fleet caught and mostly released a lot of 9- to 13-pound walleye, and those big fish have grown and are showing in the catch this winter.
JH Tell me about what a night on the water usually looks like and how your program has changed over the years.
TJH This time of year it’s a marathon, not a sprint, so we aren’t getting there right at first crack and staying all night. Instead, we just pick the window that’s best for the weather, and that’s when we go, whether that is starting at 6 p.m. or starting at midnight. It really depends, but ideally we start around 6 to 8 p.m. and then fish until the bite dies down. There’s usually a couple bite windows and once the first one dies, we will try to stick it out to see if the second one kicks in before we feel like giving up. If they start chomping again, sweet, then we will stay. If not, we’ll just move on to the next night. A lot of my wintertime clients book successive nights to put in some serious time hunting a trophy.
The program has been surprisingly consistent in the last few years. In the
February and March are prime time for catching egg-laden female walleye like this one before these big girls start to spawn when their favored backwaters reach desired temps above 40 degrees. (HESTERSSPORTFISHING.COM)
FISHING
Winter 2024-25 has been mostly tame so far, but conditions can be brutal on the water. Most anglers stay home, but invariably some walleye nutcases will plow/shovel/de-ice launches and fish in all but the worst conditions, with big wind and fog being the only limiting factors for the crazies. I have in the past been one of these crazies, but a near-death adventure in freezing fog and 17-degree weather cured me of my mania. It’s much more advisable to fish with a guide in a giant boat during the worst weather. I have been out with Hester for walleye in near blizzard conditions, sudden winds that had us surfing 5-footers back to the dock, and extremely cold temperatures. Dressing for the cold in waterproof gear is essential. Also consider bringing a corncob pipe, a button nose and two pieces of coal for snowman-worthy moments like this. (HESTERSSPORTFISHING.COM)
beginning of my walleye guiding in the early 2010s, as you remember, Jeff, we would fish from sunup to sundown during the day, and then at times we would fish at night as needed. I’ve felt like we’ve been more successful targeting midday fish and night fish, so early launching is not needed unless clients have time restrictions and specifically ask to go early. I feel like the fish this time of year, especially the bigger females, they just are where they are, and you don’t need to get out there super early to find them. So I have waypoints that we will go and check midday, and if they’re not there, they’re not there. There’s just not a need to get there at sunup or sundown.
The other thing that’s changed the most is that I have gotten away from worm harnesses and vertical jigging and moved to casting jigs and trolling plugs more than anything. To elaborate more but without giving away waypoints, we’re not focusing on stretches of river anymore so much as we’re focusing on isolated, small pockets, sometimes only 20 yards long. Years of marking
waypoints where we’ve caught female walleye have shown a valuable pattern. When you catch females, mark the spot and come back!
JH How big are the biggest fish your
The McNary Pool, officially known as Lake Wallula, is the reservoir above McNary Dam and below the Hanford Reach. Historically, walleye abundance has been low here, with the fishery mostly being seeded by larval walleye washing into the reservoir from upstream. In recent years, however, more successful spawning has led to a much more abundant population of walleye, meaning more eaters and more action but fewer of the truly giant females that used to face little competition at the reservoir’s buffet of abundant and diverse baitfish. There’s still plenty of big walleye and potential for another state or even world record, but the fishery has changed. (HESTERSSPORTFISHING.COM)
what it once was and there’s only a couple people who know about it, but here we are.
Jeff, I’ve known you for a long time and you know that I would have never wanted to talk about something like this if I didn’t feel it was already grenade [blown up], but I think we’re at that point where it’s more about the education of the whole thing as opposed to trying to keep it to a couple groups of people. That wasn’t the question, I know.
JH I’ve caught a giant smallmouth and a steelhead-sized pikeminnow fishing late at night/early morning with Bandits in the dark. You have a lot more hours in than me. What does your bycatch look like?
TJH We have caught a couple really large smallmouth, but they only really seem to come after I tell people we don’t catch really big smallmouth. Then we hook one, and I get all excited and I think it’s going to be an 18-pound walleye, and then I look like an idiot, which is par for the course. That’s really the majority of the bycatch. Every now and then we snag a carp and, again, we think it’s a state record, and I get all excited and ready to call Pepsi-Cola to tell them
boat has landed night fishing? TJH
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FISHING
we caught a record walleye on a cutplug Diet Pepsi can. Then we net a 20-pound goldfish, and the dream gets extinguished. I’ve heard rumors of the occasional springer being caught and released, but those are very, very few and far between.
JH Are there any intangibles that attract you to night fishing for walleye other than that it’s easy for you to fill seats?
TJH Yes, absolutely. It’s actually becoming my favorite fishery and I think it probably has been for the last few years. Reason being, salmon seasons have a way of just sucking the life out of you because you’re so stressed out and underslept and sunblasted for a couple months. That life was a lot easier before I had kids and a wife, and things get 10 times harder when you don’t just have to focus on keeping your boat semi-clean and putting tuna in Super Baits.
So salmon season, especially fall, is just chaos for a couple months, whereas this night fishery I can start my group, if I need to, an hour later and help the wife with the kids for a little bit and put them to sleep before
I go out, which I know sounds stupid, but it’s a lot nicer coming home to a happy homestead than you being stressed out all day about a fish that swam 300 miles and refuses to bite because you have bean burrito on your fingers versus fishing the number one trophy walleye fishery in the world, undisputed.
Don’t come at me, Lake Erie.
My whole family looks forward to this time of year just because it seems like I’m home all the time as opposed to being gone all the time, and it’s such a fun style of fishing. There’s only a handful of fisheries in the world, let alone the Columbia, where you can go out every day and have a chance at catching a state or even a world record. I truly feel to the core every time we go out there that we have a chance … to the point where I even have a game plan if that special fish comes to the net. It’s completely delusional, but there is a plan.
JH What does your client list look like and why?
TJH Almost all my guys this time of year are from the Midwest. I got pretty fortunate, and the first couple
guys I fished out here were great dudes and they did very well. Then it was the ultimate word-of-mouth experience because one guy told one guy who told the one guy, and I can track all of it back to one group of three guys from North Dakota who are still friends to this day. They’re all from the Midwest because everyone’s trying to chase that Columbia River dream.
It has been installed in everyone’s heads that there is a teener living behind every rock, so I work really hard to give these guys the best chance at hooking something big (other than a carp) that is truly exceptional compared to the big fish in most of their fisheries. I think people from the Midwest look at Columbia walleye like people in the Lower 48 look at Alaska in the sense that they say that every river up there has 50-pound salmon, or at least an abundance of them, and every mountain has a gaggle of moose running around.
Meanwhile, the reality is that you have to work really hard to find a big walleye on the Columbia and get lucky to catch a 50-pound salmon or shoot a 60-inch bull in Alaska. It takes a lot each trip to debrainwash people to understand that they have a solid chance to catch a monster out here, but it’s not going to be given to you.
form. (HESTERSSPORTFISHING.COM)
JH The Columbia River in and around Tri-Cities is an extremely challenging, dangerous waterway, especially in winter … in the dark. Rapidly changing depths, sudden high winds, fog and freezing fog, extreme cold at times, underwater obstructions galore, changing reservoir levels, lowwater winter conditions, barges, other boaters and lots of opportunities for human error present serious safety issues. So, TJ, three safety questions: 1) What dangers am I missing in this list? 2) What are your top safety recommendations for private boaters? And 3) Along with increased safety on a guided trip and learning the river to increase safety for future private boating trips that follow a guided trip,
Netting fish in the dark is always fun, and since walleye are not always known as great fighters, sometimes some very large specimens will show up and surprise the netter once in the glow of headlamps. It’s like opening a present when a big fish comes into view, and while most will turn out to be walleye, very occasionally a large smallmouth, carp, pikeminnow or even adult salmonid will appear instead. This time of year, everyone wishes dearly for a walleye big enough to make a quick trip back to the dock in search of a certified scale and a state record fish application
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FISHING
what are other advantages to booking first with a guide?
TJH You pretty much hit the nail on the head with the obstacles, but the one I would add is just because you think everyone can see you, they may not. With a lot of sleds having tops and full canopies, such as mine, there can be an illusion of an unobstructed view, and something can slip past, especially when there are other conditions such as fog or snow. So I’m always on high alert and making sure my lights are working because cold weather can do a lot of things to electronics. Always assume boaters don’t see you. I have countless stories of people running right through my spread.
Top safety recommendations, off the top of my head, would be to make sure your motors are in working condition, make sure your batteries are solid, make sure frequently that your navigation lights are working, make sure you have super-warm clothes and always have a plan for something unexpected happening. It’s a luxury as a guide to know a lot of people with boats, but if you don’t know a lot of people with boats,
find someone and let them know if you’re going to go out there and have a plan if something happens with your electronics, with bad weather, or if you get stranded. Have a plan to get pulled out!
So, yes, safety is a huge reason to go with a guide, and guided trips really get broken down into a couple categories for me. It’s people who just want to have fun and do it with a guide’s safety and expertise, or it’s people who want to cut down the learning curve. There’s not a whole lot of in between. If you want to go out there and just have a blast and turn off your brain and just relax and reel in fish, great, I’m the guy for you. If you want to go out there and learn and cut your learning curve down to virtually nothing, I’m also your guy, but I think it’s important to state that from the beginning. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had guys who come in from wherever and I’m telling them intricacies of walleye fishing the Columbia River and they could not care less.
JH Most guys fish Bandit plugs at
night, and many during the day, too, especially when targeting big fish in winter. I’ve fished in your boat during the day and night to good effect trolling Bandits. However, I know you are one of the few guides who has clients fish other techniques at night. I know your fishing has evolved over the last decade. What are your thoughts for beginner and intermediate anglers about varying techniques or just sticking with one?
TJH If you asked me this question 10 years ago, I would have told you there is one dominant technique, and the rest of it is wasting your time, whatever that is, but I’d have been wrong. I think over time I’ve realized that all techniques are productive given the conditions, so long as you stick with them and learn to fish different techniques in different conditions effectively.
Some guys fish worm harnesses, period, and they fish only in daylight. Some guys just plug; some only fish at night and only plug. Some guys blade bait and jig exclusively, mostly by light of day and some at night. Some employ different techniques at different times of year and in different water conditions.
Resilient, reliably effective walleye angling is about diagnosing the conditions and adapting, as opposed to dying on a hill with what technique you want to use, in my opinion. Yeah, I use some other nighttime techniques after many years and hundreds of nighttime trips, but I’d recommend sticking to trolling plugs at night as you learn the fishery. I do vary techniques, but I have the advantage of getting to be on the water more than most.
That said, I recognize that with a lot of these techniques I’m not in the top 1 percent, such as guys like Jordan Reeder, Kimo Gabriel, Jeremy Siefken, Marco Valdez, Bobby Crow and other diehard walleye guys who fish tournaments, and the list of guys who are better than me can go on and on. I cannot compete with those guys worming, throwing jigs, vertical jigging, nothing, but I do get better every year.
There can be some slow spells while night fishing in the winter, but the action can also be hot and heavy. Hester’s clients picked up this triple trolling Bandits. I have also seen this type of feast-or-famine bite while in my boat and the boats of others. Sometimes it’s about hitting the right bite window, and sometimes fish stack up in specific areas like cordwood. When you hit a bite window and stacked-up fish, multi-fish hookups tend to occur. (HESTERSSPORTFISHING.COM)
FISHING
Midwesterners and Northwesterners alike will endure some horrid conditions for a chance at a midteens or larger walleye. This guy has five buddies in the boat behind him looking just as miserable but also focused intently on envisioning a trolling rod buckling under the weight of a big walleye. I was out once with TJ and our mutual friend, Don McBride, when McBride’s float coat became completely encased in ice. When he shifted in his seat and stretched his back, the shell cracked, and thousands of glittering ice crystals broke loose and were born unto the wind. Night fishing can also be enjoyed in mild conditions, but always dress for the worst. (HESTERSSPORTFISHING.COM)
My approaches differ, however, when I am fun fishing versus when I am fishing clients. I love trolling and I feel pretty confident in it, and clients like to catch big fish in the winter and load the cooler in summer. So I will troll or jig depending on what I think will trigger the most bites for a boatload of anglers, but it’s usually trolling unless a crew specifically wants to jig or cast. If I’m fun fishing for myself, I would rather catch one fish jigging over five trolling, so your preference is just something that you have to find out on your own. I’m not trying to dodge your question, but I think what’s important to note is that there’s not just one way to fish or one reason to fish a particular way.
The biggest single tip I can offer for those dialing in the fishery is to fish as light of line as you reasonably can, and for me that’s 15-pound braid when trolling and 6- to 8-pound braid when jigging. I run braid directly to the snap when I fish plugs, and I tie directly to jigs. I am not at all worried about stealth, but I am worried about the thin diameter line for trolling and the sensitivity of the thin braid for jigging. Thin braid gets plugs down way deeper, which is important because these fish are plastered to the bottom. Really thin line also allows jigs to drop faster and clients to feel bites more easily.
Also, for most walleye techniques you don’t need to go out there and buy specialty rods; your steelhead rod will work great for trolling plugs or worm harnesses. However, when you get into the jigging game is when you need to spend your money on a sensitive rod with backbone.
I’ll repeat that I recommend trolling Bandits adjacent to the main river channel, and the effective diving depth of a Bandit (18 to 24 feet of water) gives you a clue about what depth range is popular, since you want to get the plug down to these bottomhugging fish. Line diameter will affect how deep plugs dive, as will speed, but my sweet spot for speed is about 1.25 mph trolled upstream.
JH Are there good warmer weather opportunities for big walleye, both at night and in the day, and if so when would you recommend booking a trip for those who don’t want to fish in the dead of winter?
TJH The bigger-fish focus for my program is pretty much over after early spring. The big females retreat from spawning areas to recondition and weigh a lot less after they release their eggs. I spend a lot of cold months chasing dreams of the record, and I really enjoy the switch to just catching a lot of eater fish of varying sizes in the summer months. Some big ones show up, for sure, but you just have to target big-fish water to catch big fish.
That means a lot of different things in different stretches of the river. My favorite way, if I was going to target them spring through fall, is throwing big baits in shallow water. It’s just an extremely difficult technique to do with six customers on the boat. However, to answer the second part, I do quite a few night trips in the summer and it’s a blast and can be extremely productive. The hardest part a lot of nights is just launching at 10 p.m. instead of 6 or 7 like in the winter. The nights can be very long, but usually there’s a lot of action.
JH What is the funniest thing, if you can narrow it down, you have seen happen in your boat while night fishing for walleye?
TJH Oh boy, there really hasn’t been a whole lot of crazy stories about night fishing, but I have broken up a marriage in my boat. A guy and his lady – let’s call her “Stephanie” – fished with me one year and then came back on almost the same date the next year. I thought I was killing it by remembering their names and referred to her as Stephanie. It was not Stephanie, but she knew exactly who Stephanie was. After making the run to the fishing grounds, he walked to the stern and asked sheepishly to be taken back to the dock.
I also had a gal take a number two in my bait cooler, and I’ve seen a client’s truck driven right into the river and completely submerge at the ramp, but I’ve never seen anything at night that comes even remotely close to what happens during fall salmon season. Salmon make people stupid; it’s just a thing. I did have a guy lose a rod over the side of my boat night fishing when we had a big tangle and instead of telling me about it, he decided to wait until after the rods were all cleared. I informed him that cork floats and that it would have been pretty nice to know sooner since we probably would have found it.
But it is what it is, and, like I said, everything is really tame after you accidentally break up a marriage. NS
Of Rarities And Rarin’-to-go Fish
Your monthly Oregon fishing outlook provided by The Guide’s Forecast.
By Bob Rees
It’s already February, which marks the first month that catching the region’s famed spring Chinook becomes an option. To be clear, it’s far from a good option, but there are several fanatical salmon anglers who yearn to tally the season’s first and all the glory that goes along with it. The greatest glory is, of course, catching Earth’s most flavorful salmon, and chances historically peak in April.
There’s been plenty of curve balls thrown by this fishery. The Willamette run, the first to enter the Lower Columbia, used to have a higher percentage of early-returning 5-yearolds, but now they make up only a small portion of the adult component. These fish are what once fueled a productive February opportunity, typically from Sellwood Bridge to Oregon City. Flows are favorable and water temperatures tolerable. Now, with the bulk of the run returning as 4-year-olds and peaking in April, anglers are faced with spring flows from the Columbia that back up the Willamette and keep these fish more lock-jawed. Slow flows, slow fishing –that’s just the facts.
Nonetheless, there will be fishing opportunities in both the Willamette and Lower Columbia this month, but even after putting in lots of effort, your chances are slim.
If you’re looking to catch one of the first, if not the first, spring Chinook of the year – or at least try – you could do worse than targeting the middle stretch of the Willamette River below the falls this month. The forecast calls for 51,200 of the fish, and while recent years’ predictions have been way off, April – when author Bob Rees caught this one with John Shmilenko – should be a much better month by comparison, along with May and June. (BOB REES)
FISHING
On the Lower Columbia, target minus tide series, as these fish, like all of their cousins, will seek the softer flows closer to the river’s edge. Anchor fishing using plugs or plug-cut herring is your best option. Bouncing out a herring on anchor, ensuring it spins in the current within 3 feet of the bottom, will offer up one of your better chances for success.
Willamette fishers will do some slow trolling with plug-cut herring, ideally in green-label size, in very
specific locations from Willamette Park to Oak Grove. Success is best summed up by friend John Shmilenko, also known as The Sultan of Sellwood, who embraces the 3 P’s of springer fishing: patience, persistence and bringing a positive attitude. Nothing rings truer for February spring Chinook.
MEANWHILE, ON THE coast, late-season steelhead fishing is in full swing. This is when the highest grade of steelhead return to nearly every
watershed – wild fish in most, quality broodstock in others.
In order from best to least best, the Wilson, Nestucca, Siletz, Alsea and North Fork Nehalem all have broodstock returns coming back to their systems. Not surprisingly, they’ll also be the most crowded. If you want a better experience, going to a wild fish system will most likely offer up the best opportunity for a quality time on the water, with the Trask, Kilchis, Necanicum and mainstem Nehalem all good options in no particular order.
Early-season streams such as the Necanicum, North Fork Nehalem and Klaskanine Rivers, and Big and Gnat Creeks will have some spent steelhead available, making for great sport but poor table fare. They bite like piranhas this time of year.
Anglers’ strategies are directly linked to water conditions. In higher flows, fish bigger baits and brighter colored beads; in lower flows, go to jigs, pink worms, hardware and plugs when searching for success. Since weather is extremely volatile this time of year, plan for anything and be ready to change strategies. It’s your best chance at a trophy 20-pounder, so plan gear size accordingly.
The South Coast also has excellent steelhead opportunities on the Chetco, Rogue and Umpqua (more to the north), but check the regulations for where you fish because additional endorsements are required when fishing some systems.
Weather permitting, offshore bottomfishing can also offer up some excellent action for lingcod and sea bass. Bag limits are different than they were in 2024, so, again, check the new regs carefully.
And following an intensive and only fairly productive commercial crab fishery, ocean and estuary crabbing is likely to only be fair out of most ports. NS
Editor’s note: For more information, visit TheGuidesForecast.com.
February is prime time to hit Oregon Coast systems for wild and broodstock steelhead. Trey Carskadon (left) hit this beaut while bobberdoggin’ a North Coast stream a few winters ago with guide Josiah “Trey, I’d cast over there if I was you” Darr. (TREY CARSKADON)
Bobberdoggin’ For Cowlitz Steelhead
With the peak of the winter run approaching, here’s how to hook limits on the productive Southwest Washington river.
By Buzz Ramsey
Perhaps it’s the same with you, but I’ve been having a hard time deciding whether to chase spring Chinook or steelhead in late winter. After all, springers, especially those bound for the Upper Columbia and Snake River systems, are regarded as the best eating fish around. On the other hand, fishing for steelhead has been really good this season and the biggest fish of the year tend to be caught late in the run – as in now.
If you’ve decided steelhead is your game, you’d be hard pressed to find a better place to find success than Washington’s Cowlitz River this time of year. After all, the Cowlitz is the state’s top-producing river for winter steelhead. The fish returning this year were from a 2023 release of over 600,000 juveniles, many of which are programmed to return in February and March.
ACCORDING TO CLANCY Holt of Clancy’s Guided Sport Fishing (360-8800409), whose guides focus on the Cowlitz during the steelhead season,
(WASHINGTONSALMONSTEELHEADFISHING.COM)
Syd Zenger of Arlington, Oregon, caught this winter steelhead from the Cowlitz River while fishing with guide Mike Sexton. The fish weighed 15 pounds, 7 ounces. Zenger was bobberdoggin’ a 16mm BnR soft bead in the natural orange color when the fish hit.
FISHING
the fishery has evolved some over the years. As an example, where side drifting was most popular here just 10 years ago, a variation of the method called bobberdoggin’ now dominates the scene. “Many anglers are bobberdoggin’ with a soft bead, sometimes in combination with roe or a coon shrimp,” Holt observes.
He says that while winter steelhead can be found throughout the river system, a large portion of the effort and success is concentrated at or near the Cowlitz Trout Hatchery at Blue Creek. If you haven’t fished the Cowlitz near the hatchery before, you probably don’t fully understand the word “crowded.” Bank access along the north shore below the bluffs can be had by walking downriver from the trout hatchery parking lot, but many anglers just find a spot near, above or downstream from the boat ramp there.
Keep in mind that this is a public resource and as such everyone – bank anglers and boaters alike – have a right to share in the bounty.
Since the Cowlitz is a fairly large river, it draws a lot of boat traffic, especially from those who own jet
boats. Thanks to their craft’s ability to navigate up- and downstream, jet boaters can make multiple passes through the more productive spots. Those with drift boats have lots of options too, as you can not only fish in and around Blue Creek, but float from the Barrier Dam to the trout hatchery, hatchery to Mission Bar, Mission Bar to Toledo, or from Toledo to the I-5 ramp. You should know there is roughly 5 to 6 miles of river between each of these access points.
Although back-trolling plugs like a Mag Lip remains a viable method, at least for those fishing from boats, doing so isn’t near as popular or as productive (according to some) as bobberdoggin’. Many drift boaters anchor off to the side and drift fish or bobberdog the more productive spots near Blue Creek.
THE BOBBERDOGGIN’ METHOD can be done from shore or a boat and works best in a pretty wide range of water conditions. It’s different from float fishing in that with this method you want your weight/drift sinker to be bouncing bottom. Your bobber is used as a strike indicator. In addition, the
drag of the bobber helps keep your outfit moving along in the current.
Rigging up for bobberdoggin’ requires you to thread a free-sliding bobber onto your main line above your sinker. A bead and bobber stop above that is used to keep your float 6 to 12 feet (the position depends on water depth) above your weight when drifting downriver. The advantage of having your bobber rigged to slide is it will be positioned just above your weight for casting but slide up your mainline after you cast into the river.
As such, your bobber – especially if it’s a long one – will be riding along in an angled fashion. The bobber keeps your offering near bottom where steelhead hold and your outfit drifting straight downriver. In addition, the upward pull of the bobber helps keep your weight from hanging on bottom structure.
You will quickly discover that this method does not require as much weight as compared to drift fishing. That’s because much of your main line is on or above the water. In addition, bobberdoggin’ offers a more realistic “drift” presentation, because your
There’s water for many different techniques on the Cowlitz, but perhaps today’s most popular and productive method is bobberdoggin’. It’s kind of a cross between float and drift fishing, and features a one- or two-rig setup utilizing soft beads and/or yarnies and/or bait. (BARTON CARVER)
DESTINATION GRAYS HARBOR
WASHINGTON
GATEWAY TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN & THE OLYMPIC PENINSULA
FISHING
bobber is pulling your outfit straight downriver, which can result in more bites and subsequent hookups.
Here’s how: Cast out, across and upstream using enough weight so your outfit will sink to the bottom and drift along slightly slower than the surface current. Because your bobber will keep your outfit drifting straight downriver, providing that you leave several feet of line floating on the surface ahead of your bobber, your outfit will not swing in near shore as it drifts downriver.
While you want several feet of line running downriver ahead of your bobber to keep it riding in line with the current, you may have to mend excess line upriver so that you can set the hook if and when a fish pulls your bobber under.
If you are fishing from a stationary position, you will need to reel in and cast again once your drift is complete. If you are fishing from a boat, you can extend your drift the full length of the hole by simply adjusting your downstream boat speed to match that of your bobber(s). Many boaters like to keep their craft floating even with or slightly ahead of their bobber(s), as doing so might help achieve a better hookset. Most guides encourage their clients to reel up the slack and then set the hook if and when your bobber disappears.
WHEN IT COMES to outfits and rigging up for bobberdoggin’ on the Cowlitz, Mike Sexton of Mike’s Guide Service (360-584-2861) employs 10-foot Edge (model 1002-2) spinning rods in combination with 30-pound-test braid. On the end of his braid he splices a 12- to 18-foot section of 20-poundtest monofilament (called a bumper) that extends to his weight, leader, 16 or 20mm size soft bead and a second offering consisting of a Mad River Hard Fish Pill (similar to a Corky drifter). These two offerings are rigged in line with each other. Sexton’s weight mostly consists of a 21/4-inch section of 3/16-inch-diameter pencil weight.
The leader to his BnR soft bead consists of 36 inches of 12-pound-test fluorocarbon in combination with a size 2 single hook, with another fluorocarbon leader of 10-pound test extending back 24 inches to a size 3 Hard Fish Pill. According to Sexton, the Fish Pill’s buoyancy helps keep his soft bead from hanging bottom while bobberdoggin’.
GETTING
TO THE Cowlitz Trout Hatchery is easy. Just take exit 68 off I-5 and proceed east on Highway 12 (White Pass Highway) for 8 miles before turning right onto Brim Road. Follow Brim Road south and turn right where it tees at Spencer Road and go
another mile before turning left into the trout hatchery (there is a sign). Follow the road around the river side of the hatchery, where you will find a large parking lot and boat ramp located at the west end.
Up-to-date river conditions and other current information can be obtained from one of these local retailers: Barrier Dam Campground (360-985-2495), which is near the dam and offers a complete assortment of fishing tackle; and Ethel Market and Sports (360-978-5634), located on Highway 12 near Tucker Road and before taking the right turn toward the trout hatchery. Both sell licenses, assorted fishing gear and bait. NS
While state managers are trying to expand the timing of the Cowlitz run so as to provide more fish in early winter, February and March are prime time on the state’s most well-stocked steelhead stream. Dennis Stamper caught this one there while out with Ron Holt of Clancy’s Guided Sport Fishing. He was bobberdoggin’ a soft bead in combination with a coon shrimp. (CLANCYSFISHING.COM)
Author Sara Potter long ago fell “head over heels” for Oregon steelhead, giving them her whole heart in hopes of sparing herself from any more relationship heartaches – only to find deep love in a man who’d never fished for winter-runs. (SARA POTTER)
COLUMN
A Date Worth Remembering
FOR THE LOVE OF TUG
By Sara Potter
To truly know them is to love them, as without love they will never truly show you who they are. This adage is so very true for me in so many ways. If I find passion within someone or something, I must dive in fully and learn everything I can as I feed the intrigue inside of myself. This is why I am very selective on who or what gets this deep, passionate side of who I am. A pull of passion here or there just does not suit me. I am an all-in type of lady. If I want it, I want it all!
The winter fish have shown me things no human ever could. They have shown me firsthand that you must love them to truly know them, and I now know them well. Giving myself to these fish was easy, even though it was hard. They are worth it. One could certainly spend a lifetime simply in love with nature and the pursuit of steelhead. Though the chill of winter can be brutal, love and relationships can be as well. There are far fewer possibilities when chasing fish than when chasing a human. It’s easier to get to know and understand the fish, the rivers, the whys and why nots. Their impulsive behavior will not hurt you. Matter of fact, if you understand them, their impulse will indeed light up your life in a beautiful way. You get what you get; nature always provides, even on outings when you don’t release a wild beauty or tag a fish.
I loved that most about the winter run when I first began chasing them. I honestly fell head over heels for them and as my life changed, I believed I might literally give my heart to them and spare myself any more human-induced heartaches. I had become quite the slayer and I thought I had life pretty much figured out.
LITTLE DID I know that God had other plans
for me, and in these plans I would not only find human love, but full-blown, dive-on-in, head-over-heels human love. I would find love in a man who had never fished the rivers. Luckily for him, I didn’t mind that at all. I actually liked that he knew nothing and I could fish from the banks how I wanted without this man coming into my life trying to tell me how to fish. One thing I didn’t think about, though, was what if he didn’t want to get to know the winter fish? What if he didn’t love them like I do? You literally must pay your timely dues in the world of steelhead from the bank. It’s not some heated, cozy guided trip where the guide sees the bite and orders you to “swing away!” No, it’s a personal test where effort is an absolute must. While I could provide him with a lot of the knowledge I possess, the want of it all still must come from within.
Runs swim by whether you make time for them or not, and as our love grew and I began to know Benjamin better and better, I realized where I was needed most wasn’t on the banks of the river. It was hard on me to set aside that undying passion for steelhead I most definitely possess. My love for them has never wavered, even though the time I was able to give them had.
I knew in my heart that last winter would be the season where we could finally and wholeheartedly embrace the winter’s river together. Ben, just as mysterious as these fish, learned to trust in me and in us. I hope I helped him work through some things and learn it’s OK to let your guard down to the right person. Life doesn’t have to be about waiting for the worst, though it has given him plenty of reasons to believe that. It wasn’t the easiest for Ben, but in doing so, his perspective on life and love began to incorporate the importance of passion and the joys that come along with it. He was ready, and so I went about our winter slightly different than I had in years past.
COLUMN
VALENTINE’S DAY HAS – weirdly enough –led to quite the collection of solo memories on the river for me. My inner independent slayer will forever smile upon those days, but the hopeless romantic in me will always love to share the banks of a winter’s river with the one I love on that silly lover’s holiday. I had caught Ben one Valentine’s fish when my babes and his folks joined us for fish camp a few years back. I loved bringing that fish up from the bank 20 minutes after we got
camp set up. I was super proud to show his parents I had provided. We had a wonderful feast right there at camp, and the happiness I felt is forever with me. But it just wasn’t quite the Valentine’s date I had dreamt of. It needed to be just him and I. In realizing this, so many beautiful things happened on this little adventure. You truly do need to make time for one another in order to remain strong and true in a relationship. You have to feed
each other’s fires and by allowing me to plan this little getaway, Ben ignited the fire within himself, all while feeding mine. That is what I love about sharing passion. Success no longer is measured in your own success; it’s far deeper than that.
I remember the days when I would dread a low river. I feared the trickle because a river dropping from high water allows for that beautiful bounce that is drift fishing, which I excelled at rapidly when first starting out. Nowadays, I almost prefer the opposite simply because there are far fewer fishermen on a low river. That makes the connection with the person you choose to share it with far more special and you are able to take in all that is this place and moment in time.
I packed us light and cozy, romantic enough for the likes of this gal and yet we had everything we needed. We just needed to give the river what she had been wanting from us – time!
With no pressure on the water nor the fish, it made for an easygoing adventure. No pressure, no expectations, just love. A love for nature. A love for the creatures we seek, and most importantly, a love for the person I choose to share my life with. When it comes to steelhead, I am mildly extreme, but I had a conversation with myself to go into this trusting in the adventure, to allow myself to be easygoing and to enjoy the time away from the world with the man I love most. If I wound myself too tightly, I knew my expectations would get the best of me, and I didn’t want that.
We fished the upper stretch the first evening with not a soul in sight. We walked through the massive myrtles, hand in hand checking pockets for fish. The wetness of this place is special, as the drops from these trees rarely stop even though the rain does. It was so wonderful to be in this place that holds a major piece of my heart with the man who keeps it. A crackling fire on a cold February night alongside a roaring river with the one you love is hard to beat. It makes you believe you are exactly where you are meant to be as you drift off to sleep.
TO MY SURPRISE, we slept in, to some degree. I was not wadered up three hours before daylight. Matter of fact, I never wadered
Potter once dreaded low rivers because her preferred technique – drift fishing – works better on the drop, but these days she doesn’t mind it, as fewer fellow fishermen will be out working the water. (SARA POTTER)
up. We made coffee and fished late in the morning. Though a grandpa had fished in the spot I wanted us to try, I knew we had one thing he did not – sweetly cured natural eggs made with love, by yours truly. Since whatever he was throwing wasn’t what the fish wanted, I did not fret as we enjoyed the morning fire and our coffee. Once that sweet chunk of the river was open, we made our way down to the water’s edge.
This particular stretch is very fishy if you
know how to fish it. I so badly wanted Ben to know what it feels like to be lit up in the cold of winter by these radical fish! That adrenaline cannot be bought; it must be felt, it must be earned. I myself was a little rusty, but sure as the day is long in June, I can hook those fish, and I did. We got a thorough whooping in netting fish in fast water and I’m still not sure who it hurt more, the man who tried to net me up or myself?
My favorite part of it all is that first
headshake of life, that first eruption of a run that hopefully leads to a jump from the fish you’ve just hooked. So I am the perfect person to allow my husband to hone in on some netting skills. Those fish love a tiny natural bait of eggs, and I love to feel them suck them right up like a vacuum and swing away. Third time’s a charm, and there it was, a redemption netting for Ben was well on its way! I had hooked another fish and we were able to land her in a good spot where netting was a little easier. Our first harvest of our Valentine’s date was complete. I’m certain Ben was happier than I was, and that in itself was what I was truly smiling so big about. He netted me up!
BEN’S A FUNNY guy, as he hasn’t been the easiest of students for me. Why that is is probably another story altogether. Nonetheless, he clearly desires to test his own waters, only taking the necessities of my knowledge with him as he casts wherever he likes. Being a short distance downriver from me, he cast way out to this one-of-a-kind shelf with caverns and pockets throughout it. The funny thing is, that very drift that looks quite snaggy and awkward to me does hold some beauties. And indeed, my man found himself a biter and a fighter within it! She was a hot hen and she did not want to be caught. Running and hunkering into the caverns of that massive shelf, she was a scrapper. Having placed the net between Ben and I, I hurried to it and then on to him as he worked her out of the rocks and we made our way to a spot I could net her.
He did great and was quite thrilled, and I loved that! Oh, how I have dreamt of that moment for Ben, and honestly for me, too, and now it was actually happening! The pressure was on, as I sure as hell wasn’t going to miss his first steelhead in the net. As he brought her closer to shore, she thrashed away and I reassured him it was best to let her fight and that when I had the shot to net her, I would.
Once more he worked her towards the shore and even though I got in past my boots, I netted his beauty right up and saw she was a keeper! A bright black-and-silver beauty, she was, just a dime – the best, in my opinion! Ben had done it. For the first
A road through the myrtlewoods leads to the river and fish camp where Sara took her husband Ben to try and catch his first steelhead last February. (SARA POTTER)
Ben likes to “test his own waters,” and true to form he caught his first winter-run out of a tough-to-fish shelf and held on long enough for Sara to scoop it out of the river with the net. It made for “a Valentine’s Day full of firsts that I hope to never forget,” she writes. (SARA POTTER)
time he felt it all; he was getting to know them and in doing so, he felt the love! That is what he needed to realize; it really is all worth it! I wouldn’t willingly go numb by the river’s edge if it wasn’t. It is worth seeing if you can get to know them a little better through a little one-on-one connection with the fish. He loved it, he appreciated it, and that was all it took. He was hooked, and I felt more complete than I had in some time.
WE FISHED AND we slayed. Ben went two for three on hot hens and I wound up going like two for five, ending the day with a handsome buck. It was a Valentine’s Day full of firsts that I hope to never forget. Ben is the man of my dreams and now with certainty I believe the best is yet to come. I feel lucky to have love and passion correlating into our relationship and my love for steelhead. I hope I can always help them continue to grow, believing there is nothing our love cannot do.
The day was ours and I loved being able to share all the little things that I love about this place with Ben. Cleaning the fish by headlamp at the water’s edge that night, I realized so many of my dreams came true that day. My hope is that a few of Ben’s dreams came true as well. He and I gave time to one another in a place that most definitely brought out the best in both of us. Life provides such opportunities. You just have to be willing to dive in and you will see that life is worth living if you choose to live it. My heart is on the river and I couldn’t change it, even if I tried. NS
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Catching A Real Unicorn
High water? ‘Early’ season? So what!
By Angus Vlasaty
It was a cold, windy, rainy, dark morning during the December storm of 2024. Almost every river in the Pacific Northwest was high and brown, with some reaching flood stage. Understandably, most steelheaders don’t bother to head out in these conditions, as chances of hooking a fish are slim.
Different river systems can handle different amounts of rain and flow before turning color. Normally, the higher up you go past most tributaries in a system, the clearer the water will be. And as most know, high water
tends to send fish far upriver and can yield good fishing in hatchery zones.
However, when fishing for wild steelhead, it can be tricky because their home isn’t in a pen – it’s the 20 miles of upper watershed they spawn in. The bulk of the wild steelhead run today in Northwest rivers occurs from February through April. Arguably, this is because of early-timed hatchery programs and environmental conditions affecting “early” returners. That said, this accumulation of knowledge led us to this day, particular timing and knowing the conditions on this specific river. We were after a true December wild steelhead, or the “unicorn.”
COMMON SENSE FOR experienced anglers while high-water steelhead fishing calls for big, bright presentations and fishing close to the bank, which pretty much holds true. Looking for water that has more visibility than the main current is important, such as below the mouth of a creek or tributary. Unlike with conventional low-water steelheading, areas behind big rocks, in smaller eddies and shallow, slower waters are all good places to start finding these high-water fish.
My brother and I started our hike in, walking past waterfalls, rapids, floating branches and muddy water, looking for any signs of holding, or
While fishing conditions were seemingly far from good and the timing was way too early according to conventional wisdom, Angus Vlasaty still found this “unicorn” of a late December wild steelhead. (ANGUS VLASATY)
FISHING
pocket, water. We finally came to a stop when I eyed a huge rock next to the bank. It created a small riffly pocket that continued on for 15 yards downstream. Perfect.
After I climbed down the side of the
river bank, I rigged up a 6-inch bright pink steelhead worm with a pearl tail under a float, with 2 feet of 12-pound fluorocarbon leader. Yes, you are right. In these conditions, when the water is in the trees, 20-pound Maxima would
have been preferred.
Before casting, I always study the water. At the end of this particular 15-yard pocket was a shallow, slowmoving tailout. Perfect again. I took my first cast with my brother watching from above. As my setup drifted right behind the huge rock, it got bit right away, kind of like a trout bite. Sometimes steelhead will annihilate your presentation, and other times they will take it without you knowing. In this case, I knew it was a steelhead.
I TOOK THE next cast as I told my brother, “Come down here, I’m about to hook one.” I let it drift through the same spot, and just as it got to the tailout, it buried. I set the hook and felt three powerful headshakes. Simultaneously, we saw a huge red stripe splash the surface. I could talk about this fight forever. The fish took many long runs and got stuck in the current while also staying in the same spot and not letting me move him.
With 12-pound test, I had to be perfect. My rod of choice was a custom 9-foot-6 10-17 Rainshadow made by Rellek Custom Rods, which is my go-to wild steelhead rod and helped me keep this fish somewhat under control without snapping the line. Over the span of 10 minutes, I got the fish to the bank four times, with my brother failing to tail him. I never fish with a net, nor do I believe in netting these specific fish. When we saw how truly big this buck was, my heart raced, and only then did I regret my ardent values.
Finally the moment came. My brother tailed him. We kept him in the water, took a flick and then let him go without measurements. If he was a little bigger, maybe I would have taken some, haha. Needless to say, this fish was still special. This day and this fish will always be a core memory for me and my brother. With the elements of nature against us, we stood strong and found a way. We had found the wild December unicorn. Thank you for the read, fellow steelheaders. NS
Another view of Vlasaty’s fish. No net was used to capture the buck, nor were any measurements taken before release. “Needless to say, this fish was still special. This day and this fish will always be a core memory for me and my brother,” he writes. (ANGUS VLASATY)
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Boat Fishing Strategies For Crowded Rivers
Unlimited river access and the ability to employ a wide variety of fishing methods, some of which cannot be executed from shore, is what fuels the popularity of drift boats around the Northwest and beyond.
If you’re an accomplished steelhead angler and float one or more of the many rivers where winter-runs lurk, you understand that dealing with the everchanging water and weather conditions, although formidable, may not be your biggest challenge. Instead, it’s the competition from other boat and bank anglers who might tie up your/their favorite spot or simply race you to the more productive drifts.
After all, once you have mastered a technique, it’s often not who is best, but who is first who catches the biggest and most fish. And while dealing with the competition can sometimes be frustrating, it doesn’t have to sour your trip. Here are several “method” and “keep moving” strategies you might try in order to relieve the competitiveness of chasing steelhead.
TYPICAL FOR MANY boaters is the practice of methodically fishing every reasonable-looking spot while proceeding downstream to the takeout. And while this can be a solid strategy, there might be a better way (which I’ll explain) when “your” river is crowded with others and especially when most, or all, are employing the same exact fishing method as you.
If there are 10 boats ahead of you and all are bobberdoggin’ with the same plastic egg, it’s reasonable to assume most or perhaps all fish eager to swallow that offering have been caught or sore
BUZZ RAMSEY
Author Buzz Ramsey shows off a winter steelhead for Tim Reilly after it was corralled in a landing net, quickly photographed and released. (BUZZ RAMSEY)
mouthed. This is a time when you might have better success with some of the alternative fishing methods in your arsenal. For example, if the river is reasonably clear, you might have a set of rods rigged up not just for bobberdoggin’ (of course), but running a float and jig, or plugging.
And while each of these methods can produce at any time or any place, a jig works best when targeting current edges – that is, where slack and running water meet. Steelhead often hit plugs when back-trolled in the tailouts. Bobberdoggin’ works in pretty much any and all flowing water. Switching between these and
other fishing methods that others are not equipped for or may not have tried can up your odds of success.
ANOTHER WAY TO up your chances is to make two drifts on the same day, either on the same river or a different one altogether. A two-drift strategy might play out like this. On your first drift, fish each available spot but move along fairly fast. If you find fish, great; the good news is you may be one of the first boaters to find them. However, if you find a hole full of fish but too crowded for you to participate, just keep moving. After all, you may find
more fish further downriver or hit the same group of steelhead on a second drift through the same river section, as you will have advance knowledge of where they are likely to be found.
The idea is to take advantage of as much action as you can before making a second drift in the afternoon behind the crowd when there might be fewer anglers competing for the top-producing spots. The other advantage to this strategy? If you don’t see much action on your first drift, you will still have time to visit another nearby river or check out an entirely different section of the same stream.
Fishing guide Chris Vertopoulos often employs several fishing methods during a single day of chasing winter steelhead, allowing him to switch between bobberdoggin’ and other techniques, based on angling pressure, what works best in each hole and other factors. (BUZZ RAMSEY)
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COLUMN
TIDES PLAY A bigger role in steelhead movement than most anglers realize. For example, during the biggest tides of the month is when the majority of fish will move into rivers, almost regardless of water conditions but especially when rivers are high from successive rainstorms. In fact, I often preplan my fishing trips to coincide with the biggest tides of the month.
If rivers are extremely low – we are talking dead-low here – and have been that way for two weeks or so, newly arriving steelhead may only be found in the first several holes above tidewater, i.e., the point near the mouth where daily tidal fluctuations raise and slow or stop the river. If the drought continues for a longer time, fish may accumulate in the lower 5 miles of river and be found moving back and forth with each tide swing near the head of tidewater.
Also, realize this is a time when bigger river systems that maintain good flow regardless of rainfall can be the place to concentrate your fishing efforts.
Under prolonged low water of three weeks or more, fish may be found below tidewater. You should realize that while the water downstream from the head of tide may be slack when tides are flooding, this area can look a lot like a river, complete with holes and riffles, when the tide is outgoing. To take advantage of this lowwater opportunity will require you to be familiar with the daily tide movements and have access to a place you can get your boat in and out.
WHEN RIVER LEVELS are of medium height, freshly arriving steelhead will probably move in with each tide and continue their upstream migration without pausing
much at the head of tide. Given the right timing – i.e., just after high tide – you can ambush these fish as they migrate into the lower river.
After heavy rainfall, when river levels are high, fresh steelhead (pushed by the tide) may not stop until they are a mile or more upriver. In fact, the entire migrating group of fish may speed into the middle or upper river when water levels are up, leaving the lower end nearly void of fish. The above explains the logic behind the often-heard adage, “When the water is low, fish low; and when the water is high, fish high.”
In years with strong runs and given high river levels, each daily tide will push fresh fish into the river during peak months, providing a steady pulse of fish movement. This is sometimes why the bite can go off and on during the day on rivers influenced
Most drift boaters and jet sledders get on the water early, but if the water’s too crowded ahead of you, work down to the takeout and either float the river again in the afternoon when the fleet has thinned out or use the opportunity to go fish another stream. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)
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by ocean tides. The bite is just illustrating the upstream grouping and movement of fish inspired by the tide push.
Where adult hatchery steelhead eventually hold can be influenced by where they were released as juveniles. These spots might include the area just downstream from a hatchery, a smolt acclamation pond or – as corny as it might sound – where the hatchery truck liberated them when initially stocked. To find these locations, try contacting the local Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist. Wild steelhead will be more scattered. NS
Editor’s note: Buzz is regarded as a sportfishing authority (as related to trout, steelhead and salmon), outdoor writer and proficient lure and fishing rod designer. Buzz built a successful 45-year career promoting gear related to Northwest and Great Lake fisheries during his tenure with Luhr Jensen, Pure Fishing and Yakima Bait. Now retired, he writes for Northwest Sportsman and The Guide’s Forecast.
Nick Laviolette shows off a fin-clipped steelhead he caught while fishing with friend and fishing guide Brad Hanson as well as Ramsey. Stretches just above tidewater – even below there on the ebb during very dry conditions – can be good for winter steelhead. (BUZZ RAMSEY)
Changes Come To Smelt Dipping
SOUTDOORS MD
By MD Johnson
ometime in the late ’70s, my Aunt Marge and Uncle Jim took my younger brother and me to the circus. And I’m talking the real circus. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. Scantily clad folks on the flying trapeze. Strong men. Bearded ladies. Elephants. Prancing horses. The whole nine yards. Clowns? Absolutely. What’s a circus without ’em? It would be like Washington, DC, without, well, you know.
That was almost 50 years ago now and I ain’t been back to the circus since. Least not what one might think of as the traditional three-ring circus. I have, since 1993, attended a slightly different type of circus, complete with all the hubbub and chaos, sights and sounds of my one and only trip to the big top. There were a handful, unfortunately, of scantily dressed folk. Unintentional tumbling acts. Performing dogs, both trained and not-so-much.
Barnum & Bailey? Nope. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, thank you very much, and all in the form of the Cowlitz River’s typically – but not always – annual smelt dipping extravaganza. If you’ve been down to the river on an opener, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. If not, the only thing I can say is go! You gotta go!
So here it is mid-January 2025 at the time of this writing, and we’re staring plumb in the face of, hopefully, another smelt dipping opportunity on the Cowlitz. Anything new? Ahhhh … yeah. We’ll address those changes first, and then get into the nuts ’n bolts of smelt dipping for those who aren’t familiar.
THE BIG NEWS ABOUT THE LITTLE FISH
The big news for smelt dippers this year is
Scrumptious smelt draw thousands to the banks of the lower Cowlitz River in winter, but dippers should be aware of a new licensing requirement beginning this season. If you already have a freshwater or combo license, you’re good to go, but if not, you’ll need to pick one up or get a temporary license. The change follows passage of House Bill 1226 in Olympia last year. (WDFW)
COLUMN
the requirement of a current Washington fishing license. Up until this year, smelt dippers were not required to possess a valid fishing license, something that always seemed a bit strange to me. Why a fishing license for everything except smelt, crayfish and common carp? Odd, but that’s the way it was – was being the operative word. Due to a bill passed by state lawmakers last year, for 2025 and beyond, if you’re going to chase smelt, you’re going to have to have a valid Washington fishing license of some sort.
“(Smelt) are the last remaining native fish in the state of Washington to require a fishing license,” notes Laura Heironimus, WDFW’s sturgeon, smelt and lamprey unit lead based out of the Region 5 (Ridgefield) office, a position she’s held since 2018. “And they’re an ESA- [Endangered Species Act]
listed fish. So part of it [having a license] had to do with our ability to prosecute these fisheries in a meaningful way. If you’ve ever been to the fishery, it can tend to be somewhat of a party downriver, and our hope is to improve compliance with fishing regulations. By requiring a fishing license, people are going to be (hopefully) more aware of the rules surrounding the smelt fishery, using the correct gear, and following the harvest quotas associated with participating in the fishery.”
So here’s the deal. Heironimus, along with her WDFW counterparts, are pleasantly politically correct in their phrasing of certain what I’ll call “regulatory guidelines” or explanations. I, however, having been politically incorrect for most of my 60 years, do not operate under a like umbrella. Therefore, I’ll put it this way. The fact that
smelt did not in the past require a fishing license meant, to some anyway, the absence of any regulations, e.g. harvest limits. Rather, it can be somewhat of a Wild Wild West sort of atmosphere down at Carnival Market in Kelso, Gearhart Gardens in Longview, the Lexington area and Castle Rock too. Would you like an example? This excerpt from my 2023 smelt interview with Heironimus:
“The department is in favor of having a license requirement because … so many people who come to this fishery aren’t familiar with the rules. As a result, we have a fishery that can get a little out of hand. In 2022, our average (smelt) bag limit – the average individual take – was higher than the legally allowed take. On average, people were harvesting a pound of fish more [11 pounds versus the limit of 10 pounds]
Also new this year is the way state managers are setting the season. Similar to how they pencil in a couple months’ worth of clam digs at a time, they’ve announced 14 tentative Wednesday and Saturday openers in February and March. They will greenlight them the Friday beforehand if smelt abundance looks good. (WDFW)
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than they were legally allowed to. Not to mention we had law enforcement seize over 5,000 pounds of fish that were illegally taken, so we’re hoping that by requiring a license, it will help people understand the fishery better, as well as helping from an
enforcement standpoint.”
And that’s just it, the reason behind the new license requirement. Sorry, conspiracy theorists, it’s not an attempt by WDFW to make millions upon millions
of dollars. It’s not going to happen. In fact, and as Heironimus explained during our talk last month, monies received from people buying fishing licenses specifically to target smelt won’t go to her programs, per se, but to WDFW as an agency. These dollars, then, in part trickle down to each and every angler who fishes for stocked trout, catches a hatchery steelhead, launches at a state-owned ramp, and on and on. Win. Win. And win.
Heironimus went on to explain that the new license requirement “will enable (WDFW) to continue working within the guidelines of the ESA and allow some limited (smelt) harvest. Another piece is better angler education; more opportunities for us to work with the public and to have these educational conversations. Too, (it will provide) better regulation monitoring of the fishery in general.”
THE LICENSE
So there it is. If you’re going to join the throngs on the Cowlitz this season and chase smelt, you’re going to need a valid Washington fishing license. It’s important to note – and Heironimus emphasizes this point strongly – that any current and valid Washington fishing license will suffice. That’s all you need. A fishing license of some kind.
“It is a standard fishing license,” she says. “It’s not a special license for smelt. If you’re an angler who fishes for anything else throughout the course of the year and you have an annual fishing license, you’re covered. There’s nothing new here you need to do.”
It definitely isn’t the olden days, but given the federal Endangered Species Act listing on Columbia eulachon, or smelt, at least there’s still a chance to dip some for smoking and other uses. State managers describe the daily limit of 10 pounds as “about a quarter of a 5-gallon bucket,” but encourage bringing your own scale. (WDFW)
Translation. If you have a current and valid 2024-25 Washington fishing license defined by WDFW as one of the following types: Combination; Freshwater; or a 1-Day, 2-Day or 3-Day Short-Term Combination License, you’re then properly licensed to harvest or attempt to harvest smelt in 2025. Nonresidents, you too will need to be properly licensed, either with an annual license or, for the budget-minded, a 1-Day Short-Term Combination License valid for the dip day in question. Cost of the latter is $20.15. Note: fishers ages 14 and under are not required to possess a fishing license for smelt or any other freshwater and/or saltwater species, for that matter (however,
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they must possess species-specific catch record cards for species such as salmon, steelhead, sturgeon and halibut).
Confusing? No. Does Heironimus believe the new regulation may catch some smelt hopefuls off guard?
“I do,” she confirms. “I think that a lot of people who participate in this eulachon [smelt] fishery are maybe people who haven’t participated in other fisheries before. And I think for some families who have participated in recent years, this is going to be a little surprising. So we’re trying to get the word out as much as possible. Getting it into newspapers, press releases, WDFW website, and we’ll have signs out at the fishery.”
Heironimus expects 2025 to be “a bit of a learning curve” for dippers.
“I think we’ll be working with people and educating them on any license (questions) quite a bit this first year. And maybe even the next couple years,” she states.
ABOUT THOSE TENTATIVE DATES ...
In recent years, smelt hopefuls have learned of upcoming single-day harvest opportunities via email from WDFW. Day. Timeframe. Open waters. Limit reminder. Heads up on water conditions, if need be.
This year will be different.
“Our management strategy this year,” says Heironimus, “is to announce tentative dates at the beginning of the (smelt) season. These tentative dates are just that, tentative, until the in-season run data shows the run is large enough to support a fishery.”
“So what we’re looking at this year is setting every Wednesday and Saturday through February and into March as these tentative dates,” she says. “And then the Friday before those days, every week, we’ll be updating our website and putting out news releases for any openers, letting people know if the next week’s dates are going to be open or not, along with a small justification as to why we made that decision.”
Tentative dip times, Heironimus says, will be from 8 a.m. sharp to 1 p.m.
“Those times give us daylight hours,” she says, “which help with compliance with the fishery, as well as minimizing impacts to the cities (of Longview and Kelso).”
If you dig razor clams in Washington, you’ll be very familiar with the new smelt process. WDFW sets a month or two worth of tentative clam digs and then, if toxin levels are in the safe zone, confirms digs in the days immediately before an opener. Same story with smelt. The go/no go for any particular dip will be announced by 3 p.m. on the Friday afternoon prior to a given week’s tentative dates by the agency via email or on their website.
SMELT DIPPING 101
Where: As in years past, WDFW will tell you where you can and cannot dip. In 2024, the area of operation was extended slightly upstream to include the waters of the Cowlitz River from the Highway 432 Bridge near the mouth up to the Toutle River, but this year the upstream boundary is the Al Helenberg Memorial Boat Ramp at Castle Rock, a couple miles below the Toutle.
Time: Again, tentatively, each dip day will be open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., unless otherwise noted by WDFW.
License: Addressed previously. Have one; it’s that simple.
Net: I’ve seen it all, from short-handled SpongeBob units to your traditional net ranging anywhere from 6 to 14 feet in length, some longer. Most nets are of small mesh in white; however, professionals will tell you that black nets aren’t near as frightening nor as visible to the little silver fish.
Bucket: By regulation, every dipper must have and work into his or her own bucket. My personal favorite is a yellow square-sided Tidy Cat kitty litter tote, but damn near anything will work, up to and including a blue and yellow Walmart bag (in a pinch).
Waders: Necessary? No. Nice to have? Absolutely. Waders or no depends greatly on how close the fish are running to shore. Some days they’re right there; others, and it’s nice to be able to get 20 or 30 feet offshore while staying reasonably dry.
PFDs and common sense: If you’re going to wade, I’d highly recommend a personal flotation device of some kind. If you’re going to take your little ones to the smelt circus, which I highly suggest you do, then they absolutely should be wearing a life
jacket. Do I see either often? I do not, and that makes no sense to me. The Cowlitz runs swift and cold this time of year. Increase the flows, and she can in less than a heartbeat turn deadly. Translation? Wear a PFD. Stay on the bank or, if you insist on wading, don’t go out there alone. I know, I know, I sound like your doctor, which I kinda sorta am in a way, but just use some common sense.
Patience: Leave any and all vestiges of anger issues, road rage and impatience at home, or don’t attend. It’s that simple. This is an outrageously popular fishery that packs a whole lot of souls into a very small section of river for a brief period of time. It’s crowded, and that’s putting it mildly. Think BlackFriday-and-Walmart’s-selling-75-inchtelevisions-for-$14 crowded. Be patient. Be kind. Talk to people. Help people. Essentially, don’t be an idiot. There will, sadly, be plenty on hand, so try not to bolster those statistics.
Coffee: Duh!
Doctor’s orders: If you’re looking for a before or after smelt dipping meal that’s old-school fantastic served by a group of ladies nothing short of awesome and prepared, diner-style, by short-order cooks who definitely know their way around a flat-top, stop by The Pancake House at 1425 California Way in Longview. I recommend the Farmer’s Plate. Have ’em pile it up and smother it with sausage gravy. Just sayin’. NS
ASK OUR M.D.
Admittedly, the MD in MD Johnson’s name doesn’t exactly stand for “medical doctor,” but he’s a pretty thoughtful guy on a wide range of fishing- and hunting-related topics.
So we thought we’d offer you a chance to pick MD’s brain on anything from surfperch angling to smelt dipping, duck calls to turkey decoys, why the DFWs do this, USFWS that.
Got a question for him? Hit me at awalgamott@media-inc.com and I’ll get him on it for a future issue. –Editor
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Chase Coyotes And Rabbits, And Keep An Eye On Oly
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ON TARGET
By Dave Workman
According to Federal Cartridge, its .223 Remington cartridge topped by a 53-grain Hornady V-Max bullet leaves the muzzle at a blistering 3,400 feet per second, while its 50-grain JHP in that caliber clocks at an impressive 3,325 fps.
Translation: A coyote downrange anywhere within 300 to 400 yards is never going to hear the muzzle blast, although of course one must consider that the downrange trajectory drops off rather fast at longer ranges. So, the closer they can be lured in, either by calling or a decoy, the better.
In .22-250 Remington, Federal’s 55-grain cartridge, again topped by the Hornady V-Max, warps out of the barrel at 3,670 fps. My guess is that a ’yote creeping along anywhere within 300 to 350 yards – provided you can see that far with a good spotting scope or binoculars – will be slammed into predator heaven long before he realizes it’s an ambush.
So why am I bringing this up? Winter coyote hunting, especially for those who find a good market for the pelts, generates lots of interest among “off-season” riflemen. The great byproduct of such an endeavor is it removes yodel dogs from the local food chain, whether you’re popping them anywhere in the Westside’s timber country, somewhere in the gorge or vast Columbia Basin, or from Stevens County south to the Palouse and down through the transboundary Blue Mountains.
MY OWN CHOICE
for coyote hunting is a .257 Roberts built on a Mauser ’98 action with a Douglas barrel. It’s a heavy rifle by most standards, especially topped by my big variable scope and with a bipod mounted on the forend. It launches a 100-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip bullet at just under 3,000 fps, and it can reach out even with the slightly heavier .25-caliber bullet. At that speed, the bullet will cross 300 yards in a fraction of a second. Coyotes can’t move fast enough to avoid being hit.
February is always a good month for
February is a good month for hunting coyotes everywhere from Westside forests to the marshes and sage-steppe of the greater Columbia Basin. Author Dave Workman’s Ruger No. 1, chambered in .204 Ruger, would make a formidable ’yote-stopper. (TOM KOERNER, USFWS)
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Rabbit hunting continues into mid-March in Washington, the end of February for cottontails and the end of March for snowshoes in Idaho, and is open year-round in Oregon. (DAVE WORKMAN)
conking coyotes. It’s ahead of the fawning and calving seasons for deer and elk, their pelts are in prime condition, vegetation is down and there aren’t even any buds showing on small alders, maples or other trees. Coyotes will be looking for something to eat throughout the day, so calls imitating rabbits in distress or other prey might bring them running.
But enough about my own goofy caliber preference; let’s look at top varmint cartridges.
The aforementioned .223 Rem. and .22250 Rem. are both renowned and reliable flat-shooting, long-range cartridges, but they’re not the only choices.
Some years ago, the .204 Ruger appeared on the scene and I’ve been able to blast prairie dogs out to several hundred yards with a Ruger No. 1 single shot. If I can hit a prairie dog at that distance with the .204, you should be able to clobber a coyote at the same distance or closer.
Another good choice is the .220 Swift, which has been around for decades and
GUN PROHIBITIONISTS: IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Here is the 2025 legislative agenda of Washington’s gun prohibition lobby, as posted by the Alliance for Gun Responsibility back in December:
Require a Permit to Purchase Firearms: Permit-to-purchase systems ensure that background checks occur before a firearm purchase rather than at the point of sale. This life-saving tool has been proven to reduce firearm-related deaths, curb illegal gun trafficking, and help ensure firearms don’t fall into dangerous hands. Additionally, permitting provides an extra layer of safety by involving additional checks in the initial stages of firearm acquisition.
Hold Dealers Accountable: We must ensure that firearms are sold and managed in a manner that prioritizes public safety. Holding the gun industry accountable to established responsible standards of care for firearm dealers operating in Washington State is critically important for public safety. Requiring compliance to these standards to maintain a dealer license ensures that firearm retailers are taking reasonable precautions regarding safe storage, preventing straw purchases, and
maintaining accurate records.
Support and Fund Community Safety: Gun violence disproportionately affects young people and communities of color. Washington State must invest in community-based intervention programs by authorizing Medicaid to fund these initiatives in trauma centers, restricting the sale of lookalike airsoft rifles and toy guns, and ensure consistent funding for the implementation of gun violence prevention policies and programs like the Office of Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention to close dangerous loopholes and support atrisk communities effectively.
Restrict Firearms in Sensitive Places: We must apply additional safeguards by expanding restrictions into parks and public buildings and allowing local governing bodies to craft regulations that fit the needs of their communities. Such measures are vital in creating a comprehensive approach to gun safety, enhancing the well-being of all citizens.
Require the Safe Storage of Firearms: Firearms continue to be the leading cause of death for children in the United States. We must mitigate risks associated
with unsecured firearms and their impact on accidental shootings, domestic violence, and suicide by requiring firearms be safely stored at home and, crucially, in vehicles where they are stolen most often. Properly storing firearms in secure safes or lockboxes can prevent them from being stolen and ending up in dangerous hands, contributing to illegal firearm trafficking.
Restrict Bulk Firearm and Ammunition Purchases: Limiting the number of firearms and ammunition an individual can purchase at a given time is a straightforward approach to prevent gun trafficking. Data shows that multiple firearms sales are a significant indicator of firearms trafficking, and firearms sold in such sales are frequently recovered at crime scenes.
Establish a Tax on Firearm Sales and Ammunition: Gun violence costs Washington state an average of $11.8 billion every year, ranging from direct medical costs and criminal justice services to a lost quality of life for victims and their families after a tragedy. Washington must raise revenue to support victims and service programs via an excise tax on the sale of firearms and ammunition.
is just as deadly now as it was in its early years. Winchester produces a round with a 50-grain bullet that leaves the muzzle at 3,870 fps and punches a neat little hole upon contact.
And there’s the .222 Remington, which is another sizzler, with a reported muzzle velocity of 3,310 fps with a 50-grain projectile.
IF YOU’RE NOT interested in shooting coyotes, February is a good month for hunting rabbits. Brush cover is at a minimum, so you should be able to find cottontails in brush tangles, lowland areas that might be a little swampy and other mixed woodlots.
They also like hanging around wild blackberry brush, old hedgerows, old farmlands and areas along forest edges. I’ve hunted them out in the Columbia Basin, and I’ve even got them running around all over my neighborhood east of North Bend.
Likewise, snowshoe hares – which are all white by now and will be tougher to spot anywhere they are hiding – remain
legal and if you are doing any winter hiking or snowshoeing, it could pay off by having a .22 pistol or revolver along for the trek.
A scoped .22-caliber rifle can be deadly where rabbits are lurking, and I’ve known guys who managed to pop several and actually smoke up the backstraps and legs for tasty treats.
Once or twice I’ve hunted bunnies with a .410 shotgun, but I think the .22 with a 40-grain RNL solid or 37-grain hollowpoint is the most popular medicine. Bag is five a day in Washington and eight in Idaho, and there’s no daily limit in Oregon.
MOVING FROM FIELD to statehouse, once again, anti-gun Democrats in Washington’s legislature are pushing the restrictive agenda of the Seattle-based gun prohibition lobby (see sidebar, page 150).
The toll-free Legislative Hotline number is (800) 562-6000.
House Bill 1132 is an attempt to once again limit people to one-gun-per-month purchase restrictions, and prohibit people
from buying more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, regardless of caliber. It also includes a limit of 100 cartridges in .50 caliber. It is sponsored by State Representatives Darya Farivar (D-North Seattle) and Timm Ormsby (D-Spokane).
There are also proposals to add a special tax on the purchase of firearms and ammunition, essentially holding lawabiding citizens financially responsible for the victims of criminals who misuse firearms. Translation: Shooters and hunters are penalized for crimes they didn’t commit.
Plus, there’s a proposal to require a permit to purchase firearms. Let’s see a show of hands: Who thinks they need permission from the police or sheriff’s office to exercise a constitutionally enumerated fundamental right?
Another proposal is to repeal state preemption, thus eliminating border-toborder uniformity and allowing Seattle, Tacoma, Edmonds, Everett and other cities with anti-gun administrations to make up their own, often conflicting, rules. NS
This is a classic double-barrel shotgun. Should you be required to get police permission to buy such a gun? (DAVE WORKMAN)
Oregon’s still relatively new beardless turkey permit season runs through the end of February, making for some fun late-season hunts with your dog, but it’s not the only opportunity to be had this time of year. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
Stretch Gun Dog Season With New Beardless Turkey Hunt
By Scott Haugen
With most regular bird seasons in the Northwest now closed, don’t despair. There are still opportunities to get your dog some hunting action before spring training kicks in. Last season Oregon tried a fall/winter
permit hunt for beardless turkeys in specific units. There were some rough edges. This season it’s going smoother, and in the right situation can be a great experience for your dog. The beardless season runs through February 28 and is restricted to private lands in select counties and units in Western and Eastern Oregon, respectively. Since overpopulated turkeys are no longer being trapped and
relocated, hunters have an opportunity to help conservation efforts, tamp down conflict issues and put some great-eating meat in the freezer at the same time.
OREGON’S BEARDLESS TURKEY hunt offers three tags, with three birds per tag. The daily bag limit is three beardless birds, and you can have nine in possession if you get all three tags. Turkeys must be hens or
GUN DOG
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turkeys without a visible beard. Hens, as well as jakes and jennies – young males and females of the year – hang out in large flocks all fall and winter. When flock numbers get out of control, turkeys can inflict a lot of damage in many ways.
The state allows the use of dogs for hunting fall turkeys. Dogs will track, point and flush these wild birds. My dogs love hunting turkeys in the fall and winter. The big birds leave a lot of scent on the ground, which gets dogs excited.
I often send my dogs into the trees or along a treeline to bust up a big flock of birds that we’ve spotted from a distance. Most turkeys will flush into the trees. That’s when you can call your pup back to you, approach the treed birds from another angle, get set up 100 yards away and use kee-kee sounds to bring them in. Your dog will love this, but they have to sit stonestill. Turkeys will sometimes hold on the ground, like quail, and a dog will point them, which is also fun.
The best opportunities for this hunt are based out of John Day. Here, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife works closely with landowners
An Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife map shows the two units where hens, jakes and jennies can be hunted during the late-running beardless turkey season. Note that only private lands are open in both, but that certain private industrial timberlands in Western Oregon are closed. (ODFW)
to provide hunting opportunities. When contacting the agency’s local office (541575-1167), let them know you want to hunt with a dog.
If hunting unfamiliar ranch land, make sure stray barbed wire is not an issue. This can inflict costly damage on a dog that’s hunting on all cylinders.
FEBRUARY’S ALSO TIME for late-season goose hunting in Oregon as well as Southwest Washington. From February 8-March 10, the former state’s Northwest Permit Zone is open to goose hunting. Cacklers are the main target here. They’re fun to hunt with your dog and are the perfect retrieving size if that’s something you need to work on with a pup. Oregon’s South Coast is also open for Canada and white goose hunting February 22-March 10.
If upland birds are of interest, hunting on one of Oregon’s many bird preserves continues through March, time which is also the case for many Western states. From ringneck pheasants to chukars, Hungarian partridge to quail, these can be excellent hunts to get in focused training over a lot of live birds. If you have bugs to work out with your pup, consider leaving the gun behind so you can focus on handling your dog while a buddy or two shoots. Later in the day, or the following day, you can grab a gun and enjoy some hunting time with
Whether you need to work on specific issues with one dog or two, or simply don’t want upland bird season to end, bird preserves offer some great opportunities for the next several weeks. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
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your four-legged partner.
And not to be overlooked, Wilson’s snipe season is open until February 16 in Oregon’s Zone 1, the area west of the Cascades and counties along the Columbia east of the mountains. As water levels recede, focus on fields, marshes and the edges of river sloughs where snipe feed. Snipe leave very little scent, but they’re great for covering ground with your pup, therefore allowing you to work with them on heeling, restraint, and retrieves by hand signals. Snipe make great table fare too.
With six months of off-season training coming up, take advantage of those nice winter days and get your pup out hunting while you can. After all, that’s what we love to do most with our dogs – hunt – and what they were born to do. NS
Editor’s note: Scott Haugen is a full-time writer. See his puppy training videos and learn more about his many books at scotthaugen.com and follow him on Instagram and Facebook.
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The late goose season can be a fun one for you and your dogs. Tiny cackling Canada geese like this are on the menu in Western Oregon and Southwest Washington in February, again on private lands. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
