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Sportsman Northwest
Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource
Volume 12 • Issue 5
Your Complete Hunting, Boating, Fishing and Repair Destination Since 1948.
PUBLISHER James R. Baker EDITOR Andy Walgamott THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS Dave Anderson, Randall Bonner, Scott Brenneman, Travis Greenwood, Scott Haugen, Nicole Hobson, MD Johnson, Randy King, Buzz Ramsey, Ken Witt, Dave Workman, Mike Wright, Mark Yuasa
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EDITORIAL FIELD SUPPORT Jason Brooks GENERAL MANAGER John Rusnak SALES MANAGER Katie Higgins ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Mamie Griffin, Jim Klark, Mike Smith, Paul Yarnold DESIGNERS Celina Martin, Lesley-Anne Slisko-Cooper DESIGN INTERN Jacob Culver PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS Kelly Baker
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OFFICE MANAGER Katie Aumann INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGER Lois Sanborn WEBMASTER/DIGITAL STRATEGIST Jon Hines 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 Ken Howard shows off the heftiest of four walleye he and friends caught trolling the Mid-Columbia River one night last February. This one went 18 pounds, 13 ounces. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)
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CONTENTS
VOLUME 12 • ISSUE 5
FEATURES
28
109 BLUE RIBBON ’BOWS Destination trout rivers are rare in Washington, but the Ellensburg area’s Yakima is a top spot for flyrodders starting in late winter. Mike Wright previews this fishery that’s productive well into summer and beyond. 119 TROPHY COLUMBIA ’EYES It’s prime time for prespawn Columbia walleye, and Tri-Cities’ Bill Saunders has tips for catching trophy-caliber specimens out of the big river around his hometown. MD Johnson chats up this famed waterfowler who’s all about huge horkin’ bugeyes this time of year.
(COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
BIG GAME YEARBOOK, CLASS OF ’19 Huge bucks, first blood, notable harvests, inspiring stories – Northwest sportsmen share their photos and tales in our annual Big Game Yearbook! 28 35 41 49 51 63
True Trophy For A Young Hunter Reader Photos From The Field End-of-season Hunt Pays Off Critter Gallery Nontypical Kindness Book Excerpt: Team Bad Decision, An Evolutionary Tale In Backcountry Hunting
131 WASHINGTON HALIBUT, PART 1 In part one of three, Mark Yuasa takes a look at Washington’s 2020 flatsider seasons, including Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, where 77,550 pounds of halibut is on the table and the season starts unusually early. 139 STRAITS BLACKMOUTH With March 1 the start of fishing for winter Chinook in Marine Areas 5 and 6, Mark Yuasa does double duty for us this issue with details on where and how to catch these typically larger resident kings.
SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Go to nwsportsmanmag.com for details. NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN is published monthly by Media Index Publishing Group, 14240 Interurban Avenue South, Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. Periodical Postage Paid at Seattle, WA and at additional mail offices. (USPS 025-251) POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Northwest Sportsman, 14240 Interurban Ave South, Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. 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 © 2020 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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BUZZ RAMSEY
Boat Strategies For Steelhead Boats are the most efficient way to fish most winter steelhead waters, and you could say that Buzz has drifted a few rivers. He shares top tips and tactics for targeting these tasty fish.
103
(BUZZ RAMSEY)
COLUMNS 147 THE KAYAK GUYS Mooch Up Blackmouth What Seattle-based kayak angler Scott B. may lack in terms of ponypower, he more than makes up for when it comes to mooching for winter kings, a skill he likens to “the lightness of touch that is required to ride a horse.” 153 ON TARGET Rebirth Of An Icon, And Other New Firearms Offerings Dave always has his eyes out for the latest and greatest in the firearms world and it’s safe to say that he’s over the moon with Colt’s reintroduction of the legendary Python double-action revolver in .357 Magnum. He also has details on new handguns from Kimber and Ruger, and a rimfire from Savage Arms. 159 GUN DOG Dog Food, Part II: Adults “The best gift you can give your dog is quality food, and they’ll live healthier, longer lives, and feel much better from day to day.” So writes Scott H. as he follows up on last issue’s column on the proper feeding of a gun pup with advice for feeding your grown-up four-footed hunting partner. 165 CHEF IN THE WILD In Defense of Jackrabbits And The Table Fare Thereof Despite having helped some rural Western families survive the Great Depression, jackrabbits are looked down upon by some due to a bad reputation and nasty rumors. Not by Chef Randy. Yes, these hares are on the lean side, but it’s nothing that a recipe for corned jack, potato pancakes and eggs over easy won’t cure!
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(MATT HALSETH)
87 FISHING AND HUNTING NEWS:
Siletz Anglers Group Focusing On Wild Broodstock Programs DEPARTMENTS 23
THE EDITOR’S NOTE On hunting and humanity
73
PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS Coast Hunting, Fishing monthly prizes
95
THE DISHONOR ROLL Elk River fall Chinook snaggers busted; Kudos; Jackass Of The Month
97
DERBY WATCH $10,000 Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derby on tap; 2020 Northwest Fishing Derby Series schedule; More upcoming events
99
OUTDOOR CALENDAR Upcoming openers, events, meetings, deadlines, more
101 2020 SPORTSMEN’S AND BOAT SHOW CALENDAR Dates, links for upcoming shows
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THEEDITOR’SNOTE
A
long with our annual Real Women of Northwest Fishing feature, out earlier this winter, the Big Game Yearbook is my favorite package of the year to put together. Oh, sure, I enjoy building other months’ magazines – spring fishing focuses, salmon-rich summer books, and fall deer and elk season previews. But there’s just something about sharing reader stories and photographs that does it for me. Kiddos and their first harvest; junior hunters off a strong start in their deer careers; moms, dads and grandparents with notable animals – their successes give me all the feels, every single time. I am pretty sure they give you smiles as well.
WHAT I PARTICULARLY hope gives you a smile in the following pages is a story that actually features neither a trophy buck nor a massive bull. It’s not about a youngster taking a ram or a billy with a rifle that’s been in the family for generations. Nor is it about somebody’s incredible multicritter season, or the one that got away. Hell, it doesn’t even take place anywhere that hunter orange is required or camouflage is needed! It’s about the “Nontypical Kindness” that author Nicole Hobson and her husband Matt experienced on the drive home from Washington’s High Hunt after their horse trailer lost a tire and wheel, leaving them marooned beside the highway. Or so they thought until they met a pretty handy local feller named Larry. I know it is naive to think one little story will make the world a better place. But in this day and age of over-the-top social media judgment, bozo commentary unleashed by keyboard warriors of all kinds, and idiotic hyperpartisanship – an atmosphere where we can’t even agree that a fact’s in fact a fact – it’s heartwarming to read about a perfect stranger jumping at the chance to solve others’ problems. Thanks to Nicole for sharing her story, to Ken Witt and Dave Anderson, who submitted stories of relatives’ successful fall hunts, and Travis Greenwood who allowed us to excerpt the prologue from his book Team Bad Decision, An Evolutionary Tale In Backcountry Hunting. And as always, many, many, many thanks to the myriad readers who are the heart and soul of this issue and this magazine, and who sent us the images and words that appear in the following pages. –Andy Walgamott
nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2020
Northwest Sportsman 23
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Port of Everett Marina staff accept the 2019 Marina of the Year Award in Nashville, Tennessee.
which is an incredible amount of boaters to serve,” Marina Dock Age editor Anna Townshend said. “Beyond all those vessels and the boatyard, it’s a local public treasure for anyone that wants to enjoy the waterfront. Not many marinas may be as big as the Port of Everett, but everyone can take away something from its amazing operation.” Every year, Marina Dock Age presents the Marina of the Year award to two marinas; one small marina and one large marina
(250+ slips). Marina facilities are judged on exemplary business practices in many categories, including business operations, facility improvements, advertising/marketing, environmental responsibility, community involvement and more. “Earning this title is such an honor,” said Jeff Lindhout, Port of Everett chief of marina operations. “This award is a true testament of the collective effort our team puts in every day to better serve our slipholders, visiting boaters and the greater Everett community in support of our vision to create a vibrant and welcoming waterfront that balances industry and recreation.” Since the early 2000s, the Port of Everett has invested more than $165 million into its destination waterfront, including its multi-million-dollar effort to strategically recapitalize its marina facilities, clean up historic contamination from years of industry on the waterfront and work toward the full buildout of its 65-acre mixed-use Waterfront Place development. In addition to taking home the 2019 Marina of the Year trophy, Port of Everett employee Kate Anderson was also recognized at The Docks Expo with a Young Leader Award. Anderson, who has a strong passion for boating both personally and professionally, was among 14 young professionals honored for their work in making significant contributions to the marine industry today and into the future. “I feel very humbled to have received one of the Young Leader Awards,” Port of Everett communications specialist Kate Anderson said. “It’s great Kate Anderson to see so many young people getting more involved in the recreational marine industry, as they are the next generation of boating.”
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PICTURE Each winter we like to take a look back at the previous fall’s hunting seasons to highlight some of the trophy deer, elk and other big game animals we’ve harvested. But we also like to show off hunters’ first kills and their continuing successes. This year we’re also bringing back our gallery of live critter pics, and Nicole Hobson shares her heartwarming story, “Nontypical Kindness,” which she and her husband experienced while driving home with their horses from Washington’s High Buck Hunt. Pull up a chair and please enjoy the 2019 edition of Northwest Sportsman’s annual Big Game Yearbook! – The Editor
True Trophy For A Young Hunter By Ken Witt
I
n 35 years of hunting Washington blacktails I have seen some very impressive bucks. But nothing could ever compare to the buck that had just crashed to the ground, lying motionless not 150 yards away, the result of a well-placed shot from my son Logan’s 7mm STW. I didn’t get a great look at him prior to the shot, but I did see him go down and said to Logan, “That might be the biggest blacktail that I have ever seen in person.” We gathered our packs to head over to it but couldn’t stop glassing his massive rack – not once or twice, but several times. The closer we got, the bigger it got. It took us at least five minutes to cover the 125 yards. There was no rush, we were going to enjoy every second of this! I asked Logan if it was a four-point. His reply was, “I don’t care, Dad, it’s the biggest buck I have ever seen.”
Logan Witt drew a sweet special permit to hunt the blacktail rut for a trophy buck, but bagged one beforehand during Washington’s general rifle season late last October. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
LIKE MANY GREAT trophy stories, ours started with the excitement of the June special permit draw results. Having only one youth deer point, Logan was not expecting to draw the youth blacktail buck tag for Nov 1-13. He would have had 7 points had I not accidentally entered the wrong hunt number and burned up all his points on a doe tag a couple years ago. I have elk hunted this particular unit most of my hunting life and have seen some real dandy bucks during the first week of November. I have told the story of the two four-point bucks that I saw the same morning a few years ago enough times to really get Logan excited. Having five bucks already to his credit he was really hoping for something special with this tag. At 15 years old, I can tell you he normally would not pass on any buck with decent forks, but this year would
prove to be different. I never doubted his ability to get it done. His last two kills – a black bear earlier in the year and his buck last season – were accomplished by himself. Logan and his 16-year-old brother Sawyer are quite accomplished outdoorsmen for their age. Unlike most kids today, they are not into video games or really anything else that takes them away from the outdoors. Although very good athletes, they gave up on fall sports by middle school because it got in the way of hunting. Spring sports? Not a chance, they’re fishing. To say they are wise beyond their years is an understatement. On a hunt last year in Idaho, Sawyer killed a buck on the last day of the hunt. I left the boys with the buck and headed to camp for the packs. When I returned an hour later, the buck was skinned, quartered and hanging in a tree. WITH HIS BEAR tag filled, Logan was ready for the 2019 deer season to get underway. After a quick weekend mule deer trip, it was time to look for a blacktail. Not wanting to waste the opportunity to hunt the first week of November, he was more than likely going to pass up a buck or two during the regular rifle season. I have allowed the boys to hunt together or by themselves now for a few years. There is a piece of ground not too far from home that is perfect for them to get in a quick evening hunt. Just like last year, every day after school I would drop Logan off at a gate and he would make the loop. Last year Sawyer killed a three-point buck with his bow on the loop, and Logan followed suit a month later during the rifle season with a nice two-point. As the days went on, other hunters’ bucks started showing up at Logan’s grandpa’s cooler and I wondered how long he could hold out. With
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Northwest Sportsman 29
PICTURE
Another look at Witt’s deer, which sported antler bases of 7.5 and 7.75 inches around. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
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a week to go we went out for an evening hunt. As we walked along the outside edge of some recent logging, Logan spotted a nice buck 120 yards away looking up at us. After a quick look through his glasses, he said, “Dad, it’s a shooter, take him!” So I did just that. It was a very respectable two-by-three with an eyeguard on his two side. Sawyer had been fishing salmon after school every night but luckily he was already home. After a quick phone call, he came up to help. The next weekend saw more bucks killed by friends and family. Saturday afternoon Logan and I got a call from Grandpa, who had killed a buck in a really bad spot. We had been out all morning and the fire in the woodstove felt pretty nice, but needless to say, an hour and a half later we were leaving a creek bottom with Logan’s grandpa’s real nice three-point on our packs. When we got home and finished hanging the quarters in the cooler, I noticed Logan examining the buck that he had me shoot. I asked him if he regretted passing on it, to which he promptly replied, “Nope.” SUNDAY WOULD BE the last full day to hunt the regular general season due to school and we were back on the hill as the sun came up. We had split up and shortly after that I saw Logan running back down the hill in my direction, pantomiming with his hands above his head a 30-inch buck.
PICTURE “I need the range finder, he’s on the top of the other ridge,” he said, adding, “Dad, it is the biggest blacktail I have ever seen!” I was able to get a range of 890 yards before the buck disappeared into the timber. I had gotten a pretty good look at him and agreed with Logan that it was really, really impressive. That afternoon we positioned ourselves in a freshly cut right-of-way on the backside of the clearcut that we saw him in. To our left was a timbered ridge that ran parallel with the rightof-way. To the right was another ridge of timber, which you could see the top edge of the clearcut through the firs. We had a few choices of where to sit that evening but this was the spot that put the wind in our favor. The wind was blowing from behind us slightly from left to right, in the direction of the clearcut. I know it goes against popular belief, but in my experience a buck will enter his feeding area with the wind at his back. He will watch ahead for danger and rely on the wind from behind to alert him to predators. I have killed a few really nice bucks setting up just like this, so I was confident in our location. I have always said there is a lot of
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luck involved with hunting. You can do everything right but the buck doesn’t always cooperate. Lucky for us he showed up just as planned. After a couple of hours of nothing but mosquito bites we were starting to wonder if a deer would show up. We were watching in two different directions, Logan facing up the draw and me watching the flat behind us. Logan was mumbling something about mosquitoes eating him when his tone turned serious. “Dad, there’s a deer coming down the ridge,” he said, followed closely with an “Oh, God,” then the sound of his safety clicking off. Grandpa Murray always says, “If you have to make a buck a trophy, it isn’t one. When you see one, you will know it.” I don’t think Logan needed my second opinion on this one. I got my head around just in time to see the buck crash to ground as the shot rang out. He had come down the ridge to our left without making a sound, and exactly as we’d hoped was traveling with the wind at his back, crossing right in front of us, sneaking up the back side of the ridge headed for the clearcut at the top. All Logan had had to do was finish the job. WHEN WE PUT down our field glasses for the final time and walked up to Logan’s buck we could not hold our excitement. This was truly a buck
of a lifetime. The mass that he has is what is so impressive. The burr at the base of his right antler measures 7.5 inches around, his left 7.75 inches. The actual scoring measurement between the burr and the G-1 on both sides are 5 7/8 inches. For as long as the kids could remember, Grandpa’s garage was the place to be in hunting season. Any time someone would kill a deer or an elk they would stop over at Grandpa’s to weigh it, clean it up, put it in the cooler and relive the stories. Family and friends would show up to share the special moment. Sawyer and Logan went from listening to the stories to telling them. This buck would be no different. From the time we got home a steady flow of people close to Logan stopped in for a hug, a handshake or a story. This is not the story about some kid who got lucky and doesn’t even know what he has. Logan knows his buck is the biggest to come through his grandpa’s garage in its 40year existence. He knows he has killed a bigger blacktail than his dad or grandpa have. He has taken it all in stride. Anyone who knows Logan will agree this could not have happened to better kid. As his dad, what I am most proud of is how humble Logan has been. As I write these words, he is more concerned that his brother, who hunted archery, is 30 ducks ahead of him. Time to trade in the rifle for the shotgun. NS
Some Washington hunters remember the infamous Columbus Day Storm that struck during 1962’s season, but Jack Allen, 17, will always remember that day in 2019 for the blacktail buck he took in the Snoqualmie Valley with a slug out of his 12-gauge just after shooting light. It was the lad’s sixth buck since taking his first when he was 11. (COAST HUNTING
Call this the “full circle buck” for Jack Benson. After a private land connection in North-central Washington fell through, he and his dad Jeff headed to some state ground that Jeff and his father had hunted two decades back. There, on the opener, Jack spotted this fiveby-three with a 28-inch outside spread, but “50 yards on the wrong side of the fence.” Jack didn’t get a shot at it then, but the next evening was able to notch his tag when it wandered onto public land. (COAST
PICTURE
HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
PHOTO CONTEST)
After 20 years of putting in, Eric Braaten made good on his once-in-a-lifetime bull moose permit with this nearly 45-inch-wide Northeast Washington stud. He called in the Huckleberry Unit bull during the rut, and said it was a “dream hunt.” (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
How does the saying go? If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. After hiking in 8 miles with bulls screaming all around her on Washington’s muzzleloader elk opener, Vanessa Clarey drew down on a cow only to have her Knight fail to fire because of an issue with the secondary safety. The next day the bulls were silent, but just a mile and a half from the rig she and husband Rob spotted a loner feeding in a clearcut. They crept closer, then Vanessa eased through the brush to get a clear shot, hitting the five-bysix with two shots. “I was so excited and proud of her for making great shots and dropping this bull!” said Rob, who reported it was her first in just her second year of hunting. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
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Northwest Sportsman 35
PICTURE
Travis (above, below) and Tacoma (left) Clowers enjoyed a great archery season with a dandy pair of Central Oregon mule deer and a Malheur pronghorn. Tacoma missed his buck on the opener, but found it a few days later and made a 20-yard shot on what is his biggest deer to date. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
Bryce Foytack went back to back with another blacktail buck from Southwest Washington’s Stella Unit, building on his 2018 forked horn with this threeby-two. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
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PICTURE
When this chunky whitetail decided to cross public land in Okanogan County on opening weekend of deer season, Chase Gunnell was there to intercept the buck. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
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Montana is rich in game, but the critters still make you work for it. “These buggers are hard to hunt,” reports Kelly Frazier after she and husband Wesley (left) had to take their longest shots ever – 239 and 359 yards – at their pronghorn bucks, and that was after having to army crawl through wheat fields to close the distance. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
Like father, like son! Randy and Brennon Hart tipped over a pair of three-pointers with their muzzleloaders while hunting the Walla Walla area’s sprawling Prescott Unit. Brennon, 17, bagged his velvet muley with a 100-yard shot out of a Knight Ultralight with a 209 conversion and 300-grain Smackdown bullet. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
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PICTURE
For many years, Washington’s mule deer season was only nine days long, but in 2015 it was extended two days, and last year Maury Kincannon took advantage of the extra time to notch his tag with a memorable buck. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
End-of-season Hunt Pays Off By Dave Anderson
I
’ve always wanted to hunt the end of the season, so we made it happen in 2019 and decided to hunt the final five days of the Washington rifle general deer season. Weather can be hit and miss this time of year, but after looking at the forecast a few days before taking off, I knew we had made the right call. We hooked up the trailer Thursday afternoon and headed east. After getting set up
we came up with the game plan for Friday. We decided to hunt up high at my usual starting point. That morning we saw a few tracks in the 5,600-foot range, but never laid eyes on any legal bucks. We decided to come down at midday and hunted low for the afternoon and early evening. The deer were far more plentiful in the lower elevations. We covered a lot of miles over the next few days, seeing a lot of does and several small, nonlegal bucks. This was a promising sign for
future seasons, especially if we have a mild winter and no major fires. The excitement came on Monday. I heard a shot from a location where I knew my fatherin-law Maury Kincannon was. Several minutes after I heard the shot, I received a text that said “Buck Down!” The text that immediately followed read, “The biggest deer I’ve ever shot!” My father-in-law introduced me to this area about six years ago and we go back every year.
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PICTURE He drew the Pearrygin quality buck tag in 2018 and was able to harvest a smaller four-point using that tag. However, it wasn’t the typical deer you would consider harvesting during a quality hunt, though he was still pleased that he was able to at least fill the tag and put meat on the table. So when I laid eyes on the buck Maury got that Monday, the first thing I said was, “You just filled your tag with a buck that deserves that quality tag you had last year!” There was a lot of celebrating and high fives, then we caped it out to get it ready for the taxidermist and packed the deer off the hill. My father-in-law harvested his deer in a drainage that meant a lot to him since it was the exact same location he and his father had missed a large four-point years and years ago. I was so happy for Maury and loved being a part of this special moment. The last day of the season my friend Kiley and I put our boots back on the ground and covered
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Author Dave Anderson along with his father-inlaw and friend Kiley Brehm celebrate bagging the buck, taken in a swale where Kincannon and his father had missed one many years before. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
lots of ground and drainages looking for deer. I came across a total of 12 small, nonlegal bucks (all two-points and spikes) and a pile of does, but never anything I could legally harvest. I covered more ground than I ever have and
found lots of tracks and good sign. I cannot wait to get back over to hunt this year. Although my tag was not notched last year on our Eastern Washington hunt, my heart was completely full seeing Maury take his largest buck to date. NS
Skylar Master of Kalama calls hunting rutty muley deer in Montana “one of my favorite trips of the year,” but 2019 also saw him taking a shine to bobcats, bagging a pair of 20-pound females in February and September (below).
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(COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
First Kyle McCullough found the matching sheds, then two days later bagged this very nice blacktail just 70 yards away … though trying to wheel the buck out of the mountains on he and brother-in-law Chad Smith’s mountain bikes (below) at dark didn’t quite work out as well. They ended up quartering the deer instead. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
You might remember this young hunter from last year’s Big Game Yearbook for his handsome three-pointer. This past season Dayn Osborn was drawn for a youth antlerless tag in the same region, Washington’s Douglas County, and “with grandpa, uncle, cousins and dad watching, Dayn made a single 183-yard shot with his Remington 700 .243” to go two for two. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
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Brandon Jewett had been patterning several black bears before the start of the fall season, but when a new one began to show up consistently in early August he decided to target it. “I tucked up under a deadfall and he came back through a couple hours later. I made the shot at 65 yards, and he went another 75 and expired,” the Yakima bowman states. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
Hunting the rut during a DIY hunt on public and private lands in western Montana, Victor Leatzow brought in the biggest whitetail of his life. He took it with his Tikka T3 in .300 Win. Mag. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST) Cougars and black bears might be afterthoughts for most rifle hunters, but not Luke Lyman who bagged his lion and bruin while hunting in the Stampede Pass area of Washington’s Central Cascades. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
“Eastern Montana continues to welcome us coasters,” reports former Northwest Sportsman general manager Brian Lull after downing this buck with a 300-yard shot and handloads cooked up by On Target columnist Dave Workman. With surplus B tags available, he also brought home doe for the freezer. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST) 46 Northwest Sportsman
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Christine Barrow has a “knack for finding large sheds,” and if this massive set of matched antlers she found in Kittitas County after just 20 minutes of searching last Labor Day is any indication, we believe it! (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
As much as we celebrate the harvest, we also hope these pages are an inspiration to keep at it. Kathleen Zoller (above) picked up bowhunting a few years ago and last season just missed a three-pointer on her family’s ranch in Southeast Washington. “The group of five bucks you see in the photo were 30 yards from us, but she just couldn’t get a shot in the tall grass before they bolted,” reports her dad. Chin up, Kathleen, you’ll get one this year! (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
Just as much as hunters like, well, hunting big game, taking photos of critters rates highly as well. Chad Smith snapped these shots of a moose, mountain goat and black bear during his 2019 scouting and hunting trips. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
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As they drove home from a mid-September 2018 pack-in hunt for mule deer in the wilderness of Washington’s western Chelan County, author Nicole Hobson and her husband Matt experienced the kindness of an utter stranger who helped fix their horse trailer. (NICOLE HOBSON)
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Nontypical Kindness By Nicole I. Hobson
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o you have a few minutes to spare? A few minutes to read about something good rather than bad? Something void of controversy? I know, it’s not what we are used to these days. However, if you do have the time, keep reading. This won’t take long. The scene for this story is not typical of most hunting stories. The winding rivers and creeks are replaced with winding roads and highways. Grazed paddocks take the place of lush wilderness meadows and a cheap hotel stands in for the tent. The characters too are a bit different in this tale. Yes, my husband Matt and I are in this story, but the other folks are neither friends nor family. They are strangers. As for the plot, it has nothing to do with killing a deer or elk, but everything to do with stumbling
upon nontypical kindness. If you’re still interested, grab a chair or plop down on the couch and be refreshed by the events that unfolded on our drive home from Washington’s High Buck Hunt.
AFTER FIVE DAYS of hunting deer and catching trout in the Glacier Peak Wilderness, we packed up our camp and loaded our horses for the hike back to the trailhead. Although we would have loved to stay longer and fill our tags, I was scheduled to teach the next day. We had to go home. The hike out was uneventful. Our two horses carried their loads well and the trail was easily walked. The bright sun and cloudless sky made the landscape appear like a spilled bag of Skittles. The burnt black trees provided a looming a contrast. It was lovely. My soul was happy and I
wanted a cheeseburger. Early in the afternoon we reached the truck. We stripped the horses of their burden, gave them water and loaded them in the trailer for the fourand-a-half-hour-drive home. Matt and I hugged and high-fived. Although no deer were killed, every other aspect of the trip had gone safely and smoothly. That’s success in the Hobson household! Filled with confidence and satisfaction, we aimed the truck towards home and discussed where to stop for a burger and shake. Matt drove first. Cautiously, he navigated the gravel road that quickly turned to pavement. We wound our way along the river, eyeballing future fishing holes and daydreaming about upcoming trips. Slowly, we drew closer to the highway and closer to the responsibility of our everyday life. As Matt turned on to the highway, my cell phone alerted me to a long list of emails and texts that had
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“We can’t fix this,” Matt Hobson said upon discovering that the rear passenger-side tire, wheel and bolts of their horse trailer had sheered completely off. (NICOLE HOBSON) been gathering over the last five days. Within that barrage of messages, I discovered I had made a scheduling mistake and double booked myself for the next day. Scrambling ensued and not the type of scrambling I had been doing less than 24 hours earlier. That had involved steady steps up a steep ravine, whereas the present type of scrambling involved rapid-fire texting. Eventually, with the help of my work team, my scheduling mishap got straightened out and Matt and I went back to enjoying the drive. Our truck was running well and the trailer was tracking efficiently. Food was the next stop. We planned to be home around 7 p.m.
THE HIGHWAY DEPOSITED us in Cashmere, a small farming and rafting town along Central Washington’s Wenatchee River. There we filled up on fuel for the truck and grease for us. Doublestacked mushroom-bacon burgers with a side of fries and milkshakes landed in our stomachs with a thud. The obligatory “out of the woods” meal signified the official completion of the hunting trip. All we had left to do was finish the drive. A few miles outside Cashmere is the community of Peshastin. It’s small. Normally, it is a drive-by area on the westbound route to Leavenworth. For us, however, it turned into a stage. A place where 52 Northwest Sportsman
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old-fashioned human kindness and interaction became fully centered. About a mile before we reached Peshastin, our pleasant drive home changed course. I was driving after our burger stop when a lady in a red Subaru began passing in the left lane. Yet she didn’t pass all at once. She slowed just enough to be even with my driver’s side window. She signaled that something was wrong. Immediately I lowered the volume on the music and rolled the window down. At 60 mph, she yelled, “You lost a tire!” I shook my head in acknowledgement and took my foot off the gas pedal. I eased my way on to the shoulder thinking we had a blowout. No big deal. We have the tools and ability to fix that. As we came to a stop, Matt hopped out to figure out what was wrong. I waited for traffic to clear on my side before scurrying around to the trailer. Confusion was the look that I was met with. “We can’t fix this,” was all Matt said. Then I saw it. Our rear passenger-side tire and wheel on the horse trailer were missing. All the studs had sheared off, leaving us with a smooth hub that hovered only 2 inches off the blacktop. The remaining front tire strained with the weight of the horses. It’s a miracle we did not have or cause a catastrophic wreck!
With adrenaline surging and cars passing, we jumped back in the truck and limped our way off the highway. A gas station parking lot was as good as we could do on a Tuesday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. Perplexed, we both started problem solving. We did not have the tools to fix the hub at home, let alone in that parking lot. Our horses’ “stopped trailer timer” was ticking and we were still two mountain passes and many miles of highway from home. Our conundrum was real! We called towing companies, the insurance company and Les Schwab. No one could help us. One friend offered to let us use her horse trailer, but it was located three and a half hours away. For about an hour, Matt and I kept calling different companies and friends that we thought might be able to help. Yet nobody was able to help or they were closed for the day. We were stuck.
EVENTUALLY, WE DECIDED that our only option was to drive down the side road to a substation gravel lot, unload the horses, unhook the trailer and split up. The plan was for Matt to stay with the horses and trailer while I drove the three and a half hours one way to get our friend’s horse trailer and come back to pick up Matt and our horses. It was looking to be a long night.
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What could have been a nightmare cluster for the Hobsons and their pack horses ended well, thanks to chance and the handiness of a Wenatchee Valley man named Larry. (NICOLE HOBSON) Uncomfortable with the substation plan, I suggested that we at least try to ask a nearby farmer for assistance. My thought was, maybe they would let us park our rig on their property for the night so Matt didn’t have to wait with the horses in a sketchy gravel lot. It might be safer. With only minor discussion, Matt and I began walking to the nearest house that had farm animals. A llama and sheep were all we could see from the gas station parking lot. As we got closer, we noticed a horse and we became hopeful. I removed my dusty hat after I knocked on the door. I was well aware of my body odor and camouflage pants. I’m sure I looked stressed and a little bit rough. An older lady answered the door. My words stumbled as I tried to explain our situation. Asking for help from one person turned out to be harder than speaking in front of 50 nurses. Once the words finally came out, the lady simply said, “I’m just renting here. You need to talk with Larry. He is in the last house on the left.” Matt and I have an independent nature about us. We are used to completing projects and fixing things on our own. We rarely ask for help. Conscious of this, we slowly walked towards the last house on the left. Larry’s house. The last of the afternoon light was about gone 54 Northwest Sportsman
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when I quietly knocked on the front door. A chicken scurried in front of me. No answer. As I reached to knock a little louder, a female voice called out from my left, “You looking for Larry?” Matt and I turned to see a young woman in a Forest Service sweatshirt. She was carrying a beer and walking towards us. With a friendly greeting of “Hi, I’m Karen,” she calmly asked us what we needed. We started to explain. Before we could finish, she said, “Yeah, you need Larry. Let me go find him.” Without knocking, Karen walked through the front door of the house and into the living room. Through the open door, we could see a whitehaired man sitting at the dining room table. We could see Karen talking. The white-haired man stood up from the table and walked towards us.
HE WAS DRESSED in Wranglers and a denim
button-down. The button-down had a fine black grease splatter across the chest. The kind of splatter that might happen when working on a small engine or pump. His long white hair was capped by an old Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation hat, the logo barely legible after years of wear. His beard matched his hair color and he was tall, about 6-foot-2. His hands reflected a life of hard work and
he spoke with a tone of gentleness and concern. “What’s going on?” Larry asked after Karen introduced us. Matt quickly gave Larry the abbreviated version of our predicament, our plan and our request to park our truck and broken trailer on his property for the night. Without hesitation, Larry offered us a small paddock for the horses and a spot to park the trailer. Yet, he didn’t really like our plan of splitting up and driving through the night to get a loaner trailer. Instead, Larry insisted that he take a look at the busted hub. As Matt walked back to get our rig, Larry and I quickly herded two lambs out of the paddock. Larry told me that he planned to slaughter the lambs in the morning. He also began telling me stories about a hunting rifle he had and different horses he used to ride. The stories were fluid, weaving together between talk of the present and the past. I got the sense that Larry had lived and was still living a life of hard work and adventure. We were filling the trough with water when Matt pulled the truck and trailer up the driveway. With just a glimmer of light left, we unloaded the horses into the paddock and secured the gate. Larry’s attention quickly turned toward our trailer. Using our cell phone flashlights, we showed Larry
PICTURE the smooth hub. Fifteen seconds of inspection is all it took for Larry to conclude that he could fix it. “I have a 35-ton press in the shop,” he said. “I can probably get you back on the road by 9 a.m.” Surprised and blown away by Larry’s offer, Matt and I agreed that Larry’s fix was our best bet for getting us back on the road. We agreed to meet back at Larry’s place first thing in the morning. After a handshake, Matt and I headed for the cheap hotel.
OUR ALARM RANG at 5:45 a.m. Groggily, we gathered our things and loaded the truck. At 6:15 a.m. my phone rang. It was Larry: “The studs are pressed out. NAPA opens soon. We can take my truck after we drink some coffee. Head over when you are ready.” A sense of amazement came over me when I hung up the phone and with a chuckle, I relayed the message to Matt. His reflective smile let me know that he was beginning to feel amazed too – almost bewildered at how our circumstances had changed. While sipping coffee at Larry’s table, he told
us a little more about himself. We learned that he was a machinist by trade and a transplant from California. Various furs and antlers decorated his place and percolated Folgers coffee provided a familiar taste. He told us of some recent health issues and his knack for picking up roadkill. It was a memorable cup of coffee. Before long, we were sitting three-wide in Larry’s truck cruising towards the local auto parts store. It was a quick ride and Larry pointed out several local deer hangouts. By this time, it was obvious that Larry had an affinity for wildlife. His hunting stories portrayed a love for more than the hunt, a love for the whole experience. Upon returning from the auto parts store, Matt and I followed Larry into his shop. Quickly, we discovered that the studs we had purchased were the wrong size. They did not fit in the hub! I expected this to be a big setback. I figured at best we would have to return to the store to exchange the parts, and at worst they would have to order the right ones and we would have to stay one more night. Neither scenario had a chance to get started. A different one took place. Minutes after the wrongparts discovery, Larry went to work with calipers and his lathe. He turned down the studs with
expert precision and machined all five in a matter of minutes. Then he pressed each one into place on the hub. A perfect fit. The hub was fixed! It was 9 a.m.
WE CHATTED FOR a few minutes before we left
and thanked Larry for his kindness and work. By 9:30 a.m. we had pulled out of his driveway and were headed for home. For the first few miles neither of us said a word. We just sat quietly, taking turns to look back at the trailer. Baffled, eventually I voiced the question, “What just happened?” We recapped the events of the last 24 hours. How was it possible that we were on the road again headed home? How lucky were we to have had a breakdown in that exact spot and no one was hurt? How did we stumble upon Larry? What are the odds of Larry having a machine shop on his property? So many variables, so many questions and so many different outcomes. As we talked, that sense of amazement grew. It asserted itself in our conversation. We were overwhelmed with gratitude, thankful for the genuine, nontypical kindness from a stranger! NS
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The Poth family’s eating good this winter after James, 11, took a buck (below) on Washington’s opener, then filled his second deer tag (above) the next day, while Jody harvested her first deer, a doe (above right). They were assisted by friend Eric Braaten. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
Buzz Ramsey, who travels as widely across the Northwest for big game as he does for salmon and steelhead, downed this Fossil Unit buck halfway through Oregon’s season with a 205-yard shot out of .338 Remington Ultra Mag. (BUZZ RAMSEY)
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You’ve heard of sabermetrics – analyzing baseball player statistics to make better decisions – but how about antlermetrics? First-time hunter Brad Rich, 63, applied that after drawing a permit to hunt trophy muleys in Chelan County. With data from trail camera images collected by his neighbor Mike Quinn over seven years, Rich determined he had a maximum 7 percent chance of shooting a four-pluspointer on a particular migration trail between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. – and much lower odds before and after those hours. “Completely, totally, empirically data driven,” says Quinn. “No wondering, no wandering around, just sitting in the data-driven spot the damn camera said we should! Brad is a brilliant mind and kept emphasizing to go off the trail cam metadata for time, date and whatever else. He’s a number cruncher, so he created some whiz-bam Excel spreadsheet with all kinds of slices and dices. He actually convinced me to stay in bed [that day] until 9:30, then get up, roll up the hill, get in place by 11 and begin the long sit like we had many previous days. We sat there for maybe 12 minutes when this piss-walloping buck came over the rise and Brad shot him with two well-aimed shots like he had been doing this sort of thing for 37 years!” (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
Central Washington’s once-legendary Teanaway Unit performed like the old days for one family last fall. First, while hunting with sons Kaleb and Cole, Jason Schumacher took a nice buck (right) and taught the boys the ins and outs of dragging and cleaning. Then the next weekend Kaleb and his grandpa Loren James (above) went on an “epic adventure” in the snow and cold. Loren tagged his first and while turning the pickup around, advised his grandson to take a peek over the edge of the mountain. “Well, to Kaleb’s surprise, he shot his ‘own buck.’ He tracked it downhill for several miles. Grandpa was never quite far behind. Kaleb learned the art of skinning deer that weekend and true family bonding,” reports mom Laurie Gwerder. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST) 60 Northwest Sportsman
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“It was a great year for the Ruffo Boys, with full freezers for the family,” says patriarch Kenny. His oldest son KJ (top, bottom), followed up harvesting a wide-forked Southern Oregon blacktail with a bull elk during the first Coast Bull season – both in hike-in areas – while his 8-year-old Tyler helped spot, gut and load “his doe” (middle) in Eastern Oregon. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
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Becoming Backcountry Hunters
PICTURE The following is excerpted with permission from Team Bad Decision, An Evolutionary Tale In Backcountry Hunting, by Travis Greenwood, and was first published in 2019. It traces the journey of the author and his friend Scott Daniels from rank amateurs trying to find bucks and bears in the heart of Washington’s Cascade Range to intermediate wilderness hunters chasing elk in Colorado, and back again to successfully killing a large bruin in the heights of the Evergreen State. It has been lightly edited from the original. Paperback copies can be purchased at teambaddecision.com for $15.99, while eBook versions are available for $9.99 from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple Books. – The Editor By Travis Greenwood
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Author Travis Greenwood takes a look back into the heights while packing out a large bear he killed near the Cascade crest in Washington. (TRAVIS GREENWOOD)
unting the backcountry is, without a doubt, the most challenging and rewarding experience outside of fatherhood and marriage (I am contractually obligated to include this part) that I have had the pleasure of experiencing. It is mutually savage and unforgiving, while still leaving the participant with a sense of enchantment. If you can accept the nature of hunting the backcountry, I promise you that the rewards far outshine the challenges. The backcountry does not care if you have 100,000 Instagram followers, or did or did not punch your tag. It is a place that challenges you to find yourself, which is a lesson that has taken me a long time to understand. Though this is not a story of salvation, it is a story of refusal to live an ordinary life. Thoreau says, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” The implication of this quote terrifies me. I rail against the notion of living such a life and find that the wilderness is the antidote to such complacency. Hunting in isolation allows an expansion of thought that is difficult to achieve in other mediums of life. The immersion into the relationship of predator and prey while in a landscape of such intimidating beauty brings perspective to understanding the basic principles of life. To hike is wonderful. To hunt is sublime. Hiking steps to the precipice of understanding nature, but hunting takes the leap. The beauty of the wilderness is the one most commonly
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Greenwood warms up by a fire in the rain. Learning the ins and outs of wilderness hunting took he and partner Scott Daniels several years. The book describes failures and lessons along the way. (TRAVIS GREENWOOD) intimate understanding of nature is achieved.
seen, but it only tells a part of the story. Brutality breathes meaning and life into the landscape. From the smallest insect to apex predators, every creature lives in a constant state of flux. Eat, sleep, hunt, kill. Survive. Live. This is the story the hunter immerses themself in. Sliding seamlessly out of the contrived human construct and into the beautifully violent role of the predator, the hunter takes full responsibility not only for stewardship of the land they tread, but for the prey they kill. Through these interactions, a unique, 64 Northwest Sportsman
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WHILE WE HAVE spent the last few years evolving the way we hunt the backcountry, the hunting world has also gone through its own changes. The commercialization of hunting has diluted what we consider to be important, instead becoming kill-centric and judgmental. The atmosphere around advertised hunting has become sterile and unexciting, putting the kill before all other aspects of the hunt. It is discouraging and disappointing. I am not saying the kill is unimportant. It is of the utmost importance, but it also is not the only thing that should drive us. The backcountry is full of other experiences that make the hunt desirable and it is those experiences which are the primary reason our story is unique and worth telling. Our learning curve was steep, and full of adventure and friendship that cannot be illustrated in a 30-minute show littered with commercials. Of course, I am guilty of participating as well. I have glassed hillsides with epic backdrops and mentioned to my hunting partner Scott Daniels how great a picture it would make. There is an entire generation of hunters flooding social media feeds with overly dramatic posts that feed what I have sarcastically dubbed “The Industry.� The Industry. The four pages of hashtags advertising products not because they are quality, but
because they are free. The focus on the kill. The overemotional responses to the killing of an animal. Respect is paramount for one’s self, nature, and the animals we kill, but it is getting to the point where the next step is to erect a memorial. Hunting speaks to everyone on varying levels. The idea of hunting speaks to the broad base of hunters across all spectrums, and for many it ends there. Some seek the camaraderie of hunting camp, the time away from the significant other, or trying to reconnect with an aspect of our psyche that is not exercised by many the way it used to be. Others crave adventure, the push to see what limits your body can take, and to do things only because you can. I think our journey touches on all of these aspects. That is the value we bring to you, the reader. Value can get lost amongst the deluge of social media-driven hunting posts and TV specials featuring high-fence ranch hunts. Superficial experiences. Thankfully, there are certain corners of the industry that have been pushing back against this mindset. Individuals like Steve Rinella and Randy Newberg, to name a few, have been producing quality content for years, and people have noticed. It is my hope that they will continue to carry the banner forward and be the face of the American hunter. Our way of life needs articulate, relatable people at the forefront of interactions
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The author’s hunting partner Scott Daniels poses proudly with a backcountry bull he downed. (TRAVIS
Seasoned elk medallions await grilling after a successful kill. (TRAVIS GREENWOOD) with the nonhunting public. Scott’s favorite saying is: “The comfort zone is a nice place, but nothing grows there.” This saying describes our mentality perfectly as it pertains to our pursuits in the backcountry. It has been our check against complacency, and a challenge to ourselves to do better when we fail.
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GREENWOOD)
One of the hardest things we do as human beings is to admit we are wrong, or ill prepared. We find that our experience in failure is best worked out through genuine self-evaluation, which we find most easily discerned on the mountain. It cannot be done responding to a forum post or adding a picture of a sunset to your Instagram.
I CAN DISTINCTLY remember chronicling my first spring bear hunt, where I had an unfortunate series of events happen and admitted to them on social media. A close friend messaged me, “I don’t know if I would have admitted that.” Why? Are we so scared of failure that we have to hide it from the public at large? The answer, on a macro scale, is a resounding “Yes.” We see it infiltrating all aspects of our lives, hunting not excluded. We see the seemingly perfect family on Facebook, who gets divorced three months later. The kid who hides the fact that he flunked his test from his parents. The man who posts the buck he killed, but does not talk about the one he wounded and lost the day before. The hunting celebrity who commits game infractions in the name of creating better footage for his television show. We have lost the ability to address mistakes or failure, and furthermore, how to apply those lessons to help better ourselves. Social media is perpetually feeding the image of perfection and it is tearing at the fabric of society. We have to remember that it is OK to fail. It is OK to interact. It is OK to feel the negative emotions associated with not being the best. We certainly aren’t. We hope you enjoy stepping into our world of imperfection where real life happens. Welcome to our journey. Our passion. NS
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All hail the bounty of the mountains! Alan Shelton, 10, takes a moment after downing his first buck (left), in his first year of hunting. (COAST HUNTING
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PHOTO CONTEST)
Terry Sinkler of U-Neek RV was among those Western Washington hunters who did well in Montana this past season, downing his largest muley yet, though he needed a lot of patience over the course of three days for the buck to cross from private land over to ground he could hunt. He was using a Tikka T3x in .300 WSM. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST) CONTEST)
Following up on his Western Washington two-point blacktail (above), Chad Smith put down his rifle and picked up his bow to chase elk over Thanksgiving, but had his stalk blown by the lead cow and the herd ran off. “Then I looked at some maps and knew there were only two places they would have gone. Went to the first spot … which resulted in no elk. Went to the second spot and located the elk quickly. I was able to sneak into 45 yards and double lung her,” Smith says of this cow, his first wapiti. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
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With plenty of competition, Miles Steele made the decision to take the first legal buck he saw on public land in Central Oregon’s Fossil Unit, and no doubt he’s eating a lot better this winter than those who held out for something bigger! (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
We just might see this buck (above) on a fall cover! That’s Chad Zoller, no stranger to our front page, with yet another bruiser, this one taken on the family farm in Oregon. He spotted his “biggest bodied muley” to date 1,000 yards away at first light on a nasty late September day, then got on its trail after it and two other bucks crested a hill, eventually closing to 60 yards before taking it with a 60-yard shot out of his .308 Ruger Scout. Zoller followed that success up with a nice whitetail (below) from Washington. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
Chad White used Eastern Washington’s extended mule deer hunt to good effect with this buck, taking it on the final day of the 11-day season. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
Count on Stan Weeks to come out of Washington’s High Hunt with a nice wilderness buck, and he did it again last September with this muley. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
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ks of gh ce nd ast his
NG ST)
PHOTO
CONTEST
WINNERS!
Kyla Hinds is the winner of our monthly Fishing Photo Contest, thanks to this shot she sent of herself with a pair of Chinook. It wins Kyla gear from various fishing tackle manufacturers!
Ken Witt wins our monthly Coast Hunting Photo Contest, thanks to the pic he sent of son Logan and his huge Western Washington blacktail, taken last general season. It wins Ken a knife and a light from Coast!
Sportsman Northwest
Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource
For your shot at winning Coast knives and lights, 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 | FEBRUARY 2020
Northwest Sportsman 73
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NEWS
Guides Scott Ammerman (left), Mike Kelly (second from right) and Grant Scheele (right) have formed the Siletz Anglers Association to work on steelhead broodstock programs benefiting the eponymous Oregon Coast river and improve infrastructure at Alsea Hatchery, where Siletz winter-runs are spawned and hatched. (RANDALL BONNER)
Siletz Anglers Group Focusing On Wild Broodstock Programs By Randall Bonner
I
n January 2019 guides Scott Ammerman, Mike Kelly and Grant Scheele formed a volunteer organization to generate funding for improvement projects on their home river. Their Siletz Anglers Association is a nonprofit designed to raise money and awareness for the central Oregon Coast river’s wild broodstock program.
With a goal in mind to also improve infrastructure at the Alsea Hatchery and projects pertaining to the broodstock program, they’ve accomplished a great deal in a short amount of time and with limited resources. Kelly says that Tillamook-area guide Jack Smith, who helped build the foundation for Hatchery Wild Coexist, walked him through getting SAA started.
“I consider him a mentor through the whole process,” he says. Smith runs the North Coast Salmon and Steelhead Enhancement Fund, and adopted the SAA as a subsidiary. Through its primary fundraiser, the North Coast Salmon Rendevous, the NCSSEF has provided recirculation pumps and screens for raceways at the Trask Hatchery, habitat restoration on the
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NEWS
Improving conditions for young fish in acclimation ponds is identified as an area of greatest need, according to SAA. (PAUL OMSTEAD, ODFW) Necanicum River, livewells for transporting wild broodstock on the Nestucca and Wilson Rivers, and a portable liberation tank for the Tillamook District, primarily used for recycling steelhead. “Anyone who fishes for salmon and steelhead in Northwestern Oregon owes Jack Smith a thank you for all the work he’s done,” says Ammerman. He attended the first salmon rendevous as a teenager when it was hosted by the Oregon Wildlife Heritage Foundation. “The model for the SAA and support for our wild broodstock program is built from the work of the NCSSEF,” says Ammerman, who sat beside Smith during the development of the Nestucca and Wilson wild broodstock programs.
WHILE THE SAA’S still in its infancy, it’s the ambition of young, energetic guides who depend on their home waters to make their living that has made it a formidable and cohesive group, hyperfocused on make big changes within a small region. In its first year the SAA raised $18,000 in donations by spring. “We contacted ODFW and asked what we could do to help. They said the area of greatest need was improving the acclimation ponds,” says Scheele of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. 90 Northwest Sportsman
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Two dozen guides donated trips, selling roughly 60 seats for between $250 and $500 each. The Original Siletz River Shuttle Service provided free shuttles. White Oaks Construction provided catering, with raffle donations from Oregon Rod Reel & Tackle, Clackacraft, BnR Tackle and Lured Beads. Sandy River Marketing designed a SAA logo and provided hats and T-shirts. Table Mountain Forestry, Dahl Sanitation, Peterson Cat rentals in Salem, and Knife River Building Materials were among the major donors whose efforts went towards upgrading the acclimation pond near Palmer Creek on the Siletz. Rearing smolts at an acclimation site increases the number of adults that “home” and return to that site.
NEXT ON SAA’s radar is constructing a second lower-river acclimation pond on the Siletz, and partnering with the Rock Creek Hatchery, owned by the Siletz Tribe and which is beginning a program raising 5,000 smolts this year. They are hopeful that this number will increase in the future. Also on the to-do list are upgrades to the Alsea Hatchery, where the Siletz wild broodstock are spawned and hatched. “If we get all of our coastal rivers having great returns, it will spread out people and create that much more of a chance for Guide Kevin Gray deposits a winter steelhead into a holding tank in his boat. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is moving away from using tubes to hold wild fish and reducing the number of fish-transportation permits to reduce “impacts and mortalities.” (KEVIN GRAY)
people to catch a fish,” says Ammerman. Upgrades to the facility could benefit both river basins. Historically, the Alsea Sportsman’s Association has generated funding for projects related to the wild broodstock program at the Alsea Hatchery. More recently, the SAA has gathered fresh ideas, bodies and funding to make upgrades and improvements to existing infrastructure. This year, the Alsea Hatchery is trying to transition away from using tubes to collect wild fish for the broodstock program by boat on the Alsea River. Instead, ODFWapproved livewells are being introduced to the program. Each boater participating in the program must apply for a permit to transport wild steelhead to the Alsea Hatchery. Assistant District Biologist Paul Olmsted says the number of these permits will be “kept to a limited and manageable number to minimize wild fish impacts and mortalities.” Meanwhile, the SAA is lending a hand to the neighboring system by contributing batteries to operate the aerators on the new livewells – the construction of which was funded by the Alsea Sportsman’s Association – and nets to ease handling of fish during their transition from the livewell to the raceway or the new collection pen that is being installed at
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Northwest Sportsman 91
NEWS John Spangler, ODFW district fisheries biologist, prepares a new wild broodstock collection pen to be installed at the Mike Bauer Wayside Plunking Shack on the Alsea. The SAA believes that improvements on that system will lead to a better winter-run program on the Siletz as well. (RANDALL BONNER)
Mike Bauer Wayside on the Alsea. “Jack, Grant, Mike and I are all members of CCA, and support the work they are doing at the state and federal level. Our small organization aims to fill in the gaps at a local level, focusing on the Alsea and Siletz,” says Ammerman. As the SAA continues to foster growth with the local community, the three founding members intend to form a board. “The work of the SAA will quickly outgrow the work that Mike, Grant and I can manage,” Ammerman says.
THE NEXT FUNDRAISER that the SAA will hold is set for March 8 at the Logsden Grange, east of the town of Siletz. The organization is expecting to have 30 boats sell their seats for this year’s event. If you’d like to contribute, you can make a tax-deductible donation via the NCSSEF website, salmonrendevous.com (leave a note the donation is for the SAA). The 2020 North Coast Salmon Rendevous is set for October 28-30 at the Old Mill Event Center in Garibaldi. NS
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Elk River Chinook Snaggers Busted
T
he Oregon State Police pilot was looking for poachers spotlighting big game in the hills of Oregon’s South Coast that November night but instead discovered the flashlights of those busy poaching big Chinook in a popular river. The incident occurred in a closed area of the Elk during combined aerial and ground patrols in Coos and Curry Counties, and during a low salmon return that saw a reduced bag limit on wild fall kings for most coastal streams. According to the state police Fish and Wildlife Division’s monthly newsletter, after the pilot spotted the lights on the beach at the mouth of the river around 10 p.m. that evening, troopers in trucks moved in to check things out. As they attempted to stop a rig leaving the beach, a passenger jumped out of the vehicle and ran off, but was found nearby in the brush when backup arrived. Meanwhile, troopers detained three others inside the truck, and in the bed they found nine fresh Chinook. Also located were six fishing rods and
KUDOS
A pair of Oregon fish and wildlife troopers stand next to the Chinook, fishing rods and a night vision scope seized from a trio snagging salmon during closed hours in an off-limits area in November. (OSP) a night vision scope. According to OSP, three of the four occupants admitted that they’d been fishing that evening. One, a female, was taken into custody by her parole officer and lodged in the Curry County lockup. She and the two others were each cited for fishing in a prohibited area and during closed hours, snagging, unlawfully possessing game fish, and fishing without either a license or combined angling tag.
At their December holiday party, the Wild Steelhead Coalition donated a new raft, oars, trail cameras and spotting scopes to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife wardens patrolling the Olympic Peninsula, home to some of the state’s last best winterrun rivers. “Years of budget shortfalls have meant that WDFW has to cover all of the territory from southern Hood Canal to the Quinault River with limited resources and staff,” said Rich Simms, Wild Steelhead Coalition boardmember and cofounder, in a press release. “We hope this donated equipment makes their challenging jobs more effective, including allowing them to navigate technical stretches of OP rivers to monitor fisheries and enforce the rules, particularly the release of all wild steelhead.” The equipment was provided in part by Outcast Boats, Sawyer Oars and club members. WDFW Sgt. Kit Rosenberger accepted the gear. (WILD STEELHEAD COALITION)
A charge of interfering with officers against the runner was also to be forwarded to county prosecutors. OSP reports that all of the fish were also seized and donated.
JACKASS OF THE MONTH
I
f you’re going to violate various game laws – not to mention the dress code – it seems you might do it in a less public place. Not so for the young dude who rolled up to a wildlife area on the Okanogan River in Northcentral Washington last month like he’d just gotten out of bed. Department of Fish and Wildlife Officer Jason Day watched as he jumped out of his vehicle dressed only in his boxers, sandals and a shirt, and then take a gander over the bank to see if there were any ducks to plink. Upon further investigation, Day discovered that the guy actually already had quite the mixed bag of quackers, quail, chukar and pheasant, all apparently taken with a modern firearm and lead bullets. And what’s more, not only was he missing his pants but also his hunter orange for upland birds and licenses and stamps to pursue waterfowl.
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$10K OlyPen King Derby On Tap I f you miss out on Dave Anderson shows off a February’s high-dollar blackmouth caught during blackmouth derbies in 2016’s Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derby. While the the San Juan Islands or banks and bays of the eastern they left you out in the Strait of Juan of de Fuca can cold, you’ve got another be productive, they’re also chance to win a cool open to strong westerlies and the Fraser River outflow, so $10,000 fishing for resident be sure to bundle up. Chinook in March. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST) The Gardiner Salmon Derby Association’s popular Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derby is set for March 13-15 on the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca and northern Admiralty Inlet. Tickets are $40 per person and they’re available at select sporting goods shops in Port Angeles, Port Townsend and Sequim, as well as larger ones in Pugetropolis, through March 9 and online (gardinersalmonderby.org) through March 11. For several years in a row in the mid-2010s, fishing partners Jerry Thomas and Larry Quesnell ruled this derby, racking up at least $43,000 in winnings, but 2019 saw the decade’s largest king weighed in, a 19.35-pounder by Mark Thompson of Sequim. Traditionally held over Presidents’ Day Weekend, the event was moved to March in 2018 and now aligns with the opening of blackmouth season in the Straits. For good spots and tactics, check out Mark Yuasa’s story on page 139.
MORE UPCOMING EVENTS
Sundays through Feb. 23: 74th Annual Tengu Blackmouth Derby, Marination Ma Kai (formerly Seacrest Boathouse), West Seattle; tickets: Outdoor Emporium Through Feb. 29: Washington Ice Fishing (yellow perch), all legally open lakes; tourneyx.com Jan. 31-Feb. 1: Umpqua Fishery Enhancement Derby, Umpqua River; facebook .com/UmpquaDerby Mid-February-late March: Spring Steelhead Derby, Washington’s Grande Ronde River; boggans.com Feb. 22-23: Columbia River Walleye Anglers Association Open; info: facebook .com/pg/columbiariverwalleyeanglersassociation March 21-22: Washington State Pond Jumperz Open (bass), Lake Terrell; info: pondjumperz.com March 28-29: Annual Mike Albertson Memorial Team Open (bass), Lake Washington; washingtonbassclub.com April 4-5: Banks Lake Frostbite Tourney (bass); bankslakebassclub.com April 25: 28th Annual Spring Fishing Classic, Willamette River; nsiafishing.org For more events, see wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/contests/calendar
By Andy Walgamott
2020 NORTHWEST FISHING DERBY SERIES Feb. 1-2: Resurrection Salmon Derby, Anacortes Feb. 6-8: Friday Harbor Salmon Classic Feb. 13-15: Roche Harbor Salmon Classic March 13-15: Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derby March 21-22: Everett Blackmouth Derby March 21-22: For the Love of Cod Derby, Charleston-Coos Bay March 28-29: For the Love of Cod Derby, Brookings April 18-19: Something Catchy Kokanee Derby, Lake Chelan May 23: Lake Stevens Kokanee Derby June 20-21 Father’s Day Big Bass Classic, Oregon July 10-12: Bellingham Salmon Derby July 10-12: Slam’n Salmon Ocean Derby, Brookings July 29-Aug. 2: The Big One Salmon Derby, Lake Couer d’Alene July 31-Aug. 2: Brewster Salmon Derby July 31-Aug. 2: South King County Puget Sound Anglers Salmon Derby Aug. 8: Gig Harbor Puget Sound Anglers Salmon Derby Aug. 22-23: Vancouver (British Columbia) Chinook Classic Sept. 12: Edmonds Coho Derby Sept. 26-27: Everett Coho Derby Nov. 7-8: Bayside Marine Blackmouth Derby, Everett For more details, see nwfishingderbyseries.com.
nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2020
Northwest Sportsman 97
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OUTDOOR
Brought to you by:
CALENDAR FEBRUARY
1
Washington statewide, youth, veterans and active military goose hunting day; Blackmouth opener on Puget Sound Marine Areas 7, 8-1, 8-2 and 9 6-7 Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting, Portland/Tigard – info: dfw.state.or.us/agency/commission 6-8 Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting, Olympia – info: wdfw.wa.gov/about/commission 6-12 Tentative razor clam openers at several Washington Coast beaches – info: wdfw.wa.gov 8 Northwest Oregon Permit Zone late goose hunt opens; Coast and Inland portions of Washington Goose Management Area 2 late goose hunt opens 10 Deadline to apply for Oregon spring bear permit 15 Last day to apply for Idaho spring bear hunt; Last day of steelhead fishing in select Puget Sound terminal areas 15-16 Free Fishing Weekend in Oregon 16 Bait restrictions take effect on several Olympic Peninsula steelhead rivers; Last day of Oregon Zone 1 snipe hunt 20-23 Tentative razor clam openers at several Washington Coast beaches 22 Oregon South Coast Zone goose hunt opens 28 Last day of bobcat, fox season in Oregon; Last day to apply for Washington spring bear permit
MARCH 1 12-14 14 15 20 31
Blackmouth opener on Marine Areas 5 and 6; Lake Billy Chinook’s Metolius Arm opens for fishing; Numerous Eastern Washington lakes open for fishing Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting, Tri-Cities Bottomfish, lingcod, rockfish and cabezon seasons open in Marine Areas 1-3 and Area 4 west of Bonilla-Tatoosh line Last day of bobcat, fox, raccoon, rabbit and hare season in Washington Washington sea duck, Southwest Canada goose, snow goose and brant harvest reports due; Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting, location TBD Last day 2019-20 Washington fishing, hunting licenses valid
APRIL 1 4-5 8-14 9-11 11 11-12 15 17 22 25
New Washington fishing, hunting licenses required; Opening day for special permit bear hunts in select Idaho, Oregon and Washington units Washington youth turkey hunting weekend Idaho youth turkey hunting week Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting, Olympia Long Beach Razor Clam Festival – info: longbeachrazorclamfestival.com Oregon youth turkey hunting weekend General spring turkey season opener in Idaho, Oregon and Washington; More Idaho, Oregon and Washington special permit bear hunts open Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting, location TBD Fishing or bait opener on select Oregon waters Opening day of lowland lake fishing season in Washington
nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2020
Northwest Sportsman 99
Anglers await the next seminar at Walleye Alley last winter. The tank will be at February’s Pacific Northwest Sportsmen’s Show in Portland. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)
2020 BOAT AND SPORTSMEN’S SHOW
CALENDAR FEBRUARY Jan. 24-Feb. 1 Seattle Boat Show, CenturyLink Field Event Center and South Lake Union, Seattle; seattleboatshow.com Jan.31-Feb. 2 Eugene Boat & Sportsmen’s Show, Lane Events Center, Eugene; exposureshows.com 3-15 Spokane Valley Boat Show at Elephant Boys 2020, Elephant Boys, Spokane Valley; spokanevalleyboatshow.com 5-9 First Annual Coeur d’Alene Boat Expo, Hagadone Marine Center, Coeur d’Alene; cdaboatexpo.com 5-9 Pacific Northwest Sportsmen’s Show, Expo Center, Portland; otshows.com 5-9 Vancouver International Boat Show, BC Place, Granville Island; vancouverboatshow.ca 14-16 Central Washington Sportsmen Show, SunDome, Yakima; shuylerproductions.com 14-16 Douglas County Sportsmen’s & Outdoor Recreation Show, Douglas County Fairgrounds, Roseburg, Oregon; exposureshows.com 14-16 Willamette Sportsman Show, Linn County Expo Center, Albany; willamettesportsmanshow.com 21-23 Jackson County Sportsmen’s & Outdoor Recreation Show, Jackson County Expo, Medford; exposureshows.com 21-23 The Wenatchee Valley Sportsmen Show, Town Toyota Center, Wenatchee; shuylerproductions.com 21-23 Victoria Boat and Fishing Show, Pearkes Recreation Centre at Tillicum Mall, Victoria, British Columbia; victoriaboatshow.com 22-23 Saltwater Sportsmen’s Show, Oregon State Fairgrounds, Salem; saltwatersportsmensshow.com MARCH 5-8 The Idaho Sportsman Show, Expo Idaho, Boise; idahosportsmanshow.com 6-8 BC Sportsmen’s Show, TRADEX, Abbotsford; bcboatandsportsmenshow.ca 12-15 Central Oregon Sportsmen’s Show, Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center, Redmond; otshows.com 13-14 Northwest Fly Tyer & Fly Fishing Expo, Linn County Expo Center, Albany; nwexpo.com 19-22 Big Horn Outdoor Adventure Show, Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds, Spokane; bighornshow.com APRIL 23-26 Mid-Columbia Boat & RV Show, Columbia Point Park & Marina, Richland; midcolumbiaboatshow.com MAY 14-17 Anacortes Boat & Yacht Show, Cap Sante Marina, Anacortes; anacortesboatandyachtshow.com
nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2020
Northwest Sportsman 101
COLUMN
Boat Strategies For Steelhead
Boats are the most efficient way to fish most winter steelhead waters, whether via jet sled on rivers big enough to support the quick, agile craft, or a pontoon or drifter on smaller venues with rougher launches, like this one on an Olympic Peninsula stream. (BUZZ RAMSEY)
D
esigned for Nor thwest rivers, drift boats offer access to water not always reachable by those fishing from BUZZ shore. In addition, RAMSEY those capable of navigating rivers allow boat-borne anglers to employ all popular fishing methods, some of which might offer an advantage over the techniques commonly used by those who are bank-bound. Unlimited access and the ability to use effective fishing methods is what fuels the popularity of drift boats.
Many boat anglers do the same thing: launch and begin methodically fishing every reasonable-looking spot while proceeding downstream to the takeout. And while this can be solid strategy, there might be a better way when “your” river is crowded, and especially when most, or all, anglers are employing the same method. The fishing techniques used by boat anglers might include the following: bobber doggin’, side-drifting, bobber and jig, worm or egg cluster, drift fishing, back-trolling plugs, diver and bait, backbouncing, and casting or dragging spinners. If there are ten boats ahead of you and all are bobber doggin’ with the same
rubber egg, it is reasonable to assume most, or all, fish wanting that offering have been caught or sore mouthed. This is a time when you might have better success bobber doggin’ with a different lure or switching to an altogether different fishing method. Take Olympic Peninsula fishing guide Bob Kratzer (360-271-7197), for example. He has enjoyed steelhead success bobber doggin’ with a size X-4 or X-5 FlatFish. Bob rigs his FlatFish on a 30-inch leader and in combination with a heavy enough slinky or pencil weight that his plug will travel downstream ahead of his sinker, making for an arm-wrenching plug bite. Likewise, any of the many fishing methods listed
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COLUMN
There are myriad methods available to boat-borne steelheaders – “bobber doggin’, side-drifting, bobber and jig, worm or egg cluster, drift fishing, back-trolling plugs, diver and bait, back-bouncing, and casting or dragging spinners,” per author Buzz Ramsey, whose craft is prepped for a float down Oregon’s Wilson. (BUZZ RAMSEY) above might produce better for you on days when the river is crowded with other anglers all doing the same thing.
WHAT MANY BOATERS do is carry several sets of rods, each set prerigged for different fishing methods, so they can quickly switch from one technique to another. Water conditions might dictate what fishing outfits you take along. For example, a bobber and jig and/ or casting a spinner might produce best when rivers are low and clear, while backtrolling plugs might work when flows are medium to clear, and drift fishing (in combination with a big sinker and Corky or Spin-N-Glo) when the water is high and off color. 104 Northwest Sportsman
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Another way to up your odds of success is to make two drifts on the same day, either on the same or (if close by) a different river. A two-drift strategy might play out like this: On your first drift, fish each available spot but move along fairly fast. If you find fish, great, the good news is you may be one of the first to locate them. However, if you find a hole full of fish but too crowded for you to participate, just keep moving. After all, you may find more fish further downriver or hit the same group of steelhead on your second drift, as you will have advance knowledge of where they are likely to be found. The idea is to take advantage of as much action as you can and then make a second drift in the afternoon (behind
the crowd) when there might be fewer anglers competing for the top-producing spots. The other advantage to this strategy is that if you don’t see much action on your first drift, you will still have time to visit another river or check out an entirely different section of the same stream.
TIDES PLAY A bigger role in steelhead movement – especially on coastal, Puget Sound and Columbia River tributaries west of Bonneville Dam – than most anglers realize. For example, during the biggest tides of the month is when the majority of fish will move upstream, almost regardless of water conditions and especially when rivers are high from successive rainstorms. If rivers are extremely low, and have
COLUMN been that way for 10 days or more, newly arriving steelhead may only be found in the first few holes above tidewater. The fish may accumulate in the lower few miles of the river, especially on a large river, or be found moving back and forth with each tide swing on small- to mediumsized streams. Under prolonged low water, say, three weeks or more, fish may be found below the head of tidewater. You should realize that while the water downstream from this point may be slack when tides are flooding, this area may look a lot like a river, complete with holes and riffles, when tides are outgoing. To take advantage of this low-water opportunity will require you to be familiar with the daily tides and have access to a place you can get your boat in and out. When river levels are of medium height, freshly arrived steelhead will probably move in with each tide and continue their upstream migration without pausing much at the head of tide. Given the right timing (just after high tide) you can ambush these fish as they migrate into the lower river. After heavy rainfall, when river levels are high, fresh steelhead (pushed by the tide) may not stop until they are a mile or more upriver. In fact, the entire migrating group of fish may speed into the middle or upper river when water levels are up, leaving the lower end nearly void of fish. The above explains the logic behind the often-heard adage, “When the water is low, fish low; and
As the old saying goes, when the water’s up from winter rains or snowmelt, fish higher in the system, but when it’s low, try closer to tidewater. (BUZZ RAMSEY)
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It’s a bit of a challenge to wrap your mind around it, but at least one famed Northwest steelhead guide has found success bobber doggin’ smaller FlatFish instead of eggs or drift bobbers. The key is to use enough weight and a 30-inch leader so the plug travels below, or downstream, of the sinker. (BUZZ RAMSEY)
when the water is high, fish high.” On years with strong runs and given high water levels, each daily tide will push fresh fish into the river during peak months, providing a steady pulse of fish movement. This is sometimes why the bite can go off and on during the day on rivers influenced by ocean tides. The bite is just illustrating the upstream grouping and movement of fish inspired by the push of the tide. Where adult hatchery steelhead eventually hold can be influenced by where they were released as smolts. These spots
might include the area just downstream from a hatchery, a smolt acclimation pond or (as corny as it might sound) where the hatchery truck liberated them when stocked as juveniles. Most acclimation pond and truck-release sites are selected low in the river or in areas that offer the best boat and bank angling access. If you aren’t familiar with these locations, try calling the district fish biologist. NS Editor’s note: The author is a brand manager and part of the management team at Yakima Bait. Like Buzz on Facebook.
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FISHING
Blue Ribbon ’Bows
A 75-mile-long section of the Yakima River between Snoqualmie Pass down to Roza Dam in the canyon falls under catch-and-release and selective gear regs. (MIKE WRIGHT)
Destination trout rivers are rare in Washington, but the Ellensburg area’s Yakima is a top spot for flyrodders starting in late winter. By Mike Wright
F
or avid Northwest fly fishermen who long for the great blue ribbon fishing opportunities of Southwest Montana or Southeastern Idaho but do not want to travel that far, there is a high-quality destination in Central Washington. The Yakima is the only trout river in the Evergreen State regarded as a blue ribbon
fishery, and although it can not quite equal the size and number of trout present in the Big Sky’s Madison or the Gem State’s South Fork of the Snake, it does provide some excellent fishing in its upper stretches. It wasn’t always the case. For many years this section of the Yakima could be considered mediocre at best. However, beginning in 1983 the forerunner to today’s Washington Department
of Fish and Wildlife instituted some changes that would have a profound effect on the trout population.
THE FIRST OF these changes was to end the hatchery stocking program and rely on natural reproduction to form a wild trout fishery. In 1990, the department instituted catch-andrelease rules for the section of the river between Easton, not far east of nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2020
Northwest Sportsman 109
FISHING Jeff Bononcini used a San Juan Worm to catch this nice Yakima River rainbow in February 2015. He says that the pattern “works every time” during dropping flows. Late winter fish run from 12 inches on up to a foot and a half, if not longer. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)
Snoqualmie Pass, and Roza Dam, in the canyon of the Yakima. This section was then designated as a year-round fishery in 1991, and no-bait and single, barbless-hook regulations were put in place. These restrictions proved to be highly successful and the trout population increased dramatically. There are some who would say it was too successful. The small number of larger trout in the upper river is not really what some people expected. According to fisheries biologist Jim Cummings, “When catch-and-release regulations were instituted, there were expectations that there would be a sizeable number of trout over 15 inches, and although there are some in that size range, they tend to be few and far between.” He goes on to state that the uneven flows of the river during seasonal irrigation may result in stranding a large number of aquatic insects, reducing the amount of forage needed to produce larger fish. However, the Yakima is a very fertile system and tweaking the water flows slightly during the summer, fall and winter may help produce more of these larger specimens. At present, if you have a strong desire for larger fish, the area between 110 Northwest Sportsman
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Ringer, at the top of the canyon, and Roza Dam offers considerably more trout above 14 inches. In addition, there is a fair amount of migratory trout movement from the canyon area upstream to the section of the river around Ellensburg. This spawning run of mature redband rainbows and, occasionally, westslope cutthroat ordinarily starts in February and culminates in late April. During A guide ties on a Prince Nymph, one of many good options for Yak flyrodders to target subsurface fish. They’re often used with strike indicators. (AL SCHULTZ)
this time, fish in the 15- to 18-inch range are far more common. In the past the Yakima was host to major runs of salmon and steelhead, but the need to irrigate crops in this dry, hot region of the state led to the construction of a number of dams along the course of the river. This effectively ended the spawning runs. This was major blow to the Yakama Nation, so they went to court in an attempt to reestablish viable populations of the species. The tribe was joined in this move by Trout Unlimited, American Rivers and The Wilderness Society, among others. They were successful in their efforts and changes have been made to help bring back the salmon and steelhead runs on the Yakima, as well as in other streams. There was some consternation on the part of a number of fishermen that this might have a negative effect on the trout populations in the Yakima, since salmon and steelhead have not generally been known for their vegetarian dietary preferences. However, it has been determined by fisheries biologists that the reintroduction will, in all likelihood, have a beneficial effect on the rainbows and cutthroat. When salmon die after spawning, their carcasses provide a
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FISHING
There are numerous launches in the canyon section, including state, federal and private put-ins, making for a multitude of float options over generally easily navigable waters. Further upstream there are several ramps, though the Yakima is more braided, has lots of wood and runs faster. (MIKE WRIGHT)
food source for a number of insect species and help the overall biomass of the river system. This could be a very important factor, which in time may account for an overall increase in the average size of the trout in the 75-milelong catch-and-release section.
THE UPPER PORTION of the Yakima is blessed with many of the same attributes that are present in the far more famous blue ribbon streams of Montana and Southeast Idaho. There is an abundance of cold, clear water; rocky bottoms that provide excellent habitat for insects; riffle areas leading into long, deep pools; undercut banks with overhanging vegetation; and small logs and branches to provide the trout with cover. These conditions, along with the special fishing rules, provide the same type of high-quality angling experiences that might be enjoyed on those Northern Rockies rivers, with far less driving time involved. Even the fly hatches 112 Northwest Sportsman
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that occur on the upper Yakima are similar to those one might expect to encounter in Montana or Idaho. Although this section of the river is open year-round, the action really starts to pick up in early March with the emergence of the stoneflies – golden stones and skwalas in particular. There are some salmonflies that will also come off as the water temperature warms, but not in sufficient numbers to make for any kind of a feeding frenzy, such as the ones that occur on Rock Creek or the Big Hole. The golden stones and skwalas, on the other hand, appear in numbers that can often attract schools of fish in search of a substantial meal, which may very well cause the much desired feeding frenzy. When the water temperature reaches the middle to high 40s, stonefly nymphs begin to move out of their rocky cover and make their way to the river banks and weeds that protrude above the water’s surface.
Nymphs such as a Golden Stone, Bitch Creek or Kaufmann in sizes 3 to 6 fished during the morning hours are very effective. Using a weighted nymph bounced along the bottom is probably the best strategy. As the day progresses and air temperatures increase, the stonefly adults begin to appear and take flight. These adults are rather clumsy and often create quite a commotion when landing on the water. For this reason, a good strategy might be to skitter a Fluttering Stone or a Yellow Stimulator in sizes 4 to 6 across the surface of the river. Although a drag-free dead drift will also produce fish, putting some movement on the fly will attract fish and elicit a greater number of takes.
IN EARLY SPRING, blue-winged olives also begin to make their appearance, often overlapping the skwala and golden stone hatches. The bluewinged olives tend to be rather small, so fly patterns in sizes 16 and 18 are
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FISHING the most often used during this time. The split-wing version of the bluewinged olive is probably the most popular pattern, especially in the upper canyon. If you plan to buy this pattern from Red’s Fly Shop or any of the other fly purveyors in the area, it might be advisable to get there early, since they tend to sell out fast. According to Max Karns, longtime fishing guide on the Yakima, this past year saw “the best blue winged olive hatch I have ever seen on the river,” which would account for the quick sell-offs. For those anglers who are a little on the slow side, a Parachute Adams or a Sparkle Dun in the same sizes will also produce fish, as will nymphs such as Pheasant Tails, Hare’s Ears and Lightning Bugs. A prolific blue-winged olive hatch also occurs in the fall; however, the general size of the insects in this hatch is even smaller than that of
the spring hatch. Imitations as small as sizes 20 and 22 are often the most effective. Due to the small sizes of these patterns, very light leaders and tippets are needed, down to size 6X. In addition, Yakima waters are low and very clear, thus requiring precise presentations and a stealthy approach in order to be effective. A three- or four-weight, light-action rod would in most occasions be more than adequate, but wind conditions in this portion of the river can be rather severe, so a fast action, heavier weight rod might be more appropriate. Another food source for the trout in the upper Yakima is the midge, which hatches throughout the year. Although not as meaty as stoneflies, mayflies or caddis, imitations still can be very effective at times. Black or red chironomids, Brassies, Copper Johns, Serendipities, Griffith’s Gnats and Renegades are all excellent patterns to use on the Yakima. A
Leo Pierson enjoys a shore lunch during a guided trip down the Yakima with friend Al Schultz. Summer might be the most popular time to be on the river for most, but many anglers enjoy the solitude, not to mention sizable trout, to be had in winter and before spring runoff hits. (AL SCHULTZ)
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FISHING in roughly the same sizes. For nymphs, Hare’s Ears, Pheasant Tails and Princes will produce fish. For the yellow sallies, a Yellow Humpy or an Irresistible in size 14 are the most commonly used flies.
ALTHOUGH THE CANYON is the most
Despite hordes of innertubers, rafters and other river users, summer is a great time to hit the river, especially with patterns imitating terrestrial bugs. Bononcini shows off another rainbow, this one caught on a size 16 Elk Hair Caddis dropper tied 18 inches behind a Purple Chubby faux hopper. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)
strike indicator might be advisable to use with the nymphs. By April or early May, anglers will start to see caddis hatches occurring on the Yakima, depending on water temperatures. Caddis insects will generally start to hatch when the water temperature warms to 50 degrees. Early-season caddisflies are smaller and increase in size as spring and summer progress. These sizes will usually run from size 16 to 4 (for the October caddis), but occasionally the size will go down to as small as a 20. A Peacock or tan Elk Hair Caddis, Parachute Caddis, or a LaFontaine Sparkle Emerger are all effective patterns; however, size is often more 116 Northwest Sportsman
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critical than color in producing trout. As summer progresses and temperatures increase, pale morning duns, yellow sallies and green drakes begin to appear. In most years, the PMD hatch usually starts the last part of May and will continue into July, with June being probably the most productive month. It should be pointed out that this is this is also a prime time for irrigation, so there could be a great deal of fluctuation in river levels and cloudier water conditions. The most effective dry fly patterns during this time would be the Parachute PMD or Parachute Adams, sizes 16 to 18, PMD emergers, Sparkle Duns, Light Cahills and Comparaduns
popular area to fish, moving upstream into the agricultural sections around and above Ellensburg could cut down on the competition. Another advantage to this move might be the fact that an excellent green drake hatch can generally be found in these waters. This hatch can be rather difficult to hit at its height, but if you do, it can be a little slice of heaven. Thirty- to fortyfish days are quite possible during the peak of the hatch, with a good portion of those trout being over 14 inches. Later in the summer this is also an excellent spot for terrestrials such as hoppers, ants and beetles. The upper Yakima, in most sections, is a very easy river to wade fish. The river is in close proximity to highways, side roads and even is paralleled by portions of the Palouse to Cascades (formerly Iron Horse) State Park Trail, with numerous parking areas. The water levels are generally low with numerous riffle areas leading to long deep pools. This is especially true in the canyon section. And although access in the agricultural region can be somewhat problematic, there are enough access points to make wade fishing possible. With that said, fishing from a drift boat is probably the best way to work the river. Upstream from the canyon the river is narrow with some very shallow water and a log jam, requiring a short drag of the boats over the obstacles. Whether you wade or float the Yakima, you may leave with the feeling that Christmas came a little a little early this year. It should prove to be a very enjoyable experience, with the added benefit of being much shorter drive home for most Washington anglers. NS
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FISHING
Wisconsin-born Bill Saunders is perhaps best known in the Columbia Basin waterfowl world, but has developed a laser-like focus on catching walleye in the trophy-caliber waters around Tri-Cities. (BILL SAUNDERS)
Saunders’ Veritas
It’s prime time for prespawn Mid-Columbia River walleye, and the Tri-Cities’ Bill Saunders has tips for catching trophy-caliber specimens of Sander vitreus.
By M.D. Johnson
T
rue, this is a yarn about prespawn walleye; that is, how to find and catch walleyes before they spawn. Simple enough directive for me to follow, right? Well, my personal best – I’m sorry, PB for all you YouTube junkies – walleye didn’t come in the spring. Not February or March or even April,
but August. August 6th, if you want to be specific. My wife Julie and I were fishing the Columbia out of Peach Beach at Maryhill one August morning. Daylight to noon, we fished, with only a pint-sized smallmouth to show for our efforts. Then I remembered a tip a friend had given us; a place he’d said to try. So we motor over. Set ourselves up. It’s a flat, he said. Twenty-two to
23 feet of water rising abruptly to 16, then almost immediately back down to 23. We found it easy enough, thanks to the 2-pound walleye that inhaled Julie’s ’crawler-tipped jig on the backside of the hump. Drift two, a second fish. Identical in size. Same with drift three. Those go into the bucket, all destined for a rendezvous with hot grease. Drift four, and I get snagged. Then nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2020
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FISHING the snag starts swimming downstream. Slow, but determined like. “I don’t know what this is,” I remember telling Julie, “but whatever it is, it’s big.” Three minutes. Maybe five. A flash of olive-green and a white-tipped tail the size of my hand. I’m pretty sure my heart stopped at that point. Julie did a fine job with the net, in which, we’d discover shortly, lay my PB walleye – 31.5 inches and 14.5 pounds. Next pass, it’s Julie’s turn, and a 9.5-pounder is fought, photographed, and, as was mine, released back into the river. Two walleye. Almost 25 pounds total. Pretty impressive, especially for
an Ohio boy who grew fishing the waters of Lake Erie – one of many places claiming to be the walleye capital of the world – and had not,
to date, caught an ’eye over 10 ticks. And now to have two – well, work with me, damn near two – in two consecutive drifts. But yes, this was August, and this piece focuses on spring or prespawn walleyes. So why the story at all? These summer fish were where we found them for a particular reason, that being a current break and over-the-top roll that 1) gave these fish somewhere to rest and wait in ambush for 2) the baitfish that would inevitably be swept over the hump by the current and right into their tooth-filled maws. Classic walleye structure, and over the years, we’ve caught many an ’eye
Saunders is a big proponent of fishing with jigs for walleye, which allows him to work the spot on the spot best. “A good jig fisherman fishes a (single) rock,” he says. “I bring my jig up over that rock. Down the other side of the rock. I feel it go through the sticks. Or I can feel the weeds grabbing it.”(FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)
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FISHING “For the most part in the spring, big fish want big baits,” says Saunders, who uses jigs such as 5- to 6-inch swimbaits or Kit’s Tackle Glass Minnows, though he acknowledges that most hawgs are landed on plugs or ’crawler harnesses. Ken Howard caught this 18-pound, 13-ounce walleye last February while trolling at night. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)
there in March, in April, throughout the summer months, and well into fall. But let’s talk prespawn walleyes here; that is, early spring. And here, I’ll
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defer to the Tri-Cities’ Bill Saunders. Saunders is without question best known for his role as a Northwest waterfowling luminary. Call builder,
long-time (now retired) competitive caller, and owner of Big Guns Guide Service (billsaunderscalls.com). But in recent years, Saunders has taken a shine to, or more accurately has developed an obsession for walleye and walleye fishing, even opting to forgo his traditional September trips to Canada to hunt because, as he told me matter of factly, “It interferes with my fall walleye fishing.” He is, to me, the consummate walleye hunter, experimenting with techniques unheard of here in the Pacific Northwest, and to which even I’m not privy. He airbrushes his crankbaits to match his own preferred color schemes. Pours his own jigs. Rigs his own harnesses, bottom walkers – you name it. The boy’s serious, indeed. And so with that:
SAUNDERS ON FINDING WALLEYE “My personal best? My personal best is just shy of 16 pounds. Four or five years ago, we put, if I’m thinking right,
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FISHING 12 fish over 15 pounds in the boat,” Saunders told me. “And every spring, we’re catching those 13-, 14-, and 15-pounders. Just a couple weeks ago [Editor’s note: This would have been right around New Year’s Day] someone caught a 17-and-change. There’s a lot of big ones caught right now.” But as experienced walleye hunters know, these big fish just aren’t lying around willy-nilly. The hunt, as most hunts do, begins with where. “Targeting these big fish – I mean specifically targeting them – can mean long boring days on the water, where you’re fishing for a single bite,” Saunders began. “I wish I could say there was one certain depth or breakline or type of structure that I’m looking for when I’m looking for these bigger fish, but it seems like you can bump into them anywhere. “Typically, though,” he continued, “I would say they’re in that 10- to 20foot range, and in some proximity to
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some type of structure, whether that’s rocks, trees, stumps or weedlines. One spot, and I’m concentrating on weedlines because I know that’s where these fish are going to spawn. Another spot, and it’s a certain type of rock I’m looking for. Another spot, and it’s a creek mouth. Or a bay. But every piece of water and every smaller part of that water offers something different in terms of prespawn staging structure.” So now I’m curious. Was the fact that Julie and I caught fish on that hump in August and then again in March – rather, the spring as a whole – a fluke, or is that something you can rely on? That is, walleye in August will be walleye in March? “On the river,” Saunders said, “there are spots that will always hold fish. On the river, it’s current related. If the current is right, there will be fish there. If, say, you have the same current in February that you did in July, there may be fish there. Or in
close proximity to that particular spot. “But,” he continued, “and especially true on the river, it’s a matter of being able to adapt to current changes. The current picks up, and I know my fish are going to slide in (to more protected water). The current slows down, and they’re going to slide out. For me, it’s 1-mileper-hour current. That’s not saying I won’t find them in quicker water. Or slower. But a lot of times that’s what I’m looking for.” Here, I make an assumption regarding how to find these particular spots, and I asked Saunders to finish this sentence: A walleye fisherman without good modern electronics is what? His immediate response? Well, let’s just say it can’t be printed here; however, he laughed, quickly added the fact he was joking, and continued. “Our dads caught walleyes without electronics,” he began. “They lined up this with that and that other thing, and
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FISHING While federal overseers would likely prefer that there were no walleye in the Columbia due to their impact on salmonid smolts, anglers are also keen to conserve the resource, with most turning back the large hens to spawn. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)
fished there and caught fish. I don’t always need electronics when I pull up on this spot and I start this drift. But … electronics do make a big difference. For me, it’s not so much the down-imaging or the side-imaging, but primarily it’s my GPS. Our dads would throw a marker buoy (once they caught a fish). I have it all right there on my screen. I’m looking for that spot on a spot, and that’s where I want to fish.”
SAUNDERS ON CATCHING WALLEYE If, I asked the man on the other end of the phone, you were limited for the rest of your day to but one lure or bait and one technique for walleye, what would that be? Saunders response, and perhaps not surprisingly, was almost immediate. “I would jig,” he said. “But from there, there’s so many different offshoots of that (technique). You can jig swimbaits. You can jig live baits. 126 Northwest Sportsman
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Jigging Raps. You can jig a blade bait. What’s going to trigger that bite on any given day is going to change all the time. But … yeah, I’m going to jig. I love to jig. I grew up jig fishing.” Saunders is a native of Wisconsin, a place that many will tell you is Walleye Central, if there ever was one. “Now I’m not saying that pulling plugs or ’crawlers is easy or mindless – it’s not – but pulling a plug or a harness? It’s pretty simple. Put it in gear. Make sure you’re going this speed and you’re hitting these spots. But for somebody to be a good jig fisherman? Those are the guys I respect. The guys I look up to on the river. These guys know how to fish a jig. A blade. A Rap. Whatever it takes, they can do it.” So does all this jig-related finesse mean it’s more of a rifle approach to catching walleye on structure while pulling a plug or a ’crawler harness is the shotgun method? One’s the
needle, and the other’s the haystack? “You’re covering more water when you’re pulling anything,” Saunders said. “Just do the math and think about what you’re doing when you’re pulling a bait. “Now,” he continued, “when you’re jig fishing, you’re vertical and moving at the same speed (or slightly quicker) than the current. It goes back to fishing that spot on the spot. That’s jig fishing. A good jig fisherman fishes a (single) rock. I bring my jig up over that rock. Down the other side of the rock. I feel it go through the sticks. Or I can feel the weeds grabbing it. It’s more of a precision technique where I’m controlling absolutely everything that’s being done.” But there are a lot of different baits out there. A thousand different lures that can be jigged. Or dragged. Or cast. How now brown cow? “If you’re targeting big walleyes,”
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FISHING Saunders said, “for the most part in the spring, big fish want big baits. We are throwing 5- to 6-inch swimbaits or Kit’s Tackle Glass Minnows (kitstackle.com) or some type of swimbait leadhead. It’s something big and we’re looking for a big bite. “This swimbait thing,” he continued, “is going on all over the country, but thanks to a couple guys who pioneered it out here, the swimbait thing is huge now. But I will say this. Most of the big walleyes that are caught throughout the year come on either a plug or a ’crawler harness. Like the swimbaits, most of the plugs we’re fishing are 5 to 6 inches long. I’ve even trolled musky plugs before. No, I don’t catch a lot of fish on them, but when I do, they’re big.”
SAUNDERS ON RESOURCE CONSERVATION Write. Delete. Write. Delete. This one’s a tough one for me. Yes, I understand walleye eat the occasional salmon
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smolt; however, I – personal opinion – believe the state Departments of Fish and Wildlife should closely monitor the walleye situation on the Columbia in terms of regulations. Why? Let’s face it. Salmon populations are a shadow of what they once were. Give up? No. Face facts? Yes. Can we reverse 100 years of habitat destruction, overharvest and mismanagement? Probably not. Can we see that the Columbia River may very well be the premier walleye fishery in the nation, if not on the planet, and manage it accordingly for the continuation of the species? Yes, I believe that’s possible. So too does Saunders. “If you want those big fish that are producing tens of thousands of eggs,” he said, “to produce tens of thousands of eggs, they have to be in the river. If you want those incredible genetics that have allowed them to live this long and get this big to continue, you
need those genetics in the pool. It’s simple. Put the big ones back. Whether you get to catch them or I get to catch them, that big fish is in the system and someone, hopefully, gets to reel it in.” It’s the same, I think, on the opposite end of the spectrum. True, there’s no daily bag limit and no minimum size restriction for Columbia River walleye. And if you want to exercise the privileges afforded you with the purchase of a fishing license according to the word of the regulations, that’s your prerogative. However, it’s also, I believe, important to remember that killing 50 8- to 10-inch walleye means that those fish won’t enter the breeding population. Do it enough, and now we’re skipping a year class. Or two. Or three. My thoughts? Take what you need, but no need to kill ’em all just because you (legally) can. And, to echo Saunders, let those big ones go. Your kids and grandkids will thank you. NS
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FISHING
Halibut Opening Early In Straits In part one of a three-part series, Mark Yuasa takes a look at Washington’s 2020 flattie seasons, including the mid-April start in inside waters. By Mark Yuasa
T
here’s not much stability on the Pacific Northwest sport fishing scene these days, especially when it comes to salmon or steelhead, but a change of course for halibut anglers has led to a more even keel. “We’ve moved in a new direction that started in 2019 through 2022 where quotas will remain status quo barring any unforeseen issues,” says Heather Hall, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife fish policy coordinator. “We’ve added a lot more days of fishing up front in 2020 compared to last year,” she says. “It helps knowing that we have the catch quota available (39,000 pounds of halibut was left on the table after 2019) and how our fisheries did last year.”
THE EASTERN STRAIT of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound, Marine Areas 6 through 10, are set to open for halibut fishing on April 16, much earlier than past years when these waters didn’t open until early May. Fishing will be allowed Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays only in the eastern Strait and Puget Sound from April 16 to May 16 and May 28 to June 27. Fishing is open May 22, 23 and 24 on Memorial Day Weekend only. Fishing is closed on May 21. The western Strait’s Area 5 will be open Thursdays and Saturdays only from April 30 to May 16; and Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays
Washington halibut anglers should enjoy a good season, including a much earlier start on the sheltered waters of northern Puget Sound and the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca, where Jake Mandella landed this 90-pounder during 2018’s fishery. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)
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FISHING from May 16 to June 28. Fishing is open May 22, 23 and 24 on Memorial Day Weekend only. Neah Bay and La Push, Areas 3
and 4 on the northern coast, will be open Thursdays and Saturdays only from April 30 to May 16 and May 28 to June 27. Fishing is open May 22,
The sun that is Washington halibut fishing rises and sets on the North Coast, where this season 128,187 pounds are available for anglers launching out of La Push – pictured here – and Neah Bay. (DAVE ANDERSON)
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23 and 24 on Memorial Day Weekend only. Fishing is closed on May 21. Westport and Ilwaco, Areas 1 and 2 on the southern coast, will be open
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FISHING Time to get your halibut gear in order! Ocean angler Dave Anderson swears by his homemade 13-inch-long copper pipe jig outfitted with a 12/O treble. (DAVE ANDERSON)
Thursdays and Sundays only from April 30 to May 17 and May 28 to June 28; and May 21. Fishing could close sooner than dates noted and/or additional fishing dates could also be added to an area if its sport catch quota isn’t achieved. “The season(s) will last as long as there is available quota,” Hall says. “We aren’t sure what kind of effort and fishing success there will be in that early April opener. It’s been many years since we opened in April, so it will be interesting to see how it goes.”
HALL NOTES THAT dates for the western Strait around Sekiu, Area 5, were slightly changed from the original season proposal as concern was raised by WDFW enforcement relative to the difference in open days of the week between Areas 4B and 5. There has been an increasing crossover of angler effort between both areas, says Hall, whereby anglers 134 Northwest Sportsman
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are launching from and returning to Neah Bay, but fishing Area 5 when it’s open, and vice versa. This created a significant enforcement issue when both areas aren’t open at the same time, as WDFW regulations include a port-oflanding restriction. That regulation states, “It is unlawful to fish for, retain, possess, or land halibut into a port located within an area that is closed to halibut fishing. This does not include halibut caught in Canadian waters.” Therefore, Hall says, WDFW will align Area 5 season dates with those of the northern coast for the April 30 to May 16 period. This change would reduce the original proposed season in Area 5 by three days prior to Memorial Day. While the amount of halibut caught during the April opener is unknown, it would help ensure a sufficient quota for Memorial Day and June. WDFW will need to make sure
staff is available to sample halibut landed in Area 4 that were caught in Area 5 during the remainder of the Area 5 season. If it can be done, then a follow-up proposed revision to the rule to specifically allow halibut caught in Area 5 to be landed in Area 4 on days the halibut season in Area 4 is closed will be issued. In general, a shift in how the halibut fisheries are devised annually continues to be well received since it means no last-minute changes or closures, which frustrated anglers prior to 2017 because they often made fishing plans well in advance of the set dates.
LOOKING AT THE big picture, the International Pacific Halibut Commission’s catch quota for Area 2A, which includes Washington, Oregon and California, for sport, treaty tribal and non-treaty commercial fishermen is 1.5 million pounds, and 89 percent
Winter Blackmouth Winter blackmouth have arrived throughout the Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Good areas for targeting these teenage kings is of course Areas 9 and 10, but Areas 8-1 and 8-2 between Whidbey and Camano Islands can be productive too! Launching from Camano Island State Park boat launch is an excellent starting point. Try fishing Elger Bay just south of the launch or cruise west to the eastern shorelines of Whidbey Island around Baby Island and Greenbank further north. There’s typically calmer water here since the area is more protected from cold northerly winds.
“Travis Klumpar with typically sized Puget Sound blackmouth”
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The key to finding these feeders is bait. Find the bait and you’ll find the salmon; it’s just that simple. Blackmouth are voracious feeders, so once you’re on top of them, stick it out all the way through the slack tidal exchange for optimum results. Think deep, as blackmouth will prey on spawning candlefish and herring near the bottom. Follow 90- to 140-foot contours on your depth sounder and bump the downrigger balls off the bottom, which will stir up sediment, create vibration and attract blackmouth. Use smaller spoons in glow green/ white, and pearl with 38- to 44-inch leaders. Hootchies and tube flies trolled 26 to 34 inches behind a flasher in similar colors and tipped with a herring strip can sometimes coax larger fish. Troll between 1.8 and 2.8 mph, pinch your barbs, add herring or shrimp oil and you are ready to go! Fish will often weigh in the low to midteens and can even exceed 20 pounds! Chinook minimum size is 22 inches and the daily limit is one or two fin-clipped fish depending on area. Always check the WDFW website for updates.
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FISHING – 1,329,575 pounds – of the quota was caught in 2019. The total sport halibut catch quota is 277,100 pounds for Washington, and 97 percent – 270,024 pounds – of the quota was caught in 2019. Here’s a 2020 breakdown of sport allocation by marine waters: Straits and Sound: 77,550 pounds; Neah Bay and La Push: 128,187 pounds; Westport: 62,896 pounds; and Ilwaco: 15,127 pounds. The average weight of halibut in 2019 was 18.5 pounds in Puget Sound and the Strait; 17.6 pounds at Neah Bay and La Push; 18.3 pounds at Westport; and 14.5 pounds at Ilwaco. IHPC will meet Feb. 3-7 in Anchorage to determine seasons and catch quotas from California north to Alaska. The National Marine Fisheries Service will then make its final approval on halibut fishing dates sometime in March or sooner. On closed days of the halibut
fishery, many anglers will be bouncing the ocean bottom in search of lingcod and black rockfish, seasons for which get underway on March’s second Saturday – the 14th this year – out of most coastal ports. The black rockfish population remains healthy in coastal waters and the sport fishing harvest guideline will remain status quo as last year, according to Hall. The black rockfish harvest guideline in 2020 is 278,900 pounds, just down from 280,000 and an actual catch of 236,110 pounds in 2019. The coastal sport fishery is open March 14 through Oct. 17 for bottomfish including lingcod off Ilwaco, Westport and La Push. The northern coast off Neah Bay also opens March 14 through Oct. 17 for bottomfish, except the lingcod fishery east of the Bonilla-Tatoosh boundary line opens April 16 through Oct. 15.
Sport anglers who pursue halibut and bottomfish are now required to carry a descending device onboard their boat in all marine areas, including the coast. Descending devices are used to release rockfish back to the depth they were hooked and improve their survival when released. For details, go to wdfw. wa.gov/fishing/bottomfish/rockfish/ mortality.html. The Strait of Juan de Fuca and some parts of Puget Sound open for lingcod on May 1. Anglers should consult the WDFW regulation pamphlet for specific opening dates and closures and catch limits. NS Editor’s note: This is the first in a threepart series that will look at Washington’s 2019 halibut fishery. The March issue addresses where and how to catch fish in the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound. The April issue will delve into coastal fisheries.
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FISHING
Area 5-6 Openers Add To Blackmouth Ops
March 1 marks the start of winter Chinook fishing in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and here’s how and where to catch these typically larger resident kings there – and beyond. By Mark Yuasa
T
he doors on the winter Chinook fishing scene swing wide open in February and March, and if you’re like me then it’s time to head out that door and spend plenty of time on the water. The San Juan Islands (Marine Area 7) are now open through April 15; and the east side of Whidbey Island (Areas 8-1 and 8-2) and northern Puget Sound/Admiralty Inlet (Area 9) are also open through April 30. Those waters will soon be followed by the western Strait of Juan de Fuca (Area 5) opening March 1 through April 30, and eastern Strait (Area 6) opening March 1 through April 15. “I feel there will be a lot of fish around (in the San Juan Islands and outlying exposed bank areas in the Strait) that haven’t been impacted by fishing pressure,” forecasts Chris Long, owner of Jolly Mon Charters (jollymoncharters.com) in Anacortes. “Like most winter fisheries, the successful spots will rely on the biomass of baitfish.” The uniqueness of the Straits and San Juans salmon fisheries is the sheer size of the winter Chinook, which at times can push into the midteen to 20-plus-pound category. The fact is that Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife statistics show fishing for Chinook can also be much better in winter than during summer and fall, plus there are plenty of fishing spots to hide from the ever-present windy and rough seas anglers encounter from
Tegan Yuasa gives the thumbs up to winter blackmouth fishing. Following January’s Seattle opener and February’s start of fishing in the San Juans, March sees anglers return to the productive Strait of Juan de Fuca. (MARK YUASA)
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FISHING Don’t forget that other North Sound waters are also open this time of year. Rosanna Lehman caught this nice blackmouth on a warm March 2018 day in Area 8-1, between Whidbey and Camano Islands, on a cop car-colored spoon behind a green flasher. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)
February through April. WDFW catch stats for the Jan. 1-April 15, 2019 fishery showed 6,255 boats with 13,236 anglers retained 3,761 hatchery Chinook (plus 15 illegally kept unmarked Chinook)
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and released 2,555 hatchery and 2,563 unmarked Chinook.
BEST STRAIT SPOTS include a number of underwater banks like McArthur, Salmon, Hein, Coyote, Eastern and
Middle. However, they are exposed, so be mindful of the weather forecast as these places are known to be gnarly, with winds and rough seas popping up at a moment’s notice. Other good places in the eastern Strait include Freshwater Bay; Winter Hole north of the mill off Port Angeles; Ediz Hook off Port Angeles from its eastern tip to the Coast Guard Station; just outside of Discovery and Sequim Bays; and the three humps – underwater shelves – located just west of Winter Hole. In the San Juan Islands, seek out salmon off Parker Reef, Waldron Island and Spring Pass; the north side Orcas Island from Lawrence Point west to Point Thompson; President Channel; Rosario Pass; Sucia Island; Smith Island; Tide Point; Thatcher Pass; Lopez Pass; and Obstruction Pass. Northern Puget Sound is known to produce consistent winter blackmouth fishing off Point No Point; Pilot Point;
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FISHING Possession Bar; Midchannel Bank off Port Townsend; Foulweather Bluff; Double Bluff off the southwest side of Whidbey Island; and the breakwater off Edmonds to Edwards Point. Central, south-central and southern Puget Sound (Areas 10, 11, 12 and 13) as well as Hood Canal are also open for salmon fishing. Another place not to overlook is the east side of Whidbey Island (Areas 8-1 and 8-2) and the “racetrack” between Camano Head and Hat Island; Baby Island; Camano Head; Rocky Point; Greenbank; Holmes Harbor; Onamac Point; Elger Bay; and the Columbia Beach area from Sandy Point to the Clinton Ferry Landing. Anglers should be sure to take into consideration that early closures hinge on catch guidelines or encounter limits for sublegal and legal-sized Chinook (the minimum size is 22 inches). That means getting out sooner than later will provide you
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more time on the water.
LOCATING BAITFISH SCHOOLS is by far the most important factor, as winter Chinook are voracious feeders of herring and candlefish. Blackmouth tend to hug or stay right on the bottom, so keeping your presentation bouncing in front of them will likely lead to more hook-ups. Tides are also an important factor, so being out at the crack of dawn like you’d normally do in the summer isn’t as vital. Study incoming and outgoing tidal movements to find where the prime drop-offs, ledges and underwater structures lurk in the places you choose to fish. Lastly, if the Chinook bite at a certain time of the day, it’s almost a guarantee they’ll do the same the following day only an hour later. Downrigger trolling is the top choice for winter blackmouth since you can cover a lot of ground, especially now when baitfish schools can be sparse.
Anglers will use plastic squids, spoons, plugs or a cut-plug or whole herring along with a flasher or dodger set about 8 to 20 feet behind the downrigger ball. Mooching with herring or a candlefish can also be an effective way to catch salmon. This consists of working a cut-plug or whole herring up and down the entire water column with a 6- to 8-foot leader tied to tandem 2/0 or 3/0 hooks attached to a 3- to 6-ounce banana weight. The weight size depends on the wind and current, but keeping a 45-degree line angle is critical. Anglers who use these methods will often back up their boat to keep the right line angle. Another technique is vertical jigging with 3- to 6-ounce Point Wilson Darts, Crippled Herring, Buzz Bombs, Grim Reefer and Butterfly jigs in candlefish or herring patterns. As a reminder, take off the illegal treble hooks and add barbless Gamakatsu 2/0 and 3/0 octopus hooks. NS
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COLUMN
C
alling all kayak anglers, you have four Sundays in February to get out and take part in THE KAYAK GUYS the oldest fishing derby By Scott Brenneman in Puget Sound. Like last year, the 74th Tengu Derby aligns with the January 1 opening of Marine Area 10 and runs on Sundays through the end of February. Fishing runs from first light to 11 a.m. Boaters launch at the Don Armeni ramp. Kayaks can launch here or on one of the gravel beaches on either side of the former Seacrest Boathouse (now Marination Ma Kai). Tackle needs are simple: A rod and reel, banana-shaped sinkers, barbless hooks and herring for bait are all that is needed. The notso-simple part is that this is a mooching-only tournament; the fun is in the challenge of mooching to catch a legal-sized blackmouth in Elliott Bay during the winter.
Mooch Up A Winter King
THE DERBY IS well suited to the kayak angler, and the human-powered craft closely resemble the original spirit of a time when the many boathouses surrounding Seattle’s sheltered saltwater bay rented out rowboats to fishermen. Like rowing, paddling/peddling has its advantages, including being much more responsive than a boat when making adjustments to speed and position, which results in a better feel with bait action. It is a proactive process of making continuous adjustments to speed and direction. These adjustments are made in response to line angle and the tension you feel on the rod that communicates that the herring’s action is true at depth. I have never been able to get this feel when fishing out of a bigger boat with a motor. A slight change in force applied to the paddle/peddle is all that is needed to control line angle or to change the depth of your bait – no reeling necessary. With the exception of the West Point boundary at the northernmost end of the bay, all of the well-known fishing areas are within an easy paddling distance from the launch point. With this type of fishing going on for over 100 years in Elliott Bay, all of the fishy spots are well known. If you are not sure where to fish,
Author Scott Brenneman tries his luck on Elliott Bay, which also hosts the every-Sunday Tengu Derby, a winter mooching-only competition targeting blackmouth. (SCOTT BRENNEMAN)
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COLUMN Though SRCs can’t be retained in Moochingsaltwater, involves jigging a double-hooked they represent a wildly herring up and downininPuget the water column, overlooked fishery Sound, and a motion thatwill replicates injured baitfish one that heat up an later in winter as –chum if youand do pink it correctly. “Good hands are salmon fry migrate out essential horsemanship they are into the to inland sea. (SCOTTand BRENNEMAN) indispensable to a skilled moocher,” notes Brenneman. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)
follow other fisherman like a seagull does when a pelican is fishing, or strive to be the pelican. What would be better is to study current charts and align them with the tides. Look for areas where current flow reverses and plan to fish these areas in the bay. To mooch for salmon successfully
requires a higher skill set than trolling. If you have a desire to step up your game and become a better salmon fisherman, the Tengu Derby is where you can surround yourself with the best salmon moochers around, and there is no better way to improve than to observe and compete with the best.
WHAT MAKES MOOCHING so appealing is the level of focus and attention to detail that are required to consistently land fish with this method. In my opinion, less judgment is necessary with trolling. A salmon hits your offering and it is either hooked or it isn’t. There is more substance to the sport of mooching. In a way it is similar to horse riding. Good hands are essential to horsemanship and they are indispensable to a skilled moocher. The talent and ability of a horse is reduced to the ability of the rider’s hands holding the reins. A bad set of hands that lack feel will quickly erase years of training and convert a well-trained horse to that of an unbroken equine. The lightness of touch that is required to ride a horse with skill is similar to what is needed to be an expert moocher. This is where mooching becomes more art than mechanical. As with any form of art the only way to gain expertise is through experience, which is the challenge that makes mooching so enjoyable as a sport. A salmon will certainly annihilate your
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COLUMN bait while mooching, but other times a Chinook will taste your herring first before committing. The light take is where a good set of hands and the right decision are essential for success. Focusing on your rod tip, you see a light jerk that is transferred to your hands. It is a blackmouth nibbling on your bait. If you swing for the fences to set the hook, chances are you will lose this opportunity. Instead you wait; you could back-paddle to lift your herring in the water column, or maybe you immediately strip out 6 feet of line to lower your bait. If you chose correctly, the salmon will be enticed to return; if not, it is time to check your bait.
WHEN YOU FEEL the blackmouth grab your bait, set the hook with both a delicate touch and patience. The feel is similar to pulling weeds out of the ground. If you jerk it out quickly, you leave the roots behind. A light touch with a gradual increase in pressure will keep the roots intact. This
Without flashers to draw attention to your small bait, painting your 2- to 6-ounce banana-shaped sinkers adds a bit of attraction to the setup. (SCOTT BRENNEMAN) same technique works well to prevent pulling the bait out of the fish’s mouth. A moderate-action rod with a sensitive tip helps to identify the lightest nibble. I use 100 feet of 15-pound mono top shot connected to 50-pound braid. My leaders
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COLUMN
Rebirth Of An Icon, And Other New Firearms Offerings Colt has reintroduced the legendary Python double-action revolver in .357 Magnum. (SCREENSHOT FROM COLT VIDEO)
L ON TARGET
By Dave Workman
egend is a hard label to live up to, but mention the Colt Python, and it’s a
done deal. Lost from the Colt production line two decades ago, the powerful revolver is back, and according to some people, it’s better than ever. The official premier was at January’s Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade, or SHOT, Show, and by now people are lining up at gun stores across the country, signing up to get their 2020 version of a classic. Crafted from modern stainless steel, the six-shot Python is chambered for the .357 Magnum, and by all accounts, the new version can handle a steady diet of magnums, where the original gained a reputation for developing problems with too much heavy shooting. For the record, my Python in the classic polished royal blue has not exhibited any problems, and
it’s still dead-bang accurate. For what it’s worth, I made a couple of the best (and luckiest!) handgun shots of my career with the Python, hitting a duck decoy at about 225 yards, firing offhand with handloads. I hit it twice on a downhill shot. That’s how accurate the Python can be; the result of a combination of features the new Python faithfully maintains. This year’s model has the same full underlug barrel with the vent rib on top. The barrel is cut with six lands and grooves on a 1:14-inch left-hand twist. Two barrel lengths are initially available, 6 and 4¼ inches, both featuring a recessed crown. This is, by the way, a solid barrel. There is no “sleeve” surrounding an internal barrel tube. The 2020 Python wears the classic checkered walnut target grips. It has a
new rear adjustable target sight and userreplaceable front blade sight. The 6-incher weighs 46 ounces, while the 4¼-incher weighs 42 ounces. The action, no matter who does the talking, is glass smooth. Internally, Colt has changed things a bit by eliminating several pieces while retaining the classic V-shaped mainspring. The Colt Python, with the right loads, can be a marvelous hunting handgun, launching a 158-grain JHP or JSP, or lead projectile at velocities that can punch down a deer or even an elk. Black bear, mountain lion, coyote or other midsize game animals are all vulnerable to the .357 Magnum, and this new Colt Python will deliver the goods. Suffice to say the Python was not resurrected to be a show horse, but a workhorse handgun designed for field use. No doubt the first run of guns will go fast, but Colt assures more are being built every day.
NEW RUGER-57 A SIZZLER Announced just before the holidays, the new Ruger-57 pistol is also in the spotlight. Ruger calls this a “full-featured handgun wrapped around a standard capacity,
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COLUMN
Brought To You By:
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Author Dave Workman made a couple of remarkable long range shots with his vintage Python, underscoring this handgun’s accuracy. (DAVE WORKMAN)
20-round steel magazine, chambered in the high performance and low-recoiling 5.7x28mm caliber.” Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but antigun politicians in Salem and Olympia want very much to prohibit 20-round magazines. Until they do, this self-loading pistol could easily become very popular in the Pacific Northwest for any number of reasons. The pistol features what Ruger calls a “through-hardened, billet steel slide with lightening cuts” and front-and-rear cocking serrations. Translation: The slide is tough as nails and it will be easy to cycle. It’s got a steel barrel finished in black nitride, while the fire controls are housed in CNC-machined anodized aluminum. This pistol’s frame is made from glass-filled nylon with texturing and an ergonomic fit that should be very useful in the damp Northwest climate. Other features include a Picatinnystyle accessory rail, serrated adjustable rear sight and fiber optic front sight both dovetailed into the slide, Secure-Action fire control with Ruger’s internal hammer, and a “short, crisp trigger pull.” It’s also got an ambidextrous thumb safety and external extractor. Hitting the scale at 24.5 ounces empty, the Ruger-57 comes with a lockable hard case and a pair of magazines. Ruger also 154 Northwest Sportsman
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notes the availability of 10-round mags to comply with the laws in some states. I own a MK IV .22-caliber Ruger semiauto with a 10-round magazine that’s just hell on wheels in terms of accuracy and reliability, but if you want a lot of bang for the buck in a smallbore powerhouse, the Ruger-57 just might be exactly what you’re looking for.
KIMBER’S NEW HIGH-PERFORMANCE RAPIDE BLACK ICE Fans of the Model 1911 platform could go gaga over the new Rapide semiauto, chambered for the dependable .45 ACP, a
round that is a proven fight-stopper, and no slouch when it comes to black bears or other predators. I can say that from experience. When I was a much younger fellow, I had a mentor hound hunter who put down a 400-pound bear with a .45 and it made the local newspaper. This Rapide is pure eye candy with features today’s handgunners are going to like. It wears the two-tone KimPro finish, the barrel is DLC coated, it’s got a matchgrade trigger set to break at 4 to 5 pounds (right where I prefer for the M1911) and Tru-Glo TFX Pro day/night sights. It’s got an ambi-thumb safety and beavertail grip safety with a bump, and the slide has been lightened with ports on top and both sides. You can also check out the latest incarnations of Kimber’s K6 revolver series. There are three new entries, the DASA 4-inch Combat and Target models and the DASA Texas Edition. According to Kimber, the Target model wears an extended three-finger grip and adjustable rear sight for accuracy, while the Combat model has an extended “combat grip” with finger grooves and white dot sights. The Texas Edition is for Ruger collectors – there are a lot of them –and features a 2-inch barrel, G10 “ivory” grips and the Texas state motto, name and flag. It is finished with American Western scrollwork on the frame.
GUN CONTROL CRUSADE CONTINUES
B
y now you’ve read about new gun control proposals both north and south of the Columbia River, and the news is not good. Too many sportsmen and -women apparently have been living in bubbles, thinking the gun prohibition lobby and Democrats controlling both the Oregon and Washington legislatures will leave them alone. So they ban so-called “semiautomatic assault rifles” and make buying handguns more difficult. Don’t think for a heartbeat that’s going to satisfy their desires to disarm you. There are millions of gun owners in the Pacific Northwest, and like it or not, the time for living in denial is over. The gun ban lobby doesn’t care about your rights or your safety. Make your voices heard in Salem and Olympia. Be loud and repetitive, and then make sure your voter registration is up to date so you can vote these people out in November. Doing less, or just watching to see what happens are not options. In Washington, link up with the Washington 2020 Legislative Action Group, while Oregonians can hook up with the Oregon Firearms Federation, both on Facebook. –DW
COLUMN
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Kimber has introduced the Rapide M1911 in .45 ACP. (KIMBER)
SAVAGE ‘MINIMALIST’ BOLT-ACTION Switching gears, we mentioned this last issue but in case you missed it, back in early December Savage Arms announced a new rimfire chambered in your choice of
The Ruger-57 semiauto is a sizzler with steel slide and barrel, synthetic frame and internal hammer. (RUGER)
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.17 HMR, .22 Long Rifle or .22 WMR, and it’s a handsome little package. It’s got an 18-inch button-rifled barrel with the sporter contour and threading for a suppressor or other accessory. Savage designed this rifle with a rugged green or brown laminate stock, user-adjustable AccuTrigger (it goes from 2.5 to 6 pounds), and a detachable 10-round magazine. One thing I like is the factory-mounted Weaver-style scope bases. I suggest slapping on a decent adjustable scope and immediately heading for the range, where you can zero this rifle at 25 or 50 yards, after which you declare war on small game. The Minimalist weighs a comfortable 5.8 pounds (without scope, empty) and it comes with QD sling swivel studs fore and aft. NS
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COLUMN
Dog Food, Part II: Adults
Adult hunting dogs deserve quality food to keep them healthy, fit, and performing in the most demanding of conditions. Here, author Scott Haugen’s pudelpointers enjoy a training session in fresh snow. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
I
n last month’s column we looked at the benefits of feeding your puppy quality food. In the second installment we’re going to look GUN DOGGIN’ 101 at doing the same for By Scott Haugen adult dogs. Not until I started feeding my adult gun dogs NutriSource did I realize there could be such immediate, positive performance in them. Nor did I dream of there being such a difference in dog foods. I used to buy our dogs high-quality food, or so I thought, from a big-box store. Then I went to the local feed store, McKenzie Feed and Tackle in my hometown of Walterville, near Eugene,
and talked with owner Chris Wright. Wright gave me more valuable information about dog food in the first 10 minutes than I’d heard in my whole life. It was then that I realized I had also learned my first lesson: Make sure to go to someone like Wright who lives and breathes dogs, not a vet, chain store or even a big name-brand pet company. In other words, go to an expert who deals with multiple, quality brands, names you won’t find at a grocery store.
OVER THE COURSE of the next several months I routinely visited with Wright, and he taught me a lot about true, high-quality dog foods. “A rotational diet is key for adult dogs,” he explains. “Understanding their life stages is important, and doing what’s
needed to keep their weight down is of utmost importance. If your dog can’t cut weight and keep it off, the first step is to try a senior food that’s a lower calorie diet specifically designed to manage weight.” Wright says the number one thing he observes coming into his store is people whose dogs are overweight. He also emphasizes that dog food nutrition is a tough concept for some people to grasp. “If your dog’s not losing weight and keeping it off, cut down on the amount of food you’re giving it, and make sure it’s not getting any junk food and that it’s regularly exercising,” he says. Be sure to check the labels of dog foods so you know exactly what you’re getting, specifically the daily feeding guidelines.
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COLUMN The best gift you can give your dog is quality food, and they’ll live healthier, longer lives, and feel much better from day to day because of it. Shop carefully, talk with experts, and read the labels. NutriSource is Haugen’s food of choice for his gun dogs. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
I recently looked at a brand X bag of dog food and saw I would need to feed my dog six cups of it a day versus just two cups of NutriSource. The former cost $20 for a 30-pound bag, while the latter was $58 for 30 pounds. It seems spendy, but by using NutriSource I’m actually feeding less at 3:1, thus actually paying less per meal for a much healthier food. Indeed, not all ingredients are the same, so look closely. “As they age, take care of the dog and don’t look for foods to be a shortcut,” emphasizes Wright. “For example, don’t buy a food that’s created to battle tooth decay. It’s not necessary to spend $100 on a bag of this food that has only one minor ingredient that helps teeth, but is loaded with others that are actually bad for the dog, when really, feeding it proper food, occasional bones, and brushing teeth is better for them.”
ONE THING WRIGHT, along with some of the folks I’ve talked with at NutriSource (nutrisourcepetfoods.com) got me doing was switching up dog foods. My dogs love
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this, and it keeps them eating well and under control. “Mixed food diets are great,” Wright continues. “Switching foods can be a real stigma among dog owners, but it shouldn’t be. If a dog has a sensitive stomach, then mix foods as you transition to new foods. But if a dog is raised on a rotational diet, they can have different food all the time, even different food for breakfast and dinner. If you get a dog accustomed to changes in their food, you won’t need to mix foods to trick or entice them into eating different flavors.” I consider my dogs, which are both adult pudelpointers, to be very good eaters, so I rarely give them wet canned food. But if you have a dog that’s picky, or gets anxious when traveling or being around other hunting dogs, then giving them wet food, or using a bit of wet food as a topper on their dry food, will encourage them to eat the kibble. One thing Wright does advocate is giving your dog joint supplements if they are stiff and slow after a day afield. “Supplements like Majesty’s Buddy Bits, Hip + Joint (majestys.com) offer a great balance between glucosamine and chondroitin,” he says. A good guide is three parts glucosamine to one part chondroitin, Wright advises. One thing I’ve been doing the past few months is feeding my dogs a partially raw diet. I get meat scraps from a local butcher and add it in with their dry food. I use a ratio of about three parts dry food to one part raw meat. I’ll also supplement their diet with raw vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and sweet potatoes. The dogs love this and it’s a very healthy, natural diet that they easily digest and efficiently metabolize; it keeps their weight down too. In a future column we’ll look at dog treats – what I give my dogs at home as well as when training and hunting with them. Until then, read the labels, talk with the right experts, commit to providing a quality diet for your dog and make sure they get daily exercise in order to keep their weight down. NS Editor’s note: To watch Scott Haugen’s series of puppy training videos, visit scotthaugen.com. Follow Scott on Instagram and Facebook.
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COLUMN
In Defense of Jackrabbits And The Table Fare Thereof A
s a young man I did something that I find repulsive now: I shot and CHEF IN THE WILD let lie blacktailed By Randy King jackrabbits. “Feeding the coyote” is what we called it and I shot hundreds of them over many years. They were effectively living target practice. Looking back I feel like a total goon for the action. But I was behaving in a culturally appropriate way – jackrabbits in Southwest Idaho are not really considered food. They have a stigma on them that is super hard to dispel. Culturally, jackrabbits in the West do not have a high culinary appeal. First off, they are not a rabbit but a hare. Now, to be clear, rabbits are not hares and hares are not rabbits, but they all do belong to the Leporidae family. Meat from hares like blacktailed and whitetailed jackrabbits is darker and much more flavorful than that from chickenlike cottontail rabbits. Snowshoes are hares as well, but often have meat that is less red and is closer in taste to rabbit than hare. Blacktailed jackrabbits tend to eat sagebrush and hard barks, which do not contribute well to a culinary-friendly diet. In addition, their primary defense is running, so there’s not a tender muscle on them. Compare that to cottontails. They do little running and eat lots of green veggies, and being a white-meated species they are almost bound to taste better. Blacktailed jackrabbits are more of a classic sagebrush dweller. With just a little cover, a little water and plenty of open space, they can thrive. I often hunt them on
Jackrabbits may be looked down upon as a source of wild meat by some due to rumor and reputation, but not by the hunters of the King clan. (RANDY KING) nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2020
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Corned jackrabbit with potato cakes and eggs. (RANDY KING)
BUNNY FOR BREAKFAST (OR WHENEVER)
P
roperly corned meat uses a brine method. A brine is simply a wet marinade for the meat, and with corned meat it includes a variety of spices, salt and sugar. The spice combination can vary from cook to cook, family to family. But this chef uses a simple pickling spice off the store shelf; I prefer the McCormick brand. The trick to getting great-looking, i.e. pink, corned meat is Insta Cure #1, otherwise known as pink salt. Arguments can be made for and against pink salt; it is your call, but I use it. 2 quarts water, hot ½ cup kosher salt 1 tablespoon Insta Cure #1 (Prague powder or Speed Cure) 3 tablespoons pickling spice 3 pounds boneless jackrabbit meat – about two jackrabbits’ worth In a high-sided Tupperware or other foodsafe storage vessel add the hot water. Stir in the salt, Insta Cure and the pickling spice and mix until the salt is all absorbed. Add the rabbit meat. Refrigerate for three days.
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The time spent in the brine allows the meat to better absorb the flavors. When the meat is cured, drain off 1 quart of the brine water. Keep as much of the spice blend as possible. Add back one quart of fresh water to the container. Transfer all to a Crock-Pot, set it on low and cook the mix for six to eight hours (I put my meat in the Crock before work, then I know what I am making for dinner) or until you can stick a fork in the meat and are able to turn the implement easily. This will make your house smell awesome, by the way. Chill the meat, then shred it. Split it between three or four separate storage containers, each capable of holding about 8 to 10 ounces’ worth. CORNED JACKRABBIT POTATO CAKES WITH EGGS 10 ounces corned rabbit meat, shredded 2 small potatoes, boiled until tender Salt and pepper Garlic powder ¼ cup Ritz crackers (smashed to a powder) 13 eggs
½ cup butter 2 cups arugula In a mixing bowl add the corned jackrabbit meat, potatoes, garlic powder, crackers and one egg. Mix well. It should be a stiff mix with the consistency of dryish mashed potatoes. In a 6-inch nonstick skillet add one tablespoon of butter. Heat on medium until the butter is melted and foaming. Add a cup of the hash cake mix, pressing the mix to the edges of the pan. Cook the mix on that side, on medium heat, for five minutes, or until golden brown. Carefully flip. Serve hot. While the cake is cooking prepare two eggs per cake. If you can, try and serve them sunny side up or over easy. The yolk makes a good “sauce” for the potato cake. To complete the dish, place ¼ cup of arugula on a plate, then add the potato cake. The heat from the cake will wilt the arugula. Then add the eggs on top of the cake. Serve hot. For more wild game recipes, see chefrandyking.com. –RK
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Noah King scours a draw in search of rascally jacks. (RANDY KING) Bureau of Land Management boundaries near private fields. They like the extra food and the fence lines often provide good shooting lanes. Several other things hold the jack back from being accepted on the table. Some are founded in truth, others pure fiction.
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RUMOR NO. 1: Jackrabbits taste bad and are stringy/chewy when you eat them. When I hear this rumor, the first thing I ask is, “Well, have you ever tried them yourself?” The answer is usually “No.” So, basically the individual is using the “wisdom” of older generations to form their own opinion
rather than from actual firsthand knowledge of the topic. Not a shocking revelation but one that should be talked about. Hell, even Steven Rinella disparages the jackrabbit in his book The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game, Volume Two: Small Game and
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COLUMN Fowl, calling them “loathsome.” But it has always seemed wrong to me to value one animal over another without any firsthand evidence. I usually ask folks to give it a try and see what they think. I provide them with several ways to prepare the meat. Mostly the error comes from treating a jackrabbit like a cottontail. They are not the same critter and need to be cooked differently.
A passel of sage-dwellers plus a bonus Hun heads for Chef Randy’s kitchen. (RANDY KING)
RUMOR NO. 2: Jackrabbits were poisoned by the federal government in the 1950s and are now poisonous to eat. They should be avoided and “left for the coyotes” when shot. This rumor had me floored. A quick online forum search will find all sorts of conspiracy theories around this topic. I have seen that chem-trails are used to poison them, that crop-dusters do the
deed out in the sagebrush. But basically all of this is bull-snot. The government is not wholesale poisoning jackrabbits to reduce populations and make them inedible. Any poisoning that occurred in the past was so many rabbit generations ago that it has long passed being a danger for human consumption. Not to mention poisons used to kill rabbits don’t pass themselves along genetically.
RUMOR NO. 3: Jackrabbits carry parasites – and they can kill you! Look, all food contains parasites, bugs, viruses and such. The amount and prevalence is the problem. The Centers for Disease Control lists all wild game as a potential issue for consumption, yet we all still love us some venison steaks on the barbecue, don’t we? Just as with all game – ducks, deer, fish, what have you – being careful about handling the animal, making sure not to eat clearly sick ones and cooking the meat the right amount will render jackrabbits safe
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nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2020
Northwest Sportsman 171
too. They are no more or less parasite filled than any other game.
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BAD PUBLICITY ASIDE, jackrabbits do have a century-old problem: They are lean. What that means is that while the meat can be cooked and eaten, you can starve with a belly full of it. In the Great Depression that is exactly what happened in the West. Settlers and homesteaders, as well as Dust Bowl migrants, ate a ton of jackrabbits. The U.S. at this time was in a wildlife crisis. Almost all game species were absent on the land – no deer, no elk, no pronghorn. There were plenty of jackrabbits, however, so they became a vital part of the historical diet for the poor people of the West. This abundance and reliance on rabbit meat actually fostered a medical issue known as “rabbit poisoning,” mal de caribou or protein poisoning. Your body cannot process lean meat without a certain amount of fat to digest it. That means if all you had to eat was lean meat, like, say, jackrabbits, you could starve with a full belly. This repeatedly occurred in the rural West, and it can still occur today with bodybuilders when they consume a diet of only steamed vegetables and baked chicken – no fat – giving themselves protein poisoning. So when times got better here in the West, it is no wonder that jackrabbit became a disparaged meat source. Who would eat a lean jackrabbit, or game meat at all, when they could have a cornfed steak? Well, I guess we would, right? NS
COLUMBIA RIVER MAP Seattle
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172 Northwest Sportsman
FEBRUARY 2020 | nwsportsmanmag.com
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Trophy fish, strap of ducks, technical mountain biking to basalt rock climb: It’s all around Ephrata! Visit ephratawachamber.com and start your adventure today!
Vulcan Marine Service is located in Lake Oswego, OR – just East ½ mile off I-5 exit 290. Vulcan Marine offers full service boat and motor repair, maintenance and service. Our goal is to provide Quality Service at a Fair Price. Vulcan Marine services all varieties of motors, engines & drive types with particular expertise in early model I/O’s Vulcan Marine is an authorized Tohatsu sales & service dealer.