Northwest Sportsmanmag March 2020 by Media Index Publishing Group

FISHING • HUNTING • NEWS

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2020 STATEWIDE TROUT FISHING DERBY Catch fish and win big!

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is pleased to announce the 5th Annual Statewide Trout Fishing Derby which kicks off on April 25 and runs through Oct. 31, 2020. The derby is open to anyone with a valid Washington fishing license. Youth age 14 and younger do not need a license. There is no registration or entry fee required. Over 1,000 rainbow trout will be tagged and put into more than 100 lakes statewide. Any angler who catches a yellow derby tagged fish between April 25 and Oct. 31 will win a prize — It’s that simple! More than 100 licensed dealers, including Cabelas, Sportsman’s Warehouse, Silver Cove Resort, and Fred Meyer, have donated $40,000 in derby prizes including fishing gear, Mariner tickets, resort stays, kayaks, gift cards, and more! More information, including the list of participating lakes and the complete list of participating sponsors, will be available in April on wdfw.wa.gov. How to catch fish and win a prize: 1. Buy your fishing license and go fishing at a participating derby lake 2. Catch a rainbow trout that has a yellow tag on its fin 3. Go to the website listed on the tag and enter the derby tag number and the lake it was caught in 4. Claim your prize at a participating dealer location 5. Snap a photo of your winning fish or prize and use #watroutderby on social media Good luck and make 2020 the best trout season yet!

10 Northwest Sportsman

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Sportsman Northwest

Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource

Volume 12 • Issue 6 PUBLISHER James R. Baker

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

ALUMAWELD STRYKER

EDITOR Andy Walgamott THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS Randall Bonner, Jason Brooks, Scott Haugen, Sara Ichtertz, MD Johnson, Randy King, Buzz Ramsey, Dave Workman, Mark Yuasa EDITORIAL FIELD SUPPORT Jason Brooks GENERAL MANAGER John Rusnak SALES MANAGER Paul Yarnold ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Mamie Griffin, Jim Klark, Mike Smith DESIGNERS Celina Martin, Lesley-Anne Slisko-Cooper PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS Kelly Baker OFFICE MANAGER Katie Aumann INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGER Lois Sanborn

End of year clearance, better than boat show prices!

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 Carly Benson, then 10, beams over her first spring turkey, taken last season in Walla Walla County while hunting with her dad Jeff. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

SPECIAL EDITOR’S STATEMENT An image in this issue has been photoshopped to protect sensitive information.

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CONTENTS

VOLUME 12 • ISSUE 6

(FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

RAZOR CLAM SEASON RUNNING STRONG

The sands of Washington’s Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis and Mocrocks beaches hold the best population of razor clams in a quarter century and soon digging will switch to daylight low tides. Mark Yuasa shares the stats on why you want to get to the coast stat – and if that’s not enough, two different razor clam shindigs are coming up too!

ALSO INSIDE 75

WASHINGTON HALIBUT, PART II Halibut fishing usually opens in May in Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but this year it is slated to begin in mid-April. In part two of his three-part series on Washington flatties, Mark Yuasa previews the best inside waters.

127 LADIES STEELHEADING CLASS IS IN SESSION Sara Ichtertz reports back after she and friends held their annual steelhead fishing retreat near Tillamook to help female anglers learn about catching fish, interpret river conditions and more!

WARM UP TO NORTHWEST SPINYRAY ACTION As our waters emerge from winter, bass, bluegill, catfish, walleye and other bites heat up, representing “a God’s plentitude of opportunity” for those after something other than “finicky ol’ salmon fishes.” MD Johnson gets out his calendar to preview March-July’s best warmwater bets.

139 2020 NORTHWEST TURKEY OUTLOOK Season is just around the corner and you may be wondering where to go to get your gobbler this spring. MD Johnson checks in with regional National Wild Turkey Federation biologists to get their forecasts for Oregon and Washington. 145 GEARING UP FOR SPRING GOBBLERS Knowing the forecast (see the above story) is great and all, but do you know where your turkey hunting gear even is?!? MD does triple duty this issue to get you ready for spring season, including the importance of taking time to scout your hunting area(s) now, well ahead of April’s openers.

119 SECRET WINTER-RUNS OF THE OREGON COAST Small streams up and down the Beaver State’s sunset side see returns of wild steelhead and offer off-the-beaten-path scenery and adventure. Randall Bonner shares the details.

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.

14 Northwest Sportsman

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NORTHWEST PURSUITS

Spring Cleaning Time

Nobody likes cleaning, but taking time to get your fishing gear – from your tackle to your trailer – in order now will make for more productive and stress-free outings later in the angling year. Jason breaks out the special soap, elbow grease and more as he shares how to get ready for 2020’s seasons.

(JASON BROOKS)

COLUMNS 113 BUZZ RAMSEY New Lure Experiences Shared About a decade ago Lower Columbia angler Ray Norman had a new idea for a salmon and steelhead lure and after much tinkering, Yakima Bait bought the rights and this year is introducing the SpinFish, a pull-apart plug with a bait chamber that disperses scent as it’s pulled through the water. Buzz shares early test results from his outings on the big river and those who’ve used it there and on the ocean as well. 155 CHEF IN THE WILD A Hangover Cure With A Helluva History According to historians, on special occasions in pre-conquistador times human flesh was used in a dish known as pozole. That practice was banned by the Spanish, but with some spare turkey thighs on hand, Chef Randy takes a crack at what is still referred to as “the most controversial soup in indigenous Mexican culture.” 163 ON TARGET New Turkey Shotguns, Deer Rifles Introduced It’s not just spring turkey season that’s right around the corner – deer season really isn’t that much further out either. Dave has new shotguns and rifles that will appeal to both kinds of hunters, plus new ammo offerings from Sierra and Browning. 169 GUN DOG Offseason Tune Ups, Part I: The Push Back With wingshooting seasons wrapped up, now’s the time to reflect on how things went with your gun dog. Did everything go smoothly or were there some “unwanted behaviors or responses” from your four-legged hunting partner when it came to dealing with long retrieves? Scott H. calls the push back “the most common problem faced by hunters,” and has tips for helping your dog overcome it.

16 Northwest Sportsman

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(RANDALL BONNER)

THE BIG PIC:

The Time I Salvaged Roadkill DEPARTMENTS

18 Northwest Sportsman

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THE EDITOR’S NOTE Ron Garner and the Lifeblood film

FISHING AND HUNTING NEWS The good, bad and ugly of Northwest steelhead in 2020

PHOTOS FROM THE FIELD Salmon, sturgeon, wild game and more!

PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS Coast Hunting, Fishing monthly prizes

THE DISHONOR ROLL Homeless encampment removed from wildlife area; Jackass Of The Month

DERBY WATCH 3-plus-pounder wins NW Ice Fishing Festival; More recent results; Upcoming fishing derbies

OUTDOOR CALENDAR Upcoming openers, events, sportmen’s and boat shows, deadlines, more

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Northwest Sportsman 19

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THEEDITOR’SNOTE

key member of the Northwest’s salmon fishing community appears in a new documentary urging often at-odds stakeholders to work together to recover habitat and runs. “We’ve been fighting over the last fish for far too long and it hasn’t worked,” Ron Garner, Puget Sound Anglers state board president, says in Lifeblood. “We used to fight with the tribes constantly. Finger-pointing, blaming. We don’t want to do that anymore, we want to bring our salmon runs back.” The 20-minute production posted by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife focuses on anglers, tribes, farmers and fishery scientists working towards that end in Snohomish County’s lower landscapes, a critical area for diminished fish stocks. “Now we talk about how to fix things instead of how to get that last fish from each other,” Garner adds. It’s a strong call, given the history, yet battles continue to be fought and will be no less hot this month as North of Falcon begins.

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In this screengrab from Lifeblood, Puget Sound Anglers president Ron Garner hands a live Chinook in a protective sleeve to Shawn Yannity of the Stillaguamish Tribe last August during the tribe’s efforts to collect broodstock for the critically imperiled stock. (WDFW)

GARNER SITS ON several WDFW advisory committees, as well as the governor’s orca task force, on which he defended fisheries and hatchery production. Self-employed, as the head of Western Washington’s most influential fishing organization, Garner often testifies before the legislature or the Fish and Wildlife Commission. In mid-2018 Garner had the very rare honor for a nontribal member – let alone a sport fisherman – to attend a Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission meeting, and he is also a core/leadership member of the Billy Frank Jr. Salmon Coalition. In one part of Lifeblood, Garner and Shawn Yannity, chair and fisheries manager for the tiny Stillaguamish Tribe, smile on the banks of the Stillaguamish River. In a Facebook post last summer, Garner called that a “special day,” one in which he was “honored” to help as the tribe collected Chinook for their broodstock program. Due to perpetually low numbers because of highly altered habitat, Stillaguamish kings are one of the most constraining stocks on Puget Sound salmon fisheries. To ever be able to ease those, much more of the river system’s habitats need to be reclaimed and become more productive for more young Chinook. Indeed, Lifeblood identifies the lack of rearing space in the estuaries as the “main bottleneck” for the survival of young Chinook

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Northwest Sportsman 23

before they face the dangers as well as feeding opportunities in Puget Sound and the North Pacific. “I spent some time right here in my backyard, Snohomish River system,” says Garner in the film, “and I went out and I looked and I really started looking at how the habitat is connected. And boy did we break it. I mean, it’s so obvious when you look at it. We’ve got a lot of things that need to be cleared up and fixed.” For Yannity’s tribe, which unlike others is limited to only fishing the eponymous river, it’s a matter of identity that these Chinook not go extinct. “They’ve always fed our people. They’re one of the links between us and the river,” Yannity told The Herald of Everett. “They’re in our songs, they’re in our stories, they’re in our creation.” The tribe’s conservation hatchery produces up to 200,000 wildorigin smolts, but spawner numbers in the Stillaguamish have dropped from roughly 1,000 in the 1990s to 550 this past decade, barely above a federally identified critical level. Last year’s fishery agreement allowed the tribe to only net 15 for ceremonial purposes.

One man objected to a tribal fishing boat appearing on the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s website, where the agency featured the film. (WDFW)

REACTION TO LIFEBLOOD was mixed, with strong support from some on WDFW’s Facebook page, but others calling for more hatchery production, ending gillnetting and controlling harbor seals. Others focused on North of Falcon, the state-tribal salmon season negotiations mostly done behind closed doors and subject of a lawsuit by Twin Harbors Fish and Wildlife Advocacy. In a phone call with me, one man objected to a beached tribal fishing boat – a scene in the film – appearing at the top of WDFW’s homepage. And with the agency’s hand perpetually out for funding, the cost was also raised. Couldn’t that money have been used for other things? WDFW’s Rachel Blomker said $50,000 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coastal Resilience Grant Program paid for Seattle’s CaravanLab to produce it. Per NOAA, resilience grants help “restore, increase, and strengthen natural infrastructure ... to ultimately protect coastal communities from storm and flooding impacts and enhance fish and wildlife habitat.”

ULTIMATELY, LIFEBLOOD ISN’T just about recovering salmon. It’s about WDFW trying to make itself more resilient in the future by appealing to a wider audience. In the here and now, there will always be allocation battles over how to split harvestable surpluses, especially as our resources are stretched thinner and thinner. But in this new documentary, one Puget Sound angler – Ron Garner – has seen that some fellow local fishermen are in just as bad shape and has waded into a shared troubled river to lend his strength and voice to a common cause. –Andy Walgamott 24 Northwest Sportsman

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PORT OF EVERETT INTRODUCES NEW SEABIN PILOT PROGRAM TO COLLECT TRASH, MICROPLASTICS FROM MARINA To further improve its portfolio of water quality programs at the marina, the Port of Everett has launched a new pilot program to test out a new, innovative industry technology known as a Seabin. The Port’s new Seabin — one of the first of its kind to be installed in Washington state — was attached to the new Central Marina Guest Dock 5 last fall to support collection of microplastics and debris from our waters. While the Seabin program is newer in the U.S., it has been successfully implemented in marinas worldwide with 860 units installed since its launch in 2017. The system, which essentially looks and acts as a garbage can floating at the top of the water, is affixed to the dock, enabling it to move up and down with the tide as it collects and filters out floating debris 24/7. Its submersible water pump sucks water in from the surface, passes it through the catch bag inside of the device and pumps filtered water back into the marina, leaving any floating litter, oil sheen and ocean plastics as small as two millimeters in size inside of the catch bag to be emptied and properly disposed of. The device can accumulate up to 10 pounds of garbage before it needs to be emptied. “This technology is already helping keep our marina clean, collecting

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up to five kilograms a week thus far,” Port Environmental Engineer Elise Gronewald said. “This program is a win-win; it’s cost-effective, it’s sustainable, and it provides for more public awareness and educational opportunities around water quality.” The Port has partnered with Everett Community College’s Ocean Research College Academy (ORCA), as well as the college environmental club, to support the program, including operation of the unit and data gathering. To date, students have been working with the Port to collect the materials that accumulate within the Seabin, cataloging and sampling the collected materials, studying the results, and ultimately will be reporting their findings.

Up to 10 pounds of garbage can be collected before needing to be emptied

“I’m so impressed with the two students that are actively engaged with this project,” said ORCA founder and executive director Ardi Kveven. “Finding intersections between agencies like the Port and the community that our students are a part of embody the research emphasis at ORCA. These students will communicate their findings at our annual Possession Sound Student Showcase and Talks event at ORCA on Thursday, June 11, at 5 p.m.” The student-gathered data will provide critical information on what the typical collection is comprised of and potentially identify ways to reduce it. Following the first year of operation, the Port is expected to decide if and where the program should be expanded throughout the marina.

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THE TIME I SALVAGED

ROADKILL

C 30 Northwest Sportsman

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PICTURE When a dead blacktail was reported in a Corvallis yard, a local sportsman decided to investigate. By Randall Bonner

t was mid-January, and I had just gotten home with my limit of hatchery steelhead. I noticed a Facebook post in a local community group regarding a deer that had died next to someone’s house, presumably after it had been hit by a vehicle. Dan Foreman, a resident who lives in a cul de sac just off of Walnut Boulevard in Corvallis, said he had made several phone calls in an attempt to have the deer removed from his property and was running out of ideas. Republic Services waste removal said they don’t perform that service. The Health Department wasn’t interested either. The Oregon State Police and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said they were only interested if there were signs of poaching. After a brief exchange with Foreman, he explained that he had opened his blinds to see the snow outside in the morning and noticed a deer had expired underneath the hedges between his house and his neighbor’s. Knowing the area, and that it was a nice buck, I wanted to see it for myself.

I’D BEEN CURIOUS about the roadkill

Blacktail were the most salvaged deer in the first year that collecting roadkill was legal in Oregon. Author Randall Bonner claimed this young buck that died in a Corvallis resident’s yard in early January. (RANDALL BONNER)

salvage permit process. I had also seen a nice buck in the area surrounding Foreman’s residence a month or so prior, and was curious if it was the same deer. I rang the doorbell, and Foreman was kind enough to walk around to the side of his house and show me where the deer had died. Sure enough, it was the same buck I’d seen while driving through that part of town. I was surprised he had made it that far. “We don’t normally open those blinds, otherwise I wouldn’t have noticed him,”

Foreman said. “The landscapers were here three days ago to trim the hedges, so he’s been there for a couple days, tops.” Not knowing time of death is a bit of a gamble, but how many big game hunters have gone a day or two looking for a wounded animal and still find it in time to salvage the meat? The past few days had been freezing weather, so that was comforting. Still, I was skeptical. I began my own amateur forensics investigation. Judging from the evidence in the immediate area, the deer had come about 50 yards from the road, jumped down from a concrete wall and bedded down in Foreman’s hedges to lay himself to rest. I noticed some droppings roughly 8 feet from the deer that appeared to have been there at least through the evening’s rainstorm because there was a leaf over rather than under them. I felt the deer’s muscle tissue (backstraps first, of course!) and it was cold but firm, not stiff. The front left foot was swollen, and the hoof appeared to be slightly damaged. Upon closer examination of the hoof, it came right off its foot. I checked the range of movement of the deer’s extremities. The neck was very loose, no different than with a fresh big game kill. The front legs both flexed at the joint fairly easily, but the shoulder appeared to be dislodged from its socket. Upon moving that shoulder, there was a gurgling noise in the lungs. The hind legs were stiff as a board. The side of the body facing up was fairly dry and appeared to be in good shape. The hair underneath it was slightly matted down, but I attributed that to the storm as well. On the fence about making a decision on whether to salvage the buck, I called my regional ODFW office and spoke with

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Northwest Sportsman 31

PICTURE Assistant District Biologist Anne Mary Myers for advice and to get a second opinion. Myers explained that if the deer had been there for awhile, the hair would fall out easily. “What can you tell me about the condition of the eyes?” she asked. I told her they were partly cloudy, but you could still clearly see the definition between the pupil and the iris. Myers asked if the eye was still wet and slimy. Following a rainstorm the night before that went through morning, it had been fair weather all afternoon and the top half of the deer was dry. The eyes were still moist to the touch, likely not due to the previous rain. “Those are good indicators, but you really just need to cut open a sample of the meat and see if there’s a sour smell or discoloration,” Myers advised.

BY THEN I felt obligated to do Foreman the favor of removing the deer from his property and honoring the life of the same buck I’d seen strutting down the sidewalk with a couple does just a few weeks before. It was worth the effort of due diligence to see if it was salvageable. Worst case scenario, I did the guy a favor and now had a deer to dispose of properly. At home, I took a knife to the deer’s front left leg, genuinely curious about the dislocated shoulder. The meat appeared to have good color. Some of the veins were filled with coagulated blood, but overall, the meat was in great shape with no unusual odors. I noticed that the chest cavity was filled with blood. I had no intentions of gutting the deer, so everything stayed nice and neat. I couldn’t have asked for a better situation. Neither the shoulder nor the ribs were broken, so it almost appeared as if the sheer impact of being hit had ruptured the buck’s lungs and caused some internal bleeding, but everything was contained. With no bullet wounds, it was the cleanest deer I’ve ever processed.

WITH THE MEAT hanging in a shed out back, I turned the head with the antlers 32 Northwest Sportsman

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Even though it was winter and conditions had been freezing, it wasn’t clear when the animal had died and whether the meat was still good, so Bonner performed an “amateur forensics investigation,” and then got in touch with a state wildlife biologist for a second opinion. (RANDALL BONNER)

intact in to my regional ODFW office, as required by law for either sex. I also had a chance to speak with Richard Green, an agency biologist with the Wildlife Health and Population Lab. You know those little envelopes you put your deer teeth in to mail in for research purposes? Well, those self-addressed, no-postage-necessary envelopes come directly to his office. Green then takes a cross-section of those samples to record the deer’s age. “It’s just like looking at the rings on a tree,” said Green. His office in Adair Village, which just happens to be minutes from my house, receives all the samples statewide. Between hunter submissions, roadkill and poached animals recovered by OSP, his office submits 10,000 teeth for age analysis per year to a lab that contracts its services to multiple states. Green said the waiting time for results usually takes about eight months. “We notify hunters of their kill’s age with a postcard in the mail.” I made a special request for the same postcard to notify me of the age of my salvaged buck. Green said nobody had asked him to do that before, but he would oblige me. Along with testing for age, the head is also used to track the spread of chronic wasting disease. No cases have been

Satisfied that the deer was freshly deceased, the author decided to salvage it. “With no bullet wounds, it was the cleanest deer I’ve ever processed,” he writes. (RANDALL BONNER)

PICTURE

Just as in Washington, which began allowing roadkill to be collected several years ago, Oregonians need to keep a free permit with the meat they harvest from deer or elk collected off the state’s highways and byways. (RANDALL BONNER)

reported in Oregon big game. Those who hunt in Montana and other CWDpositive areas “may only bring back parts without spinal cord or brain tissue,” according to ODFW. The salvage permitting process was easy. You can fill out the forms at MyODFW. com, or just do the paperwork at your nearest regional office when you turn in the head within five business days of recovering the animal. You submit one form, and fill out the tag paperwork on the spot, then keep the tag for as long as you store the meat. Green said that over 1,500 permits were issued in 2019 after the new legislation went into effect at the start of that year. “How many permits can you issue to one person for this?” I asked him. “There’s no limit, but if you show up every day with a new dent in your bumper, you’re probably going to be investigated,” Green said. Your car insurance will go up too. NS

But unlike their neighbors to the north, Beaver State salvagers cannot keep the heads – those must be turned in at Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife regional offices. Bonner asked the agency’s biologist Richard Green to notify him of how old his buck was when it met its demise in a Corvallis cul de sac. (RANDALL BONNER)

2019 OREGON ROADKILL STATS

he first year of salvaging highwaystruck deer and elk in the Beaver State wrapped up at the end of last December and the results are remarkably similar to what happened in the first 12 months that collecting was allowed in the Evergreen State. Michelle Dennehy of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife says that 1,519 permits were issued in 2019 – WDFW reported 1,610 from July 2015 to June 2016 – and that the fall months also saw the highest tallies. “ODFW was expecting an uptick in the number of roadkill permits during the rut and migration periods and it’s exactly what happened,” she says. “It went from 116 in September to 278 in October to 438 in November, the peak of animal movement.” That meant that the 11th month saw an average of 14.6 deer and elk picked up every day in Oregon. Washington saw permit filings spike to as many as 20 a day in its program’s first November. While wildlife populations are larger

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in the countryside, it’s actually folks from more settled areas who are benefitting the most from salvaging in both states. “Most permits checked in around Corvallis, Springfield and Bend – as expected as these are the most populated areas,” Dennehy says. “Higher human populations equals more roadkill happening, especially on the western side of the Cascades.” In Washington, residents of Olympia, Spokane and Port Angeles picked up the most roadkill in that first year. According to a Bill Monroe article in The Oregonian last month, nearly 61 percent of all Oregon permits were for blacktails, followed by 22 percent for mule deer, 10 percent for elk and 7 percent for whitetails. Columbian whitetails can only be salvaged in Douglas County, where they were removed from the federal endangered species list in 2003 (all roadkilled whitetails east of the Cascades are fair game). Because that subspecies is also found in Southwest Washington, no deer can be collected in three counties in that state

along the Lower Columbia. Dennehy notes that the number of permits and number of people who checked animals in didn’t quite match. “Possibly it’s because they choose not to salvage because the body condition of the animal is poor and there is no suitable meat to take. But turning in the head/ antlers is required. ODFW is following up with people who did not check in after filling out a permit and also informing OSP,” she says. The Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division’s Capt. Casey Thomas told Monroe that some people have been trying to use the roadkill permit “to cover their illegal activity.” But he also said there have been no reports of burly bumpered Buicks out on the byways running down bucks and bulls. Dennehy reminds readers that deer and elk sans head or antlers can’t be salvaged. For more about the program, the rules and regulations and to download a permit, go to odfw.com/roadkill.–NWS

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Northwest Sportsman 35

NEWS

NW Steelhead In 2020: The Good – Willamette Run Up

A pair of wild winter steelhead appear in a screenshot from a BLM video highlighting the species’ recovery in Northwest Oregon. (BLM)

ithout California sea lions intercepting them at the falls this winter, wild Willamette steelhead are making it upriver in numbers not seen so early in several years, helping to sharply reduce their risk of extinction. And the cumulative mid-February count points to what might come in as the largest return to the Western Oregon watershed since 2016. “Things are a lot brighter for Willamette winter steelhead than they (were) in 2017,” said Dr. Shaun Clements, a state Department of Fish and Wildlife senior policy analyst. That year, just 265 had been counted by Feb. 13 as the sea lions took a heavy toll. One day as many as 41 were spotted as

they gathered below the falls to munch on salmonids. Things looked so grim that there was an 89 percent chance that one of the watershed’s wild steelhead stocks would go extinct, state fishery managers estimated. When counting wrapped up for the year, just 822 of the fish were tallied at Willamette Falls. That sparked outrage and change. Following federal authorization to begin culling sea lions, ODFW took out 33 from December 2018 to May 2019. Last April managers were buoyed by initial results, and last month Clements reported no CSLs have visited the falls since last June. “Typically we would start to see them in August and would have up to a dozen by

now,” he said. Without any, the fish are now getting a freer pass. “This is the first year in a decade that the winter steelhead run has not been subject to predation at this time. We might otherwise have expected 300 to 400 of the 1,650 fish to have been eaten before passing the falls,” Clements said. It’s possible that the spring Chinook run up the Willamette will still draw some sea lions to the falls. It’s also possible they were just feeding elsewhere, perhaps on smelt in the Columbia and Cowlitz. ODFW has authority to kill as many as 93 CSLs a year. Candidates for removal must be seen between the falls and the mouth of the Clackamas on two straight days, or be

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Northwest Sportsman 37

NEWS observed consuming Chinook or winterruns there, according to the agency. Yet while sea lion removals do appear to be having a “significant impact” in helping to rebound steelhead numbers, Clements said that that’s not the only factor at play. This year’s fish apparently enjoyed a narrow window of better fresh- and saltwater conditions following the height of The Blob’s awful impacts on land and in the ocean. Clements said that two-thirds of 2020’s steelhead are 4-year-olds that were the progeny of 2016’s run of 5,778, and they had “OK” and “very good” rearing conditions during their two years in the basin, respectively. They also entered the sea in 2018 during a “brief respite” from the North Pacific’s marine heat waves, and that “likely contributes somewhat to the bump in returns we’re seeing at this point in the run,” he added. Still, the early indications out of the Willamette represent a glimmer of hope in what has been a bummer season overall for Northwest steelhead. Given improved environmental conditions, predator control can help boost returns above what they might otherwise be, getting more fish onto the gravel, key for Endangered Species Actlisted stocks like Willamette steelhead. Clements said that sea lion predation rates have declined from 21 to 25 percent on 2018’s run to 7 percent on last year’s, and he expected it “to get close to 0 by next year.” ODFW counts winter-runs at the falls through May. Since 2010, by Feb. 13 the return has been anywhere from 15.2 to 36.6 percent complete. Plugging those percentages into 2020’s return of 1,650 through the 13th yields a final range of roughly 4,350 to 10,700 fish, though that top end seems pretty unlikely, given the stock’s performance over the last decade. In late 2018, Congress granted Northwest states and tribes broader authority to remove California as well as Steller sea lions and last June ODFW, WDFW and other entities applied to federal overseers for a permit to do so in portions of the Columbia above and below Bonneville Dam, plus its salmon- and steelhead-bearing tribs. –Andy Walgamott 38 Northwest Sportsman

MARCH 2020 | nwsportsmanmag.com

The Bad – Skagit C&R Fishery Spiked

The Sauk River flows below snowcapped Whitehorse Mountain on a spring day during 2019’s catch-and-release fishery for wild steelhead, which won’t be open this year due to a low run. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)

ike many North Sound steelheaders, I was disappointed with the news that not enough wild winter-runs were forecast to return to the Skagit and Sauk Rivers this year to support a second full catch-and-release season in a row. I was also frustrated, given how much effort that I saw fellow anglers as well as state and tribal biologists and managers put into convincing federal overseers to approve the North Cascades fishery. And angry because after just a season and a sixth on these vaunted waters in the entirety of last decade – a mere 101 days of opportunity – me and a whole lot of other devotees are right back on the bank again. Where we were in January 2010. So much for making the run out to Darrington, floating down from Marblemount, or swinging spoons or flies near Rockport and Concrete. So much for another million bucks for the area, like what last season generated – $22 and change from me after lunching up at a local IGA. So much for rejuvenating one’s self in the beautiful solitude of this country as winter ebbs into spring and snowfields glisten under blue skies and the willows bud and the grouse drum. Now, I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I am the most aggrieved Sauk-Skagit steelheader of all time. Yes, I’ve been fishing here occasionally since the early 2000s, but most others have far longer histories with these waters and – needless to say – far more catches. Hell, the last thing I caught out of these

rivers was an apropos scolding last April Fools’ Day for parking in a known tweeker den so I could fish a certain run! But I have been writing about it and the rest of Puget Sound steelheading’s highs, lows and woes over the past decade or so, and this feels like a bitter blow. For want of a measly 38 fish …

THE PROBLEM, AS elsewhere in Washington these days, is not enough fish returning to hold a season, and since these particular ones happen to also be listed under the Endangered Species Act they require strong protection on their road to recovery. This year’s forecast calls for just 3,963 natives, essentially too few because of incidental impacts that will occur in other fisheries. Overlapping the run are state and tribal seasons targeting blackmouth, spring Chinook, sockeye and bull trout, and they have their own devotees. The winter-spring native fishery is operated under April 2018’s Skagit River Steelhead Fishery Resource Management Plan and uses a “stepped” impact rate. The more fish predicted to return, the more that can removed one way or another – incidental impacts elsewhere, catch-andrelease handling mortalities and tribal harvest allowed under the federal permit. The three Skagit tribes that went in with WDFW on the management plan will not be harvesting wild steelhead this season while state anglers are shut down. With runs of 8,001 or more fish, the impact rate is up to 25 percent; for runs

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NEWS between 6,001 and 8,000, it’s 20 percent; for runs between 4,001 and 6,000, it’s 10 percent; and when it’s 4,000 or fewer, the rate drops to just 4 percent, which as it stands gets eaten up by other fisheries. So mathematically it’s quite simple.

BUT SCRUBBING SEASON was not an easy decision for WDFW to make, I understand. There was the weight of the considerable time and energy that the fishing public and agency invested in getting it off the ground again: the grassroots effort known as Occupy Skagit; the institutional buy-in from staff and the Fish and Wildlife Commission; having three separate tribal nations on board; writing the plan; putting it out for comment and then getting the nervous nellies at the National Marine Fisheries Service to approve the damn thing already. There was the forecast, so close to the line and coming at a time when any fish prediction is immediately suspect – especially given the crazy new signals the ocean’s throwing off due to The Blob. There was the low expected return of

5-year-olds, a class that typically makes up a very strong plurality of any year’s run. There were the almost uniformly poor early hatchery steelhead returns from southern mainland British Columbia down through Puget Sound. And there’s the fact WDFW had been using the Skagit-Sauk season as a key example of what it calls “emergent needs” and requires a budget bump of around a couple hundred thousand bucks to perform the heavy monitoring required under the permit from NMFS due to the listing. Throw in the watchful eyes of said feds, and undoubtedly a lawsuit or two sitting on the Wild Fish Conservancy’s fax machine and, well … I’m damn glad I wasn’t the one being paid to make the decision.

ULTIMATELY, STEWARDSHIP WON and I can respect and support that. There is a lot riding on Puget Sound’s last best stock. Under NMFS’s new recovery plan, it’s one of four separate winter steelhead populations in the North Cascades that to delist must meet set escapement goals –

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15,000 in the case of the Sauk-Skagit. Yes, there’s a long way to go, but if this year’s forecast is actually correct, it would still be 1,000 and 1,400 more wild steelhead back to the system than the next two lowest runs: 1979’s 2,982 and 2009’s 2,502. With good habitat in the headwaters and lots of restoration work ongoing elsewhere, carrying capacity will increase. Hell, if we were patient enough to sit on the bank for the eight straight seasons that a fishery wasn’t even on the table – 2010 through 2017 – what’s another year? The wild card, though, is just how much damage The Blob wrought as it dewatered tributaries and overheated streams onshore and affected the foodweb offshore, potentially impacting multiple year-classes. Another year could become two, three ... We’re patient, we Puget Sound steelheaders, but the state of play with our favorite winter pastime is very aggravating. The continual grinding loss of fisheries over the decades, the declining runs, the listing, the reduction in hatchery releases, pinnipeds and lawsuits eating away at the

NEWS

AND THE UGLY – SOUND HATCHERY RETURNS TANK

measly scraps that are left. Joining our feelings of disappointment, frustration and anger is sheer utter hopelessness. The problem for the fish is so huge. Oh, Lord, why did you ever let us start steelheading in the first place if it was all going to go to sh*t? Maybe former WDFW director Phil Anderson should have put us out of our misery in 2010 when he broached the idea of “eliminating steelhead fishing in Puget Sound” in response to his budget woes.

YET WHILE EVERYTHING else has all but bled out, Skagit-Sauk wild winters are still here. They’re an amazingly strong stock, a plastic absurdity of a fish. Do you know that those in the Skagit Basin exhibit nearly 36 different life histories? They will cycle back up and along the way be better able to adapt to the changing conditions in so many of their habitats. One of which I occasionally visit in winter and spring, float and spoon rods in hand as bull ruffies drum up mates and the smell of cottonwood sap fills my nostrils. –AW

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as a serious problem for smolts migrating out of South Sound and Hood Canal. At deadline, WDFW’s hatchery report showed a total of just over 271,000 eggs taken at the above four facilities plus Tokul on the Snoqualmie, which met its goal, a far cry from 2017-18, when 801,407 eggs were. With Puget Sound’s wild steelhead listed and as a result of the federally approved hatchery genetic management plan for the Chambers Creek early winter program, WDFW can’t use adult fish that return after Jan. 31 for broodstock shortfalls. And the agency can only release up to 521,600 smolts annually into the Nooksack, Stilly, Sky/Wallace and Snoqualmie. Meaning that the agency, the fish and the fishery and its enthusiasts are now in a very tight spot for the future. “We’re working with our comanagers and NOAA to figure out solutions moving forward,” Eleazer said. –AW

n an echo to the low expected run of Skagit-Sauk wild steelhead, Puget Sound hatchery winter-run returns crashed. As of early February, Kendall Creek on the North Fork Nooksack saw a shortfall of 182,000 fertilized eggs, Whitehorse on the North Fork Stillaguamish 146,000 and Wallace/Reiter on the Skykomish 103,000. “This is the worst ever return to Puget Sound,” said Edward Eleazer, the regional Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife steelhead manager. “It plays into the same thing as the Skagit – poor freshwater and saltwater rearing conditions.” Those link back to The Blob and 2015’s snow drought, low flows and higher stream temps, as well as the marine heatwaves that impacted forage and atsea survival. “There’s a Puget Sound element that’s applying extra pressure that we don’t understand,” Eleazer added. Predation by harbor seals has been eyed

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MARCH 2020 | nwsportsmanmag.com

READER PHOTOS Zayn Resser’s big 6-pounder gets the thumbs up from his grandfather. He caught it at Battle Ground Lake last summer while running a Mag Lip 2.0 and fishing with his dad, Jason, as well. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

Midsummer trips to Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula paid off for sockeye slayers Alexa Harrison (below) and Karen Hastings (above). Alexa, 10, was fishing with her cousins and grandparents and they caught so many they quit fishing a week early. Karen also enjoyed limits fishing and looks forward to getting back up to the Last Frontier this year with husband Harold in hopes of catching more big bucks like this one. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST) Spring gobblers are on the minds of many Northwest sportsmen, including Carl Lewallen who arrowed this tom late last fall in Western Oregon. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

Ray Gombiski enjoyed “another great season” of hunting waterfowl with sons Luke, 7, and Reed, 5, here with a drake. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

For your shot at winning great fishing and hunting products from Northwest Sportsman and Coast, respectively, send your full-resolution, original images with all the pertinent details – who’s in the pic; when and where they were; what they caught their fish on/weapon they used to bag the game; and any other details you’d like to reveal (the more, the merrier!) – 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 use in our print and Internet publications.

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Northwest Sportsman 45

READER PHOTOS Fall salmon were the order of the day when siblings Paul Ishii (left) and Tobey Anderson (below) fished Olympic Peninsula waters with guide Mike Zavadlov. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

Grace Bolt went two for two days on Bonneville Pool sturgeon in late January, catching her first keeper one day then following it right up with her second the next while fishing with dad Mike. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

Midwinter saw lots and lots of rain raising rivers, but Marvin Holder managed to plumb this hatchery buck out of the murky waters of one stream. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST) 46 Northwest Sportsman

MARCH 2020 | nwsportsmanmag.com

Christmas served up lots of tasty treats including fresh walleye fillets for Wally Sande. He caught this pair on the Mid-Columbia with his son-in-law during a day spent jigging blade baits and trolling bottom bouncers. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

In her first year of hunting, Allie Edwards bagged her first buck, this three-by-four muley, with a 123-yard shot out of her youth model Ruger .243 after her dad missed it. Allie also helped him drag the deer out about threequarters of a mile. Sounds like youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got a good hunting partner on your hands, pa! (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

PHOTO

CONTEST

WINNERS!

Harold Hastings is the winner of our monthly Fishing Photo Contest, thanks to this shot he sent of wife Karen and her big Kenai River sockeye. It wins him gear from various fishing tackle manufacturers!

Brad Mosier is our monthly Coast Hunting Photo Contest winner, thanks to this pic of he and trusty pup Higgins and their long-tailed Palouse pheasant. It wins him a knife and light from Coast!

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For your shot at winning a Coast knife and light, as well as fishing products from various manufacturers, send your photos and pertinent (who, what, when, where) details to awalgamott@media-inc.com or Northwest Sportsman, 14240 Interurban Ave S., Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. By sending us photos, you affirm you have the right to distribute them for our print or Internet publications. nwsportsmanmag.com | MARCH 2020

Northwest Sportsman 49

MIXED BAG

2.5 Tons Of Trash Removed From Wildlife Area Washington game wardens inspect part of a state wildlife area that has repeatedly been occupied by homeless people over the past year. The site on the northern Olympic Peninsula just outside Port Angeles was acquired for fish and critter habitat. (WDFW, BOTH)

n midwinter crews in Washington removed nearly 5,000 pounds of trash from an illegal homeless encampment on a state wildlife area, which managers hope to reopen to recreational use rather than extend its threatened longer closure. The 133-acre Morse Creek Wildlife Area near Port Angeles was closed to the public in December and while no campers were there when game wardens swept the site and a chain gang cleaned it up in late January, at least “one large new structure” had been built in the interim. “The abandoned camps contained large amount of trash, including hypodermic needles, and even fishing equipment,” Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Police reported on Facebook in early February. Many people online thanked the officers and agency, as well as the inmates who picked up the site.

All totaled, WDFW says 4,920 pounds of material was hauled off. The site has now undergone multiple cleanups. In late August 2019, “five, 15to 20-foot trailers” were filled with refuse from the site, according to the Peninsula Daily News. The wildlife area is located on the south side of Highway 101 where it makes a big sweeping 180-degree curve about 3 miles east of PA. Per WDFW, it was acquired in the early 2000s to “protect important wildlife habitat in a rapidly urbanizing area and for restoration of the riverine system, including salmon habitat.” At one time hatchery winter steelhead were released into Morse Creek. According to the agency’s SalmonScape mapping, fall Chinook, coho, chum and pinks as well as summer steelhead have been observed in the stream. When the area was closed in late 2019, WDFW reported that campers had “damaged important wildlife habitat by cutting trees, digging holes, and clearing brush to build temporary structures.” The issue of homelessness is widespread in the United States, with some areas more tolerant and others less so. WDFW was initially considering a longer closure than just through May 31, which would require a public review. “Our objective is to get the property back open,” said Brian Calkins, regional wildlife manager. “It is used by a few deer

JACKASS OF THE MONTH

n Idaho man who unlawfully guided for bear and moose in northwest Alaska has been banned from ever hunting the Last Frontier again and was also ordered to pay $25,000 and serve half a year in home confinement. That follows guilty pleas last fall from Paul Silvis, 52, of Nampa, to two Lacey Act felonies, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Anchorage. The feds say Silvis ran an unlicensed big game guide service called Orion Outfitters in the Noatak National Preserve, and that on at least three separate September 2014 trips, his out-of-state clients also didn’t have neccesary big game tags for moose and bear. The illegally taken animals were then taken across state lines, violating the Lacey Act, while Silvis also submitted false records to state wildlife managers to conceal the kills, according to the U.S Attorney. The feds say Silvis was “motivated by pecuniary gain” and collected around $121,500 as his clients unlawfully killed more than half a dozen grizzlies and one moose. hunters in the fall” and other recreational users at other times of the year. He said that reports he’s received indicate progress is being made at Morse Creek and he anticipated stepped-up patrols as the weather warms. WDFW wardens were assisted by a Clallam County Sheriff’s Office inmate work crew. They reported a “vast increase” in the number of blacktails in the area, perhaps indicative of recent lighter human use, though this area also saw heavy snowfalls since December.

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Northwest Sportsman 51

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Ice Derby Sees Higher Turnout A 3.31-pound rainbow won midJanuary’s 16th Annual NW Ice Fishing Festival in frigid Okanogan County, where organizers also reported a nice uptick in participation. The biggest fish caught on Sidley Lake, a near-19-inch trout, was caught by Elias Solorio and scored him $1,000 in prizes. Lady anglers had a great showing at 2019’s derby, placing one-two, and Nicole Millington almost added to that streak with her 3.22-pounder that was actually longer than Solorio’s but half an inch skinnier. She won $300. Coming in third was Kevin Myrick with a 3.1, good for $200. On the youth side of the ledger, Joseph Stersgar took first with a 3.04-pounder and last year’s kids winner, Ezekial Pruitt, came in second with a 2.52, scoring them $75 and $50, respectively. Overall, anglers brought in 43 fish that weighed a combined 105.04 pounds. Organizers also said the event has been regrowing in popularity and that

Elias Solorio (above) and the makers of the Viking ship ice fishing hut (below left) were among the winners at the NW Ice Fishing Festival in the tiny North-central Washington town of Molson. (NW ICE FISHING FESTIVAL) this year’s participation was up by 20 percent over 2019. Roy Thompson won Mauk Fishing Stuff tackle covers for being the angler hailing from the furthest away, Muskegon, Michigan, while creators of a Viking boat won the contest for most creative ice hut. The festival is a derby/community gathering put on by the Oroville Chamber of Commerce and is headquartered out of the Molson Grange, where there is food and merchandice to be had. This year’s sponsors included Countrystore and North Cascades Broadcasting, among others.

MORE UPCOMING EVENTS  Through March 27: Spring Steelhead Derby, Grande Ronde River; boggansoasis.com  March 7: Trout Fishing Derby 2020, Quincy Lake (Washington); quincyvalley.org/ fishing-derby  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

MORE RECENT RESULTS  Tengu Blackmouth Derby, Elliott Bay, winter Sundays: Jan. 19: Steve Nitta, 5 pounds, 13 ounces; Feb. 2: Doug Hanada, 9 pounds, 7 ounces  Umpqua Fishery Enhancement Derby, Umpqua River, Jan. 31-Feb. 1: First place team: Danny Bowers (guide)/ Goshen Forest Products, 24 steelhead; second: Joe Mello/TerraFirma, 15 steelhead; third: Paul Hagen/Modern Machinery, 13 steelhead  Resurrection Salmon Derby, San Juan Islands, Feb. 1-2: First place: Corey Coleman, 18.14-pound Chinook, $12,000; second: Derek Britton, 17.92-pound Chinook, $2,500; third: Kylie Bloedel, 17.4-pound Chinook, $1,500  Friday Harbor Salmon Classic, San Juan Islands, Feb. 6-8: First place: Jeff Nelson, 18.57-pound Chinook, $20,000; second: Lance Husby, 17.4-pound Chinook, $10,000; third: Scott Bumstead, 17.0-pound Chinook, $5,000

NEXT NORTHWEST FISHING DERBY SERIES EVENTS  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 For the complete schedule, see nwfishingderbyseries.com.

nwsportsmanmag.com | MARCH 2020

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54 Northwest Sportsman

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Blackmouth opener on Strait of Juan de Fuca’s Marine Areas 5 and 6; Lake Billy Chinook’s Metolius Arm opens for fishing; Numerous Eastern Washington lakes open for fishing 6-11 Tentative razor clam openers at several Washington Coast beaches – info: wdfw.wa.gov 12-14 Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting, Tri-Cities – info: wdfw.wa.gov/about/commission

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Young turkey hunters like Grace Bolt will get first crack at gobblers in early April, thanks to youth opportunities offered by Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Bolt took this 3-year-old longbeard in the Evergreen State during her state’s youth weekend last season. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST) nwsportsmanmag.com | MARCH 2020

Northwest Sportsman 55

Calendar, continued from page 55

20-23 Tentative razor clam openers at several Washington Coast beaches

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New Washington fishing, hunting licenses required; Opening day for special permit bear hunts in select Idaho, Oregon and Washington units 3-13 Tentative razor clam openers at several Washington Coast beaches 4 Youth Turkey Hunting Clinic ($, register), White River Wildlife Area – info: odfwcalendar.com 4-5 Washington youth turkey hunting weekend 5-10 Final North of Falcon meeting (Pacific Fishery Management Council) setting 2020 salmon fisheries, Hilton, Vancouver 8-14 Idaho youth turkey hunting weekend 9-11 Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting, Olympia 11 Long Beach Razor Clam Festival – info: longbeachrazorclamfestival.com 11-12 Oregon youth turkey hunting weekend 15 General spring turkey season opener in Idaho, Oregon and Washington; More Idaho, Oregon and Washington special permit bear hunts open 16 Tentative Marine Areas 6-10 halibut opener (Thurs.-Sat. through May 16); Marine Area 4 (east of Bonilla-Tatoosh line) lingcod opener 17 Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting, location TBD 22 Fishing or bait opener on select Oregon waters 22-29 Tentative razor clam openers at several Washington Coast beaches Opening day of lowland lake fishing season in Washington 25 30 Tentative Marine Areas 1-2 halibut opener (Thurs., Sun. through May 17) Tentative Marine Areas 3-5 halibut opener (Thurs.-Sat through May 16);

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MARCH 2020 | nwsportsmanmag.com

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FISHING

A pair of young razor clam diggers show off the bounty of the Washington Coast. According to state managers, the sands of Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis and Mocrocks beaches hold the best population of the bivalves in a quarter century. (TAMMY FOES VIA WDFW)

Razor Clam Season Running Strong With a best-in-25-years population and plenty still available, March and April should be good on the Washington Coast; could even be May digs. By Mark Yuasa

oastal razor clam lovers will dig what’s in store this spring after an off-the-charts-productive winter season! The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has set tentative digging days – 29 total – along four coastal beaches and many are

anxiously awaiting for early April when opportunities switch to daylight low tides. “Coastwide we’ve got about 10 million clams available this season, and we’re only at about 2.2 million,” said Dan Ayres, head WDFW coastal shellfish manager, in late January. “It has been a typical winter harvest, and weather was particularly rotten in

January, which led to lighter crowds and people are simply just doing other things.” Through Feb. 12, 19.6 percent of the razor clam quota at Long Beach has been taken; 29.3 percent at Twin Harbors; 25.2 percent at Copalis; and 22.0 percent at Mocrocks. “Prior to the start of the season we knew we had a lot of clams on the nwsportsmanmag.com | MARCH 2020

Northwest Sportsman 69

FISHING with 3,599 for 3.6.

UPCOMING TENTATIVE DIGGING dates

The sun will set on evening digs when morning low tides occur in April’s second week. (BECKY VOLK VIA WDFW)

table to harvest and we’ve still got plenty left to dig,” Ayres said. “We may have more digs to offer in May, but need to see how things go before we decide on anything beyond the upcoming planned digs,” he added.

SINCE THE 2019-20 digging season opened Sept. 27 through Feb. 12, 192,846 diggers on the four main coastal beaches have taken home 2,585,097 razor clams for an average of 13.4 clams per person. The first 15 clams regardless of size or condition is a daily limit; wastage and/or discarding of clams is illegal. By comparison, the entire 2018-19 season total on five coastal beaches was 272,962 diggers harvested 3,742,861 clams for 13.0. A breakdown by beach showed Long Beach had 56 digging days from Sept. 27 through Feb. 12 with 87,966 diggers taking home 1,222,740 clams for 13.9. The 2018-19 complete season total was four days and 43,896 diggers with 645,290 clams for 14.7. In 2017-18, there was 16 digging days at Long Beach; 2016-17, 11; 2015-16, 94; 2014-15, 104; 2013-14, 72; 2012-13, 42; 2011-12, 23; 201011, 35; 2009-10, 37; and 2008-09, 44. Twin Harbors has offered 53 digging 70 Northwest Sportsman

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days through Feb. 12 and 41,309 with 515,935 for 12.5. The 2018-19 complete season total was 53 days and 95,536 with 1,888,410 clams for 12.4. Copalis had 26 digging days through Feb. 12 and 35,890 with 492,950 for 13.7. The 2018-19 complete season total was 20 days and 62,038 with 869,470 for 14.0. Mocrocks had 27 digging days through Feb. 12 and 27,681 with 353,472 for 13.1. The 2018-19 complete season total was 33 days and 78,829 diggers with 1,146,233 clams for 14.5. No digging has occurred at Kalaloch in 2019-20. The 2018-19 season total was six days and 1,010

at Long Beach, Twin Harbors and Mocrocks are: March 6, -0.2 feet at 4:11 p.m.; 8, -1.0 feet at 6:43 p.m.; 10, -0.8 feet at 8:06 p.m.; 20, 0.4 feet at 5:27 p.m.; and 22, 0.4 feet at 6:41 p.m. April 4, -0.1 at 4:37 p.m.; and 6, 0.4 at 6:12 p.m. Evening digging dates at Long Beach, Twin Harbors and Copalis are: March 7, -0.7 at 4:59 p.m.; 9, -1.0 at 7:25 p.m.; 11, -0.2 at 8:46 p.m.; 21, 0.4 at 6:07 p.m.; and 23, 0.5 at 7:12 p.m. April 3, 0.3 at 3:41 p.m.; 5, -0.4 at 5:27 p.m.; and 7, -0.2 at 6:55 p.m. Morning digging dates at Long Beach, Twin Harbors and Mocrocks are: April 8, -0.7 at 7:26 a.m.; 10, -1.3 at 9:01 a.m.; 12, -0.7 at 10:42 a.m.; 23, 0.0 at 7:41 a.m.; 25, -0.1 at 8:49 a.m.; 27, -0.2 at 10:07 a.m.; and 29, 0.1 at 11:48 a.m. Morning digging dates at Long Beach, Twin Harbors and Copalis are: April 9, -1.1 at 8:14 a.m.; 11, -1.1 at 9:50 a.m.; 13, -0.2 at 11:39 a.m.; 22, 0.3 at 7:08 a.m.; 24, -0.3 at 8:15 a.m.; 26, -0.3 at 9:26 a.m.; and 28, -0.1 at 10:54 a.m. So far, marine toxin levels for domoic acid and pseudo-nitzschia have remained under the 20-partsper-million cutoff. Final approval depends on marine toxin testing and are usually announced one to two weeks prior to each series of digs. “I don’t want to jinx us but if marine toxins don’t get in the way, we’ll likely

UPCOMING RAZOR CLAM FESTIVALS

ome for the clams, stay for the carnival. Spring sees not one but two different razor clam shindigs on the Washington Coast. Here is more information: The 14th Annual Ocean Shores Razor Clam Festival is March 21-22 and admission is free. There will be live music, razor clam tutorials, cooking demonstrations, fun youth activities, vendors, food and beverages, and a seafood and clam chowder cookoff contest. More details: osrazorclamfestival.org The Long Beach Peninsula Razor Clam Festival is April 11. Attractions include free razor clam digging lessons, how to clean razor clams, clam chowder taste-off, clam fritter sampling, amateur chowder competition, beer garden, entertainment and vendors. More details: longbeachrazorclamfestival.com –MY

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Northwest Sportsman 71

FISHING end up with a great season and plenty of clams left in the bank,” Ayres said.

AYRES ALSO POINTED out that razor clams are good-sized, and it appears they’ve had three spawning cycles – occurring last May/June, August and November – that’ll leave plenty of new recruits on beaches in the near future. “The clams are getting fatter as we move toward spring, and we saw pretty

evidence of good growth in December and January,” Ayres said. “It is also not unusual to see clams spawn more than once in a given year and these are sure signs of healthy conditions.” Razor clam digging is a big boost for small coastal community economies that rely on these opportunities during the lean tourist times of fall, winter and spring. The average value to communities

If you’ve never gone razor clamming, a pair of festivals offer a chance to learn what it’s all about and get some tips so you can confidently join the throngs on the beach. (MARK YUASA)

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is estimated at around $25 million, with particularly strong seasons reaching $40-plus million in 2013-14 and around $35 million in both 201213 and 2014-15. During those strong years, effort ranged from 400,000 to 450,000 diggers. “We have a wonderful season still in front of us, and this is the best population of razor clams we’ve had in the past 25 years,” Ayres said. NS

FISHING

Gear Up For April Halibut

Here’s where to fish the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca and northern Puget Sound when flatties open up much earlier than past years. By Mark Yuasa

hen it comes to halibut fishing most will beeline to the coast, but there are options within Puget Sound to hook a flattie, with a few even measuring up to the size of your bedroom door or larger. Let’s take a closer look at these halibut locations to help you decide where to go once the fishery opens on April 16 – a start date that’s two weeks earlier than 2019 – in the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound, Marine Areas 6 to 10. First off, halibut fishing is allowed Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays only in the eastern Strait and Sound from April 16 to May 16 and May 28 to June 27. Fishing is also open May 22, 23 and 24 on Memorial Day Weekend, but closed on May 21. Remember, fishing could close sooner or additional openings may be added to an area if their sport catch quotas aren’t achieved. The total allowable sport halibut catch is 277,100 pounds for all Washington marine waterways, and 97 percent – 270,024 pounds – of the quota was caught in 2019. The sport allocation in Puget Sound and the Strait (including Area 5) is 77,550 pounds. The average weight of halibut in 2019 was 18.5 pounds in Puget Sound and the Strait, which is larger than anywhere on the coast or western Strait, where it averaged 14.5

Halibut fishing has typically opened in May in Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but this year’s season is slated to begin in mid-April, and no doubt anglers like Eric Spiegel and daughter Amanda are looking to get out for flatties like these 50- and 60-pounders they caught in 2017 out of Port Angeles. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST) nwsportsmanmag.com | MARCH 2020

Northwest Sportsman 75

FISHING

A pile of vacuum-packed fillets for the freezer is what inside halibut anglers are after. This year’s Sound and Straits quota is 77,550 pounds, with a total of 277,100 pounds available for all Washington marine waterways. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

to 18.3 pounds. Year in, and year out, the inside halibut fishery consistently produces a few big ones that easily tip the scales in the 90- to 120-pluspound range, with a 250-pluspounder turning up in 2018.

DOING YOUR HOMEWORK before the season rolls around will increase your odds of finding fish and here I’ll help you take a look at where to find these bottom dwellers. “You’d be surprised how many halibut are along the west side of Whidbey Island and other nearby locations, which was fairly good last year,” says Kent Allen Alger, owner of Guides Northwest Charters (206-8186364) “We saw some that were in the 90-pound category.” “It would definitely be a place I’d focus on since we have early 76 Northwest Sportsman

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openers this season,” Alger adds. “Many anglers are zipping right past those areas and heading out into the eastern Strait, but when you see folks anchored up it might be worth a person’s time to stop and give it a try.” On any given spring day halibut can be found in a huge triangular span that covers northern Puget Sound up into the San Juan Islands and clear out into the big waters of the eastern Strait. Tides, weather and the critters that halibut prey upon are among the factors that might determine whether your day on the water is successful or futile. For starters, don’t waste your time bouncing bottom in Central Sound’s Area 10, even though you could stumble on a halibut hiding on the sandy dropoffs at Jefferson Head or

Kingston. Now that the season starts earlier your chances of finding a halibut improves in Area 9 places like Useless Bay, Midchannel Bank, Possession Bar, Mutiny Bay, Foulweather Bluff, Point No Point and Double Bluff off the southwest side of Whidbey Island. Baitfish are usually abundant in early spring, luring halibut to those locations although the schools tend to vanish by May, and once they disappear, so do the halibut.

THE EASTERN STRAITS’ unexposed banks are where investing your time can produce a rewarding payoff, especially when candlefish – commonly referred to as sandlance – and other baitfish like herring are abundant on Hein, Middle, Coyote, Eastern, Dallas and Partridge.

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Hein Bank is known to be loaded with candlefish in the spring and working its northwest side on an outgoing tide produces the best chances. Also try the south end right at either side of a tide change. The northern portion of Dallas Bank is best on a flood tide, the western edges on an outgoing tide. At Middle Bank concentrate your time on the northeast corner but don’t drag bottom, as it’s known to be a gear-snagging location. Coyote Bank lies along the US/ Canada boundary and is best on an outgoing tide, especially on its southern side. The feeding frenzy usually begins to die-off by early June as baitfish numbers wane and halibut begin heading west toward more favorable locations in the western Strait and out in the Pacific Ocean. That doesn’t mean they’ve all but disappeared, as anglers willing to put in the time should look at ledges and drop-offs around Green Point east of Port Angeles, Smith Island, Winter Hole, the Rock Pile due north of the tip of Ediz Hook and the unexposed “Humps” located northwest of Ediz Hook. In the easternmost portion of Area 6 is Freshwater Bay – located west of Port Angeles – which offers decent halibut fishing and is a good smallboat fishing location. When halibut fishing is closed there are certain areas of the Strait and Puget Sound that open for lingcod on May 1. Anglers should consult the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife regulation pamphlet for specific opening dates and closures and catch limits. NS Editor’s note: This is the second in a three-part series that will look at the Washington’s 2020 halibut fishery. The April issue will delve into coastal halibut fisheries, as well as tactics for the ocean and on Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

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FISHING

Warm Up To Spinyray Action As Northwest waters emerge from winter, bass, bluegill, catfish, crappie, shad and walleye bites heat up. Here are the coming months’ best bets. By MD Johnson

s most of you already know, I’m a Midwesterner. Not now, of course, but was for the better part of five decades. Was it really that long? But wait, I digress. Already. As a Midwesterner, I was raised on a steady diet not of salmon, steelhead and trout, but on an array of warmwater species. Spinyrays, some of y’all might call them. And some not-so-spinyrays. Fish like walleye and yellow perch, white crappie, black crappie and bluegills. Channel cats, flatheads and bullheads. I had a love affair with them all during my formative years, and I maintain that love affair into the present here in my home above the Lower Columbia. True, I will venture – perhaps stray is a more accurate term – into the salmon and steelhead angler’s world from time to time. And I dearly love a good lingcod and black sea bass outing, especially when served up hot with a side of redtail surfperch. But for the most part, I’m a warmwater kind of guy. Fortunately for me and others like me, the Pacific Northwest offers a God’s plentitude of opportunity tailor-

Largemouth bass is just one of many spinyray species found widely in Northwest waters, providing increasingly good fishing as winter yields to spring and the annual spawn. Wayne Kubota caught this bucketmouth at Banks Lake last May. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

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Northwest Sportsman 81

FISHING One of the hottest species to fish for in our region these days, walleye not only provide a trophy fishery, but plenty of fillets as well. Dave Anderson prepares one for the table after catching it on the Columbia near TriCities last spring. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

LAKE WASHINGTON YELLOW PERCH I’ll be honest here. No, I’ve not fished yellow perch on Lake Washington; however, it’s at the top of my angling bucket list. Why? Because from what I’ve been told, the yellow perch fishing on this massive urban lake is off the charts. Numbers, sizes, a healthy population and no limit. That’s right; no daily bag limit. Where exactly? Hunt and peck is probably the best advice. That, and trust your electronics. Winter perch are going to be deep, with most found in 50 to 90 feet of water. The good news is they’re a schooling fish; find one, and you’re going to find more. Live bait, e.g. ’crawler pieces or small perch strips, works well; however, many anglers prefer plastics like Berkley Gulp! minnows, pinched ’crawlers, angle worms or fish fry imitations. Something that allows for more time fishing and less time rebaiting. Dropshot rig. That’s the ticket.

PALOUSE RIVER CHANNEL CATS

made, it would seem, for those with an affinity for something other than kings, silvers and summer-runs. This issue, Northwest Sportsman takes a monthby-month look at some exceptional warmwater fishing options that are available, well, they’re available in many cases to anyone who can cobble together even a Little Mermaid fish pole, Snoopy bobber, and garage sale tacklebox containing Lord only knows what. But I bet what’s in there will catch a bluegill. Just try that with those finicky ol’ salmon fishes.

MARCH

MID-COLUMBIA WALLEYE

It’s no secret that if you’re looking for a walleye for the wall – get it? “walleye for the wall?” I crack myself up – the Columbia River in March and April 82 Northwest Sportsman

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is the place to go. Sure, the weather’s going to be crummy. And yes, the river’s likely to be a bit high and riled up. However, if you’re willing to spend the time, deal with the conditions and run a rod like you really mean it, there’s a chance – some will say a damn good chance – of latching onto a 10-plus. Or a 15. Or, dare I say it, a 20? Plenty of eating-sized fish too this time of year. An ultraslow presentation with a variety of jigs tipped with a traditional ’crawler or plastic – note: think Berkley Gulp! or Alive – can fill a cooler. So, too, can blade baits, crankbaits and ’crawler harnesses. With walleye, especially early spring walleye, it’s all about location, structure, water depth and, in the Columbia, current.

Nothing like a bucket of fresh coldwater channel cat fillets to go alongside that deep-fried perch. Or walleye. Or oysters, but I digress. Y’all read it here a while back, but it’s worth repeating. March, and I’d definitely be headed to Eastern Washington’s lower Palouse River for some first-of-theseason red-hot channel cat action. You can certainly make it a DIY trip. Get yourself some fresh cutbait, e.g. sucker, pikeminnow, carp or shad, launch at Lyons Ferry, and spend some time looking around for that magic 3- to 6-foot water depth. Or you can call Craig Dowdy, owner of YJ Guide Service (509-999-0717) and spend the day with him learning everything you ever needed to know about catching channel cats.

APRIL

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FISHING And channel cats. And bluegills. And napping in the shade. Apparently, this impoundment on the Snake River and shared by Oregon and Idaho is the perfect setting for all of the above. Mr. Gary Gorbet owns Brownlee Charters (brownleecharters .com) out of Richland, Oregon, and occupies much of his time in the spring in pursuit of crappie. Perhaps not surprisingly, Gorbet explains that this is a relatively elemental fishery, gearwise. Tubes on 1/16-ounce jig heads tipped with Berkley Crappie Nibbles, he says, are the ticket. Cast toward the bank, allow the jig to settle to the rocky bottom, and begin a slow retrieve. These are nice fish, averaging 9 to 11 inches, with enough 12-inchers to keep excitement levels up. The lower ends of several Columbia Basin tributaries offer good angling for channel catfish in spring. Anthony Clements hoists a stringer from an Eastern Oregon stream. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

LAKE ROOSEVELT WALLEYE

GRANT COUNTY (WASH.) BASS

Ah, jigging coldwater walleye. Ain’t nothing I like more, unless it’s finding an active school of crappie, all of them more than happy to ravage a little tube jig suspended under a balsa wood slip bobber. But I digress. Now’s the time to dress warm and head to the Spokane Arm of Lake Roosevelt for an appointment with the aforementioned coldwater ’eyes. Find the structure, control the boat – which can be difficult on any given day given wind and water – and vertical jig with plastics tipped with ’crawler pieces. Or a leadhead and ’crawler, with a short stinger hook. Dragging said jigs can be productive too, as can working blade baits like Cicadas or Sonars. Did I mention dressing warm?

The days are getting longer. The water’s getting warmer. And the largemouth are giving serious thought to moving back into the shallows for the annual spawn. It’s time, folks, to be hooking up that skiff and heading to Potholes Reservoir. Or Moses Lake. Or Banks Lake. You get both brands of bass on these Grant County impoundments – largemouth and smallmouth. And while some folks certainly do show favoritism toward the bronzeback, it’s the largemouth that, I’ll say, keep anglers coming back to these particular waters time after time. State tournament catch data shows 70 percent of the catch at Potholes is largies, and it’s 75 and 85 percent smallies at Moses and Banks. It’s still cool, mind you, but there could be a morning topwater, i.e. buzzbait, bite on any of the three, a note worth keeping in mind. Afternoon, and it’s time for slowworking plastics.

MAY

LAKE FAZON BLUEGILLS

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife warmwater fisheries biologist Danny Garrett, who used to operate out of the agency’s Olympia office and now is headquartered in Spokane, told me about the bluegill fishing in Lake Fazon some time ago. He spoke very highly of the quality of the panfish populating this small lake located to the north and east of Bellingham. I’m going to go out on the proverbial limb and say Fazon, due to its location, doesn’t see much pressure beyond local pressure. And seeing as she’s only 32 acres, it’s probably a good idea she stay that way. However, for those willing to paddle – note: there is a small concrete ramp on the south end of the lake – around and experiment with micro-jigs, tiny spinners and even poppers and other fly gear, there are hand-sized ’gills to be had. 84 Northwest Sportsman

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Northwest Sportsman 85

FISHING JOHN DAY RIVER SMALLMOUTH

Known as specks in other parts of the country for their black-and-white pelage, crappie can be found from Westside ponds to big reservoirs east of the mountains. Nathan Holder displays a quintet from the Olympia area. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

I’ve fished smallmouth on Lake Erie many times. And yes, it can be an incredible fishery; however, I’m going to say, with 100 percent certainty, that it’s nothing compared to the smallie fishing on the John Day River. Julie and I had the pleasure, a while back, of floating the John Day with Steve Fleming, owner of MahHah Outfitters (971-533-5733) and a genuinely nice guy and excellent fisherman. Was it a hundred-fish day? It was, indeed. Did I catch a smallmouth over 20 inches? I did, indeed. Twenty and one-half inches, to be exact, which by the way earned me one of Fleming’s coveted red Master Angler hats. And on a flyrod, nonetheless. If you like smallmouth bass fishing, incredible scenery, excellent on-the-river food, and nonstop action, I’d strongly suggest a day on the Day with Fleming.

JUNE

BROWNLEE CHANNEL CATS

SILVER LAKE (COWLITZ CO.) CRAPPIE I like Silver Lake a lot. I like the drive there. I like the people I meet there. I like the variety of fish I can catch. And yes, even though you have to wade through a whole lot of dink crappies, there are plenty available. I say “dink” crappies because for every legal 9-inch speck you put in the bucket, you’re going to catch 15 sublegals. Or 20. Or more. Oh, and along with that 9-inch minimum size goes a daily bag limit of 10 crappies. No limit on the yellow perch or bluegills, of which there are bazillions. Me? I’d pay a small price to launch an AquaPod or the kayak at Silver Cove Resort off Hall Road in the northeast corner of the lake, and fish 86 Northwest Sportsman

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the adjacent canals. These warm first in the spring, putting specks here in the mood early.

Shad aren’t a true spinyray like other species in this story, but like those fish, they were brought from the East Coast to the West and their numbers have skyrocketed in recent years, leading to records. (ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS)

In June, we go back to Oregon’s Brownlee Reservoir, this time to concentrate solely on channel catfish. True, Brownlee harbors some big cats, as in fish weighing into the high teens or even 20s, not to mention flathead cats, an entirely separate subspecies, that can stretch a scale down to the 40-pound mark and beyond. They’re nice, and undeniably fun to catch, but these huge channel cats are best released to spawn again.

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Northwest Sportsman 87

FISHING What you’re looking for are cats between 1 and 4 pounds. Those, you fillet and release right into 350-degree peanut oil. Nightcrawlers, cut bait, or cull shrimp – even cocktail shrimp – juiced with garlic Smelly Jelly should prove the ticket. No luck at noon? Try after dark.

COLUMBIA RIVER SHAD

With the big blue freckle on the side of their face, ’gills can be found in warmer waters around the region and represent a less finicky fish to catch than salmonids, according to the author. Hunter Wall caught this one with a chunk of worm. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

The June run up the Columbia River, say, right below Bonneville Dam is to the Northwest what stunted bluegills are to the rest of the country. Right place. Right time, and you can’t keep them off the hook. It’s an all-day kind of thing, with quitting time arriving only when you look at the cooler and say to your buddy, “You know, I really don’t want to clean any more of these things.” It’s an easy fishery that in the past two years has produced record runs (7.7 million in 2019) and sport catches (250,000 in 2018). Find the crowds, and you’ve found the fish. Medium

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Northwest Sportsman 91

FISHING Yellow perch are a great fishery for young kids, given the general ease of catching the species with just a curltail or tube jig and a bit of bait. Corbin Han shows off one from Curlew Lake. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

light rods. Braid. Monofilament leaders. Small selection of weight. Shad darts. Red hooks. Beads. Dick Nites. Everyone has their favorite shad weapon. Eating? They’re bony, but a lot of folks like them. Pickle them. Pressure

cook some. Smoke some. Use some for crab or sturgeon bait.

HENRY HAGG BULLHEADS Yeah, yeah. I know. There’s plenty of other things to fish for during June, so why would a person target

bullheads? I’ll tell you why. They’re fun to catch. They’re easy to catch. There’s no limit. And they can be, if cleaned and prepared correctly, incredible on the table. Henry Hagg Lake, if you’re wondering, gave up the Oregon state bullhead record for a 3.7-pound squaretail back in 2001. That’s an impressive little bullhead. ’Crawlers fished on the bottom with a traditional slider-weight-leaderNo. 6 hook can work incredibly, but use your imagination when it comes to bait. Raw chicken skin can work. So too can small crayfish, chunks of hot dog, commercial stink baits, or – ready? – a piece of Ivory soap. Uh-huh. I said soap.

JULY

JOHN DAY CHANNELS

And it’s back to the John Day, this time in July and a different target species, channel catfish. Cat hunters may just want to do that – hunt – during these summer months, until they find a pocket of fish. Contrary to what some may think, channel cats don’t hold willy-nilly in a river, but rather take advantage of a combination of current breaks, seams and eddies, all with two common denominators – energy conservation, and food. Creek mouths are an excellent place to explore. So too are 92 Northwest Sportsman

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nwsportsmanmag.com | MARCH 2020

Northwest Sportsman 93

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There’s a reason why Oregon’s Tenmile Lakes – North and South – are a favorite among largemouth fanatics up and down the I-5 corridor and beyond. The fish are there. They’re fat. They’re healthy. And they provide what some would say is the best bassin’ to be had in the Beaver State. Looking at tournament statistics from an event held in April 2019, the top two-angler team weighed 19.25 pounds, with a 5.4-pound big fish but their smallest, a 3.4-pounder, is also a testament to the Tenmiles’ productivity not only in terms of numbers, but of size as well. They’re beautiful lakes behind the dunes between Reedsport and Coos Bay, seemingly tailor-made for the avid basser in terms of depth, structure variety and fishable vegetation.

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Nope, it’s not a game fish, per se, but we’re going to close this one out with a critter near and dear to my Midwestern heart – the crawdad. Or as many are fond of calling them, crayfish. Yes, they make great fish bait. Channel cats, flatheads, smallmouth, walleye, big bluegills, steelhead – everything eats crawdads, including me. And that’s why I want them, as the guest of honor at our Fourth of July shindig. Forty or 50 pounds of fresh crawdads in a boil, with sweet corn chunks, red potatoes, a couple onions, maybe some halved ’shrooms, and a healthy handful of cayenne pepper. You eat that, and you won’t be wasting another crawdad on those silly old fish again. NS

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Editor’s note: Later this year, we’ll have a warmwater calendar for 2020’s back half.

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UT O B A S S R ALE PECIAL E D UR OW S O Y ASK OAT SH B

COLUMN

Nobody likes cleaning, but taking time to get your fishing gear in order now – from your tackle to your line to your trailer to your boat – will make for more productive outings later in the angling year. (JASON BROOKS)

Spring Cleaning A

s Northwest sportsmen we are always looking for information on the best techniques, latest NW PURSUITS gear, hottest places By Jason Brooks and anything else that will lead to success afield. Each spring we look for reports on where to catch spring Chinook or new places to call turkeys. Trout begin to bite and bass start to make beds. But before you can catch, chase or call anything, you need to be prepared to do so. Late winter and early spring is a time

to get ready for our yearly adventures, as being prepared will lead you to more success as well as more enjoyment when the time does finally come to head outside.

STARTING WITH THE “big ticket items” don’t overlook any maintenance you might need to do on the things that will get you there – truck, RV, boat, dirt bike – and back. And don’t forget your boat trailer either. They often get neglected, so before the seasons start it is a good idea to do some preventive maintenance. A few years ago I rewired my drift boat trailer and that means it is time to

take a look at the wiring and harnesses once again. This is a fairly easy fix but can consume an entire afternoon. If you need to replace lights, consider making the switch to LEDs versus sticking with the old lightbulb taillights. Not only are they waterproof but if one or a dozen of the small LEDs go out, the light will still be bright enough to get you home. Hubs are another item that should be looked at yearly, especially if your boat has been parked all winter long. And while you are repacking the hubs and checking the grease, take a good look at your tires. Think to yourself how many

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COLUMN

It seems like few things can be as aggravating as trailer lights, so make a point of checking connections now. And if it’s time to replace them, switch to LEDs instead of lightbulbs. “Not only are they waterproof but if one or a dozen of the small LEDs go out, the light will still be bright enough to get you home,” advises author Jason Brooks. (JASON BROOKS)

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times have you seen a boat trailer sitting on the side of the road with a blown tire. This is because the tires are dunked in water and then left to sit in summer’s hot sun and winter’s rain, snow and ice, all the while exposed to ultraviolet rays. Rubber tires will break down and before you know it, you are on the side of the road watching other trucks towing boats go by. If your trailer has surge brakes, be sure to check them as well. Motors are in need of some tender care as well. Each spring before fishing season starts it is a good idea to drain the lower unit fluids and replace them, as well as the spark plugs, and if your boat has a filter to a waterfuel separator, be sure to replace it as well. If your boat is still fueled up from last fall the gas might have broken down and may cause fouling. Draining the tank and using the old gas for lawnmowers and such is better than having it cause damage to your boat motors. Replace the fuel with fresh, non-ethanol gas. These simple things

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COLUMN will keep you on the water all summer.

THE NEXT THING to do is take a look at

Getting last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stank off your terminal gear is an important part of preseason prep, and while doing so also make sure that swivels and O rings are still up to snuff. (JASON BROOKS)

your safety gear and make sure it is going to save your life if needed. Disposable air horns are inexpensive. The U.S. Coast Guard has standards for flares, and make sure yours are not expired. If they are, pick up new ones. And be sure to look at the fire extinguisher to make sure it is charged and ready. Same goes with the mount, as it can rust and get stuck. This is the one item that you want to be sure you can access and use if needed. Look at the lifejackets and if they are worn, buckles are broken or the kids have outgrown them, be sure to replace them. Anchor ropes need inspection, as do the knots as well. While looking around your boat be sure to check the fuses and that all of the instruments are working. Probably one of the most important pieces of equipment

that is also rarely thought of is the bilge. Last summer I decided to wash out my boat and wanted to run freshwater through the bilge since I had spent a week fishing the salt in Canada. Leaving the plug in I continued to wash the boat and then just as I passed by the bilge hole it decided to kick on and soaked me. At least the bilge worked and it got a good flushing of freshwater. If your boat has a soft top, it is a good idea to use a rust preventative and lube on each of the grommet snaps so they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get stuck and rip.

TERMINAL GEAR LIKE rods, reels and lures need some care as well. We have all heard the stories about hooking into that big fish only to have it break off because the drag was stuck or the line was old. Each spring is a good time to take apart the reels. Clean them with hot soapy water and then make sure they dry out before reassembling. A good water displacement lube such as WD-40 will help the reels

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COLUMN once a year. If you fish a lot, it is best to change the line with the seasons. That way it is new and come time for summer Chinook or the Buoy 10 fishery in the fall, you won’t lose that fish to a nick in the line. Tackle boxes are one item that anglers rarely think about cleaning out. By taking all of the tackle out of the box and then using a strong soap, such as Bad-Azz Soap by Pro-Cure, you can get rotten scents, fish scales and even remnants of bait out of the box. Then before you put the tackle back inside take an inventory of what you have. Organize it so it is ready to “grab and go.” By using plastic boxes that can be inserted into the tackle box you can customize it for each trip.

Check hooks for rust and for sharpness. A few strokes with a hook file should get them sticky again. (JASON BROOKS)

function properly but it can also collect dirt, dust and grime. This is why washing the reels is a good idea. Compressed air or even a hair dryer can help dry the parts. Then relubricate them and put on new line. If you use braided line, one way to save a little money is to reverse the line since it is rare that you fish with more than the first

100 yards; the line underneath is basically new. This is a good way to get two years out of braided line. Monofilament line might take a few years to break down in the environment, but with it being stretched, rubbing on rocks, and exposed to sunlight it weakens enough that it should be replaced at least

LURES NEED TO be washed and inspected. If they have lost their luster, you can shine them up with metal polishing compounds, prism tape or even repaint them. Be sure to look at each hook and if they are rusted, it is time to replace them. It is a good idea to run a hook file over them to keep sharp.

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COLUMN The reward for all that work now? Better trips and more fish in the box later in the year. (JASON BROOKS)

And take a good look at split rings too and if they are rusted or bent, switch them out. Flashers and dodgers are often overlooked when it comes to cleaning and

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storing. Each spring all of the flashers and dodgers in my gear bags get a good bath. Once again the Bad-Azz Soap is sprayed on liberally and then a hot water bath. A

small scrub brush helps the process. Take a good look at the swivels and split rings too. I rarely throw out a dodger or flasher, as with the new tapes on the market from companies like Hyper-Viz+ it is easy to make an old flasher new again. Once they are clean, they are put way dry and stored according to use. For the saltwater angler it is hard to throw away gear that catches fish, but when it comes to hoochie, or squid, skirts anything that is not new gets tossed from my tackle box. This is because the rubber tends to break down and then sticks to other things like swivels. Bait oils also break down the skirts and are hard to wash out of the hollow cavity.

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COLUMN

New Lure Experiences Shared W BUZZ RAMSEY

hen it comes to trying something new, anglers are a stubborn bunch. Can’t blame them; after all, everyone (including me) wants to use the

same bait or lure and method that we know will produce results. It’s only when consistently outfished that many might decide to try something new. After all, there are only a few among us who are willing to spend valuable fishing time experimenting with a new lure design or method. Ray Norman is one. What motivated this Oregon angler

to develop a new concept in combining lure and bait was his vision for an all-new design. He first experimented by drilling holes in FlatFish to get them to spin instead of wiggle. Norman then built a mold and handpoured prototype lures he could then hollow out a bait chamber in. Through this process he sculpted the final design and had enough parts to

Ray Norman (right) is credited with inventing the salmon lure that Dan McDonald (left) and Yakima Bait purchased and named the SpinFish, a pull-apart plug with a bait chamber that disperses scent as it’s pulled through the water. (BUZZ RAMSEY) nwsportsmanmag.com | MARCH 2020

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COLUMN Besides Chinook, the lure has caught walleye, lingcod, halibut, Mackinaw and other salt- and freshwater species. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

begin trying his new lure on real fish. It was in 2009 that he caught his first salmon, applied for a provisional patent, and went on to build an injection molding tool. “The first salmon I caught was from the Columbia, but I couldn’t get the steelhead to bite it until I adjusted the hole placement to achieve a more lively action. At first we missed a lot of fish but greatly increased our hook-to-land ratio by rigging two hooks in tandem,” Norman shared. When I asked him what other fish he or others have caught while using his lure, he listed flounder, lingcod, halibut, mackerel, cutthroat, Mackinaw, smallmouth bass and walleye.

IT WAS IN 2013 that I first met Norman, a time when we successfully fished his new pull-apart lure at Buoy 10. And while he did produce product and developed a growing dealer list, he decided to finally sell his creation to Yakima Bait in late 2018.

A schematic drawing included in Norman’s patent application details his lure’s bait chamber, vents and how the leader threads through two parts of the plug. (U.S. PATENT OFFICE) 114 Northwest Sportsman

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In turn, Yakima Bait developed a new package, color line-up and name, and introduced the SpinFish as a new-for-2020 product at last summer’s ICAST show in Orlando, Florida. Yakima Bait now owning Norman’s lure also allowed me to fish it more and send samples for others to try. Here is what myself and others have learned when trolling this new lure. What’s unique about Norman’s bait-filling design is that SpinFish is a pull-apart plug featuring an “Easy-Fill” bait chamber that disperses scent as it’s pulled through the water. It’s easy to add bait and/or scent to this lure: Just pull it apart and fill with any fresh or live bait, which might include: tuna, herring, sardines, or candlefish; prepared baits like PowerBait, Gulp! or Pro Cure work too. And because the leader is threaded through both halves, there is just no way (bar a line break) you can lose or misplace the lure halves. What I noticed when trolling this lure at the Columbia River mouth for fall salmon is that I had a better hook-to-land ratio if I let salmon pull the rod down a time or two before setting the hook. If I was too quick to yank, I would miss hooking a least half of the salmon that attacked this lure. In addition, I discovered that the lure had a more lifelike/aggressive action if I didn’t overstuff the bait chamber. Bait cut from anchovy is what we used. And while I experimented with both

sizes, it was the 4.0 that produced best for us at Buoy 10.

PRO FISHERMAN JOHN Keizer of Washington had good luck trolling SpinFish for winter blackmouth, or resident Chinook, in Puget Sound, as well as for kings in the ocean off Westport. “We ran the SpinFish behind mediumsize Fish Flash and 11-inch rotating flashers and had very good success. You just pull apart the body and fill with any bait. I had the best results using canned Chicken of the Sea Tuna (packed in oil),” Keizer reports. “I rigged my SpinFish 25 to 40 inches behind a Fish Flash or 35 to 45 inches behind rotating flashers. Unlike other baitholding lures, SpinFish needs no rubber bands to keep the lure together,” he added. Check out Keizer’s YouTube video: youtube.com/watch?v=hoN5vUR12Tw Denis Isbister of Wild Fish Wild Places TV fame was the first angler to troll SpinFish in the ocean off the rugged British Columbia coast, where he ran them in combination with 11-inch rotating flashers and medium-size Fish Flash. According to Isbister, both flasher setups produce equally well. “What we liked about the new SpinFish as opposed to using herring or anchovy was that if we missed a bite we could just leave the SpinFish down and keep trolling, compared to having to pull our lines to check things out,” he says. Fishing guide Cody Herman (503960-9377) revealed his experience using

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Denis Isbister (right) of Wild Fish Wild Places found the SpinFish to work equally well behind an 11-inch rotating flasher and medium-size Fish Flash. He liked that, unlike when fishing with real bait, “(If) we missed a bite we could just leave the SpinFish down and keep trolling, compared to having to pull our lines to check things out.” (WILD FISH WILD PLACES)

SpinFish while at Buoy 10. He ran them on a 30- to 40-inch leader in combination with Fish Flash. The short leader made netting fish a lot easier. Like me, he had more hookups by letting the fish mouth the lure a few times before yanking. In addition, Herman discovered that if he missed hooking up on the initial hit, fish would often take it again if he instantly pulled about three pulls of line from the reel – a strategy sometimes used when trolling real bait. The 3.0 size SpinFish produced best for Herman, but he admits that may have been because it was the size he fished with the most. “What I liked about this new lure, besides it releasing an incredible amount of scent, is it creates a thumping action while being easy pulling,” he shares. For more, see yakimabait.com. 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

Angler Chad Meadows shows off a wild winter steelhead caught near tidewater on a small Oregon Coast stream. Numerous waters that empty directly into the Pacific are open through the end of March. (RANDALL BONNER)

Secret Steelhead

There’s more to the Oregon Coast than the Wilson, Siletz and Chetco – small streams also see returns of wild winter-runs, offer off-the-beaten-path scenery, adventure. By Randall Bonner

ost of the rivers on the radar of the average coastal steelhead angler are major thoroughfares. Crowds flock to these hatchery harvest opportunities, especially with those opportunities

shrinking more and more every year. There are a few coastal rivers without hatchery fish that are still fairly well known. Then there are all the rest. I’m not going to list them because the Oregon fishing regulations book does that for you, and I have no desire to have the locals

hang me by my toenails. That’s because there’s a certain mysticism to fishing these streams. It’s an entirely different experience that requires lowering your expectations and being satisfied with new scenery. Then again, there are days when exploring new territory can pay off nwsportsmanmag.com | MARCH 2020

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FISHING with fish, especially if you figure out how to time it right and where to be.

ONE OF THE most memorable experiences I’ve had while visiting Alaska is catching steelhead moving in with the tide to the sound of the ocean in the background. This is not something that can be recreated on rivers like Oregon’s Santiam, McKenzie, Clackamas or even the Nestucca, Alsea, Siletz, etc. Here, there are few systems that have a short enough tidal influence that holding water occurs within the sound of waves crashing in the surf. Yet you will find that even if fish numbers in these small coastal streams are nothing like Alaska, it’s worth taking a day off from your home water to change your perspective on things and test your own patience. Finding these small coastal streams is easier than you think. Open a map, look for water that pours into the ocean, look up the name and then look that up in the fishing regulations. If there are regulations for steelhead on that stretch of water, then there’s probably a few in there. The only thing left to do is drive to it, get your feet wet and decide if that’s where you want to fish the rest of the day. Finding the needle in a haystack is the hard part, but the journey to a new place and exploring its waters can be rewarding all on its own. Definitely save this adventure for a rainy day. I’VE GOT A few of these places I like

Unlike other systems, steelhead runs on these waters are driven by heavy rains that allow fish to cross often impenetrable mouths. These streams also drop and clear much faster than rivers that course for miles and miles of the Coast Range. (RANDALL BONNER) 120 Northwest Sportsman

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to visit several times every year to humble myself when my confidence and stoke levels are at their peak. I don’t want to ruin the mystery of where they are, but I’m comfortable sharing a bit about how I found them. Besides looking at the map, a lot of the decisions about where to fish really come down to access. If there’s a bridge over the stream, there’s probably enough water to make it worthwhile to check out. If the road goes over a stream, it’s likely that the

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Randy Prock takes a cast on a small coastal stream. Anglers are protective of these waters but a little map and leg work could put you into a scenic steelhead nirvana. (BARRETT PROCK VIA CARL LEWALLEN)

altitude or a culvert are going to be significant barriers to fish passage and it’s not worth the time. Any stream with a lake only a short distance from the salt probably has anadromous fish, but not all of them have the kind of water or access that makes fishing worthwhile. Look for water flowing over rocks and down the beach into the ocean. You might be asking, “But, why?” Well, that’s where the timing comes into play. These systems have very small runs of fish and the adults that return to them typically have very short journeys, short spawning periods, and are only in that stream for a very short period of time. Like steelhead in the rest of the rivers we frequent, they tend to return when there’s a rain event. And not just any rain event, but the torrential downpours that turn our home rivers into chocolate milk. Tidewater (or the lack thereof) is

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FISHING the key element to decoding some of these treasures. Because many of these streams flow directly into the ocean regardless of the tides, there’s very little tidal influence on the arrival of new fish. They need more water to make the journey, so the harder the rain, the better the flow and the more likely fish will be able to make it through the gauntlet at the stream’s termination in the marine environment. The lack of tidal influence also presents an unusual phenomenon of water clarity. When a river with a large, tidally influenced bay blows out, silt and debris wash out to the salt much slower. Especially early in the season when larger rivers are trying to shed their leaves like a maple in the fall, it can take long periods of time for these major systems to clean themselves up and fall into shape again. Smaller streams without major tidal influences have more stability with clarity because they’re in an

almost constantly filtering state of detox. Tidal influence can be like a washing machine contaminated with dirty water until the water is changed again. When your favorite rivers are chocolate milk, go explore somewhere nearby that fits the bill.

THE BEST SMALL coastal steelhead streams are typically in less populated areas and have few issues with runoff from industrial farms. These wild and scenic gems are a great place to leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but pictures. Be prepared for the fact that you will likely be blazing a few of your own trails to get to the water. Property lines should be taken into consideration, even if moving along the high water mark. Logjams in some of these places are gigantic mounds of debris impassable by boat and sometimes even on foot. Even if there’s no significant tidal

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influences, always be aware of the tides when entering a stream within earshot of the ocean. A few years ago, I walked down a trail and across a small stream then upstream for a few miles. When I came back down, the water was chest deep with waves crashing at the trailhead where I had parked that morning. I haven’t repeated that mistake since. These small streams may not receive a lot of pressure because the numbers of returning fish are fairly insignificant. You may have the water all to yourself. Some of them you can hop from one side to the other without getting wet in places. If you do catch something, keep in mind that the short journey from the salt usually means that the fish has not had long to acclimate to freshwater. Scales on these steelhead often fly like somebody put a glitter bomb inside a disco ball, so they are certainly worthy of careful handling practices. NS

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FISHING

Class Is In Session

Participants in author Sara Ichtertz’s and guide David Johnson’s second annual Ladies Steelheading Glampout back in January take a moment beside an Oregon North Coast river for a group photo. (SARA ICHTERTZ)

Second annual steelheading retreat near Tillamook aims to help female anglers learn about catching winter-runs, interpret river conditions. By Sara Ichtertz

hen I take time and think about it, it’s absolutely incredible how very much the rivers have helped Sara. They by no means fed me on a silver spoon, but the strengths I continue to gain from chasing the majestic steelhead on the rivers far outweighs what any handout could ever offer.

Little by little Sara went from being an agoraphobic gardener to a mother, and from a mother to a mom who knows the joy and serenity found in embracing the outdoors. She loved trout season in the mountains and dreamed of the day she might find what lie beneath her rivers. Gaining confidence in her mothering she knew she would rather spend her time outside, unplugged with her

children learning the rivers. She decided to chase the fish and the crazy thing was, those fish wanted her as well. They just reached out and connected with her on a level some have yet to get to experience. They forever changed her. From that first tug of life Sara was never the same. So, there she was learning, growing and catching. Her children are her purpose, however, nwsportsmanmag.com | MARCH 2020

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FISHING

Amy Bennett gives some pointers on spinners to a camp attendee during her seminar on how to fish the hardware. (SARA ICHTERTZ)

the rivers are her calling and because of them, she could discover who she truly is and be content in just that. Finding great joy in sharing the passion of steelheading with others, she never gives up. That’s me talking about myself, and while I’m sure a book will arise from the depths of my soul, this day isn’t it. This is simply a short fish tale expressing how thankful I am that the fish not only allowed Sara to believe in herself, they have opened gateways I never could have possibly seen a decade ago. There is a realm in which I feel not only a calling, but I feel purpose as well. Which is needed 128 Northwest Sportsman

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for the creature that I am.

I FELT A calling to help women to see and believe in their own abilities! We too can show up on our own two feet and find those fish. It’s just believing it. I honestly never felt as if I didn’t belong. Yes, I was without a clue, but intrigue ran deep and strength is something I have always possessed. I did not care whether a man was pleased with my presence or not. I made it to that bank first, hours before daylight, for many reasons in the beginning. I wanted it, it wasn’t a matter of the fishermen around me,

and I wasn’t going anywhere. Hearing other ladies’ fears I realize I am meant to help them in a one-on-one or small group setting. Being a tomboy with five sisters, I was Dad’s helper. Nicki was too. Naturally we were hard workers and pretty strong. I was his girl and even though we never fished much at all, he helped me truly believe there is no mountain too tall, that dreams had no gender and that I was capable of anything. I want to help women see these things in the world of fishing, and so this annual camp put on by myself and guide David Johnson (find

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FISHING on Tillamook Bay for any coastal adventure.

After a day on the water, Sara shows off what’s cookin’ back at The Sheltered Nook outside Tillamook. (SARA ICHTERTZ)

him on social media) aims to create a unique women’s steelheading retreat to help them ease their fears, understand their gear, understand the way winter-run steelhead behave, and what water conditions mean and how to approach them. I want my sisterhood to grow and I believe this camp helps in making this happen. What a gift it is to bring women together for such a special fish! I loved hearing their stories. I loved seeing the connections between one 130 Northwest Sportsman

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another at camp this year, and I have high hopes this is only the beginning. It feels so right to put my heart into this little camp, just as I have done in learning to hunt the rivers. We hold it in the coziest of places for a gathering of this nature. It’s a village of sweet little tiny houses tucked away outside Tillamook and is run by a couple whose passion for what they do is worthy of the passion I feel for these fish. You can stay at The Sheltered Nook (shelterednook.com)

AS MY JOURNEY of life continues, I see so clearly that when you are put in a position to be able to inspire and empower others, seeing our students’ strengths ripen is the teacher’s gain as well. I saw that in my children, and I see it in those I have been able to connect with. I am thankful for my optimistic eyes; they help me to always see the good, no matter the weather. I feel extremely blessed to have dived all-in into the rivers and have found myself in a situation where women believe in me, they reach out to me and in doing so, I believe there is greater purpose to Sara on the river than she ever saw coming. The fact that the fishing industry believes in me gives me a feeling of pride too, and makes me want to share what it is I fish for and love. These companies are the companies I believe in because I fish them; that gear has been there for me when no one else was. When no one knew who Sara Ichtertz was, that gear and I toughed it out together. As a bank fisherman it’s so important to gain comfort and confidence in what you are fishing. I learned that firsthand. Trial and error with terminal gear led to what I believe to be my deadly arsenal. So I want to give a huge thank you to the companies that have believed in me in my endeavors. I want you to know that each one of you is something I truly believe in as well. I fished and caught with you long before our paths ever crossed. There was never a desire to just be a pro staff member for anyone. I just love to fish and when the brands I love and believe in saw the goodness in my simple life, I was beyond humbled. Thank you for giving me the chance to share what it is I love with women who are learning to compile their packs. May your kindness lead them to their greatest of victories and fish tales.

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ladies camps to compare, I just have to say it’s amazing how different one group can be from the next. Last year I had high hopes of us women nerding out with our terminal gear. That didn’t happen, but this year it did. The group was here to learn about the fish and I truly believe they did. The rivers were in shape and I loved seeing each lady give it her best. I love that they were able to see Amy fight and land a wild little beauty as I learned so much in watching the fishermen fish. This camp flowed as naturally as the river herself and I believe it was a great mixture of teachers and students alike. The passionate group of mentors we had was a blessing. I am so grateful to each of you for bringing your own niche, your own angle to share with this year’s ladies. David, of course, is a buffet of North Coast knowledge, having been guiding for over two

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The author counts small successes as part of winning. (SARA ICHTERTZ)

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FISHING

Along with Johnson’s expertise, Sara leaned on compadres Brandon Wedam of BnR Tackle and Amy Bennett to help mentor the ladies. (SARA ICHTERTZ)

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and half decades. And in fisheries here and elsewhere in the Northwest, David has been embracing the idea of helping women get on the water longer than most and I believe he’d played a vital role in helping grow ladies angling so much over the past half a decade. Thank you for all the unexplored fisheries my feet couldn’t take me to. Thank you for believing in me and adventuring with me, whether helping me produce a farfetched ladies article or creating these camps. No idea was too farfetched and I love that. You have never done me wrong and I am grateful for you always. Brandon Wedam of BnR Tackle was brought into my life by fate and the one and only glorious North Umpqua River. His love for the fish and desire to share passion through knowledge was something that drew him to me. He is my bosom industry buddy and I hope he knows how much he means to me. Working well together, our

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FISHING endeavors include yearly steelhead seminars where we teach our perspective on the glory of steelhead. Having him there to teach in a small group setting was different from the stuffiness a seminar can sometimes possess. I liked that for him, I think it is good for him, and I know our guests enjoyed his knowledge and passion.

HOWEVER, I TRULY believe the star of the mentors was none other than the young and ambitious Amy Bennett. Her passion is clear through her actions on the river, and in the career she is chasing right now. I know she truly touched this year’s ladies, and she shined brighter than the spinner blade she flung. I watched her speak and share the passion and couldn’t help but beam with joy in seeing her sharing and teaching for the first time. She taught a workshop on spinner fishing that the ladies enjoyed. Watching her fish the rivers with

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the ladies was beautiful and I will treasure it always. She is exactly what is good in a fisherman and yet she is a woman. Her goodness runs far deeper than her ability to catch, and it really is a pleasure and honor to have her as my friend and sister of the zodiac. I look forward to seeing young Amy blossom into all that she is because she is amazing! I know the imprint she left on those ladies and their hearts will forever be with them. Kimber Roberts, bless your heart, thank you for facing the blizzard and nonsense in heading to our camp. You are so incredible and just know not having you be able to reach us had me feeling horrible. So I was thankful Brad was able to come to the rescue. I appreciate and respect you and know camp just wasn’t the same without you. You are a beautiful, inspirational woman and I love that you came into my life. Without you all camp wouldn’t

have been possible, and I look forward to more adventures that await us. Most importantly, thank you to our guests. The ladies who joined us this year truly are what this desire is all about. Hearing from each of you is a blessing and I have to say I loved hearing from Laurie Wulf about her catch the following week, drift fishing! Well, it helps me to believe our life unfolds exactly as it is intended to. This Ladies Steelheading Glampout might not seem like a huge feat to many of you, but I wholeheartedly know where I started, and if by my heart being on the river I can help other ladies tap into their gifts, then I will. Those small successes to me are winning. My heart is on the river and I couldn’t change it, even if I tried. NS Editor’s note: For more on Sara’s adventures, see For The Love Of The Tug on Facebook.

HUNTING

2020 Northwest Turkey Outlook Here’s a quick forecast for what Oregon and Washington hunters should see in popular gobbler areas come April.

Jacob Haley poses with a Western Oregon gobbler he bagged while hunting with Troy Rodakowski in spring 2017. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)

By MD Johnson

ind you, I’m in no way a professional wildlife biologist, but I’d be willing to bet that predicting the status of wild populations always involves an element of best guess. Weather patterns change. The unforeseen, e.g. fire, happens. The wildlife manager’s crystal ball isn’t always clear, no matter how badly we consumptive users wish it to be. In fact, it’s often quite cloudy. Still, these professionals do the very best they can with the information they’re afforded when we, the hunting community, put them on the proverbial spot and ask, “So ... what can we expect to see this season?” Kevin Vella is one such professional. A graduate of Humboldt State in northern California and onetime migratory bird biologist, Vella now serves as the Pacific Coast district biologist for the National Wild Turkey Federation. I caught up to him as he was preparing for NWTF’s huge annual conference in Nashville, but he was kind enough to take a few minutes to talk to me about what folks might see as they hit the field this spring.

OREGON Statewide, Vella speaks quite encouragingly of Oregon and the spring of 2020 in terms of turkey densities. “The majority of Western Oregon has Rio Grandes,” he says, “but once you get into Central and Eastern

Oregon and into that higher montane habitat, in contrast to the Pacific Coast scrub on the Westside you’ll start to find the Merriam’s (subspecies).” “I think,” he adds optimistically, “we had good carryover from 2019 into 2020, and I think you’re going to have a lot of jakes and 2-year-olds running around.” Oregon, as is the case in many parts of the Western U.S., offers spring turkey hunters not only an abundance of birds, but a goodly amount of public ground – with birds,

no less – on which to stomp around. “There’s a decent population of birds on public land in Southwest Oregon,” Vella notes. “There’s a lot higher percentage of public lands in Central and Eastern Oregon, but there are quite a few Bureau of Land Management parcels in the southwest that hold birds.” “The BLM has been quite active recently,” he continues, “in their timber management activities down in that area, and that’s been beneficial to the (turkey) habitat there, doing things like nwsportsmanmag.com | MARCH 2020

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HUNTING It looks like many Northwest turkey hunters will be able to notch their tags this season, given a generally easy winter and good production in recent years. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)

opening up the canopy and creating more successional types of habitats. All in all, it seems to be conducive to moving birds onto those public pieces.” According to the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s latest harvest report, a trio of Southern Oregon management units were one-two-three by kill in 2018: Rogue with 425, Melrose with 410 and Applegate with 379. The White River Unit, which saw 1,435 hunters, more than any other, accounted for 359 birds, while Willamette yielded 273 and Evans Creek, also in Southern Oregon, 237.

WASHINGTON I heard some interesting news the other day from a young man whose opinion on such things I believe packs a whole bunch of validity. A wildlife professional? No, but the kid spends more time in the woods throughout the whole of Washington than any two dozen accredited wildlife biologists combined, and I know this for a fact.

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HUNTING Our conversation turned to turkeys, specifically the eastern subspecies in Western Washington, and I commented that the population was likely not growing nor expanding much, but, if history has been repeating herself, staying relatively stable. “Uh … huh,” he said with a grin, and allow me to paraphrase: “The easterns here are doing great. Flocks are healthy and expanding into new territory. They’re doing just fine.” Expanding like the Rios did above Spokane? No, but healthy nonetheless. And that’s good news for the handful of diehards who pursue the birds up and down the I-5 corridor each spring. “That’s my thought, too,” says Dan Blatt, Jr., NWTF regional director for Washington and Oregon. Junior, now 52, is no stranger to wild turkeys, having been involved with the NWTF and the big birds, via his late father, Dan, Sr., since the mid1980s. A former biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and

Wildlife, Blatt, Sr., was instrumental in bringing turkeys to Washington and was, in my opinion, and with the help of his staff, responsible for the tremendous turkey hunting we now enjoy here in the Evergreen State. “I’m getting reports from guys from the Eastside who are coming over here (Westside) every year to finish out their Washington Slam,” Blatt continues. “One of them who hunts in the southwest area called in a group of 15 jakes in 2019. So I’d say we’re seeing good production here on the Westside.” “But it’s a different style of hunting, and, unfortunately, a lot of people don’t want to take the time to hunt (these easterns),” he adds. “But they’re definitely there.” East of the Cascades it’s all rainbows and puppy dog tails in terms of turkeys. “I would say Eastern Washington has some of the best hunting in the country for Rios and Merriam’s,” says Blatt. “Over there, it’s hard not to find some type of success. It’s really off the

hook right now. There’s no getting rid of them on the Eastside.” Unlike the Westside’s easterns, Eastern Washington’s birds generally pose no problems in terms of access. “National forest. Bureau of Land Management. It’s all there,” says Blatt, “and there are just lots and lots of birds. I drove from Davenport to Colville to Spokane right after that area had had their first decent snow and I saw birds literally everywhere. I think they’ll winter just fine.” Per WDFW’s spring turkey and bear hunting pamphlet, 69 percent of 2018’s statewide harvest of 5,017 gobblers occurred in Game Management Units 101 through 136, the state’s northeastern corner plus upper Channeled Scablands and northern Palouse units. Ten percent were killed in the Blue Mountains, their foothills and the southern Palouse. Klickitat and Skamania and eastern Clark Counties accounted for 9 percent and Northcentral Washington 7 percent. NS

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HUNTING

Gearing Up For Spring Gobblers The 2020 hunting season kicks off in April with turkeys, but do you know where your bird is, let alone your gear?!? By MD Johnson

llow me something elemental, if you will. The key to successful turkey hunting, even for those of you who have never hunted spring gobblers, let alone taken one for a ride home in your truck, is preparation. It’s the same whether you’re hunting elk, blacktails, mallards or Canadas. And it’s the same with salmon, steelhead, sturgeon or walleye. If you’re prepared, you stand a better chance of having a better chance. Simple as that. Prepared, you know where you’re going and what, hopefully, you’re getting yourself into. Your gear is not only collected and organized, but you’re familiar with it. Indeed, you’re not the guy I hunted divers with this past winter who showed up at the dock toting a fresh-from-the-box Franchi and had no concept of how the gun functioned or what to do in the event of a mechanical issue, of which there were two or three. And prepared, you’re better able to improvise, adjust and adapt not if but when Old Tom throws you the proverbial curve. Or two. Or 22. Yes, sir. Being prepared helps a lot. So that’s my plan this month – preparation for the spring turkey hunter. Now, some of you veterans are already thinking, “I don’t need no

Gathering your hunting gear, patterning the shotgun and scouting for birds are essential preseason preparations for spring turkey hunters. (JULIA JOHNSON)

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HUNTING Whether you use mapping apps or the real thing, or both, this is a good month to seek out and explore turkey habitat on public and private lands. (JULIA JOHNSON)

desk jockey telling me how to get ready for turkey season.” And you know what? I’m OK with that. Why? Because the day after duck season ended, you guys and gals started fiddling around with your turkey gear, if you hadn’t started already. How do I know this? This year will make 30 years since I killed my first gobbler. And in the intervening three decades, my wife Julie and I have tagged some 109 spring longbeards, including a Couple’s Grand Slam in 2005 when we killed an even dozen. Does that make me an expert? Absolutely not. Does it let me know what you turkey hunters are thinking before you even think it? Uh-huh. So without further ado …

A PLACE TO HUNT – SCOUTING First rattle out of the box, you’re going to need a place to hunt. And here, your choices are two: public or private. You can, of course, opt to go with a guide or outfitter, a decision which, truthfully, isn’t such a bad idea for the novice, given the guide or outfitter 146 Northwest Sportsman

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is willing to educate and/or instruct, along with being a paid host. Still, and even if you do opt for the guided route, you’re going to be working on either private or public ground, and in either case, someone will have done his or her homework prior to the hunt. Or they should have. Private ground. While living in Iowa from 1997 through 2015, I got into the bad habit of not scouting my parcels of private ground. Oh, I stopped and talked with the landowner, certainly, prior to the season, but I really didn’t do much scouting, per se. Why? I found that year after year, and unless something about the property had been changed radically, e.g. half the timber had been logged and was missing, the birds were going to be in relatively the same spot and do the same things that spring as they had the previous spring. It just seemed to be that way. And, for the most part, my plan – or nonplan, as it were – worked just fine. However, not scouting did put me at a disadvantage come the opener. How

many birds were actually on the farm this year? Had they changed favored roosting locations? Had a pond been built? A new woven wire fence put in? Ground put into or taken out of production? One year, a buddy and I showed up on a favorite farm for opening day, prelight, only to find our carefully constructed natural log blind had met the business end of a D9 Cat and was, well, it was gone. Completely. Missing. Oh, it all worked out in the end, but it definitely was a “What the hell?” moment there in the dark for a bit. The bottom line, then, when it comes to private land you’ve hunted in the past? It never hurts to take a look prior to the season. The way I see it, the information gleaned from scouting is like money and bullets: You can never, ever have too much or too many of either or all. What if it’s private land you’ve not hunted before? Now you have your work cut out for you. Sure, you can spend time on onX Maps or Google Earth looking over that new piece of property, a move I’d strongly suggest, but nothing is going to replace putting your boots on the ground and getting to know the property intimately. Yes, I know. It’s a five-, six-, sevenhour drive from your home to the property, but we’re talking a level of commitment here. Take a long weekend, if possible, make the drive, and take a walk. Take notes. Take pictures. The better you know the property you’re hunting, e.g. there’s a logging road here, an open ridge there, a small hidden meadow back yonder, the better prepared you’re going to be when it comes time to make a move on the old gobbler. Public land? Same story. Look around as much as possible before the opener. Where are the popular parking areas? If I used a boat to cross the lake or river and get into this unroaded block, might I be alone? Where are the birds typically roosted? Do I need a mountain bike to get me away from people? How many vehicles am I

HUNTING seeing while I snoop around? With public land, you’re often scouting other hunters as much as you are the birds. Oh, and always – always – have a Plan B. And C. And D. Truck already there? Go somewhere else.

GUNS, AMMO, AND PATTERNING Honestly, I don’t care what make/ model of shotgun you want to call your turkey gun. To an extent, I don’t care what ammunition you choose to shoot out of said turkey gun. What I do care about is that you know with 100 percent certainty what that gun/ shotshell/choke combination is going

to do each and every time you pull the trigger. How it’s going to perform, i.e. what’s the pattern look like? What’s it look like at 30 yards? Forty yards? Ten yards? And how, exactly, do you get this information? This confidence? This knowledge? Patterning. I’m not going to go into detail on the how-to aspect of patterning. If you don’t know how to do it, go to YouTube, type in “patterning turkey shotgun,” and you’ll have a year’s worth of viewing options. Pick a video by an outfit you’ve heard of before. Mossy Oak has them. Primos Game Calls. The National Shooting Sports Foundation, and the “It’s easy to get hung up on the calling aspect of turkey hunting,” says author M.D. Johnson, but with over three decades and over 100 kills in the spring gobbler woods between he and the missus, Johnson reckons it represents just “5 to 10 percent” of the actual experience. Best advice is to find one call style and become proficient with it. (JULIA JOHNSON)

National Wild Turkey Federation. These, I’d recommend. Stay away from those filmed by The Jellyhead Boys or The Turkey Kill’n Crew. Ugh! Don’t get sucked into the vortex of 100-yard choke tubes and depleted uranium shotshells. Turkeys, it’s my honest opinion, are meant to be killed at distances under 40 yards. I want mine under 30, but that’s just me. Are there chokes and ammunition combinations that will kill turkeys beyond 50 yards? Absolutely. But let’s be honest: Do you have the ability to do that in the field under true-to-life hunting conditions? Probably not. Is it because you suck? No, but what looks like 50 is actually 62. There’s weather. Foliage. Adrenaline. A little miscalculation at the gun is a huge miscalculation at 62 yards. You miss, or worse, you body-punch that ol’ tom, and he runs off to become coyote fodder. Ouch! And bad on you. Try a choke or two. Try different brands of ammunition. I like No. 6 shot; Julie shoots high-velocity No. 5 shot. She shoots lead; I shoot tungsten out of a 20-gauge. Experiment with some type of sighting system – a scope, Red Dot, clamp-on iron sights. Something that forces you to aim at that gobbler’s wattles. Aim, not point. Aim. And then shoot the gun. A lot.

CALLS AND CALLING Five to 10 percent, give or take a bit, of turkey hunting is turkey calling. Five to 10. What’s the rest, you ask? Preparation. Scouting. Patience. Persistence. Staying still. Marksmanship. Thought. Knowing when to move. And when to stand pat. It’s easy to get hung up on the calling aspect of turkey hunting. The fancy calls. The specialty sounds. The this and the that. Truth is, making turkey sounds isn’t all that hard. Pretty much anyone can do it, and many with anything at their disposal. Years ago, I watched Chris Kirby, son of the late Dick Kirby, founder of Quaker Boy Game Calls, call in a fall gobbler using only a plastic swizzle 148 Northwest Sportsman

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HUNTING

Preparation now will lead to success come April. (JULIA JOHNSON)

stick. A black one, the kind of thing you stir your cocktail with. The whole episode was impressive, the least of which wasn’t the part where I got to shoot the bird at 20 steps. My suggestion when it comes to turkey calls and calling, if you’re new to the sport? Find one style of call – I’d suggest a slate style call, aka a friction call – and learn it well. Use a YouTube channel like the NWTF’s nwtfonline and their Learn To Call video series to help you. Understand what a yelp sounds like, and know there are several different variations of the yelp. Some loud. Some soft. Some three notes. Some 10 or 20. All with feeling or inflection. Know a cluck. A purr. And, armed with those three sounds – yelp, cluck, purr – you have every you need to call in a gobbler that wants to be called in. That’s the key right there. He’s got to want to play the game. You can’t force him. Oh,

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HUNTING you can instigate him. Intrigue him. Tantalize him. But in the end, he’ll do damn well what he pleases. A final note on calling. Calling turkeys is all about a rhythm. A natural rhythm. It’s not essential to sound perfect; in fact, some of the worst turkey sounds I’ve heard in 30 years have come from real live birds. Does that mean you can sound terrible? Nope, but you don’t have to be perfect. We’re not calling contest judges here. Turkey calling, to me, is a rhythm. And it’s confidence. Every time I hit a lick on my pot call, I truly believe I’m going to get a gobble in response. Every time. Oh, I lied. One more. If you’re ever in doubt as to what to do with your turkey call – sound to make; duration; volume – just set it down. That’s right. Set it down and leave it alone for as long as you possibly can. If you have to, set your striker (peg) down, too. Once he gobbles at you – at you –

he’s heard you. You don’t, typically, have to call any louder than that. Let him gobble. And gobble. And gobble. Make him come look for you. Call too much, and he’s going to expect you, the hen, to come to hear, and well, you can’t do that without scaring him off. Play hard to get. That, folks, is the key to turkey hunting. Hard to get.

PACKING YOUR TURKEY VEST Every year prior to turkey season, I get my turkey vest, take everything out of the pockets, touch it all, and then put it right back where I found it. Why the OCD demonstration? Well, A), I like seeing all that stuff. It’s cool. And B), while I already know it’s all there, I want to know it’s still all there and all where it should be. Two sets of gloves? Check. Two headnets? Check. Three shotshells, strikers, two pot calls, a set of diaphragm calls, pruning shears, bug spray, Zeiss lens wipes, first aid kit, crow call, owl hooter,

specklebelly goose call, lockblade knife, mini-LED flashlight, smoked oysters, blah, blah, blah. To me, my turkey vest is like the most important filing cabinet I own. All my essential turkey hunting stuff is in there. And it always stays in there, and in the same place. I want to you able to find, strictly by feel, any piece of equipment I might need while never taking my eyes off that incoming gobbler. Or in the dark. Anytime. Anywhere.

LOOKING AHEAD Next month and with the opener right around the proverbial corner, I’ll take a look at some last-minute safety aspects associated with turkey hunting, and, hopefully, answer some of the questions y’all might have about why you’re not killing those awful spring gobblers. Oh, and some of them can be downright nasty, let me tell you. NS

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COLUMN

A late night in an Idaho river town last fall left author Randy King hungry for his hangover cure, a warm bowl of pozole, a Mexican dish that can be made with wild turkey ... if you don’t happen to have any sacrificial victims handy. (RANDY KING)

A Hangover Cure With A Helluva History I

t was a tough morning to regain my thoughts. Riggins, Idaho, always is CHEF IN THE WILD that way for me. By Randy King The town and the people who live in it like to have a good time. I find that infectious and tend to have a good time with them, especially at the Seven Devils Saloon. My mouth tasted like a cigarette – I don’t smoke – and my head felt like a sparkler was burning in the background. Add to that the pounding in my temples and all I

wanted was my traditional hangover cure: spicy Mexican pozole, or even menudo. The heat, the liquid, the protein and the “magic” all make the dish special in Hispanic cultures. It is the go-to Sunday morning cure. Alas, I was without it as we climbed the grade toward Pittsburg Landing on the Snake River, with a Suburban full of Texans. The views were stunning. Whitetail and mule deer mingled on the hillsides. Bucks were hard-horned in early September and stood confident, safely in the middle of farmers’ fields. It was my job at this point to show the Texans a good time. Customer-first

mentality. They had won a promotion from my work, an Idaho cast and blast. Since I like to hunt, and am from Idaho, I was chosen as the guy to entertain them.

AS WE DROVE, I kept seeing turkeys in full strut on the private land that surrounds the road. I had my “extra” turkey tag in my pocket, allowing me to shoot any turkey, even a hen, in this unit last fall. I was growing antsy; soon the private would end. Soon the birds would dry up, I assumed. But I needed to be ready, just in case the opportunity presented itself. Idaho is blessed to be lousy with public

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COLUMN

Turkey pozole rojo garnished with shredded cabbage, cilantro, radish and lime. (RANDY KING)

TURKEY POZOLE ROJO

his issue’s recipe does not involve cannibalism, as I’d like to remain a free and voting member of my society. Instead of human flesh – read the main story – I am using wild turkey thighs. Meat 2 turkey legs ½ onion, peeled 3 bay leaves 1 tablespoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon salt Leaving the turkey on the bone, wash the meat. Add it to a stock pot and cover with an inch of water. Add the onion half, bay leaves, garlic powder and salt. Simmer for two hours, or until the meat is falling-off-the-bone tender. Remove pot from heat. Remove the meat from the liquid and let cool on a plate. Then pick the meat off the bone and the tendons from the leg. Set aside meat. Reserve the cooking liquid, now turkey stock, for the soup.

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Soup 1 tablespoon canola oil 1 red bell pepper, diced ½ Anaheim pepper, diced ½ serrano pepper, diced 1 jalapeño pepper, diced ½ onion, diced 4-ounce can diced green chilies 15.5-ounce can of hominy 8-ounce can tomato sauce 10-ounce can tomatoes and green chilies Chipotles in adobo – one chili and one tablespoon of the sauce it is packed in 1 tablespoon chili powder ½ tablespoon oregano ½ tablespoon garlic powder Salt and pepper Turkey thigh stock from above

the spices. Heat on stove for five minutes. Then add the picked turkey leg meat from above. Stir. Then add enough turkey stock to cover the contents of the pot with an inch or two of broth. (If you don’t have enough stock leftover, chicken broth or stock from the store will be just fine.) Heat it all together until boiling. Turn down to a simmer and taste. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Heat oil in thick-bottomed stock pot. When almost smoking add the diced peppers and onions. Let cook for three minutes, stirring once or twice. You want some good color on the peppers. Next add the canned ingredients and

Classic pozole is garnished with a pile of things. Feel free to add any or all of the above items to the top of your soup! It’s like a soup-salad-meat combo, honestly. For more wild game recipes, see chefrandyking.com. –RK

Garnish Shredded cabbage Sliced radishes Lime Avocado Carrots Cilantro

COLUMN land. When you reach the top of the grade headed toward Pittsburg Landing, starting the decent toward the Snake, you are surrounded on all sides by public property. So I stopped the vehicle and loaded my gun. I was not going to miss a shot at a fat fall turkey. Amazingly, we spotted a small flock just a few hundred yards off the road. I grabbed a Texan and had him follow me for a little spot-and-stalk turkey hunting, Idaho style. We used lone pine trees for cover, ducking below blackberry bushes to stay out of sight as well. Then we popped up in unison and I shot a nice fat hen at about 40 yards. Then we heard it, a giant “Yeah!” and “Wo-hoo!” coming from the Suburban. The Texans were entertained. Bird in hand and headache still intact, I dreamt of pozole.

With abundant public land throughout the Northwest, your chance at bagging a turkey and the makings for Chef Randy’s pozole are pretty good during spring and fall seasons. (RANDY KING)

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OK, SO SOMETIMES you dig into things and find out more than you wanted to know. Like that you and your second cousin are more closely related than you should be. Or that your mom rode with the Hells

Angels for a while. Things that don’t really matter now, but sure as hell make for an interesting dinner conversation. Food is laced with this tradition and only exists to serve the culture that created it. In that respect certain food and certain dishes are said to hold magical properties. Poppy seeds are used for premonitions. Dill is used for witchcraft. Chocolate to increase a warrior’s nature. So in my younger days when I found out that two of my Mexican restaurant staples are supposed to be magic, I was all in. Pozole and menudo for the hangover cure! (Since this is a wild game column I will stick to the pozole for the recipe; I will not ask readers to clean a venison stomach, or any stomach for that matter.) Recently I found some dark history concerning my Sunday morning headache and dehydration remedy. I can hear some of you asking – just what is pozole? Pozole – sometimes also called posoles – is a distinct dish from Mexico and is traditionally a combination of hominy (corn that has been soaked in lye), chili

COLUMN peppers and meat. The dish can be white, red or green, with regional variations. Some are made with pork, while some are with chicken. Menudo is actually a form of pozole and is made from the stomach lining of a cow. Historically, it is a significant dish as well. In an episode of PBS’s The Migrant Kitchen the dish is discussed by a Spanishspeaking historian who says that pozole predates the country of Mexico. “For certain festivals, especially those of a religious nature, after sacrificing men to honor their deities, the priests would offer the hearts of those men to the deities,” he states, adding, “They would then butcher the bodies of these men and this meat was cooked in the same cauldron with corn and some herbs.” That’s right, folks, the first recipe for pozole called for humans! (Cue Charlton Heston in Soylent Green: “You don’t understand ... It’s people. Pozole green is made out of people!”) This makes the Irish gun-running that

According to historians, on special occasions in pre-conquistador times, human flesh was used in pozole. That practice was banned by the Spanish, but the dish is still referred to as “the most controversial soup in indigenous Mexican culture.” (RANDY KING) my family may or may not have participated in back in Boston seem pretty lightweight. When the Spanish arrived in the New World, they banned eating human flesh, so the locals made some substitutions to the recipe. The meat that they found that most

closely resembled human was pork. “With time, and with fire, a braise, you know you are going to end up with something glorious,” adds the historian. A little people meat in the dish won’t hurt either, apparently. NS

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COLUMN

New Turkey Shotguns, Deer Rifles Introduced

Turkey season is just around the corner in the Northwest, with six-plus weeks of hunting opportunity. (GEORGE GENTRY/USFWS)

pring wild turkey hunting is just a few weeks away in Oregon and Washington, with the general season ON TARGET running concurrently By Dave Workman in both states, April 15May 31. Idaho’s runs from April 15-May 25. Three subspecies can be found in the Northwest, Merriam’s, Rio Grandes and easterns, with the first two the most

numerous. The thing about turkeys that drives me nuts is that I can drive just about anywhere, any other time of the year, and run into flocks of the buggers. But during the spring season, they can be as stubborn and elusive – or just plain hard to get – as any game I’ve ever hunted. You’ve still got plenty of time to hone your skills with various turkey calls, and get your camo clothing all set. I know people who hunt turkeys the same as other folks wait all year long just to shoot prairie dogs;

they hunt nothing else, and when the time comes, they go for broke.

ONE OUTFIT THAT is ahead of the game this year is Stoeger. At the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade, or SHOT, Show in January, Stoeger expanded its popular M3500 shotgun series with the introduction of the Predator/Turkey Special, a rocking semiauto chambered for the 3½-inch 12-gauge magnum. Featuring a “SteadyGrip” pistol grip nwsportsmanmag.com | MARCH 2020

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COLUMN

Brought To You By:

KICK-EEZ®

Author Dave Workman made a couple of remarkable long range shots with his vintage Python, underscoring this handgun’s accuracy. (DAVE WORKMAN) Stoeger’s M3500 line of shotguns now includes the new Predator/Turkey Special, a semiauto 12-gauge chambered for 3½-inch magnum shells. (STOEGER)

Benelli has come out with a new three-round bolt-action rifle known as Lupo, Italian for wolf. It is chambered in .30-06 Springfield, .300 Win. Mag. and .270 Win. (BENELLI)

buttstock for a rock-solid grip while the ported barrel reduces muzzle rise and recoil, allowing shooters to get back on target quicker. It will take shells from 2¾ inches up to the big magnum loads without adjustment, thanks to the Intertia Driven action. The M3500 is drilled and tapped to mount the included Weaver 93 base. A fiber optic front sight sits atop the 24-inch barrel that is fitted with the Mojo extended predator and turkey choke.

With fewer moving parts, the Inertia Driven system is the fastest, simplest, cleanest, strongest and most reliable operating system in the world. While this shotgun is capable of holding four rounds in the magazine, don’t load up with more than three for bird hunting. Stoeger finishes this scattergun with Mossy Oak Overwatch camo. It weighs 7.5 pounds and has an overall length of 46 inches.

Load up with No. 4 or 6 shot – you shouldn’t need a 3½-incher; most of my turkey hunting pals prefer 3-inch magnums – and don’t forget a face mask or camo paint.

ANYONE FAMILIAR WITH the Benelli brand knows these folks build some simply awesome shotguns, such as the Super Black Eagle. That said, Benelli has come forth with

NEW SIERRA, BROWNING AMMO

here are some new ammunition offerings from a couple of the most reliable names in the business: Sierra and Browning. Let’s take them alphabetically. From Browning, we’ve got two new loads in .350 Legend, a straight-wall cartridge capable of knocking a buck on its backside and hammering hogs. One features a 124-grain FMJ bullet that leaves the muzzle at a reported 2,500 feet per second with 1,721 foot-pounds of energy. The other load pushes a 155-grain BXR rapid expansion projectile out of the bore at 2,300 fps with an impressive 1,820 foot-pounds of energy. Also from Browning are three new loads in 28 Nosler. One pushes a 160-grain Long Range Pro bullet at 3,200 fps with 3,637 foot-pounds

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of muzzle energy. A second load launches a 155-grain BXC bullet at 3,250 fps with 3,635 foot-pounds of energy and the third propels a 139-grain BXS projectile at 3,350 fps with 3,463 foot-pounds of energy. Sierra has unveiled two new loads, one in .223 Remington and the other in .300 AAC Blackout. Both loads are in Sierra’s

GameChanger line. The .223 Rem. launches a 64-grain tipped GameKing bullet at 3,015 fps, while the .300 Blackout launches a 125-grain tipped GameChanger bullet at 2,115 fps. Sierra has also introduced Prairie Enemy Varmint and Predator ammunition in four popular calibers, .204 Ruger, .223 Remington, .224 Valkyrie and .243 Winchester. All four are topped with Sierra BlitzKing bullets. The .204 Ruger features a 36-grain pill clocking a reported 3,840 fps at the muzzle; the .223 Remington pushes a 55-grainer at 3,215 fps or a 69-grain pill at 2.950 fps; the .224 Valkyrie weighs 69 grains also and clocks 3,125 fps; and the .243 Winchester launches a 70-grainer at 3,450 fps. –DW Among many new bullet offerings comes Sierra’s Prairie Enemy in .204 Ruger, among other chamberings. (SIERRA)

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COLUMN

Brought To You By:

KICK-EEZ® New from Franchi is the Momentum Elite, chambered for 6.5 Creedmoor, .223 Remington and .308 Winchester. (FRANCHI)

a new bolt-action rifle they’re calling the Lupo, which is the Italian word for wolf. Loaded with innovative features, the Lupo is initially chambered in three of the most popular Western bolt-action calibers (.30-06 Springfield, .300 Win. Mag., .270 Win.). The rifle features an alloy lower receiver and a synthetic stock and forend. The stock incorporates Benelli’s patented Progressive Comfort recoil-reducing system and Combtech cheek pad for comfortable shooting. Benelli boasts three-shot subminuteof-angle accuracy, thanks to a Crio-treated free-floating barrel and secure bedding

in the chassis receiver. There’s something else, too. The Lupo is rather modular by providing spacers to adjust the length of pull, and optional combs. Barrel length in the .270 and ’06 is 22 inches, while the .300 Win. Magnum is 24 inches. The double-stack box magazine holds three rounds. Benelli designed the Lupo with a two-position, tang-mounted safety, and the Airtouch Grip surfaces provide a firm hold on the rifle. It’s got an adjustable trigger (2.2 to 4.4 pounds) and the length of pull may be adjusted from 13.8 to 14.75 inches.

Pistol Bullets and Ammunition Zero Bullet Company, Inc.

ZER 166 Northwest Sportsman

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P.O. Box 1188 Cullman, AL 35056 Tel: 256-739-1606 Fax: 256-739-4683 Toll Free: 800-545-9376 www.zerobullets.com

ANOTHER BRAND FAMOUS for shotguns is Franchi (I own an over-and-under in 20-gauge that’s a real grouse killer) and this company has also introduced a new rifle, the Momentum Elite, a follow-up to the original Momentum introduced two years ago. Chambered for 6.5 Creedmoor, .223 Remington and .308 Winchester (depending upon version), the Momentum Elite has a detachable magazine, rifle stock finish options of Hunter Gray, Realtree Excape and Strata by TrueTimber. The butt is fitted with a TSA recoil pad, and there are sling attachment points. The Momentum Elite features a onepiece bolt with spiral fluting and three locking lugs. The bolt handle is finished in Cerakote and the bolt has a 60-degree throw.

I MENTIONED OWNING a 20-gauge Franchi O/U, but there’s a little voice in my ear talking about a new smoothbore from Benelli in the same chambering. Enter the Model 828U, which has been scaled down from the 12-gauge platform introduced earlier. The Model 828U allows custom drop and cast adjustments and the kind of ergonomic feel and balance to which Benelli users are accustomed. This little beauty is available with 26or 28-inch Crio barrels, so weights vary from 5.9 to 6.0 pounds. It comes with five Crio chokes (cylinder, improved cylinder, modified, improved modified and full) and an engraved nickel receiver. There’s a low-profile carbon fiber rib, and the stock is crafted from AA-grade walnut with a satin finish. Benelli also designed the recoil-taming Progressive Comfort System into the stock to reduce muzzle flip. It has a fiber optic front sight with red insert. NS

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COLUMN

Offseason Tune Ups, Part I: The Push Back

Author Scott Haugen’s dog Echo made a blind retrieve on this wing-tipped goose that sailed over 300 yards. Hand signals allowed him to push his dog back, and trust is what led to a successful retrieve. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

bout the only bird hunts going now are for grouse and ptarmigan in Alaska, and at shooting preserves throughout other parts of the GUN DOGGIN’ 101 country. For most By Scott Haugen of us, it’s the start of the offseason, but for you and your dog it should really be the start of fixing things, what I call offseason tune-up time. It’s likely that at some point this past season you encountered unwanted behaviors or responses in your dog. Even

if these were minor glitches, they need to be remedied while your dog is in good shape and both of your mindsets are on hunting. This month we’re going to look at fixing what could be the most common problem faced by hunters, the push back. Next month, in part II of this series, we’ll look at other fixes you can make to get your gun dog dialed back in.

THE MOST COMMON question I get throughout the season is how to get a dog to move backwards for a retrieve when it failed to see a bird go down. “It’s hard to push a dog out but very easy to call them back, or direct them to the side, once they are out there,” shares

Jesse Spradley, an award-winning trainer and breeder with Cabin Creek Gun Dogs (541-219-2526, cabincreekgundogs .com) in Lakeview, Oregon. “Blind retrieves require a lot of training and are one of the more challenging things to fix,” begins Spradley. “This is because the dog is being asked to run or swim out in a given direction, looking for game it hasn’t seen you shoot, then continue searching until it finds the bird or you start giving directional casts. To accomplish this, the dog must have confidence in you as the handler, and trust that you know what you are doing.” Now is a good time to teach your dog how to push back for a blind retrieve,

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COLUMN begin switching to other locations that require a little further distance. The purpose of this is to build the dog’s confidence.” For many hunters, breaking a bad training habit that likely started when the dog was a pup is the goal of getting them to push back, as Spradley explains. “I want my dog to come up to any body of water, no matter how big it is, knowing we are going to the far side. A lot of dogs stop at 40 to 60 yards out because that’s how far most folks can throw training dummies out into the water. By going to the training pond and physically placing bumpers or birds, you can increase the distance, building the dog’s confidence as you go,” he says.

Jesse Spradley, a noted trainer and breeder of elite pudelpointers, devotes a lot of time in the offseason to tuning up gun dogs for clients. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

which Spradley explains step by step. “This command is taught by repetitions that always end with success. Success is the result of the dog always finding the bumper, antler, bird, etc. The key to success is you must start short then increase the distance as the dog becomes more confident in your commands; commands 170 Northwest Sportsman

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that always lead to success, as this is how the dog learns to trust you,” he says. “When I’m teaching blind retrieves I’ll place the birds or bumpers in the same location on a pond, always on the far side of the bank,” Spradley continues. “As the dog learns to swim across – knowing there will always be something there to retrieve – I’ll

I MADE THIS mistake with a female pudelpointer one time, but broke the habit and got her to push back using voice commands and hand signals to direct her to bird wings I’d placed in a big field. I made a point to do this training when there was a slight crosswind. I left the dog kenneled then went out and positioned three different bird wings, one at 30 yards, another at 50 yards and the last at about 75 yards. After finding the first wing the dog retrieved it to me, then I sent her back for the second wing. She followed the same line to where she’d picked up the first wing, then stopped and looked at me for direction. With a verbal “back” command and a hand signal (an open hand raised over my head), she moved back, cut the wind of the second wing, then brought it back. Immediately trust was gained and success is what kept driving that dog during follow-up training sessions. It took a little time, but now that dog trusts me and has no trouble pushing back 200 yards, even more, on both land and water, guided by a blow on the whistle or one beep on her e-collar, combined with a hand signal. Start simple and ensure success when teaching your dog to push back. Be patient and always positive. If the dog loses interest, call it a day and come back another time, fresh and ready to work. 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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