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Sportsman Northwest

Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource

Volume 8 • ISSUE 6 PUBLISHER James R. Baker

SMOKERCRAFT PRO-TRACER

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Dick Openshaw EDITOR Andy Walgamott COPY EDITING Katie Sauro LEAD WRITERS Jeff Holmes, Andy Schneider CONTRIBUTORS Sam Baird, Ralph Bartholdt, Randall Bonner, Jason Brooks, Dennis Dauble, Roger Davis, Peter Flohr, Matt Gibson, Zac Holmes, Doug Huddle, Randy King, Leroy Ledeboer, Todd Martin, Terry Otto, Rob Phillips, Buzz Ramsey, Troy Rodakowski, Scott Staats, Mark Veary, Terry Wiest, Dave Workman, Mike Wright

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SALES MANAGER Brian Lull ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Becca Ellingsworth, Mamie Grifﬁn, Steve Joseph, Mike Smith, Paul Yarnold DESIGNERS Beth Harrison, Sonjia Kells, Sam Rockwell Liz Weickum PRODUCTION MANAGER John Rusnak PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Kelly Baker OFFICE MANAGER/ACCOUNTING Audra Higgins

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SUN CHASER PONTOON

ON THE COVER Jill Smith of Walla Walla caught this Drano Lake spring Chinook in April 2012 on a sardine-wrapped Mag Lip. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

The middle name of Ashley Nichole Lewis, a parttime tribal ﬁshing guide, was misspelled on the cover and in the p. 35 story on her in the March issue. MOTTO

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APRIL 2015

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CONTENTS

VOLUME 8 • ISSUE 6

FEATURES 31 35 45 49 72 74 79 101 115 121 137

Columbia River spring Chinook Cowlitz, Cathlamet springers Wind River kings Drano Lake springers Lake Roosevelt rainbows Lake Chelan kokanee Sprague Lake trout, bass, bluegills 7 Top Northwest trout rivers Westside trophy largemouth Willamette Valley bass Nootka Sound, BC, bottomfishing

DEPARTMENTS

145 GOBBLE, GOBBLE! April marks the th start t t off youth th tturkey k hhunts t as wellll as th the generall season across the Northwest, and our staff tom talkers have top spots and sweet tips to ensure you get your Columbia Gorge, Eastern Washington and Oregon gobbler. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)

COLUMNS 55

BUZZ RAMSEY As Columbia spring Chinook move east of the Gorge, Buzz details how to waylay them below John Day!

INLAND NORTHWEST We knew him as the “Shrimp King” of the Lewis & Clark Valley, but there was a lot more to the late Stu Waters than his killer pink steelhead baits. Also remembered: Howard Worden, inventor of the Rooster Tail and Spin-N-Glo.

BASIN BEACON If it’s spring, it’s time for trout, and Leroy reports on the prospects around the Columbia Basin – from the Scablands to the Seeps, Sun Lakes to the Okanogan!

CENTRAL OREGON Bend features a lot of great trout lakes, but Scott’s six picks might just be the best for supersized browns, ’bows and bulls!

NORTH SOUND Ready for the big opener, North Sound anglers? You will be after checking out Doug’s downlow on the region’s eight fishiest lakes.

111 STUMPTOWN Meet Mr. Whiskers, Portland’s bearded hepcatfish – you’ll be surprised how big they grow here! 127 WESTSIDER Get the bay boat prepped now because you’re gonna need it for Puget Sound’s upcoming ling and shrimp seasons, Terry tips.

13 15 16 21

22 25 28 29 29 43

Editor’s Note Correspondence The Big Pic: My rain garden Derby Watch: Salmon Classic, Something Catchy, Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derbies Outdoor Calendar Dishonor Roll; Jackass of the Month Photos From The Field Wright & McGill/Eagle Claw Photo Contest winners Browning Photo Contest winners Rig of the Month: Ron Holt’s king rig

133 THE KAYAK GUYS The good reputation of the San Juan’s foul temptress – Sucia Island – is a siren song for Mark, who paddles perilous seas for a shot at large lingcod, incredible scenery and kayak fishing adventure. 163 CHEF IN THE WILD Tree rats, bushytails – call ’em what you want, Randy knows them as dinner. Our resident chef serves up squirrel cacciatore! 169 ON TARGET And you thought the Nosler 26 was a sizzler – Dave reports on the Bend-based company’s new bullet that is being touted as the “the most powerful 7mm cartridge commercially available.”

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 $39.95 (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 © 2015 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.

10 Northwest Sportsman

APRIL 2015

o sooner did state and tribal fishery biologists announce that they were winning the war against northern pike infiltrating into a key Northwest river than a new front opened – far downstream. A picture surfaced last month showing more than 20 hammerhandle-sized pike that were apparently stranded by a drawdown in Lake Roosevelt’s Kettle Arm. That’s more than 160 river miles below where the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife and Kalispel Tribe, armed with gillnets and hooks, have made their stand against the invasive non-native predators. Over the past three springs they’ve removed over 16,000 from Box Canyon Reservoir, and the discovery of pike well below there reinforced the importance of their work to prevent as many as possible from escaping into the Columbia River system. Yes, that Columbia River system. The one in which tens of thousands of spring Chinook are coursing upstream as you read this, hundreds of thousands of sockeye will run up later this spring and a million-plus kings and coho will enter this fall to spawn.

THERE WERE HINTS that the waterwolves had hit Lake Roosevelt

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after high runoff coursed down the Pend Oreille in 2011 – an angler’s catch that year near Kettle Falls, and several reports from the Kettle Arm in 2014. But the picture of the like-sized pike is deeply concerning to managers. The question is, does it represent a one-off – a school of young northerns that was washed out of Box Canyon and collected in the eddy of a preyfish-rich arm? Or are pike now spawning in Roosevelt? It was thought the 150-mile-long reservoir might help halt their spread, thanks to extreme water-level fluctuations that theoretically make spawning pretty tough, but as they say, life’s resilient. Bruce Bolding, WDFW’s chief cheerleader for nonsalmonid freshwater fisheries, is not crowing whatsoever. “It’s not a good thing at all,” he said early last month. “It’s kinda scary, the potential.” The northerns are believed to have come down the Pend Oreille/Clark Fork River from Montana, where they were illegally introduced into numerous lakes and rivers. Bolding says it’s likely that there will be a “perpetual trickle” from those waters into Washington, but the game changer is 80 miles below the Kettle Arm at the mouth of the Okanogan. That’s where there’s much more potential spawning habitat – and lots of chow in the form of outmigrating smolts. The arrival of pike in Lake Roosevelt has the attention of the Colville and Spokane Tribes, who will implement a monitoring program this year. But even as the invasion of a high number of marine mammals in the Lower Columbia is raising concerns there, we need to guard against a sneak attack from above that also threatens our salmon and steelhead and their recovery. –Andy Walgamott

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CORRESPONDENCE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE EDITOR ‘DRONES’ ON A bill in Oregon’s legislature aims to ban drones for hunting or fishing, a great idea, but the editor posited that lawmakers should be careful with its wording because as a coho-twitching video by Fishing Addicts Northwest showed, drones can also provide a great new angle on the fishing experience. Paul Russy didn’t like that at all: “C’mon, Mr. Walgamott, practice/preach a little conservation for a change. You can’t have both and expect it to work: either ban them from fishing and hunting, or do not ban them. Man always finds a way to bend rules into his favor and cheat. Cell phones and the Internet … have already ruined enough secret fishing holes, we don’t need drones to further exploit every single nook and cranny in the world. Enough is enough already. People need to get off their butts and hike and find places on their own; it’s called exploring/adventure.”

HOW MUCH IS THAT WOLFY IN THE WINDOW? In general, Washington wolf managers and most legislators have been loath to take up the translocation option in the state’s management plan for the species. That didn’t stop WDFW from trying to capture the habituated Ruby Creek wolf of the Pend Oreille River bottomlands for several months and partially spay it before shipping the animal across the Cascades to Wolf Haven, near Olympia. Said Jason Trapp of Puyallup: “What a waste of time and resources. This wolf has been a problem its entire life. WDFW wasted countless taxpayer dollars to trap this wolf when the problem could have been dealt with in a quick and efficient manner.”

HEY, BUDDY, IT’S THE COWLITZ, NOT THE CLEARWATER! After we posted an on-the-scene blog about Cowlitz River steelheading in February and March, reader James corrected us on what to call those late-timed chromers: “Please stop referring to Cowlitz winter steelhead as B run! The only run that has ever had that moniker are summer steelhead in the Snake River basin. These are late-winter Cowlitz hatchery steelhead.”

MOST LIKED PHOTOGRAPH WE HUNG UP ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE DURING THIS ISSUE’S PRODUCTION CYCLE Well, “liked” might be a stretch for this one, but Hugh Allen’s outstanding live-action picture of a harbor seal stealing a Chinook from an angler in the San Juans certainly got a lot of attention on our social media. Emblematic of increasing populations of the pinnipeds in Puget Sound, Allen snapped the shot at roughly the same time that state biologists were also tallying a record estimated 7,600 marine mammals in the Lower Columbia, raising concerns about predation on (HUGH ALLEN) listed salmon stocks.

APRIL 2015

Northwest Sportsman 15

Filtering street runoff through rain gardens found to help salmon. By Andy Walgamott

SHORELINE, Wash.—Even if it’s an almost miniscule bandage on a region that needs so many more of them, I’m feeling pretty good about turning a gravel strip into a rain garden. Yeah, there’s a lot less parking at our house just north of Seattle, and we probably hurt our property value, but new research suggests that filtering street runoff can really help out young salmon and the bugs they feed on. And while I was thinking more about adult coho than wee ones when we came up with the idea, it’s kind of hard to get any of those to return if they can’t survive in urban streams in the first place.

IT ALL BEGAN one rainy Saturday morning

Thornton Creek ﬂows below I-5, near where it emerges from a culvert that takes it under the interstate. Untreated runoff from streets has been found to kill adult and juvenile salmon, but rain gardens, like the one we had built not far from here, can help to ﬁlter out pollutants. (ANDY WALGAMOTT) 16 Northwest Sportsman

APRIL 2015

several years ago as I absent-mindedly washed the dishes. Staring out the kitchen window, my eyes settled on water running down a slight divot in the street. A lot was actually flowing past. It wasn’t the first time I’d noticed the little “creek” that springs up every time it comes down hard. One winter day, when warm temps were rapidly melting snow, our oldest son, River, and I put our boots on and tried to dam the water as it gushed towards a grate that funnels into Thornton Creek. But it was that exact moment I decided to do something about it. In giving our house a lodge look with a few of my bucks’ racks over the door, Amy, the boys and I have worked to certify our yard as wildlife habitat. (In addition to tweety birds and the neighborhood squirrels and raccoons, a blue heron has stopped by twice – albeit to try to poach our goldfish.) And along with raising chickens for eggs and putting in gardens to grow wholesome berries, tomatoes, potatoes and peas for ourselves, we wanted to do something for salmon too. When I’ve looked closely at the street runoff, it’s grayish. Maybe that’s because of the asphalt underneath, but the water

carries drippings from our cars and those parked up the street, plus pesticides, herbicides – just all sorts of bad mojo that can’t be good for Thornton’s fish. And it’s not, scientists have shown in recent years. Intuitively, it just makes sense that salmon and trout wouldn’t do well in that brew, but it wasn’t until researchers began to monitor West Seattle’s Longfellow Creek that the magnitude of the problem became jaw-droppingly apparent. According to a 2013 report, adult coho hens fresh out of Elliott Bay were dying in Longfellow within hours of rainstorms. Tribal and federal researchers were able to establish that untreated storm runoff collected from highways was the cause, but it’s still unclear what compound(s) is responsible. The upshot is, with the return of salmon coinciding with the onset of rainy season in the Northwest, if fish can’t live long enough to spawn, theoretically that leads to fewer and fewer in the future. And then, this past winter, scientists at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service and Washington State University showed that runoff taken from a highway cutting through the Emerald City killed every single juvenile salmon subjected to the swill in less than half a day. So, not only are returning adult silvers getting hit by poison during fall, but the offspring of those that spawn have to somehow withstand it during the year or so before they escape to sea. It’s kind of staggering. Go to Google or Bing Maps and see all the gray in Pugetropolis and Portlandia that is pavement and parking lots. Add an average of 35 to 45 inches of rain on top of it, and that water’s gotta go somewhere – and it doesn’t always get piped to treatment plants. It’s a problem on par with The Blob that hung out in the Northeast Pacific last year and the persistent ridge of high pressure that kept us warmer this past winter: Just how in the heck do you wrap your mind around something this big, let alone do something about it? It’s not like we’re going to rip up the streets – or are we? Essentially, that’s what we decided to have done outside our house.

AMY, RIVER, KIRAN and I live near where the mainstem of Thornton Creek sneaks in and out of the old peat digs known as Ronald Bog and Twin Ponds. (Not to brag, but I’ve got the bass – as in the only one – of the bog dialed in, and will catch him again this spring.) The creek is then collected to pass underneath busy Interstate 5 and NE 145th, reemerging at Jackson Park Golf Course inside Seattle city limits, thence through the densely populated Pinehurst, Lake City and Meadowbrook neighborhoods, before gurgling into Lake Washington at Matthews Beach. Last November, we walked a trail along the golf course. As the boys showed off their balancing skills (as well as their lack thereof) on the creek’s slick rocks, I looked for coho, either alive or decaying back in the weeds. Cars and trucks roared past on I-5 just dozens of yards away, and while under one footbridge there was a pile of spawnedout beer cans, there was no sign of salmon, nor smell of dead ones. We walked on. Talking with a longtime Shoreline resident awhile back, she told me about two adult salmon that were found above the interstate several years ago; her expression told me she didn’t buy the story. However, a city report says a state fisheries biologist observed a 2-plus-footlong steelhead finning in a pool between the ponds and bog. The fish had minor abrasions, but appeared all right. Coho fry were also seen in the golf course reach. However, that city document is from way back in May 2004; it’s been far bleaker in recent years. Seattle and King County biologists tell me 2014 was a “bust” for salmon. Students at Nathan Hale High School, located on the lower end of Thornton near where two branches of the creek come together, saw no Chinook, coho or sockeye during daily inspections last fall. If there’s good news, it’s that the biologists believe lots of cutthroat – something like 600 annually – use Thornton for spawning in winter and spring.

What once was a gravel parking pad outside our house is now a rain garden designed to slow some, though not all, street runoff during storms. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)

NEITHER COHO NOR cutts will ever swim into our rain garden, but being in the headwaters of the creek and with more than a passing

APRIL 2015

Northwest Sportsman 17

MIXED BAG So far, the only ﬁsh I’ve seen in the Thornton Creek watershed is this bass, which I’ve caught at Ronald Bog, ﬁrst a peat mine then a dump. But this coming fall my family will sign up with King County to be volunteer salmon watchers, and we hope to join the Thornton Creek Alliance, which reports a beaver has taken up residence in part of the system near Northgate Mall. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)

interest in salmon and wild things, we had a chance to do something. We broached the idea of turning the gravel pad in the public right-of-way into a rain garden with Shoreline’s Public Works Department. They liked it, drew some designs up, and, after some more discussion, hired a contractor. Last summer, crews brought out their backhoes and dumptruck, cleared off the gravel and asphalt, and made a V-shaped trench 25 feet long, 7 feet wide and up to 4 feet deep. At the bottom they put in a French drain connected to a new elevated grate. The trench was filled with sand and pebbles topped with a funky mix of soil that was sculpted with some berms to try and slow the runoff so it percolates downwards. Crews came back in winter and planted ferns and sedges. To be honest, the berms haven’t stood up so well to gullywashers, and some water still flows down the street, meaning it bypasses the rain garden entirely and gets into Thornton Creek untreated. But overall I’ve been impressed at how much water can otherwise be trapped in the garden. And as it turns out, filtering like this is an “affordable and remarkably effective” treatment for street runoff, according to federal and university researchers. They found that pouring it through a “simple” 60-15-15-10 mix of sand, compost, shredded bark and water-treatment residuals “reduced toxic metals by 30 to 99 percent, reduced polyaromatic hydrocarbons that are byproducts of fossil fuels to levels at or below detection and reduced organic matter by more than 40 percent,” according to NMFS. Not only did that provide juvenile 18 Northwest Sportsman

APRIL 2015

salmon with “complete protection against the lethal toxicity of stormwater runoff,” but the bugs they prey on were shielded from damage to their reproductive capabilities too. “This is a simple approach that can make a big difference in the quality of water flowing into our rivers and streams,” said Jenifer McIntyre, the WSU postdoctoral researcher who has been running the street water through barrels in her lab. “In this case, the salmon and their prey are telling us how clean is clean enough.”

AROUND 200,000 LIVE in Thornton Creek’s 12-square-mile watershed, Seattle’s largest creek system, and driving around it with the boys in early March reinforced to me just how tiny of a fix our rain garden really is. But it’s a start. Actually, it’s more like part of a building movement that aims to trap or slow runoff, be it from streets, parking lots, driveways, roofs or other impervious surfaces. A website, 12000raingardens .org, has an ambitious goal to register

that many in Puget Sound by next year (they’re currently up to 1,000), and the rural town of Eatonville east of Tacoma has been dubbed the “rain garden capitol.” Many Puget Sound cities offer rebates for installing them on private property, and federal funding is also available. Ours cost us nothing except lost parking space. Trapping polluted runoff is but one part of helping urban salmon recover. Removing passage-blocking culverts, shading lakes and streams, removing invasive species, and improving habitat are more visible things that can help, and generate good headlines, like last fall’s first return of coho to Crystal Springs Creek in Portland. In Thornton’s lower end near Nathan Hale, the City of Seattle’s Meadowbrook project is Goliath to our David of a rain garden. While created primarily to address flooding – a settlement pond also captures sediment so it can be removed – it includes a new, more fish-friendly streambed complete with large embedded logs and stumps, and a 2-acre floodplain. The boys and I surveyed it last month Signs in the area warned us not to enter the creek because of pollution – a travesty, I thought, because it seems like half of my days growing up outside Sultan, Wash., were spent wading nearby waters – but waterfowl fed in the pond while crows frolicked in the new channel. The creek was a lot bigger there than up at our house, where a rain garden attempts to slow and treat street runoff in hopes that one day salmon will again run up Seattle and Shoreline’s backyard stream, and the eggs they lay will hatch and grow and return again. NS

While our rain garden is a small bandage, a much bigger project downstream could be a boon to salmon. Seattle’s Meadowbrook Pond combines a settling reservoir to siphon off higher flows, a floodplain and this new, more fish-friendly streambed. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)

APRIL 2015

Northwest Sportsman 19

No Doubt Thomas Knows $traits Blackmouth

Chelan Kokanee Derby At Midmonth

ollowing up on its initial success last spring, the 2nd Annual Something Catchy derby will be held April 18-19 on Lake Chelan. With an aim to get more disadvantaged kids outdoors and into fishing, last year’s event saw 87 anglers catch 276 kokanee. But the idea transcends fishing to mentorship and food drives, and cofounder Jason Williams says that the Wenatchee-area-based organization was able to help 45 kids and 30 adults in 2014. Tickets are $50 per person. Top prize is $750 for largest kokanee and a similar amount for A participant in last year’s inaugural Something the heftiest haul made by a team on a boat. Last Catchy derby on Lake year, Ty Heiserman took big-fish honors with a Chelan shows off a nice 2-pound, 4.8-ounce koke, while Dan Yedinak kokanee. (SOMETHING CATCHY) and Aaron Kelly’s total of 43 pounds, 6.1 ounces was the high mark for a boat. Tickets are available at Hooked On Toys (509-663-0740) in Wenatchee and Sportsman’s Warehouse (509-886-7200) in East Wenatchee. For more, contact Williams (509-885-6920).

Could Be A Classic!

s if barbecue fodder wasn’t enough motivation, on April 4 spring Chinook anglers will have a little extra incentive to put a big fish in the box. That’s the day of the 23rd Annual Spring Fishing Classic, which features a top prize of $500 for largest hatchery springer or steelhead caught on the Columbia or its tribs. Best catch by a team – either three, five, six or seven anglers – wins Lamiglas rods. The derby’s timing roughly coincides with when the Chinook run into the Columbia has really gotten rolling in recent years. Sponsored in part by Northwest Sportsman and numerous others, it benefits the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, which lobbies in Salem and Olympia on behalf of tackle and gear manufacturers, recreational angling opportunities and conservation. Gobs and gobs of prizes will also be awarded to derby goers after weigh-in wraps up at 4:30 sharp at Kliever Memorial Armory, 10000 SE 33rd Drive, at the west end of PDX. For more, see nsiafishing.org.

UPCOMING DERBIES Lake Pend Oreille Idaho Club Annual Spring Derby, April 25-May 3; lpoic.org/blog

The Detroit Lake Fishing Derby, May 15-17; detroitlakeoregon.org

hey live way over on the mainland, but Jerry Thomas and Larry Quesnell have blackmouth in the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca dialed in to the tune of $30,000. That’s how much the Mount Vernon-area fishing partners have won at the Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derby the last three years. Thomas, who took top honors in 2013, won this past February’s edition Jerry Thomas with an 18.95-pounder, good for $10,000. hefts his Olympic Peninsula Salmon Quesnell was last year’s winner. Derby-winning Thomas’s immature Chinook was 2.35 blackmouth, an pounds heavier than the next closest fish, 18.95-pounder, Julia Hunter’s 16.60, which was good for that won the Mount Vernon man $2,000 for the Neah Bay angler, while Ron $10,000. (ROBERT Lampers headed back to Snohomish with McCAULEY) $1,000 for his third-place 16.25-pounder. Organizers of the derby, held out of tiny Gardiner and which has been an almost annual occurrence for 42 years in one name or another, called the 2015 edition the “best ever” in terms of fishing: 292 6-plus-pounders were weighed in – 40 more than any previous event – and the average blackmouth was 9.3 pounds. They also sold the most tickets since 2003. “Last year we got slammed by the weather. This year was the opposite – great weather with good fishing,” said Dan Tatum, Gardiner Salmon Derby Association president, in a press release. “Planning was a bit confusing, due to the closure of Area 7 and the cancellation of the Anacortes derby, the biggest derby in the area. But everything came together for us here in Gardiner.” The Anacortes and Frank Wilson Memorial (see below) Derbies were cancelled or ended early because of strong catches in the San Juans, Marine Area 7.

MORE RECENT RESULTS 2015 Frank Wilson Memorial Blackmouth Derby, San Juan Islands, Feb. 1-15* 1st: Jim Lawson, 19.61 pounds, $1,000 2nd: Rustie Rush, 17.09 pounds, $500 3rd: Jennifer Payne, 13.97 pounds, $250 San Juan Islands sharpie Jimmie Lawson won the 2015 Frank Mystery weight fish: Wilson Memorial Blackmouth Vicki Telford, $250 Derby with this 19.61-pounder. Biggest youth fish: (VIA KEVIN KLEIN) Chase Wilson, $100 * Shortened from 10 weeks to two due to early fishing closure. Editor’s note: To have your derby listed or results posted here, email awalgamott@media-inc.com. APRIL 2015

Northwest Sportsman 21

OUTDOOR

CALENDAR Sponsored by

APRIL

A Great Getaway For Your Family.

April 1 Start of Washington fishing and hunting license year; Opening day for special-permit bear hunts in select Oregon and Washington units; Public (North of Falcon) meeting on possible Washington summer salmon seasons at Lynnwood Embassy Suites April 4 Annual ODFW-OHA Turkey Clinic at White River Wildlife Area, Tygh Valley, for youths 8-17; info: odfwcalendar.com April 4-18 Family Fishing Event at Canby Pond, youth and disabled anglers only; info: odfwcalendar.com April 5-6 Washington youth turkey hunting weekend April 7 Willapa Bay North of Falcon meeting, Raymond High School April 8-14 Idaho youth turkey hunting week April 10 Last scheduled day of Lower Columbia spring Chinook fishery before run update April 11 Family Fishing Event at Shorty’s Pond; info: odfwcalendar.com April 11-12 Oregon youth turkey hunting weekend April 11-16 Final North of Falcon summer-salmon-season meetings, Rohnert Park, Calif. April 15 General spring turkey opener in Northwest; Opening day of Washington and many Oregon special-permit bear hunts; Last day to steelhead on Washington and Oregon’s Grande Ronde River, and Oregon’s Imnaha, John Day, Umatilla, Walla Walla, Wallowa and Wenaha Rivers April 16 Opening day of lingcod fishing in Washington’s Marine Area 4 April 18 Family Fishing Events at St. Louis, McNary Channel Ponds; info: odfwcalendar.com April 25 Opening day of fishing season on numerous Oregon lakes, rivers and creeks, and lowland lakes in Washington; Family Fishing Events at Olalla Reservoir, Trojan Pond; info: odfwcalendar.com April 30 Last day for steelheading on Idaho’s Clearwater system, lower and upper Salmon, and Snake up to Hells Canyon Dam

MAY May 1 Northern pikeminnow sport reward fishery begins at all stations on Columbia and Snake Rivers; info: pikeminnow.org; Puget Sound and Strait of Juan de Fuca lingcod season opens

RECORD NW GAME FISH CAUGHT THIS MONTH Vacation and Water Sport Paradise. Cabins, 85 full hookups, 15 LW, boat rental, moorage, grocery store, tackle shop, gift shop, boat gas, propane, paddle bikes, canoes, games, fishing and water skiing. Great fishing in Blue and Park Lakes, special fisheries Dry Falls and Lake Lanore. From Seattle, I-90 to George exit 151 to Hwy. 283 - Spokane, North on Hwy 17 N. to Blue Lake and Park Lake.

509-632-5664 33575 Park Lake Rd NE

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APRIL 2015

Date

Species

Pds. (-Oz.)

Water

Angler

4-9-77 4-11-12 4-12-13 4-14-80 4-15-89 4-15-03 4-22-89 4-23-66 4-25-91 4-30-70 4-30-05

Largemouth Tiger trout Lake whitefish Winter steelhead Yelloweye rockfish Chiselmouth White catfish Smallmouth Green sunfish Cutthroat Largescale sucker

11.57 15.04 6.81 32.75 27.75 1.16 15.0 8.75 0-11 18-15 8-6.7

Banks L. (WA) Roses L. (WA) Rufus Woods L. (WA) EF Lewis R. (WA) Dallas Bk. (WA) Salmon R. (ID) Tualatin R. (OR) Columbia R. (WA) Umpqua R. (OR) Bear L. (ID) L. Cascade (OR)

Carl Pruitt Kirk Herrin Tony Martin Gene Maygra Jan Tavis Justin Powell Wayne Welch Ray Wonacott John Baker Roger Grunig Patrick Perry

APRIL 2015

Northwest Sportsman 23

24 Northwest Sportsman

APRIL 2015

MIXED BAG

Arrest Made In Central Oregon Buck Poaching

By Andy Walgamott

n a case that angered many of our online readers, a search warrant was served on the home of a 37-year-old La Pine man after it was alleged by the Oregon State Police that he’d “been involved in the illegal killing of a large number of mature trophy class mule deer bucks” last fall. According to OSP’s Fish & Wildlife Division, the antlers of “numerous” big bucks, along with venison as well as drugs were seized from Gene A. Parson, who was subsequently arrested and

JACKASS OF THE MONTH The crimes for which Joseph Allan Salvey was sentenced in February occurred well off the water, but his association with guiding was noted in various headlines. The operator of Fish Hawk Adventures, who ran trips on the Columbia and in Alaska, was convicted in Clackamas County Circuit Court of firstdegree burglary, assault in the fourth degree and attempted coercion as part of a plea deal that dropped far worse charges, according to The Oregonian. Salvey’s now serving more than four years in jail for kicking down the door of an ex-girlfriend’s home, strangling her and trying to tear away her clothes on Dec. 1, 2012. A letter that she wrote was read in court at Salvey’s sentencing: It spoke to a “nightmare” relationship that turned to “pure terror” when she decided to break up with him, stalking and “unremitting fear” that culminated in the savage attack.

OSP ﬁsh and wildlife troopers pose with the racks of more than a dozen mule deer as well as loose antlers seized from three members of a La Pine family this past February. (OSP)

booked into Deschutes County Jail on charges of unlawful take and possession of mule deer. Additionally, his parents, Oliver and Suzan Parsons, 64 and 58 and also of La Pine, were found to be in possession of six more large muley racks plus venison, and were cited for allegedly aiding in a game violation, illegal possession and evidence tampering, according to OSP. And troopers say they charged another man allegedly involved in the case, Lance Cournoyer, 44, of Grants Pass, with two counts of unlawful take of mule deer, and one count each of wastage and felon in possession of a firearm. OSP says the investigation continues and additional charges are pending. Anyone with info is asked to contact Senior Trooper James Hayes (541-419-1653).

Moose Poached East Of Pendleton Oregon’s budding moose herd took a hit last summer when a young bull was poached near Emigrant Springs State Park, near I-84’s Deadman Pass. In a case that grew to include state, tribal, county and federal law enforcement agencies because of other alleged crimes, the East

Oregonian reported that Thad Nelson, 44, was arrested for killing the animal near his home on the Umatilla Reservation. With so few moose in Oregon – the population was estimated at 60 to 70 at last check – there is no hunting season on them.

KUDOS

After a groundbreaking and stellar 10-plus-year-long career, Mishka hung up her game warden collar last month. The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s first Karelian bear dog, Mishka was often used to scare the living bejeebus out of bruins and mountain lions when officers relocated the predators back to Mishka the Karelian bear dog at the woods during what are called “hard releases.” work in a WDFW game warden Perhaps her most famous case was finding evidence truck. (WDFW) of a trophy bull elk illegally killed inside Olympic National Park (Northwest Sportsman, March 2010), but she also sniffed out the carcass of a poached wolf where it had been dumped in the North Cascades. WDFW biologist Rocky Spencer was Mishka’s original master, but he died on the job in a helicopter accident. According to the agency, then-Chief Bruce Bjork decided to give Mishka a year to prove her stuff with bears, and that’s where she more than proved her mettle. She and her longtime handler, WDFW Officer Bruce Richards, retired this winter. Enjoy it, you both deserve it!

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Northwest Sportsman 25

How To Have Fun Fishing With Kids It can be tough trying to hook youngsters on our favorite sport, but this dad’s got it dialed in! By Matt Gibson

y daughter (and favorite fishing partner) Wylie and I make it a point to get out on the river as often as possible. On a beautiful June day, we found ourselves with a few hours to kill before she had to be at dance class, so we tossed the bobber rod, bait and kiddy carrier pack in the truck and headed up to one of our favorite holes on the Clackamas River. After employing several of our unorthodox “fishing” techniques, including frog catching, flower picking, shiny-pebble collecting, and chunking big rocks in the water, we decided to try the old bobber-and-song technique. Sure enough, a few casts and three or four verses into the “Bite, fish; bobber, go down” song, the fish bit and the bobber went down! Now, as anyone who has had the experience can attest, fighting a goodsized springer from the bank in a hole with decent current is a blast. Add in an overexcited 2½-year-old strapped to your back and it becomes a magical experience. After a good fight, my portable cheering gallery and I finally put the 16-pound hatchery hen on the bank and did some proper celebrating! Wylie was bouncing around, hollering, “Good job, Dad!” “That’s a big fish!” and “We did it!” After gathering ourselves, tying 26 Northwest Sportsman

APRIL 2015

Wylie Gibson, then 2½ and ready for recital, says her dad’s Clackamas River spring Chinook is this big! (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST) on a new leader, and loading up with another shrimp cocktail, we went right back at it with the bobber-andfish song and fished hard for a full 15 minutes before it became obvious that the chunking-rocks-in-the-water technique was what the current fishing conditions demanded. Though we continued to fish it hard for the rest of our time on the river that day, we weren’t able to connect with another springer despite trying

everything from the “who can find the biggest leaf” method to the “look at the fuzzy caterpillar on my shirt” technique. Once we got back to the house (late as usual), Wylie bolted inside hollering about the “big fish” and demanding that Mom come out and see it right away. After being wrestled into her dancer getup and tap shoes, Wylie reemerged from the house, my wife in tow, camera in hand, and that’s when my wife said, “Show me how big your fish is!” NS

READER PHOTOS Talk about skills on the sticks! Forrest Costales of North Bend, Ore., put son Levi, 8, and friend AJ Bunt, 14, on this double while ﬁshing the North Umpqua this past winter. They were side-drifting yarn and eggs. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

Bill Liston was among the 34,000 who went out for the two Saturdays of smelt dipping this past February on the Cowlitz. Liston and most dipped their limits, thanks to a strong run that yielded 2.8 million pounds of smoked smelt and sturgeon candy. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

Paula Hill of Boston Harbor, Wash., displays her ﬁrst steelhead caught on a jig. She was ﬁshing in mid-February. Boyfriend Kelly Corcoran of Olympia emailed the great shot. (WRIGHT & McGILL/ EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

Heck of a stalk, heck of a shot! After spotting ﬁve deer more than a half a mile away, KJ Ruffo and his dad stalked and belly-crawled to within shooting distance, then the 12-year-old hunter took aim over a backpack. “I didn’t tell him the true distance until after we watched her drop. After I told him 282 yards, he just sat there and smiled,” reports father, Kenny, of Milwaukie, Ore. “For the record, I have never taken a deer at that distance before, which he was quick to bring up.” (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

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Northwest Sportsman 27

MIXED BAG

Hunting outside the small Northeast Washington town of Republic last October, Brian Mattila bagged his ﬁrst muley, this nice buck. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

It was his ﬁrst-ever steelie, but in catching the North Fork Stillaguamish winter-run Danny Leslie was also among the last in the short term to card one out of the Puget Sound river affected by a lawsuit barring smolt releases into it last spring. Leslie was ﬁshing in mid-December. Hopefully, WDFW and federal overseers can get hatchery plans approved so Leslie can catch more on the Stilly. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

Another beaut of a bright from last fall’s epic run – Dave Sitton caught this one on the Hanford Reach in October. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST) For your shot at winning great ﬁshing and hunting products, send your photos to awalgamott@media-inc.com or Northwest Sportsman, PO Box 24365, Seattle, WA, 98124-0365. By sending us photos, you afﬁrm you have the right to distribute them for use in our print and Internet publications. 28 Northwest Sportsman

APRIL 2015

Happy birthday to me! A trek up to Suttle Lake, in Oregon’s Cascades, provided a nice present for Steve Janego of Sisters, this beautiful brown, which bit a nightcrawler. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

PHOTO CONTEST

WINNERS! Al Schultz is this issueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Wright & McGill/ Eagle Claw Photo Contest winner, thanks to this photo of his rainbow in the reeds. It wins him a package worth $50 of fishing tackle!

Our monthly Browning Photo Contest winner is Dan Richardson, who sent this pic of his big North Puget Sound blacktail. It scores him a Browning hat!

Sportsman Northwest

Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource

For your shot at winning Wright & McGill/Eagle Claw and Browning products, send your photos to andy@ nwsportsmanmag.com or Northwest Sportsman, PO Box 24365, Seattle, WA 98124-0365. By sending us photos, you affirm you have the right to distribute them for our print or Internet publications. APRIL 2015

Northwest Sportsman 29

FISHING Will salmon managers be able to keep spring Chinook season on the Columbia River open deep into April, like recent years? It all depends on how fast we catch ’em. As the run peaks, effort increases – this image was taken on April 2010’s last day near the mouth of the Willamette – leading to a careful balancing act to ensure enough ESA-listed wild springers make it upstream and as much of the quota as allowable is caught. (RICK SWART, ODFW)

Extended Play Springers are in early, but here’s how to work the Columbia deep into April should season go long. By Andy Schneider

ust when you think the spring Chinook ﬁshery on the Columbia is over, they give us another week. And then usually one more. More often than not in recent years, we’ve had our season extended well past the point state managers originally gave us, thanks to latearriving salmon. This year, we’re scheduled to ﬁsh through April 10, and while

springers showed up earlier than they have going all the way back to 2003, should we get an extra week on the big river this month, how do you take advantage of that? Take some vacation or sick days and capitalize on some of the best springer ﬁshing of the year, that’s how! By mid-April, water conditions have usually stabilized, the weather can be pretty darn pleasant, and the peak of the run is usually pushing past Longview, St. Helens, Vancouver and Portland. Here’s

how to work this stretch.

TROLLING It’s tough to beat herring for spring Chinook in the Columbia, no matter when you’re fishing. But the later the season runs into April, the better your success will be, which should make trolling your first choice. That said, while tactics don’t change the deeper we get into the month, as season does progress, so does anglers’ prowess. That means you will need to bring your A game. Your baits will need to be swapped out more frequently, lead will have to tick bottom consistently, and your herring better have a good roll. While most anglers head to the waters they know best, springer fishing will be equally good from the top end of boat water below

APRIL 2015

Northwest Sportsman

FISHING Tony Bryant shows off a springer he caught aboard the author’s boat early last April. (ANDY SCHNEIDER)

Bonneville Dam down to Cathlamet. Finding water that’s a little less crowded may give you an advantage in securing your share of Omega-3. Here are some good spots to try: Rooster Rock: Start close to the Washington shore at Lawton Creek and troll the wide sand flats along Reed Island. This mile-and-a-halflong troll will give you lots of water to spread out from fellow anglers, plus is close to the boat ramps at Rooster Rock and Washougal. Just beware that when there is an east wind of 15 or mph predicted, this water can get a little rough and challenging to troll. Government Island: Just downriver from Chinook Landing is Government Island. Both sides offer long trolls over sandy flats, but if the Columbia is running high, troll the inside of the island, concentrating your effort from the I-205 bridge downriver. If water levels remain stable, troll the channel side, upriver of I-205. No matter which side of the island you’re fishing, you are no more than a 10-minute boat ride from the Chinook Landing, Portco and James Gleason boat ramps.

ANCHORING As the Columbia’s waters start to warm with spring weather, plugs become more and more effective. And by the time an extension rolls around, hoglines have become pretty established in productive areas. But getting away from crowded anchoring locations can be a lot more 32 Northwest Sportsman

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relaxing and productive. Start by scouting for waters with some sort of flat or ledge that you can effectively anchor on. Avoid anchoring in areas with a steep sloping bottom or strange current seams. Look for waters from 12 to 30 feet deep along with some sort of bottom contour that might help funnel fish to your plugs. Much of the Columbia’s bed around the Portland Metro area has a sand dune-like structure. When fishing them, make sure you back-bounce your plugs so they are on the top of a dune and not in the trough. Government, Hayden, Caterpillar and Sauvie Islands all offer waters that you can anchor outside of hoglines. If you find a solitary boat anchored up, anchor to the side or above them instead of directly below them. Nobody wants a boat to anchor directly below them and get the unsavory that comes with it.

BANK FISHING Bonneville’s tailrace has been reserved for bank angling the last few seasons, giving shore fishermen a reprieve from boat traffic and pressure. The most successful bank angling takes place on the Washington shore, at the famous Oak Tree Hole. It starts at the top of Ives Island and stretches down the inside channel. Warrendale, on the Oregon shore, comes in second in terms of salmon productivity. It’s a long rocky beach just upriver from The Fishery. Either location can produce obscene numbers of fish just before dam counts (fpc.org) spike. Be prepared for crowded conditions, and match your tackle and weight with other anglers sharing the bank to avoid any tangles and conflicts. Well downstream, Warrior Rock and Sand Island both support boatin plunking fisheries that remain productive throughout the entire season. The sandy beach directly behind Warrior Rock Lighthouse is

EXTENSION TIPS Get there early! Many times, anglers realize too late that the entire spring Chinook season has slipped by, and only when we’re given an extension do they get motivated to get on the water. Ramp lines usually lengthen considerably, and parking becomes limited quickly as the end of the season closes in. Go deep! Many times, heavy angling pressure will push spring Chinook into deeper waters. While 12 to 30 feet of water is your average depth for targeting salmon, sometimes you need to go even deeper to find fish. Bring a lawn chair! As spring weather grips the Northwest and pleasure boaters start heading to the boat ramps on warm afternoons, entertainment can’t get much better. When returning to the ramp after a day of fishing, especially on nice days, be ready for long waits and some very entertaining moments as boaters shake off the cobwebs of a long winter. It’s 5 o’clock somewhere! While most anglers start their day around 5 a.m., there is no reason you can’t start your day of fishing 12 hours later, when you get off of work. Longer daylight hours, pleasant weather and good fishing are sure ways to make your coworkers jealous the following day. Go to the Willamette! Yes, the Willamette still gets a run of spring Chinook. While all the attention turns to the Columbia as the season starts to count down, its Oregon tributary often turns into to a ghost town, making for some pretty pleasant – and productive – fishing. –AS

a very productive location to boatplunk. While beaching your craft and fishing from shore may not feel natural, this feeling will quickly pass as you land fish after fish. Plunking close to shore on the Columbia side of Sand Island can also prove very productive for those with a small boat to take them out from the St. Helens ramp. NS

FISHING

Move Upriver? Nah, Stay Low The king count at Bonneville will have anglers looking east, but Cowlitz, Cathlamet should shine for springers.

Ace Wade of Castle Rock shows off one of the ﬁrst spring Chinook of the season to be caught on the Cowlitz River. He was ﬁshing below Blue Creek, a couple miles below the salmon hatchery where most kings head. (DENNIS SCHWARTZ)

By Jeff Holmes

he Lower Columbia Guide Army is huge, highly tactical, and very lethal on spring Chinook, as are many private anglers. Tactics have evolved over the years, as has technology, and when the fish are in, the quota dies swiftly on decks and beaches from Cathlamet to Corbett. That’s especially true in low, warmer-thanusual water conditions, like those we saw as we went to press in early March. By many accounts, we’ve become more efficient in killing springers, which is both cool and troublesome because it will be tough to further decrease the limit below one a day. Among the hundreds of guides fishing the many Lower Columbia salmon fisheries, including spring Chinook, one name consistently stands out above the others for his legendary ability to land fish using a variety of techniques and guarded secrets, and for his influence on how others fish. He’s not a hashtagging, pro-staffing, glad-handing personality-driven presence. Rather, he’s a supremely fishy guy with a fun personality who helped to bring two of the Northwest’s most lethal salmon and steelhead techniques from Northern California to our waters many years ago. Ron Holt of Clancy’s Guided Sportfishing (clancysfishing. com) is a name that even haters grudgingly acklowedge as being one of the most respected in the industry. Two Holt techniques are anything but secrets these days: wrapping plugs with sardines and side-drifting for steelhead. Still, there wasn’t anybody doing it in the Northwest until Ron and his father, Clancy, made the move to Southwest Washington from Northern California salmon and steelhead country, many years ago. “When we first came up here, I saw all these people fishing in the rivers and I honestly couldn’t figure out what they were doing based on how they were fishing,” said Ron Holt. “I asked my dad, and he said, ‘Ron, I think they’re fishing steelhead.’ We started side-drifting them like we’d always done on the rivers in Northern California, and people started to notice we were catching a lot of fish.” People have continued to notice, and the Holts have continued to catch lots of fish. Is there anyone who doesn’t wrap Chinook plugs these days? Is there a more popular steelheading technique than side-drifting? OK, maybe

a few folks don’t wrap plugs or haven’t side-drifted, but the techniques are ubiquitous everywhere people fish for salmon and steelhead. Speaking of, Clancy is in Chile right now with Gary Loomis landing salmon to 70 pounds and helping a new lodge dial in their Chinook guiding program with proven tactics and know-how. In early March, Clancy, Loomis and Vern Dollar landed 23 salmon one day: one was 60, one 54, and several more were in the 50-pound class. Over the summer I’ll do a series of articles with the Holts looking at their influence on the sport, their burgeoning guiding opportunities in Chile, and how they catch gaudy numbers of fish on their home rivers: the Cowlitz and Columbia. Ron and Clancy may not surrender their dark voodoo secrets, but do expect concise wisdom on the fisheries that should help you to understand the rivers and their fish a little better. It’s my privilege to get to work with the Holts and to learn a little bit for myself and share a lot of that with you. If you’re interested in doing some research for yourself, give Ron a call and secure a spot in his boat

APRIL 2015

Northwest Sportsman

FISHING Guide Ron Holt (center) and longtime client Gerardo Reyes and son Ivan, as well as deckhand Sean David Leonard. (JEFF HOLMES)

for late-winter Cowlitz steelhead or Cathlamet (Columbia) or Cowlitz spring Chinook. Forecasts have anglers excited on both big rivers, perhaps especially on the Cowlitz.

BIG RETURN TO COWLITZ Last year’s Cowlitz run exceeded expectations significantly. After predictions of 7,800 returning adults to the river, 10,500 came back, creating very good fishing into June and significantly exceeding the 10year average return. The Cowlitz presents springer opportunities from February into summer, but the bulk of its fish enter the river in March and April, loaded with the sustaining fat to carry them through until a late summer spawn. April is prime time for Cowlitz chromers, and this year’s run shouldn’t disappoint. The 2015 Cowlitz River spring Chinook run estimates are impressive, with 11,200 adults expected back. That’s 107 percent of last year’s run and 146 percent of the ten-year average. A very high percentage of Cowlitz springers are retainable hatchery adults, especially in April before lots of jacks show. Only a small percentage of the river’s fish are wild, approximately 5 percent. That 36 Northwest Sportsman

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qualifies the Cowlitz as an absolute meat factory as waves of chromers wash in and begin occupying springer holes from the mouth at Longview all the way to Barrier Dam. Bank opportunities exist up and down the river, and angler participation is high, but the Cowlitz is made for boats. Some people take this too literally and fish props without any knowledge of where to run, including absurd craft like Bayliners and all manner of lake boats. The Cowlitz, like any big, swift river, can be very dangerous and can eat boats. A power drifter went down just a few days before I fished it for steelhead in late February, only a couple miles above Blue Creek. Last springer season I stuck an anchor in my drift boat and had to cut the rope or risk filling up my boat with water. That was operator error, but it happens. The river is not the safe cakewalk some make it out to be, especially with crowds whose behavior we can’t control, but it is a mellow river suited to careful, thoughtful boaters of multiple skill levels. The Cowlitz is perfect for jet sleds, but drift boats and pontoons are at home here, as well. Unlike the river’s popular winter steelhead, which jam upriver quickly to the hatchery

zone around Blue Creek and Barrier Dam – concentrating anglers tightly – springers pile in and hold throughout the river, dispersing the tremendous pressure that good catches attract. Catches are likely to be excellent this April, especially lower in the river where many fish enter and hold in holes strung up and down the stream. The big push of springers toward Barrier Dam happens later in the month, and the name of the game from Blue Creek to Barrier Dam in April is still late-run steelhead. Limits are very typical for experienced anglers and those fishing with guides, many of whom abandon the Cowlitz for springer season on the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. Lots of anglers elect to fish springers from first light to midmorning before switching over to side-drifting or other steelhead techniques in search of a typically reliable bite, and this has been an outstanding Cowlitz steelhead year, by all accounts. Meanwhile, there are plenty of springers in the Cowlitz in April, but most are in water that is much less pressured and less known. From the mouth to well above the Toutle River, far more springers are caught this month than further upstream. Popular tactics include anchoring in travel lanes with bait-wrapped plugs or divers and eggs, or fishing deep holes via hovering, trolling herring and prawn spinners, and back-bouncing many different offerings involving baits. Herring is very popular this month, as are eggs, but they become more essential as spring moves closer to summer. Sardine-wrapped banana plugs like Brad’s KillerFish in sizes 13, 14 and 15 and Yakima Bait’s unique and highly effective Mag Lip in 3.5, 4.5, and 5.0 account for plenty of Cowlitz springers. Many also succumb to sidedrifting gear, with accidental catches occurring on diminutive presentations involving size 4 and 6 hooks.

THE DOWN-LOW COLUMBIA KING BITE March 3 marked the ﬁrst doubledigit spring Chinook passage day over

FISHING Bonneville Dam in 2015, which is the earliest that 10 or more have been counted there since the run of 2003. At press time, frighteningly low snowpack, record-high temperatures and recordlow flows were combining to threaten the lower river allocation prior to the scheduled April 10 closure. As of March 5, the long-term weather forecast looked downright balmy, and catch rates were accelerating rapidly on the Willamette and upticking slightly on the Columbia, where fish were reportedly gorging on smelt, affecting the bite. These water and weather conditions typically spell a torrid bite about to happen, especially with water temperatures on the big river nearing the ideal early-bite range by the end of February. Just as over the past several years weather and the flow regime kept springers in the salt longer than in previous years, this aberrant weather and these summerlike flows appear to have Chinook moving upriver much sooner than in recent years. Of course, April 1 through 10 could produce epic fishing, depending on how things shake out by the time the magazine hits mailboxes and newsstands. I have reservations at Cathlamet Marina for the first week of April that I hope dearly to keep. Even if the lower river exhausts the quota early, leaving the fate of April springer fishing in the lower river hanging in the balance, there will almost surely be a reopening with a projected run size of 232,500 upriver-bound. And unless the run comes in significantly lower than predictions or Pinnipedmageddon finally pops off and the 7,500 seals and sea lions in the Lower Columbia gobble up the sportfishing allocation, there will be April and perhaps May salmon angling on the horizon – remember, last year Chinook reopened May 15 and feathered right into the start of summer king season June 16. Cathlamet-area anglers will never see the torrid springer bite on a consistent basis that occurs in narrower parts of the river like Kalama and I-5, where anglers enjoy the added benefit of seeing where fish are being caught due to dense concentrations of boaters in eyeshot at all times. It is a little tougher place to fish for spring Chinook for a host of other reasons, including a much wider river, multiple channels, and more pinnipeds. But the beauty of Cathlamet can be found in its gorgeous setting across from Puget Island, which is home to a free ferry to and from the Oregon shore, and one of the coolest bed and breakfasts in the Northwest at Stockhouse’s Farm (stockhousesfarm. com). Anglers don’t have to deal with a couple hundred guide boats and exponentially more private boaters and plunkers at Cathlamet and nearby fishing grounds like Clifton Channel, the Washington side of Tenasillahe Island, and travel lanes on the Washington shore of Cathlamet Channel and along parts of Puget Island. This is generally 38 Northwest Sportsman

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Though not as popular as waters closer to population centers, the Cathlamet stretch of the Lower Columbia is the ﬁrst best place to intercept spring Chinook and is relatively quiet. (JEFF HOLMES)

true of waters downstream of Longview Bridge, where Washington guides must have a saltwater six-pack or better license to run trips for salmon. Many Washington guides opt to buy Oregon guides’ licenses to have first shot at fish before the crowds at Longview, Kalama, Davis Bar and Portland. Most clients and most guides want to fish in these narrow, populous stretches above Longview anyway, leaving more room to troll and anchor for springers fresh out of the salt. Cathlamet fish pack sea lice with tails, iridescent purple backs, and chrome sides. Anglers at Cathlamet require more personal space than those further upriver, and there’s more room to give. Give it, and you’ll have a better trip. That said, look for concentrations of anglers, and follow suit. Anchor fishermen fish together to avoid cluttering up trolling lanes – for the most part – and trollers work breaklines, travel lanes and collection points where underwater geography and tides funnel fish. To be too specific about many spots at Cathlamet would be unfair to many devotees who seek a less insane experience than the Airport troll off PDX or the massive hoglines at Kalama. One need simply go there and observe to learn where to fish. The “when” can be a bit trickier based on tides and run timing, but slack and outgoing tide is by far the best time to fish, as elsewhere on the tidally influenced Columbia. Plug-cut herring, especially in April, are the most popular bait, both naked and with in-line flashers like Portland’s Shortbus Flashers, among others. Anchor fishermen deploy lots of bait-wrapped plugs and herring. It’s a good idea to have a few colors of herring here, including natural. When a springer chomps on your bait, after you let it eat for a while, casually grab your rod and fight the fish from a seated position, grabbing the net at the last moment. Sea lions here are very aggressive and numerous, and key in on activity. They arrive on the scene very fast. Last year a big bull sea lion surfaced next to our boat just as I scooped Erika’s nice springer in Clifton Channel. I’d been watching him hundreds of yards away when that fish bit, and the fight did not last long. I waved the net. Fishing Cathlamet is challenging, but the experience is one-of-a-kind. I strongly recommend booking with Ron Holt for a day in the boat with arguably one of the area’s best anglers. NS

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RON HOLT’S K.I.S.S PRINCIPLE BRAD’S KILLERFISH RIG NOTES Guide Ron Holt’s very simple and effective sardine-wrapped plug rig foregoes the expensive sliders and other components in favor of Brad’s duolock snaps, beads and heavy mainline and leader. Columbia spring Chinook anglers must land fish fast to avoid the estimated 7,500 marine mammals in the lower river, and to retrieve plugs from sturgeon. This rig employs an 8mm bead on 50-pound braid, followed by a duolock snap threaded through the small end, followed by a second bead with the mainline tied to the small end of another duolock. The looped end of a 36-inch dropper of 12-pound mono is snapped into the duolock between the beads, with a 4- to 8-ounce sinker tied to the dropper, depending on flow. Holt runs 60 inches of 40-pound Maxima Ultragreen, with duolocks on each side for leader and wraps fresh sardine on a Brad’s KillerFish in dragon fly II pattern.

–Jeff Holmes

50-pound braided mainline

8mm beads Brad’s duolock snaps

60-inch, 40-pound Maxima Ultragreen leader

Brad’s KillerFish (dragon ﬂy II)

36-inch, 12-pound mono dropper line

Sardine wrap

4- to 8-ounce cannonball sinker (JEFF HOLMES; TJ HESTER, HESTERSSPORTFISHING.COM)

APRIL 2015

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44 Northwest Sportsman

APRIL 2015

FISHING

Gale-force Springers Batten down the hatches, put out the sea socks and troll bait at storm-tossed Wind River.

Christina Van Houte of Eagle Creek landed this springer on a blustery day at the Wind River. (ANDY SCHNEIDER)

By Andy Schneider

hen you hear about a fishery named Wind River, you probably shouldn’t expect to show up and fish calm and glassy conditions. No, with a name like that, you may want to familiarize yourself with the gradations of the Beaufort scale. But breeziness isn’t necessarily a bad thing when it comes to spring Chinook. “I’ll take a west wind blowing 30 mph over no wind,” says Daniel St. Laurent of St. Laurent Guide Service (503-440-5188). “I’ll definitely take a strong west wind over any sort of east wind.” “The old saying ‘West is best, east is least’ definitely holds true for the Wind River,” he says. “I don’t know what exactly puts the fish off the bite with an east wind – maybe a pressure

difference or water turbidity – but that east wind puts them off the bite.” St. Laurent starts fishing the drowned mouth of the Wind once king counts just downlake at Bonneville Dam average 1,000 to 2,000 fish per day. “That first week of a thousand fish a day, you should be able to go up and catch fish every day. Every year is different for when this fishery takes off, but with this early spring weather, I’m betting the Wind is going to take off real early this year.” The Wind usually starts seeing the first push of fish move inside the buoy line, which marks the southern edge of the open water, the third week of April, but that is not to say there aren’t fish to be caught earlier. The Wind and Drano Lake, further up the Bonneville Pool, both see a strong early push of fish, usually well ahead of most anglers’ expectations.

“My most consistent producer, day in and day out, is a cutplug green label herring,” tips St. Laurent. “A close second is a prawn spinner.” He fishes his prawns whole with a No. 3, 4 or 5 Cascade spinner blade. “I like to use a smaller blade when there is good water visibility, and larger blades when the water quality is poor,” he says. No matter the size, St. Laurent prefers a chartreuse blade with a red dot and a bronze or chrome blade with a blue tip. “I also like to vary how I rig my prawns. Some days I rig them straight, and other days I fish them with their natural curl. Both work on certain days, so I’m always experimenting,” he tips. St. Laurent keeps his prawns and herring within a “crank” of the bottom when fishing on the inside, but out on the buoy line, he keeps

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FISHING a close eye on his electronics to see what depth the fish are running, and then puts his gear at that level. No matter what bait he is trolling, he tries to go as slow as possible. “I want my herring just barely rolling over. Some days it’s a challenge to maintain steerage with the wind, but a slow troll seems to be more productive for me,” he says. Since Washington fishery managers moved the buoy line out 250 yards from its old location, it has really allowed boaters to spread out. But the terminal fishery is still small enough to keep an eagle eye out for waving nets. “Some days fishing far to the inside is more productive than right on the buoy line; other days you need to be on the buoy line to catch fish. No matter where I’m fishing, I’m always keeping an eye on the other boats to see if they’re catching fish.” NS

WINDY TIPS Time to pull the plugs? While the Magnum Wiggle Wart ruled at Wind River for many, many years, bait is starting to be the No. 1 producer. “I’ve tried plugs many time, but I’ve completely stopped and switched over to bait. It’s just so much more productive,” hints Daniel St. Laurent. No bilge pump? No go! There’s wind, and then there’s really, really windy conditions. Any time Columbia Gorge wind makes the news, it’s probably a good idea to double check the forecast and see if it’s really worth a trip. “Pay attention to the weather. If you don’t have a bilge pump and are wondering if it’s OK to go, then it probably isn’t,” cautions the guide. Eyes alert! “Pay attention to the boats around you. If they have a fish on, give them room to fight the fish – pull your lines if needed. If someone is long-lining

plugs in front of you, don’t troll over the top of them,” St. Laurent advises. “Many times the wind and current may push you on a wayward course. Most boaters troll east to west, parallel to the buoy line. Though the course may be difficult to maintain, it’s important to try to give other anglers room.” Wait, be at the launch when?!? “I’m usually one of the first boats on the water, just to avoid some of the challenges of launching a lot of boats on a small boat ramp with limited parking,” says St. Laurent. He usually has his boat launched and truck parked by 2:30 a.m. While putting in three and a half hours before first light isn’t necessary, getting there early, having the boat prepped and having a launching and parking plan makes sure you start your day on an enjoyable note. –AS

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48 Northwest Sportsman

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FISHING

Anglers ‘Wing’ It For Drano, Wind Kings A weapon from the walleye world is being added to springer setups. By Dennis Dauble

’ve got a deal for you, my friend Wayne said. “Mack’s Lures called to offer me a free guided trip for springers off the Wind. I’d go, but the smallmouth bass fishing is too good. Plus, you’re the salmon guy.” “It’s not exactly free, if you factor in two tanks of gas and a night in a motel,” I replied, and then sealed my fate: “But I’ll do it.” What I didn’t share was that my last trip to the well-named Wind involved pulling Mag Warts for eight hours in 2-foot-high whitecaps without reward. Then there’s the sleep deprivation from freight trains passing in the night. There are but a few motels between Umatilla and Portland available for under $150 per night that aren’t situated next to the railroad tracks. On the plus side, I’d be fishing with TJ Hester, one of the best young guides on the river, and odds were good I would learn new techniques, always a good idea. Wind River and its neighbor to the east, Drano Lake, are only 160 miles from my home and are perennial hot spots for early salmon. Approximately 2,500 springers were harvested by sport anglers there in 2014, according to state statistics. I’d also get to meet Justin Wolff, who planned to film our day on the water for his Angler West television show.

Guide TJ Hester and Bob Schmidt of Mack’s Lures show the prawn rig setup that involves a Double D Dodger with a Flash Blade. (JUSTIN WOLFF)

Chasing the setting sun downriver, I left the Tri-Cities and motored down the Oregon side of the Columbia. It was the first week in May, scarcely a ripple on the river, and Mount Hood was visible from 100 miles out. Chinook passage counts at Bonneville had tapered off to 5,000 fish per day after a high of 17,000, which meant fish would be stacked up off the Wind and in Drano Lake. My anticipation rose as the milemarkers lowered. I checked into a cheap motel at the back end of Stevenson, nestled under musty bedcovers and napped in short stretches until jerking the clock radio out of the wall socket at 3:45 a.m. to shut the alarm off. After driving directly to the Wind River launch, I killed time getting fishing reports from arriving anglers while waiting for Hester and my trip hosts to arrive. “Lost two yesterday. One on a

plug.” “We’ve been killing them. No, not really.” “Yesterday was better than the last three days.” “You can jump on with us if your guy doesn’t show,” one friendly couple offered. “No charge.”

AT MY TRUCK, I checked my cell phone to find a message from Lance Merz, the trip organizer, saying they had decided to fish Drano instead. I sped past two logging trucks and an overloaded camper, parked on the highway shoulder and worked my way through a frenetic maze of anglers to the launch. Hester picked me up, introductions were made and our rods were in the water by 6 a.m. It wasn’t the best start to a fishing trip, but I’ve had worse. The pecking order needed no explanation. Bob Schmidt, owner of Mack’s Lures, was in the leadoff APRIL 2015

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FISHING position, Merz was on deck and I was in the hole. As luck would have it, the first springer struck a prawn rig tied 5 feet behind a 7.6inch silver Double D dodger before we finished our first cup of coffee. “I like to troll shallow until the sun comes up,” Hester tipped, before he turned the boat around for another pass, cranking up the latest country rock for his version of “first fish” celebration. Merz scored the next fish on a green-label cut-plug herring trailed behind a similar setup, except with chartreuse Hot Wings affixed immediately above the dodger for extra attraction. I no longer felt guilty for our delayed start. Another upriver troll in the gathering light yielded a third takedown in an hour. This fish was mine, and I would be reticent if I failed to mention it tipped the scales at a hefty 17 pounds.

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Things cooled off with two missed strikes over the next hour. By now, there were over 100 boats on the water with a small flotilla trolling in a counterclockwise direction between the tribal fishing platforms and the Highway 14 overpass that separates Drano Lake from the Columbia River. Some boaters flat-lined the more traditional Magnum Wiggle Wart or M2 FlatFish, but the majority pulled cut-plug herring or prawns behind Shortbus flashers. Three passes later, we pulled out of the lineup and headed downriver to the Wind, where Schmidt and Merz had both carded a springer the afternoon before. It was barely past ham-and-egg time when rain began to downpour in a manner this drysider could not relate to. I hunkered down in my commercial crabber parka and waited for another turn at a

rod, while Hester kept a steady hand on the tiller. We maintained a steady 1.5 to 2.0 mph course along the outside buoy line, while another group of boaters trolled downstream of the island along the north shore. The next three hours produced two takedowns fishing near bottom in 25-foot depths. Schmidt put a chunky 13-pound hatchery hen in the net. Both strikes were on the same prawn rig with chartreuse Hot Wings affixed ahead of a Double D dodger. While I never got a second chance at a springer, my feelings were cheered when Merz grilled hot dogs off the back of the boat. “I’ve been out here when it was so cold you had to put one under each armpit to warm up,” he said, handing me a perfectly cooked double dog. Based on the low number of fresh salmon carcasses back at the launch for crawdads to glean, we easily finished among the top boats. Six springers hooked with four to the boat was double the average catch rate on a day when weather was suboptimal. Several anglers scrutinized our flash-blade setup when we led fish to the net. Others endorsed from afar: “Those work great on the Cowlitz,” one angler yelled when he cruised close to see what we were using. He hooked up with a springer of his own a few minutes later, suggesting camaraderie can reward. Despite initial concerns, things worked out in my favor. I carded my first spring Chinook salmon of the year, while also learning about the attractive power of Hot Wings and the extra flash they provide under lowlight conditions. Though I’m not quite ready to retire my lucky “creamsicle orange” Mag Wart from action, and a host of other products have been found to work on these waters, the trip sold me on a new technique for fooling the elusive springer. It seems that Smile Blade technology is no longer just about walleye. NS

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COLUMN If conditions hold, this could be a great year for spring Chinook ﬁshing on the Columbia below John Day Dam. That’s where Stacy Leonard of Yakima caught this one last season on a sardine-wrapped Mag Lip. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

Waylay Springers At John Day

hen it comes to fishing for spring Chinook, what you may not know about guide Eric Linde is that, given BUZZ RAMSEY the right run size and conditions, he’s known to spend more than a little time fishing the Columbia well upstream of the rest of the fleet. He can be found on the waters just west of John Day Dam.

“This area of the Columbia is a lot less crowded than the lower river and can yield quick limits,” notes the longtime guide (360-607-6421). “When conditions are right, I’ve had some really good luck up there.” Where Wind and Drano Lake anglers watch Bonneville Dam’s counts, Linde has his eye on The Dalles Dam. He usually waits until tally has hit 3,000 to 4,000 total fish before giving it a try. “Of course, at the same time you should be seeing a big push of fish passing Bonneville, and it’s pretty certain

that in just a few days the numbers west of John Day Dam will start to quickly multiply,” he says.

WHAT MAKES THE water stretching from the Highway 97 bridge at Biggs Junction up to John Day Dam such a popular destination for bank and boat anglers, according to Linde, is that the narrowing of the Columbia here makes it more riverlike, compared to the big, slow-moving reservoirs above and below. The current of the dam’s tailrace also slows the upstream movement of springers.

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COLUMN For boaters, it’s an anchor fishery in which most drop the hook in 12 to 20 feet of water and trail bait-wrapped salmon plugs in the current. Just rig your salmonsized Kwikfish, FlatFish or Mag Lip on a 50- to 60-inch leader in combination with a 24-inch weight dropper line. A dropper line of 30 to 36 inches or a leader of 48 inches might work better if your plug choice is an extra-deep-diving Mag Lip – especially where/when currents are fast moving, as they can be in spring. And while Linde’s favorite plug colors include mostly silver-and-chartreuse combinations, he sees a lot of fish taken on fluorescent red. What he plans to also try this year, given the lower water conditions, is some smaller plug sizes, like the 3.5 Mag Lip. Although you’re not dealing with ocean tides here, the hydro system can fluctuate water levels a lot, which may have everything to do with your success. For example, if the river is up and running hard, anchoring along a current edge

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would be much more important than times when the river is slower moving. What most boaters do after hooking a salmon is to cast away from their anchor buoy and float downriver to play and land the fish. If there is another boat or hogline anchored downstream, you should steer your boat to either side of them using your trolling motor for propulsion, so as not to tangle your salmon into their anchor rope as you float along playing your fish. This works fine when the area isn’t too crowded with boats anchoring helter-skelter. In the better anchor locations and on days when it’s more crowded, many boaters will form hoglines where they anchor side-by-side, rather than randomly anchoring everywhere. The idea behind anchoring in a line 90 degrees to the current is that a lot fewer fish are lost due to tangling into someone else’s downstream anchor rope. Anchoring in a hogline should only be attempted if you have the appropriate river anchor, at least 200 feet of rope, anchor

buoy and boat bumpers to go along with a fair amount of anchoring experience. If you decide to join a hogline, what many do (including me) is idle up to the boat you intend on anchoring next to and ask if they mind. The majority won’t have a problem with it, as opposed to you anchoring 100 yards downstream from them. Although Linde doesn’t employ downstream trolling methods in this area of the Columbia or see others doing it, the technique might be worth trying in a year like this when (unless something changes) the water levels are likely to be lower, clearer and slower moving than in past springs.

WITH EASY ACCESS to the river and water moving fast enough to work stationary lures, the John Day tailrace attracts bank anglers. Most of them fish close to the dam on the Washington side of the river and downstream from the Rufus boat ramp on the Oregon side. The right water depth for plunking is in

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COLUMN the range of 6 to 20 feet deep. Remember, salmon will likely be running closer to shore when the water is up and hard running, and further from shore when the water is slower moving. Most bank anglers plunk a size 2 or 4 Spin-N-Glo tied to a 30-inch leader, swivel and 6- to 8-ounce bank-style sinker. A few of the more successful colors include fire tiger, flame chartreuse (Stop N Go) and rocket red. With the above-Bonneville portion of the springer run expected to number 200,000 or more fat salmon at the mouth of the Columbia, and water conditions that are already causing the salmon to show early and move upriver quickly, this might be the year to try your luck east of The Dalles. From the I-84 freeway, just take the Rufus exit â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the boat ramp is easy to find. NS Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s note: The author is a brand manager and member of the management team at Yakima Bait. Find him on Facebook.

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The water on either side of John Day Dam can be good for plunking from shore, as Bryan Sneed of Yakima will attest. Tuna and a Spin-N-Glo did the trick on this springer for him last year. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

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Long Live The Shrimp King Of The LC Valley T

he suit made almost entirely of greenbacks that Stu Waters wore, with its lofty sleeves and tightly creased pants, INLAND NORTHWEST wasn’t cut with By Ralph Bartholdt shrimp cash. In a picture pulled from his daughters’ collection, Waters, the self-proclaimed shrimp king of the Clearwater and Snake Rivers, grins magnificently while clad in crisp likenesses of Ben Franklin and his many denominational underlings. That was Stu before. Before he started a shop on the Clarkston waterfront. Before he gave up booze. Before he became a grandfather, and a mentor to Lewis & Clark Valley anglers, and before he went pink. And he did. Go pink. Super pink. Pink with a mixture of grease and tincture and emollients that to this day is part of a recipe that was ever-evolving as Waters built an empire of followers and coffee drinkers, former boozers, gabbers, bait-tossers, fish catchers and friends at Waters Edge Bait and Tackle, which he owned until he died last December at age 80.

NOT MANY KNEW Waters was a millionaire several times over before he started the shop where he developed the secret concoction that turned shrimp a fire-breathing, traffic-stopping and nitroglycerin-glow pink. People drove hundreds of miles to buy, hoard and judiciously use the bait to catch steelhead when nothing else worked. Before all of that, Waters spent a part of his life wading in what seemed endless streams of cash. “At one time, he was one of the most

Stu Waters holds a container of his vaunted shrimp, at his Clarkston tackle shop in 2009. (STEVE HANKS, LEWISTON TRIBUNE)

quoted men in The Wall Street Journal,” recalls his daughter Jennifer Orndorff. “Jerry Brown used him as a government financial expert.” That was during the California governor’s first term, when Brown honky-tonked with Linda Ronstadt and was a favorite topic of the magazine writers of the late 1970s. It was around the time that Ronstadt frequented Rolling Stone covers scantily clad in a trichromatic pink, similar to the dayglow colors leaking out of Waters’ freezers decades later. The stains still spot the floor in the empty shop on the edge of the river where the windows reflect the scenery – arid brown hills and cliffs and the tranquil river with its boats tied quietly to docks. This was Waters’ country in his later years, after selling his San Mateo wealth management businesses, saying goodbye to the 50-yard-line seats at

Candlestick Park, and going fishing. “His passion was always fishing,” Orndorff says. “He loved to fish.” Waters, a former paratrooper and University of Michigan and Northwestern University alum who played saxophone in the Wolverine marching band, had purchased a fishing venture in the Northwest Territories’ Great Bear Lake, but the government reclassified the land during treaty negotiations in the 1980s and Waters lost his investment. The government taking soured him on fishing until years later while visiting his daughter and son-in-law in Lewiston and one day plunking bait into Mann Lake, a small, pondlike affair east of town. The innocuous outing rehooked him, says Bob Orndorff, Jennifer’s husband. “He had quit fishing, until he came to see us that spring,” he says. A trip up to Hells Canyon and the

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COLUMN realization that he needed to be near his grandkids prompted the move to the valley and the opening of Waters Edge in 1998.

FORMER LEWISTON MILLWORKER and fishing rod builder Bob Gilbertson started hanging out at Waters’ shop in the early days. “You talk about the old country store,” Gilbertson says. “The only thing we lacked was the pot-bellied stove.” The place started as a convenience store for the Clarkston marina, where coffee, bait and chips were sold, and most of all, river tales were exchanged between the master storytellers of the waterways. The aluminum armada skippers and big fish chasers leaned over the counter by the coffee pot, smoking cigarettes, swapping fish tales and tips with anyone from passersby to river guides. The scruffy anglers of the valley didn’t ask about Waters’ past and he didn’t let on, because it didn’t matter. Wearing raggedy clothing often with ratted sleeves and specked with battery acid holes, sporting a salt-and-pepper scruff beard and greasy ball cap, Waters was in the middle of fishing heaven as he operated his own business, and enjoyed every minute. “He loved having his own fishing business,” Jennifer Orndorff says. “You’d never know he had handled billions of dollars in the corporate world.” It wasn’t long after he moved into the marina shop on the lower floor, with its balcony nudging the back eddy of the Snake River that he began toying with bait – shrimp in particular. It wasn’t just the color, it was the ingredients that made the tincture that coated the bait that caught the fish that brought in the customers. It developed slowly, until his shop became the main stem of commerce and steelhead propaganda on one of the world’s most prolific fisheries. “There were a lot of people doing shrimp, but Stu would use stuff nobody would ever think of,” Gilbertson says. “He was a mad scientist when it came 62 Northwest Sportsman

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INVENTOR OF ROOSTER TAIL PASSES Howard Worden, creator of the worldfamous Rooster Tail spinner and many other fishing lures, passed away Feb. 11 at the age of 93. Mr. Worden was one of the owners of Yakima Bait Co. in Granger, Wash., a company that was founded by his father in 1929. Worden was working for the company in the late 1940s when he designed the prototype for what would become the Rooster Tail spinner. One summer, during a visit to a lake in California, he built a weighted spinner with a willow leaf blade and a hackle tail. He called the new lure the Retreat Special, and soon Yakima Bait was producing and selling it around the Northwest. The spinner started gaining some ardent followers, but Worden felt like the new lure needed a better name. After watching the hydroplane races in Seattle on TV, he began calling his new spinner the Rooster Tail. The Rooster Tail was mostly a regional lure until the 1960s when some anglers from Florida took samples they’d received at the annual Fishing Tackle Manufacturer’s Show in Chicago back home and immediately caught bass with them. Once the word spread that the versatile Rooster Tail was so productive on bass, it quickly became a must have. Sales of the lure quickly grew and today millions and millions of Rooster Tails have been sold, used by anglers literally around the world to catch trout, bass, perch, crappie and

to shrimp.” Waters’ other daughter, Julia Bandon, remembers one summer helping him mix up batches of the potent pink steelhead elixir, melding it with full-bodied crustaceans in large tubs on the shop’s deck directly below the restaurant’s balcony, before the bait was fast frozen. “We had tubs with shrimp lying all over,” Bandon says. “It would smell. It

Howard Worden (right) and the late Steve Koller on the Columbia with a steelhead. (WORDEN FAMILY)

many other kinds of game fish. Worden was also instrumental in the development and marketing of the Spin-N-Glo winged drift bobber, the Lil’ Corky drift bobber and several different versions of the Rooster Tail spinner, including the Super Rooster Tail, Sonic Rooster Tail and Vibric Rooster Tail. Besides designing and making lures, Worden also developed a system that simplified the design and building of Tiffany-style stained glass lamps. Known as the WordenSystem, the predesigned kits allow hobbyists to build their own stained glass lamps in any one of dozens of designs. An avid angler all his life, Worden was always thinking about the next great lure, and up until the last year or so of his life he was still tweaking and designing lure ideas. He is survived by his wife Katherine (Kay), daughters Mary Nitzke and Janice Worden, and two grandkids. –Rob Phillips would stink so bad, and with the guests eating upstairs.” It may have stunk, but, boy, it worked. “At one time, we supplied 23 guides out of this shop,” Gilbertson says.

THE SHOP SUPPLIED fishermen with more than good stories and bait. It served to sober them up. A former alcoholic, Waters would not sell beer at his place; he supported

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the local alcoholics anonymous and sponsored a host of participants who, Bob Orndorff remembers, often came to the shop before turning to the bottle. “There were many people really on the borderline when they came in to talk to Stu,” Gilbertson says. “He’d keep them from taking that drink.” Until the end – Waters died of colon cancer – the clientele and the shrimp kept the place floating high. Waters often joked about his secret shrimp recipe and how he kept a tight lid on, when in reality, his family says, the ingredients were part of a dynamic, ever-changing recipe that he pretended was locked in a safety deposit box. It was actually written on 3-by-5 note cards, stained with pink and purple fingerprints and kept in a shoebox at the shop. The recipe was mostly in his head until Gilbertson urged him to document it and set it safely aside. “It took me a lot of years to get him to write it down,” Gilbertson says. The family thinks they could make a go of it, pack up bait like the shrimp king of the valley did. It’s an option they kick around. When they talk of it, however, they realize that the recipe, even the one written on the note cards, is outdated. “He was always tweaking it,” Gilbertson says, and Jennifer agrees. “He was a numbers guy,” she says. “He was all about details.” The last batch of Waters’ shrimp is in the Orndorffs’ freezer. An empty wind flops a flag on a pole nearby as the family stands on the deck peering into the shop windows that read Waters Edge. The wind cuts through clothing as it jags cold and heavy across the waterfront like a weighty beachcomber. Ducks prattle and quack, boats are covered in slips and the landscape is stark, now, on this late winter day. It won’t be long, though, before salmon fishers will launch and the air will be gassy and loud, and the anglers, coming or going, will stop by the Waters Edge to peer through the windows, remark about the stains on the floor where the freezers were, and quietly remember Stu. NS

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COLUMN From basalt-boned lakes, like the one Maggie Ramsey caught these trout at two springs ago, to waters in the rugged and beautiful Okanogan Highlands, opportunities look good for this month’s trout opener in Eastern Washington. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

Eastside Poised For Another Fine Trout Year L

ooking for a good family outing with the chance to put some 11- to 12-inch put-n-take rainbows or kokanee on the dinner table By Leroy Ledeboer and give that young angler a chance to haul in his or her first thrill of bringing a scrappy fish to the net? How about trolling up some really big ’bows, maybe even a fish or two topping 5 pounds? Or are you looking forward to spending a long weekend or even a full week on a top-notch fly fishing lake with a couple of buddies?

BASIN BEACON

Well, as we move into spring and early summer here in the Columbia Basin, those are all viable options. Everything from the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s solid stocking program to netpen releases to well-managed restrictedgear lakes have us poised for yet another fine season.

WHILE MANY ANGLERS look to that lateApril opener for their first outing, that definitely doesn’t have to be the case. In fact, maybe one of our best trout waters, both for solid numbers and a good chance to boat a real bruiser or two, is year-round Sprague Lake, just off I-90 east of Ritzville.

Whenever I’ve hit it, I’ve been pleasantly surprised that I don’t have to contend with more boat traffic. After all, it’s only about 60 miles from populous Spokane, and even that smaller horde of Tri-Cities anglers isn’t more than a couple hours away. Yet it’s rare to see more than a dozen or so boats out on this big lake, most trolling everything from Apex spoons to Rapalas to spinnercrawler set-ups. “I’d have to say Sprague is still one of our premier trout lakes in the entire state,” says WDFW’s warmwater specialist Chad Jackson in Ephrata. “We created even more excitement by putting in 70,000 Lahontan cutthroat jumbo fingerlings

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COLUMN into Sprague last year, and by fall these fish were starting to show up in creels, already in the 13- to 15-inch range, so it looks like their survival has been good and the carryovers should be pretty hefty by this summer. But although 70,000 sounds like a lot of fish, it’s just a fraction of our annual trout in Sprague, around 270,000, so you’re much more likely to catch those two species, many now in that 2- to 5-pound range, a few even larger.” And because of a lawsuit that limited the number of hatchery steelhead that can go into ocean-connected waterways, even more of a buzz may have been created when last spring Sprague received an infusion of 370,000 steelhead smolts, all easily identified by clipped adipose fins. Sprague has plenty of forage, but until they show up in angler creels we won’t know how well they survive in this landlocked lake.

POTHOLES RESERVOIR, JUST south of Moses Lake, is where you’re more likely to run into walleye, bass and even perch anglers than dedicated trout guys, but it’s definitely a big water that holds good numbers of ’bows, many topping 3 pounds, with an occasional real slab that might go 6 pounds or better. “That net-pen project they’ve been running at Mar Don Resort (mardonresort. com) has been the real key to this fishery,” Jackson notes. “We supply the fingerlings and they do the rest, getting them safely through winter and turning ’em loose when they’re quite a bit bigger and have a much better chance to avoid the predators. Some years this seems to be better than others, but we always see a pretty good trout catch out there.” Yeah, rather sadly my trout of a decade, a real battler that I swear would have topped 6 pounds, popped free right at the boat, but I’ve seen good evidence of this swing. Everywhere from that wellknown shoreline plunkers’ haven known as Medicare Beach and the resort’s big fishing dock to the deeper bays where a lot of us trollers nail dandy ’bows on everything from Rapalas, FatFish and Needlefish to spinner-crawler rigs behind flashers, Potholes trout are one hot ticket 68 Northwest Sportsman

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No need to wait for the fourth Saturday in April – many waters around the Columbia Basin are open year-round, including Rotary Lake in Yakima where Efren Lucatero, then 15, caught this 19-inch, 4-pound rainbow on 4-pound test and an ultralight rod. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

around here. And even though excellent numbers of walleye and big perch became the real story in 2014, a lot of the guys targeting these two species were pleasantly surprised by an occasional big rainbow latching onto their baits. So it’s a pretty good bet that 2015 will again give us a Potholes trout season ranging from good to fantastic.

BUT IF YOU’RE the kind of trout guy who just likes to try different waters, give some of those smaller seep and canal-fed lakes to the south of the reservoir a shot. One of my personal favorites, Upper Goose, is a fair-sized canyon lake that now closes to vehicle traffic in summer, no thanks to the ultra-bad manners of a few garbage dumpers and vandals. But in spring and fall, it can be a fine spot for trolling or even shoreline plunking. No, it isn’t always red hot, but some years trolling plugs for suspended 15- to 18-inch rainbows can be excellent, particularly if you can graph fish and get into the right water column. “We do get some good reports from Upper Goose,” Jackson agrees, “but a handful of lakes east of there – Canal, Hart and Windmill – may be more consistent. We stock those as well, but they also benefit from fish coming in through the canal system out of the Potholes.”

There are, however, a couple pieces of negative news from this particular area. First, for at least a few months after the March 1 opener, a few very small trout waters can be productive, but this year most of these will range from spotty to totally unproductive. The twin Hamptons, usually popular go-to spots for float tubers right through April and May, as well as tiny Sego, Glass and Widgeon, have been rehabbed. Because they’re in a federal wildlife area that doesn’t allow fishstocking vehicles, WDFW couldn’t restock with catchables, and their backpackedin fry plants are a solid year away from a fishable size. Unfortunately too, our late April opener now has some of this area’s biggest question marks, starting with fairsized Warden Lake, just east of those little seeps. For quite a few seasons since its last rehab, Warden has been a very good choice for both trollers and shore anglers right from its late April opener on into June. In fact, it was one of my favorites for both a little buddy fishing and a spot to take young anglers. But bullheads and perch are once again proliferating in Warden, last spring trout fishing was marginal, and I suspect will be even worse this year. I could be wrong and Warden’s trout might suddenly bounce back, as they have in

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COLUMN some other question-mark years, but a major rebound probably won’t happen until after it’s rehabbed.

OUR TWO PRIME opening-day go-tos, the fair-sized Blue and Park in the Sun Lakes Chain, did really well for a number of years after their last rotenoning, but now they appear to be taking a hit due to rapidly expanding bass and sculpin numbers. For a couple of openers now the hordes of plunkers who normally lined their banks declined rapidly as creel counts dropped. “Yes, Blue and Park seem to be hanging on by a thread,” Jackson notes. “Guys out in boats who are willing to move around still had decent trout fishing last year, but the shoreline folks didn’t have much success. We’ll see how this season goes, then make a decision on these two. But a couple of little lakes in that chain, Vic Meyer and Perch, are doing OK, providing good catches of 10- to 12-inch trout for shore fishers and anglers using float tubes or light cartoppers.”

In addition to being productive for trout, Leader Lake, on state Department of Natural Resources land west of Omak, is good for panﬁsh, like this one caught by a young angler there. (DIANA LOFFLIN, DNR)

“Oh, and don’t forget about larger Deep Lake, at the upper end of this chain,” he adds. “For some reason we see far more rainbows in opening-weekend surveys, maybe because the boat traffic pushes the kokanee deeper, but they’re there in good numbers and grow rapidly as summer comes on.”

ANOTHER GOOD BASIN bet, particularly if you’re a shore angler and want to head out early for rainbows, are the lakes in the Quincy Wildlife Area that opened March 1.

Even when that opener has been so cold that ice partly covered trout-rich Burke and Quincy Lakes, I’ve been impressed by the number of motorhomes, trailers and even tents out there, signifying whole families spending anywhere from a couple of days to a week or more. But this definitely hasn’t been one of those chilly years, and a series of 50-plus temperatures in late February no doubt contributed to an early harvest. Still, that trout bite should still hold up at least through June. Plus, come in early summer and

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COLUMN if you’re willing to hike in half a mile, super-deep Dusty Lake is still home to ’bows, browns and even tiger trout, a few reaching real bragging-rights sizes. It sits in a deep canyon, so it doesn’t really warm up until June when fly fishing float tubers and spinner casters do real well. But this is rugged rocky terrain, so think rattlesnakes when you’re hiking in or out.

FARTHER NORTH ARE several big yearround reservoirs, most notably Billy Clapp and Banks Lake, the former home to both rainbows and kokanee, the latter one of the best multi-species waters anywhere. “Our creel surveys show that Billy Clapp’s rainbows are more consistent than the kokes,” Jackson explains, “but this will vary. Some years we get pretty good kokanee reports; other years they’re almost no-shows.” It’s definitely a spot for downriggers and quality electronics. I’ve been out there when both species were suspended at 30 feet or more, depths leaded lines and banana weights aren’t likely to reach, and many of the hardcore koke guys are often going even deeper during our warm months. Still, it’s an old fishing axiom that fish in the upper water column are the serious feeders, and I’ve had days when particularly the trout were hammering offerings just below the surface. Billy Clapp is fed by Banks, and Banks has a lot in common with the Potholes, most notably its reputation as a top walleye and bass water. But thanks to the volunteers who man net pens at either end all winter, it too provides more than just decent rainbow opportunities. No, you’re not as likely to take a quick limit as you might on some of our little put-ntake waters, but generally the quality will be better, with more 15- to 17-inch ’bows, and occasionally one that tops 20 inches. Winter and early spring see a fair number of shoreline PowerBait plunkers on Banks, as well as a few trollers who are dialed in to working its points and flats, particularly towards the north end, with a variety of plugs and spoons. But get into summer and you’re more likely to find the trout suspended over deeper water, most often in the top 10 feet. 72 Northwest Sportsman

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TO THE WEST of Banks lies Jameson, a lake with two resorts, lots of fishable shoreline, and although it’s not as productive as it was back in the ’90s, it’s still a fine family fishery. “Our fingerling plants don’t grow as well, so I’ve been gathering up catchables wherever I can,” says WDFW fish biologist Travis Maitland in Wenatchee. “In September we put in 10,000, a little later 5,000 more, as well as a few hundred triploid jumbos. Last year’s opener was pretty good with some really big trout caught.” In Chelan County, Maitland says multispecies Wapato Lake near Manson has had very good trout openers in recent years, primarily for boat anglers. This lake gets a heavy annual fry plant, and despite healthy bass and perch populations, their survival is solid. Nearby Roses, a popular year-round multispecies water, has plenty of ’bows, tigers and browns, as well as spiny-rays and some big catfish. But a better spring and summer trout fishery is just to the north, the twin Antilon Lakes. “South Antilon is usually the better of the two,” Maitland notes. “It’s small but deep, popular with fly-fishers in float tubes, and has some nice shoreline access where casting spinners like Rooster Tails can give you nice browns with occasional lunkers up to 2 feet.” Still, these little lakes are always overshadowed by nearby Chelan, a great vacation spot and one of our finest kokanee fisheries in recent years. “Chelan gets a lot of natural kokanee spawning up in the Stehekin, and our surveys indicate less fry escapement last year, but that may explain the bigger kokanee we’re now seeing,” Maitland notes, “and the numbers are still very good for 14- to 18-inchers. In fact, this year they’re off to a faster start, but most guys are going real deep. This always changes as they move a little north; places like Mill Bay and Wapato Point peak in May.” THE BEAUTIFUL OKANOGAN Highlands (okanogancountry.com) isn’t just loaded with great scenery and wildlife, from mule deer and bighorn sheep to wild

DON’T OVERLOOK ROOSEVELT Lake Roosevelt’s triploid rainbows may not be the Lake Rufus Woods football type, but averaging 2 to 5 pounds, there is no question when you get hit – the rod buries and they fight like mad. And the 150-mile-long lake’s kokanee can be great too. The biggest one I’ve seen with my own eyes was a 3.67-pounder, caught here by my buddy’s daughter last April. We run four to six rods so we can have gear out for both species at once, and a lot of it will catch them all. Rainbows are generally higher in the column, so the kokanee gear is down on the downriggers. When trolling, I run a single barbless hook or hooks, and usually do not use bait on the surface gear. That way I can easily release the native redband rainbows, which have their adipose fin, unlike the triploids. Orange and red plugs are very popular, as are ProTroll Kokanee Killers, Mack’s Wedding Rings and what we call flies, though they’re not like the traditional definition. I like to put Smile Blades on my flies and run them with and without Mack’s Double D 4.4 dodgers. I also run through colors in my collection of Wedding Rings with both hard blades and Smile Blades – let the fish tell you what they want. With the two-rod endorsement, we run as many as six rods when trolling, and this year we are going to give planer boards a try to get the rigs a little more spread out. As always, pay attention to what is getting the bites – color, bait or no bait, dodger, Flashlights or just the lure. When I do run bait, I use worms or corn. Using multiple disposable plastic containers, I mojo most of the corn with scents but leave some plain. Super Dipping Sauce in Salmon, Kokanee/ Sockeye and Garlic have all done well for me on Roosevelt. Another I always use is Mike’s Kokanee. Pro-Cure Shrimp has had its days, as well as Anise. Graybill’s Guide Scent Crawfish is another that is in the rotation. –Peter Flohr

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COLUMN turkeys and eagles, making it another fine vacation spot. It’s also got lots of lakes that kick out limits of 11- to 13-inchers with a handful of larger holdovers. A really good early fishery is yearround Leader Lake, managed as a multispecies water for close to a decade now. To limit predation, primarily from bass, it’s stocked with larger rainbows. From around mid-April through May and June, it’s a particularly good spot to take the family, with free primitive camping, plenty of shoreline where the kids can nail a real variety – trout, crappies, bluegill, perch,

even a few bass – and it also has a very usable boat launch. “Most years Leader is a popular ice fishing spot for spinyrays and an occasional rainbow,” explains Ryan Fortier, WDFW fish biologist in the Okanogan. “But this year that was more limited due to our unseasonably warmer weather. This might mean even better spring and summer angling, but it’s always pretty good.” Even though Leader gets its share of anglers, no doubt the Okanogan’s most popular out-of-area destination is the town of Conconully with its twin lakes, a

well-maintained state park, several very nice resorts and in-town accommodations. “Yes, the Conconullies attract a lot of tourists who like to fish, so we stock them heavily, both with rainbows and kokanee,” Fortier adds. “Most of the catch will be in that 11- to 13-inch range, but everyone who goes there has a chance to catch a fair number. We do have bass in both lakes, but at least at this point we haven’t seen their numbers really take off, so they’re not a real problem, and a few anglers now target them.” Conconully’s kokanee are relatively

CHELAN KOKE BITE FOUND TO START EARLIER What is going on at Lake Chelan this year? It’s a beautiful February morning, 11 a.m., and 40 kokanee averaging 16 inches are already in the cooler. How does this happen, you ask? Prime time for these tasty landlocked sockeye was believed to be April and May, but kokanee are throughout the lake year-round and willing to bite if you know where to find them. They may not be in the massive schools in the lower basin during those “prime” months, but they are around. Here are the main points that have made me a kokanee killer in the winter, and how to fish Chelan this month: 1) Location: Launch at the Mill Bay ramp and head uplake past the Yacht Club until the water is 400 feet deep. The lower basin won’t have warmed up yet and spring runoff hasn’t pushed kokanee down to warmer water along with the feed. 2) Presentation: In April and May I normally start out the morning with my gear at 40 to 50 feet deep in the lower basin. As the day goes on, I drop to about 80 feet. In winter, I start between 70 and 90 feet above the Yacht Club and will drop as low as 130 feet. The reason for this is winter water temperatures and clarity. Chelan is crystal clear, which pushes the zooplankton and mysis shrimp deeper into the water column, where the water is warmer. Boat trolling speed is also a huge factor of the proper presentation. During these cold-water days I drop from 1.4 to 1.7 mph, to 1.0 to 1.2 mph. Kokanee are more sluggish and need to be finessed into striking during the winter. 74 Northwest Sportsman

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Lake Chelan kokanee anglers show off quite the mid-February haul. The ﬁshery peaks this month and next, but until this year it wasn’t generally prospected in winter. (DON TALBOT)

3) Scent: Everyone has their favorite; what I have found in the early months when kokanee are more in the feeding mode is to pair scents to more natural food sources. Super Dipping Sauce is the only scent brand on my boat, and their line for kokanee/sockeye is my top producer. We have also been testing a new krill formula with great success. I use garlic and anise later in the spring to get an aggressive kokanee bite going. I also like to run Pautzke’s Fire Corn on the hooks for bait. 4) Gear: This year we have been running Don Talbot’s MoneyMaker Liminator, which produced that aforementioned four-hour haul. It features a patent-pending Shaker Wing that has better wounded lure action compared to all other blades I use today. I’ve

been using the Liminator in purple, orange and pink; the products should be in stores soon. I still will run my standby lures, Shasta Tackle’s Wiggle Hoochie in 1.5 inches, the top producer for me last year and with its wiggle that kokanee can’t resist, sure to do well this year too. I also like Shasta Tackle’s 6-inch Sling Blade dodgers in anything UV. I will give them a slight bend to enhance the action at slower speeds. Leader length to lure should be about twice the dodger’s length for optimal lure action. I run the dodger back behind the ball about 50 feet. TICA Kokanee rods are awesome. April and May may be considered Chelan’s prime months, but there’s no reason not to come over earlier. –Sam

Baird, Slammin Salmon Guide Service

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Northwest Sportsman 75

COLUMN new, seem to be doing better all the time, and they have created quite a buzz up there, with more and more trollers switching to traditional landlocked sockeye set-ups, such as Wedding Rings and Kokanee Killers tipped with white shoe-peg or scented corn. Lower Conconully does see some spawning in its tributaries, but most of these tasty recent arrivals are hatchery produced. Palmer Lake stock is used to constantly replenish the harvests in both waters.

FOR QUIETER OPTIONS – the Conconullies on the late April opener are relatively busy – anglers who want a little more alone time and who can live with less amenities head up the Sinlahekin Road. Fish Lake is a fair-sized pond that has good shoreline spots for spincasting and bait plunking, while Blue is a selective-gear water popular with flyrodders. Like your typical put-n-take water, Fish is heavily stocked with rainbows, so it is usually good right through July. Blue, with its one-a-day limit,

appeals mainly to the catch-and-release crowd, so annual stocking isn’t as heavy and bigger ’bows are more plentiful. Both lakes provide primitive camping. Normally the Okanogan’s most famous fly water, Chopaka, a long, narrow lake nestled in a little upland valley that’s a steep climb up north of the tiny town of Loomis, isn’t really accessible until sometime in June, but again, this just isn’t a normal year. It too has primitive camping and lots of shoreline, though float tubers usually get in on the best rainbow bite. Despite its widespread reputation, this little lake’s remoteness means it is seldom crowded, though that can change if a big fly fishing club holds an outing.

STICK TO LOWLAND waters and you have three more fine trolling-plunking lakes, starting with Palmer, always a pretty good bet for decent-sized kokanee, as well as bass and perch. Its launch is steep and may require four-wheel drive for the reloading.

A few miles east lies Spectacle, another multi-species lake, this one with several good resorts, another good dad-and-kids spot if you want quick action. Then just up a paved road lies Wannacut, a very deep canyon lake that some years takes until June to really turn on, then turns out plenty of very tasty rainbows, trout that fatten up in a hurry thanks to this lake’s shrimp. Wannacut’s single resort, Sun Cove (thesuncoveresort .com), is a dandy getaway, offering everything from cabins with front decks overlooking the water to camp spots to a fine restaurant and convenience store, and by May the trollers start to really light that lake up, often limiting in a couple hours or less. Once the shrimp become visible clouds in the water, the ’bows get a little too lazy to chase trolled spinners or plugs, but the bait plunkers still do well, nailing even bigger, tastier trout. Wherever you head in Eastern Washington this month, you’re sure to find some trout willing to bite. NS

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FISHING

But, Oh What ‘A Work In Progress’ Though Sprague’s bluegill aren’t doing as well since the rehab, the scabland lake’s trout, bass, catﬁsh and bullheads are coming on strong. By Jeff Holmes

ne of Channeled Scablands’ shallowest, longest lakes is also Washington state’s most fertile. Sprague Lake, flanking I-90 under an hour’s drive southwest of Spokane, has long been the region’s most prolific fishery for a diversity of warmwater species – and ultrafastgrowing trout. This April and throughout 2015 the lake should be in fine form. After a rehabilitation several years ago in an attempt to rid it of invasive tench, carp, grass pickerel, and overpopulated small walleye, 18-foot-deep Sprague is rebounding nicely and is again one of the state’s best bets. All of April will fish great for trout, including Opening Day weekend. There is no opening day at year-round Sprague, but with two resorts, a state launch and access, a pay-to-play private access and several miles of fishy water, there’s tons of opportunity to escape the big day’s big crowds here.

SPRAGUE’S MANAGED AS a

quality warmwater ﬁshery with emphasis on largemouth bass and bluegill, but it is trout that had 30 to 50 boats dotting its 1,800 surface acres on select nice days in February. Establishing warmwater ﬁsheries is

Sprague Lake’s fertility can make for some beautiful, fat rainbows, and though most aren’t this big, with last year’s release of 369,000 steelhead smolts now beginning to reach the 15-inch mark, we could be entering “the Golden Age” of trout ﬁshing at the large lake near Spokane. (ANGLERINNOVATIONS.COM)

APRIL 2015

Northwest Sportsman

FISHING difficult after rotenone treatments, so the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife continues to provide trout fishing opportunities at the popular lake as warmwater populations reestablish themselves. Along with traditional plants over the last several years of hatchery rainbows and triploids and even some Lahontan cutthroat trout, 369,000 winter steelhead smolts were also added to the lake in 2014. Heartbreakingly for Westside steelheaders, the Wild Fish Conservancy’s successful, tactical lawsuit made the smolts ineligible for release into Puget Sound streams, where they belong. Rather than kill the smolts since the lawsuit made their release in Western Washington difficult, if not impossible – even in lakes – WDFW trucked them to the state’s most fertile lake with no outlet to the sea. The good news is that those smolts are already taping 15 inches and should provide fantastic

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fishing for the next 18 months. Panfish are coming along a little more slowly than WDFW biologists and anglers would like, but exceptional largemouth bass fishing is already occurring at the lake. If the unseasonably warm start to 2015 continues, late April could offer excellent opportunities to target large, prespawn female bass moving up shallow to take advantage of solar-heated water near their late-May spawning areas. Bass will become much easier to catch as the water warms in May, easier yet in June. Bass grow slowly in the Northwest, relative to more southerly bass factories, but Sprague’s vast communities of extralarge aquatic invertebrates, crayfish and fish contribute to fast growth. The success of Sprague’s bass fishery could be partly to blame for the slower recovery of panfish. WDFW biologists have sampled

WDFW has posted a couple Sprague Lake howto videos to its YouTube account, one of which features Inland Fish Program manager Chris Donley (top). (WDFW)

bluegill to 9 inches and have no data available since 2012, but they suspect there are larger specimens present. They remain frustrated that densities

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of bluegill and crappie aren’t greater and cite both largemouth and grass pickerel as major limiting factors. WDFW stocked largemouth and expected predation on panfish by bass. They didn’t count on high water sending a large intrusion of grass pickerel down Negro Creek into the lake after rehabilitation. Grass pickerel look like tiny pike or tiger musky and can be found in several Eastern Washington lakes. They’re invasive and highly predatory on small fish, including panfish. WDFW Inland Lakes Program manager Chris Donley grew up just miles from Sprague and has played an integral role in its management for decades. Donley takes special interest in the management of the lake. He understands better than most just how special the lake is in terms of its ability to grow fish. In years past, giant bluegill averaging a pound or larger were available in good numbers, as were large crappie. He thinks grass pickerel are likely having the largest inhibiting effect on seeing greater numbers of panfish. Biologists don’t know exactly how many grass pickerel washed into Sprague, but Donley believes they now number in the tens of thousands. Grass pickerel are also present in other good panfish lakes and have been for years, places such as Eloika and Downs, two Spokane-area favorites. Panfish are not what he’d hoped, but he’s enthusiastic about what’s going well at Sprague. “Emerging lately and likely only to get better is bullhead and channel catfishing,” says Donley. “We are seeing channel cats over 5 pounds, and are stocking channel cats in the lake in numbers adequate to provide a low density trophy opportunity as time goes on. There are lots of big brown bullheads back in the lake already, including fish that could push the state record in the near future. As time progresses, anglers will see us phase out of trout and move to relying on the warmwater

ﬁsh to provide the ﬁshery. We will never completely quit stocking trout, but will probably reduce the program down to 25,000 to 50,000 a year.”

WITH 369,000 EXTRA trout in the lake, now is likely the Golden Age of trout fishing at Sprague, which holds some very large trout, along with the sad bonus of smolts. Those young steelhead could have returned to Western Washington streams as 4to 14-pound adults with attitudes, were it not for WFC’s predatory attack on WDFW’s Hatchery and Genetic Management Plans. Staff have been working tirelessly to correct the errors that led to the temporary loss of hatchery steelhead opportunity in popular Puget Sound rivers. In the meantime, Eastside trout anglers have unprecedented numbers of good-sized trout to add to the already excellent trout fishing at the lake. If you want to put kids on trout, the lake should be a great bet until summer’s heat drives water temperatures too high for reliable trout fishing. Donley’s tutorial for catching trout on Sprague (“Basic Techniques for Trout Fishing in Washington,” youtube.com/ thewdfw) is a must-watch for anglers looking to dial in basic techniques that catch lots of fish. The website also offers a largemouth tutorial that’s also filmed on Sprague. “If you ask me if I think the Sprague rehabilitation has been a total success, I’d have to say no,” says Donley. “As you and I both know, the lake is capable of producing high densities of very large panfish, and we’re just not seeing that yet. Still, I remain very hopeful for panfish at Sprague, and I’m very happy we’re providing much more recreational opportunity than we were previous to the rehab. We’re seeing much higher angler participation, and there is still great potential in this fishery as the fish community evolves. Stay tuned on the subject of Sprague; it is a work in progress.” NS

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COLUMN Brian Wildish of Tualatin shows off a big German brown caught out of Paulina Lake two springs ago. He reports it went 10 pounds, 28½ inches long and 16½ inches around. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

Try These 6 For Size! W

h e t h e r y o u ’ r e looking for quality or quantity, Central Oregon features many great trout fisheries, but this CENTRAL OREGEON month we’re going to BY Scott Statts profile six of the better still waters for that catch of a lifetime.

PAULINA LAKE IS known for its trophy brown trout. The state record came out of this water up in the Newberry Caldera, a whopper that weighed 28 pounds, 5 ounces, and measured 37½ inches long. The fish broke the old record by about 9 ounces. It was caught on a 7-inch AC Plug in a rainbow pattern after trolling for about three hours. By comparison, last year’s biggest brown was 15 pounds.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife recently introduced triploid rainbows, which can grow quite large. The biggest caught last year was 6 pounds, and the biggest one to come out of the lake weighed around 18 pounds. Paulina’s bottom drops off quickly only a few feet from the bank, with a shallow ledge near shore around most of the lake. Some large browns can be seen prowling these ledges, so make sure you have a spinning rod handy for quick casting. When a brown does hit while trolling, there’s no need to set the hook; the fish will do that on its own. The important thing is to keep the line tight. You also don’t want to bring the fish in too fast; it needs to be tired when it gets to the boat or it could break the line. For more, contact Paulina Lake Lodge (541-536-2240).

EAST LAKE MAY not be as popular as its cratermate, Paulina, but it boasts some fantastic fishing. Rainbows are caught fly fishing, as well as still-fishing, with either PowerBait or worms. A few smaller browns are caught that way too, but the bigger ones fall to those trolling large, Rapala-type minnow lure. The current lake record for brown trout is a 22½-pounder taken in 1981. During egg collection in 1952, a 30-pounder was caught and released. That past August, a woman caught a brown that measured 25 inches, but didn’t get a weight. Rainbows range from 15 to 18 inches. If you’re after browns, you’ll want to fish in the morning or evening because the fish move into the shallows to feed. East features healthy populations of rainbow and brown trout, as well as kokanee and Atlantic salmon. Catch all

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COLUMN (541-383-3939).

Lake Billy Chinook is a great spring bet for big bull trout. Guide John Garrison displays a 25-incher from the Deschutes River reservoir. (SCOTT STAATS)

four species and you’ve hit the East Lake Grand Slam. For more, contact East Lake Resort (541536-2230).

WICKIUP RESERVOIR’S DAVIS and Deschutes Arms, as well as the mainlake, are where to troll early and late in the day with lures such as Rapalas for big browns. Trout will also hit lures, worms, PowerBait, as well as dragonfly nymphs and a variety of other flies. Kokanee can be seen jumping almost everywhere in the Deschutes Arm, and sometimes you can see large browns jump right out of the water while chasing the landlocked sockeye. When a big brown jumps, try casting into the ring it leaves with just about anything and you’ll have a good chance of getting a hit. In the last few years, Twin Lakes Resort has reported some large trout coming from Wickiup, including a brown trout caught from shore that weighed in at 25 pounds, a few pounds short of the state record. According to ODFW, Wickiup has natural production for both kokanee and redband rainbows. The state has been stocking about 6,000 brown fingerlings each year. For more, call Twin Lakes Resort (541382-6432).

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CULTUS LAKE, TUCKED up in the Cascades

averaging about 16 inches. According to Brett Hodgson, regional fish biologist with ODFW in Bend, there are several reasons that fishing has picked up in the last few years. The agency has started releasing bigger fish (eight to the pound, compared with past releases of 25 to 33 to the pound). ODFW isn’t putting in as many fish, but they are going in at a bigger size. The fish now have less competition with the stickleback minnows for zooplankton and are less vulnerable to being eaten by the bass in the reservoir. They have also developed a Crane Prairie broodstock called Cranebows, which may be better adapted to conditions in the reservoir than the older Oak Springs rainbow trout stock. Hodgson says that early indications are that this stock is performing well, but in the last few years ODFW has observed the fish to be leaving the reservoir and spawning in the upper Deschutes River. They would rather not see these hatchery fish potentially spawning with wild ones. Anglers have more luck at Crane Prairie when there’s cloud cover or wind. The reservoir averages 10 to 12 feet deep and fish can be spooky in the clear water. Also, the wind can make the bait bounce up and down, attracting the fish. Many anglers use dragonfly nymphs under a bobber. For more, call Crane Prairie Resort

about 2 miles northwest of Crane Prairie, is known for its trophy lake trout. The lake is just over 200 feet deep and the lake trout can be down almost that far, but this time of year the best bet is to troll close to the shoreline in 40 to 80 feet of water. Early in the season, the big Macks can also be found in shallows feeding on smaller fish. Whitefish are the predominant prey source for lake trout. Typical lures include Rapalas, Rebels and big FlatFish – anything minnow-like and silvery that flashes. Most lake trout are caught in the “Mack zone.” This area contains some of the deepest water in the lake and runs from the mouth of the big bay on the north shore to the cabins just east of the lodge. There is also a deep trough running down the center of the lake from east to west where anglers have luck. Some anglers use flasher systems trailing worms or PowerBait, while others use downrigger systems trolling Rapalas or FlatFish between 100 and 200 feet. But again, this time of year, the fish are in a bit shallower water and can even be caught just offshore. For more, call Cultus Lake Resort (541408-1560).

AND FINALLY, APRIL is my favorite month to fish for bull trout at Lake Billy Chinook in the Metolius Arm. Sometimes it takes a while to locate the fish, so you have to be patient. A fishfinder can help; the bulls will usually be found alone or with only one or two other fish. The best bite is from about 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. If trolling, your best bet is to use baitcasting reels with 12-pound test. For casting, try spincasting reels with 10-pound test. Lures such as Rapalas usually do the trick. While most head to Billy Chinook in hopes of trophy bulls up to 20 pounds, others enjoy the kokanee fishing and the spectacular scenery. And really, you can’t go wrong with the scenery at any of these six lakes this time of year – just don’t take your eyes off the rods for too long lest the big one bite! NS

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8 Great Lakes For North Sound Trouters

pring’s annual trout setto is just around the corner, By Doug Huddle and Northwest Washington’s “big eight” lakes are among the best producers from the first cast. And not only are the catches good these days, the April opener’s experience as a whole has changed. What once was a maddash by hordes of trout anglers bent on getting to the “last” rainbow has turned into a more gentle, well-mannered and evenly paced day. It used to be on every lake that the high angler count was always the first or 7 a.m. tally on opening day. The rush was at daylight and boat ramp backups extended to about 8 a.m., when fishers began departing in droves. Among emerging trends seen on opening day now on many lakes, including Lake Padden just outside Bellingham, is for the high participant count to come somewhat later in the morning. Fishers with some savvy as well as skill have found that hatchery-stocked lakes aren’t in fact fished out by 9 a.m., so you can sleep in, have a full sit-down breakfast and still take home a limit by noon for dinner. Anglers also know that, though the survivor trout adapt quickly to their new homes, they can still be lured into creels well into May and even June, before swimmers, warm water, bass and algae blooms and other distractions combine to drive them deep. Until that happens, trolling lures near the surface or plunking bait in nearshore

NORTH SOUND

COLUMN

The late April opener’s a “good way to get the kids started young,” says Nick Petrovich, whose little princess, Tally, nailed her limit at Lake Padden in Bellingham on last year’s inaugural day of trout season. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

shallows are equally effective. Another apparent change in behavior that may not be so new, but is just being better documented, is the tendency toward catch and release of trout. Rainbow fishermen, especially when triploid or other possible lunkers were present, may always have been highgraders. But it does seem that more and more everyday trout anglers are leaning

that direction, so much so that the old primary indicator of success – how many fish they took home – is not a good bellwether of fishing quality. Nowadays, along with the kept-fishper-angler average and other composites, you’ll see the combined kept-andreleased-trout-per-rod figure that lakes yield on the opener. In virtually all cases, the combined catch

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COLUMN Boat and bank anglers vie for a place to ﬁsh on popular Silver Lake, east of Bellingham, on a past opening day of ﬁshing season. (AARON HOSTETLER/WHATCOM COUNTY PARKS & RECREATION)

rate is a fish or two higher than the take home number.

WHERE TO GO OPENING DAY Thinking about where to go for firstday rainbows? Maybe you’re looking for a change of scenery, or perhaps more and bigger trout? Eight amply stocked Whatcom (W) and Skagit (S) County lakes always rank at or near the top of the list of spring opener trout producers. The line-up looks like this (based on last year’s opening day catch rates):

Cain Lake (W)

One of Whatcom’s rural “get-away” lakes lined with private “second” home backyards, 72-acre Cain has an intimate feel and an improving reputation for opening day action. It could be the newer generations of trout or perhaps more conscientious fishers, but in recent years it has moved up on this area’s angler scoring roster. Cain normally gets about 6,000 hatchery rainbows, and they do predominate in the catch. Naturally spawning kokanee have been seen in recent years in the outlet and may have adapted to the lake, but so far none have been reported on the end of troller lines. As its waters get warmer, Cain’s population of smallish largemouth bass and companion perch will start biting. Boat launching and use rules: The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife manages the only public access, a graveled ramp accommodating up to small, trailered boats. A Whatcom County ordinance bans

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gas motors and mandates no wake. Getting there: Heading east from Bellingham, drive out Lake Whatcom Boulevard through Sudden Valley, or drive south on Interstate 5 to Alger, then east on Cain Lake Road until it curves back into Whatcom County. Near Cain’s southeast end, turn left on Camp 2 Road and drive about .2 mile to the access at outlet. Parking off the road is limited. Note that Glenhaven Estates does not have public access.

Lake Padden (W)

Without question, this 152-acre lake in Bellingham’s southerly suburbs is a boatless angler’s best bet for trout. Few lakes anywhere have 100 percent of their shorelines essentially available for public trout fishing. And because of its popularity, Padden is the most heavily stocked of Whatcom waters, so it seldom disappoints for opening day and later hook-and-line visitors. Park lands managed by the City of Bellingham surround Padden, and while groundskeepers frown on cutting down lakeshore trees and bushes, there already are hundreds of openings with backswing room at water’s edge. Two floating docks at the east and west sides offer that “over the trout” feeling, and a paved revetment enables disabled fishers to get a front-row seat in the action on the lake’s northwest side. In case you don’t have wheels, Padden is on a Whatcom Transit bus line. Even if you are only a halfway serious angler, it’s still hard to leave Padden with an empty creel. Almost any terminal tackle

will work, from an egg or PowerBait floated off the bottom with marshmallows, to trolling with any of a broad variety of spoons and blades. Hatchery rainbows with an occasional cutthroat trout will be the norm at Padden. Boat launching and use rules: Bellingham Parks maintains a single concrete puncheon ramp with good draft and a staging pier that’s suitable for short trailered, cartoppers and carry-ins. City ordinance bans gas motors and their use. Getting there: Drive out Samish Way from I-5 2 miles. Parking lots are at the golf course (east) side of the park or opposite the tennis courts (northwest side).

Silver Lake (W)

It’s not often that a premier trouting spot has two such appealing ways for anglers to get on the water, but this north Whatcom County lake, with its pleasant foothills setting, is easy to access. At the 173-acre lake’s south end is a fine, full-service Whatcom County park, while at the other end up near the Canadian border is the state’s convenient launch ramp and parking. Besides boat rentals and a walking bridge from which kids can fish, the county park’s opening day celebration has other one-stop fishing experience options, including an early-morning fishing contest, the Rotary Club’s pancake breakfast and fishing supplies for sale for the unprepared. On Saturday morning the sun is always late to peer over looming Black Mountain to warm anglers, but fishing often is better

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COLUMN before rays pierce the water. The biggest of Whatcom’s hatchery-stocked waters, Silver’s expanses are usually boat-bound at daylight, so would-be trollers are wise to come prepared to plunk until some in the trouting fleet make for the exits. Hatchery rainbows make up the bulk of the opening catch, with a few cutthroat trout, bass, sunfish and maybe a brookie or two rounding out the creel. Boat launching and use rules: WDFW’s shallow-draft north-end ramp accommodates small, trailered boats. At the south end, Silver Lake County Park access area is small-trailer capable too. Motors are OK, all hours, under county ordinances, but they mandate the whole lake is an idle, no-wake zone from opening day to May 20 for anglers. Getting there: On Mount Baker Highway, drive east to Maple Falls, then north about 4 miles on Silver Lake Road. The county park access is at the lake’s south end, and the WDFW access is off a side road at the north end.

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Lake Sixteen (S)

The smallest of Skagit County’s big four hatchery lakes, 41-acre Sixteen earned the number four ranking for yielding a good crop of imported rainbows on last season’s start. Anglers paying attention will notice a few wild cutthroat turning up in their creels; usually that’s a result of trolling up into the weeds along the shoreline. Unfortunately, parking is limited at Sixteen, but under no circumstances should you park on the county road. Boat launching and use rules: WDFW owns a graveled ramp that handles up to small, trailered craft. Skagit County ordinance bans gas-powered motors and sets the lake speed limit at 5 mph. Getting there: Drive east from I-5 at Conway on State Route 534, turning left on Lake Sixteen Road and watching for the public fishing signs. Parking space fills quickly here, but again, do not leave vehicles on the county road.

Toad Lake (W)

Its reputation among locals as a quality fishing spot far exceeds its 29-acre physical size because Toad almost always spoils both its still- and troll-fishing faithful. Like Cain Lake, it has an out-of-the-way feel: Toad is tucked in a foothills notch northeast of Bellingham, and its fans hope that it continues to remain out of the minds of the angling mainstream. One of the lake’s sneaky-good habits is its ability to produce an occasionally spectacular carryover. One year it was a 4-pound kokanee; more recently a bank angler landed a 6-pound rainbow. Toad’s confines can easily entertain 50 to 80 trolling boats, while a scarce commodity can be found by shore-bound fishers here too: public dock space. A cautionary word about public access from the private Emerald Lake Estates development on the southwest shore down Pebble Beach Road: There is none. Trespassers are on notice they will be

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COLUMN cited by the county sheriff. Toad’s main yield is, of course, hatchery rainbows from its annual infusion of 6,000 fish, accompanied by those aforementioned occasional carryover trout and a few kokanee. Boat launching and use rules: WDFW owns and manages a seasonally opened gravel ramp suitable for cartoppers and small, trailered craft. There is limited maneuvering room here. County ordinance bans gas motors and wakes. Getting there: Drive up from Academy Street off North Shore Drive to Toad Lake Road, passing the Bonneville powerlines, and then into Toad’s only public access. The parking area fills quickly, and latecomer vehicles spill over well up the narrow gravel entry road.

Lake Erie (S)

In its history, 111-acre Lake Erie has served up some beautiful grown-inlake rainbow trout, remarkably a few to 9 pounds.

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Though it’s surprisingly shallow, the nutrient-rich Fidalgo Island water located south of Anacortes often grew these trout from fingerling size. However, starting several decades back, wintering cormorants, as well as competition from an illegally introduced perch population, compromised this less-expensive lunkerproducing strategy. Last spring, anglers had to work harder for fish, but were rewarded with some nice rainbows up to 18 inches. The advice here is to arrive early, and with the rest of the armada, plan to stillfish for a while until there’s space to troll. Lake Erie Resort operates at the lake’s southeast shore, providing fishing tackle, ice and fee access to launch, but alas, they don’t have boats anymore. The catch will be rainbow trout and competitive perch. Boat launching and use rules: WDFW owns the graveled ramp with shallow draft that accommodates small, trailered boats. Maneuvering room is limited on the

access. There are no county ordinances. Getting there: From I-5 at Burlington, drive west on State Route 20 through Sharps Corner toward Whidbey Island. Take Lake Campbell Road west from Highway 20 about 2 miles. There’s limited off-road parking, with much spill-over onto the adjacent county road, but park carefully or you could get a ticket.

Heart Lake (S)

By count, 61-acre Heart, also on Fidalgo Island, often sees just as many anglers in boats as its neighbor Erie to the south. Surrounded by the City of Anacortes’ forest lands, Heart has a fair amount of shoreline fishing space at the ramp and along the namesake road running along its eastern shore. Those bank-borne fishers do almost as well as those in stationary boats, since the opening day crowds can all but rule out trolling. On last spring’s opener, anglers reported releasing as many trout as they

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COLUMN kept, perhaps high-grading for the 18inch rainbows in the population. Though shallow, Heart yields a main catch of rainbows, but don’t be surprised if a few tiny bluegill nibble baits. Their illegal introduction prompted the ending of young rainbow fry plants. Boat launching and use rules: Anacortes’ parks department maintains the concrete puncheon ramp with shallow dropoff that accommodates small, trailered craft. City ordinances set the speed limit at 5 mph, and no boat wakes can be produced. Getting there: From Lake Erie, drive north on Heart Lake Road or drive south on Heart Lake Road from 11th Avenue in Anacortes. There is some off-road parking, but the crowd always spills over onto county road.

Lake McMurray (S)

Size-wise the biggest of the hatchery-rainbow stocked lakes in Skagit County, 160-acre McMurray

had some of the hardest fishing on last year’s opener. A far-ranging and large crowd of anglers, including some from King and Snohomish Counties to the south, now attend McMurray’s opener, but trolling’s possible in its deeper middle section. Boat-borne hook and liners can anchor at either end and still-fish to their heart’s content. The salmonid catch is going to consist of rainbow trout, but a smattering of native cutthroat and maybe a landlocked salmon or two, depending on how deep one trolls. On the warmwater side of the ledger, anglers will boat perch, black crappie and largemouth bass later in the spring. There are several expansive but private group access areas along the lake shore, if you are willing to join a fraternal or community club. Boat launching and use rules: WDFW owns a graveled ramp wide enough

to launch two or three small, trailered boats side by side, depending on how cooperative and even-tempered their owners are. This access does get crowded. Skagit County ordinance sets the boat speed limit at 5 mph. Getting there: From Conway, take State Route 534 east about 5 miles and down along the lake’s south end. The public access is on the lake’s south end on Lake McMurray Lane. Parking spills over onto the narrow access road almost out to the highway.

NEXT ISSUE: Opening day follow-up; May turkey options; and lower Skagit River cutthroat trout and more lakes. NS Editor’s note: Doug Huddle lives in Bellingham, is retired from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and has written about hunting and fishing in the Northwest for more than 30 years.

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FISHING

Hit The Fly-way

From the insect- and marine-nutrient-rich waters of the Deschutes and Skagit to the fabled creeks of North Idaho to the streams coursing off the crown of the continent, the Northwest’s ﬂowing waters offer great ﬁshing for large westslope cutthroat, such as this one held by the author, as well as rainbows, browns, bull trout and more. (ZAC HOLMES)

Pack those patterns, gas up the rig, here are seven of the Northwest’s best river trout ﬁsheries to hit through summer. By Zac Holmes

grew up catching trout on corn, Krocodiles, Cow Bells, and most every contraption and concoction known to modern anglers. And while I still love chucking a lure 50 yards into a lake, or sitting on a bucket and fishing ’crawlers, I mostly fly fish for

FLY BY

MONTH

PART I

trout these days. I grew up in the Spokane area, but now live and guide ﬁshing trips in Cody, Wyo. Between the Northwest and the Northern Rockies lie some great angling opportunities. I have a bad case of wanderlust, and love traveling. The only problem is, where and when? To help prioritize, I’ve made a “dream list” of the trout streams that I’d like to ﬁsh this year. This month’s issue features six rivers to visit during the spring and summer. Next month’s issue will have more of an emphasis

on stillwaters. There’s been an unusually lean snowpack and precipitation pattern so far in 2015. If these trends continue, it’s possible that many rivers will run lower than normal. Consult local sources to determine if prime conditions will occur earlier this season, and adjust your trip accordingly.

APRIL: SPRING SKWALAS ON MONTANA’S ROCK CREEK Rock Creek is one of the most famous trout streams in the country, and with good reason. Located near Missoula, the creek has abundant access, great scenery, lots of ﬁsh, and enough big

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FISHING trout to keep things interesting. It offers a pleasant diversity of species, including rainbows, cutthroat, cuttbows, browns, bulls, brookies and whitefish. The flow is swift and more closely resembles a river than a creek. A rough dirt road parallels the stream along much of its course, and provides exceptional access to the mainstem and its tributaries. April is one of the productive months of the year on Rock. The water is in good shape, and the fish are active. There are other annual “events” on the creek, including the salmonfly hatch in June and the brown trout spawn in October, but I believe that this month offers the most action, and many fewer anglers. Rock fishes well from its confluence with the Clark Fork River, all the way to its headwaters near Philipsburg, but provides different opportunities in each section. Lower Rock features a large population of hard-to-catch browns and a smattering of other trout, but also includes a number of fish that travel in and out of the Clark Fork (known as the Pend Oreille River in Washington) to spawn in the creek. These spawners are predominately large rainbows and browns. The canyon and upper reaches are solid producers of 10- to 15-inch trout, with decent numbers over 18 inches. Depending upon the time of year, nearly any part of the creek could have a few monster brown or bull trout from 20 to 28 inches. Spring is skwala stonefly time in Western Montana. Missoula-area rivers, such as the Bitterroot and Clark Fork, are renowned for their spring stones, and Rock Creek too hosts these large green bugs. Winters are long and dark in the canyon, and the trout respond enthusiastically to skwala patterns. Matt Potter, co-owner of the Kingfisher Fly Shop (kingfisherflyshop.com) in Missoula, recommends size 10 and 12 bullethead-style dry flies, and size 8 to 12 nymphs, such as Prince Nymphs and Pat’s Rubberlegs. Fishing nymph 102 Northwest Sportsman

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Fly fishing in the Northwest is not the sole province of anglers who can afford Sage rods and have a degree entomology (that’s a bug, er, a salmonfly on the line). Many fishermen switch between styles according to the waters they’re on at the moment.(LARIMEROUTFITTERS.COM)

patterns in the obvious water will produce ﬁsh all day. Other patterns include Copper Johns, Pheasant Tails, San Juan Worms, and small eggs.

MAY: REDSIDE RAINBOWS ON OREGON’S DESCHUTES The lower Deschutes River is one of the Northwest’s premier coldwater fisheries. Flowing from the bottom of Pelton Dam and Lake Billy Chinook, the river runs through a scenic, high desert canyon. Basalt cliffs loom overhead, and provide a dramatic backdrop for the many anglers who enjoy the river. The steelhead fishery is legendary, and deserves its own article, but the month of May is all about catching native redside rainbows on dry flies. The fish average from 12 to 15 inches, but can run much larger. Deschutes redsides are a unique inland subspecies of rainbows. They exhibit a more pronounced red stripe down the lateral line, have huge eyes, and are abnormally strong. Tom Larimer of Larimer Outfitters (larimeroutfitters.com) out of Hood River believes this results from the combination of fighting powerful rivers and steelhead characteristics in their gene pool. May is an ideal

month to pursue Deschutes redsides. They are coming off the spawn, and feeding heavily on the biggest and best insect hatches of the year. Salmonflies, golden stones and some of the biggest green drakes in the West show up in mid-late May, and the fish lose their minds over them. Larimer’s had fantastic days on these hatches, but adds that anglers should be flexible. Many fishermen visit for these hatches, but the trout sometimes ignore the “big three” and are more interested in PMDs, caddis, or another less obvious emergence. Local knowledge and experience is invaluable, and many a fisherman has been humbled by the Deschutes. Presentation is vital: Larimer recommends short, accurate casts and fluorocarbon tippets. There are plenty of good wading opportunities, but anglers can cover far more water by floating. Fishing from a boat is not allowed, but anglers can wade-fish freely. The lower Deschutes is a big, brawling river, so consider wearing studs, using a wading staff, and being very cautious. Novice oarsmen and floaters unfamiliar with the Deschutes should also take the water very seriously. There are a number of class 3 and

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FISHING 4 rapids, and it’s worth hiring a guide. Larimer Outﬁtters is a great operation, and a day with Tom or one of his guides is more than the average guided experience. They know the river intimately, and can help make you a better angler.

JUNE: NATIVE CUTTHROAT ON IDAHO’S NORTH FORK COEUR D’ ALENE The North Fork is an idyllic mountain river, twisting through a verdant oldgrowth forest, and inhabited by native westslope cutthroat trout. Cutthroat are known to be gullible at times, and these ﬁsh follow suit. North Fork westslopes will rise steadily and reliably to dry ﬂies throughout June. For much of the 1900s, the North Fork’s trout population was depressed, due to overharvest, erosion and competition with stocked trout. Numbers have increased noticeably in the 2000s, thanks to several decades of catch-and-release rules, coupled

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with improved land-use practices, and better enforcement. Fish size has increased in recent years, as well. According to Sean Visintainer, owner of the Silver Bow Fly Shop (silverbowflyshop.com) in Spokane Valley, June is the best time to fish the North Fork. Early in the month, the river is full, but clear and dropping. Fish are spread throughout the river system, and are holding in the soft margins of the main current. Wading can be difficult with these flows, so early June is a great time to float the river and work the banks with streamers. Dry flies fished in the soft water will also produce. Early June hatches include salmonflies, golden stoneflies, and green drake mayflies. As June continues, the North Fork compresses and the fish shift toward midriver habitats. The middle and upper stretches lose volume and become ideal for walk/ wading. June offers prolific insect

emergences, including stoneflies, caddis and assorted mayflies. The trout eagerly rise to all of these bugs, but Visintainer believes it’s the green drake and PMD mayflies that garner the most attention from the fish. He prefers extended body imitations for the green drakes, and sparkle duns and cripples to imitate the PMDs. Basic attractors, such as Purple Haze, Royal Wulff, Humpy and Chernobyls in assorted colors will take plenty of fish too. If you are traveling near Spokane, be sure to swing by Silver Bow, located off of the Evergreen Exit (291A) on I-90. Visintainer and his staff are experts on the North Fork, are forthcoming with advice, and have the most up-to-date information.

JULY: MORE NATIVE CUTTS ON IDAHO’S ST. JOE The famed St. Joe River and the North Fork share many similarities. Both

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FISHING abundance of unimproved riverside campsites. Quite often, these camps are located beside a prominent ďŹ shing hole or run. While itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tempting to spend hours ďŹ&#x201A;ogging away at these holes, it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take long for the trout to become educated. Anglers who stray from the beaten path and bushwhack even a little will ďŹ nd less pressured and more cooperative ďŹ sh. Sean Visintainer likes ďŹ shing grasshopper patterns in the latter part of the month. By midto late July, the hatches have diminished, and the trout are looking for terrestrial insects, such as grasshoppers, ants, beetles and spruce moths. Cutthroat are often easy to catch, but can be ďŹ nicky at times. Fish may key into certain hatches, or certain phases of a hatch, so anglers should stock up on a variety of sizes and patterns before heading up. Again, for more, stop by Silver Bow.

drain into Lake Coeur dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Alene from neighboring watersheds, both have plenty of native westslope cutthroat that love to rise to dry ďŹ&#x201A;ies, both have the same complement of hatches, and both have beneďŹ ted from tighter restrictions and the discontinuation of stocking non-native hatchery rainbow trout. The Joe and North Fork also feature many miles of road access, and are picturesque, blue ribbon trout streams that regularly give up chunky 12- to 18-inch cutts on dries. The two rivers also share some key differences. The St. Joe, unlike the North Fork, boasts 66 miles of river that are designated as wild and scenic. It boasts higher ďŹ sh counts than the Coeur dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Alene, and a small but resilient population of bull trout as well. Lastly, the St. Joe watershed is higher and receives more snow than the North Fork basin, so typically it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t drop until a full month later. Yet another similarity is the

AUGUST: CODY, WYO., AREA RIVERS Sure, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a little biased because I live and guide here, but I think that the ďŹ shing in Northwest Wyoming is some of the best around. There are many good times to ďŹ sh the area, but August is perhaps the best. The rivers are in great shape, and anglers can use the biggest, dumbest grasshopper patterns in their ďŹ&#x201A;y boxes. Cody is located near the east entrance to Yellowstone, and receives considerably less ďŹ shing pressure than the other sides of the park, due to its relative isolation. The mountains here exceed 12,000 feet, and release their snowpack later than many in the Northwest. This makes East Yellowstone a great destination when other areas experience August doldrums, or are put under â&#x20AC;&#x153;hoot owlâ&#x20AC;? restrictions, due to high-water temperatures and low ďŹ&#x201A;ows. Based upon current snowpack numbers, 2015 will likely provide better water

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FISHING Big golden trout like this are rare, but can be found in the mountains around Cody. (ZAC HOLMES)

conditions here than many other areas. The trout grow large in Cody-area waters, and on rivers such as the North Fork of the Shoshone and the Bighorn, the fish average 16 inches. Wyoming’s stretch of the Bighorn is not as well known as Montana’s, but hosts silly numbers of 2- to 5-pound rainbows, browns and cutthroats. The North Fork runs along the highway between Cody and Yellowstone, and offers abundant public lands and big, lake-run rainbows and Yellowstone cutthroat. Also, the lower Shoshone flows right through Cody, and offers a blue ribbon fishery for browns, cutthroat and rainbows. The area’s only drawback is that violent thunderstorms can temporarily muddy the rivers. Although this can be frustrating for those intent on fishing the lower stretches of local streams, there are also hundreds of highly accessible alpine creeks and lakes in the area that don’t blow out. The oldest shop in Cody is North 108 Northwest Sportsman

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Fork Anglers (northforkanglers. com). Owner Tim Wade and his staff can get you lined out on local waters. Again, I am probably biased here, but hiring a guide for a day or two is a great way to learn the water, and ﬁgure out what patterns and techniques to utilize.

SEPTEMBER: BULL TROUT ON WASHINGTON’S SKAGIT RIVER The Skagit Basin is well known for its large salmon and steelhead runs, but this massive watershed also plays host to a unique and underexploited trout fishery. The Skagit River is the Puget Sound’s largest stream, and has the full complement of Pacific salmon and steelhead, as well as great bull and rainbow trout fishing. Above the town of Marblemount, the river is managed under catchand-release regulations, with selective-gear restrictions. The upper Skagit and its tributaries provide pristine habitat and ample feed. Bull trout inhabit the river in

good numbers, as do Dolly Varden (a separate species) and native rainbows. The upper Skagit is a food factory. Fish grow large on salmon eggs and carcasses, juvenile salmonids, whitefish, sculpins and aquatic insects. Resident bulls commonly reach 25 inches, and some big, ocean-going fish can go well over 10 pounds. The native rainbows run over 20 inches too. With such big, powerful fish, anglers should utilize stout rods and tackle. These fish are not leader shy, and anglers should use 8- to 15-pound test, or 3X to 0X tippet. Bull trout are known for their aggressiveness, and will eagerly take big flies imitating the river’s food sources. Large streamers tied in white and flesh are important patterns, as are various bead set-ups, and egg imitations. Floating lines fished with lots of weight will catch trout, but anglers should also use sink tip lines, in order to get down and cover more water. Look for bulls in obvious holding water, and below pods of spawning salmon. Overall, bull trout and their close relative in the char family, Dolly Varden, have not fared well over the last 100 years. Water-quality issues, habitat loss and competition with non-native salmonids have impacted bull trout populations, and they have been eliminated or greatly reduced throughout much of their historic range. Some Northwest rivers, such as the Skagit, though, have maintained healthy populations and allow for catchand-release fishing opportunities. Please respect the regulations put in place to conserve this resource. Pinch your barbs. From the marine- and insectnutrient-rich waters of the Skagit and Deschutes to the fabled creeks of North Idaho to the streams coursing off the crown of the continent, there are stellar trout waters just a bit off the highway waiting for you. NS

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COLUMN Stumptown anglers have a lot of choices for local catﬁsh. This leviathan was caught at the St Louis Ponds. (RICK SWART, ODFW)

The Esteemed Mr. Whiskers Of Portland Part I of II

atfish are the Rodney Danger field of Stumptown’s fishing scene: they never get any respect. Salmon, steelhead, STUMPTOWN sturgeon and other By Terry Otto species get all the glamour, all the press, all the covers, but catfish are a worthy target themselves. They grow big, they fight hard, bite easily, and their fillets are light and tasty. And while they

get little respect from some, they are getting attention from an increasing number of anglers in Portland and Vancouver who have figured out how much fun Mr. Whiskers can be. In fact, there are so many good local spots that I couldn’t fit them all in one article. So, this issue we’ll look at Portland-area catfisheries, and next month, discover the plentiful opportunities on the north side of the Columbia River. Get your drawl on, grab some stinkbait and let’s look at PDX waters.

GILBERT RIVER BULLHEADS AND CHANNEL CATFISH Every single source for this story pointed to the Gilbert River first, and it may well be the best catfishery in the Portland area. This Sauvie Island stream flows from Sturgeon Lake to the Multnomah Channel and is home to big channel cats, a few blue cats and plenty of bullheads. But despite giving the D River a run for its money as the state’s shortest, it’s long been well known for whiskerfish, says Mark Nebeker, the manager of the state wildlife refuge on the island.

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Northwest Sportsman 111

COLUMN “The Gilbert River is very popular for catfish,” he says. “The fishing platform at the mouth is open all year, and they catch a lot of bullheads there, but there are more and bigger catfish further up the river.” Nebeker says that not all the bullheads are small, and some reach very respectable sizes. Channel cats can run as big as 18 to 20 pounds, and he once checked a blue catfish in the 30-pound range. Eric Tonsager of the Oregon Bass and Panfish Club (obpc0.tripod.com) is a bona fide catfisherman who spends most of his time on Eastern Oregon rivers, but he wets a line for cats near home once in a while. He likes to fish the Multnomah Channel and the Gilbert River, an area he confirms is no secret. “There is lots of effort there,” says Tonsager. “There are people at the fishing platform all the time when the weather is warm.” He says bank access is very good along the Gilbert, and he points to the Big Eddy as being one of the best spots. “It’s a sharp, 90-degree turn in the river, and lots of big catfish are taken

there,” he says. Worms and other insects are good choices for bait, but Tonsager says anglers need to “gob that worm on the hook. If you leave tips trailing off, the perch and other small fish will nibble them off.” From time to time, he also uses cutbaits such as northern pikeminnow cut into 1-inch cubes. He leaves them at room temperature for a bit; just to get some smell going. “But don’t let it rot!” he warns.

THE WILLAMETTE’S MIGRATORY CATS There is a good population of channel catfish throughout the Willamette, and they migrate out of the big river into the tributaries in the spring to spawn. “When the temperature hits about 60 degrees, the channel catfish move up into all the rivers that dump into the Willamette,” says Tonsager. “They move into the Tualatin, the Yamhill, and Oswego Creek – all of the tributaries.” When the heat arrives, the fish head back down to the Willamette to spend the summer in the deep holes, and they become very nocturnal. The bite is best

SOUTHERN-FRIED CATFISH I have a number of catfish recipes, but I always come back to this genuine Southern-fried technique. It’s simple, and the cornmeal coating brings up the catfish’s unique flavor. Enjoy it with hushpuppies – that would be deepfried dumplings – for the complete Southern dining experience.

Ingredients 8 catfish fillets, about 2 to 4 ounces each 1½ cups cornmeal 1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon garlic powder ½ teaspoon white pepper (Note: Do not substitute black pepper! If you don’t have white, omit it.) ¼ teaspoon ground red pepper or chili powder 1 egg 112 Northwest Sportsman

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1 teaspoon corn starch 3 tablespoons beer Vegetable oil for frying

Directions Mix 1 teaspoon corn starch with three tablespoons of beer. Beat in one egg. Let dried fillets soak in mixture for half an hour. Whisk together corn meal, salt, garlic powder, white pepper and red pepper. Heat the oil in a medium/hot skillet. Remove fillets from egg mixture and drop into cornmeal, making sure to coat the entire fillet well. Drop fillets carefully into oil and cook just until the bottom starts to turn evenly brown. Flip fillets and fry on second side. When done, place fillets on a cooling rack to drain. Serve immediately with tartar sauce. Let out a rebel yell. –TO

from dusk to dawn.

CATS PROWL ST. LOUIS PONDS You might expect a set of waters with a name that hearkens to the country’s catfishing heartland to feature whiskerfish, and you would be correct. “All of the St. Louis ponds have catfish,” confirms Gary Galovich, an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife warmwater biologist. “They are in Ponds 1 through 7.” He reports that there is no stocking schedule, but he puts channels into the small lakes along I-5 just south of Woodburn when his budget allows. Cats to 20 pounds are sometimes caught here. The species are also planted in Wilsonville Lake, Woodburn Lake and Hartman Pond on a semi-regular basis. Henry Hagg Lake is popular for bullheads, which grow well and reach sizes of 12 to 15 inches. Of course, all warmwater habitats around Portland have bullheads, but they are predominately in the 5- to 7-inch range.

THE MYSTERY OF THE TUALATIN TITAN One of the enduring mysteries of whiskerfish in the Northwest is the story of the 15-pound white catfish caught in the Tualatin River in 1989. Deemed the Oregon record for the species, however, it is the only verified white catfish ever taken in the entire state. How did it get there? That’s a good question, says Galovich. His research turned up records of 300 white catfish brought up from California in 1951, and placed in a defective holding pond. “When they drained the pond they only found 12 left,” says Galovich. While the rest escaped into the Willamette system, Galovich says the chances of them surviving, spawning, and continuing the line, and eventually producing the record fish is unlikely. “It could have come from somebody’s private pond,” says Galovich. “Or it could have been released in the river, but we don’t know.” The Tualatin fishes well for channel cats in the spring, but a boat with a shallow draft is needed. There are few good bank access spots on the river. NS

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FISHING

All About THAT Bass Coming out of a warmer-than-usual winter, April could be the month to catch the largemouth of your dreams. By Roger Davis

or many anglers, spring signifies the beginning of fishing season. As trees blossom, honeybees buzz and the sun comes out of hibernation, so do many species of fish in the Northwest. With so many to target, we’re like the proverbial kid in a candy store, but the popularity of salmon, steelhead and trout tend to overshadow the fact that Washington, Oregon and Idaho are also home to many kinds of warmwater fish. One of the reasons most people don’t consider chasing them is because they never catch anything of significant size, so they assume that the various species just doesn’t get big here because it’s not warm enough. Not so! The mention of largemouth bass over 8 pounds is enough to perk up any angler’s ears, and believe it or not, the Northwest holds some. And now is the time to catch them. The following suggestions are things that I’ve learned in the last eight years, while landing over 70 bass that were 8 pounds or bigger, including three over 10 pounds – my biggest was 11 pounds, 2 ounces. No, not in California or Texas – all here, in the Northwest.

to produce eggs. They are also more vulnerable right now because they are found almost exclusively near the shallow, warming water, where they will eventually spawn. What this means for you is that you have a smaller area to target, which makes it much easier to ﬁnd them. I have found that the best time to be on the water during this period is when the barometric pressure is falling. This plays a huge part

in successfully catching a trophy bass. When the barometer starts to drop and a front starts to move in, giant females will be on the prowl. A falling barometer, overcast skies, and windy and/or rainy conditions are when you want to be on the water. Sound counterintuitive? There is a misconception about sunny days for bass ﬁshing. Many think the calm, sunny days are best, because, hey, warmwater ﬁsh like bass love

The author believes that with this year’s warmer-than-usual winter, this month, not May or June, will be when to ﬁsh for very large and ravenous bass preparing for the spawn. (ROGER DAVIS)

TIMING IS EVERYTHING As with any species of ﬁsh, if you want to guarantee success, you need to be on the water when the ﬁsh you are after are vulnerable. Giant female bass gorge themselves for about a month before they spawn. After a long, cold winter, they need to build up energy and mass to be able to survive the spawning period and

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FISHING sunshine, right? Nope. If you want to land a trophy, you’ll be dudded up in rain gear and maneuvering the boat in choppy water. You will never catch a giant bass being a fairweather ﬁsherman. Timing is the most important aspect with regards to successfully catching the bass of a lifetime. When these conditions come together, if you’re not on the water, you’re missing out.

Four- and 5-inch baits work great on 2- to 5-pound bass, but if catching the biggest largie in the lake is on your agenda, this time of year calls for lures twice as big. The author uses SoCal-sized swimbaits to coax oversized hens to bite. (ROGER DAVIS)

BIG BASS=BIG APPETITE Just as an adult has a much larger appetite than a child, so does a lunker bass compared to her smaller counterparts. Four- and 5-inch baits work great on 2- to 5-pound bass. But we aren’t after 2- to 5-pound bass. If you want to really increase your odds, increase your lure size. Seven-, 8- and even 9-plus-inch baits are my

go-tos this time of year. The hard part for most anglers is sticking with it, because by using such large baits you are not going to get as many bites. But the ones you do get will be ones to remember.

Using the right gear is extremely important. Medium-heavy to heavyaction rods in the 7- to 8-foot range paired with a solid baitcaster and 20to 25-pound ﬂourocarbon are my go-to set-ups. These rods are great for

In addition to working giant trout-imitating baits, the author also pitches large mop jigs with big trailers and tosses big, heavy spinnerbaits for behemoth bass in the early season. (ROGER DAVIS)

throwing larger swimbaits in the 6- to 9-inch range, pitching large mop jigs with big trailers, or tossing big, heavy spinnerbaits. These three varieties of lures are my staple for the prespawn. Reserve the swimbaits for clear bodies of water, particularly stocked trout lakes, while the large oversized jigs and spinnerbaits are best for shallow, weedy and stained lakes. Use trout116 Northwest Sportsman

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FISHING style swimbaits in the stocker lakes and bluegill-style swimbaits for the clear lakes where no trout are released. For your jigs and spinnerbaits, use a ½ ounce, but with large oversized skirts and trailers for added vibration and a slower sink rate. My favorite blade for the spinnerbait is a gold size 8 Colorado because it puts out a lot of vibration and seems “bigger” to the ﬁsh. As far as colors go, black is by far the best in all conditions.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PRESENTATION Now that you know when to be on the water and what to throw at those fat bass, where and how do you get to them? The largest bass are usually going to be on the best piece of cover with deep-water access relatively close by. For example, look for a long, slowly tapering point with a few scattered stumps, and then one large stump at the tip of the point near deep water. This is where your trophy bass is going to be hiding out. Because they are the biggest bass in the lake, they take over the best ambush spots. Learning to recognize these spots is key to finding them once you’re on the water. Once you’ve caught trophy bass on a certain spot, chances are you will catch more there in the future. Presentation is key once you find these spots. When using a big spinnerbait or swimbait, it’s best to cast parallel to the target and use the slowest presentation possible. Bumping the cover is also very important to elicit strikes. There’s just something about the sudden change in movement that triggers a bass into thinking her prey is about to escape, and as a reflex action, she will strike. Jigs are fished a bit differently. You will want to underhand pitch the jig to the target and let it slowly sink to the bottom. Nine out of 10 strikes on a jig will come on the fall. If you don’t get bit, shake the jig, hop it once, then reel in and pitch to a new target. It takes practice to pitch a jig accurately, and I recommend 118 Northwest Sportsman

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The author has compiled a pretty impressive tally of the bigmouthed bass from Northwest lakes, including more than 70 over 8 pounds, many of which he’s caught before most bassers even consider going out for the species. (ROGER DAVIS)

practicing until you can put the jig in a teacup-sized target without making a splash on the water. Stealth is key when pitching a jig. Just remember, the jig works best when it’s falling!

THE THREE P’S Perhaps the most important things to consider if you are serious about landing a giant bass are: planning to be on the water during the prime time; being persistent with big lures; and patience. Lakes aren’t full of giant bass and it will take time to ﬁnd them. Once you do, the rewards are well worth it. We all know the saying “Rewards come to those who wait,” and this couldn’t be truer than it is when ﬁshing for trophy bass. Many people think there is a magic lure or special trick to catching such big bass. That simply isn’t the case. The formula is outlined above. What your lure looks like is much less important than being on the water when the trophy bass are on the prowl.

Experience plays a huge role in success. Whether you catch anything or not, there is always something you can learn when on the water. Keep a log and record information such as air and water temperatures, barometer reading, wind direction and speed, what lures you used, where you ﬁshed and time of day. When you do catch a big one, pay close attention to the details of what you were doing and record it in your log. We just experienced a winter that was much warmer than usual, so right now – not May or June – is the time to get out there and land the bass of a lifetime. The ﬁsh are already on the prespawn and will be until the next full moon in May, on the 4th, at which time these tactics will cease to produce. I hope that these tips help you on your journey. I promise you that if you stick with it and follow these guidelines, you will catch the bass of your dreams this month. Tight lines! NS

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FISHING Russell “Frogman” Wright holds some green chrome caught from his ﬂoat tube near the Willamette River.

Tiny Waters, Small Craft, Big Bass

Poking around Western Oregon’s ponds in canoes, tubes and pontoons can prove productive. By Randall Bonner

ome of the most versatile watercraft in the realm of Western Oregon bass angling are not the shiny, glitter-coated nitro boats, those low-slung arrows built for reaching speeds suitable for bootlegging and outrunning the sheriff. Yes, these boats do serve their purpose for tournament anglers trying to make weigh-in from the back of the reservoir. But they just aren’t the most practical for those ponds, smaller lakes and waters where gas motors are prohibited, but largemouth and smallmouth thrive. Canoes, kayaks, pontoon rafts and ﬂoat tubes all serve a unique purpose to ﬁt different applications. There’s lots of water to explore from these smaller crafts too. Freeway Lakes, on the south side of Albany, is a series of stocked trout ponds that also hold warmwater species. It’s a short walk from the parking area off Three Lakes Road SE to the water, and

a canoe or kayak will allow you to move quickly between three separate lakes that are connected by two canals underneath two bridges, one of which is directly underneath I-5, hence the lakes’ name. (They were created when crews removed material to help build the interstate.) The smaller two lakes are where the rainbow trout are stocked, but the largest holds the most bass. Due to the prevalence of weeds, and the narrow corridor between each lake, a canoe is a perfect craft for this water. Pitching worms into woody debris will produce ﬁsh early in the year. In summer, the weedbeds grow to the surface and frogs will produce topwater strikes. A canoe or kayak will allow you to glide over tall weeds with ease. The Willamette Greenway near Corvallis features another series of quarry ponds that provide opportunities for bass and other warmwater species. The lakes are separated by land barriers, but overﬂow into each other when

(RANDALL BONNER)

flood levels are reached on the river. Largemouth here will go for plastic worms, jigs or bluegill- and perchpattern baits. A lighter canoe or a kayak with a wheel cart will expand your access to areas that don’t receive as much fishing pressure, but it’s a hike to the water from the parking area. It’s also uphill on the way back, so keep that in mind. The Umpqua River is known for steelhead and salmon, but also hosts one of the more prominent smallmouth fisheries in the state. Any number of smolt-imitating patterns will draw strikes. The South Umpqua and mainstem support the greater populations of bass due to warmer water temperatures. A pontoon is better suited for floating over shallow riffles, through rapids and anchoring down in swift currents on the Umpqua. Gas motors are prohibited on Olalla Lake, north of Toledo, but the reservoir hosts many small-craft anglers and pleasure boaters. Any type of small boat should work to get you from the access at the dam back into the sloughs and fingers that contain bass, though the sheer size of the lake

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FISHING makes float tubing a lot more trouble than it’s worth. It’s common for high winds to push across the center of the lake, so stick close to the shorelines to travel more efficiently. This lake has a large population of yellow perch and is also stocked with rainbows, so the bass have ample food sources. Many lakes known for pleasure boating also provide good opportunities for bass fishing from small crafts. Foster, Dorena and Cottage Grove Reservoirs are popular with skiers and wakeboarders, but those folks normally don’t show up until later in summer. These lakes can provide great early prespawn conditions with very little boat traffic earlier in the spring.

SMALL WATERCRAFT PROVIDE you lots of options and can be used in a number of applications on different bodies of water. Choosing the right craft for each application can be vital to creating a successful and comfortable day of fishing. Just as owning a drift boat, jet sled and offshore boat, having a complete arsenal of small watercraft can expand your fishing opportunities. However, if you don’t have that luxury, learn what types of water your small craft is best suited for and focus on dialing in the best techniques for that piece of water. Bass grow older and wiser to the wide range of angling tactics, so being able to access water that receives very little fishing pressure will greatly improve your chances of catching more and bigger ones. Simply putting into the water and quietly moving through untouched or rarely fished areas can be rewarding in itself too. Canoes are on the bulky end of the small-craft spectrum, but their advantage lies in versatility. You can apply them to almost any kind of fishable water. While some of the larger canoes made of polyethylene are extremely durable, they’re also heavy and awkwardly long, requiring at least two people to load and unload from the roof rack of a vehicle. Hauling them 122 Northwest Sportsman

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Over the years, the Corvallis-based author has used his green canoe to put many friends into nice ﬁsh like this largemouth caught out of Freeway Lakes, just south of Albany. (RANDALL BONNER)

a long distance by foot is something you’ll have to decide on with your fishing buddy for the day. Many of the larger models are designed with a flat stern so a trolling motor can be attached. You’ll have to check your local regulations about registering the boat if you decide to use one. Most places will require you to have a floatation device and a paddle on board, as well. It’s generally a good idea to use the paddles as much as possible. A little elbow grease goes a long way to push through the water with ease, and you have more control over starting, stopping, and quietly stalking bass. You’ll only get so much battery life out of the motor, so try to reserve it to cross the lake. Don’t pull your lines out of the water either. I’ve hooked many bass trolling spinnerbaits over deep shelves. If you are a potential solo canoeist, reduce the length and look for something with a much lighter fiberglass hull. Shorter canoes will also be more maneuverable, and will be swayed less by winds and current. Kayaks are not much different than canoes, but are better suited for currents in streams, creeks and rivers. The cargo holds will keep your gear not only dry, but intact when navigating areas that canoes may not do so well running. A low center of gravity will allow you to turn the bow into chutes and direct the boat where it needs to be while drifting downstream.

There’s a wide variety of kayaks. Sit-insides will take on water without a skirt, so some anglers just prefer siton-top models, some of which you can stand on like a paddleboard – with some balance and experience. Foot propulsion is a luxury that will allow you to enjoy hands-free fishing, rather than be consumed with positioning the boat via paddle. A kayak’s low profile also allows you to reach areas you might not be able to access by a canoe or a jonboat. Maintaining your balance while casting and setting the hook also takes some patience. Pontoon rafts are also better suited for currents in streams, creeks and rivers. You’re not likely to sink your vessel, and if your gear is tied down well enough, your belongings should be secure when taking rapids. They’re more similar to navigating a drift boat, and their wide base makes them a little more stable than a canoe or kayak. While they take up space in width, they are also easily maneuverable because of their length. If you plan on spending a lot of time on the water, you’ll probably be a lot more comfortable in a pontoon than cramping into a kayak or being hunched over in a canoe. Pontoons are lightweight and easy to carry over shallow areas where you may have to portage. Another attractive element to pontoons is that they can be deflated and broken down to fit in most vehicles, and don’t require a trailer or tie-downs to strap it to the roof rack. Some models are also built with a flat stern to mount a trolling motor, with the battery fitted in a basket behind the seat. You’ll likely have to adjust to having the extra weight in the rear of the boat if you decide to mount a motor. An anchor pulley system is pretty standard on most models. Using the anchor will allow you to fish from a stationary position while in a current that would otherwise cause the craft to drift. It’s always a good idea to have spare parts on board. A spare oar, oar locks, and patch kit are essential. Be aware

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They’re the slowest of all small craft used to chase Willamette Valley bass, but float tubes worked just fine when it came time for the author to land his first-ever smallmouth. (RANDALL BONNER)

when navigating strong currents that even with the stability from the wide base, they are not immune to tipping if you snag a boulder and high side the craft.

AND FINALLY, FLOAT tubes

are not glamorous. They resemble something you’d see summer sunbathers lounging in while being carried downstream by the current. You are essentially wearing a spare tire with waders and flippers. Speaking of, make sure when purchasing flippers that you get the kind that cover your entire foot. Flippers that have straps on the back and an open heel will quickly wear through the neoprene in your waders. You may look ridiculous waddling to the water’s edge, but it is a valuable addition to any fleet for anglers in search of green chrome. But while float tubes have limited applications, there are also many times they can be the only viable option for exploring water where gas motors are not allowed and larger small boats aren’t practical. They provide an element of stealth

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that is difficult to match with other watercraft. There’s even a special connection to having your feet in the water that is unexplainable. Unfortunately, you will have to exert maximum energy to create a minimal amount of movement, so it’s best to plan trips in calm waters by avoiding windy days and currents. Long excursions may require a headlamp to get to the good water at dawn or in case it takes you longer to get back than you expected. Be prepared with a patch kit on board so you’re not left stranded in the water. A bonus is that a float tube is a watercraft that will fit in the trunk of any car. They should be dried out, deflated and put away in a storage container so they aren’t damaged when not in use. Whatever smallcraft you choose, it will open excellent opportunities on the many ponds, oxbows and fishy waters of Western Oregon. NS Editor’s note: The author wishes to extend his thanks to Shane Elkinton (oregonshane.wordpress.com) for his contributions to the article.

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COLUMN Puget Sound lings are most often found around structure, be that rocky reefs, sunken boats or marina breakwalls, like the one behind the author’s friend Brad Pott, who shows off a beautifully colored cod. (TERRY WIEST)

Prep Now For Sound Lings, Shrimp A

side from those who got in on that fantastic blackmouth fishery this past winter, WIESTSIDER most of us who By Terry Wiest enjoy fishing the salt have spent the last six months on the rivers or holed up at home. But springtime brings the tradition of dewinterizing the boat, getting it cleaned up, buying new gear and setting our sights on a productive spring and summer season ahead on Puget Sound and out of Ilwaco, Westport, La Push and Neah Bay. While that first trip means you finally

get to fish the briny blue, one thing that might be even more important – and one that most of us don’t even think about – is to first get all those “kinks” out of the boat and your electronics. Working on the boat and taking a shakedown cruise this month means that when you venture out later this spring, you’re 100 percent running and safe. And what is there to look forward to?

LET’S START WITH my favorite spring ritual, Puget Sound lings. These are some of the ugliest creatures in the sea, but also some of the best tasting, easiest to catch and are a blast to fish for. While fishing doesn’t open till May 1, because they are so popular, I thought it would be better

to prepare you for the fishery this month, rather than wait for next issue. To find cod country in Puget Sound, break out the navigational maps and look for structure, sunken ships, sunken bridges (as in the Tacoma Narrows), or just about any breaker wall or reef made out of boulders (Vashon Island) and you’ve already found their habitat. Most marinas (Elliott Bay, Shilshole) are also popular spots for ling fishing, as the huge boulders put in place to protect the marina also are where they will burrow down and seek protection themselves. They like “caves” or holes between the rocks that allow them to ambush unsuspecting prey, and then devour them. There are two ways I like to fish for lings in our inland sea – live bait (my favorite) and jigging. For the former, you need to catch the bait first, and then

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COLUMN keep it alive. Small sand dabs about the size of your hand are like candy to lings; small sculpins (bullheads) are a goodlooking snack as well. But if you can find greenlings, that’s like the ultimate temptation that lingcod cannot resist. Using a stiff rod with 30-pound Power Pro (I like braid so I can feel everything), hook the bait with two Matzuo sickle hooks. A smaller 1/0 or so should go through the lip, while a larger hook – the bigger, the better – goes through the skin of the back or on one side. I’ve found that these sickle hooks stick and don’t let go! I also like to use a 4-foot section of 25-pound Maxima Chameleon leader. It’s super resistant to abrasion, protecting it from breaking in the powerful jaws and razor-sharp teeth of a ling. But it’s also limp enough to allow your baitfish to swim, rather than be towed and drown. Use a 2- to 8-ounce cannonball lead on a slider, and once you hit the bottom, reel up four or five quick cranks. This

will pull the bait just off bottom, which will be crucial when you hook a ling because he’s going to be fighting to get back into his hole. Being just off the bottom, you can turn them upward much more easily. The bite can come one of two ways – a massive rod-bending attack, or a simple swallow and swim away. Either way, with live bait you’ll know when the bite is coming, as your bait will frantically try and escape from the ling. Hold on and don’t set the hook until you know the beast is hooked. The other way to fish for Puget Sound lings is by jigging artificial lures. Swimbaits with lead heads work well for casting in the rocks, but metal jigs, like the Pt. Wilson Dart, can be lights out. Let your jig or swimbait freefall to the bottom, then jig hard. Lingcod like a “lively” lure. Again, there will be no question when they hit: the rod will double over from the weight and you’ll have a battle on your hands.

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One of the most important things to know when fishing for lings (other than they have razor-sharp teeth) is to never let the ling’s head come out of the water until it’s either in the net or otherwise secured. When a ling’s head breaks the surface, the jaws automatically come open, releasing anything held in its mouth. Many times the fish will only be mouthing the bait and clamping down on it, but the hooks will not be stuck in its jaws.

SPOT SHRIMP ALSO open in early May in Puget Sound, and, yep, they’re popular too, so I’m going to preview this delicacy of our local waters too. In fact, it is possible to do double duty and fish for both lingcod and shrimp on the same day, though unlike crab pots, shrimp pots need to be tended at least once an hour or you’ll just be eating grits, without the shrimp. Most anglers set out to fish for shrimp first, then, if time allows, will hit the breakwaters for a few

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casts at lings. For shrimping, you’ll need some basic gear: buoy(s), rope, shrimp pot, bait, weight and a puller, either a buddy, strapping kid, or an electronic one – most shrimping in Puget Sound is done in depths ranging from 150 to 350 feet. The most important aspect is the bait you use. While there are some premade shrimp pellets that will work alone, these in combination with other stink substances will do better. Pautzke Crab and Shrimp Fuel is a great additive. WD40, cod liver oil and liquid Alaska Fish Fertilizer are others. (If you can find it, Puss N Boots Seafood Choice catfood has for many years been a highly sought-after commodity by shrimpers.) Grind everything up in an old blender (don’t use your margarita blender!) into a mushy consistency that will stick together, but ooze out as well. If you’re not familiar with where to shrimp, get to the docks early and follow the fleet. Most shrimpers will hover over their territory until legal to

Sound shrimp seasons go by in the ﬂash of a spotty’s tail, so be sure to bring plenty of weight, good bait, and, if Tom Pollack (left) is unavailable, a strong pot puller or hoist to yard up your haul. (TOM POLLACK) drop their pots (different parts of Puget Sound have different opening hours). Do not get too close to them, however. With the tides moving and the extra line

required, their buoys cover quite a bit of water. Nothing’s worse than tangled pots. There’s plenty of water out there. Watch your fish finder and look for “cloudy” objects just off the bottom – it’s more than likely that signifies a school of shrimp. Weight your pots with 10 to 15 pounds of lead, make sure you have ample fresh bait, and let ’er go! Even with the bright buoys and flags, mark each pot on your GPS. Of additional importance, make sure and use lots of extra line – leaded line, if you can. You do not want your line to float on top. After 45 minutes to an hour, retrieve your pots; if you let them soak much longer than this, the shrimp will disappear, as there is nothing trapping them inside. A steady pull is required to pin the shrimp against the cage (this is where a puller comes in handy). If you’re using good bait and you’re in the correct spot, it shouldn’t take much to fill a limit, which is 80 shrimp per person. A license is required, as well.

GET THE KINKS on your boat and electronics worked out this month so that you can enjoy a trouble-free cruise early next month in search of some of the best seafood Puget Sound has on offer this time of year. Man, we live in a wonderful area of the world! NS 130 Northwest Sportsman

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COLUMN “…we do not take a trip, a trip takes us” –John Steinbeck

Sucia: Temptress Of The Juans

t was about five years ago that I first heard the whispers of a kayak fishing destination that boasted flora and geology so surreal as KAYAK GUYS By Mark Veary to have been formed in the imagination of a madman. Soon after, pictures started to emerge: They showed muscular, broadshouldered lingcod hefted by weary but ecstatic fishermen. Though there was no talk of ridiculous numbers, the knowing smiles and reverent words that the island and its fishery evoked were undeniable hints at some unspoken power. Two years later, I finally had a chance to discover the truth for myself. Beyond the bustling business districts of Seattle, past the naval shipyards of Everett, through Anacortes – the “gates to the San Juans” – and an hour’s paddle from the village at the north end of Orcas Island lays a hidden jewel: Isla Sucia. Named by a 17th century Spanish captain for her treacherous reefs and submerged rocks, the island’s twisted beauty calls with all the promise and peril of the mythological siren’s song. Once a safe haven for maritime smugglers, Sucia is now a state marine park, the sheltered coves of which serve as an idyllic escape for the well-heeled yachting set and wandering sea kayakers alike. Her plentiful campsites regularly host backpacking explorers with a ferry schedule and a penchant for destinations that evoke wonder. Even more recently, Sucia has become a mecca for intrepid kayak anglers.

LOOK UP SUCIA in the Urban Dictionary and it’ll return the definition of an unclean woman of ill repute. I must admit that,

though she’s beautiful and occasionally generous, I’ve felt that way about her at times. My first glimpse of her was shooting the gap between Little Sucia and Sucia proper. Traversing a spot my traveling companions and I came to call Slob Hollow, my attention was drawn to the broken and jagged rocks that snatch jigs like camouflaged lings snatch hapless greenling. So much potential – rocky points, blue rivers 100 feet deep and kelp-decorated walls! Being a relative San Juans newbie, I made sure to pay attention to what my partners were doing. Andrew had the local knowledge and the art of fluttering his rootbeer scampi jigs in all the right places. Meanwhile, Zee (better known as Northwest Sportsman’s original “Kayak Guy,” Bryce Molenkamp) tortured little fish to the delight of big fish in the cycle of raging tidal currents. I, by contrast, spent the first day totally frustrated. The powerful tidal currents surrounding Sucia are fueled by water that’s exchanged between the Salish Sea and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Herein, I would later learn, lies the secret to finding Sucia’s voracious lingcod. When the deep currents are active, these top-tier predators come out of their dens to lay in wait for struggling prey caught up in the circulation. The heavier the flow and more jagged the bottom, the greater your chances of success. Another challenge to catching Sucia’s lings is their ability to hold onto a jig through multiple hooksets and powerful runs, without actually being hooked. Unseen monsters would regularly taunt me by stripping several yards of line only to break me off or simply evaporate. And, given the tide-dependent bites, these intrusions were maddening.

Scenes from a kaya state marine park k ﬁshing trip to Sucia Island, a at the northern tip (ANDREW INSING of the San Juans. A; LEE LANDRUM; MARIE LANDRUM)

Following Master Zee’s lead, I surrendered myself to the dark side and cobbled together an iron maiden, a cruel and merciless harness with size 8/0 hooks on 100-pound leader and a 6-ounce cannonball weight. I pierced and secured my victim to the harness, then dropped it to hover just above the craggy haunts of toothy predators 100 feet below.

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COLUMN Even if the hooks don’t find their marks (which they usually didn’t), hungry lingcod refuse to let go of the tasty meals until pulled from the water. It worked so well I

simply secured my bait by their lower lip and sent them to their fates. Between tides and when the weather turned foul, we wandered the miles of maintained trails that cross horseshoe-

IF YOU GO ...

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toothsom l geology is asK VEARY) ua us un s a’ ci Su ; MAR EE LANDRUM its lingcod. (L

Lingcod season at Sucia Island runs May 1-June 15. Daily limit is one between 26 and 36 inches. Much larger lings are possible, but must be released. There are several ways to reach Sucia. The adventurous can take the Anacortes ferry to Orcas Island and then paddle their gear 2 miles north to the island. This route takes some advanced planning to avoid being swept off course by the powerful tidal currents. Consult deepzoom .com/# to identify the best hour for your crossing. For those with a larger load or who just want to save their energy for exploring and battling lings, hire a water taxi to transport you

Spring Clean-Up Time Is Here Again!

shaped Sucia. Short pitches would reveal very different ecosystems, each bay unfolding uniquely from the last. Suddenly, I understood those knowing smiles I’d seen years earlier. NS either from the mainland or Orcas. See outerislandx.com/WaterTaxi.php. Finally, for those with access to a powerboat, load up your kayaks and take advantage of the many mooring balls available in Sucia’s sheltered bays. For more ideas on what to do and what to expect here, go to parks. wa.gov/594/Sucia-Island. And finally, the requisite note on safety: Sucia is a coldwater fishery, so make sure to wear proper immersion gear and a properly fitted PFD. If you intend to paddle from Orcas to Sucia, make sure to cross during a slack tide and leave extra time for quartering into the unpredictable winds. Also, be sure to file a float plan and carry a functioning VHF radio during your transit. –MV

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FISHING

Bucket-list Bottomﬁshing BC’s Nootka Sound is well known for salmon, but it is also a destination for halibut, lingcod and rockﬁsh. By Todd Martin

f you’re looking for a rugged, remote, yet CANADA easily accessible EH! Canadian fishing destination, Nootka Sound is where you need to be. It’s the third of five major sounds or inlets on the west coast of Vancouver Island. This area is rife with fishing opportunities, thanks to strong runs of huge Chinook, plentiful coho and an offshore albacore tuna fishery that is very popular. But for now, we’ll focus on the productive and tasty bottomfish opportunities. If you are looking for barn-door halibut, colorful yelloweye rockfish and tasty lingcod, this wilderness playground needs to be on your fishing bucket list. Nootka Sound is approximately halfway up the island, west of Campbell River. The nearest outpost of civilization is the town of Gold River. The entire area enjoys good road access from the main highway, which is what I look for when searching for a new fishing location. The sound is a massive inlet of fishing goodness, with calm, protected waters. Stick your nose out into the wild Pacific Ocean and you’ll discover nearshore bottomfishing opportunities that will make your mouth salivate. While fishing Nootka Sound in September 2014, I was wowed three different ways: the sheer size and number of halibut in the area; the scenery here is visually stunning; and I brought so much tasty halibut home that my wife demanded I go fishing and get more! Who am I to argue?

Anglers display a pretty good day’s haul of bottomﬁsh while angling out of one of Nootka Marine Adventures’ resorts last season. (TODD MARTIN)

HALIBUT UP AND down the coast are managed by the International Pacific Halibut Commission. They set open season dates and regulations for American and Canadian waters. This year, the season here began Feb. 1, and it usually remains open until November. Slot limits change a little bit every year. For 2015, you are allowed to retain one halibut per day and a two-fish limit for your trip. Your two fish can include one smaller “chicken” halibut less than 90 centimeters – er, American audience, Todd – 35 inches in length, and a big boy to a maximum size of 133 centimeters, or 52 inches. If winter, spring and summer catches aren’t excessive, often the daily limit is increased to two in September. On one quick drop here last year, my fishing buddy, our guide and I managed to land 48-, 55- and 66-pound halibut all in less than an

hour. That 66-pounder was just a shade under the max size limit. Along with the great halibut fishing, Nootka Sound has tremendous populations of lingcod, black bass, and both yelloweye and vermillion rockfish. Generous limits are permitted for all of these tasty creatures, so you can take home a good haul. So where are the best spots to wet a line? One of the best year-round bottomfishing locations starts 1½ miles and continues to 4 miles off of Maquinna Point, all the way along the 140-foot contour line, out to the well-known Bajo Reef. Follow the 140 line from the reef all the way out to the 240-foot mark. This is a very large area, and anglers need to have updated charts for the area and need to be aware of the RCA, or rockfish conservation areas. These spots are permanently closed to fishing,

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FISHING Accommodations in Nootka Sound range from a ﬂoating resort to campsites, cabins, lodge suites and waterfront yurts. Though a bit of a haul to bring your own boat, that’s more doable with lower fuel costs, but rental craft are also available locally. (TODD MARTIN)

as they are protected spawning grounds. The main one is northwest of the reef, so use your GPS carefully and input the RCA coordinates into your chart plotter. If you are caught ﬁshing in this area, the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans will seize your catch and issue you a healthy ﬁne.

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Another productive bottomﬁsh zone is in 120 feet of water to the 160-foot mark from Burdwood Point to Escalante Rocks. May through June, a productive hotspot for chicken halibut and smaller lingcod is from the lighthouse out at the entrance to Nootka Sound to Maquinna Point. Also watch for

random humps or mounds on your sonar that rise up above a consistent bottom depth. Often these can be good and don’t get as much ﬁshing pressure. There are numerous other secret spots, but if you are observant, you’ll ﬁnd some of these on your own quite easily. What works for the tasty bottom-dwellers of Nootka Sound? Anything dead and smelly, of course! Consistently, the best baits to use are salmon belly or half a mackerel. Rig them to your favorite jig and spreader bar set-up and send them to the bottom. Two more tips and tricks: Make sure you stay in regular contact with the bottom. If you aren’t tapping with your weight every few seconds, you’re not in the zone. Also, Nootka Sound has strong currents and tidal surges, so a 4- or 5-pound weight is often needed to keep your lines vertical and not trolling along with

NOOTKA MARINE ADVENTURES Where Wilderness Meets Luxury Nootka Marine Adventures Ltd. is now the largest resort operator on the west coast of Vancouver Island, with three resorts that will tailor to the needs of every angler, whether they arrive alone, with family or in a large group. Each resort offers an unparalleled, fully guided sportfishing experience in the largest, most comfortable fishing boats on the coast. Situated in close proximity to the fishing grounds, you can choose to angle for salmon, halibut, lingcod and rockfish. Experienced, professional guides provide the best of inshore and offshore fishing, or scenic marine and cultural tours. After a thrilling sportfishing adventure, your catch is processed to your specifications in government-certified fish-processing facilities while you relax with a gourmet meal in the in the licensed restaurant at Moutcha Bay or the uniquely intimate restaurants at our floating resorts. You will be well rested for your next days’ adventure after sleeping in either our luxrury accomodations or in your own camping vehicle. Accessible by road, Moutcha Bay Resort provides a drive-in option for all three resorts. With a full-service marina, licensed restaurant, boat rentals, RV park, suites, chalets, and yurts, Moutcha Bay offers all the amenities a comfort-seeking angler could wish for. Nootka Sound Resort is our original floating wilderness resort, located in a secluded bay in Nootka Sound and accessible by either float plane or boat for up to 44 guests at a time. Large groups can book the resort for their exclusive use. Newton Cove Resort’s grand opening is scheduled for May 2015. Its meticulous construction and design has benefited from the experience gained in the development of Moutcha Bay and Nootka Sound. Sheltered in a private cove in Esperanza Inlet, up to 44 guests will experience the most productive inshore and offshore fishing on Vancouver Island. This resort offers our best access for tuna fishing in August and September. For more details on how to book your ultimate fishing adventure, visit www.nootkamarineadventures.com or call toll-free (877) 337-5464.

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FISHING Yelloweye – the author’s favorite – and lingcod are plentiful in the waters off Nootka Sound.

the tide. You can drift fish over bigger bottomfish locations, but experienced area guides and locals prefer to park and anchor. As with all bottomfishing, you often need to put your time in and develop a good scent trail. Fishing through a tide change can help disperse your scent around a wider area. Gibbs Delta Tackle (gibbsdelta .com) is a BC-based company that sells all kinds of bottomfishing jigs, skirts, and spreader bar set-ups that are proven winners in Canadian waters.

TRAVELERS SHOULD BE aware of several things. Since 2014, all recreational tidal (saltwater) licenses in Canada are only sold online. You can’t just wander into a tackle store and pick one up. Google the National Recreational Licensing System; the federally managed areas where you

(TODD MARTIN)

will be fishing in Nootka Sound are Management Units 25 and 125. When bringing larger halibut on board, clear the decks! These critters like to thrash. Give them a vigorous wooden shampoo as soon as they are on board. Often local guides will harpoon the larger ones and let them wear themselves out before bringing them aboard. This is Canada, eh. Unless you work for a law enforcement agency or have some really skookum permits, you are not allowed to bring your firearms with you across the border, which means you are definitely not permitted to shoot these critters alongside the boat like you might do in the states. Yes, I realize a few of you are from the school of thought that says gun control means using both hands, but don’t take your .44 to Canada, son, leave your .45 at home, Bill – gaff ’em and whack ’em instead. One of the best places to stay

BLACK GOLD LODGE Rivers Inlet is well known for its super-sized salmon – this has been well documented over the years. Black Gold Lodge is a family-built and -operated business. After 28 years we have come from an eight-client unit to the largest lodge of its type on the coast. We wanted the lodge to be different from the many others in the area. Fully-equipped units, client-oriented staff and well-equipped boats make it possible for guests to bring their own food, prepare it themselves and save big money! This was the package we started with. We saw the need for the all-inclusive package and after acquiring a new dining room, lounge and commercial kitchen building, we were ready to go. Our menu is second to none, giving us the reputation of the lodge with true choices. You get your choice of three types of boats, a caring staff to help your every need, boat care every time you return, and housekeeper care for every unit daily. We also offer E.U. certiﬁcation, allowing the shipment of your catch anywhere in Europe, and we are one of the select lodges to hold a liquor license, allowing us to serve wine and beer with dinner legally. Our location is in the heart of some of the best salmon ﬁshing in the world. We have the distinction of holding the current record of a weighed Tyee in the inlet in recent history. This giant was caught just minutes from the lodge. Black Gold Lodge / The Lodge of Choices **All our prices are in Canadian funds, saving you big money 604.941.3228 • www.blackgoldlodge.com 140 Northwest Sportsman

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in the Nootka Sound, Esperanza Inlet and Gold River areas is Nootka Marine Adventures (nootkamarineadventures.com). They have three resorts with every amenity available, depending on your needs and budget. Nootka Sound Resort floats in a sheltered part of Galiano Bay and is close to both the salmon and bottomfishing grounds. Moutcha Bay Resort is near the entrance to the Conuma River. It offers campsites, cabins, lodge suites and luxurious waterfront yurts. The third is brand-new for 2015, Newton Cove Resort. It’s in a prime location in Espinosa Inlet, near the entrance to Esperanza Inlet. The resorts offer a range of fully guided or self-guided fishing trips, rental boats, fish processing, etc., and host two annual derbies – June 27-28, an annual salmon derby from Moutcha Bay Resort, and the Kayak Fishing Derby on Labor Day weekend. Fishing for 30-pound Chinook in calm protected waters sounds like a blast to me. It gets even better for American guests this season. The Canadian dollar has plunged and is in the 80cent range compared to the U.S. That means you’ll get 20 percent more bang for your greenback. Access to the area is easy. After taking a ferry to Vancouver Island, head north on Highway 19 to Campbell River, then travel west on Highway 28 for 91 kilometers (argh, did it again – 57 miles) to Gold River. This is considered one of the most spectacular drives on the island. Moutcha Bay Resort is located 43 kilometers (26 miles) north of Gold River. Nootka Sound is a place that, once you visit, you’ll be instantly hooked. I’ve booked my return trip – my wife can’t wait for me to come home with more tasty halibut and lingcod. NS Editor’s note: The author lives near our region’s other Vancouver on a big river – the British Columbia one. 142 Northwest Sportsman

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HUNTING

The striking scenery of the Columbia River Gorge provides an excellent background to the ﬁne hunting for Merriam’s turkeys. Nearly 500 gobblers were killed on the Washington side in 2013, the last year ﬁgures are available for. (ADVENTUREFISHING.NET)

Vertical Longbeards Tackle the steep canyons of the Columbia Gorge for hot spring gobblers. By Terry Otto

he sound of turkeys gobbling in the oak-covered mountainsides of the Columbia River Gorge are a rite of spring. Their haunting calls emanate from the scrub forests, echoing from wall to wall of the steep canyons. Hens scratch in the forest duff, while mature toms strut nearby, occasionally throwing their strange mating howls to the wind. The Merriam’s subspecies of wild turkeys that call the ﬂanks of the

Washington side of the gorge home have prospered in recent decades, and now stretch across a wide swath of habitat. The rugged nature of the landscape works in their favor, making it difﬁcult for human hunters to reach many of their hideaways. Still, plenty of gobblers are taken here every spring – 474 in 2013 by 1,843 hunters who enjoyed a 25-percent success rate – and doubtless, many will be taken here again in 2015. David Anderson, the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife district

wildlife biologist for Skamania, Clark and Klickitat Counties, reports that the birds came through the “winter” in good condition. “We didn’t have a bad winter,” he says, “so there was not as much impact on the ﬂock. The birds were not as bunched up as some winters.” Also, production last spring seemed to be pretty good. “It should pretty much be an average year for hunters,” forecasts Anderson. Klickitat River and turkey guide

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HUNTING Tracey Zoller of Adventure Fishing (509-369-2366) has been guiding for turkeys in the Columbia River Gorge for about a decade now, and he reports that the flock seems very healthy. “The birds are doing very well,” he says. “I think they may have peaked a few years ago, but there are lots of turkeys out there.” Some of the toms are big too A huge, five-bearded tom fell to Zoller’s calling a couple years ago. He had the bird scored, and it ranked as the fourth largest nontypical turkey taken in the state of Washington. Zoller says that the turkeys in the Klickitat drainage, the heart of the flock, spend the winter on the big cattle ranches where spilled grain is available. By late March the flocks are breaking up and spreading out. “Come spring, they take off,” says Zoller. “They get out and about and do their thing.”

KLICKITAT CANYON: THE CENTER OF THE FLOCK Hunting pressure centers on the Klickitat River canyon. “The Klickitat gets a lot of hunters,” says Zoller. “But you can ﬁnd birds in the Little White Salmon drainage, there are birds in the White Salmon River valley, and even along the Wind River. To the east, there are birds from Goldendale over to Bickleton. You wouldn’t believe how many birds.” He says they are thick in the Klickitat, where most of his hunting takes place, from the Columbia to the Yakama Reservation. “I do hunts on some private ranches, but I also hunt places where John Doe could go,” Zoller says. There are plenty of public lands, but he cautions hunters to know where they are hunting. “There is a lot of private land, so you have to be careful where you hunt,” he says. As for public options, Zoller says hunters should look to the state DNR 146 Northwest Sportsman

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lands, and the 14,700-acre Klickitat Wildlife Area’s many units. “There are plenty of birds on those Fish & Wildlife lands,” he says. In particular, he points to the Soda Springs Unit, the wildlife area’s main parcel and located in the canyon, as being a good bet. “They take a lot of birds there every year,” he conﬁrms. It also gets a lot of hunting pressure. There are some national forest lands to the west of the Klickitat Canyon that harbor good numbers of turkeys too. There is a patchwork of these properties scattered around the Catherine Creek area, and along the ﬂanks of Burdoin Mountain. As you move farther west there are fewer turkeys, but more national forest lands, and less pressure. And there are private timberlands that hunters can access, but some of these properties have been closed to the public. If you’ve hunted these lands in the past, it would be a good idea to check and make sure they will still be open.

HOW TO HUNT ’EM The flocks do not make use of the entire habitat, and Zoller says if you want to be successful, you have to get in the backcountry and see what’s there. “You have to find the areas the birds use,” says Zoller. “They are not in every square mile.” After the initial pressure of the April 15 opener (this year’s falls on a Tuesday), the hunters really thin out. It can be easy to find yourself without competition in many of these pockets just a week or two into the hunt. Additionally, the back end of the season, which runs through May 31, sees little pressure, and the birds are still active. Turkeys will probably make use of the low country early in the season, but as spring progresses, the birds will move into the highlands, following green-up.

“The higher altitudes can be good later in the season,” says Zoller. “You can find birds late there. Even in the last half of May, you can find toms that will come in – even flocks with multiple toms.” While this country is beautiful and wild, Zoller cautions that it’s also rugged, rocky and home to rattlesnakes and poison ivy. Keep an eye (and ear) open for both as you move through the woods.

ZOLLER’S TIPS When you set up before daylight, make sure you’re not facing east, the guide tips. Otherwise, the rising sun will be in your face, making it tough to see turkeys coming from that direction. When bowhunting, measuring the distance from your shooting position to the decoys will help you gauge the distance of the shot, Zoller adds. But if you’re going with the more traditional 12-gauge shotgun, Zoller says that while multiple shot size shells are now available, you still can’t beat a high-powered turkey load of No. 5 shot for cleanly killing that trophy tom. Just take care shooting at close range! With modern loads and chokes, your pattern will be very small, so it can be easy to miss that huge strutting tom within 15 yards. For more tips, Zoller, along with Cabela’s and Mossy Oak, will be putting on a free turkey hunting seminar Saturday, April 18. Get tips and advice from some of the area’s best turkey hunters and expert callers at his Klickitat Valley Guides Resort (adventureﬁshing.net), located in a beautiful wooded setting along the Klickitat River. Everything from decoys and decoy placement to calls and calling will be covered. The event starts at 3 p.m., after everyone has had a chance to hunt. Enrollment is free and can be taken by phone or email, and there will be a prize giveaway. NS

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HUNTING

With the right location, set-up, calling and decoying, you can pull turkeys off private lands to accessible public ground. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)

Gobblers On The Edge How to work the public-private land interface for your Oregon spring turkey. By Troy Rodakowski

ne good way to successfully hunt turkeys is to take the time to knock on doors, obtain permission or establish long-lasting relationships with landowners who have gobblers on their property. Indeed, I’ve found that if I’m locked out of private property, then it’s likely to be a long, rough season for me. However, over the last 15-plus years, I have also found some success

coaxing private birds onto public land throughout the Beaver State. This, of course, is not an easy task, and ﬁnding these small productive parcels of BLM, or national or state forest ground close to lowland farms can be quite difﬁcult, as turkeys don’t care whatsoever about property lines.

PRIVATE BIRDS Oregon has several wildlife management units (see sidebar) with good access to fringes of private ground. Some of these units will

require research to locate the top spots, but taking a few minutes will help to plan a good hunt. Priority one is to ﬁnd places that border good private land and extensively research the area to ﬁnd and obtain access near them. Different forms of wildlife refuges can sometimes provide decent opportunity to hunt off of nearby private holdings. Birds typically favor private areas because those properties offer them something the public land does not. Often it’s food in the form of spilled

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HUNTING TOP PUBLICPRIVATE ORE. WMU’S By the numbers there are several units throughout Oregon with decent spring turkey harvest stats. However, to cover the state best I picked four that consistently produce and provide some of the best chances for hunters to hunt near private-land flocks. Melrose WMU: Almost half of all hunters in this wildlife management unit along I-5 near Roseburg typically fill their tags – over 400 birds are typically harvested here annually. Finding BLM, private timber company or Weyerhaeuser access can help close the gap on ranch and farmland flocks. Evans Creek WMU: Recent fires and logging in this unit on either side of I-5 between Canyonville and Grants Pass have provided better habitat and enabled private flocks to expand here. This unit has slowly been improving over the last few seasons, with harvest approaching 200 birds. Mt. Emily WMU: Hunting for mountain birds that can be found on Forest Service lands near the lower ranches and homesteads of this large unit between Pendleton, La Grande and Weston can prove advantageous. Harvest has been near 130 to 140 birds over the last couple seasons. Ukiah WMU: Private ranches in this unit between Pendleton and the tiny town of Dale host several flocks, but by the time season rolls around, most low-country birds will have moved to higher country, up creek beds and into the national forest. With the dry conditions this year, migration will be sooner and birds will be more scattered onto the public lands. Harvest here has hovered consistently around 100 birds. Philomath, Scio, Lorane, Wonder, John Day, Seneca, Long Creek and Unity: OK, so these aren’t heretofore unknown WMUs, rather small towns with several ranches and farms that

(Continued on page 152)

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grain, but they may also have been bumped or spooked repeatedly on public property and relocated somewhat to private ground, where they’re likely not disturbed as much. Studies show, however, that they usually don’t leave their seasonal home ranges, so even harassed birds won’t relocate all that far. While I have called a lot of turkeys, when writing an article I like to get fresh perspective, and so for this story I got a hold of a couple guys who are the best of the best. World-champion turkey caller Billy Yargus rang me up and we chatted about hunting private birds on public land. “I wouldn’t treat those birds any different than the birds you are hunting primarily on public ground,” says Yargus. He tells me there are two ways in which he would approach these birds. “First of all, I might try to lay back on the calling and see how the birds react to it,” he explains. What if this isn’t working, you might ask? “I’d grab my box, slate and mouth diaphragm and try to sound like a

The author admires a gobbler he killed in 2014 on the border of private lands. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)

good group of birds with a boss hen making some serious noise, and I’d make sure to fire off a couple gobbler yelps, as well,” says Yargus. I have personally found that excited turkeys seem to attract other birds, much like a rutting herd of elk does. “When trying to yelp privateland birds onto public ground, I usually pursue two angles: finding turkeys that probably haven’t been pressured as much, or hunting when human pressure is relatively light,” adds Brian Lovett, a widely published turkey hunting author. While this truism goes for most game, if you get away from the roads and people, you should find turkeys, especially a few weeks into the season. “Regarding calling itself, I really don’t change my approach that much,” says Lovett. “I’ll almost always start soft and subtle in case a gobbler is nearby. Then, depending on his mood and reaction to my yelping, I’ll ratchet it up or tone it down. I’m usually much more patient when trying to yelp birds off of private land onto

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HUNTING public ground. They’ve probably been bumped before and might take their time coming to a call or approach silently.”

SKIP THE SIESTA Changing it up is important and we are lucky here in Oregon to be able to hunt all day – in other states, hunting is required to end by noon. I can honestly say that I have taken more birds in the late afternoon and evening than early in the morning right off the roost tree. “I’ll also try to hunt during midday or the middle of the week, when human hunting pressure is typically light,” notes Lovett. “Birds usually aren’t being barraged by crow and box calls during these times, and your odds of having a hunt ruined by human interference is also lower.” Taking advantage of every last

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bit of daylight can also greatly help your success. Last season I bagged my big bird of the season about 30 minutes prior to the end of shooting hours. In fact, I was about ready to pack up and call it a day when he gobbled in the drainage below me. I knew about where his roost was so I waited, purred, yelped and clucked lightly every few minutes until he showed up. And here’s one last tip from Lovett about hides vs. fences. “Find good set-ups – not just areas close to the property line. It’s intuitive to get as close as possible to private land and then try to call a turkey close. Often, fencelines and other borders aren’t very good calling sites. Look for natural travel routes, such as saddles, ridges, creek bottoms, ﬁeld roads, logging roads or similar features, where gobblers should feel comfortable coming to a

(Continued from page 150) are surrounded by national forest, BLM and other timber lands. Again, birds will congregate in the lower elevations during winter and spread into the higher hills as the weather warms. Starting a bit higher in the mountains this year, especially in early April, is a good idea. –TR

call. If you have to set up 100 yards from the property line, so be it. A good calling set-up will net you more turkeys than yelping from behind a woven-wire fence.” Wherever and whenever you head out for gobblers, always remember to wear hunter orange to and from your hunting grounds for safety. Accidents have been on the rise during the last several seasons, as the popularity of turkey hunting increases. NS

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Securing permission to hunt the productive private farm-forest interfaces of Northeast and North-central Washington is a turkey chaser’s best bet, but using Internet mapping to ﬁnd public ground near aglands is a solid backup plan for ﬁnding a place to blind up and call in a gobbler. (JAMES BARRETT)

HUNTING

The 411 On 509 Toms

Here’s how and where to bag your Eastside gobbler when turkey season opens in mid-April. By Jason Brooks

pril is often thought of as the beginning of trout fishing, but for those who have a hard time waiting for fall’s hunts to arrive, instead of picking up a rod, they pick up their shotguns. Spring turkey season begins this month and finds the birds becoming more active and aggressive as daylight increases and they remember it’s time to breed. The thought of strutting toms chasing young jakes away from harems is what drives those who prefer camo over cartoppers this time of year. And with the mild winter, those who dedicate time afield, whether sitting against a tree or in a blind trying to fool these birds into range, success shouldn’t be far behind.

WHERE TO HEAD It’s well established that the Colville, Pend Oreille, Upper Columbia and Kettle Valleys and their myriad lowland farms and forested foothills provide the best turkey habitat and two-thirds of the state’s spring harvest. Much of it is overlapped by state and national forest land, and there’s also a large national recreation area and a federal wildlife refuge to work. With weak winters this and past years, Northeast Washington should again be a top bet. But if you’re looking for new places to hone your skills, you can also ﬁnd birds in Chelan and Okanogan Counties, where public land is also prevalent. Populations are stable and even slightly increasing in the latter county. Farming areas are more

productive, but don’t count out the Colockum Wildlife Area, Greg Tubbs of Tubbs Taxidermy (509-884-3787) in East Wenatchee points out, as well as the hills above Stemilt Basin. Tubbs notes there are also pockets of birds rumored to be up the Entiat River, mostly on private lands. Other areas in the valley to look include the Potato Creek and Mud Creek areas. And he mentions that he has heard of a few smaller flocks of birds in the Wenatchee Valley near Cashmere and even towards Blewett Pass. Near Chelan, the private lands up Union Valley, Purtemenn Gulch, Antoine Creek and Washington Creek have some flocks, but finding lands to hunt them on can be difficult, as most of the locals still think of the birds as a novelty and

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HUNTING

Dylan Klepper is among those Westside hunters who’ve found success in both Northeast Washington and, closer to home, the east slopes of the Cascades. Last spring, the then10-year-old Arlington lad followed up on his 2013 Republic gobbler with this one taken in the Wenatchee Valley. “It’s been a team effort – a proud dad doing the calling and an excited kid doing the shooting. Those are the best hunts,” says his father, Brandon Klepper. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

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like them around. Keep that in mind a year or two from now when they begin to wear out their welcome. More birds are harvested in Yakima and Kittitas Counties. State Department of Fish & Wildlife district biologist Jeff Bernatowicz says the best hunting occurs near Cle Elum. Unfortunately, some birds have become problematic to the point that a nuisance specialist was brought in recently to deal with those hanging out at the many hobby farms in the Teanaway Valley. In one location 40 turkeys had gathered, “ranging throughout the property and ... entering the barn to forage.” Good friends of mine Rachael Byrd and her husband Andy, who was noted previously in Northwest Sportsman for his high country bear hunting, live along the Teanaway River just east of Cle Elum. Last year Rachael said she had a turkey hang out all day, walking around their

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HUNTING deck. Andy told me he has tried to sneak up on the birds, but it seems every time he comes out of the house with a shotgun, they take off, though when he goes to the barn to feed the horses, the turkeys barely look up. Birds in the Hidden Valley area are also causing problems. Unless they’re trapped and moved, the nuisance ﬂocks and other turkeys will remain in the lower valley area for most of April, but Bernatowicz points out in his published hunting prospects report that the birds should push up into the surrounding hills, including the Teanaway Community Forest, by May. Other productive Kittitas County GMUs include the Naneum and Quilomene, north of Ellensburg.

TOP TURKEY TIPS James Barrett, known as “JD” to his friends and hunting partners, is

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Turkey hunter James “JD” Barrett prefers a more mobile approach to spring turkey hunting, and utilizes natural cover for blinds more so than fabricated ones. (JAMES BARRETT)

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one of those guys who will be out looking for turkeys ahead of opening day of the general season, April 15. I was able to talk with this hardcore gobbler gunner from the Tacoma area a few weeks back about how he has become so successful hunting Benjamin Franklin’s nominee for our nation’s bird. He says it all starts with knowing the ground and quarry’s habits. “We know the land we are hunting very well. We know the roosts sites and travel corridors,” Barrett says. Knowing where the birds are at night and where they want to be once the sun comes up makes it possible to intercept them. “Most of the time we set up an ambush, set out one or two decoys where we know the birds will travel,” he says. Then he sits and waits in a blind, but Barrett prefers to travel light. “When I say blind, I mean the blinds we carry out and set up, but mostly I mean we just make our own blind out of available brush in the area,” he says. By not having to lug around a blind, you can cover more ground and ﬁnd the birds to set up the ambush. He tucks up into some brush, then puts his decoys around 20 to 30 yards out. “We usually use only a hen decoy, and maybe a jake,” he says. That’s partially to not intimidate any toms that might not be up for a ﬁght over a hen that day, and partly a safety issue. If you use a tom decoy and then start gobbling, you might bring in other hunters, so be aware of what is approaching. For calls, JD uses a box, but admits his son, Joseph Barrett, likes diaphragm calls. That said, neither likes to call a lot; they mostly just use them to locate the birds. Once they find the birds, they will figure out how to get close enough for the shot by using a spot-and-stalk method, closing the distance very slowly.

When that won’t work due to terrain or where the birds are located, like on another parcel of property or in more open areas where the birds would flush before they can get close enough, they break out the faux birds and come hithers. “Other times we hunt the traditional way by locating, moving in with decoys and then calling them to us,” he says. It’s not unlike bugling in elk: Find the birds first, then set up to bring them in. Finding turkeys also means finding places to hunt. JD admits that he doesn’t hunt a lot of public property, but will venture onto some public lands when it’s adjacent to the private lands they hunt. He’s become friends with property owners over the past several years by frequenting the areas in the offseason. Last fall, just before deer hunting, he, Joseph and their entire camp went over to a landowner’s house and spent a few days clearing trees that had fallen during a windstorm. After clearing out the downed trees, they cut them up for firewood and stacked the logs for the upcoming winter. It is because of this kind of dedication that JD and his crew get to hunt prime areas for turkeys in the spring and deer in the fall.

TURKEY FIRST, TROUT LATER If you find yourself wishing it was mid-October rather than April, go ahead and break out the camo. You will probably find Barrett wandering around with his Remington 870, extra-full choke and a pocketfull of 3-inch Hevi-Shot Magnum Blend. Oh, and he’s got one last tip about these tasty birds: Bone them out and cube the meat, marinate overnight and then put them on shish kabobs on the barbecue. Your trout fishing buddies just might be a bit envious sitting around Fish Camp frying up the day’s planter rainbows when you break out the gob-bobs. NS APRIL 2015

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he radio silence from my hunting request was unnerving. Usually, I can find someone to go with me, no matter the prey. IN THE WILD Rabbits – never an By Randy King issue. Deer camp is like an extended locker room grab-ass session with friends and family. But I have never had total stunned and inexplicable silence on a proposed adventure. Apparently, shooting and eating squirrels is just not all that popular in the Northwest. My whole life I had been told that squirrels were a protected species in Idaho, so I too left them alone – until this past February. In an attempt to never let my hunting season end, I looked a little bit deeper into the bushy-tailed rodents of the Gem State. Turns out, my whole life had been a lie. While many species of squirrels are protected, the red fox squirrel is open year-round here (see sidebar). The reason is that this particular species is considered invasive. Brought here in the early part of the last century as living park decorations, they have established thriving populations. With each passing year, they slowly encroach on native squirrels. The red fox is known to have two litters per year, while native squirrels only have one. This leads to a distinct advantage for the away squad. The invasive tree rats have such an advantage that it is illegal to even relocate a trapped or nuisance squirrel, except on a person’s own property. If they are brought into an Idaho Department of Fish & Game office, they will be humanly euthanized. Basically, they are a pain to the ecosystem, but no one has come up with a good idea on how to get rid of them.

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THAT’S WHERE HUNTERS can come in. Historically, we have gotten a bad rap for

There are numerous species of tree squirrels in the Northwest, some native, some invasive, so check your state’s regs before heading out for ﬁxin’s for Randy’s recipe, but in his home state of Idaho, where this pair was bagged, fox squirrels are fair game year-round. (RANDY KING) the “market” hunting days of the past – the passenger pigeon, the buffalo and the dodo bird all come to mind. But with solid rules in place to protect game species, I believe that we should help right the wrongs of the past and stop the spread of invasives. We need to use our hunting powers for good – join me and let’s get rid of the red fox squirrel! How? By making it a delicious part of our everyday diet. Laugh all you want, but in the east these little tree ninjas are considered a delicacy. Hank Shaw, a James Beard Award-winning cookbook author whom I fished with for last month’s column on another invasive, Mackinaw, likens their flesh to good quality dark-meat chicken. Hell, I was even invited a few years ago to judge the World Championship Squirrel Cook-off (yeah, it’s a thing). Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmerman even visited the festival at one time. So, despite our reputation as being at the leading edge of things here in the Northwest, really, we are just behind the times-ish.

A few of the original outdoorsmen – some of my biggest heroes – in American history were known for their squirrel hunting skills. Daniel Boone was perhaps one of the best-known tree rat hunters. He even developed a method for shooting the creatures without ruining all the meat. It was called “barking.” The idea was to shoot about an inch away from the squirrel’s head, directly into the tree that the animal was hanging onto. The shock force the bullet produced would launch the squirrel out of the tree onto the ground. Often times, the squirrel would be dead or at least stunned enough to allow the hunter a quick follow-up foot stomp. Armed with the knowledge that I was not in fact poaching or killing some endangered species, I set out for a hunt. Quickly I realized that most red fox squirrels live near humans, preferring the savanna-like settings of large trees and open grass ranges that modern suburban landscapes provide. Luckily, the Treasure Valley has the Boise River running directly down the middle of it, often with houses

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COLUMN nearby. But almost the entire river bottom, outside the limits of Idaho’s capitol city, is open to hunting. I found myself ducking under a bridge and fording to an island, 16-gauge shotgun in hand. I quickly spotted two red fox squirrels eating on a tree branch. As I advanced on them, they paid me little attention. I don’t think that they had ever been hunted by a human. This made me feel a little dirty – I simply walked up to one and shot it. It tumbled to the ground, dead before impact. With the loud noise and watching its companion fall, the other tree ninja was smart enough to hide. As I circled the tree attempting to get an open shot, the little devil would scurry to the other side, keeping himself barely visible. With each circle of the tree, the squirrel would climb a few feet until the tree was small enough that I could see him no matter what side he was on. I put the sights on him and let some size six fly in hopes of barking the little guy.

I missed the wood and hit the squirrel square in the hindquarters, sending him crashing to the ground. Unfortunately, the shot ruined about half the usable meat. With two in the hand I headed back

to my truck. I felt good that I was helping to control a population. But with the mission accomplished, I mostly just wanted to see what these little dudes tasted like. NS

SQUIR-RULES Here are hunting regulations for tree squirrels in Northwest states, per the following game agencies: WDFW: “Western gray, Douglas’, red, and flying squirrels are all protected species in Washington (WAC 232-12-011). Eastern gray, eastern fox, and California ground squirrels are not protected in Washington and may be hunted any time as long as all firearm restrictions are followed and a hunting license is possessed.” ODFW: “The Eastern gray and Eastern fox squirrels are considered invasive species as supported by OAR 635-056 which classifies them as Nonnative Prohibited Wildlife. Because these species are unprotected, they can be hunted year-round and there is no bag limit.” IDFG: “The most frequently hunted unprotected animals include marmots, fox squirrels, porcupines and Columbian ground squirrels ... These species may be taken in any amounts and at any time by holders of the appropriate valid Idaho hunting, trapping or combination hunting license, provided such taking is not in violation of state, county, or city laws, ordinances or regulations.” –RK

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COLUMN

RED FOX SQUIRREL CACCIATORE Skinning a squirrel is a must. They are harder to skin than most small animals, so make sure your knife is sharp. When skinned they look remarkably similar to a cottontail rabbit. For this recipe you will need to cut apart the squirrel’s body for a quicker cook. I remove both front and hind legs first, and then I cut the body in half where the ribs first meet with the back. This will give you an easy six-piece squirrel for cooking up.

Squirrel, Italian-style (cacciatore refers to hunter, and typically involves small game meat, tomatoes, onion and pasta). (RANDY KING)

1 tablespoon butter 2 each red fox squirrels, cut into six pieces Salt and pepper, but not too much Heat a medium-sized soup pot on medium for 2 minutes. Add the butter; when melted, add like-sized sections of squirrel to the pan. Season lightly with salt and pepper. I usually do hind legs with hind legs and body sections with body sections. This will allow a more even cooking. Brown all the meat on both sides. Note that this might make a bunch of brown bits on the bottom of the pan – that is OK, you want that. Set meat aside. 1 quart chicken stock (low sodium, if from store) 10 sprigs thyme 1 bay leaf Browned squirrel meat 1 ounce sun-dried tomato (3 ounces if using oil packed) 1 ounce dried mushrooms (I used dried morels, but any other hearty ’shroom will be fine; 4 ounces if using fresh) Add the chicken stock to the soup pot. Use a wooden spoon and scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan; turn heat to medium low. When the stock is simmering, add the thyme, bay leaf and squirrel meat. Cover and let simmer until the squirrel meat is fall-off-the-bone tender – about three hours. When the meat reaches that point, carefully remove it from the stock. Set meat aside to cool. While the meat is cooling, turn heat up on the chickenturned-squirrel stock. Reduce the stock until it is only about 1 cup. 166 Northwest Sportsman

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When the meat is cooled, pick it off the bone and reserve. Do not toss the bones. Add these back to the stock while it is reducing. This will give it another little burst of flavor. Next, strain the bones from the stock. Keep the stock, toss the bones. Again, you want only about 1 cup of stock. Clean out the soup pot – you are going to use it again. While the meat is cooking and the stock is reducing, rehydrate the sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms. Use ½ cup boiling water to rehydrate each item. When rehydrated, roughly chop them. Strain and reserve the “stock” or juices from both. This will be used in the “sauce.” 1 tablespoon kosher salt 1 tablespoon butter ½ yellow onion, diced 4 cloves garlic, crushed 1 roma tomato 1 cup squirrel stock Rehydrated mushrooms Rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes ½ cup tomato stock (use water if using oil packed) ½ cup mushroom stock (again, use water if using fresh) Picked squirrel meat 8 ounces dried pasta; I like cavatappi 3 big fresh basil leaves, rough chopped

½ bunch green onions, rough chopped 20 parsley leaves (this is a guesstimate) ¼ cup fresh grated Parmesan 2 tablespoons butter Salt and fresh cracked black pepper Bring a stockpot with 2 quarts of water to a boil. Add the salt. Heat the soup pot on medium for 2 minutes, then add the butter. When all is melted, add the diced onion. Cook until slightly brown and translucent, about 3 minutes. Next add the garlic; cook until fragrant. Then add the squirrel stock, roma tomato, sun-dried tomato, mushrooms, tomato stock and mushroom stock. Let this sauce simmer for five minutes. Add the pasta to the boiling water. Cook pasta according to instructions – you definitely want it al dente, slightly undercooked and still firm to the bite. When the pasta is about five minutes from being done, add the squirrel meat to the sauce. The picked meat will start to thicken the sauce. Turn down to a simmer. Strain the pasta when cooked. Add pasta to the sauce, then finish with basil leaves, green onions, parsley leaves, parmesan, butter, a little salt and fresh cracked pepper. Scoop into four serving dishes and eat. For more wild game recipes, see chefrandyking.com.

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COLUMN

Another Sizzler From Nosler

ON TARGET By Dave Workman

ast year it was the new 26 Nosler that was making headlines, and this year, the folks in Bend have come up with even more sizzle, the 28 Nosler, and it’s already

getting noticed. While you’re reading this, I’ll either be preparing to attend, or already arrived at the annual National Rifle Association meetings in Nashville, and you can bet the farm and this fall’s deer tag that a lot of the people at that convention will be huddling around Nosler’s exhibit, finding out about this warp-drive big game buster. Like its older sibling, the 28 Nosler’s parent case is the .404 Jeffery, necked down to .28 caliber (7mm). It is being advertised as “the most powerful 7mm cartridge commercially available,” and considering the reported ballistics, that’s a pretty easy claim to back up. The .404 Jeffery is not a belted case, so you’ve got magnum horsepower out of a cartridge that does not have “magnum” written all over it. According to Nosler’s Zach Waterman, there are two initial ammunition offerings, from Nosler Trophy Grade ammunition of course. One pushes a 160-grain AccuBond, the bullet with the white polymer tip that I’ve personally come to favor in my .30-06 loads, and the other with a 175-grain AccuBond Long Range projectile. The 165-grainer leaves the muzzle at a phenomenal 3,300 feet per second, while the 175-grain bullet moves out at 3,125 fps. Those speeds are from a 26-inch barrel.

and at distances ranging from over 200 yards to almost 400 yards. The fourth buck tumbled to a 165-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip out of a Savage bolt-action chambered for the .308 Winchester at about 250 yards downhill. Polymer-tipped bullets have rather grabbed my fancy over the past few years because they won’t get dinged at the tip when running up a feed ramp into a chamber. I’ve loaded ammunition over the years with different polymer-tipped bullets of the same weight that work better in some rifles. But the common denominator is the tips stay intact and produce consistent accuracy in the rifles for which they’re tuned. This revelation merely reinforces what I’ve said in this space before about different firearms delivering different results with the same ammunition. I’ve seen this happen too many times to doubt it. But I digress. Waterman tells me that reloading data for the 28 Nosler will probably be available next month, but even if one has to wait until June, it will be worthwhile. Loading dies are already available from Redding and RCBS, he indicates, and my guess is that we’ll see Lyman and Hornady come up with dies soon, as well. The cartridge’s overall length is 3.340 inches, making it a long-action gem. What about the competition? Well, Hodgdon’s Annual Manual lists a load for the 7mm Remington Magnum using a 160-grain Nosler Partition that smokes along at 2,948 fps when fired up by 65.7 grains of Winchester Supreme 780, while my Speer Loading Manual offers one load with a 160-grain boattail that leaves the

muzzle at 3,012 fps ahead of 70.0 grains of Re25. At 175 grains, the Hodgdon manual lists one load for the 7mm Rem. Mag. warping along at 2,800 fps ahead of 68.0 grains of Retumbo.

WHY’S SPEED IMPORTANT? Anybody who asks that question anywhere west of the Mississippi ain’t from around here. Faster bullets shoot flatter, in less time and with less likely effect from the wind. A bullet that leaves the muzzle at 3,300 fps crosses 400 yards in less than a half-second. A big game animal will not hear the muzzle blast before the bullet strikes. By that time, noise comes too late to give an alert. The downrange energy of the 28 Nosler

LET’S TALK ABOUT that for a minute. The AccuBond is a marvelous bullet in my humble opinion. It’s accounted for three of the last four bucks I’ve clobbered over on the breaks of the Snake River, on a private ranch overlooking Lower Granite Dam,

The 28 Nosler is being advertised as “the most powerful 7mm cartridge commercially available.” Based on a .404 Jeffery necked down to .28 caliber, depending on bullet weight, ﬁres out of a 26-inch barrel at 3,100 to 3,300 feet per second. (NOSLER)

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COLUMN The 28 Nosler chambering is available in three riﬂes from Nosler: the M48 Patriot (pictured here), M48 Heritage and M48 Custom. (NOSLER)

is reportedly such that it rivals the muzzle energy of other popular cartridges. That is another consideration. We’re all after oneshot stops; humane and quick. The 28 Nosler chambering is available in three rifles from, you guessed it, Nosler. They’re all bolt actions: the M48 Heritage, M48 Patriot and M48 Custom. But I’m expecting other rifle makers to unveil models of their own because the 28 Nosler looks like it can deliver the goods out here in the West, where shots across canyons or prairies are pretty common, from the Missouri Breaks to the sage country of Arizona and New Mexico, southern Idaho and inland Oregon and Washington.

Meanwhile, the 26 Nosler is no slouch either. This cartridge sends a 6.5mm bullet downrange at speeds well in excess of 3,000 fps, depending upon bullet weight. When it was introduced a year ago, it impressed me, though I’ve never owned a 6.5mm/.26-caliber anything. But the ballistics got my attention. Any round that can send a 140-grain bullet toward a target at nearly 3,200 fps is worthy of attention, and for predator hunters, there is data available for a 100-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip that comes in just shy of 3,700 fps with a charge of 96.2 grains of US 869. That’s so fast it’s almost scary! With the right bullet and a good barrel, any cartridge will make its mark, though it’s always a little tougher for a new

cartridge to carve out its own niche when there are so many that have come before it with promises that may or may not have been delivered. Time isn’t the only thing that will tell whether the 28 Nosler is everything it could be. That will be determined by sales and, more importantly, notched tags, full freezers, wall mounts and smiles of satisfaction.

NEXT ISSUE New goodies for reloaders from Hornady, Redding, Lyman and Dillon, and why serious hunters should consider reloading. NS Author note: Always consult a current loading manual for the most up-to-date data, and approach maximum listed loads with caution.

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Don’t Get Left Behind This Turkey Season!

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SPRING & SUMMER CHINOOK AND CATCH & RELEASE STURGEON Trips for Salmon, Steelhead and Oversized Sturgeon, in Southwest Washington and Northwest Oregon

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On The Fly Guide Service still has some dates left! Contact Nate at (541) 951-6952 RQWKHÁ\JXLGH#FHQWXU\OLQN QHW ZZZ VRXWKHUQRUHJRQKXQWLQJ FRP APRIL 2015

Northwest Sportsman 171

MARKETPLACE Good Used Boats Repair Parts Quality Service Knowlegeable Staff

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nwsportsmanmag.com 172 Northwest Sportsman

APRIL 2015

MARKETPLACE

CLYDE REVORD MOTORS $10 OFF Any Regularly Priced Oil Change Limited Time Only.

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Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource

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CLYDE REVORD MOTORS

7900 Evergreen Way, Everett, WA 98203 • www.revord.com Sales: 888-483-9911 • Parts & Service: 888-813-9573

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APRIL 2015

Northwest Sportsman 173

ALASKA KETCHIKAN Timber & Marine Supply, Inc. 2547 Tongass Ave (907) 225-6644 www.timberandmarine.com IDAHO ST. MARIES St. Maries Saw & Cycle 204 W College Ave (208) 245-4544 www.sawandcycle.com

OREGON MEDFORD Crater Chain Saw Co 1321 N Riverside Ave (541) 772-7538 www.craterchainsaw.com PORTLAND St Johns Ace Hardware 7825 N Lombard St (503) 206-8633 www.acehardware.com WASHINGTON ANACORTES Seboâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hardware 1102 Commercial Ave (360) 293-4575 www.sebos.com

174 Northwest Sportsman

APRIL 2015

COLVILLE Sun Rental Center 380 South Main (509) 684-1522 www.sunrentalsaws.com DUVALL Duvall Auto Parts 15415 Main St NE (425) 788-1578 www.duvallautoparts.com ENUMCLAW Cutters Supply, Inc. 235 Roosevelt Ave (360) 825-1648 www.cutterssupply.stihldealer.net EVERETT Siskun Power Equipment 2805 Broadway (425) 252-3688 www.siskun.com

GIG HARBOR United Rentals 3302 Hunt St (253) 858-1234 HOQUIAM Harbor Saw & Supply Inc. 3102 Simpson Ave (360) 532-4600 www.harborsawandsupply.com LONGVIEW Cowlitz River Rigging, Inc 1540 Industrial Way (360) 425-6720 www.loggingsupply.us PUYALLUP Sumner Lawn N Saw 9318 SR 162 E (253) 435-9284 www.sumnerlawn.com