Nothwest Sportsman Mag - January 2022 by Media Index Publishing Group

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Sportsman Northwest

Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource

Volume 14 • Issue 4 PUBLISHER James R. Baker

Your Complete Hunting, Boating, Fishing and Repair Destination Since 1948.

EDITOR Andy “Always Accurate and Reasonably Fair” Walgamott THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS Jason Brooks, Scott Haugen, Jeff Holmes, Sara Ichtertz, MD Johnson, Randy King, Buzz Ramsey, Troy Rodakowski, Dave Workman, Mark Yuasa

ALUMAWELD

EDITORIAL FIELD SUPPORT Jason Brooks GENERAL MANAGER John Rusnak SALES MANAGER Paul Yarnold ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Mamie Griffin, Jim Klark, Kelley Miller, Mike Smith DESIGNER Lesley-Anne Slisko-Cooper PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Kelly Baker OFFICE MANAGER Katie Aumann INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGER Lois Sanborn WEBMASTER/DIGITAL STRATEGIST Jon Hines DIGITAL ASSISTANT Jon Ekse

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ADVERTISING INQUIRIES ads@nwsportsmanmag.com CORRESPONDENCE Email letters, articles/queries, photos, etc., to awalgamott@media-inc.com, or to the mailing address below. ON THE COVER Jerry Han holds a nice Mid-Columbia walleye he caught in the Tri-Cities area last January. (JERRY HAN)

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CONTENTS

ALSO INSIDE

VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 4

HECK WITH HAWAII, HIT ROOSEVELT’S BEACHES INSTEAD!

Winter finds some Northwest residents flocking to far warmer southern climes, but a few head the opposite way to get in on the fantastic trout plunking to be had on Northcentral Washington’s sprawling Lake Roosevelt. Jeff Holmes shares tips and tactics for catching 17- to 22-inch rainbows off the impoundment’s many public shores.

NEW YEAR’S STEELHEAD It’s time to push off in search of winter steelhead on the Oregon Coast. Troy Rodakowski spotlights five good bets for hooking into both hatchery and wild fish, whether you’ll be floating or bank fishing the rivers.

BOTTOMFISHING FOR BUGEYES Yes, you can troll plugs and worm harnesses for walleye on the mid-Columbia, but for Bryce Doherty, this time of year is all about jigging the deck for trophies and eaters. Jeff Holmes hits the guide up for tips, as well as shares tales from the night bite – which can be both the stuff of dreams and nightmares.

109 CLOSER-TO-HOME CLAMS, OYSTERS Mark Yuasa knows all about the huge shellfish bounty on the Washington Coast, but also that there are lots of bivalves to be had in Puget Sound and Hood Canal too. “Plenty of beaches with reasonable access” await Seattleites and others hungry for Manila, butter and varnish clams and oysters but who don’t want to make the winter trek to the coast and its razors. 123 FOOLING FOOLPROOF ’FOWL January is a tough time to hunt ducks and geese because they’re both harder to bring into your setup and it’s just mentally wearing to be out in the typically cold, wet conditions at this end of the season. But it’s also “when you make memories.” Our resident waterfowler shares how to make it happen. 149 I RESOLVE TO … Lower Columbia-based scribe MD Johnson is marching into 2022 like a boss with a set of resolutions that includes getting after Rio Grande turkeys, picking up his archery equipment again, and fishing for Tri-Cities walleye. Sure, his New Year’s aspirations might all flame out by the end of the week, but it’s always fun to read what fellow Northwest sportsmen see themselves doing in the months ahead.

(CHRIS DONLEY)

163 WHAT’S GOOD FOR THE GANDER, AND OTHER GAME MEAT Julia Johnson began canning wild game one fall when her freezer broke and she had to do something with a blacktail the family had just harvested. While the process is time-consuming, the results in the form of tender, long-lasting and shelf-stable stored food is quite worthwhile – not to mention easy, if the step-by-step guide she details is any indication.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Go to nwsportsmanmag.com for details. NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN is published monthly by Media Index Publishing Group, 941 Powell Ave SW, Suite 103, Renton, WA 98057. Periodical Postage Paid at Seattle, WA and at additional mail offices. (USPS 025-251) POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Northwest Sportsman, 941 Powell Ave SW, Suite 103, Renton, WA 98057. Annual subscriptions are $29.95 (12 issues), 2-year subscription are $49.95 (24 issues). Send check or money order to Media Index Publishing Group, or call (206) 382-9220 with VISA or M/C. Back issues may be ordered at Media Index Publishing Group offices at the cost of $5 plus shipping. Display Advertising. Call Media Index Publishing Group for a current rate card. Discounts for frequency advertising. All submitted materials become the property of Media Index Publishing Group and will not be returned. Copyright © 2022 Media Index Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher. Printed in U.S.A.

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VISIT MOSES LAKE Your Home Base For Adventure HOCKEY TOURNAMENTS:

Jan. 14-15, 2022: 18U Winter Classic (Moses Lake Youth Hockey) Teams Feb. 4-5, 2022: Moses Lake Pond Hockey Tournament (Moses Lake Youth Hockey) Feb. 18-19, 2022: Moses Lake Freeze (Moses Lake Adult Hockey Tournament) To confirm dates closer to the event date, please visit www.cityofml.com.

For a list of hotel/motels, restaurants, and other attractions, visit www.tourmoseslake.com.

BE SAFE: Please practice social distancing and wear a mask.

Tour Moses Lake W A S H I N G T O N

139

(BRIAN LULL)

ON TARGET

Lots To Do, Inside And Out

“January 2022 could be an interesting month for several reasons.” So states Dave, who offers up a list of late bird hunts, new product news, SHOT Show tidbits and what to watch out for as state legislatures convene.

COLUMNS 47

BUZZ RAMSEY Go Old School For Winter-runs Today’s steelheaders have a lot of options, but OG techniques like drift fishing are still practiced by some who know it’s a great tactic as high waters begin to recede. Buzz has a tutorial for bouncing bottom on Northwest steelie streams.

FOR THE LOVE OF THE TUG Growing Into A New Angle Of Attack At just 7 years old, Nate Ichtertz was a pretty accomplished little bank steelheader, catching his first one from shore all by himself, a feat he’s repeated many times, so it was a bit of a learning curve for him to adapt to the teamwork that is side drifting from a drift boat. His mom, Sara, shares the journey and growth of a young angler.

NORTHWEST PURSUITS Catch Lake Chelan’s Cold-weather Kokes Once upon a time, Lake Chelan kokanee fishing was just a spring and early summer thing, but anglers have since expanded their horizons, including to winter, when Mackinaw was the traditional fishery. Nobody knows that better than local boys like our Jason Brooks and guide Jeff Witkowski. Read about their findings!

133 GUN DOG Book Shows Off World’s Waterfowl Did you know there are a whopping 167 species of waterfowl on Earth?!? That’s just one of the interesting facts you’ll learn in Scott’s column, which details a glorious new coffee table book by his friend and world-renowned wildlife photographer Gary Kramer, who traveled to 40-plus countries over four years to try and take pics of every brand of duck, goose and swan that flocks around this rock. 157 CHEF IN THE WILD Boys And Bunnies Lace your boots up for a hunt in Southwest Idaho’s sagebrush sea with a side trip through the Spanish Inquisition, as Chef Randy serves up his youngest son’s first successful rabbit kill and a recipe for La sopa del diablo, or the soup of the devil.

18 Northwest Sportsman

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“Just in case you didn’t get enough freezer fish during the Buoy 10 and Columbia River Chinook seasons, you should know there is still plenty of fall salmon action to be had on several Oregon Coast systems.” So writes Buzz as he details how to work Tillamook Bay and its rivers, as well as other systems on the Beaver State’s Pacific side.

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THE BIG PIC:

Sportsmen’s Shows Shift Timing 2022’s annual fishing, hunting and boat shows are slated to be in-person, but some have new dates versus prepandemic days. ALSO: Sportsmen’s & Boat Show Calendar

DEPARTMENTS

20 Northwest Sportsman

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THE EDITOR’S NOTE Cougars, commissioners and Blue Mountains elk calves

PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS Coast, Fishing monthly prizes

THE DISHONOR ROLL Massive reward for info on Oregon wolf poisonings; Kudos; Jackass of the Month

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Cougars were responsible for at least 70 percent of collared elk calf predation mortalities in the Blue Mountains in 2021, killing 54 of 77 calves. (BRIAN KERTSON, WDFW)

THEEDITOR’SNOTE

hey were some of the most extraordinary moments from a Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting I’ve witnessed in over a decade and a half-plus of watching and reporting on the panel. At a meeting early last month, state wildlife managers reported the staggering news that only 11 percent of 125 Blue Mountains elk calves they captured and collared last May had survived their first 150 days, an “exceptionally low” rate, and that predators had killed at least 77 of those young wapiti, with cougars taking the lion’s share – 54. “I think we need to do something,” Anis Aoude, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Game Division section manager, told the commissioners. “Otherwise, there may be very few elk left, given the trajectory that we’re seeing.” The herd has shrunk from 5,700 animals in 2016 to 3,600 last year, the fewest in 30-plus years, isn’t responding to sharply decreased antlerless tag levels, and 2020’s hunt saw the state general and permit harvest shrink to the lowest level since at least 1960, just 200, per WDFW records. Annual calf survival for elk is usually 17 to 57 percent. But even as some of their fellow commissioners recognized the dire straits for what they are, Fred Koontz and Lorna Smith offered the head-spinning arguments of, what crisis, let’s just lower the goalposts on the elk population objective from 5,500 animals to 4,500 – the 20-year average, in Koontz’s words – and keep on reducing hunting opportunities further instead, in Smith’s words. It left me and another close observer of the panel that sets WDFW policy gobsmacked and wondering where everything was going. Just two weeks beforehand, Koontz, Smith and two other commissioners had paused the 2022 limited-entry spring black bear permit hunt, which in part could have helped address bruin predation on baby elk in the Blues. The distinctly uneasy feeling I’d had about the duo’s appointment at this time a year ago, as well as their September draft conservation policy, had fully come home to roost. Koontz has since resigned, but Smith remains.

nwsportsmanmag.com | JANUARY 2022

Northwest Sportsman 25

THAT CALF STUDY is being done alongside a herd risk assessment – I reported on both in our July 2021 issue’s The Big Pic – and together they represent steps by WDFW towards consideration of predator control in this rugged, iconic and also increasingly fang-and-clawrich portion of Southeast Washington. (For the record, nine calves were killed by bears, four by either bears or cougars, four by an unknown predator, three by coyotes, two by wolves and one by a bobcat. This is not to say that the Blues’ now-copious wolf packs don’t eat elk – that cannot be disputed, given the species’ nature – just that they weren’t shown in this study to kill many young ones.) No doubt drought and nutrition arguably play the most important roles in the longterm health of this (and any) elk herd, and the killer winter of 2016-17 did it few favors. But despite all that and last summer’s big wildfires, WDFW’s longtime district willdife biologist maintains the 5,500-elk goal is “still appropriate” for this landscape. So the next steps in the process are for WDFW to finalize its atrisk assessment and come up with recommendations by March for commission and public review this spring and summer. If “actionable management measures” are approved, they could be implemented as early as this coming fall. What could that look like? Reducing cougar numbers in specific game management units where elk calf mortality is the highest to boost survival in the short term. Will it happen? We’ll see. I understand that wildlife, habitat and climate is an incredibly complex interaction, but like a very concerned tribal manager told Koontz and Smith – and by extension the rest of the commission – “The arbitrary protection of predators cannot continue.” To that end, and given how sensitive all things Evergreen State predator have become, WDFW absolutely must have a solid scientific base for taking what appears to be urgently needed cougar control actions to save the Blue Mountains elk herd. –Andy Walgamott

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Sportsmen’s Shift

Masked-up attendees take in the 2021 Pacific Northwest Sportsmen’s Show at Portland’s Expo Center. Due to pandemic restrictions, it was one of only two in-person fishing, hunting and boating shows held last year, but at press deadline most were back on for 2022. (O’LOUGHLIN TRADE SHOWS) 30 Northwest Sportsman

JANUARY 2022 | nwsportsmanmag.com

n’s Shows ft Timing

PICTURE The big annual fishing, hunting and boating events are slated to be back to in-person this winter, but some are in new time slots. By Andy Walgamott

n-person sportsmen’s and boat shows are set to return to the Northwest this winter, filling what has largely been an empty space in the fishing and hunting world the past two years, but the usual schedule has also been shaken up from prepandemic days as major organizers shifted their operations to prime February dates. Both the O’Loughlin Trade Shows and Northwest Marine Trade Association have moved their marquee events deeper into winter, with the Washington Sportsmen’s Show rolled from late January into early February, the Seattle Boat Show pushed fully into the year’s second month and Pacific Northwest Sportsmen’s Show now running in mid-February. (See the following page’s calendar for exact dates of all shows.) And while the Willamette Sportsman Show also jumped – but in the opposite direction and now leads off the year’s entire lineup – the ExpoSure Shows’ Western Oregon trio and the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council’s Big Horn Show remain firmly rooted in their February and midMarch timeslots. But in late-breaking news, as the omicron variant arrived, Shuyler Productions cancelled their Yakima show.

BILL O’LOUGHLIN, PRESIDENT of the eponymously named company that puts on the big Puyallup and Portland events, said the February moves do “our shows a lot of good for 2022 and beyond.” He said it not only keeps them clear of the AFC and NFC championship games but the Super Bowl as well, plus overlaps “when peak purchasing and attendance occurs” at

nwsportsmanmag.com | JANUARY 2022

Northwest Sportsman 31

PICTURE the annual winter extravaganzas of tackle and trips, boats and booths, horns and hobbies, and seminars and scones. O’Loughlin was the only organizer to pull off in-person shows last year – Portland and Redmond – thanks to strong Covid-19 safety protocols and less-stringent state rules. Oregon’s reclassification of trade shows as retail was “a game-changer” for the company, which reported good business for some companies and few compliance issues with mask requirements. Washington’s pandemic guidelines at the time limited “indoor entertainment” to a max of 200 attendees at any given moment, making the big shows in Puyallup and Spokane unviable. That or board decisions forced the O’Loughlins and other organizers to either hold their Evergreen State events digitally, or just postpone, cancel or reschedule them for 2022.

AS FOR WHAT’S on the docket this winter, recent years have seen the Steelhead River, Kokanee Tank and Walleye Alley, and new this year comes Bass Lake, which will make its debut at the Pacific Northwest Sportsmen’s Show. Presented by Old Town, it will host bass, panfish and daily seminars on how to fish for the species in a kayak, according to O’Loughlin’s Trey Carskadon. He said there are “dozens of exciting new features” at Portland, Puyallup and Redmond as well. “Public lands advocate and hunter Randy Newberg is back for all three shows and will be doing daily seminars from Thursday through Sunday at all three shows. The entire fishing and hunting seminar series for all three shows has been overhauled with new topics and speakers,” Carskadon said. Show Fridays at Puyallup, Portland and Redmond will all feature a first-ever Elk Day, a special focus on the iconic – not to mention tasty – big game critter. And speaking of tasty, Puyallup and Redmond will see grillers and barbecues do their thing at the Outdoor Cooking Competition. For the Seattle Boat Show, 2022 not only marks its 75th anniversary, but a new seminar format. Presentations by some 32 Northwest Sportsman

JANUARY 2022 | nwsportsmanmag.com

2022 SPORTSMEN’S AND BOAT SHOW CALENDAR JANUARY 7-9 Willamette Sportsman Show, Linn County Expo Center, Albany; willamettesportsmanshow.com 12-16 Portland Boat Show, Expo Center, Portland; otshows.com 14-16 Great Rockies Sport Show, MetraPark ExpoCenter, Billings; greatrockiesshow.com 20-23 Tacoma RV Show, Tacoma Dome, Tacoma; otshows.com 21-23 Tri-Cities Sportsmen Show, HAPO (formerly TRAC) Center, Pasco; shuylerproductions.com FEBRUARY 2-6 Washington Sportsmen’s Show, Washington State Fair & Events Center, Puyallup; otshows.com 4-6 Eugene Boat & Sportsmen’s Show, Lane Events Center, Eugene; exposureshows.com 4-12 Seattle Boat Show, Lumen Field Event Center and Bell Harbor Marina, Seattle; seattleboatshow.com 9-13 Vancouver International Boat Show, BC Place, Granville Island; vancouverboatshow.ca 11-13 Douglas County Sportsmen’s & Outdoor Recreation Show, Douglas County (Oregon) Fairgrounds, Roseburg; exposureshows.com 16-20 Pacific Northwest Sportsmen’s Show, Expo Center, Portland; otshows.com 25-27 Jackson County Sportsmen’s & Outdoor Recreation Show, Jackson County Expo, Medford; exposureshows.com MARCH 3-6 The Idaho Sportsman Show, Expo Idaho, Boise; idahosportsmanshow.com 6-8 BC Sportsmen’s Show, Fraser Valley Trade and Exhibition Centre, Abbotsford; bcboatandsportsmenshow.ca 10-13 Central Oregon Sportsmen’s Show, Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center, Redmond; otshows.com 17-20 Big Horn Outdoor Adventure Show, Spokane Fair and Expo Center, Spokane; bighornshow.com 18-20 Victoria Boat and Fishing Show, Pearkes Recreation Centre at Tillicum Mall, Victoria; victoriaboatshow.com MAY 19-22 Anacortes Boat & Yacht Show, Cap Sante Marina, Anacortes; anacortesboatandyachtshow.com OTHER SHOWS Cancelled for 2022: Central Washington Sportsmen Show, Yakima; Postponed till 2023: Northwest Fly Tyer & Fly Fishing Expo, Albany; Wenatchee Valley Sportsmen Show; To be determined: Saltwater Sportsmen’s Show (former organizer is seeking new operator) of the top names in Northwest fishing, crabbing, squidding and boating will be held both live and be available for show attendees later on demand for three months after the event wraps up. This year’s seminar lineup also features new speaker Jamie Peth of Anglers Unlimited, who will be talking San Juan Islands lingcod, shrimping and

downrigger fishing, plus coastal clamming. Overall, there are expected to be 255 exhibitors and 800-plus boats at Lumen Field Events Center and Bell Harbor Marina. There’s much more on tap there and elsewhere, so check out the links in the above calendar for full details, as well as to track any show updates. NS

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PHOTO

CONTEST

WINNERS!

Carissa Anderson is the winner of our monthly Fishing Photo Contest, thanks to this shot of her and her big Buoy 10 fall Chinook. It wins her gear from various tackle manufacturers!

Jeff Flatt is our monthly Coast Hunting Photo Contest winner, thanks to this shot he sent of buddy Julio Cabrera and his Desolation Unit bull elk. It wins him a knife and light from Coast!

For your shot at winning a Coast knife and light, as well as fishing products from various manufacturers, send your photos and pertinent (who, what, when, where) details to awalgamott@media-inc.com or Northwest Sportsman, 14240 Interurban Ave S., Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. By sending us photos, you affirm you have the right to distribute them for our print or Internet publications. nwsportsmanmag.com | JANUARY 2022

Northwest Sportsman 35

MIXED BAG

Massive Reward For Info On Oregon Wolf Poisonings

n what is believed to be the largest reward ever offered in an Oregon poaching case, $47,736 had been pledged as of mid-December for information that leads to the arrest or citation of whoever poisoned eight wolves in the state’s northeast corner last year. No doubt wolves are a massive source of consternation as they recolonize the region following reintroductions in Idaho and Wyoming in the 1990s and natural dispersal before and since then, but it’s also a staggering amount of money for, frankly, what is a series of heinous and indiscriminate wildlife crimes that has received national and international attention and will reflect very badly on the perpetrators and their supporters when solved. And while fueled largely by donations from environmental groups, the reward included the standing $500 from the Oregon Hunters Association for any poaching case. The offer also means investigators have run out of leads and have turned to the public for help. “When rewards get to this level – a level that can make significant changes in a person’s life – they might stop to consider something they heard or saw,” said Yvonne Shaw, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Stop Poaching campaign manager. “This could be the down payment on a house, or an investment in a college education. It’s a new truck. Or a new start.” She told Northwest Sportsman that both OHA and the Oregon State Police’s Fish and Wildlife Division believe it to be the largest reward ever offered in the state.

THE AMOUNT GREW quickly after news broke early last month that not only had five wolves that died in close proximity to each other in February been poisoned, but so had three more found nearby or in the same county in March, April and July 2021. The animals were members of the Catherine Creek, Keating, Five Point and Clark Creek Packs. State officials were mum on the specific poison, but it appeared the first six wolves, plus a skunk and two magpies, had succumbed to the same substance, while the last two wolves had “differing types of poison in” their bodies, but that the death of one may be related to the first half dozen. For a nwsportsmanmag.com blog on the case last March, former federal wolf manager Carter Niemeyer indicated that a “fast-acting poison” was the most likely agent that killed the initial five wolves. “People are killing them because they can – pure retribution,” he said. Oregon biologists and troopers were led to two of the dead wolves after their radio collars switched to mortality mode. In the case of the mass poisoning southeast of Mt. Harris between Cove and Elgin, snow cover and poor weather slowed the initial investigation but evidence was eventually collected and submitted to the US Fish and Wildlife Service for examination at their forensic laboratory in Ashland. Anyone with info is asked to call the Turn In Poachers, or TIP, hotline at (800) 452-7888, text *OSP or email TIP@state. or.us. The case number is #SP21-033033.

KUDOS You’d be smiling too if you’d just bagged two “known offenders” who had “cases pending from previous transgressions” walking out of a unit only open for muzzleloader deer with a bull elk that had a cougar tag on it. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Officer Lisa Ariss made the bust this past season after spotting a rig parked at a logging road gate. “The primary suspect first claimed he had shot the bull with archery equipment before confessing to using a muzzleloader,” WDFW reported on Facebook. “The suspect did not have an elk tag of any kind, so instead he had placed an un-notched cougar tag on the elk.” The guy was cited, the elk and hunting equipment were seized, and multiple charges are pending. Kudos, Officer Ariss! (WDFW)

JACKASS OF THE MONTH

n Oregon Coast trailer park resident passing himself off as a legit source for fresh local crabs hauled up the mother lode in October – a lengthy list of citations after state fish and wildlife troopers caught a whiff of his illicit operation. Officers out of the state police’s Gold Beach station were tipped off by a post on social media advertising Dungeness for sale in Bandon. While the poster claimed to be properly licensed, a quick check of state records showed he had neither commercial fishing nor wholesaler licenses. That led to a visit by troopers, in which they learned that the suspect claimed to be “well educated on commercial fishing laws,” “had all of the licenses he needed” and that “he was commercial fishing for crab from the crabbing dock/pier in the bay of the Coquille River.” Wait, what? “He readily admitted he would sport crab and commercial crab at the same time, separating the crabs by size in separate buckets,” troopers reported. After allegedly telling them he’d sold or bartered 250-plus crabs over the previous 12 months, the guy came clean, admitting to never having bought commercial licenses and that he was “readily deceiving” the public so they’d think they were buying crabs from a legitimate source. That led to a legitimately long set of citations and charges for the guy: criminal citations for No Wholesale Dealers License and Fail to Sell Commercial Catch to a Wholesale Dealer, and charges sent to county prosecutors for No Individual Commercial License, Commercial Bay Dungeness Crabbing Prohibited Gear, Commercial Bay Dungeness Crabbing Prohibited Method: No Licensed Vessel, Fail to Record Catch on a Fish Ticket, Fail to Weigh Catch with a Certified Scale, and Fail to Complete Commercial Bay Dungeness Crab Logbook. Whoops!

nwsportsmanmag.com | JANUARY 2022

Northwest Sportsman 37

OUTDOOR

CALENDAR* JANUARY

New Oregon and Idaho fishing and hunting licenses required; Blackmouth opener in Marine Area 10; Washington late cougar season opens 1-5 Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select Washington Coast beaches – info: wdfw.wa.gov 8 First of 14 brant goose hunting days in Pacific County (others: 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23, 25, 27, 29 and 30) 10 Deadline to file Washington big game report for incentive permit eligibility 14-20 Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select Washington Coast beaches – info: see above 15 NEW – last day of Washington grouse season; First of three brant goose hunting days in Clallam and Whatcom Counties (others: 19, 22) and first of two in Skagit County (other: 22; more possible based on aerial counts) 16 Oregon High Desert and Blue Mountains Zones late white and whitefronted goose opener 17 Last day to hunt partridge, quail and pheasant in Eastern Washington 23 Last day to hunt ducks in Oregon Zone 2 29-Feb. 3 Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select Washington Coast beaches – info: see above 30 Last day to hunt ducks, coots and snipe in Washington; Last day to hunt ducks and scaup in Oregon Zone 1; Last day to hunt Canada geese in Blue Mountains, High Desert and Mid-Columbia Zones, all geese in Southwest Zone and white and white-fronted geese in Mid-Columbia Zone 31 Deadline to file mandatory hunter reports in Washington and Oregon; Last day to hunt upland birds in Oregon and Idaho; Last day to hunt ducks and geese in Idaho Area 1; Last day to fish many Western Washington streams

FEBRUARY 5

Oregon, Washington statewide veterans and active military waterfowl hunting day; Washington statewide youth waterfowl hunting day; MidColumbia Zone white and white-fronted goose opener; Northwest Oregon Permit late goose opener 10 Deadline to apply for Oregon spring bear permit 12 Late white goose opener in Washington Goose Management Areas 1, 4; Late goose opener in Washington Goose Management Area 2 Coast and Inland zones (state wildlife areas, federal refuges closed; select dates) 14-18 Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select Washington Coast beaches – info: see above 15 Last day to apply for Idaho spring bear hunt; Last day of steelhead fishing in select Puget Sound terminal areas 19 Oregon South Coast Zone late goose hunt opens 19-20 Free Fishing Weekend in Oregon 20 Last day of Oregon Zone 1 snipe hunt 26-28 Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select Washington Coast beaches – info: see above 28 Last day of bobcat, fox season in Oregon; Last day to fish for steelhead on numerous rivers, creeks on Washington coastal systems

MARCH 1

Lake Billy Chinook’s Metolius Arm opens for fishing; Numerous Eastern Washington lakes open for fishing; Blackmouth opener on Marine Area 5 12 Bottomfish, lingcod, rockfish and cabezon seasons open in Marine Areas 1-3 and Area 4 west of Bonilla-Tatoosh line 15 Last day of bobcat, fox, raccoon, rabbit and hare season in Washington 20 Washington sea duck, Southwest Canada goose, snow goose and brant harvest reports due 31 Last day 2020-21 Washington fishing, hunting licenses valid; Last day to fish for steelhead on remaining Washington coastal systems * With Covid-19 restrictions in flux, always confirm public events before attending. nwsportsmanmag.com | JANUARY 2022

Northwest Sportsman 41

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Go Old School For Winter-runs I

t was while drift fishing an Okie Drifter that I caught my first steelhead from Oregon’s Sandy River back in December of 1966. In BUZZ RAMSEY case you don’t know, the Okie Drifter was a buoyant imitation egg cluster first introduced by Maxwell Manufacturing (though I’m not sure in what year) and purchased by Luhr Jensen just after I went to work there in 1974. I guess I’m dating myself to write about a long discontinued lure and a fishing method that isn’t used all that much anymore, at least by those fishing from boats. However, I do still see bank anglers employing the oldschool tactic, especially when river levels are up and fast-moving. After all, it’s when the water levels are high and perhaps just dropping into shape after a freshet that drift fishing can produce as good or better than other river fishing techniques, at least for those who know how.

THE CONCEPT OF drifting an egg cluster, egg imitation, single egg, bead, soft bead or other bait along the river bottom is one that fish readily respond to. It’s just natural (imprinted in their DNA, I guess) for them to eat bait, especially single salmon eggs, as their upstream migration follows that of when salmon dig their spawning nests and deposit their eggs into the gravel. In fairness, drift fishing hasn’t gone away; it has just morphed into techniques like bobber doggin’ and side drifting. And although side drifting lends itself mostly to boat fishing, I see more than a few bank anglers who employ the bobber doggin’ method during their outdoor excursions. In fact, many (including me) carry a set of rods rigged for two or more fishing methods; if

Today’s steelheaders have a lot of options, but old-school techniques like drift fishing are still practiced by some who know it’s a great technique as high waters begin to recede. Aaron Henderson shows off a hatchery fish caught on Oregon’s Trask. (BUZZ RAMSEY) nwsportsmanmag.com | JANUARY 2022

Northwest Sportsman 47

COLUMN

A drift fishing setup uses pencil lead (top), slinky (bottom) or other weight options to bounce bottom and present a bait in the form of a Spin-N-Glo, Lil’ Corky or other drift bobber to steelhead as the rig moves downstream slightly slower than the current. Colored line was used to represent the leader, which is typically 18 to 30 inches of fluorocarbon, depending on water conditions. (BUZZ RAMSEY) one technique doesn’t produce a reaction, perhaps a different presentation will. In case you haven’t tried drift fishing, here’s how: cast out, across and at an upstream angle using enough weight so your outfit will sink to the bottom and drift along slightly slower than the surface current. Your drift is complete after your outfit drifts through the run and swings toward shore, which is when you’ll need to reel in and cast again. Drift fishing is a series of casts, drifts and retrieves. The hardest part once you’ve got the drifting down, which has a lot to do with using the right amount of weight, is learning to detect when a fish is mouthing your bait. You wouldn’t expect such a light take from a big fish like a steelhead. But the fact is that this fishing method requires an almost uncanny sense of feel in order for you to differentiate a steelhead mouthing your bait (or bait imitation) from your outfit momentarily pausing or hanging bottom. So when drift fishing, you need to pay close attention as your outfit drifts along in the river current and should it stop, pause 48 Northwest Sportsman

JANUARY 2022 | nwsportsmanmag.com

or hesitate – do anything suspicious – set the hook! A really hard hookset is required because the river current will have pushed a big belly in your main line between where it enters the water and your sinker. What’s true is that if your sinker or hook catches the bottom and stops your outfit from drifting, waiting won’t help. However, if what interrupted your drift was a steelhead mouthing your bait, waiting too long will likely allow the fish time to drop your offering. So, again, pay close attention, follow your drifting line downstream with your rod tip, while holding your rod tip somewhat low (so you can get a strong hookset), and don’t be bashful about yanking back on your rod tip really hard if you feel anything suspicious.

IT’S IMPORTANT TO use the right amount of weight so your outfit will get down and tap bottom every few yards as it drifts along in the river current. If your weight is continually dragging bottom, it means you’re using too much. If it touches bottom only once during your drift, you’re

not using enough. The goal is to use just enough weight so your presentation will stay in the strike zone, drifting downstream, while keeping your offering within a foot or less from the bottom. There are several different weight options used by drift fishermen, all of which work for side drifting or bobber doggin’ too. Pencil weight is generally sold in 1-pound coils in either solid or hollow core. As you might guess, hollow core has a hole running down its center. Having a coil of lead wire in your vest allows you to cut off the right amount based on water conditions. What I’ve found is that this sinker style will take your outfit to the bottom quickly and transmit bottom-tapping signals to you better than other weight options. It’s also true that pencil weight is more likely to hang up on rocks or bottom structure than other types of weight. A popular way to attach hollow core is to crimp/pinch one end onto a 2-inch dropper line extending from the swivel where your main line and leader meet. Although there are many ways to

nwsportsmanmag.com | JANUARY 2022

Northwest Sportsman 49

COLUMN While a drift bobber might be all you need, adding a hank of yarn and/or small cluster of cured eggs can make the setup more productive. (ANDY MARTIN)

attach solid-lead wire, here are a couple that have worked for me. Flatten one end of the lead wire with a pair of needle nose pliers and punch a hole in it such that it can be attached to the snap end of a snap swivel, with the swivel portion used to connect your mainline to the leader. P-Line and Beau Mac offer needle-nose pliers, called posting pliers, that will allow you to flatten the lead wire and punch a hole in it. Another common way to attach solidlead wire is to thread your main line through a short piece, an inch or so, of surgical/latex tubing prior to attaching the line to your swivel and jamming the weight into the tubing for a friction fit. The surgical tubing method is designed so your weight will pull free if it hangs bottom, which should allow you to retrieve your outfit minus your sinker. Surgical tubing is sized to accommodate either 3/16- or ¼-inch lead wire. Slinky sinkers are a lot less likely to hang on the bottom than pencil weight. They consist of a section of parachute cord filled with lead shot or several short

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Northwest Sportsman 51

COLUMN Buzz Ramsey’s been drift fishing for steelhead since catching one on Oregon’s Sandy River more than 55 years ago, and he used it to hook this hatchery winter-run two seasons ago on the Trask. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

sections of pencil weight. You can make your own with a slinky-making tool or purchase different length slinky sinkers at stores specializing in river tackle. I rely on hollow-core pencil weight in 1/8 -, 3/16 - and ¼-inch diameters, using the 1/8 inch diameter or a short six- or eight-shot slinky when rivers are low and slow-moving, or when side drifting. Under normal or average water conditions, a combination of 3/16 -inch pencil weight and slinky-style sinkers in various lengths performs best. You should realize that nothing will get you to the bottom in high, heavy current like employing ¼-inch pencil weight. Check out Dave’s Tangle Free (davestanglefree.com) for lead-free sinker options that might work for you.

LEADER LENGTH IS mostly determined by water clarity. The clearer the water, the longer the leader you might consider. For example, a 30-inch leader might be the ticket when the water is running clear as compared to a more normal leader length of 20 to 24 inches. Fluorocarbon leader material can add considerable stealth to your presentation, as it is less likely to show up due to its refracting index (the amount of light that bends when passing through it) being nearly the same as that of water. Most anglers employ single hooks when drift fishing. For winter steelhead they can range in size from as small as a number 4 to 3/0, but for most river conditions, a size 1 or 1/0 is what you will likely need. And while Okie Drifters are no longer available commercially, Lil’ Corky or Lil’ Corky Cluster single-egg imitations are, and in a wide array of sizes and colors. A Lil’ Corky or Spin-N-Glo threaded on your leader above your hook might be all you need to catch a steelhead while drift fishing, but adding a small cluster of eggs is a favorite way to bait up. The popular method of attaching an egg cluster to your hook, in addition to piercing your hook through the cluster, is by adding an egg loop to your hook tie when snelling. There are several videos on YouTube that can walk you through the process. NS Editor’s note: Buzz Ramsey is regarded as a sport fishing authority, outdoor writer and proficient lure and fishing rod designer. 52 Northwest Sportsman

JANUARY 2022 | nwsportsmanmag.com

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FISHING

It’s time to push off in search of winter steelhead on Oregon Coast streams. A drift boat is one of the best ways to up your odds of hooking into both hatchery and wild fish, but bank anglers aren’t without good options. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)

New Year’s Steelhead 5 good Oregon Central Coast bets for hatchery and wild fish. By Troy Rodakowski

t’s that time of year again, when cold weather and bright chrome collide on Western Oregon streams. It’s not easy to climb out of bed on those chilly mornings, except if you will be fishing for winter steelhead. It’s a chance to hook a nice fish that gives you the fight of its life and memories that will never fade. Then there’s the warm coffee and good times with friends and family, and maybe even a nice cigar, as you slide down the cold river and enjoy the beautiful and

serene scenery. Ahh, yes, that’s winter steelhead fishing. Oregon boasts numerous rivers that produce nice fish of both native and hatchery descent. No matter where you plan to fish this winter, there will surely be some great action to be had. Of course, timing is everything. Watching the water levels and the forecast can make for a better trip with fresh fish on the move upriver. We can have dry spells in which fish will not move much and hold for a week or so until the next frontal system arrives, freshening up the water.

But from December into early March, steelhead will be making their journey upstream to spawn and then return to the ocean. Finding a multisalt fish isn’t always easy but there are some bruisers out there to be had. It’s important to research when runs have peaked in the past for each river system. This will help determine the optimum timeframe to plan a trip, although each year is different and, again, water levels can impact things.

THE ALSEA RIVER is just a short drive from Corvallis and the system has produced nwsportsmanmag.com | JANUARY 2022

Northwest Sportsman 55

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FISHING as many as 3,661 hatchery fish from the mainstem and North Fork in recent seasons, though the 2017-18 run – the last for which complete catch data is available – yielded only around 1,000 keepers. Still, the returns here remain fairly good despite less than desirable ocean conditions. Two different broodstock strains make for separate influxes of winter fish. The first period for returning fish is from December to January and the second is February to March. The later returning fish here are from native broodstock, which the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has been selecting during recent years. Side drifting and bobber fishing work best here, with some plug water also available on the bigger stretches lower in the system down to Waldport.

ANOTHER RIVER SURE to produce is the Siletz. It is easily accessed from the

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central and north Willamette Valley. Average harvest here was 2,000 fish through 2014-15, with recent harvests roughly half of that. This river tends to fish best from January through March due to its broodstock hatchery steelhead historically returning later. The Moonshine Park float to Twin Bridges between Logsdon and the town of Siletz is popular for both side drifting and using plugs. Anglers seem to find good success right near the town of Siletz as well. Optimum river levels for fishing are between 4 and 7 feet.

I GREW UP fishing the Siuslaw River near Mapleton on Highway 126. The fish here have changed over the years and so has the fishing. Recent harvest numbers have been near 1,000 fish per season, down from roughly 2,000 10 years ago. Most smolts are released from Whittaker Creek and the main return of adults occurs from

January to March. I have caught some nice fish in December on the mainstem, but those were also few and far between. We usually float from Whittaker to Wildcat and also from Wildcat to Linslaw for our fish. My favorite method as of late has been side drifting a prawn with pink yarn and a Corky. Lake Creek to Swisshome still has a few fish but I encourage anglers to check the regulations for retention here, as they have changed in recent years. There are also good numbers of sea-run cutthroat that are fun to catch and fill any down time you might have. Water levels between 5 and 8 feet are best for this river, although I have had some good success plunking above 9 feet.

ONE OF MY favorite rivers for winter steelhead is the Umpqua. You can catch really good fish through March

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FISHING Jarrod Kelso shows off a nice wild winter-run from the Umpqua system. This river fishes really well through March, as do many connected to the coast. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)

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here and have double-digit days when the fish are in heavy. There have been seasons with harvest of fin-clipped fish reaching nearly 3,000 on the system. However, there are fewer and fewer hatchery fish here recently, with most angling being catch-and-release for native fish and harvest numbers being closer to 1,000 and primarily concentrated on the South Fork. But if you are looking for a large trophy steelhead, this would be one of the rivers I’d recommend, thanks to some fish pushing 15 to 20-plus pounds. The best fishing here is usually in February and March. Last year we fished the Umpqua in early March. The water was a perfect aqua green and we brought several fish to the boat that day. It was dry and most other rivers weren’t fishing but the Umpqua was producing during last spring’s dry spell. Family Camp, Sawyer’s Rapids, Scott Creek and Bunch Bar are all great

places to fish for winters. The North Umpqua has a strong wild run and good waters for fly fishermen to potentially hook into a nice fish. River levels and locations here vary greatly, so keeping an eye on water color is critical.

AND FINALLY, THE Coquille is one of those lesser-known rivers, but it provides some excellent opportunities for anglers. The South Fork produces the best catch numbers since the majority of the smolts are released there, but the system as a whole has been known to produce nearly 6,000 fish in a season, though recent winters have been closer to 3,000. Beaver and Woodward Creeks below Powers is where the larger concentration of fish will be found. ODFW releases most smolts near these locations and fish tend to pile up there. On the North Fork your best bet is to fish near LaVerne County Park, where there is good public access near smolt release sites. The remaining portions of this river have large expanses of private property, but also some great water if you can obtain permission and access.

NO MATTER WHERE you decide to wet a line this winter, it is time to start planning your next trip to the river. Hooking into a beautiful chromer is likely just around the corner and if you play your cards just right, I’ll bet it won’t take 1,000 casts to play with one of these brawlers. Good luck and happy New Year! NS

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COLUMN

Growing Into A New Angle Of Attack L

ong after the festive trees, twinkly lights and holiday décor have departed from our FOR THE LOVE cozy homes, I find OF THE TUG myself still singing “It’s By Sara Ichtertz the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” in my head. Yes, I change the words some, but to me it truly is the most wonderful time of the year. The crisp, bone-chilling cold of winter at times can be disenchanting when we head out to chase those majestic winter fish, but the reward always outweighs it all. There are so many captivating angles about pursuing steelhead to me. The beauty of nature reigns supreme and so do the fish that come home this time of year. When we share these angles with those who matter most, the hellacious conditions melt away and all we really remember is the adventure and the joy found while pursuing winter-runs. At the end of the day, I believe with all of my heart that time is the most important gift we humans can ever give to the things and ones we love. Time wastes no time in life passing us by; I find myself in disbelief that my children are so big now! As they grow faster and faster with each passing run, I try not to fret and instead I embrace them. And realizing that they are big enough to embrace new waters in life, I shake off the motherly yearning for my babes to still be babies and make the most of the page of life that is right in front of me.

MY BOY IS a great little fisherman with passions galore. Nate is a lot like his momma! Poor guy, sure it’s both a blessing and a curse. That boy loves steelhead, he loves the adventure, he finds comfort in the cold and wet, and he loves the

Nate Ichtertz releases his first side drifting-caught winter steelhead, hooked on a test run down an Oregon Coast river last January, as guide Ted Jones looks on. (SARA ICHTERTZ)

nwsportsmanmag.com | JANUARY 2022

Northwest Sportsman 67

COLUMN bank. As a mother, I think it is important to provide our children comfort but to always encourage growth as well. So when opportunity knocked and we were given the chance to embrace the river in a pretty much new-to-Nate way, I absolutely said yes. Even though he was nervous, I knew he was ready. When we are growing, we should feel nervous, but we should never let that fear stop us. We should trust it, and as a mother, I want to help them see that. If I have learned anything by toting my babes while chasing these steelhead for the past eight years, it is that each milestone comes at exactly the right time. Friendships come at exactly the right time and this particular day just helps me remember that, as the river of life never stops flowing. Side drifting for winter fish brings these key things together, as you really do work as a team to catch steelhead from a drift boat. So I am thankful to trust in timing and love that it was time for Brother to give the popular and effective method a shot. The person behind the sticks, of course, must put in a lot of time and devotion in order to be deadly. At the same time, their passengers must execute on the cast, feel the bite and make the hookset, as we are not trolling. We are bouncing bottom, waiting to feel that glorious proof of life from below the river’s surface. To me, there is no greater boating experience than this. Maybe that’s because steelhead are the most glorious fish in the world! Maybe it’s because I get to feel them bite and set that hook like I mean it. Maybe it’s the beauty of nature that is all around me – the sights and sounds of a winter river that enchant me in a one-of-a-kind way. Or maybe it is because of how intimate it is, a one-on-one experience, making it my perfect day in a boat.

THE DAY OF this wild little fish tale was

Side drifting was quite a different operation for Nate from this steelhead, which he caught independently as a 7-year-old, but he seemed to learn the team-oriented boatfishing method quickly. (SARA ICHTERTZ) 68 Northwest Sportsman

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everything I could have hoped for to start off our winter run. Ted Jones, my good friend from Northwest Oregon Outfitters, invited Nate and me to join he and his boy Tanner Jones for a little drift. The idea was to see how the boys did casting and learning this program, as well as testing the waters. I loved that Ted brought his son. It helped me to feel like he was the right man to teach Nate, as he was teaching his

COLUMN son as well. The time had finally come for Nate to get his first lesson from the drift boat. I was beyond excited to see how the day would unfold. The cold was no doubt a factor as we hit the water that morning last January. The fog was packed tightly against the river, filling the entire valley as the sun began to rise. Yet even as it was foggy, crisp and cold, the boys were in fine spirits as Ted gave them a bit of a rundown on side drifting. And me too, of course. Yes, I have caught a handful of incredible wild steelhead from my own boat a few winters back, but I hadn’t been on a winter’s river with a man who has his “program,” as he calls it, down to an art. Learning was happening and passion was being shared with our sons. That is the stuff I love more so than anything. I

mean, yeah, I love that first headshake of it all, but to see their eyes light up with their first side drifting hookset and fight was something we as parents will never forget! Those are the riches in life I seek. Fate would have it that this winter day would be the one both Tanner and Nathaniel would feel that bite, that oneof-a-kind shimmering headshake and run of power these fish possess. They both hung right in there and took the guidance that is required to succeed from a boat. It is so important to get your rigging into the slot and keep it there until the time to strike arises. As your rower does the work, gently working the oars, he will keep you methodically bouncing the bottom. This matchup must be done correctly in order to see this technique truly shine. Considering it was quite new to the boys, I would say we did Ted proud and left the

boys wanting more – which, of course, is ultimately the idea!

I WILL NEVER forget the bite of Tanner’s first fish! It was different than the bursting bead bite and I am happy I got to see the difference. Tanner executed on the hookset and the first steelhead slash-andflash of the year was a glorious one. She was wild and mad, glistening brighter than most any jewel on Earth. The sweet, shy boy who says very little was smiling bigger than I had ever seen him smile! He was loving that fight. And watching a father give guidance to his son in such a rad first is something I feel blessed to have seen. Tanner listened well and Dad stayed remotely calm, for the most part. Steelhead action is crazy action, there’s just no denying it! Once the adrenaline had somewhat mellowed and that beauty was The care that guide Ted Jones’ son Tanner took with the steelhead he landed, as well as what Nate showed with his released fish, gave author Sara Ichtertz hope that the boys’ future catches were in good hands. (SARA ICHTERTZ)

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COLUMN within Tanner’s grasp, I saw Ted relax and enjoy the moment for exactly what it was. He handled her with care, sending her right back from whence she came. Observing that interaction led me to believe the future fish of his life are in good hands. It is so important that we teach our children about more than simply catching; it’s important we instill a love and a care for this special species. I believe the imprint we leave on our children of how we handle ourselves on the river is instant and permanent. Make it one that you are proud of.

IN SOME WAYS I feel a bit bad for exposing Nate to these fish at such a young age from the bank. He landed his first independent steelhead at the age of 7 and over these past few years he has grown immensely as a bank fisherman. The thing about working from a drift boat is, it isn’t independent at all; you must be willing to leave your bank skills on the bank. I can relate with him that this is not the easiest of tasks. It is a completely

different program, but a grand program. Indeed, it was good for both of us to grow in learning something new. It is important to stay humble, no matter your successes, and I loved for him to listen and learn, growing as a fisherman through this new approach to hunting for our favorite fish. After Brother set his bank skills aside for the moment and got in the zone where Ted wanted him, there it was! That spastic bead bite, Nate’s hookset was direct, and the fight was on. Wild, mad and beautiful was the trend of the day, as Nate fought that fish as if it might’ve been the last he would ever fight. He wanted it badly and he never gave up, even as the fish continued to try and elude him. Staying with the program, Nate landed his first-ever side-drifted fish. He handled that handsome little buck with care and the joy was all over his handsome little face! I absolutely love watching him connect with these fish, and to see his respect in the way he handles them and releases them is priceless. Yes, it was a challenge for him, but at the end of the day,

it brought forth so much joy and plenty of growth! And that just reconfirmed to me to always trust in life’s timing! I never did get a single bite that day, yet if I stop and think about it, I realize I have experienced some truly incredible days on the river where I didn’t get bit at all! This is one of the ways I know I am right where I belong. When I can love such a day because I love this sport, not because I need to catch fish, I am winning. As the runs continue to swim by, seeing the boys give it their best means more to me than the fish and that helps me know I am growing myself in the right direction. Passion indeed runs deep, but the depth of passion depends on the person and on days like this, I am grateful to feel things as deeply as I do. The boys got two bites each that frigid January morning. And while going three-for-four was great, I hope that the time spent with their steelhead-loving parents is what ultimately will live on in their hearts forever. My heart is on the river and I couldn’t change it, even if I tried. NS

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FISHING The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Chris Donley and his kiddo Cora are a lethal father-daughter duo on all sorts of salmonids and critters, and Lake Roosevelt is one of their favorites. They often leave the boat at home and just hit the beach, or they’ll run the boat to fish just off of a beach. Plunking here is so addicting that even Donley – for whom managing Roosevelt has for years been part of his job as a district fisheries biologist and now regional Fish Program chief – can’t resist the great fishing and the fattest, highest quality trout meat in the state. (CHRIS WHITE)

Heck With Hawaii, Hit Roosevelt’s Beaches Instead!

Here’s how to plunk for 17- to 22-inch rainbows at massive Upper Columbia reservoir. By Jeff Holmes

n the summertime, Lake Roosevelt’s hundreds of miles of shoreline and expansive beaches come alive with campers and day

users. But this time of year the beaches stand starkly devoid of human life save for a dedicated contingent of wintertime plunkers and a much smaller and less successful group of anglers who cast lures for the lake’s

outsized rainbows. These 17- to 22-inchers reliably patrol beaches and rocky shorelines, especially the lake’s lower half from Grand Coulee to Fort Spokane and up the Spokane Arm of Roosevelt where the Spokane River nwsportsmanmag.com | JANUARY 2022

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FISHING flesh and lots of fat. They’re great for smokers but make equally good or arguably better table fare.

AS MANY KNOW, Roosevelt used to be

You can catch fish off of Roosevelt beaches with really cheap gear and makeshift rod holders like a cut forked stick, but maybe don’t? A sturdy, high-quality holder you hammer into sand or gravel provides not only a stable platform from which to fish, but it also provides protection from reel-ruining sand. Adding a bell to your plunking setup has obvious practical advantages, plus it’s so damn fun to hear that bell ring! (CHRIS DONLEY)

flows in. There is great trout fishing the whole length of the reservoir, but the fishing is undeniably better in winter in the lower half of the pool. Big catches started showing in November 2021 and increased throughout December at places like Spring Canyon, Keller Ferry, Hanson Harbor, Lincoln, Hawk Creek, Seven Bays and Fort Spokane. These points of access and others will produce all winter and spring. Visiting them all is a fun goal. As always, the best shore and boat fishing is yet to come throughout the winter as dam operators release water from Grand Coulee Dam to reduce 76 Northwest Sportsman

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the pool significantly in anticipation of spring runoff. Reducing the pool concentrates trout along beaches and speeds already excellent fishing. But even at full pool, shore fishing for rainbows at Roosevelt will be incredible this early winter as this issue hits mailboxes and newsstands. Tons of access points and more miles of beach than one could ever reasonably fish await adventurous winter anglers looking for a great chance to get out of the house, go for a drive, maybe have a bonfire, and catch some of the best quality trout available for harvest in the Northwest. These rainbows are a meaty red color with firm, mild

considered a vast desert for fishing. With Grand Coulee Dam creating the reservoir but eliminating upstream migration by salmon and steelhead, a huge, highly altered chunk of habitat was created. But with huge swings in elevation degrading shallow-water habitat and restricting the lake’s potential as a fishery, Roosevelt was generally a poor fishery for most of the 20th century until efforts began in the 1980s and intensified in the ’90s and 2000s to stock the lake with what now adds up to three-quarters of a million net-pen-raised rainbows. These triploids are reared and released up and down the lake’s roughly 140mile length. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife had the foresight many years ago to obtain and stock a strain of rainbows that feeds heavily on zooplankton (daphnia) in the open water column. Despite poor shoreline habitat due to dramatic swings in pool elevation, Roosevelt is full of daphnia, and the lake’s ’bows grow extremely fat and red-fleshed on the backs of what seems to be almost unlimited feed. They eat other fish, crayfish and the same things other rainbows do, but these rainbows eat mostly small shrimp-like invertebrates. They will fall to lures and trolled flies – the fishing can be great – but they really love bait. Even trollers here tip flies and plugs with nightcrawler pieces. Speaking of trollers, boats allow pursuit of kokanee and trout simultaneously, but the kokes are way tougher than the lake’s rainbows. In most cases it’s probably not even worth dragging a boat to Roosevelt when five-fish limits of these tasty trout can be had from shore.

RIGGING EFFECTIVELY FOR rainbows off Roosevelt’s beaches is easy. Frankly, Snoopy and Little Mermaid rods can sometimes get the job done.

FISHING We’re talking about lobbing an egg sinker and a bait of worms and marshmallows or PowerBait off a beach and waiting for a fat cruiser to swim by and grab the bait. This isn’t highly technical fishing. But as usual in fishing, there can be fine degrees between angling successfully with confidence and just randomly lobbing a bait and hoping things work out. Here’s a starter breakdown on rods, reels and line; terminal tackle setups; preferred bait cocktails; and how to move to find fish for newcomers and anglers looking to expand and explore new casting points. Any trout, bass or light steelhead rod and reel combo that can cast at least 100 feet can be a rainbow killer at Roosevelt. Spinning rods from 6.5 to 8.5 feet are probably most common, and longer is generally better. A great combo is a 7.5- to 8.5foot rod with a sensitive tip but also some length and a little backbone, paired with a small spinning reel spooled with 10- to 30-pound braid – whatever your reels are spooled with will work. Sensitive tips offer the obvious advantage of watching Ashton White, 8, son of WDFW biologist Chris White, reels in one of Roosevelt’s obese rainbows, which already appeared to be averaging 17 to 18 inches in late fall. Don’t ask Ashton or his dad how many salmon and steelhead he’s landed over the last few years unless you can handle a bigger number than your own. (CHRIS WHITE)

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FISHING strikes, and a rod with some leverage helps with these 2- to 4-pound fish, especially dragging them ashore once they are determined to have a clipped adipose fin. The lake is home to some large wild redband rainbows that must be released and should not be dragged into the sand and beach litter to be released. When these wild fish swallow baits, it’s best to cut the line right in front of their snout. However, those lacking an adipose should not only be drug swiftly away from the water or netted, but they should also be immediately bled and left to chill, whether on ice or in nature if conditions allow. Early care of these fish results in unrivaled fillets. Most fish are clipped and retention-eligible. Any standard, proven terminal tackle plunking setup you already know will work here, so long as your bait is floating 1.5 to 3 feet above the bottom. You can tie a top shot of mono or fluorocarbon onto your braid if you

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want, but there’s no need here. Thread a 5mm bead onto your main line, followed by a 1- to 2-ounce egg or other sliding sinker, followed by another 5mm bead. Tie on a barrel or crane swivel just large enough that it does not suck into the hole on the bead. To the other side of the swivel, use a leader stretching 18 to 36 inches from swivel to hook, with 24 inches perhaps being an ideal starting point. Select 6- to 8-pound test for mono and 8- to 10-pound for fluorocarbon. When fishing PowerBait, use a supersharp barbed treble in size 10 to 18, with 14 offering an ideal size profile once the hook is covered in bait. For the classic worm or shrimp paired with marshmallow combo, or other baits best fished on a single hook, select barbed baitholder or octopus hooks in sizes 2 to 6. Smaller single hooks (8 or 10) can be used if Puffballs are used to float the bait instead of marshmallows, as these little foam balls from the steelhead world can be slid reliably onto the leader and

positioned touching the baited hook.

EASTSIDE TROUT PLUNKERS are sometimes funny with their superstitions and beliefs that they have the perfect bait, author included. But there is something to be said at Roosevelt for bringing a variety and letting the fish tell you what they want, although moving rod locations is a better way to find fish than endlessly changing baits in a fixed location, especially if the location is unproven. That doesn’t stop some dedicated and highly effective plunkers from carrying a dozen varieties of floating PowerBait and other baits as well. The standard go-tos at Roosevelt are PowerBait or worms with marshmallows, which are used to float worms above the bottom. Of course some people use coon or cocktail shrimp, chunks of shrimp meat, eggs and probably stuff I’m neglecting. The key is reliably floating an effective trout bait above the bottom, and

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Northwest Sportsman 81

FISHING positioning that floating bait in the line of sight of cruising rainbows looking for food in roughly 10 to 20 feet of water on points, near dropoffs, and in sandy areas interspersed with patches of rocky structure. Once baits have been cast, putting your rod in a reliable rod holder is always preferable to propped up on something random. Buy good rod holders that hammer into the ground, and consider buying them from Bob’s in Longview, or other known outposts for Columbia River plunking. Those heavy-duty rod holders would be more common inland if more of us knew how nice they were. Using a loud bell to tip off strikes is not only useful, but it’s sweet music when you’re on the beach and wanting a flopping 20-inch trout at your feet. The bell allows you to take your eye off the rod tip occasionally and to take in the grandeur of Lake Roosevelt, stoke a fire, barbeque a trout or a burger, read

a book, or watch the last three episodes of Narcos Mexico while watching the sun go down on the top of Grand Coulee Dam at Spring Canyon and its stellar cell service. If you find a good shore spot at Roosevelt, it will likely remain as such, and you can return year after year. But if you don’t have spots yet or want to expand your repertoire, the two-pole permit and friends are your best tools in dialing in which parts of a long swath of beach offer the best spots to cast baits. A really good plunking beach can be whitehot in one spot and only so-so in another based on depth, structure and proximity to dropoffs. Bring loud bells, and set up rods spaced good distances apart to see where the bites occur. If you don’t get bit on your first placements after 30 minutes to an hour, move one of the rods. Continue to move rods, letting bites and fish landed tell you which direction is hot

or cold to move rods toward.

THE DRIVE ACROSS

the channeled scablands and down into the canyons leading to Lake Roosevelt offers cool wildlife viewing opportunities in winter, including snowy owls, gyrfalcons and other migratory raptors, bighorns, elk, mule deer, coyotes, eagles, turkeys and migratory common loons. Expect to be mostly alone except for maybe a few other anglers, and it’s easy to pull a cart of firewood and carry a backpack and walk far, far away from anyone. Lake Roosevelt is a freeing place to visit in the winter so long as one calibrates expectations. It’s cold out. Dressing really warm, bringing heaters or firewood, and even setting up a tent in a known good fishing spot and hanging out in sleeping bags or blankets is fun as long as you keep warm, fed and entertained in between bells ringing along the beach. NS

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COLUMN

Once upon a time at Northcentral Washington’s Lake Chelan, kokanee fishing was just a spring thing, but anglers eventually discovered they could also be caught in winter, when Mackinaw was the traditional fishery. (JASON BROOKS)

Catch Lake Chelan’s Cold-weather Kokes W

hen it comes to fishing, it is hard to beat your home waters, where you grew up catching NW PURSUITS fish. Maybe it is a By Jason Brooks lake that your family trekked to for the opening weekend of trout season or a pond on an uncle and aunt’s farm. For me, I was a lucky kid growing up in the Lake Chelan valley. Our house was three blocks from a Chelan city park and I often would go down there and fish Lake Chelan from the bank, catching a few trout and mostly northern pikeminnows. But each spring we would take our rowboat out onto the lake and fish near

Lakeside Park for kokanee. These tiny landlocked sockeye would venture close to “shallow water,” which is a relative term, as Lake Chelan reaches depths of 1,400 feet or more. Back in those days, kokanee fishing on Chelan was a springtime event and each year you knew when the fish were “in” as they made their way around the lake, chasing the thermocline and waters rich in phytoplankton. The fish were plentiful but for some reason anglers only fished for them in the spring. Then when I was in my 20s, which is almost three decades ago now, anglers started catching kokanee in the summer. They found the fish in deeper water and just a bit further uplake, near Rocky Point and Mill Bay. This fishery took off

and soon more people were out chasing the small salmon in the warmer months. However, the big problem with fishing for kokanee in summer is that as soon as the sun hits the horizon, jet skiers and pleasure boaters cause rough waters and make it a nightmare to troll on a line or circle back to make another pass through a school of fish.

ABOUT TWO DECADES ago, my good friend Jeff Witkowski, a full-time guide on Lake Chelan, found the kokanee during the socalled “off months.” Of course the fish are in the lake year-round, so it only makes sense that they can be fished for all 12 months, even during the winter. When Witkowski set out to find them, we all knew the fish tended to migrate to nwsportsmanmag.com | JANUARY 2022

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COLUMN the lower basin near the town of Chelan in the springtime, and then made their way to deeper water during the summer. So he started looking around those summer spots. In the fall, the fish migrate even further uplake, towards the tributaries that serve as their spawning grounds. Just about every creek that dumps into Lake Chelan has a run of kokanee come September. If the schools of fish followed the spawning-age class, then it would make sense they might be near these spawning tributaries come winter. Witkowski found the fish near Mitchell Creek, one of the first tributaries on the north shore of the lake. From there he searched until his sonar unit lit up with schools of kokanee. During his test fishery all those years ago, he found that the fish were down 80 to 100 feet, give or take a few dozen feet in either direction, and that lake depth played but a small factor in it. Mostly it was the thermocline the fish related to this time of year; sometimes it meant that in 500-plus feet of water, the fish would be 80 feet down, and in 600-plus feet of water, they were schooled at 100 or even 120 feet. It varies with each cold front and even cloud cover.

SEVERAL YEARS AGO Witkowski invited my son Ryan, my father Alan, and myself out for a day of fishing. It was a cold, wet, dark January day, one that spit snow between rain showers. We found the fish right off of Mitchell Creek, down about 100 feet. Fast forward to this past winter, when we all three once again joined the guide for the day. The weather was the opposite of the prior trip, sunny and unseasonably warm. The sun was bright but the fish still bit regularly. We found them in deeper water, still 100 feet down on the cable of the downrigger but over nearly 600 feet of water. Once we found the fish we began a series of figure-eights with the boat. When the bite “stopped,” Witkowski knew that we needed to go find the fish – they don’t stop feeding, just move elsewhere. We crisscrossed the deepest part of the lake until we

Whereas kokanee fishing later in the year is focused closer to the towns of Chelan and Manson, anglers venture further uplake in winter towards spawning tributaries like Mitchell Creek. (JASON BROOKS) 86 Northwest Sportsman

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Guide Jeff Witkowski (left) is credited with finding Lake Chelan’s wintertime landlocked sockeye. He examines one of the setups that author Jason Brooks’ son Ryan is about to send down. (JASON BROOKS)

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COLUMN Mack’s Lure Smile and Sling Blades adorn different styles of kokanee setups rigged with hoochies or tinsel. Giving the dodger more of a bend will make for a pronounced swing back and forth at slow trolling speeds. (JASON BROOKS)

found the fish again. Indeed, this is not a hard fishery to figure out, if you know what to look for. First thing is, your sonar should be fairly sensitive to mark schools of 8- to 12-inch kokanee down 120 feet or more. Don’t think the middle of the lake is void of fish, as these salmon don’t use structure. It is all about water temperature and food, which

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comes in the form of plankton, so light plays a big part of it too. Once you get to the fishing grounds and start searching, using the right gear makes a big difference. Kokanee rods are light action and sensitive; when a fish is fighting, they act as a big springboard, which helps keep the fish from pulling off of the hooks. It is those hooks that play

the most important role, as they must be super-sharp and thin enough to pierce the fish’s mouth when they strike. Gamakatsus from size 8 down to 12 are often used. If you tie up your own gear, experiment with a small trailing treble in size 14.

WITKOWSKI IS PART of the Mack’s Lure development team and you can find him

COLUMN with Bobby Loomis, the marketing director of Mack’s, on several TV shows fishing for kokanee on Lake Chelan. Part of the guide’s go-to setup is a Mack’s Lure Sling

CALMING KOKES

f you have ever caught kokanee, you know how hard it can be to grasp them and remove the hooks. The small slime rockets will thrash around and you often end up dropping them in your lap. On one of our trips, guide Jeff Witkowski taught us a trick with kokanee, and it’s one that seems to work with all fish that we have tried it on since. When you grab the fish, simply turn it upside down so the belly points upwards. The fish goes into an almost trance-like state and doesn’t move, making it much easier to get the hooks out. –JB

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Blade dodger, the color of which depends on what the fish want. A Smile Blade sits in front of a hoochie skirt with trailing hooks. The hooks are tipped with corn that Witkowski cures up. A big fan of Pro-Cure, he makes a special mix. When I have fished this lake in my own boat, I always have corn that I cure up with Pro-Cure’s shrimp and prawn cure in orange or magenta (sometimes we mix the two colors for a “tequila sunrise” effect), with an added dose of their Anise and Bloody Tuna. To toughen the corn I will use some Slam-Ola powder. Pro-Cure also makes a corn cure that is ready to go and has bite stimulants for kokanee; it’s called Wizard Kokanee Killer Korn Magic. Just sprinkle some of this on your corn the night before you go fishing and you are all set. Trolling speed is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for anglers here. Chelan is a big lake and very deep, with winds often kicking up and making it hard to control your speed. Some anglers have started using an electric bow-mounted motor, and

if the winds do kick up it is easier to fish into the wind instead of with it or across it. Start at 1 mile per hour and up to 1.5 mph, depending on varying water conditions and of course that wind. The idea is to go slow, take in the sights and let the fish bite. Kokanee, like their seagoing cousins sockeye, like slow speeds. This is where that Sling Blade comes into play. You can adjust it a little by bending the metal dodger, which will cause it to swing back and forth violently at slow speeds. The last bit of necessary gear – and likely the most important of all – is a longhandled net. The fish go crazy when they get close to the surface and the boat, which is where most are lost. A long-handled net with a rubber basket makes for an easy grab, as well as a quick way to get them out of the net with fewer tangles. Those sharp hooks will wreak havoc on cotton or nylon nets and you will end up spending most of your time trying to get the hooks out of the net. A rubber-coated net means fewer hooks digging into the basket.

COLUMN Brooks recommends a long-handled net for scooping these fish often lost at the boat. Rubber-meshed ones also make for a quicker release as the double-hook setup is less likely to get snagged in the mesh. (JASON BROOKS)

ABOUT THE FISH themselves, a few years ago there seemed to be a run of very large kokanee in Chelan, with some up to a few pounds, like those found in nearby Rufus Woods Lake and Lake Roosevelt. But that might have been due to the strain that the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife planted in the lake for that year’s catch. Each May, the lake

gets a shot of around 70,000 smolts. But these kokanee augment the naturally spawning fish, which were first planted in the early 1900s and are from Whatcom Lake stock. This specific stock is known for smaller fish and they are what spawn in the tributaries, along with any surviving smolts WDFW has planted. Lake Chelan has a liberal daily limit

They may not be big, but you can catch a lot of Lake Chelan kokanee in winter, as Al, Ryan and Jason Brooks know. (JASON BROOKS) 92 Northwest Sportsman

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of 10 kokanee per person and they don’t count as part of the trout limit, which is five per day. Chelan has a robust cutthroat fishery as well and it is common to catch a few while kokanee fishing. The main predator threat to the kokanee are the Mackinaw, or lake trout, which are very aggressive. There currently is no limit on Mackinaw in Lake Chelan and you will know if you hook one on the light kokanee gear. The lake also boasts a naturally reproducing run of landlocked Chinook. The limit is one of those per day and you don’t need a catch card for them. They run in the same water as the kokanee, often feeding on them as well as the mysis shrimp that were introduced into the lake as a food source for both the Chinook and Mackinaw. Winter is the best time to chase after kokanee on this large lake, as there are plenty of fish and hardly anyone fishing for them. No need to worry about pleasure boaters and jet skis interrupting your trolling routine. And the fish taste great. You might also get lucky and find a calm and sunny day to be on the lake, but the winter fishery does take place far away from the boat launch and only larger boats should be used. Look at the weather and remember this is wintertime, so boat launches can be iced over and winds can kick up. It’s time to go catch some Lake Chelan kokanee on my home waters! NS

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FISHING Bryce Doherty (left) opens up January fishing for keeper sturgeon and walleye on the John Day Pool. Once the sturgeon quota is met, he switches 100 percent to walleye. Doherty is one of the many guides who has to acknowledge that walleye fishing has arguably never been better even nine years after the end of size and bag limits in the Columbia River basin. A day walleye fishing with Doherty is always worth the time, but he’s also an expert at salmon fishing and guides from the Klickitat into the Hanford Reach. (ODOHERTYOUTFITTERS.COM)

Bottomfishing For Bugeyes

Yes, you can troll in winter, but for one Mid-Columbia guide, it’s all about jigging the deck for trophy and eater walleye. By Jeff Holmes

t’s no secret to Northwest Sportsman readers and walleye aficionados across the continent that the southern Columbia Basin is home to the world’s biggest walleye. Winter is when the females are heavy with eggs, meaning a possible new Washington or Oregon state record in the 20s. It’d be a stretch to see a Columbia River fish eclipse the 25-pound world record from Tennessee’s Old Hickory Lake in 1960, but over the last 30

years, many more walleye in excess of 18 pounds have been caught in and around Tri-Cities than all walleye waters combined, continent-wide. This winter’s fishery is just getting started. Our extra-big fish bring many dedicated crews of Midwest anglers to the McNary and John Day Pools from January to March to fish with guides in pursuit of lifetime trophies. Many come to night fish by pulling plugs, which is an extremely cold, dangerous and effective way to catch females (see sidebar). Along with Midwestern

visitors, a huge contingent of local and other Northwest anglers fish these stretches of the Columbia both day and night in search of trophies in the winter too. Some of the females are retained, but most get released under the community ethic that the biggest walleye are the big spawners because they have so many eggs. Even with all the talk in the walleye community of “settin’ the big girls free” and “lettin’ her do her thing,” biologists point out that large females are some of the least nwsportsmanmag.com | JANUARY 2022

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FISHING clear waters of the Columbia. This fall and early winter, large catches of 18to 22-inch eaters have been hitting decks and filling live wells and fish boxes, especially between Umatilla and Boardman. This is a great winter to make a trip to Tri-Cities, Boardman or anywhere within close reach of prime walleye waters below McNary Dam. The biggest trophies are generally caught above McNary between Tri-Cities and Port Kelly, but plenty of trophy walleye and much larger numbers of eaters greet anglers between Boardman and Umatilla. Their firm, white flesh seems extra good in winter, just how early-season rockfish and lingcod in the ocean are at their best in early spring.

SPEAKING OF BOTTOMFISH, Boardman,

It’s cold out, yes, but the action can be hot for good numbers of eaters. With a heater in the boat and by bundling them up, kids can enjoy winter walleye and it’s fast action too. (ODOHERTYOUTFITTERS.COM)

productive spawners and experience majorly decreasing fertility as they age. But there’s some logic to letting big females go to be bigger females to potentially achieve record or lifetime trophy size. And there are definitely plenty of trophy walleye to be caught and released, or not, in the McNary and John Day Pools. Unbeknownst to many, however, winter is also maybe the best time to clean up on eater walleye in the cold, 98 Northwest Sportsman

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Oregon’s Bryce Doherty of O’Doherty Outfitters (odohertyoutfitters.com) likens his favorite way of putting clients on walleye to bottomfishing in the ocean. “Whenever I can, I like to jig for walleye to keep my clients busy with rods in their hands,” said Doherty. “Being successful on the Columbia jigging looks just like fishing for rockfish and lingcod.” But whereas rockfish and even lingcod and halibut will leave the bottom to feed, Columbia River walleye remain plastered to the bottom. “Never have I caught a suspended walleye on the Columbia,” said Doherty. “Walleye hug the bottom extremely tight. If you ever examine the tail of Columbia River walleye, you will find they are worn white from rubbing on the gravel. So baits not fished within a couple feet of the bottom are unproductive.” Doherty trolls plugs and worm harnesses too to catch these bottomhugging fish, but when he can jig up good numbers of fish – which he is expert at – he’s using silver or gold blade baits and ½- to 1-ounce prop jigs tipped with a ’crawler or a plastic resembling a minnow. He is one of the best and most adaptable walleye anglers in the southern

Columbia Basin, and he relishes winters on the water. “Winter makes me think of empty boat launches, Little Buddy propane heaters, frozen fingers, frozen guides and plenty of fish,” said Doherty, though the truth is ice-cold days on the Columbia are as common as mild days in winter. Still, even a wonderful January or February day can be very chilly, and the crowds stay home. “May and June are the months the most people flock to the Columbia, and don’t get me wrong because those are some of the most enjoyable weather months,” said Doherty. “But December through March, even April, can be just as productive and with the river all to yourself. Not to mention if you’re looking for a walleye of a lifetime, this is the time of year to catch the biggest fish, when they are at their heaviest with eggs before the early-spring spawn.” Doherty fishes a combination of keeper sturgeon and walleye during January, and then most of his business turns to walleye fishing throughout the remainder of winter and early spring. Booking a trip with him is a slam dunk because he is not only one of the most productive guides on the water, but he is as honest and as good as the day is long. Doherty is highly regarded across the angling community for good reason. He also grew up ranching in Boardman and seems to understand these fish better than most. “Walleye are coming off a gorging on a large shad feed that has lasted them from August through October,” said Doherty. “As we get deeper into winter, the shad dissipate and walleye stomachs begin to demand.”

FINDING WALLEYE AND going slow enough to match the cold-water conditions is one of the challenges of winter walleye. To reduce the learning curve dramatically, hiring a guide is especially useful for Columbia River winter walleye. It is very much worth the price for a seat or two if you plan to fish here, especially during winter.

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FISHING Flatout Fishing Florida’s Ivan Reyes and deckhand Eddie Plata with a nice female that ate a purple Bandit lure slow trolled under cover of darkness in Pasco. Night fishing can be excellent for big females, but it also brings many dangers that must be respected. (JEFF HOLMES)

WALLEYE AFTER DARK: THE STUFF OF DREAMS – AND NIGHTMARES

alleye put on the feedbags at night during the full moon, and even the frigid temps of winter don’t dissuade lower Columbia Basin anglers, who will plow, shovel and apply ice melt to Columbia and Snake River launches immediately after even large accumulations of snow. If you know what you’re doing and are cautious, night plugging for big walleye is fun and can be addicting and a great wintertime blues cure. But this is definitely a nighttime fishery only for anglers who have solid daytime knowledge of these waters and their many hazards. Hiring a guide here is a fantastic choice. Safe, successful and kind guys to try this with in Tri-Cities include Jerry Reyes of Flatout Fishing, TJ Hester of Hester’s Sportfishing, Tyler Miller of Miller Time Fishing, and others. Below McNary in the John Day Pool, Bryce Doherty of O’Doherty Outfitters and Tyler Stahl of Stahl’s Guide Service will both sometimes night fish.

THE BIGGEST ISSUE with night fishing in winter around Tri-Cities – which can be amazing and is your best shot at a 20-pound walleye on the planet – is the many potentially lethal problems to deal with. Dangers include barges and other boats, islands, sand bars, bridges, underwater reefs dangerously close to transom depth, really cold water, wind – it blows a lot here in the basin – and 6-inchdeep water hundreds of yards from shore in places at certain water levels. Another immense danger exists, one that taught a bunch of greedy Tri-Cities anglers a dangerous lesson two winters ago, especially me: freezing fog. I had bad cabin fever and was pulling a silver Bandit in the fading light one very cold Monday night near Burbank, Washington, when my trusty Okuma SST sluggishly but heavily doubled over, and 20-pound Power Pro peeled from my Okuma Coldwater low-profile linecounter reel on a tight drag. When a fish peels 100 Northwest Sportsman

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significant amount of line while winter walleye fishing, it usually isn’t a walleye, or you need to tighten your drag. This chunky, nearly 30-inch female bit almost 200 feet behind my boat on an uphill troll going approximately 1.25 mph. She was pregnant, fat-backed and maybe 10 pounds. I let her go and trolled right back in the dark through the same flat and marked what appeared to be a bunch of big fish, only to have my rod go off again! This one was a fat 28-inch female. Meanwhile, a guide with clients nearby was the only other boat on the water, just inside of me in slightly shallower water, and he was seemingly doing even better based on a lot of happy screaming. That guide and I both ran home to brag on Facebook, and the next night 11 boats were on the grounds on a 20-degree Tuesday night. The guide boat had reported an incredible catch of something like six or seven over 10 pounds, including an 18. Based on the report of one of the clients, that ended up being exaggerated, but there was a whole bunch of nice fish out there. Based on our Facebook reports, my neighbor and friend, Jerry Reyes, was out there with Eddie “Hoe Candy” Plata in one of their buddies’ really big sleds. They asked me to come with them and told me it was crazy to go out alone, but I had a newish 20-foot sled, and I wanted to repeat

the night before without distractions.

LIKE THEIR BOAT and nine others, I made it 7 miles from Hood Park to the grounds before dark settled in. I also immediately caught a cookie-cutter female like the one from the night before, and so did my friends’ boat. But not 30 minutes after releasing that fish, the first tendril of fog flickered across my gunnel. The lights of a pulp mill were still visible over a mile away, and I thought nothing of it. Instead of packing up shop and heading home to fish another day, I pushed it, as did some other boats. The fog intensified quickly, and soon the only chance of seeing anything was GPS, and mine was poor and not functioning unless I was traveling fast. At times I could not see my bow. Everything was covered in ice. To keep a long story short, I enjoyed a long and terrifying 7 miles over a couple of hours. When I reached my truck, it was 17 degrees, and my boat and I were white from freezing fog. Winter walleye definitely makes a person appreciate the warmth of a truck and home after a night of January or February plugging, even with a heater in the boat and good cold-weather gear. If you go, hire a guide. If you already night fish out there or anywhere and think you have your safety program on lock, maybe you do, but I didn’t. Be careful if you go. –JH

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FISHING Doherty, for example, understands how the fish behave, how to control his boat really well, and how to present the right lures. A day with him or another reputable walleye guide is worth what you’d learn over the course of 10 solo trips – if you were lucky. “Walleye, especially winter walleye, use the current to their advantage,” said Doherty. “Cold, lethargic fish don’t want to use energy fighting strong current. Using current breaks, structure and depressions, they hide from the main flow of water, while simultaneously allowing food to be washed over them, attacking from below. As colder water advances throughout winter, I will progressively fish deeper and deeper. Starting in 50 feet of water and working to as much as 100-plus feet. These deep depths typically target eater-sized walleye.” Doherty and other southern Columbia Basin walleye guides are mostly tight-lipped about big fish techniques, although Doherty is less reluctant to share than some. He also will not stop or guilt a client about killing a female walleye, although he practices catch and release of females himself. Generally speaking, the females are found shallower, in close proximity to major depth changes, and closer and closer to their spawning grounds as winter progresses. It’s not too tough to find reliable big-fish spots by trolling the internet and by looking for the huge concentrations of boats near Burbank, near Irrigon, and near Boardman, but they can also show up randomly when pursuing eaters in deeper water.

DOHERTY CONFIRMS THAT the main tactics on the Columbia in winter are pretty much like everywhere else people walleye fish around the Northwest year-round: jigging, plugging and worm harnesses. “For plugging and worm harnesses, I prefer the same rod, something in 102 Northwest Sportsman

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the 7- to 8.5-foot range, medium action and fast tipped, paired with a linecounter reel filled with 30-pound braid and, yes, I tie my braid straight to my plug and bottom walker. For

Trophy and eater walleye don’t just bite at night. Great fishing can occur all day long, so long as you or your guide is on the fish. (JERRY HAN)

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FISHING advantages, these techniques don’t require top-shelf rods. Walleye can be caught using extremely affordable setups,” he said. “My go-to lure is a silver or gold ¾-ounce blade bait or a prop jig in black or green,” said the guide. “These are fished with a spinning rod. I usually use a 3- or 4-foot leader of 10-pound mono. Boat control is probably the most difficult part of fishing jigs. I like to keep jigs vertical, and this means the boat needs to be matching the current speed so the line is vertical as we jig. Once the jig is dropped to bottom, slack is taken up. The jigging motion is a quick 1-foot jig up, a slow controlled drop and thump on the bottom, then followed by another 1-foot jig up, a thump on the bottom, and repeat. “I can’t stress enough that you need to bump bottom on every drop and the upswing is not a huge motion, just a small twitch moving the jig about 1

Ready the tartar! Winter walleye fishing can result in big piles of firm-fleshed fillets, and if you fish with a guide to learn the ropes, you don’t have to touch a knife. (ODOHERTYOUTFITTERS.COM)

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FISHING foot off the bottom. Walleye usually bite on the drop, so as soon as you lift and feel weight, be sure to give a good hook set and keep pressure. “Jigging is fun all year and, once mastered, it is one of the funnest and sometimes most productive ways to catch winter walleye,” said Doherty,

IF YOU GO

ood marinas to launch from below McNary Dam include Plymouth Park, Umatilla, Irrigon and Boardman. Downstream of Tri-Cities in the holy water, try Hood Park (on the Snake River at the Columbia confluence), Two Rivers Park and Walla Walla Yacht Club at Port Kelly. When the wind blows, the river can be treacherous, and fishing in Tri-Cities itself at Columbia Park, Wade Park, Chiawana Park and Columbia Point affords some protection. –JH

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who has clients who want to jig no matter the conditions, even when many other anglers want to stuff hands in gloves and pockets and watch trolled rods. “For those days of extreme cold when your line freezes to the eyes of your pole as you jig, I suggest applying a generous amount of chapstick to the eyes prior to fishing,” said Doherty. “It will keep the water from beading up and freezing, and it will keep you fishing.” Doherty also pulls worm harnesses, favoring a 4-foot leader, and he varies color selection based on water conditions. “If I had to pick three, I’d say green, black and gold,” he said. Generally, the successful worm harness guys use a whole palette of colors and profiles, but clear water conditions in winter call for natural, earthworm or sculpin-type colors. While some do well using small-

profile harnesses, winter is when big-fish seekers increase size profiles to match the typically large feed of winter. Doherty, like the tournament guys and other guides, favors jumbo nightcrawlers in winter but feels comfortable fishing any he can get his hands on. Plugging has always been popular but has gained popularity in recent years in wintertime. Large, longprofiled deep divers like Bandits, Reef Runners and Flicker Minnows are favored for matching the large baitfish of winter. Doherty prefers green, purple, silver and white. He recommends an upstream troll of approximately 1 mile per hour, targeting 12 to 25 feet of water in close proximity to a dropoff into the river channel. Plugs may result in more big fish than any other method, in part because of the ease of trolling and the ability to cover large swaths of water, especially in the dark. NS

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FISHING

Closer-to-home Clams,Oysters

True, there’s a huge bivalve bonanza on the Washington Coast this season, but also a ‘richly missed opportunity’ to be had in Puget Sound, Hood Canal. By Mark Yuasa

hile coastal razor clams are garnering all the hype, there’s an even better nighttime affair happening much closer to the greater Puget Sound region. This definitely should be a “lightbulb moment” since there’s oodles of oysters and a variety of clams

waiting to be gathered on beaches within a short drive or ferry ride away. “Nighttime harvest for clams and oysters hasn’t taken off around here, and I think it’s a richly missed opportunity,” said Camille Speck, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife shellfish manager. “There’s plenty of beaches with reasonable access, and most are relatively easy to get to without stumbling in the dark to the shellfish beds,” Speck said. “You can find great spots along the northern I-5

corridor that are very underutilized in the winter, as well as many other locations on the east side of Puget Sound and Hood Canal.” Public access on beaches in Puget Sound and Hood Canal is ample and relatively easy to locate, plus you’ll likely find yourself all alone with a nice bucket of clams or shucked oysters. What follows is a rundown of places Speck recommended that’ll have you bringing home a batch of fresh steamer clams and oysters.

IN THE NORTHERN Puget Sound region, Birch Bay State Park in Whatcom County is open year-round for shellfish and Speck points out it is good on any tide for butter clams and

“Plenty of beaches with reasonable access” await Pugetropolites hungry for Manila, butter and varnish clams and oysters but who don’t want to make the winter trek to the coast. (PAUL KIM) nwsportsmanmag.com | JANUARY 2022

Northwest Sportsman 109

FISHING has a sandy beach, making it easy for digging. Manilas can be found high up on the beach, and access extends to the park boundary on the eastern side. Hop over the berm and the initial 100 to 200 feet is a great Manila and littleneck clam beach, with some scattered oyster beds. Also in Whatcom County, Drayton West in Drayton Harbor is open yearround and “fantastic” for Manila, native littleneck and butter clams, with the best location near the north end of the beach. “We take less than 1 percent of the allowable recreational harvest (of 28,000 pounds of Manila clams), and I’d like to see more of those taken by the public,” Speck said. At Drayton West, there is a narrow band of oyster beds, and you can even find them on a high tide. Remember,

Some of the year’s lowest tides will occur this month, but be sure to bring lighting because the best digging will also be well after sunset. (PAUL KIM)

IF YOU GO

nlike spring and summer shellfish gathering, winter minus tides mainly occur at night. Besides warm clothes and rain gear to wick away precipitation, you’ll need a powerful lantern coupled with a strong flashlight and headlamp. Upcoming low tides: January 1, -3.4 feet at 9:35 p.m.; January 2, -3.7 at 10:22 p.m.; January 3, -3.5 at 11:10 p.m.; January 4, -2.9 at 11:57 p.m.; January 6, -2.0 at 12:54 a.m.; January 7, -.67 at 1:32 a.m.; January 14, -0.5 at 8:47 p.m.; January 15, -0.9 at 9:22 p.m.; January 16, -1.2 at 9:57 p.m.; January 17, -1.3 at 10:33 p.m.; January 18, -1.4 at 11:09 p.m.; January 19, -1.2 at 11:46 p.m.; January 21, -0.8 at 12:23 a.m.; January 27, -0.6 at 6:41 p.m.; January 28, -1.6 at 7:37 p.m.; January 29, -2.4 at 8:31 p.m.; January 30, -2.7 at 9:22 p.m.; and January 31, -2.8 at 10:10 p.m. Note: These heights and times are for Hansville, at the northern tip of the Kitsap Peninsula. For tide information for your beach, go to saltwatertides.com/dynamic.dir/washingtonsites.html. Be sure to follow shellfish rules, daily limits and gathering etiquette such as filling in holes, shucking oysters and leaving the shells on the beach where you found them. Before heading to a beach, be sure to check the WDFW and state Department of Health websites (wdfw.wa.gov; doh.wa.gov) for closures or changes. Keep in mind, all eastern mainland beaches from Everett south into southern Puget Sound are closed for shellfish gathering due to unsafe pollution levels. “By January 1 we should have a new chart on our website with intended and projected 2022 seasons,” WDFW’s Camille Speck said. “I’m working on making the data-based shellfish website much easier to navigate with a search by date to locate open beaches. Eventually the (DOH and WDFW) websites will talk together, making it unnecessary to move from one site to the other.” For a list of beaches open and/or closed, go to wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfishingregulations. For emergency beach closures, call the DOH hotline at (800) 562-5632 or visit doh.wa.gov/CommunityandEnvironment/Shellfish. Also check the WDFW hotline at (866) 880-5431. Shellfish gatherers age 16 to 69 must have a valid WDFW shellfish/seaweed harvesting license. A Discover Pass is required for parking in Washington State Parks and at undeveloped state park lands. Go to discoverpass.wa.gov. –MY

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the adjacent beach to the north is Semiahmoo Marina and closed yearround due to pollution. Visitors can find ample parking at the county park by the access road.

IN HOOD CANAL, the Duckabush is an excellent beach for Manila clams, and the middle intertidal zone is a sand and gravel substrate. It is a very large, flat beach, making it difficult to locate the best clam digging spots, but tell-tale signs are where digging has occurred or in exposed areas in tidal channels. Be sure to have a strong headlamp and/or lantern to keep an eye out for backwater sloughs around the middle of the beach. You can find native littleneck clams at Duckabush but they’re not as abundant as the Manila clams. Butter clams, cockles and horse clams can be found along the lower intertidal zone in the sand and mud. You can find geoducks below a minus-2-foot tide elevation in scattered locations. At the Duckabush Public Tidelands (located about 3.9 miles south of Brinnon and 20 miles north of Hoodsport) avoid parking along

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FISHING Highway 101 for safety reasons. Respect the adjacent private property where you cannot gather shellfish without the owner’s permission. A great oyster beach is Twanoh State Park’s western section near the boat ramp in the day-use portion of the park. Be sure to check access since the day-use area could be closed at night. A Discover Pass is required. Harvesters must shuck oysters on the beach and leave the shells at the same approximate tide height where they were collected. Empty shells provide critical setting surfaces for young oysters. Clam gathering is closed. The state park has restrooms, showers, potable water, year-round camping, boat moorage, a launching ramp, woodland trails, swimming area and picnic areas. Eagle Creek near Lilliwaup off Highway 101 is exclusively an oystergathering location that is open yearround. There is a very short, steep

trail to the beds, and parking is limited to the highway shoulder. An excellent location for oysters only is the Triton Cove Tidelands, located about a quarter mile north of Triton Cove State Park. The tidelands used to be a commercial oyster farm and the identifiable landmark is the Fulton Creek Bridge, and is the first righthand turn after passing the state park. Stakes mark the boundary of private beaches in the area. The northern portion of Dosewallips State Park – open year-round for oysters – is another good choice.

clam digging is about midway down the beach, and as you face the water, stay on the left side of the dock on the beach. Start digging along the gravel flat that wraps around the headland to the west.” On Marrowstone Island’s northern tip is Fort Flagler Historical State Park that is open from January 1 to April 30 for clams, mussels and oysters. The beach has a decent number of littleneck, butter and horse clams, but isn’t productive for Manila clams. Some geoducks can also be found on a minus-2-foot or lower outgoing tide.

ON WHIDBEY ISLAND near Holmes Harbor is Freeland County Park, an ideal Manila and varnish clam beach, though open through May 31 only. Be sure to respect the private property adjacent to the beach. “Freeland is a rather quiet location, and it’s a nice experience for winter effort,” Speck said. “The best

WDFW PLANS TO announce additional beach openings sometime prior to or just after the New Year, and shellfish gatherers should refer to their website for news releases. In fact, Puget Sound and Hood Canal shellfish gatherers can get a jump start to 2022 thanks to an excellent minus tide happening on January 1! NS

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HUNTING

Fooling Foolproof ’Fowl Never-say-never tips for making the most of the tough end of Northwest duck and goose season. By MD Johnson

t’s been the same for 40 years now, I reckon. I rise at 3:30, sit a spell – maybe it’s meditation, I’m not sure – and head out into what still qualifies as night. It’s cold, often brutally cold, but simultaneously beautiful. The world somehow seems cleaner. New. The river steams. The snow crackles. My breath hangs in the predawn chill. Frost forms on my beard. As the eastern glow threatens the darkness, anchor lines pull up snug. Half-shells settle into the powder. Blind doors creak and bolts slam home with a sharp, familiar metallic clang! The whistle of unseen wings overhead. The sound of a hundred voices – maybe a thousand – in the black. It’s almost time. January. And across the Northwest, ’fowlers are preparing themselves, mentally as well as physically, for the final weeks of the 2021-22 season. It’s tough, not only anticipating the end, but the birds themselves oft prove a challenge. They’re veterans. Survivors. They’ve made it – how many now? – 65, 70 long days without a ride on someone’s duck strap. Able to spot

January is a tough time to hunt ducks and geese, both because they’re harder to bring into your setup and because it’s just mentally wearing to be out in typically cold, wet conditions. But it’s also the part of the season “when you make memories.” (JULIA JOHNSON)

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HUNTING

Working open water – but not roost sites – will be key to bagging birds this time of year, when stillwaters and even slow-moving ones can ice up from extended cold snaps. (JULIA JOHNSON)

a blind from a mile out. Ignore the finest decoy spread. And shun even the best calling. They’re frustrating, these late-season experts in the art of human avoidance. Perhaps even impossible. Or are they? This month, Northwest Sportsman takes a look at how to fool these foolproof ’fowl. These last-minute ducks and geese. These birds at the bell. So dress warm and grab a thermos. It’s going to be quite the education. 124 Northwest Sportsman

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LET’S FACE IT. In a normal winter – key word: normal – a goodly portion of the water east of the Cascades is locked up. Snow. Ice. Cold. It’s all there. For the waterfowler rounding out his or her season, this changes things up radically. January’s ice relocates birds from their stillwater haunts, often throughout a broad expanse of various environments. Inland, this may mean creeks and rivers; something with enough current to

keep ol’ Mother Nature at bay. At the coast, it’s salt, while in the brackish in-between world, perhaps it’s the moon-driven tides. Or, and as is seen more and more often nowadays, it’s a warm-water discharge reservoir. Regardless, and though it may appear so, not everything is going to be held fast in winter’s frosty grip. Find the open water, and chances are good you’ll find birds. But moving water isn’t without its own set of challenges. First, you have to find the birds. Ducks and geese don’t sit on current willy-nilly; that is, they’re on a specific section of moving water for a specific reason. More often than not, it’s a roost or midday loafing spot, and that’s because it’s open and everything else in the general vicinity is frozen solid. If it’s a roost, general consensus suggests leaving it be. Pressure these birds in their safe spot, and you run the chance of chasing them out of the county. A loaf, on the other hand, can be a hotspot. Let the birds leave on their own accord, set up quick, hide well and wait for them to return. And the difficulties don’t end there. “The biggest challenge (that comes) with moving to open water late in the season,” Rusty Hallock, pro staff manager for Banded/Avery, told me, “isn’t a tactical challenge, but one of equipment and safety.” Hallock, who is a career firefighter living in Centreville, Maryland, just minutes from the famed Chesapeake Bay, has more than four decades of waterfowling experience under his belt, much of which has taken place on and around big water. “When you start dealing with extreme temperatures and open water, you need equipment that can handle it. That’s the right clothes, the right flotation, the right boat, the right motor, and constant attention to the weather. This,” he continued, “is serious water.”

HALLOCK’S TIPS FOR success during these waning days of the season are both basic and very precise. The first

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HUNTING involves blinds, a factor in the grand equation that ’fowlers often overlook toward season’s end. Or, as can often be the case, about which they get lackadaisical. “At the end of the day,” said Hallock, “your success is going to be based on being where the birds want to be, and your hide being top-notch. It’s imperative you (evaluate) and refresh the blinds throughout the season because there is no such thing as an insignificant detail.” “And one thing you really need to pay attention to is overhead cover,” he added. A-frame-style blinds, e.g. Dakota Silhouette decoys are the way to go when the snow falls and you want a unique spread, given their realism, the fact that the white stuff won’t accumulate on them (at least if it’s not blowing sideways), and the propensity of many other hunters to use full-body dekes. (JULIA JOHNSON)

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Decoy’s X-Series Field Blind, have become insanely popular in recent years. While undeniably effective when used correctly, what they lack out of the box is a roof, per se, thus exposing the hunters inside to wary prying eyes. “Make sure you cover up that hole (in the roof),” said Hallock, “or back the blind up to a treeline where you have overhead cover.” “If you don’t,” he warned, “and you have a good wind, the birds will hang overtop and pick out each and every detail.” To this end, I’m reminded of what a young goose hunter told me not too very long ago when I broached the

subject of blinds and the season’s final days. “If you’re not hiding,” he said matter-of-factly, “you’re not shooting.” Simple as that.

DECOYS ARE, OF course, another variable. “With geese,” Hallock began, “my spreads change with the temperatures. When it gets really cold, I’m swapping out my full-bodies – not all of them, but most – for shells, and those are primarily sleeper shells.” Often, he explained, extreme cold will see birds leave the roost, hit a field and stay there all day. “They’re feeding. Sleeping. Feeding. Loafing,” he said. “But they’re staying

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put. They’re not trading back and forth between the water and the feed like they had been.” Now’s the time, he said, to really up your game in terms of realism. “It (the spread) has got to look lifelike,” he said. Too, Hallock is a fan of silhouettes during inclement weather. “Silhouettes don’t accumulate snow (like full-bodies or even shells),” he explained. And given the incredible realism of 21st century silhouettes like those from Dive Bomb Industries, and the fact that everyone and his proverbial brother are running full-bodies nowadays, an all-silo spread not only stays clean, but looks different from every other spread.

CLOSING TIPS FROM the pro focus, perhaps surprisingly, moreso on the psychological aspects of end-of-the-season waterfowling than they do the strategic elements. “If you’re not changing your game,” he started, “if you’re not adapting and trying something new, you’re not going to be consistently killing birds. Ducks or geese. Whether it’s calling or flagging or what-have-you, it’s important you let the birds tell you what they want.” And an epilogue on the mental side of the ’fowl game. “Of the entire waterfowl season,” Hallock said, “my favorite part is the last two weeks. You have the greatest number of birds, especially ducks, and you never know what you’re going to shoot. There’s a real variety. We’ve done a diver hunt, and ended up with gadwalls, bluebills, mallards, pintails, blacks, canvasbacks and goldeneyes.” “But,” he continued, “you have to stay mentally sharp. You have to want to go out. These aren’t the easy 60-degree day hunts where you get in the blind and it’s boom-boomboom and done. It’s cold. There’s snow. There’s ice. These days you earn it. I’ve had some great opening days, don’t get me wrong, but it’s the final couple weeks when you make memories.” NS

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SJX JET BOATS

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later, he designed the very first “inboard tunnel hull” jet boat with the ability to run extremely shallow debris-filled waters. “Most all aluminum jet boat manufacturers, past and present, produce the Hells Canyon River Jet Boat design, which I call the typical jet boat design,” he explains. “All of them are pretty much the same with truly little design differences. When you live in the jet boat capital of the world and the gateway to Hells Canyon, it stands to reason that they would all be similar. Form follows function.” Stajkowski continues, “My type of tunnel hull aluminum jet boat was not designed specifically for Hells Canyon use, and it did not look anything like the typical jet boats. There is only one Hells Canyon in the entire world. I designed the tunnel hull jet boat to target all the thousands of other types of rivers and shallow bodies of water around the globe.” After nearly a year of CAD work designing the boat, the structure, and optimizing the material use, the first jet boat was produced in 2007, and a new company, SJX

Jet Boats, was born. What makes Stajkowski’s jet boats unique is that they are designed with a structure he calls a heavy-duty, lightweight construction. The continuous full-length welding, accompanied by a double bulkhead floor structure system, allows an SJX jet boat to flex as a unit, preventing any possibility of fractures or cracks beginning. All of this combined with the truly brutal testing they do on a continuing basis gives SJX the confidence to place a lifetime hull warranty on every jet boat produced. “To date, we have had zero warranty claims on our tunnel hull design,” says Stajkowski. But perhaps the biggest attraction for SJX’s customers is having the shallow-water abilities to reach places that other typical aluminum boats cannot even come close to, opening up so many more hunting, fishing and recreational possibilities. This has never been more important to outdoor sportsmen and -women than right now, when social distancing is the new normal. Says Stajkowski, “The SJX jet boat allows people to get away from it all and go to places where there is not a chance of any other boats sharing their space.” For more info, visit sjxjetboats.com.

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COLUMN

Stunning light and unique angles set Gary Kramer’s waterfowl photography apart, as his shot of a flock of mallards confirms. (GARY KRAMER)

Book Shows Off World’s Waterfowl G

“

ood girl, t h a t ’ s your first shoveler,” my buddy said proudly to his dog. Taking the drabGUN DOGGIN’ 101 colored early-season By Scott Haugen hen from the dog’s mouth, he held it up to me with a smile and exclaimed, “We’re mounting this one!” My buddy is nuts about his dog. He’s also recently taken up bird taxidermy as a hobby. His goal is to mount the first of every waterfowl species his new Lab retrieves, no matter if it’s a drake or hen, or

when in the season it’s taken. He wants to get his dog the North American slam, but knows the chances of her ever retrieving a king or common eider are pretty unrealistic. When I told him about author/photographer Gary Kramer’s latest masterpiece, Waterfowl of the World, a coffee table book, my buddy was all ears. “That could be just the reference I’m looking for to help with our slam,” he said in all seriousness. I know this is a column on dog training. But it’s also about hunting with our dogs. And since it’s January, the pinnacle of waterfowl hunting in the Northwest, I

wanted to share Kramer’s book with you in hopes it brings to your attention the great waterfowl hunting to be had throughout our country, and around the world. IN THE 1970S, Gary Kramer landed a job as a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in California. Over the next 26 years he worked on four national wildlife refuges, including a 10-year stint as refuge manager of the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex. He knows his waterfowl. Kramer is regarded as one of the country’s foremost authorities on

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COLUMN

A world-renowned wildlife photographer, Kramer traveled to 40-plus countries over the past four years to photograph every species of duck, goose and swan in the world, and they’re all in his latest coffee table book, Waterfowl of the World. Here he’s in Oregon, photographing cacklers with author Scott Haugen. (SCOTT HAUGEN) waterfowl, and is rated by many as the best waterfowl photographer there is, something he’s been doing for decades. His latest undertaking could be his most spectacular of all, as he recently completed a nearly four-year journey to more than 40 countries in which he photographed 165 of the 167 waterfowl species in the world, in their native habitats. No one has ever accomplished this. Kramer has always been a stickler for composing shots with perfect lighting in natural habitats at unique angles that make viewers feel as if they are there. Kramer ventured into some of the most remote corners of the world to get the highest quality images possible for this project. Once home in the northern California town of Willows, he checked the images on his big screen and if he didn’t like what he saw, he went back, multiple times to multiple places, to get the perfect shot. Waterfowl of the World is a once-in-alifetime work. In fact, this book is at such a high level, I doubt it will ever be equaled, let alone surpassed; just the photography is worth the price. Include the informative text, 134 Northwest Sportsman

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maps and adventure stories, and this is truly a special book that will meet the interests and needs of many waterfowl enthusiasts.

WHILE CAPTIVATING PHOTOS kept me coming back, it’s the Photographer’s Notes that I most appreciate. Perhaps that’s because I too am a professional photographer and know I couldn’t come close to achieving what Kramer did in this masterpiece. The stories of Kramer’s travels to complete the book are a worthy read, in and of itself, as there’s no end to the challenges and hardships he faced. Like the time he traveled to the remote mountains of Papua New Guinea to photograph Salvadori’s teal in their native habitat. To find these ducks that are most common above 8,000 feet, Kramer first traveled to Australia then Port Moresby, then boarded a domestic flight to Tabubil, located in the middle of the island of New Guinea, the world’s second largest island. After over 9,000 miles traveled, five days of sitting in a blind on a remote mountain stream from daylight to dark, and in the final 30 minutes of his journey, Kramer

got the shots he came for, of a pair of Salvadori’s teal. There was the trip to capture the Madagascar pochard, the rarest waterfowl in the world and which was presumed extinct for 15 years, until its rediscovery in 2006. Following three days of commercial air travel from California to Antananarivo, Madagascar, Kramer spent 10 hours driving on treacherous roads over the next few days before embarking upon a 30-minute hike down a slippery slope where he finally pitched camped near a secluded lake. The next morning he wasted no time hopping in a canoe with a local guide, and five minutes later captured what are likely the best images ever taken of these rare ducks. The adventures continue, but it’s the stories behind the two ducks Kramer was unable to photograph that stand strong in my mind, primarily because of the effort Kramer put in and the money he was willing to invest. One was the Eaton’s pintail, which is only found on two subarctic islands

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Northwest Sportsman 135

COLUMN

One of the last species Kramer photographed for his book, was cackling minima, which nest in Alaska and primarily winter in Western Oregon. (GARY KRAMER) in the Southern Ocean, betwixt Africa, Australia and Antarctica. Despite Kramer’s willingness to travel 30 days by ship (the only way to reach the island), and spend over $20,000 of his own money, the French territory administration denied his multiple requests to visit and refused to issue him a scientific permit. No reason was ever given. With the printing of Waterfowl of the World, Gary Kramer will have likely

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published more photos of waterfowl than anyone on Earth, 1,299 of them in this book alone. For decades Kramer has been a leading photographer for many national magazines. The 540-page coffee table book features all 167 species of ducks, geese and swans on Earth. Waterfowl of the World can be ordered at GaryKramer.net. Signed, standard-edition books are $99. There’s also a limited edition

of 250 signed and numbered books that come in a slip case and leather-like cover with gold embossing for $250. What better time than now for waterfowl hunters to start planning next season’s hunts, with their dogs. NS Editor’s note: To watch Scott Haugen’s series of puppy training videos, visit scotthaugen.com. Follow Scott on Instagram and Facebook.

COLUMN January represents the end of the road for most wingshooting seasons, with general upland and migratory bird hunting wrapping up in large part this month. (BRIAN LULL)

Lots To Do, Inside And Out J

anuary 2022 could be an interesting month for several reasons, not the least of which is the ON TARGET final two weeks of By Dave Workman grouse hunting in Washington, the convening of the state legislature (more about that in a moment)

and the annual Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas. Expect some big announcements on new products from the SHOT Show, but On Target already has some early details on new products from Hornady. And, thanks to a late-fall video message from Jason Vanderbrink, president of ammunition for Vista Outdoors, shooters and hunters should be seeing some relief

from the ammunition shortage. Vanderbrink’s 4-minute video message revealed how Federal, CCI, Speer and even the recently acquired Remington brand are working virtually around the clock to catch up on ammunition production. Some tidbits: • Handgun ammunition production is up more than 40 percent with the combined efforts of all four brands;

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COLUMN Is the ammo shortage on its way out? Jason Vanderbrink, president of ammunition for Vista Outdoors, says his company has added roughly 1,500 workers and brought two old plants back online, with the result being “hundreds of millions of new rounds to the market.” (VISTA OUTDOORS)

• Shotgun shell production is up 15 percent; • And there are some 12 million new users – make that gun owners – than there were a couple of years ago. In addition to the guns they purchased, they also bought ammunition, which put a strain on an industry already suffering some manpower problems due to the coronavirus. “We’ve added about 1,500 new employees,” Vanderbrink reported, and they’ve been trained over the past several months. Instead of building new ammunition manufacturing facilities, Vista Outdoors bought two existing plants, resulting in “hundreds of millions of new rounds to the market,” he said. Ammunition manufacturers have had to overcome a shortage of components such as brass for cartridge cases and powder to put in them.

LATE HUNTS Duck and goose hunting continues beyond the New Year holiday, and upland bird gunners can pursue grouse. For ducks and coots, the finale in Washington and Oregon’s Zone 1 is January 30, while there is hunting for brant January 15 and January 22 in Skagit County, and January 15, 19 and 22 in Clallam and Whatcom Counties. Be sure to keep the regs handy and watch for any last-minute changes. 140 Northwest Sportsman

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For small game hunters, rabbits are still fair game into March in Washington (and year-round in Oregon), so there’s plenty of time to take out the .22-caliber rifle or pistol, or maybe a smallbore shotgun (mine is a .410 Stoeger S/S with fixed-choke barrels and double triggers) and conk cottontails or snowshoe hares. Eastern Washington pheasant hunting continues to January 17, as does the general season for California quail, bobwhite and gray, or Hungarian, partridge. January 31 marks the end of upland bird seasons in Oregon and Idaho. My longtime nemesis, the chukar, will be legal through January 31 in Washington. Chukar and quail hunting is a game for people who own stock in ammunition companies, I’ve concluded. Winter is prime time for coyote hunting, too. I’m hoping to get over into the Columbia Basin for a shot at yodel dogs, as I’ve worked up a load for my .257 Roberts that should be able to punch them out to 300-plus yards. If you’ve got a .204 Ruger, .22-250 Remington or .223 Remington with a good scope, you are all set for ’yotes.

NEW FROM HORNADY Hornady revealed a few weeks ago its lineup of new products for 2022, and it’s impressive. For handloaders, Hornady has a full bag of goodies, starting with a Premium

Powder Funnel kit. This one features the high-capacity, nonstatic aluminum funnel with nine caliber-specific bushings to accommodate the following case sizes: .224, .243/6mm, .257, .264/6.5mm, .277/6.8mm, .284/7mm, .308, .338 and .375, according to Hornady. Then there is the Universal Trim Length Gauge, a tool that allows a handloader to set the overall length of a case on the Case Prep Center. It may be used with a dozen popular calibers. There are four new gauges for 6mm ARC, 6mm Creedmoor, 6.5 PRC and .300 PRC. New bullets include the CX (for Copper eXpanding), a monolithic hunting bullet made from copper alloy with what Hornady calls a Heat Shield tip made from a tough polymer. I personally like polymer-tipped bullets, because they typically have higher ballistic coefficients, meaning they sail through the air easier with less wind resistance, which contributes to a flatter trajectory and improved long-range accuracy. There are 16 choices and bullet weights in eight different calibers ranging from .243 to .375. There is also an array of new ammunition in four different families. In the Custom series, Hornady is adding a 6.8mm Rem. SPC 100-grain load and a .300 BLK with a 110-grain pill. Hornady’s Superformance family will be expanded with a .223 Rem. and 5.56 NATO, both with 55-grain projectiles; a 6mm Creedmoor with a 90-grainer; a .2506 Rem., also with a 90-grain bullet; a 6.5 Creedmoor pushing a 120-grain bullet; a .270 Win. with a 130-grainer; a new 7mm08 featuring a 139-grain bullet; and new loads in .308 Win., .30-06 Springfield and .300 Win. Magnum, all with 165-grain bullets. Hornady’s Outfitter line offers 18 new loads ranging from .243 Win./80 grains to .375 H&H Magnum/250 grains. One more offering is a .350 Legend featuring a 250-grain Sub-X bullet in the Subsonic series.

SHOT SHOW 2022 The SHOT Show will be held again at midmonth after last year’s cancellation

COLUMN Author Dave Workman’s trusty Ruger 10/22. Would you believe in Washington, thanks to I-1639 passed in 2018, this is a “semiautomatic assault rifle?” It’s time to change or repeal this stinker of a statute, and the state legislature can do it this year. (DAVE WORKMAN)

due to the COVID-19 pandemic panic. After all, you can’t have 60,000 to 80,000 people jamming into a convention center in what has been generically labeled a “spreader” event. It’s scheduled for January 18-21 in Las Vegas’s Venetian Expo and Caesars Forum. We’re told some companies will not be attending this year, but there will be lots of new hunting and shooting-related products including guns, ammunition, optics, electronics, knives and clothing. You’ll be reading about this stuff in the months ahead in Northwest Sportsman and our sister publication, the American Shooting Journal.

POLITICS HEATING UP A couple of thousand years ago, according to some sources, a Greek philosopher named Pericles is said to have observed, “Just because you do not 142 Northwest Sportsman

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take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.” If you have not figured that out, you must be new around here. Over the past several years, Seattle-based antigunners have spent millions of dollars to bamboozle people into supporting gun control initiatives in an effort to reduce socalled “gun violence.” Well, the initiatives they pushed through turned the Ruger 10/22 into a “semiautomatic assault rifle,” made it impossible for anyone under age 21 to buy any kind of semiauto rifle, mandated waiting periods and so-called “enhanced background checks” to buy a self-loader and generally treated lawabiding citizens like criminals. For example, the legislatures are heading into session in both Washington and Oregon. North of the Columbia River, spring bear hunters are fuming over a decision by the Fish and Wildlife

Commission to not have a spring black bear hunt in 2022. This is a head-scratcher because the Evergreen State has a pretty healthy bear population. Washington hunters need to stick together on any issue that reduces opportunity for any user group. After all, hunters and anglers provide – through license and tag fees, and federal excise taxes on guns and ammunition, fishing tackle and related equipment – a huge chunk of revenue for fish and wildlife management in this state. According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, for fiscal year 2021, Washington received $12.85 million from the PittmanRobertson federal fund for wildlife restoration. Flood Olympia with phone calls. The legislative hotline is (800) 562-6000. Call that number and leave a message for your state lawmakers (find out who they

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are here: app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder), and remind them you want to hear back. It’s OK to be a nuisance; the gun control and anti-hunting crowd have been doing this for decades. Sportsmen and -women have just been too slow to catch on. Check the listings for state legislators, both members of the Senate and House. Their emails are listed, and you need to become their new keyboard pals. Be polite, specific, on-point and let them know their votes on your gun and hunting rights will determine whether you vote for them, or work to replace them, in November. This year, incidentally, under Washington law, the legislature can amend or repeal the provisions of antigun Initiatives 1639 and 594. It’s time to flex your muscle once again and make this happen. Down in Oregon, sportsmen are in trouble, no thanks to Initiative Petition 13 (IP13). It’s an effort by animal rights extremists, ostensibly to “remove some exemptions within Oregon’s animal cruelty laws that still allow animal abuse, animal neglect, and some sexual contact (including forced impregnation) of an animal.” But you have to read the small print. IP13 would also remove an exemption to the animal cruelty laws “for hunting, fishing, and trapping currently allowed within Oregon’s animal cruelty laws … and any intentional injury or killing of an animal would be criminalized.” Check the website yesonip13.org/ about and you will find this revelation: “Within the state of Oregon we have ample food, as well as the resources needed to distribute that food to every citizen. There are also a multitude of humane and creative methods for conserving our environment and, in a state as wonderful as Oregon, there are countless activities we can engage in for recreation that do not involve taking the life of an animal; it is possible that everyone can get their needs met.” This is how your rights get stolen via the back door, while you’re asleep at the wheel. The Oregon Hunters Association is among those working to raise awareness about IP13 via oregonhunters.org/ initiative-petition-13. NS

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HUNTING

I Resolve To … Northwest hook-andbullet writer vows to accomplish these things in 2022. By MD Johnson

know. I know. Before any of y’all say anything, let me say it. No one – and I mean no one – actually keeps New Year’s resolutions. It’s that road to Hell being paved with good intentions sort of thing. We start out strong – determined – and then by January 4, or if you’re good, the next day, we’re right back where we started. Not always, for there are exceptions, but most of the time it’s pizzas, Blue Ribbon, missed time at the gym, bigger shirts, sweatpants, Thin Mints – yeah, you know what I’m talking about here. But, and like many of you, I actually do announce the coming year’s resolutions aloud to Julie, my wife, as if voicing them brings them closer to being. I’ll do it again this year, but will take it a step further and talk ’em over with you folks, too. My captive audience. So, and that said, here’s what I’d like to do in the coming months. The changes I’d like to make. The carbs I’d like not to eat. We’ll see ...

GET PHYSICALLY FIT BEFORE WILDLAND FIRE SEASON BEGINS This will be my fifth year as a wildland firefighter working for Wahkiakum County Fire District No. 4 and with the folks at Cowlitz FD2. I started at 54; pretty late for a wildland guy. But I’m in good shape – no, I don’t work out, per se, but heating your home exclusively with wood does wonders – and so far the long days,

Our Lower Columbia-based scribe MD Johnson is marching into 2022 like a boss with a set of resolutions that includes getting fitter for his summer wildland firefighting gig – which also keeps him in better shape for hunting and fishing adventures like salmon off the Columbia’s North Jetty. (JULIA JOHNSON)

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HUNTING

“Big. Little. Eaters. Lots.” Johnson vows to jump in Bill Saunders’ walleye boat to learn more about the MidColumbia’s stellar fishery for trophies and fillets. This quintet was caught there last month. (JERRY HAN)

steep terrain, lack of sleep, heat, bees, and on and on haven’t bothered me. That said, I’m now 57 and the ’21 fire season – well, it beat me up a bit. Fifty days, two weeks at a pop, was a long time. I was fine, but my body kept sending me text messages and emails about sleep, nutrition and, the most oft-seen one, being in shape before heading off to the first fire. So that’s my goal here. Being in shape before the first roll. It makes sense, the wildland adage that says you don’t try to work yourself into condition on the fireline. Trust me; it doesn’t work that way. Not for long. The gym can help. Walking. Biking. General all-round exercise. Eating right. What’s more, being physically fit goes a long way to improving the entire outdoor experience, whether it’s wildland firefighting, a backcountry elk hunt, packing out your 2022 buck, or just gin-whacking 150 Northwest Sportsman

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around in the backyard with the kids. Or, in my case, the grandkids. So I’ll do that. I’ll get in shape before the calendar marks June.

CATCH A MID-COLUMBIA WALLEYE WITH BILL SAUNDERS Most of you know the name. Bill Saunders has built his reputation as a maker of quality duck and goose calls operating out of Eastern Washington, the Tri-Cities area. He’s a wellrespected guide, former competitive caller and champion, and basically, as far as I’m concerned, a Good Joe from start to finish. His name, I think most bird hunters will agree, is synonymous with the Pacific Northwest when the topic turns ’round to waterfowl and waterfowl hunting. But what a lot of folks don’t know is that Saunders – originally from Wisconsin, which explains what comes next – is a fanatical walleye

fisherman, always on the hunt for this wonderfully non-native species not only on a personal level, but on a semiprofessional tournament level as well. I asked Saunders, whom I consider a good friend, a couple years back if he was once again headed to Saskatchewan in September and early October to hunt ’fowl. No, sir, he told me matter-of-fact. I don’t go to Canada anymore. It interferes with my walleye fishing. Uh … huh. That about says it all. Saunders has developed some interesting ways of catching walleye on the Columbia. Hand-painted crankbaits. Intensive research on water levels, water temperature and structure, all as they relate to finding shoals of cooperative ’eyes. And then there’s his method of fishing, a technique of which he forbade me to speak on an open forum. One day, perhaps, but not now. Saunders and his dad Bill boated roughly 20 walleye over 10 pounds during their 2021 forays onto the big river. That’s more big ’eyes than most anglers see in a lifetime. Or a couple lifetimes. So yeah, I’d like to spend a couple days on the water with Bill and his dad. Talk about our shared roots in the Upper Midwest. And catch walleyes. Big. Little. Eaters. Lots.

KILL A RIO GRANDE IN NORTHEAST WASHINGTON Julie and I got spoiled living 18 years in Iowa. When we left the Hawkeye State in 2015, I had 17 private farms we could hunt in the spring, any one (or all) of which were literally crawling with turkeys. No hunting pressure. Decent weather. Multiple tags. Plenty of uncrowded public land too, if we decided we wanted to go that route. According to my records, Julie and I tagged 77 gobblers between 1997, the year we moved to Iowa, and 2015, the year we returned to Washington. Honest. I’m not bragging. Just throwing that number out there to say we hunted turkeys hard back then. But since moving back to

HUNTING cleaning. Nor with the clothes and the blind bag. But it’s the decoys that more often than not are neglected. Now I’m not talking about dripping mud or festooned with coontail grass; however, they won’t – typically – be as clean as perhaps they should be. And I’m always discovering anchor lines that should have been mended or replaced prior to the following season, often as I’m having to either wade or paddle downstream to retrieve a wayward decoy that has, surprisingly enough, broken free of its weight. So this year, I vow to take a little time, some clean cold water and a stiff bristle brush, and give all my floaters and silhouettes a good once-over after the final bell rings. And an anchor cord check, too, while I’m at it. Of note, I’ve been told in the past by a man in the business of making and selling plastic ducks that soapy warm water should not be used to clean decoys, as it can enhance the ultraviolet reflective properties of the manufacturing materials. Is that so much bullsh*t? I don’t know, but why tickle the dragon’s tail? When I’m done, I’ll hang ’em all up in an out-of-the-way place, where they’ll stay until opening weekend 2022. At least that’s my plan at this point.

TAKE HANDGUN SHOOTING INSTRUCTION Too long out of the spring turkey hunting saddle has the author pining to get out again, specifically for Northeast Washington’s plentiful Rio Grandes. (ERIC BRAATEN)

Southwest Washington, I haven’t turkey hunted once. Not once. It’s a time thing. And distance from me to where there are birds in abundance. Excuses, maybe. Probably. Lots of birds here in Washington; I just haven’t made the effort. That, however, will change this spring. My plan is to make a couple phone calls to guys who know turkeys well, load the 1990 F-150 with gear, and head east by northeast. Find some public ground that hasn’t been beat up, set up camp, and do 152 Northwest Sportsman

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it again ’cause I’ll tell you the truth, I miss the gobble. The adrenaline rush. The plotting and scheming and getting beat up. Maybe pick some morels. And wild asparagus. Fish a little midday. Get back into it.

PUT ALL MY DECOYS AWAY – CORRECTLY I write it every year, this post-season waterfowl gear maintenance and storage story. Have for 20 years now. Do this. Do that. Don’t be lazy. Well, I’ve gotten lazy. Not so much with the shotguns, as they always get a thorough

I’ve recently become the proud owner of a new Mossberg MC2c, the company’s second-generation semiautomatic 9mm handgun. I’ve been carrying Mossberg’s MC2sc, a subcompact 9mm, for a couple years now, and truly enjoy the little gun. However, I’m thinking I’m going to like this next-gen 9mm even better, given its increased capacity, and the fact she fits my hand much more completely than does her predecessor. Do I feel comfortable packing the original subcompact as my everyday carry? I do. And what about this new one? I do not, essentially because I’ve not spent the time with her as I should. To that end, and quite soon, I’m going to do something

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HUNTING With the end of waterfowl season drawing nigh, Johnson is promising that he won’t neglect cleaning up his decoys, as well as check that their anchor cords will still hold ’em to bottom next season. (JULIA JOHNSON)

I’ve not done in the past, and that’s take formal handgun and selfdefense instruction as presented by a certified firearms expert. Oh, I’ve had plenty of folks whom I know and trust help me achieve a certain level of confidence; however, I’m looking forward to educating myself in a formal setting. Step-by-step, alongside an individual who does this sort of thing as a profession. The good news is I’ve found that individual, and he lives but a mile from my home. New to the area, he is; I didn’t even know he was in the county. We’ll begin, he tells me, right after the first of the year. “You won’t be needing any ammunition to start,” he told me via text recently. Different, I’m thinking, but he is the professional, and it’s always been my position to try, very hard, not to guide the guide, per se. So we’ll see how this proceeds. 154 Northwest Sportsman

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RESURRECT MY ARCHERY EQUIPMENT And last but certainly not least, I’d like to plan a return to the treestand this fall, bow in hand. Not that I’ve grown tired of my Uncle Neal’s .30-30 Marlin or the pretty little .350 Legend I got in 2020. It’s just that this past fall, while I was sitting atop an old fir stump not seeing any deer but seeing a whole lot of orange vests wandering and/or driving about, it might be nice to do something different. I’ve made a couple suburban contacts in recent months, people who would love nothing more than to have me – or Julie and me – come out and assist them with their deer overabundance problem. Due to these folks’ location, gunplay isn’t an option. Archery gear, though, is a very viable option, and one I’m seriously looking into. Too, and as I alluded to earlier, I’m hoping that perhaps a switch to archery might provide a bit more of a solitary hunt. The suburban settings will

definitely help decrease the amount of blaze orange I encountered this fall. Not that folks getting out and enjoying Mother Nature as consumptive users is a bad thing – it’s not – only that as I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown more – what’s the word I’m looking for? – anti-social. That, plus I always enjoyed archery season in Ohio and Iowa. To me, it was akin to the peacefulness of squirrel hunting, only with different sporting gear. I sit. I watch. I sleep – tethered securely, of course. At times, and given a twoperson ladder stand, I can sit with Julie. Or Adrionna, my granddaughter. Or my grandson, Tristan. And just contemplate the planet at large. Maybe we’ll see a deer or two. Maybe not. It really doesn’t matter. Yeah, I think it might be an archery deer tag for me this year, but I’ll have to dig out the gear and have it gone over. Maybe after the decoys get done and before turkey season starts? NS

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COLUMN

Boys And Bunnies T

he sun was fast fading behind the hills when the desert-dwelling critters finally started to move. CHEF IN As my dad says, “When THE WILD the sun is low, the By Randy King hunting is good.” It was the golden hour. My deer was hanging in the shade near the tent and my youngest son was poking a stick into the fire. We had been filling the days with ATV rides and glassing hillsides looking for

bucks. But now, with tags punched and a few days of vacation left, it was time for rabbits. Jordan, my youngest, had spent the weeks prior in the Idaho Hunter Education program finalizing his road to becoming a licensed hunter. We had spent time at the range with the .243 and the .22, making sure he felt comfortable shooting. He had learned about safety, optics and the like from his teachers. It was great to see him learning from someone other than his family. I’m not sure why, but it tends to

help cement things when it’s not coming from Dad or Grandpa. When the time came to go rabbit hunting, Jordan was ready. He had the little .22 in his hands and a smile on his face. Older brother Cameron grabbed a 20-gauge shotgun and I brought my bow. We all waded off into the sagebrush. Thankfully, our camp was situated by a long finger of granite sticking out of the ground. The rock and sage gave the cottontails food and cover. Basically, we were camping in our best hunting spot.

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COLUMN

THE SOUP OF THE DEVIL

hili and hunting go hand in hand. Something about the dish harkens back to a forgotten past life on the range. Of meals that needed to stick to you for sustenance. Of campfires and cactus. Of cowboys and cattle drives. I think that nostalgia and the fact that chili is easy to cook (especially from a can) makes it the perfect meal for hunting. So when I found out that chili used to be called La sopa del diablo, or the soup of the devil, by the Catholic Church, I could not have been happier. I have a fascination with cultural taboos that are adopted and go mainstream. With chili, it was the spice, the color and the origin that led the church to think the dish as indulgent. As such, it was not fit for consumption. That idea clearly failed the test of time. The myth surrounding the birth of chili is that in 1629 a nun who never left Spain gave the recipe to a tribe of Native Americans. Fifty of them then marched out of the desert to be baptized. Quite a bit of BS, but I am glad for chili nonetheless. Chili, as a dish in the Americas, has been around since the Spanish Inquisition. (The inquisition went from 1478-1834, roughly; I bet you didn’t think it lasted that long.) Unsurprisingly, the real history of chili is more complicated than a nun and a prayer. Chili is a story of the so-called Columbian Exchange; it is a transfer of culture and cuisine across continents. Chili is a dish that uses flavors of the American West combined with those of the Spanish-controlled Canary Islands off Africa. Spain was recruiting folks to immigrate to “New Spain,” aka the American Southwest. It is thought that the dish is a mashup of localized cuisine with Canary Island influence. By the 1700s, stalls and vendors for the stuff appeared in San Antonio – much to the chagrin of the church. But food and sin go hand in hand. Purity tests are often applied to chili. Some argue that chili is only meat and spices, while others argue that beans are mandatory. I don’t really care to have Inquisition-level dictates on my dishes, so we won’t worry about that. My white bean chili goes even further down the blasphemy road by being white – as in no red chili! I

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White bean and rabbit chili, with a dollop of sour cream and diced jalapeños and poblanos. (RANDY KING) know, I know. But it is tasty and adding a few extra jalapeños and poblanos makes the dish plenty spicy … I mean sinful.

White Bean And Rabbit Chili While this dish calls for rabbit, just about any white-ish meat will work – hare, turkey, grouse, quail, pork or chicken. I do prefer white meat in white chili, but I think only for aesthetic reasons. I know that deer meat in this would taste just fine. 1 tablespoon butter 1.5 pounds rabbit meat, deboned, sliced thin 1 small onion, diced 2 cloves garlic 1 4-ounce can diced green chilis 1 10-ounce can diced tomatoes 1 red pepper, diced 1 cup frozen corn 2 15-ounce cans white beans, drained and rinsed 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon 1 tablespoon cumin 2 cups water (as needed) Salt and pepper Chives Sour cream

Optional: diced jalapeños and poblanos In a 10-inch cast iron pan, preferably around a fire, heat half the butter until melted and foamy. Add half the deboned meat to the pan. Brown on all sides then remove from the pan. Add the remaining butter and remaining meat and repeat the process. If you don’t do this, the meat will basically just boil in its own juices and that will not taste nearly as good as browned meat. When the meat is all browned, add it back to the pan with the onion and garlic. Let cook for five minutes together over medium heat. Next add the diced green chilis, diced tomatoes, diced red pepper, corn and canned beans. Add the chicken bouillon and the cumin. Then top with enough water to almost cover the contents of the pan completely. This should be about 2 cups, but that can vary. Bring to a simmer and hold at a simmer for 30 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper. I like to add a little “devil” to mine with diced peppers. Then I like to cool it off with a little sour cream as well. Your call, but it is sinfully good that way. For more wild game recipes, see chefrandyking.com. –RK

It was not long before the shotgun sounded off. “Got one!” Cameron exclaimed. Jordan and I rushed to his side to investigate. Upon inspection, it was indeed a dead rabbit. We highfived Cameron and continued walking until dark. Jordan and I didn’t even see a rabbit; Cameron got three. Brothers, you see, are not competitive. So there was absolutely no issue at all back at camp that one had been much more successful than the other. None. At all.

THE NEXT EVENING’S dinner was off to a late start and I asked Cameron if he could take Jordan out hunting for a while. I figured it would be brotherly bonding time for the two. With a nod and a “get your boots on”from the oldest to youngest, the boys were out of camp in no time. It wasn’t two minutes before I heard the .22 sound off and then some happy hollering. Back into camp the brothers ran. “I shot one, Dad!” Jordan exclaimed, smiling ear to ear. Cameron too was smiling. He was filling his happy guide role quite well. I was thrilled that Jordan had gotten one but wished I had been there to see it. No matter; this was not the time for negative thoughts. I took the rabbit from the boys and sent them back out. Then I started scouring camp for how I was going to cook both days’ bunnies. Four cottontails are not a ton of meat, but enough for a stew or a soup. Or, even better, some chili. NS

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HUNTING The author’s wife Julia Johnson began canning wild game meat one fall when her freezer broke and she had to do something with a blacktail the family had just harvested. While the process is time-consuming, the results in the form of long-lasting shelf-stable stored food is quite worthwhile. (JULIA JOHNSON)

What’s Good For The Gander, And Other Game Canning geese, deer and more not only tenderizes the meat, but makes for long-term shelf-stable food. By MD Johnson

“Y

ou know what?” I said to my wife, Julia. “No, what,” she replied hesitantly, understandably nervous of my ambiguous lead-in after 28 years together. “You know how you introduced me to canned venison back when we first met?” I said. That, for those of you with no reason to know, would have been in 1993.

“I do,” she said. “Well, what if we were to can those goose breasts I have in the freezer? There’s a dozen or more from this last late season. Shouldn’t that work just like your canned venison?” And so, with that simple question, we launched ourselves into yet another culinary experiment, this one involving wildfowl, kitchen time and pressure canners. Spoiler alert: It was incredible. When I first ate Julie’s canned

venison – blacktail, if you’re keeping score – almost 30 years ago, I thought it was absolutely perfect. But goose? Goose, especially older birds, can be notoriously tough; however, pressure-can that same ol’ gander for 90 minutes at 10 pounds, and what was tire tread becomes cutwith-a-fork tender. Truthfully? Other than a whole mallard split down the back and grilled to perfection over charcoal, not propane, I’d much rather eat canned fowl than have it nwsportsmanmag.com | JANUARY 2022

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HUNTING prepared any other way. Goose with chanterelles. Goose ’n noodles. Goose straight out of the can with a fork. Or my fingers, whichever is most convenient ... typically, fingers. But isn’t pressure canning difficult, dangerous and time-consuming? Difficult? No. Dangerous? It can be, but then again, so can walking out to the mailbox every afternoon unless you look for traffic. As for timeconsuming? There, I’ll admit that canning goose – canning any wild game, fish, vegetables, fruits or whathave-you – does involve time, often a lot of time. However, the end results, once enjoyed, make the minutes, even the hours, oh so worthwhile. So, where to begin?

WHY CAN WILD GAME MEAT?

Just as with cutting and grinding your own venison, canners know exactly what goes into the final product. Here the author cuts up goose breast into 1-inch chunks. (JULIA JOHNSON) Johnson prefers the “hot pack” method of canning – cooking it with herbs and spices to taste in a stockpot with distilled water first – to cold packing. (JULIA JOHNSON)

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For many folks, the first question when it comes to canning wild is why. The next would be how. But the why part of the equation is an awfully good place to start. Sometimes, as you’ll soon learn, the reason behind why is accidental. “I started to can venison when my freezer went out,” Julia told me during our informal interview whilst preparing to put up our first batch of goose. “I’d been canning vegetables prior to that. Jams and jellies, too. But when the freezer went out, I had to do something with all the meat in it. And we had just harvested a deer that fall.” “So,” she continued, “I took all the venison and decided to try my hand at canning it.” Julia soon discovered that while canning wild game wasn’t without its challenges, namely time, there were many benefits to putting up the pints and quarts. “My kids found it to be a real treat,” she said. “They’d just open one and eat straight out of the jar.” So, it stands to reason, at least to me, that one of the primary reasons behind canning wild game is the fact that it tastes good. But there are other factors that justify the time and effort spent to put up wild game.

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HUNTING Be sure to leave about an inch of “headspace” as you fill your glass jars with meat and then broth. (JULIA JOHNSON)

After seating the jar lid and tightening the ring, the cans go onto a rack in the pressure cooker, which will have a couple inches of water in the bottom. (JULIA JOHNSON)

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Shelf life: Some agencies, e.g. the National Center for Home Food Preservation, recommend using home canned foods within a year, not due to safety but for the best in food quality. If the jars are stored correctly, that is in a cool (50 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit) dark place, and the seal isn’t compromised, the contents should remain safe literally for years. Health reasons: When you can wild game at home, you know exactly what’s being processed, how it’s being processed, and that it’s both nutritious and healthy. “We’ve always butchered our own venison, birds and fish,” said Julia, “so I’m confident it’s the best possible product I can give my family and friends.” Expense, or lack thereof: Yes, there are costs involved should you be starting from scratch; however, once the initial purchases, e.g. pressure canner, jars, rings, seals and a handful of accessories, have been made, then Johnson cans most meat at 10 pounds of pressure for 90 minutes, but pressure and time will vary depending on jars used, what you’re canning, altitude and unit. Best bet is to always consult your pressure canner’s instructions. (JULIA JOHNSON)

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HUNTING After the proper amount of time has elapsed and the pressure gauge reads zero, it’s time to use a jar lifter to remove the canner’s contents and allow to cool. (JULIA JOHNSON)

canning at home is essentially a time investment. Product versatility: Whether it’s venison, bear, waterfowl, pheasant, albacore, salmon or shellfish, homecanned products can be used in any number of different recipes, both familiar and created on the spot.

WHAT DO YOU NEED? So what do you need to can wild game at home should you be starting 168 Northwest Sportsman

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from square one? Like many projects, canning can be as simple or as complicated as one wishes; however, there are a handful of must-have items, and these include: Pressure canner: “I currently have three pressure canners of various sizes,” said Julia, “but the one I use most often is made by All American (allamericancanner.com).” Canners come in different sizes or capacities based on the amount

of liquid each is capable of holding, which then translates into how many jars, be they half pints, pints or quarts, each can process at one time. All American, for instance, offers their canners in sizes from 10-quart (seven pints) to a 41-quart behemoth holding 32 pints. Julia’s go-to unit is a 21-quart canner that does 19 pints. Some canners, she explained, use a weight to measure the amount of internal pressure produced and maintained during the process. Others, a needle gauge, while still others feature both. Weight or gauge, she said, is really a matter of personal preference. Most, if not all canners will include a canning rack that fits the bottom of the canner, and prevents the jars from sitting directly on the heated metal. Jars: Quality jars in half pint, pint and quart sizes are available. However, with the Covid pandemic and a renewed interest in home canning, these essentials can be a challenge to find. Old-school businesses like Jack’s Country Store (jackscountrystore .com) in Ocean Park, Washington, will often carry traditional jar brands such as Ball, Kerr and Atlas. “I prefer wide mouth (as opposed to regular) jars when canning meats,” said Julia. “It’s just easier to get the product in and out of a wide mouth.” Rings and seals, aka bands and lids: Both are used to seal the jars during the canning process, and then maintain that airtight integrity during storage. Julia is partial to Ball rings and seals; however, several manufacturers, e.g. Kerr, also offer them. Another option is reusable lids and rubber seals, such as those available under the Tattler brand (reusablecanninglids.com). Accessories: This list would include a heavy-bottomed stock pot for precooking meats/broth; a jar lifter for removing hot jars from the canner; a minute timer; seal magnet for pulling lids from their hot water bath; and a wide mouth funnel for filling jars. All of the items above are available from All American Canner.

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HUNTING

Once you’ve got it down, the possibilities for what you can can are endless. In addition to game meat, the Johnsons put up veggies and fruits they grow in their garden on the Lower Columbia. (JULIA JOHNSON)

THE STEP-BY-STEP Safety note: Pressure canning involves pressure, heat, steam and metal. The process requires your full attention. It isn’t something you can walk away from, nor can you let yourself be distracted. For purposes here and since it tis’ the season, we’ll be canning fowl; specifically, Canada goose. The process can be the same, be your harvest elk, moose, bear, duck, deer or pheasant. Seasonings are your decision; however, pressure and time may differ depending on such things as jar size, contents and altitude. Consult the guide that came with your pressure canner for a ready reference. 170 Northwest Sportsman

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HUNTING Step 1: Wash and inspect the jars for cracks or chips, even if they’re new. Sterilize jars using your dishwasher (hot/no soap), or by boiling lightly upside down in 2 to 3 inches of water. Julia keeps her jars hot, as one should, in a 140-degree oven until ready. At this time, she also puts a corresponding number of lids – 12 jars = 12 lids = 12 rings – into a shallow pan of simmering water. This cleans them, as well as softens the lid “rubbers,” allowing for a sure seal. Step 2: Cube goose into 1-inch pieces, place in stockpot and cover with distilled (no chlorine/fluoride) water. Season to taste. “This is the ‘hot pack’ method,” said Julia. “I prefer it over cold pack (not precooking) because a taste test tells you exactly what you’re going to end up with when you’re done.” Bring the meat/broth mixture to a boil, turn the heat off and immediately go to Step 3.

Step 3: Using the wide mouth funnel and a slotted spoon, fill the jars with the precooked meat to within an inch of the top. This inch of freeboard is known as headspace. Run a butter knife along the inside edge of each jar to release air bubbles. Cover the meat with hot broth, being sure to leave headspace. Wipe the rim of the jar, seat a lid and tighten the ring snug. Step 4: Put 2 inches of water in the canner, place the jars inside – note: no touching – tighten the canner lid according to the directions and bring to a boil. No weight at this point. Once the water reaches 212 degrees, the canner will begin to vent. Allow this venting to continue for seven to eight minutes, at which time you can place the weight on the vent stem, and with the first jiggle, begin timing. “Most of my wild game is canned at 10 pounds pressure for 90 minutes,” Julia said. “I’m looking for the

weight to ‘jiggle’ two to three times a minute. Too much, and the heat’s too high. Too little, and it’s too low. It’s important to watch it closely.” Step 5: Ding! Done! Ninety minutes, but do not remove the weight or untighten the lid. Turn off the heat and allow the pressure to drop to zero. Don’t try to hurry the process. A gauged canner will read zero; with a weight, a light touch will result in a hiss, spit or sputter from the vent stem, meaning pressure remains. Step 6: With pressure at zero, open the canner, and, with the jar lifter, remove each jar, setting each on a rack to cool. Now, listen. Those clear melodic tink sounds you’re hearing are the jars sealing. To be doubly sure they’ve sealed, press down on the center of each lid. They should be tight, with no flex. Congratulations! You’re now a canner. NS

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Nothwest Sportsman Mag - January 2022

Articles inside

WHAT’S GOOD FOR THE GANDER, AND OTHER GAME MEAT

BOTTOMFISHING FOR BUGEYES