Northwest Sportsman Mag - June 2023

Inside: Special Advertising Sections

Inside: Special Advertising Sections

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Volume 15 • Issue 9

PUBLISHER

James R. Baker

EDITOR

Andy “Very Informative Tirade” Walgamott

THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS

Dave Anderson, Jason Brooks, Dennis Dauble, Scott Haugen, Jeff Holmes, David Johnson, Randy King, Buzz Ramsey, Tom Schnell, Dave Workman, Mike Wright, Mark Yuasa

EDITORIAL FIELD SUPPORT

Jason Brooks

GENERAL MANAGER

John Rusnak

SALES MANAGER

Paul Yarnold

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Lucas Hoene, Mike Smith, Zachary Wheeler

DESIGNER

Lesley-Anne Slisko-Cooper

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT

Kelly Baker

OFFICE MANAGER/COPY EDITOR

Katie Aumann

INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGER

Lois Sanborn

WEBMASTER/DIGITAL STRATEGIST

Jon Hines

ADVERTISING INQUIRIES ads@nwsportsmanmag.com

CORRESPONDENCE

Email letters, articles/queries, photos, etc., to awalgamott@media-inc.com, or to the mailing address below.

ON THE COVER

Austin Han hoists a kokanee he caught at Northcentral Washington’s Curlew Lake, which isn’t known for the landlocked sockeye but is stocked with them. He was running a Mack’s Kokanee Wedding Ring tipped with shoepeg corn behind a Rocky Mountain Tackle 4.25 Signature Dodger. (JERRY HAN)

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES

Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and get daily updates at nwsportsmanmag.com.

MEDIA

Fishing and Patrick Linkenheimer of Deadly Venom Tackle for their thoughts on terminal gear, as well as tips and tricks for koke fishing.

85 LOOK FORWARD TO FALL COHO, AND MORE

Following up on his Washington 2023-24 summer salmon planner last issue, Mark Yuasa scopes out this fall, winter and next spring’s best coho, chum and Chinook ops.

101 PORT OF HAUL

Tucked just inside the Columbia mouth, Ilwaco offers a great jumpoff to ocean summer salmon, bottomfish and tuna fisheries and family fun. Jeff Holmes previews the action, as well as chats up the proprietor of a local flyshop.

MIDCOLUMBIA WALLEYE HEATS UP

The outmigration of salmon and steelhead smolts down the Columbia makes for easy plug trolling success in the John Day Pool and elsewhere in the middle river. Jeff Holmes shares how to tap into this productive fishery – as well as what he calls “shadding,” a newer tactic for catching plentiful late-spring shad.

109 SHELLFISHING IN FRESHWATER

Not all Northwest crustaceans crawl around coastal bays and estuaries. Good numbers of crayfish can be found by tossing a trap or two into inland freshwaters. David Johnson sets us up for success!

129 THE COLUMBIA’S OTHER END

Hundreds of miles above the ocean, Lake Roosevelt and the free-flowing Columbia River above it host good trout fishing. Mike Wright sheds a light on these relatively overlooked redband rainbow waters.

(DAVID DALAN)

VISIT MOSES LAKE

Your Home Base For Adventure

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

© Breanna Singleton

75

BUZZ RAMSEY Get After Columbia Summer Kings

With roughly 84,000 summer Chinook expected back to the mouth of the Columbia this season, Buzz shares tips and tactics for catching these fat, fast-moving fish in the lower river.

COLUMNS

62 NORTHWEST PURSUITS June Means Summer Steelhead!

You’ll need to wake up waaaaay earlier than for their winter cousins, but summer steelhead provide a good June and July opportunity on select rivers west of the Cascades and on the coast. Jason highlights some of the best and how to fish ’em.

95 CHEF IN THE WILD Tales From The Zombie Fish-pocalypse

A coho angling trip to Alaska served up a lot of salmon for Chef Randy and friends, but also a nasty little infection from handling and cutting up all those fish. But don’t worry, Randy washed his hands before prepping this issue’s recipe – salmon with mustard sauce and wilted greens!

139 GUN DOG Pudelpointers: A Versatile Breed Intelligence. Ease of training. Great family pet. Those are just three of the qualities that Scott loves about a gun dog breed developed in Germany and perfected in Oregon. He shares the story of pudelpointers.

147 BECOMING A HUNTER Are You Really Ready?

Much of the focus of hunting is on harvesting an animal, but new hunters should also consider the physical and mental aspects. Dave A. details key challenges to think about before heading afield.

153 ON TARGET Why The .308 Is Great

With Washington’s new gun control hoops, Dave W. makes the case for why a rifle chambered for the .308 Winchester might be all you really need for any Washington big game – as well as some thoughts on said new firearms restrictions.

(BUZZ RAMSEY)

22

THE BIG PIC Siblings Up The South Fork

Between the Dauble brothers, the privileges and drawbacks of familial hierarchy and rivalry rarely fade with time.

DEPARTMENTS

21 THE EDITOR’S NOTE

On the 11th-hour move by lawmakers to order up a WDFW reform study

33 READER PHOTOS

Trout, trout and more trout, plus a few spring turkeys!

34 KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST WINNER

Our monthly Coast and Kershaw prize-winning pic!

37 THE DISHONOR ROLL

Game warden rescues commercial razor clammers; Kudos; Jackass of the Month

39 DERBY WATCH

Coquille River summer smallmouth derby begins; More upcoming events

41 OUTDOOR CALENDAR

Upcoming fishing and hunting openers, special events, deadlines, more

(DENNIS DAUBLE)

THE EDITOR’S NOTE

When Washington state legislators this spring gave the Department of Fish and Wildlife $23 million for new biodiversity work in the coming two years, they also snuck in an unsettling budget proviso requiring the agency’s governance, mandate and more to be reviewed and possibly reformed. It enraged sportsmen who had worked in support of the greater critter package, and even more worrisome is that the wording of the proviso – essentially, a diktat from lawmakers –mostly came straight from Washington Wildlife First, Wild Fish Conservancy and other organizations bent on twisting WDFW and the Fish and Wildlife Commission to their reformist agenda.

Basically, a university think tank will review WDFW’s governance structure, funding model, mandate, the commission, the “influence on the department by special interest groups,” how it uses “science and social values in its decision making,” complies with state laws, “(fulfills) its obligations as the trustee of state fish and wildlife on behalf of all current and future Washingtonians,” and more.

“This is a big deal,” a very prominent and dialed-in member of the Washington fishing and hunting world warned me.

To a degree, reformists have been foiled by the legislature’s twin mandate for WDFW, to conserve fish and wildlife and maximize angling and hunting opportunities. The solution: this proviso “setting out a roadmap for long-term agency change,” in their words.

MEMBERS OF TWO Washington sportsmen’s organizations were shocked and outraged after they’d lent their support to passing WDFW’s biodiversity package, meant to help myriad struggling fish and wildlife populations that need attention but unfortunately don’t have assigned funding sources like pursued game species do.

“It is beyond disheartening that the efforts of so many were coopted by a fringe element that seeks to undermine (WDFW) and its people through a reform movement targeting the most successful model of wildlife management in the world,” said Dan Wilson, Washington Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers secretary.

Marie Neumiller, who heads up the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council, was even more blunt in her personal assessment: “Whoever wrote that subsection burned a lot of bridges with their addition.”

“This may prove to have a broad impact on overall cooperative efforts for wildlife management in our state,” she said. “It might be hard for some to trust our state’s leadership knowing that something like this could be slipped in at the eleventh hour without public outreach or consultation.”

A report from the Ruckelhaus Center, which is performing the review and is jointly operated by Washington State University and the University of Washington, is due to Olympia by June 30, 2024.

We can cross our fingers it is performed in a professional, unbiased way, but this is also the culmination of Chapter 1 of all that I’ve been reporting on about WDFW and the commission since early 2020 – all the new commissioners, spring black bear hunting, Blue Mountains elk and lions, draft conservation policy, reformists, the governor’s new natural resources policy advisor, etc., etc., etc. – confirming big moves are afoot and Northwest sportsmen need to be paying closer attention to what’s going on. Here comes Chapter 2. –Andy

Walgamott

Through the looking glass: A Northeast Washington mule deer is backlit by light off a lake, not the sky. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)

Siblings Up The South

Author Dennis Dauble and his older brother Dusty (pictured) have been fishing the Walla Walla River since they were kids, often with the pecking order that comes with seniority. (DENNIS DAUBLE)

South Fork

Chasing Ghost Trout book excerpt: Between the Dauble brothers, the privileges and drawbacks of familial hierarchy and rivalry rarely fade with time.

By Dennis Dauble

My early flyfishing career was largely a learn-as-you-go experience. No instruction was provided on the art of casting or where to place my offering. With only a 6-foot hand-me-down fiberglass spinning rod at my disposal, I waded into the middle of the river to place a fly where others with conventional fly gear reached from the bank. I relied on a dropper arrangement –not to increase the odds of matching the hatch, but because extra weight allowed me to make longer casts. Instead of severing stray monofilament with nippers, I bit off leader with my crooked front teeth. Was I aware of flycaster terms such as the narrow loop and double haul? No way! My casting style resembled the snapping of a bullwhip. I never complained about what I didn’t have or couldn’t do, though, being raised to take what was given and make the best of it.

What credit my older brother deserves for furthering my angling skills had little to do with active mentoring. With birth dates six years apart, I sorted baseball cards while Dusty daydreamed about large-breasted cheerleaders. One positive aspect of our relationship was that I never lacked for moth-eaten Brown Hackles and other fly patterns that he no longer found useful.

At some point in time, though, I noticed my trout were smaller in size than his. This belated observation led to questions about technique, location and equipment. Mostly I wanted to know what my brother knew that he wasn’t sharing. For example,

he never discussed which flies worked, which ones didn’t, or where and why he used certain patterns. It was always about how many fish and how big. And like I said, he always came out ahead.

FOR YEARS, WE started fishing at a place called Lower Demaris, where a spring flows clean and pure from a cast iron pipe stuck into the brush-lined hill. A cobble-lined island once split the South Fork of the Walla Walla River into two channels there. The main channel was characterized by a series of deep holes formed by current surging against impassable bedrock. Dusty relegated me to a small side channel that consisted largely of pocket water, shallow riffles and an occasional small pool. This venue kept me entertained until things began to add up.

A defining moment occurred shortly after we waded across to the small island. When I told Dusty that I wanted to fish upstream along the larger arm of the river, he said, “No, no. You just go where you always do. You’ll do just fine.”

His underlying tone provided no option for me except to dutifully obey. However, from that moment on, I knew

I had been had. The brief exchange also laid the foundation for future interaction on the stream. The phrase “once burned, twice shy” comes to mind.

From that day forward we acted like

two barnyard roosters after the same piece of seed corn. We jockeyed for position, violated personal distance and hogged more than our fair share of good water. These self-centered behaviors chewed up stream miles and often led to losing track of each other’s whereabouts.

Over the next several years, Dusty inherited Grandpa Harry’s split bamboo rod and, in turn, handed his trusty Shakespeare Wonder Rod down to me. Thrilled to possess a real fly rod, I was too naive to know that I got the worst end of the deal. Competition for the best water evolved from casual to fierce once I learned to cast farther and with greater precision.

TIME MARCHED ON to a hot summer day when wasps swarmed on every seep in the South Fork trail. Dusty and I did not discuss strategy until we paused to drink from the familiar hillside spring at Lower Demaris. Wandering over to the river, we found the South Fork had rearranged its route, as rivers often do. The two arms had combined to become a single channel, leaving us with no choice but to split up. Sharing casting space remained a foreign concept at the

The remains of an old fireplace stand near the river, emblematic of the strength of familial bonds across the decades. (DENNIS DAUBLE)

Growing up, Dennis “never lacked” for hand-me-down flies from his brother, but catching smaller trout with them spurred questions about how Dusty caught more and bigger fish. (DENNIS DAUBLE)

time and the idea of slipping into the river to wash the dust and sweat from my legs appealed, so I elected to begin fishing.

Wading through thigh-high current to reach the opposite shore, I worked through a stretch of broken water to where a tabletop-size boulder split the river’s flow. A deep pool beckoned where strong flow ricocheted off a bedrock wall.

Big hole, big trout, I thought.

Selecting a Yellow Stimulator, I crouched to keep a low profile and peppered the pool margin with a series of quick short casts. Sensing trout had retracted deep to avoid the sun’s bright glare, I cast into the tongue of the current and let my fly tumble and sink. I mended my line to extend the drift to where flow hesitated, let the fly hang, and skittered it back along the surface. When that ploy failed to result in a strike, I repeated the drill, but trout proved fickle.

I worked my way methodically upstream without raising a single trout until I met up with Dusty at the planned rendezvous location. But rather than take a break, I left him to continue fishing. Back then, I couldn’t eat, drink or rest until I had caught a self-imposed quota of trout, and I hadn’t done that yet.

Moving upstream to a stretch of familiar water, I approached a shoreline blanketed in yellow monkey flower, mountain aster and oxeye daisy in full bloom. On the south-facing canyon slope, stately ponderosa pine towered over scattered basalt outcrops and sun-dried bunchgrass. A pair of Vaux’s swifts swooped low over my head and disappeared into the streamside canopy. The melody of water running over smooth stone created a grand state of mind.

A STEADY BARRAGE of strikes from eager trout soon rewarded me. But only after I creeled two freckled 10-inchers with bronze gill covers splashed bright crimson did I pause to consider what happened to Dusty. It’s easy to forget about fishing partners when trout are biting.

“Did Dusty pass by me on the trail?” I wondered. With only two hours remaining before we had to return to the trailhead, that SOB better be close by. Admittedly, we had not settled on a plan. A free-form

Dusty takes a break along the river. Dennis is resigned to the fact that in the end his brother will always fish the spot he wanted to work. (DENNIS DAUBLE)

approach to fishing is standard behavior in my family. Sharing specifics is considered an impediment to changing our minds.

Returning to the main trail, I hiked upstream past a cluster of seasonal cabins with mule deer racks mounted above front porches. A heavyset man in a bright-blue tank top bent over a hand scythe. I waited until he paused to look my direction before asking if another fisherman had come by. The man wiped his brow with the back of his hand and shook his head no before he returned to whacking weeds.

Fifty yards farther brought me to a pair of sticks positioned crosswise in the trail. Absent divine intervention or grand insight, I resumed walking until a similar arrangement appeared in the trail. You might think I had homed in on a distress marker for a person gone astray, but I had no clue if they indicated direction of travel or showed where he cut back to the river.

An analytical mind is a deterrent when too little information is provided.

My anxiety grew as I bushwhacked through waist-high snowberry bushes that hadn’t seen foot traffic in years. No footprints, no trail of bent grass, no Dusty. Only when the sun slipped behind the south ridge did I figure that he would have to return to the trailhead like a milk cow for evening hay. Holding fast to that thought, I proceeded down the trail until I came upon a pair of sticks that formed a distinct “V” pointing downstream. My heartbeat quickened when I recognized the dimpled impression of wading shoes in the soft powder of the trail.

Afternoon shadows stretched across the canyon wall as I high-tailed it after the string of fresh footprints. The tang of dry conifers wafted from crooks in the trail like odor from the back of a city diner. The occasional “click, click, click” of nervous quail accompanied the hollow cadence of my footsteps. I sidestepped boulders and overhanging brush that were conveniently ignored earlier, back when

trout were on my mind and anticipation hung in the air like a low fog.

A FAMILIAR FORM appeared at the last road crossing that afforded summertime access for cabin owners upstream of Lower Demaris: red bandana wrapped around a thick mane of snow-white hair, brown cotton shorts, bare chest under a gray fly vest. A closely cropped salt-andpepper beard and mustache balanced his oval face. Dusty’s broad stance and look of concentration reminded me of our Grandpa Harry in his prime. The general impression, however, was less a classic flycaster than a mountain man who lived off the land.

Steadying himself on creaky knees, Dusty approached a promising hole where swift current cascaded over a mosscovered boulder. His Royal Stimulator passed through a narrow shaft of sunlight and settled on the water’s surface like a miller moth. At the end of the drift, where the force of current sucked down the fly, a small trout flashed.

“You missed him!” I shouted.

Dusty turned to deliver the same terse look Mom used to settle me down as a naughty child. Casting sidearm, he took his own sweet time as if to show it was I who had messed up the rendezvous. But I took the first shot.

“Why didn’t you make a direction arrow with that first set of sticks? I didn’t have a clue where you went after finding those dumb X’s in the trail.”

Dusty counterpunched like a sparring partner who knew all the champ’s moves. “I wasn’t sure where I was going either. But evidently, you figured it out.”

I failed to come up with a clever comeback. Or perhaps I kept my mouth shut for once, knowing that bickering is generally not fruitful when trout are involved. We sat on the edge of the river, put our feet in the water, and discussed our best fish. The subject of wasted time did not come up. Some thoughts are better left

unsaid. Not all feelings need to be shared.

I CLEANED OUR brace of keepers, tossed their entrails into the river and watched the carnage disappear in swift current while Dusty puffed on a Lucky Strike. Flicking his cigarette butt aside, he grunted when I advocated hiking straight to the trailhead. Walking side by side now, we skirted muddy seeps, climbed bare slopes and dropped down to where the well-worn trail melded with a road rutted by four-wheel-drive traffic.

Only when the trailhead loomed close did a particular thought take form, unlike most that roam around in my head like prairie cattle spooked by heat lightning. Dusty and I both expected the other to magically appear after we each had our fill of fishing. All this time I blamed my consternation on him. And all this time, I cussed him for exactly the same reason he cussed me. This realization should not have been a surprise, since we were cut from the same bolt of cloth. The real question is, What took me so long to figure it out?

I have since resigned myself to the fact that Dusty still gets to fish where he wants. He gets his way by waiting me out and not disclosing where he wants to fish until my attention deficit kicks in and I veer off the trail to wet my line. Despite achieving such grand insight, it’s unlikely our approach to fishing the South Fork will change anytime soon. It’s not that our relationship lacks trust; rather, that we’ve learned to be cautious about what the other might be thinking. Call it what you want, but the privileges and drawbacks of sibling hierarchy rarely fade with time. NS

Editor’s note: Dennis Dauble is the author of five award-winning books about fish and fishing. This essay is an excerpt from his most recent book, Chasing Ghost Trout, a memoir that traces five decades of fishing for trout and steelhead in streams that flow from the western flanks of Northeast Oregon’s Blue Mountains. His books are available for purchase at Amazon.com, KeokeeBooks.com and on his website, DennisDaubleBooks.com.

Mike

Jeff Morrow

had “a great opener,” harvesting five longbeards over three days in still-snowy

CONTEST)

Walker, Harper, Bella and Brooklyn had a great time at the Eatonville, Washington, Lions Club derby at a local mill pond, all limiting and winning prizes for their catches, including a mountain bike for Walker! “Thank you, Lions Club, for such a great kids derby,” says Randy Hart Jr., who is Brooklyn’s grandpa and Bella’s uncle. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

Our February issue served up inspiration for Ashley Stanley to try trolling Hot Lips and Bandit plugs for Mid-Columbia walleye. She and hubby Bill caught fish up to 32 inches. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

A short sit and a tight shot yielded a very nice gobbler for Tucker Lynn outside Spokane. His dad, Brian, who is vice president of marketing and communications for the Sportsmen’s Alliance, said it was a fun hunt with “strutting, gobbling, drumming and spitting (toms). Great times and memories!” (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

For your shot at winning great fishing and hunting knives from Coast and Kershaw in our Knife Photo Contest, send your full-resolution, original images with all the pertinent details – who’s in the pic; when and where they were; what they caught their fish on/weapon they used to bag the game; and any other details you’d like to reveal (the more, the merrier!) – to awalgamott@media-inc.com or Northwest Sportsman, 941 Powell Ave SW, Suite 120, Renton, WA 98057. By sending us photos, you affirm you have the right to distribute them for use in our print and Internet publications.

Spring turkey hunters

Bolt and his uncle Steve (above) and Mike’s buddy

(below)

Northeast Washington woods. (KNIFE PHOTO

The plan that day was to fish for landlocked coho at a large Southwest Washington reservoir, but the salmon weren’t on the bite. Fortunately for Bob Searl, the triploids were. He and buddy Marvin Holder filled their limits with rainbows from 14 to 19 inches. “Typical baits here range from small salad shrimp microwaved for 30 seconds to make them rubbery, eggs and the good old faithful nightcrawlers,” tips Holder, who says Wedding Rings tipped with worms can also be cast from the bank in select steep spots. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

“Didn’t need anything else but a Rooster Tail and some sunshine,” says Jessica Faris about a good day of spring brown and rainbow trout fishing at Northeast Washington’s Waitts Lake. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

“Big numbers and big fish.” Needless to say, Adam Perez enjoyed this year’s wild winter steelhead fishery on the Sauk River. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

An early May trip up to Rufus Woods Lake yielded fat triploid trout and walleye for Terry Moore. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

Kayden and Parker Wiles smile over their opening day limits, caught at a Western Washington lake. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

PHOTO CONTEST MONTHLY Winner!

Game Warden Rescues Commercial Clammers

By Andy Walgamott

KUDOS

ASouthwest Washington game warden rescued a pair of hypothermic commercial razor clammers on the Willapa Spits after their boat became disabled and one had begun to write a goodbye note to his girlfriend.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Sergeant Todd Dielman was heading home from working a recreational morning dig when he heard a vesselin-distress call issued by Pacific County Dispatch. The two clammers were said to be both wet and cold, and the weather was worsening as the wind and rain picked up and the tide came in and covered the spits. According to WDFW, due to hypothermia in their hands the men’s phones somehow wouldn’t recognize their thumbprints but they were able to use the Siri function on the devices to call 911 and kickstart a rescue.

However, the call dropped and the only thing known about their location was that they were on the spits, a series of sandbars at the dangerous mouth of Willapa Bay that

are only accessible by boat.

“Sgt. Dielman is familiar with this area of Willapa Bay. He ran to Nahcotta with his small rigid-hull inflatable vessel and headed out to look for the men,” reported WDFW Police.

The Coast Guard and Pacific County were eventually able to get a better bearing on their location and Dielman soon spotted the men and their boat, tied up to a crab pot on Willapa Bay south of Tokeland. Sea conditions at that point were reported as a 4- to 5-foot wind chop with 20 knot winds.

Fortunately, Dielman was able to get a rope to their boat and tow them north to the Tokeland Marina and safety.

“Once at the dock both men thanked Sgt. Dielman. One of the men, fearing the worst, told him he had started to write a note to his girlfriend in case he never saw her again,” WDFW Police stated.

Where the recreational razor clam season runs from fall to spring, the commercial fishery is April 1-June 14 in 2023. The spits are only open to commercial clamming.

JACKASS OF THE MONTH

You’ve probably seen the famous Simpson’s newspaper-headline sight gag “Old Man Yells At Cloud” that went on to become an internet meme.

Well, Oregon has a similar curmudgeon: “Dude Who Hates Geese Flying Over His House.”

Details come from the March 2023 newsletter of the Oregon State Police’s

Fish and Wildlife Division. A trooper based in St. Helens responded to call about a man shooting a shotgun over the Crown Zellerbach Trail, and at the scene the officer learned he had been targeting a flock of geese flying over his house without thinking about where the pellets would rain down. The grumpy goose guy said he’d hit one of the birds but couldn’t find it, and he also admitted to never having hunted waterfowl, nor knowing whether season

Central Oregon second-grader Wyatt Wismer is doing something about the problem of deer poaching in the Bend area. As part of a school project, he got ahold of some anti-poaching signs from the state and took them around to local businesses, which allowed them to be hung up. “I did this project because a lot of people poach when they’re not supposed to,” Wyatt told Central Oregon Daily for a late April story. The lad had encouragement from his hunter dad, Nathan Wismer, who drove him to a local fly shop to make the pitch to hang a sign on their entry door. Past research has shown that poachers kill more deer in the region than legal hunters and are more likely to take does, impacting future generations.

Wyatt told the news outlet he was hoping to get an A on his project “because I’m doing a good job at it.” Kudos, kid! (SCREENSHOT VIA CENTRALOREGONDAILYNEWS.COM)

was even open or closed.

For good measure, he told the trooper he’d shot at geese two days beforehand, and for extra good measure, he appeared to be under the influence of alcohol.

Where Abe Simpson and his cloudthreatening fist will live on forever, Dude Who Hates Geese Flying Over His House was arrested for reckless endangerment and cited for unlawful attempt to kill geese and hunting during a closed season.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Sergeant Todd Dielman tows a pair of commercial razor clammers whose boat became disabled on the Willapa Spits in midspring. (WDFW)

Coquille Summer Smallie Derby Begins

There’s a $10,000 fish swimming in Oregon’s Coquille River, where the 2nd Annual Small Mouth Bass Derby kicks off on June 3 and runs through September 10. Eighty smallies have been microchipped and are worth $20,000 in prizes during the event that begins on Free Fishing Weekend. It adds to efforts by the Department of Fish and Wildlife and Coquille Tribe to control numbers of the invasive species illegally dumped in the coastal river and believed to be “associated with the collapse of the fall Chinook runs,” per ODFW.

“No one expects the fishing derbies to eradicate bass from the river altogether,” derby organizers said in 2022. “But each bass caught is one less month devouring native salmon smolts.”

Oregon House Bill 2966, passed this year with near-unanimous support from legislators, waives wastage rules in derbies that are meant to “benefit native fish species or the ecological health of the body of water,” allowing participants to not have to make use of any bass they remove, encouraging higher catches.

Tickets are $20. Bass can be scanned for microchips at select times and locations. Other cosponsors include the Port of Coquille River, the state’s Salmon Trout Enhancement Program and 3J Ranches. For more info, see thepocrd.com.

By Andy Walgamott

MORE UPCOMING EVENTS

 Now through end of respective fishing seasons: Westport Charterboat Association Lingcod, Halibut, Chinook, Coho, Albacore Derbies; charterwestport .com/fishing.html

 Now through Oct. 31: WDFW 2023 Trout Derby, select lakes across Washington; wdfw.wa.gov/ fishing/contests/trout-derby

 June 2-4: 2023 Annual Mackinaw Derby, Odell Lake; odelllakeresort.com

 June 10: Kokanee Power of Oregon Green Peter Derby; kokaneepoweroregon.com/derby

 June 16-17: 2nd Annual Kokanee Derby, Wallowa Lake; crossthedivide.us/fishing-derby-2

 June 17: Kokanee Power of Oregon Green Peter Kids Fishout; info above

 June 17-18: CRWAA-Ron Sawyer Moses Lake Walleye Classic; crwaa.profishingtournaments.com

 July 8-9: Washington State Governor’s Cup Walleye Tournament, Lake Roosevelt; lakerooseveltwalleyeclub.com

A half-digested Coquille River salmonid smolt recovered from a smallmouth. (ODFW)

CALENDAR OUTDOOR

JUNE

1 Grimes Lake (Central Washington) fishing opener; Upper Skagit and Cascade Rivers hatchery spring Chinook openers; Area 10 coho and Area 11 hatchery Chinook openers

3 ODFW Family Fishing Events, Henry Hagg and Small Fry Lakes, Alton Baker Park, Marr and Twin Ponds, Cooper, Olalla and Silverton Reservoirs, and Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery – info: myodfw.com/articles/take-family-fishing; CAST For Kids fishing event on Lake Charles (Albany) – info: castforkids.org; WDFW Panhandle Lake (Shelton) Kids Fishing Event – info: panhandlecamp.com

3-4 Oregon Free Fishing Weekend

8 ODFW Intro To Hunting Workshop (register, $10), Newport – info: myodfw.com/workshops-and-events

10 Idaho Free Fishing Day; CAST For Kids fishing event on Bowman Pond (Winston) – info above; WDFW Spearfish Lake Kids Fishing Event – info: wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/contests/youth; Washington State Archery Association

3D Championship, Tacoma Sportsmen’s Club – info: wsaa.wildapricot.org

10-11 Washington Free Fishing Weekend

12 Oregon controlled hunt draw results expected

16 Columbia River hatchery summer Chinook and sockeye opener from AstoriaMegler Bridge to Pasco; Lower and middle Skagit River sockeye opener

17 Areas 3-4 Chinook and hatchery coho opener; Oregon Central Coast hatchery coho opener

17-18 Rods and Reels in Need Fish Expo 2023 and Kids Fishing Event, Thurston County Fairgrounds – info: facebook.com/donateyourgear4kids

24 CAST For Kids fishing event on Emigrant Lake (Ashland) – info above

25 Oregon Coast north of Cape Falcon and Areas 1-2 Chinook and hatchery coho opener

JULY

1 Leftover big game tags go on sale in Oregon; Start of Oregon Youth First Time hunt application period; New Washington fishing regs pamphlet takes effect; Areas 5-6 hatchery Chinook openers; Steelhead closures begin on Washington-side Columbia Gorge tributary mouths

8 23rd Annual Merwin Special Kids Day, Merwin Fish Hatchery (register by June 23) – info: wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/contests/youth

10 Area 12 south of Ayock Point hatchery Chinook opener

10-16 Oregon Central Coast spring all-depth halibut backup dates (quota dependent)

13 Area 10 hatchery Chinook opener

13-15 Areas 7, 9 hatchery Chinook retention days

15 Deadline to purchase Washington raffle hunt tickets; Steelhead closures begin on Oregon-side Columbia Gorge tributary mouths

20-22 Area 9 hatchery Chinook retention days

24-30 Oregon Central Coast spring all-depth halibut backup dates (quota dependent)

27-29 Area 9 hatchery Chinook retention days

30 CAST For Kids event on Yaquina Bay – info above

AUGUST

1 Oregon and Washington fall bear openers; Columbia from west Puget Island line upstream to Highway 395 bridge in Pasco Chinook and hatchery coho opener; Steelhead retention closes on the Columbia from Buoy 10 to The Dalles Dam

1-20 Buoy 10 salmon fishery opens, hatchery Chinook and hatchery coho only

3-5 Oregon Central Coast summer all-depth halibut dates

6 2023 Washington State Duck and Goose Calling Championships, Sumner Sportsmen’s Club, Puyallup – info: facebook.com/ WashingtonStateDuckAndGooseCallingChampionship

17-19 Oregon Central Coast summer all-depth halibut dates

21-23, 28-30 Buoy 10 salmon fishing closures

24-27 Buoy 10 salmon fishery open, hatchery Chinook and hatchery coho only

30 Idaho deer and elk bowhunting season openers in many units

17th Annual Brewster King Salmon Derby

August 4-6 at Columbia Cove Park

$20,000 in cash and prizes!

A Fun, Family-Friendly Fishing Event

Tickets on sale through August 1, 2023. Buy tickets online at brewstersalmonderby.com. No tickets will be sold at event. For more information visit brewstersalmonderby.com or call 509-686-1184 or 509-449-0605. Hosted by the Brewster Chamber of Commerce.

509-449-0605

brewstersalmonderby.com brewsterwachamber.com

PRESENTED BY

DESTINATION CANADA HUNT • FISH • TRAVEL

Events Calendar

JUNE 11-18

Excellent lake trout & walleye fishing. For details visit nradventures.com

JULY 9-16

Perfect fishing for the “Grand Slam of the Rockies” (lake trout, pike, walleye, rainbow trout, bull trout & Arctic grayling). For details visit nradventures.com

AUGUST 6-13

Prime fly fishing (rainbow trout, bull trout & Arctic grayling). Excellent pike fishing. For details visit nradventures.com

AUGUST 22-26

6th Annual Charity Fishing Derby For details visit joessalmonlodge.com

NORTH RIVER OUTFITTING

NORTHERN ROCKIES ADVENTURES

WESTVIEW MARINA

JOE’S SALMON LODGE

MILLERS NORTH OUTFITTING

Premium BC Fly-in Fishing Trips

The Grand Slam of the Rockies, your next B.C. fishing trip…

Looking for a new B.C. fishing trip this or next season? The province’s hidden gem, the Muskwa Kechika and Northern Rockies, harbour some of the best freshwater fishing in North America. Monster 30+ lbs Lake Trout and 4ft Northern Pike rival any salmon; the best part is freshwater catch rates are way higher! And where is this Muskwa-Kechika? Well, it’s quietly tucked away in the top eastern corner of British Columbia, this massive ecologically protected area covers roughly 46,000 sq. miles of pristine nature. An absolute fishing paradise, only fully accessible via floatplane!

Let’s say you join us for an exclusive fly-in fishing trip in June or July, what’s an angler to expect? You’d be fishing in Prime spincasting season for wild native fish. Trolling for Big Lakers, Northern Pike and Walleye (yep Walleye in BC!). In our remote mountain lakes, you’ll barely keep the fish off your hook. Rising for the first hatches and eager to feed are wild Rainbow Trout, Bull Trout and Arctic Grayling, fish ever keen to take a spoon or fly. Looking to catch the Grand Slam of the Rockies? The sweet spot is right from early June into the late July, all six trophy B.C. Freshwater species in one trip! Coupled with unparalleled scenery, hospitality, premium all-inclusive roundtrip fishing packages from Vancouver, Northern Rockies Adventures gives you even more reasons

Looking forward to fishing with you!

Urs Schildknecht Guide, Bushpilot, Operator

Luring In Kokanee

Tackle experts Jeremy Jahn and Patrick Linkenheimer share their thoughts on terminal gear, as well as tips and tricks for koke fishing.

By Tom Schnell

With the sound of the alarm going off, I rolled out of bed looking forward to another day out on the water. The smell of freshly brewed coffee could not come fast enough. My mind was already going wild thinking about what we still needed to do to get going and making sure we had not forgotten anything. But as we headed to the boat ramp to begin our day, the

sudden dread hit me, as it often does: What are the kokanee going to want today? Sure, yesterday was red-hot, but today? Who knows! These fish can be finicky. What works one day may not work the next. That is one of the challenges of chasing these silver bullets – just what lure or lures will be the one(s) they want now?!?

When it comes to kokanee gear, there are a lot of different makes, models, shapes and colors. It can become overwhelming choosing

where to start and what to use. In the May issue of Northwest Sportsman, I discussed dodgers and the critical importance they play in catching kokanee. But the lure trailing behind the attractor may be just as important. In my search for what makes a good kokanee lure, I decided to reach out and get some sage advice from two Pacific Northwest kokanee tackle manufacturers.

Running multiple rods can help zero in on what the kokanee want to bite at any particular time. But because different lures and dodgers perform best at different speeds, only one style of each should be used at a time. (JEREMY JAHN)

JEREMY JAHN WITH KokaneeKid Fishing

FISHING

“When it comes to lure selection,

(kokaneekidfishing.com) is a longtime kokanee angler, former kokanee fishing guide and current tackle manufacturer. When asked what makes a good kokanee lure and what he looks for when selecting one, he shared the following insights:

Istarted making lures with the help of my dad, Chester Jahn. He was very instrumental in me learning about kokanee. I still try and make lures the way my dad would have done using only high-quality components. When it comes to lure selection, I live by Buzz Ramsey’s rule of fishing: “Let the fish tell you what they want.” Kokanee are super finicky. I will say that finding fish is super important and then once you find them, stay on them. Then the key is to find out what they want. Fishing for them can be like a chess match. I keep trying to keep them in check until they stop hitting

my gear. I cannot stress (enough) the importance of good electronics. I run Garmin electronics on my boat because I am confident it gives me the info that I need when targeting kokanee. Another important tip I have learned over the years is that you can learn a lot of things from talking to people at the dock and fish-cleaning stations. There is a lot of information out on the internet, but you won’t find most of the old-timers who really have it dialed in on the internet. Take the time to educate yourself. Most of the time people are missing one or two variables that can make the difference between catching fish and going for a boat ride.

Once I get out on the water, I try and fish as many rods as possible. I start off with a variety of different lure colors and actions and then slowly dial it in from there. Once I get it dialed in, I slowly tweak it to what they want. I

feel that the color and action of your lure are the two most important parts of your setup.

For me, the most important thing is color – I would say color and color combos. I like pink and orange. I will typically start off with a combo like a pink Mysis Bug with a silver blade and an orange Mysis Bug with a gold blade. I will throw in some white and green too just to see what they are wanting that day. I use actual silver and 24-karat gold, as they both give off better light reflectivity than chrome and brass.

I think that lure action is the next most important thing when selecting a lure. Each lure has its own action and part of that action can be controlled by leader length. I run all my leaders the same length – 8 inches from the swivel to the front of the lure. The exceptions to that are lures like Apexes and Wiggle Hoochies. You don’t want the dodger to mess up the action of

I live by Buzz Ramsey’s rule of fishing,” says Jeremy Jahn of KokaneeKid Fishing. “‘Let the fish tell you what they want.’” (JEREMY JAHN)

lures that have their own action, so I recommend people run those up to 28 inches. Everything else I run short. I control the action of the lure with the speed of the boat. I can do that if all of my tackle is tied at the same leader length. The speed of the boat will then dictate the lure action. For me, boat speed is majorly important. I will start off with a general range of around .8 to 1 mph in the spring, then go to 1.2 to 1.4 mph in the summer, and in August I am up to around 1.6 to 1.9 mph. For me, it’s like tuning into a radio station. Get it in range and then dial it in. And don’t be afraid to change the speed. Too many times people get set on a certain speed instead of adjusting it to

what the fish want.

As far as depth, there is a misconception that kokanee only look up, which is not accurate. I run very advanced Garmin electronics and I have watched them go from 30 feet and dive down to 90 feet with no problem. They will move a long distance to see what is in their area. Your presentation is not a food source; you are trying to irritate them to strike. They are like sparrows that are going after a hawk. They are not trying to eat your lure; they are trying to attack it and get it out of their area. They are very territorial. Kokanee will follow the lure and take swipes at it trying to get it out of their space.

If you are losing fish, 90 percent of the time it is human error. I like to run my downrigger releases super loose and then I am slow to grab the rod once the fish hits it. One thing I tell people is (to use) “a slow and steady retrieve.” If the fish is fighting, I stop reeling all together and just let them fight. The only time I reel fast is if they are on top of the water and I am just skimming them to the boat. Go slow! Most people reel way too fast. Losing fish is the nature of fishing for kokanee and most of the time it is because people are trying to force the fish into the boat.

Having good electronics allows you to see where the schools are and how they are behaving. “They are not trying to eat your lure; they are trying to attack it and get it out of their area. They are very territorial,” says Jahn.

(JEREMY JAHN)

Smaller lures such as KokaneeKid’s Mysis Bugs can result in big fish, like this one caught by Debbie Jahn on Wallowa Lake. (JEREMY JAHN)

Back when I was guiding for kokanee on Odell Lake, I had a bass angler and a salmon angler for clients. They kept wanting to set the hook and then reel in the fish superfast. They missed 12 fish in a row because they were trying to yank them in (by) reeling way too fast! I kept telling them, “Well, that’s one more fish I don’t have to clean.” I finally told them to think of it like it is this month’s paycheck, along with their truck keys and their wallet, and all of that is attached to their fishing hook. Reel really slow. The next fish that hit I would not let them reel it in. I dragged that poor thing around for like 20 minutes before I finally let them reel it in. I think it was half drowned by the time they got it to

the boat, but they finally landed one. After that they finally got the idea of slow and gentle retrieve.

For my mainline I run 15-pound mono when longlining and 8-pound for downrigger rods. I like the smaller diameter line for downriggers, as it cuts through the water column better so there is less blowback. For leader I use the heaviest I can that allows me to get the line through the eye of the hook, and for me that is 15-pound P-Line Fluorocarbon.

Speaking of hooks, I make all my gear with size 4 Gamakatsu octopus hooks. I have had good luck with them over the years and do not care for the larger size hooks, as the bigger hooks add more weight to the lure, which in turn dampens the lure’s action.

I use the smallest barrel swivel I can too, as I want the most contact area I can get on the swivel to the dodger to get the maximum action I can out of it. I use a rolling barrel size 10. Some people think it is too small, but I like how lightweight it is and that it imparts maximum action between the dodger and the lure.

When it comes to bait on my lure, I prefer only white shoe-peg corn. I don’t use maggots, nightcrawlers or shrimp, as I feel with that type of bait you tend to attract other species of fish more. I am a stickler on how I put the corn on the hook too. Only one kernel per hook and lightly hooked with the cut end of the kernel pointing back towards the fish. This provides better hydro efficiency and it also slowly disperses the scent out of the corn. If I am adding scent, I like using the ProCure water-soluble scents.

I cannot emphasize the importance of bait and scents on lures. A few years back I saw a couple come into the dock with only one fish and they were asking people what they were doing wrong. People were giving them all types of advice as to what color to use, how deep to fish, what tackle to use, and it went on and on. I went over to see if I could help them any and when I looked at their setups, their gear was fine. Nothing wrong with it;

their setups all looked great. Baffled at what it could be that they were doing wrong, I finally asked them what bait they were using. They looked at me puzzled and said, “What bait?” They had no clue that they needed to put something on the end of their hooks! I gave them some of our corn and the next day they were back at the dock to tell me they had caught 20 kokanee using all of the same gear as they had been fishing before, other than they used corn on their hooks this time.

One thing I also tell people is to buy a black UV light. I use mine anytime it is still dark out or if I am fishing deep to charge up my glow lures. I also take it along when I am buying tackle to see the fluorescent quality of the lure and beads. I don’t go shopping without it.

My one last piece of advice is this: There is no right or wrong way of catching kokanee. Take pieces of information from others and make it your own. The way someone else fishes will be different than how you fish, and that is OK. Make it your own. Go have fun.

PATRICK LINKENHEIMER WITH Deadly Venom Tackle (deadlyvenomtackle .com) has been fishing for kokanee for many years in the Pacific Northwest, as well as videoing them underwater to see how they behave and what makes a good kokanee lure. Linkenheimer generously shared the following when asked about kokanee lures:

Istarted making kokanee tackle after I saw a gap in the market. There is a lot of gear out there, but a lot of it is the same stuff. I want things that are different, so I am always experimenting with new ideas. I have filmed thousands of hours of kokanee underwater attacking or not attacking lures, watching their every move. From that I have seen what works and what does not. It has helped me design a lot of my own gear too. I won’t put anything out on the market that I have not thoroughly tested and am convinced will work.

Corn placement on the hook can have a critical impact on the performance of smaller kokanee lures. Jahn says the proper method is to use one kernel per hook, with the cut end facing away from the lure and lightly hooked on the top end of the kernel. (JEREMY JAHN)

I am a big fan of microbaits like the KokaneeKid Mysis Bugs and the Mosquito Spinners that I make. When I say microbaits, I mean 1½ inches or smaller. I stumbled onto the smaller baits a while back while fishing a Wedding Ring spinner. I was catching a few fish on it and the leader finally broke on me, so I retied it using just one of the stack beads and the blade. It was about half the size of the original spinner. The results spoke for themselves. I started catching a lot more fish with it and then the light

bulb went on. Since then, I have been fishing with microbaits for kokanee and trout. One of my pro-staff, Kenny Howard, confirmed this by taking one of my Mosquito Spinners that I make and redesigned it even smaller with super-tiny beads and blades. It was about half an inch long and he started putting a lot of fish in the boat with it.

I now really like small beads and small blades. My latest creation is what I am calling the Tasmanian Cut Plug. It is 1½ inches long and only 3/8 inch wide and has been deadly for kokanee so far.

I will tell you, though, it took me about 30 variations to get the right action. I did a lot of testing and underwater camera footage of it to make sure I was getting that rolling and darting action that kokanee seem to react to.

One question I get asked a lot is, “How deep are you fishing?” This is where good electronics come in handy. If you see the fish on your fish finder, put your gear on the fish. Putting your gear above the fish has been debunked by all the underwater video I have studied. They are attracted to your gear by the vibration set off by your dodger and lure, not from the sight of it. I have seen them come down 10 feet to a lure. They feel the lure well before they see it. And adjust your gear to where the fish are. Don’t just keep your gear at the same depth all of the time. Different schools will be at different depths. If you are seeing jumpers, it means they are on the top. You won’t see these fish on your fish finder. They will shy away from the boat as it goes over them. These are the ones you want to target longlining.

If you are marking fish but not catching any, change it up. If I am confident in my gear, then I will change the speed, lure, dodger and then bait (scent), in that order.

When it comes to speed, I am not a fan of the S-turns. I really don’t like getting my gear tangled up or, worse yet, cutting someone else off when doing those maneuvers. What I will do, though, is throttle up or throttle down. I have watched a lot of kokanee underwater and they will follow lures for a long time without striking them. By changing speeds intermittently, it causes the dodger and lure to have a different action, causing the fish to strike more aggressively. Often when I change up the speed, I will get a strike.

If I am not sure what speed to start with on a new lake, I will talk to the locals via Facebook or a local tackle shop. They can be great insight on what is working on that lake. I usually start off at around 1.3 mph and then vary the speed depending on what the fish want, and it will change. I

“Gold and red make fish dead” is one of Patrick Linkenheimer’s favorite sayings about kokanee terminal lure colors. He operates Deadly Venom Tackle and is known for analyzing hours upon hours of video to see how the fish react to his lures. (PATRICK LINKENHEIMER)

will troll as slow as .8 up to 1.8 mph, depending on the lake and the time of year. Water temperature has a lot to do with it. In the wintertime when the water temperature is colder, I will troll slower, while during the summer when the water temperature is warmer, I will speed things up. I have found that August is when I probably troll the fastest, as the fish become like a pack of wolves attacking their prey. They are pretty aggressive that time of year and a blast to watch on film.

When it comes to color, I am a big fan and believe in fluorescents. A lot of people confuse UV with fluorescents. UV is an additive put into paint and is different from a fluorescent color. Above 30 to 40 feet fluorescent colors don’t really matter too much, but once you go below 40 feet it is important to have fluorescent colors. When I go shopping for beads, I like to bring along a black UV light to see which ones are UV enhanced or fluorescent. It can make a big difference.

I use both plastic and glass beads on

lures, depending on their application. I like small, so I use between 3mm to 5mm beads paired up with 0/0 Colorado and size 0 willow blades. If using metallic beads, I will tend to use the smaller ones in the 3mm range. I am a big fan of small gold beads. I like to say, “Gold and red make fish dead.” I like that combination, along with orange and gold.

First thing in the morning I am going to lean towards darker colors and then shift towards the lighter colors as the sun starts penetrating

Linkenheimer likes micro-sized lures such as this Tasmanian Cut Plug, placed next to a dime for comparison. He’s found that smaller presentations tend to result in more fish. (PATRICK LINKENHEIMER)

the water more. I use a lot of glow on my dodgers, but not on my lures – just a personal preference – and I have found I get more action from the dodgers with glow in low light and when fishing deep.

One of my favorite lure colors now is a pink/pearl combo. I will have that combo on at least one rod all the time. I have never been a big fan of chartreuse, and I don’t really know why. Each lake has its favorite color, though, so don’t be afraid to change out until you find out what color is working. Take Lake Stevens here in Washington, for example. That is a chartreuse lake, while Merwin Reservoir tends to be more pink and orange.

When it comes to hook size, I used to fish size 4 octopus all the time because that is what the industry dictated; now I use size 2 Gamakatsu finesse wide gap or split shot/drop shot in fine wire. At Deadly Venom Tackle, we only use Gamakatsu split shot/ drop shot hooks. They are twice the

Proper leader length can be one of the most important aspects of kokanee fishing. Both of our experts stress that short leaders tend to entice more strikes, as they impart more action from the dodger. (PATRICK LINKENHEIMER)

FISHING

money, but I have found they have better landing rates. I am not a fan of the octopus style of hooks that most manufacturers use. I did not have the hook-to-landing ratio that I have now with the split/drop shot hooks. That fine wire can really penetrate different parts of the gill plate and head, and holds. I found that with the heavier wire octopus hooks they often tore out, losing the fish.

I use a 10-pound leader, along with a 15-pound mono mainline. I use the heavier mainline rather than leader because dodgers are expensive. If I get hung up on some underwater object, I would rather just lose the lure than the whole setup. I use mono because of its stretch. It can have up to a 25-percent stretch quality and I want every opportunity to land that fish that I can. I am not a big fan of braid because of its lack of stretch and how it catches on everything. If I am going deeper than

60 feet and want to avoid blowback I may fish braid, but I top it with 25 feet of mono topshot.

A question I get asked a lot is how long of a leader I use. I am a huge fan of short leader length, as it imparts the maximum amount of action from my dodger to my lure. Experiment with your leader length from your dodger, though, to get the right whipping action. Each dodger and lure is different, so make sure to test the various combinations.

Although not lure-related, one piece of advice is when reeling in, do a slow and steady retrieve. Do not force them in and whatever you do, do not set the hook. Just take your time and gently bring them to the boat. I like to say that tiny baits and slow and steady wins the race.

The last piece of advice I would give is this: Above all, take others fishing and have fun. This is a great fishery that can be shared with many.

Happy fishing.

SAGE ADVICE FROM two well-known and respected kokanee tackle makers. As I reflected on the information Jahn and Linkenheimer shared, one thing struck me that they both mentioned: Have fun.

Go fishing, make it your own experience, share it with others, buy a black light for perusing tackle at the store and, most importantly, have fun. Here is to many fun-filled adventurous days out on the water chasing silver bullets. Tight lines and fish on! NS

Editor’s notes: This is part four in author Tom Schnell’s spring-summer series on fishing for kokanee. In February, March and May he covered fishery basics, rods and dodgers. Schnell is an avid outdoorsman who lives with his wife Rhonna in Central Oregon. He is a past board member of Kokanee Power of Oregon and a past local Ducks Unlimited and Oregon Hunters Association president.

You’ll need to wake up waaaaay earlier than for their winter cousins, but summer steelhead provide a good June and July opportunity on select rivers west of the Cascades and on the coast. (JASON BROOKS)

June Means Summer Steelhead!

NW PURSUITS

By Jason Brooks

une is the official start to summer, and for several weeks before the solstice, fresh steelhead trickle into local rivers and streams. With winterrun seasons cut short or nonexistent, depending on where you prefer to fish, the summer fishery does offer a bit more opportunity, though there are still many hurdles and challenges.

One of the main draws to summer steelhead fishing is that there are often fewer anglers out chasing after them. In the doldrums of winter, anglers do not have too many options, figuratively and literally, so the rivers that are open get crowded

Jquickly. Summer steelheaders, however, also compete with great hiking weather, alpine lakes becoming snow- and ice-free, ocean, walleye and bass fisheries, and other activities that draw attention away from fishy rivers.

True, you still won’t have the river all to yourself, but there are places that you can hike to or just enjoy an evening of fishing with some good friends and fellow anglers. Another plus to summer steelhead fishing is that the longer days mean more hours to chase fish or to just get away for the early morning bite and then enjoy the rest of your day. Several years ago – well over 20, in fact; time flies – I found myself with some friends fishing the famed Cowlitz from Blue Creek to Mission Bar. We did not launch early, instead opting to fish

at midday, and it was a typical summer afternoon – sun high and hot; water low and clear – and we still caught fish.

RIVER FLOWS START to drop in early June and by the end of the month they come to their summer levels. This means knowing how to fish in low and clear water. Downsize everything, from your baits to rods and line. An 8½-foot medium-action rod rated for 8-12-pound line is the basic drift fishing rod for summer steelhead. Load up the spool with 10-pound monofilament and tie up some 8-pound fluorocarbon leaders rigged with a size 2 Gamakatsu octopus hook. Tip the hook with a sand shrimp tail or a small gob of cured salmon roe, along with a 1to 2-inch piece of ¼-inch pencil lead, and cast it into a riffle. You could do this all day

long and have a chance to catch a summer steelhead. That is the best thing about these fish: You can go to the river with one rod setup and just enjoy the day. But if you are serious about putting some summer-runs in the boat or on the bank, there are some other options that can help do just that.

Jigs under a float will catch both summer- and winter-runs, and you can use the same rods. The smaller summer fish do not require a heavy or sensitive float rod, but the float is critical. Good friend Chris Clearman often uses natural cork floats for summer steelhead. As the water is often low and clear, he told me years ago that the natural wood color of the cork float looks like a piece of driftwood and will not spook the fish.

Jigs are often downsized to 1/8 or even 1/16 ounce and more bug-like colors are used to catch fish. Blacks, browns, reds and a combination of nightmare (red, white and black) are top producers. Light-colored pink and peach jigs, shades resembling the shrimp that the fish feed on while in the ocean, also work.

Dylan Chlipala, a South Puget Sound

angler whose father Brian and I own a drift boat together, can be found chasing summer steelhead in about every river that is open to fish for them. He does prefer the smaller coastal rivers, where he takes our drift boat out and bounces it off exposed boulders in the shallow waters while float fishing or using bait divers and coonstripe shrimp. It is his top-producing bait, and one he cures himself with a secret combination starting with a base of ProCure Prawn and Shrimp cures.

The bait diver and either a small coonstripe shrimp or just its tail is a technique that works on about every steelhead river and the best part is that if you find a seam or can anchor up just above a tailout, you can put out the rods and kick back to enjoy the day. It’s common on the Columbia River, where anglers find a shallow ledge along one of the many sunken sandy islands and then let the fish come to them. It’s the same concept on the smaller rivers, where the steelhead will make their way up, using riffles for cover from predators or to rest in tailouts.

One late summer day, my father drove

over the mountain passes to meet us at the Blue Creek launch for a day of steelhead fishing. We motored across the river and each time we slowly backed the boat down to the tailout, a steelhead grabbed our coonstripe shrimp. It took a few fish for my father to learn how to fight them to the net, but eventually we limited and cruised back across the river to the ramp. It was a great afternoon of fishing but not much for exploring, as we only fished about 200 yards of river.

That is the thing about summer steelhead: They often hold in the same water, so once you find a productive spot you can come back and catch fish. Get out and explore and find those spots.

AS FOR WHERE to go, check out recent years’ smolt releases (wdfw.wa.gov/ fishing/reports/stocking/steelhead) for your best chances at finding hatchery fish. The Cowlitz is no secret, no matter the time of year. While known for winter steelhead fishing, the river actually receives more summer-run smolt plants. In 2021, 644,696 young summer-runs

Downsize your floats and consider using a natural cork bobber with jigs from 1/8 or even 1/16 ounce. Nightmare is a popular jig pattern. (JASON BROOKS)

No doubt that the Cowlitz sees the largest single summer-run smolt plant, but rivers like the Wynoochee, Skykomish,

were released for return starting this year. (To put things into perspective, the winter smolt release was 595,804.) Other Lower Columbia tributaries that get good-sized hatchery plants include the Klickitat (92,268), Washougal (86,251), Lewis (162,341), Kalama (75,194) and, of course, Southeast Washington, Idaho and Northeast Oregon rivers, though mainstem Columbia fisheries for those steeelhead will be constrained due to a “bleak” Idaho B-run forecast.

For anglers wanting to hit the coast, the Chehalis system’s Wynoochee received 61,110. This river can see low water and is dam-controlled, so be ready to drag

the drift boat or just plan on hiking along its banks in the lower section. The Wynoochee also has a lot of private land along the middle and upper stretches, so don’t think you can reach the best holes by parking the car and walking to the river.

If you really want to go for a good hike and explore rivers with summer steelhead, head further north on the Olympic Peninsula and try the Calawah. It received 31,486 smolts in 2021 and is popular with fly fishing anglers.

When it comes to Puget Sound summer steelhead there are very few options anymore, but the most popular is the Skykomish, with the Reiter Ponds stretch

OREGON OPTIONS

True, it might not be like the old days, but a number of Western Oregon rivers provide hatchery summer steelhead fishing, some with a side of springer.

The list of coastal systems includes the Nestucca, Three, Siletz, Umpqua and Rogue, while inland it’s the Sandy, Clackamas, Willamette, McKenzie and the Santiam and its North and South Forks. And, of course, there’s also the Lower Columbia.

Catches and peak of fishing vary year to year, of course, but June, July and even August produce Beaver State summer-runs. –NWS

being the place – and the only place – to fish this year. The Sky from High Bridge east of Gold Bar down to the mouth was only scheduled to be open for hatchery steelhead and hatchery summer Chinook for three days in late May and is “closed until further notice.” The issue is that a combination of a low forecasted return of wild Chinook and the Skykomish’s and other fisheries’ impacts on those salmon leaves relatively few for the in-river summer hatchery-based fishery.

JUNE MEANS THE lazy days of summer and summer steelheading are here. These fish might not be as big as their winter cousins, but it is nice to hike along a riverbank or jump in the boat wearing just a T-shirt and shorts instead of layers of wool and fleece. Be sure to grab a good pair of polarized sunglasses, a lightweight rod and some wading shoes. As the month goes along, river levels drop and you can start to find the fish in typical holding water. Get out and enjoy the summer weather and some steelhead fishing. NS

Klickitat and Kalama see returns as well. (JASON BROOKS)

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Get After Columbia Summer Kings

The roughly 84,000 summer Chinook expected to return to the Columbia River later this month and next can offer good fishing for hardfighting salmon that can weigh as much as 30, 40 or (on rare occasions) 50 pounds. Don’t get me wrong, summer Chinook come in all sizes from jacks to adults, with the average 5-year-old bouncing the scale at 20 to 30 pounds. If you love fighting what might be a really big salmon, this is one fishery to not overlook.

For many of us old-timers, the opportunity to fish for and keep a summer Chinook from the Columbia River is a heartfelt dream come true. You see, summer Chinook were once the most numerous of Columbia River salmon. For example, for much of the 1880s the annual average return amounted to 4 to 5 million fish each and every year.

Their numbers dwindled over the subsequent decades for a multitude of reasons, but the clincher came in 1941 with the construction of Grand Coulee Dam, which permanently blocked the majority of their spawning habitat. “Can’t have really big salmon runs with the majority of their habitat gone” is how some biologists explain the current status of the population. After Grand Coulee went in and with the addition of even more dams, the summer salmon population dropped so low (around 40,000 annually) that anglers like you and me weren’t allowed to conduct a targeted fishery for 29 years.

This all changed in 2002 when the season opened west of Bonneville Dam, thanks to the fin-clipping of hatchery fish, which allowed us to target those Chinook and release the wild, endangered

This summer Chinook fell for a spinner trolled in combination with a Fish Flash on the Lower Columbia. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

BUZZ RAMSEY

ones. The other factor benefitting salmon was the result of Endangered Species Act mandates requiring flow and spill (regardless of snowpack) in order to move a greater portion of the outmigrating smolts over the top of federal dams rather than through their deadly turbines.

FOR THE AREA extending from the AstoriaMegler Bridge near the mouth of the Columbia upstream to the U.S. 395 bridge in Tri-Cities, this year’s summer Chinook season is scheduled to open June 16 and run through the end of July. The late June timeframe is when the fish are most numerous in the lower river, with the run peak at Bonneville Dam on most years happening during the last week of the month. These salmon are programmed to move upriver quickly. They return during a time when spring runoff is diminishing and the big hurry is all about reaching their cool-water sanctuaries before summer’s

heat warms the big river.

Because these salmon are in a rush to reach their upstream destinations, Lower Columbia bank and boat anglers have traditionally relied on still-fishing presentations. And because ocean tides influence when and where there will be sufficient current to work stationary lures, it pays to know the timing of the daily tidal movements. You can obtain this information via a tide book, available at sporting goods stores, or a phone app like Tides that will show you the time of the tide for various locations along the river.

And while still-fishing is an effective method, many anglers are finding success trolling when flooding ocean tides slow or stop the river current. The key here is to realize that these salmon may not always be found holding near bottom when the current goes slack. According to guide Jack Glass (503-260-2315), the fish can often be found running 20 feet from the

surface over deep water during this time period. He’s caught them trailing a deepdiving Mag Lip on a flat line, as well as on small size 3.5 spinners or red-label herring fished in combination with a Pro-Troll.

Some of the popular lower river launch sites include: Cathlamet, Longview (Willow Grove), Rainier, Richfield, Portland’s 42nd Street/NE Marine Drive (M. James Gleason), Vancouver (Marine Park), Chinook Landing (located off Marine Drive near Fairview), Beacon Rock (Discover Pass required) and Hamilton Island, which is located a mile west of Bonneville Dam off Washington’s Highway 14 – take Dike Road and go west.

The Fishery Marina, a popular private launch on the Oregon side of the river nearly across from Beacon Rock, is only allowing access with the purchase of an annual pass costing $600/$800. As of this writing, the owners have sold out of the daily launch or parking passes for the season.

Author Buzz Ramsey remembers taking he and wife Maggie’s two sons out on the first modern-day summer Chinook season in 2002, when the fishery reopened after an extended closure. “We anchored near Ives Island downstream from Bonneville Dam where each boy landed one of the hefty fish. Blake kept a 28-pound fin-clipper, while Wade landed and released one that might have tipped the scale at somewhere in the 35- to 40-pound range,” Ramsey recalls. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

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BOATERS ANCHOR FISHING in the Columbia rely on a combination of salmon-size plugs and small- to medium-sized spinners for success. What might produce best just depends on current speed. Generally speaking, spinners produce best when and where currents are fast-moving, while plugs take the win when the flow is slower. Summer kings like smaller spinners than their fall cousins, with sizes 4, 4 1/2, 5 and 5 1/2 being the most popular for plunking on anchor.

Although summer Chinook will occasionally go for just about any spinner blade color, I’ve had the best success with

copper (which works all the time), genuine gold and 50/50, sometimes in combination with paint, like one of the rainbow-tip patterns, when the sun is bright. Full-paint blade colors like fluorescent red, rainbow or chartreuse work too. While fluorescent red can produce anytime, chartreuse and other full-paint colors generate the most strikes during the early morning (when the light is low) or when overcast.

When it comes to salmon-size plugs, the M-2/K-14, T-50/K-15 FlatFish/Kwikfish, and Mag Lip 4.0 and 4.5 produce best when currents are slower-moving. For FlatFish/ Kwikfish you might try a 50- to 60-inch

leader combined with a weight-dropper line of 18 to 24 inches. Keep in mind that while a 24-inch weight-dropper line might be right for a FlatFish/Kwikfish setup, you will likely need to go with a longer dropper of 30 to 36 inches when plunking a deep-diving Mag Lip. Some of the more productive plug colors include fluorescent red, fire starter, feeder, keeper, and the old standby, silver/ chartreuse “head” (lemon head).

YOU’LL FIND STEADY current all the time if you fish near Bonneville, where the upriverbound run stalls before finding a pathway through this massive slab of concrete. Given

This image shows a collection of some of the spinner color combos Ramsey has had luck with. He reminds anglers to use a medium-sized spinner when fishing on anchor for moving fish, while trolling in slower or stopped water with a Pro-Troll flasher means downsizing to a size 3.5 lure. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

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that the water temperatures are warmer in June than earlier in the season (temps are normally in the mid60s during the latter half of the month), you will likely find these fish running deeper in the water column. We’ve had the best success anchoring from Beacon Rock to the fishing deadline near the dam in depths ranging from 14 to 25 feet.

Keep in mind that while you may find Chinook traveling in 10 to 14 feet of water during the early morning, when the light is low, the fish will likely move their migration path to deeper water as the sun intensifies.

Bank anglers plunk a size 2 Spin-N-Glo, sometimes in combination with a hoochie squid draped over a tuna or sardine ball wrapped in fish egg netting just above the hook. Another way to add scent is to tip the trailing hook with a prawn. Some of the more popular Spin-N-Glo colors include stop-n-go (red and chartreuse), fluorescent red, clown and lime green. Just as with spinner blades, metallic color combinations can work when the sun is bright. NS

Editor’s note: Buzz Ramsey is regarded as a sport fishing authority, outdoor writer and proficient lure and fishing rod designer.

Jarod Higginbotham holds a summer Chinook he caught from the Columbia River on a bait-wrapped T-55 FlatFish while on anchor. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

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Look Forward To Fall Coho, And More

By Mark Yuasa

We kicked off Washington’s 2023-24 salmon fishing season possibilities in the May issue, and now let’s visualize more places to get out on the water from this October through next April!

Many anglers tend to hang up their gear once September rolls past,

Following up on his Washington 2023-24 summer salmon planner last issue, Mark Yuasa scopes out October-April ops.

but you’ll be surprised to know that fall and winter fisheries are worth your time. Just don some layered clothing and raingear and get out to catch some fish!

For more than a decade, Evergreen State salmon fishermen have become more adaptable, as no salmon season mirrors another. In other words, don’t keep your boat tied up at one

place or your boots planted on the shore of one river system. Instead, be willing to move around from location to location to maximize your time on the water, as well as success.

OCTOBER

Fall is peak time for migrating coho and look for them in central and southcentral Puget Sound (Marine

Following spring and summer salmon seasons, the arrival of wild and hatchery coho in October should keep Washington anglers on the water, including Puget Sound, Strait of Juan de Fuca, Grays Harbor and myriad rivers. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)

Areas 10 and 11). Both areas are open for a nonselective coho fishery from October 1-31.

The combined Puget Sound hatchery and wild coho forecast is 800,560 – up from 636,952 in 2022 and 614,948 in 2021 – and should provide good fishing in some marine areas.

In Areas 10 and 11 work the deepwater shipping lanes off Jefferson Head, Kingston/President Point area, Richmond Beach south to Meadow Point north of Shilshole Bay, Point Monroe, Shilshole Bay south to West Point, Elliott Bay, Blake Island, Fauntleroy Ferry area southeast to Dolphin Point, both sides of Vashon Island, Redondo Beach to Dash Point and the Tacoma area.

In the Strait of Juan de Fuca, both Sekiu (Area 5) and Port Angeles (Area 6) are open October 1-15 for a nonselective coho fishery.

The Sekiu area is known to produce some large-sized oceanrun hooknose coho and they can be found just about anywhere if the baitfish schools are present.

Keep in mind that the coho highway along the entire stretch of the Strait is located well offshore, usually anywhere from a mile to 2 miles out in 200 to 300 feet of water and even deeper off the edge of the main shipping channels. Keep a sharp eye out for tide rips and current breaks where krill, baitfish and hungry birds tend to attract coho.

It is a relatively easy fishery, and coho are usually found early in the morning and late in the day from right on the surface down to 50 to 125 feet. Even though downriggers are effective when trolling at those depths, many fish are caught by anglers simply using a 4- to 6-ounce banana weight trolled behind a whole or cut-plug herring. On some days when the coho are thick you can even skip-troll a bucktail fly or a “cut-plug hot dog wiener” –verified by yours truly – with scent along the surface.

In the eastern Strait, the Dungeness Bay coho fishery is open October 16-November 30. The 2023 coho forecast for the Dungeness River is 14,654 compared to 9,133 in 2022.

Several fall fisheries offer a chance at both silvers and Chinook. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

In southern Puget Sound’s Area 13, fishing is open year-round for salmon. From October 1-May 14, 2024, the hatchery Chinook minimum size limit is 22 inches, and release wild coho and Chinook and all chum. In Deep South Sound try around the Squaxin Island area, where a good number of hatcheryproduced coho – the 2023 forecast is 45,417 – should yield decent action.

In Hood Canal (Area 12), the 2023 forecast of 112,710 coho (up from 81,614 in 2022) should provide excitement and areas south of Ayock Point are open from October 1-31 for coho only, release chum October 1-15. Areas north of Ayock Point are

open daily through October 31 for a fishery directed at coho only.

The La Push Bubble Chinook Fishery (Area 3) is set to be open October 3-7 only, but you should recheck the regulations before going, as this fishery had an emergency closure in 2022. The daily limit is one Chinook with a minimum size of 24 inches.

Many anglers tend to give up on Buoy 10 at the mouth of the Columbia River once the Chinook have passed, but others stick around for a robust hatchery coho fishery that is open daily in October. A decent return of coho should keep the good times rolling well into fall.

Along Washington’s southcentral coast is Grays Harbor (Area 2–2), and east of the Buoy 13 boundary line is the gateway to some of the best fall coho fishing opportunities. If last year’s coho returns are an indicator of expectations this coming fall, anglers might be wise to put Grays Harbor and neighboring rivers on their to-do list.

For the second year in a row, anglers should see a coho return larger than any seen in the past six years, as well as a run of natural coho that could be one of the best dating back to 2014. Much of this is thanks to higher marine survival rates due to improved ocean conditions.

The Washington Department of

Chum runs have picked up a bit in recent years after a series of poor returns. The species provides most of the last of the year’s salmon fisheries. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

Fish and Wildlife is forecasting a relatively decent Grays Harbor basin return of 214,271 fish (102,841 wild; 111,430 hatchery) compared to 198,719 (120,381 wild; 78,338 hatchery) in 2022, which was up dramatically from 76,518 (44,843 and 31,675) in 2021. This forecast is based on ocean abundance of threeyear-old adult fish prior to the start of any fisheries.

The harbor’s coho fishery mainly occurs in the south channel (referred to as the East Bay Grays Harbor Fishery) just outside of the Johns River

boat launch, just west of Aberdeen off Highway 105. It is open through October 31 with a two-salmon daily limit, release all Chinook, and then November 1-30 the daily limit is one salmon, release all Chinook.

Anglers start their trolling pattern at the “Goal Post,” a set of rotting wood pilings that is the entrance marker to the Johns River, and then point the bow of the boat due east into the south channel.

The south channel is a trough running east to west along the shoreline toward the Chehalis

River mouth. Many anglers use the O’Leary Creek mouth or Stearns Bluff, a landmark hillside just east of the Johns River, as the ending spots for their troll pattern.

Fishing gear consists of a 6- to 10-ounce cannonball to a three-way slip swivel with a triangle-shaped rotating flasher and a 6-foot leader attached with a cut-plug herring and/ or a spinner lure.

Let out 12 to 25 pulls of fishing line – this is a shallow-water fishery, with depths of 15 to 35 feet – so your bait or lure presentation is spinning just off the sandy bottom or at middepth when you mark fish higher up in the water column.

Just upstream of Grays Harbor, there is an active troll fishery during the fall on the lower Chehalis River from the Montesano boat launch to the lumber mill and from the Friends Landing boat launch to a couple miles below the Wynoochee River mouth.

Several Puget Sound rivers open for salmon fishing too, including certain sections of the Nooksack, Skagit, lower Snohomish, Green, Puyallup and Nisqually (only hatchery coho may be retained). Be sure to check specific regulations, emergency closures and when fishing is open by going to the WDFW website or regulation pamphlet.

Quick October nibbles and bites: Lake Washington north of the Highway 520 Bridge is open for coho through October 31. On the mainstem Columbia from west Puget Island upstream to Bonneville Dam, salmon fishing is open October 1-December 31 for hatchery coho. From Bonneville upstream to the Highway 395 Bridge at Pasco, fishing is open through October 15 for Chinook, release wild coho below the Hood River Bridge, and from October 16-December 31 it remains open but release Chinook and wild coho downstream of the bridge

Be sure to also keep tabs on the Lower Columbia tributaries, as certain rivers like the Lewis have a proposed salmon season open from October

Next winter’s blackmouth fisheries are again very limited, and of note, the Sekiu season has been pushed back a month and will open in April in 2024. Even so, plan on going earlier rather than later. (MARK YUASA)

FISHING FISHING

1-December 31 and the Cowlitz can produce some fun for late-season hatchery coho.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

Hood Canal is open November 1-30 for chum and popular places include Hoodsport Hatchery terminal fishery area, Eagle Creek south of Potlatch State Park and the public-access shores off Highway 101 from Eldon to Hoodsport. The Hood Canal fall chum forecast is 231,153.

Many coastal river fishing options come to life for salmon in the fall and early winter, including the Humptulips, Hoquiam, Wishkah, Chehalis, Wynoochee, Satsop, Skookumchuck and Newaukum. The Chehalis from the Highway 101 Bridge to Fuller Bridge is open through December 31 for salmon (release all Chinook). The Chehalis upriver of Fuller, plus the Hoquiam, Wishkah, Wynoochee, Satsop, Black, Johns and Elk are open October 1-December 31 for salmon (release all Chinook). The Skookumchuck and Newaukum are open October 16-December 31 for salmon (release all Chinook).

Of all the coastal rivers, the Humptulips stands out for lateseason salmon options. Fall Chinook and coho begin to arrive in early October and can be decent well into December. Fishing is open October 1-31 for salmon (only hatcherymarked Chinook and coho can be retained) and from November 1-December 31 for hatchery-marked coho only.

On the southern coast there are also some options to catch coho, including on the Willapa, Naselle and North Rivers. The normal-timed coho run is typically made up of hatchery fish and the late run is typically wild coho. The best time to fish for these fish is November through January.

In the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the Dungeness River is open for coho from October 16-November 30, and up to four hatchery coho may be retained.

Whatever water you choose, be

sure to check the WDFW regulations for when fishing is open, what salmon species you’re allowed to keep and any gear or special rules in effect.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY

The marine area fishing options are slim during this timeframe, but you can still find some winter hatchery Chinook and resident hatchery coho lurking in southern Puget Sound (Area 13). Under proposed 2023-24 permanent regulations, the mainstem Columbia from the I-5 Bridge down to Buoy 10 is open daily from January 1-March 31 for early spring Chinook fishing. Next year’s springer forecasts will come to light sometime in early winter, and these fish primarily enter freshwater from February through June – although some poke their noses in by January – with the peak occurring in March to early and/or mid-April.

MARCH

Winter Chinook fishing opportunities begin in earnest with Puget Sound’s Areas 10 and 11 opening March 1-April 15. Each marine water could close sooner if the total encounter threshold or sublegal fish under the 22-inch minimum size limit and wild “unmarked” fish encounters is achieved prior to mid-April.

Locating baitfish, knowing key underwater structure and understanding tidal influence are key during the winter fishery. Most fish tend to hunker down right off the bottom, with trolling, mooching bait or jigging the preferred methods.

Most fishermen will target winter Chinook – commonly referred to as “blackmouth” for their dark gumline – off the Clay Banks at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, Point Dalco on the southwest side of Vashon Island, the “Flats” outside of Gig Harbor, Southworth, Allen Bank off the southeast side of Blake Island, West Point off Shilshole Bay, Point Monroe, Richmond Beach to Shilshole Bay, Kingston/President

Point, and Jefferson Head.

Area 13 is also open year-round and most will work Gibson Point, south of the Narrows Bridge on the west side, Hale Passage, Fox Island, Johnson Point and Anderson Island.

APRIL

In the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Sekiu will be open for winter Chinook from April 1-30 with a total landed estimate of 1,400 fish (1,400 in 2022 and 1,726 in 2021). That opener is a month later than this year, but here’s a pro tip: Make sure to book your trip on the front end of the season rather than later because fishing could close if the preseason projected catch is exceeded.

Sekiu is known for producing larger-sized fish in late winter and early spring. Chinook range from 5 to 13 pounds, with a few hitting 15 to 20-plus pounds. The key to success is locating baitfish and fishing certain areas during an outgoing or incoming tide.

Most will start at the “Caves” located around the corner of the breakwater from the resort docks, and head toward Eagle Bay. Other choices are the green buoy off Slip Point, Mussolini Rock, the Coal Mine and Slide areas, or further east to Cod Fish Bay and Pillar Point. Troll with downriggers using a rotating flasher with a whole or cutplug herring, plugs, spoons, Needlefish or a variety of plastic squids. Others will drift or motor mooch with herring or use jigs like a Point Wilson Dart, Crippled Herring, Dungeness Stinger or Buzz Bomb.

Lastly, be sure to check the regs for any updates or emergency closures. To find a complete list of planned salmon fisheries throughout Washington in 2023-24, go to wdfw .wa.gov/fishing/management/northfalcon/summaries. NS

Editor’s note: Mark Yuasa is a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife communications manager and longtime local fishing and outdoor writer.

Tales From The Zombie

Fish-pocalypse

CHEF IN THE WILD

By Randy King

The zombies in the water were unnerving. Some floated, having spawned but just hadn’t died yet. Others still swam in place, waiting for an eagle, a bear or, more likely, the Grim Reaper and certain death. Sure, it was all sorts of circle of life stuff, but I was haunted by the sights nonetheless. The small river we were fishing had had several salmon runs so far that season, so walking anywhere near or on the bank meant we were often stepping on fish carcasses. It smelled about as good as you can imagine.

But according to recent reports, a new run of coho was on hand. We just needed to locate them. We became nomads of the streams. We’d catch a fish or two here, a fish or two there until we found “the spot.” A small stream intersected the main river and created a small eddy that the fish stacked up in. Soon we were catching limits each morning.

THIS MEANT PROCESSING a lot of fish, which I felt was my responsibility. I was the “tag along” for the journey. The other two guys knew each other from work and I was the plus-one for my buddy, the safety-net friend who just might save a fishing trip. So, to provide some sort of value to the group and because I am a chef, I cooked dinners most nights. And since I was the only “pro” with a knife, I took on the salmon-cutting duties as well.

Sadly, I can be a little cavalier about the cutting up of animals. I advocate using gloves, and often do so myself. But with fish I usually forgo gloves and bare-hand process them. Each day on this trip I would process our fish into filets we would then freeze at the lodge we were staying at.

As the days passed, more and

A coho angling trip to Alaska served up a lot of salmon for author Randy King and friends, but also a cautionary tale about a nasty little infection from handling and cutting up all those fish. (RANDY KING)

SAUCY SALMON

Sob story about my infected thumb aside, I did bring home a metric crap load of fish from that Alaska fishing trip. I’ve eaten most of it at this point, but this spring weather inspired me to create a nice light dish with yogurt, mustard and greens.

THE SAUCE

1/3 cup Greek yogurt (I use/buy the honeyflavored kind)

1 tablespoon brown mustard

1/8 cup diced red onion (about a quarter of a medium-sized onion)

¼ cup diced strawberries

½ tablespoon dill

Salt and pepper

Add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix to combine. Let stand, refrigerated, until ready to serve the fish. You can make this up to a day ahead of time before the strawberries start to get funky.

THE FISH

4 8-ounce filets of salmon (preferably about 1½ inches thick)

¼ cup unsalted butter

Salt and pepper

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Dry the salmon filets with a paper towel. Extra moisture will cause oil to pop and splat around and possibly burn you and others nearby. Heat a 12-inch sauté pan on medium heat for two minutes. Add the butter to the pan. When the butter is melted but not quite brown add the salmon filets to the pan, skin side up. Let the salmon cook for five to seven minutes, or until the fish is GBD – golden brown and delicious-looking. See photo above for reference. When salmon is browned on the flesh side, carefully flip the filets and then place the pan in the preheated oven. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the fish is done. Reserve the hot salmon on a plate.

THE GREENS

1 tablespoon butter

6 cups salad greens or spinach

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Carefully remove the salmon from the sauté pan. When removed, add the butter to the pan. The heat from the oven will melt the butter. Add the greens and season with salt and pepper. Wilt the greens in the hot pan.

Bringing it all together, place an equal amount of wilted greens on each plate. Place a cooked filet of fish on the greens. Top each salmon portion with a quarter of the yogurt sauce.

Garnish by drizzling olive oil on the plate and with a few splashes of balsamic vinegar. Enjoy! –RK

Salmon with mustard sauce and wilted greens. (RANDY KING)

more little scratches and war wounds accumulated on my hands. The fish have teeth, the hooks have barbs, and my knife was sharp. My hands were getting a little beat up. Our lodge owner advised us to cover all our cuts and scrapes with Neosporin and bandages each night to prevent infection. I did as directed.

ONE DAY, AFTER limiting out in the morning, we decided to change streams. We grabbed our fly rods and headed to the inlet of a small lake. The fish liked to

congregate there, or so we were told. After hiking in and enjoying ourselves – no fish were around – we began the drive back to the lodge. On the way, for some reason my forearm was aching. I had not noticed it before – maybe the hike or the fishing had distracted me.

I was massaging my arm when I bumped my thumb on something in the cab of the truck. The mind-numbing pain was unexpected. I removed my bandagecovered thumb and gazed down at a purple infected thumb. Panic set in. This

was my left hand. This was my second favorite thumb! Had it spread all the way up my arm? Was that why my arm hurt so much?!? I tried not to panic as we came back into cell service and quickly began googling my symptoms.

It seemed, according to the pictures on the internet, that I had managed to catch a fun little infection called fish handler’s disease while processing all my group’s fish in the zombie water. Fish handler’s disease is a bacterial infection that shows up when – guess what? – cuts and scrapes are exposed to zombie fish and corpsefilled water.

The wound was small, but I could remember the fish that cut the top of my thumb. With a quick toothy grin, a hookjawed male had given me a little cut. At the time I didn’t care. It was just one of many cuts on my hand at that point.

Famous last thoughts.

Regrettably, the island we were on only had one clinic and no hospital, so we called the Alaska “ask a nurse” hotline for help. The hotline put us in touch with the one local MD. He informed me that what I had was “fairly common” and that if left untreated it could cause parts of me to fall off or need to be removed. He advised I take some pain medicine, go to sleep and see him as soon as I could in the morning.

I did just that. After a few horse pills, a shot and a lot of pain killers, my life and happiness began returning.

Sort of.

The doc banned me from fishing for a few days, an absolute heartbreaker when you are on a salmon fishing vacation! Still, a few days later I was back in the river, left hand hermetically sealed away from the water. But I didn’t cut up anyone’s fish after that.

Unfortunately, I have struggled to get rid of the infection. It went deep into my knuckle and decided to stay – for more than six months. As I write this, my left thumb is still a little sore. I have done three courses of antibiotics and hopefully it is gone for good at this point. Just in case, my hospital group has put me in contact with a specialist, but I hope to never have to call.

Moral of the story: Mind your hands and watch your sanitation while out and about if you value all your digits! NS

Chef Randy’s case of fish handler’s disease was a severe one and treatment required multiple courses of antibiotics over more than half a year. (RANDY KING)

OREGON FLORENCE

Y Marina

(541) 590-3313

www.ymarinaboats.com

PORTLAND

Sportcraft Marina, Inc.

(503) 656-6484

www.sportcraftmarina.com

WASHINGTON

CHINOOK

Chinook Marine Repair, Inc.

(800) 457-9459

(360) 777-8361

www.chinookmarinerepair.com

EVERETT

Boat Country (425) 259-6126

www.boatcountry.com

MOUNT VERNON

Tom-n-Jerry’s Boat Center, Inc. (360) 466-9955

www.tomnjerrys.net

PASCO

Northwest Marine and Sport (509) 545-5586

www.nwmarineandsport.com

TACOMA

Tacoma Boat Sales & Service

(253) 301-4013

www.tacomaboatsales.com

Port Of Haul

By Jeff Holmes

Summertime saltwater fever is starting to grip many of us, especially those like me who don’t yet have enough trips booked for summer 2023. As always, I most look forward to albacore and the uncertain timing of their arrival and distance from shore. I put a day aside in September and booked the boat with Angler’s Edge Sportfishing (anglersedgesportfishing.com) in Westport. My first ever tuna trip over a decade ago was out of Ilwaco, and for no good reason, I have never returned. After several amazing razor clam digs this April and May on the nearby Long Beach Peninsula and lots of fantasizing about a wide-open tuna bite while walking Ilwaco’s waterfront, I booked another tuna trip out of this port at the Columbia’s mouth.

Now, here in late May, Chinook reports from Southeast Alaska and

northern British Columbia indicate extraordinary Chinook fishing earlier than normal. Hopes are high for what might be coming down the “salmon highway” to our waters. Ilwaco is one of our best ocean salmon ports and offers a great chance to fish both local silvers and Chinook, as well as the migratory salmon traffic headed our way this summer. From June through September, Ilwaco is set to have a fantastic season, and it is ideally set at the foot of the Long Beach Peninsula, one of the most family friendly and beach-accessible parts of our Northwest coast.

Whether focusing on rockfish and lingcod combos, deepwater lings and halibut, or the opening of ocean salmon on June 24, Ilwaco is a great choice for a June trip if you can still find a seat. Sea Breeze Charters (washingtoncoastfishing.com) and Coho Charters (cohocharters.com) are the best-reviewed charter operations

out of Ilwaco, and others are available. You likely will not struggle to book nearshore lingcod and rockfish, nor early-season salmon trips, but deepwater ling and halibut seats can be tougher to come by, although there is a lot of opportunity this year, including deepwater lings being open the entire first two weeks of June before shutting down until September. Ocean halibut has been tougher than normal offshore in Marine Areas 1-4 (as of this writing on May 20), but has still been decent and may improve on scheduled June dates (Thursdays and Sundays).

Deepwater ling fishing has been excellent, and that should continue until the midmonth closure. Salmon fishing should open with a bang in Ilwaco, which often leads Washington ports for salmon catch rates.

AS WE MOVE into July, we move closer to prime time for ocean salmon and to

Tucked just inside the Columbia mouth, Ilwaco offers a great jumpoff to summer ocean salmon, bottomfish and tuna fisheries, plus family fun.

Cape Disappointment protects Ilwaco and stands sentinel on the north shore of the Columbia River’s mouth. Ilwaco and the rest of the Long Beach Peninsula are flush with seafood-gathering opportunities and renowned dining options. To the left of this picture, headed north, stretch more than 25 miles of driveable sandy beaches to enjoy when back to the dock after ocean fishing. (U.S. COAST GUARD)

the arrival of the first albacore, which can also occur in late June. Nearshore lingcod and rockfish combos and salmon trips will lead the way in July until the first albacore start to hit the docks. As the tuna arrive in numbers and come close-ish to shore, tuna will become the primary quarry of many private boats and charters in Ilwaco and to the south across the mouth of the Columbia River in Astoria.

By August, the tuna will almost certainly be here in numbers, with lots of attention being turned offshore to the deep, cobalt-blue waters over the Astoria Canyon. Ilwaco is one of the best albacore fisheries in the Northwest, with boats almost always having access to live anchovies, one of the most effective and hands-on ways of catching albacore. On my

first-ever tuna trip, I was forever made a convert of the sport of live bait albacore fishing. Watching a live anchovy peel off my freespooled line at maybe 2 mph and then watching the reel blow up to 20 to 30 mph when a tuna takes the bait is … unlike anything else in the world of Pacific Northwest fishing.

OCEAN SALMON SHOULD be excellent throughout August, and the Buoy 10 fishery will disperse the effort from the ocean to the river, especially as the month progresses. Buoy 10 and ocean fisheries out over the Columbia River Bar are easily reached from Ilwaco, and many more private anglers will enter the fray as we move toward Labor Day weekend.

If 2023 salmon forecasts are close

to correct, fishing should be excellent throughout August. After Labor Day weekend, tourist traffic will markedly subside, as will fishing pressure. It remains to be seen whether any September Chinook action may be available, but coho fishing is forecast to be way above average. Tuna fishing should peak in September, with the fish packing on the weight rapidly, and deepwater lingcod fishing should be excellent, with every day in September open to all-depths lings. Meanwhile, Willapa Bay and Columbia River tribs only a short drive from Ilwaco and the Long Beach Peninsula will load up with salmon in September and October and beyond.

FOR SOME OF us, getting to ocean fish means getting our families or significant others to want to go to the ocean and not torturing them the whole time with obsessive fishing and seafood collecting (author raises hand). Most of Washington and Oregon’s saltwater ports offer attractions for nonangling family members, and Ilwaco is one of the very best, with inarguably more access to interface with the ocean than any other Northwest port.

Beyond the excellent summertime sportfishing accessible via Ilwaco, visitors can enjoy the rocky headland of Cape Disappointment State Park, the Columbia’s North Jetty and tidepools to its north at Beards Hollow, and over 20 driveable miles of beach, minus a 1-mile closure for the meek. Surfperch fishing is good all summer and so is the beachcombing. In April I found a pre-Rapala Kwikfish in good condition on the beach at Long Beach. I can’t guarantee that you’ll be so lucky, but you can count on sand dollars and crabs and maybe something much cooler. The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in the state park sits high atop a rocky cliff overlooking Baker Bay, the North Jetty and the Columbia River Bar in the distance. It is an awesome and extremely inexpensive interactive museum experience.

The city of Long Beach, roughly

Lots of Chinook like this beauty held by Larry Phillips are rumored to be heading our way after crazy-good reports in late May. Phillips is a familiar face for many due to his passion for salmon fishing and his long career as a Washington fisheries biologist and manager. He is now Pacific Fisheries Policy Director for the American Sportfishing Association, which has been looking after our interests as sportfishermen for more than 90 years. (JOSH PHILLIPS)

TROLLING MOTOR MOUNT

The #MK02 Trolling Motor Mount accommodates some Minn-Kota, Garmin, and Lowrance bow mount trolling motor’s installation in any of the LeeLock Quick Change Bases. Simply slide your Motor Mount on the base and lock it in with the pin. The #MK-02 Motor Mount will fit in the LeeLock #QB-01 Quick Change Base, the #QBR-01 Quick Change Bow Roller Base or either of the bases that are sold with the Large Anchor Can Assemblies (#LCA-02 and #LCA-03

LEELOCK CRAB CRACKER

This new tool from Leelock will allow you to measure your Dungeness crabs to determine which ones are legal to keep. Then use the Crab Cracker to crack them in half, separating the two clusters from the shell and guts.

The Crab Cracker has been designed so that it sits nicely on top of a 5-gallon bucket, perfect for when you clean crabs. The bucket gives you a stable base, which makes it easier to clean – the guts and shell go into the bucket, making cleanup a snap. Crabs cleaned this way take up half as much space as whole crabs, so you can cook twice as many in your kettle.

The Crab Cracker is a unique tool made from solid aluminum, and comes in handy for cleaning Dungeness crabs.

A (VERY BIG) RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT

Strangely but delightfully located in downtown Ilwaco, former professional soccer player Josh Phillips owns and operates Spawn Fly Fish, a successful hybrid brick-and-mortar/ internet fly shop. After four years playing soccer at Gonzaga University followed by seven years on teams in Seattle, Tucson, Colorado Springs and Portland, Phillips launched his business in Ilwaco.

“We started with just five products and operated out of a small bedroom,” he states.

Phillips fishes the ocean from boats and off the jetty and also frequents local rivers and creeks. Spawn specializes in Ilwacoarea fisheries, but their inventory and expertise spans fisheries around the globe.

“Fast forward five years, and we now have an inventory of over 12,000 products from all the major brands, making us one of the largest fly shops in the Pacific Northwest,” says Phillips, a passionate angler and relentless businessman

originally hailing from the Olympia area. “I think our growth has been a result of persevering with an eye on growth, maintaining a high commitment to quality, and growing a strong base of incredible customers.

I first met Josh several years ago, before he launched Spawn Fly Fish, through his dad, Larry Phillips. Larry is a former Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist and fisheries manager who is a passionate and skilled angler. He recently took a position as Pacific Fisheries Policy Director at the American Sportfishing Association (asafishing.org).

ASA is a 90-year-old sportfishing advocacy organization looking after the interests of the sportfishing industry and the entire recreational fishing community. When I first spoke with Josh and heard his idea for Spawn Fly Fish, I wasn’t so sure about a flyshop in Ilwaco, but I was impressed by his determination, internet savvy

and positive communication style, and wondered if in fact he might make it work, and he has.

Despite the success of Spawn and its continuing growth, some are still surprised to learn there’s a thriving flyfishing shop on the waterfront. Phillips chose Ilwaco because the port holds a special place in the hearts of the Phillips family: “Just like many avid anglers in the Pacific Northwest, we have grown up visiting the mouth of the Columbia River and indulging in the abundance of fishing opportunities that surround us,” says Phillips. “Ilwaco is a place filled with cherished memories for my family and one reason we own property here and why I live here and launched Spawn [in downtown Ilwaco].”

“From a business perspective also, the choice of this location made perfect sense,” says Phillips. “We recognized the potential of creating a vibrant hub for fishing brands with a significant online presence. The area

Josh Phillips, owner of Spawn Fly Fish, holds a black rockfish caught on fly gear. A former professional soccer player, Phillips is based out of Ilwaco, at the mouth of the Columbia, and offers a wide selection of fly fishing wares. Fresh – not frozen – black rockfish makes some of the most incredible ceviche and in the July issue I will reveal a sublime ceviche recipe as I get the honor of filling in for Chef Randy King for a month. (JOSH PHILLIPS)

FISHING

offers several advantages that support that vision: major shipping companies deliver daily, making logistics seamless, and commercial real estate is more affordable compared to urban centers. Furthermore, our proximity to major shipping hubs in Portland allows us to ensure swift delivery, regardless of whether we ship from Ilwaco or Portland itself. The presence of a hospital in the downtown corridor adds an extra layer of reliability because power outages, when they occur, are given top priority. Additionally, the diverse range of fishing species in Western Washington provides endless opportunities for product promotion, from surfperch and coastal cutthroat to albacore and lingcod.”

“Ilwaco holds immense potential to become a haven for retailers looking towards the future of commerce,” adds Phillips. “During the summer months, the town comes alive with passionate anglers seeking

memorable fishing experiences. However, the winter season provides a slower pace that allows ample time to focus on brand development, the latest e-commerce trends and fishing local waters.”

Phillips’ passion for his business, angling and Ilwaco is clear, and he is upping the ante, having just announced his candidacy for Ilwaco City Council’s fifth seat. –JH

5 miles north of Ilwaco, is home to many shops, excellent restaurants and kids attractions (kites, go-karts, mini golf, arcades, movie theater). For those so inclined to travel across the increasingly cormorantcompromised Astoria-Megler Bridge to the Astoria-Warrenton area, yet

more attractions await. My strong preference, especially when Astoria blows up in August for Buoy 10, is to stay on the Long Beach Peninsula.

I have stayed at many, many condos, hotels, motels and other rentals on the Long Beach Peninsula over the years and have never had

a bad experience. That said, I have always done my homework and taken recommendations. In that spirit, I recommend The Breakers (breakerslongbeach.com) if you’re looking for a condo stay. I have spent many nights here with friends and family over the years, and it is nicely located on the north end of the city of Long Beach. For nostalgia and because I like single-level motorinns, I am a huge fan of refreshed old-school motels. The Mermaid Inn (mermaidinnatlongbeachwa.com) is my favorite place to stay on Long Beach. It’s affordable, ideally located, extremely clean and comfortable, and home to a secluded and well-equipped fish- and clam-cleaning station. The owners are extremely knowledgeable about fishing and all manner of seafood harvesting and are kind and helpful. There are many other nice places to stay, but check reviews here for sure. The Long Beach Peninsula Visitor’s Bureau (visitlongbeachpeninsula.com) offers a standout set of recommendations for lodging, restaurants, cool stuff to see and do, and more for Ilwaco and all of the peninsula. NS

“The diverse range of fishing species in Western Washington provides endless opportunities for product promotion, from surfperch and coastal cutthroat to albacore and lingcod,” says Phillips. (JOSH PHILLIPS)

At some point this summer, probably July, albacore will be landed and brought back to a Northwest dock. Provided the tuna follow form and come close-ish to shore, lots of sport and commercial attention will turn to these delicious and meaty warm-blooded pelagic visitors. (JOSH PHILLIPS)

Shellfishing In Freshwater

Crawdads are abundant in Northwest rivers, streams and lakes, and here’s how to trap some for a Louisiana-inspired feast.

By David Johnson

Crawdads are not cute and they are not very friendly. But they are widely distributed in Oregon and Washington, are not

hard to trap, and are fine eating for anyone who enjoys shellfish. The limits are generous and the season is long, essentially lasting from the time local stream flows drop in the spring and the crawdads start actively

foraging, through late fall, when colder water causes them to retreat into their winter holes.

Though crawdads are an underutilized resource by most anglers, combining a fishing trip

Not all Northwest crustaceans crawl around coastal bays and estuaries. Good numbers of crayfish can be found by tossing a trap or two into inland freshwaters. (ERIK JOHNSON)

True, there’s not a lot of meat on crawdad claws and tails, but limits are generous in Oregon and Washington and late spring and summer months are good times to get after them. Check the regs for season, trap and size restrictions, and other rules, as they do vary by state.

with some crawdad trapping is very easy. Simply set some traps at the beginning of the day – a process that takes only a few minutes – then go fishing, and pull your traps at the end of the day. Even on catch-and-release fishing trips, you’ll end the day with the makings of a seafood dinner.

The best times to trap river crawdads match up well with trout seasons and summer bass fishing. Though there may not be crawdads in high mountain trout streams, they are abundant in coastal creeks, Willamette Valley waters, the lower elevations of streams flowing down from the Cascades in both Oregon and Washington, and most rivers in central portions of both states.

If you’ve ever seen even one crawdad in a stream you fish, then there are thousands you haven’t

seen, and it’s worth tossing in a trap. Here’s how to go about it.

THE TRAPS

Crawdad traps come in a fair range of variety. Some of them are cylindrical. Some of them are rectangular. Typically, the ends of the cylinder or rectangle are indented by funnellike openings. As the trap sits on the stream or lake bottom, crawdads, smelling the bait in the trap, move into the funnel-like indentations to get closer to the bait. The indentations have openings at the end of them, allowing the crawdads to enter the trap. But because the openings at the end of the funnel are above the floor of the trap, once the crawdads drop into the trap, they have a hard time climbing back to the openings to get out again.

It’s not just that crawdads aren’t very smart and can’t figure out how to escape. It’s that they are very aggressive around food. As long as the food in the trap lasts, the crawdads won’t even try to get out of the trap.

Crawdad traps can be found at Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s and Englund Marine stores, as well as Walmart. They come at a variety of price points, starting around $15. In addition to store brands, companies like Frabill make a variety of types of traps. Generally speaking, cylindrical traps are less expensive than heavy-duty rectangular traps. I’m into crawdad trapping, so I have sturdy rectangular traps made by Willapa Marine. They last for years.

Generally, I like to place two traps at least, partly so that if one location is a dud I still have a second chance, and partly because it doesn’t take much time to set a trap. If you make the effort to get to a lake or stream, you might as well dunk two of them and improve the chances you’ll have a full meal at the end of the day.

Before you toss the trap in, you have to bait it. I think the best bait is the filleted carcass of a fish. However, if you don’t want to drive fish carcasses around in your vehicle, a very decent backup is a can of cat food. You can simply drop the bait into the trap, though there is a benefit in suspending the bait off the floor of the trap – if the crawdads can get at the bait by crawling under the trap, or along the sides of it, some of them will do that and never enter the trap.

With fish bait, you can put it in a mesh bag and tie to the top of the trap so that it hangs suspended. If you are using a can of cat food that has a ringstyle pop-off top, simply peel the lid of the can part way open, then use the ring as a loop to tie the can so it suspends off the floor of the trap. It’s a particularly good idea to suspend cat food, as the food is soft enough that if the crawdads can easily get to it, they might eat all of it, or tear it up so it dissolves into the water – at which point your trap is no longer attracting more crawdads.

(ERIK JOHNSON)

Crawdad traps should be secured with a long rope tied to the trap. Once you’ve tossed the trap in, tie the rope off to a shoreline tree. When it’s time to pull the trap, use the same rope to retrieve the trap.

PLACING CRAWDAD TRAPS

Crawdads are attracted to the bait in the trap mostly by smell. That means three things:

First, it’s a good idea to place the trap so that one opening is downstream and the other end of the trap is facing the current. Not

only is the trap less likely to roll in the current, but most of the crawdads that come to the trap will approach from downstream, so if the first thing they come to is the open end of the trap, they’re more likely to go in the trap right away.

Second, crawdad trapping at night is, if anything, more productive than during the day. Crawdads move around under the cover of darkness more aggressively than they do during the day. On a one-day trip, you can catch crawdads over the course of the day, but if you are staying overnight

at a campground along the river or lake, it can be a good idea to set traps on the last evening of your trip and pull them in the morning just before you pack up to go home.

Third, the fact that crawdads are attracted by the smell of the bait means that, for the most part, you are “fishing” for the crawdads that are downstream of where you set the trap (this is even true in shallow lake areas if there is wind or, near an inlet, some current). So don’t set your trap immediately upstream of a falls or a rapid area. Instead, set your trap near the head of a long, preferably rocky run or pool with a mild current. Make it as easy as possible for as many crawdads as possible over the longest reach of stream as possible to smell the bait and crawl to the trap.

Crawdads use rock, wood and other vegetation to hide from predators, so habitat with such features is a good place to start. Crawdads live in small streams as well as big rivers, and you don’t need to fish deep. Water as shallow as 18 inches will hold plenty of them.

AFTER PULLING THE TRAPS

Although regulations governing crawdad trapping are generous – in Oregon, for example, the limit is 100 crawdads and you don’t even need a shellfish license to trap them, while Washington’s bag is 10 pounds a day on natives, none on invasives. However, there are important rules about what you can do with the crawdads you catch.

In Oregon, it is illegal for recreational trappers to transport live crawdads. Though crawdads will stay alive for a long time in a damp, cool cooler, you are supposed to kill the crawdads at the point of capture, and you aren’t supposed to release any live ones.

These laws are on the books because both Oregon and Washington have a growing problem with invasive crawdad species, mainly from the Midwest and South. The native crawdad in most of Oregon

A trap brims with what appear to be red swamp crawdads, one of several invasive but still tasty species that can be found in Northwest waters, particularly the southern Willamette Valley and middle Umpqua basins. Other types of crayfish here now include northern, rusty and ringed. Signal crawdads are native and are identifiable by a white or turquoise patch where their pinchers come together, as well as a generally smooth shell. (SCOTT WHITMAN, BLM)

COOKING CRAWDADS

Most of the meat in a crawdad is in the tail. In good-sized crawdads, the claws also hold a bit of meat. Traditionally, in the South – the epicenter of crawdad cooking – crawdads are kept for a few hours in water in a cooler, where they are “purged.” The idea is to get the crawdads to empty their digestive system before you eat them. Because in Oregon and often in Washington you will be killing the crawdads at streamside, purging won’t work. You can, however, put the crawdads in a cooler and run clean water over them (a garden hose works).

Crawdads, like shrimp, have a “vein” that runs through their tail. Luckily, the vein is easy to remove before cooking. Crawdads have little fins at the end of their tails. Grasp the middle fin, gently twist a quarter turn or so, then slowly pull the fin off the tail. The vein will pull out of the crawdad as you pull the fin away. You have removed the digestive tract from the tail meat.

There are a variety of ways to cook crawdads. If you blanch them briefly and remove the tail meat and what claw meat you can get, then the meat itself can be used essentially the same way as you’d

use small shrimp: a seafood pasta, fried rice, gumbo, breaded and fried with your favorite hot sauce, or a bisque soup. For those of you with family members who don’t like the looks of whole, cooked crawdads on their plates – or the activity of breaking them apart to get the meat out – these choices can serve as an excellent way to introduce folks to crawdads.

A “boil” is the heart of crawfish cooking in the Cajun country of Louisiana (it’s crawfish, not crayfish or crawdad there and in most of the South, but the animal is the same), and probably the most popular way of cooking them.

Like venison stew, exact measurements are not strictly necessary for a boil. For a basic boil you’ll need a big pot, water, small (or quartered) potatoes, some andouille sausage, ears of corn snapped in half, the crawdads themselves and some seasoning. Two widely sold – and quite acceptable – seasonings are Louisiana brand and Zatarain’s. Many people add other stuff as well, such as mushrooms, onions, garlic and quartered lemons.

The potatoes and sausage take longest to cook, so you drop them in boiling water

and Washington is the signal crawdad, and it can be outcompeted by invasive species.

Crawdads are one of the chief mechanisms for recycling the energy in dead trout and post-spawn salmon back into the stream. But how invasive crawdads affect both native crawdads and other food production systems in streams and lakes is less understood.

At any rate, conforming to the law is easy enough, but requires some planning if you are not going to eat them right away in a streamside campground. If you are planning to take them home, you can humanely dispatch crawdads exactly as you might a lobster: insert the point of a knife through the head of the crawdad, between its eyes. Crawdad are shellfish, and should be iced after they are killed, and eaten or frozen as soon as possible. NS

first with some of the seasoning. When the potatoes get soft enough that a fork goes into them fairly easily, drop the corn and crawdads in and some more seasoning. Boil about five minutes after the crawdads go in (they’ll turn a bright red like lobsters do) and the boil is done. You can let it sit for a while for deeper seasoning penetration.

Drain the water thoroughly, and dump the boil components on a large platter or – even better – a newspaper-lined picnic table. Serve with melted butter and whatever spicy sauces you favor. In the South, amongst boil experts, it is extremely common for adults who are eating a boil to also be having a beer. Crawdad boils are eaten by hand, so rolls of paper towels are handy.

Crawdads are eaten by holding the body of the crawdad in one hand and the tail in the other. With a twisting motion, remove the tail. To get at the meat, peel the tail much like you do with a shrimp. To get at the meat of a claw, notice that one side of the claw is solid, and the other is hinged. Break the solid pincher off at the base, then pull the meat out with the hinged side. –DJ

There’s no real recipe for a crawdad boil, but it generally includes a good number of crayfish, potatoes, sausage, corn on the cob and seasoning from Louisiana. (ERIK JOHNSON)

CONNECTICUT

Connor’s and O’Brien Marina Pawcatuck, CT connorsandobrien.com

Defender Industries Inc. Waterford, CT defender.com

O’Hara’s Landing Salisbury, CT oharaslanding.com

MASSACHUSETTS

Action Marine & Watersports Inc. Holyoke, MA actionmarineholyoke.com

Bill’s Outboard Motor Service Hingham, MA billsoutboard.com

Captain Bub’s Marine Inc. Lakeville, MA captainbubsmarine.com

Doug Russell Marine Worcester, MA WorcesterBoating.com

Essex Marina LLC. Essex, MA essexmarinallc.com

McLellan Brothers Inc. Everett, MA mclellanbrosinc.com

Merrimac Marine Supply Methuen, MA merrimacmarine.com

Nauset Marine-Orleans Orleans, MA nausetmarine.com

Obsession Boats East Falmouth, MA capecodboatcenter.com

Portside Marine Danvers, MA portsidemarine.us

Riverfront Marine Sports Inc. Salisbury, MA riverfrontmarine.com

South Attleboro Marine North Attleboro, MA www.sammarine.com

Wareham Boat Yard W. Wareham, MA wareham-boatyard-marina.com

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Dover Marine Dover, NH dovermarine.com

Winnisquam Marine Belmont, NH winnisquammarine.com

RHODE ISLAND

Billington Cove Marina Inc. Wakefield, RI bcoveyc.com

Jamestown Distributors Bristol, RI jamestowndistributors.com

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Mid-Columbia Walleye Heats Up

By Jeff Holmes

There are a lot of awesome places to catch walleye this summer in the Northwest, and they all have their benefits, but the epicenter of the Columbia River walleye fishery is the water above and below McNary Dam. In the winter, the world’s biggest walleye get caught above the dam in the waters in and just below Tri-Cities, and big numbers of eaters

The outmigration of salmon and steelhead smolts makes for easy plug trolling success, but go early.

Walla Walla’s Mya Dalan shows off a nice fish landed while out with her walleye-enthusiast dad, David. Like many Pacific Northwest walleye devotees, Dalan fishes out of a sled more typically associated with salmon and steelhead fishing. Sleds with good kickers and Minn Kota Terrova or Ulterra electric bow mounts make great walleye boats. (DAVID DALAN)

and some big females are landed with regularity year-round in the waters below McNary, also known as the John Day Pool. For one of the coolest walleye fishing experiences in the region in storied waters, the roughly 65-mile impoundment behind John Day Dam offers unlimited water to explore, all of which holds fish. But in particular, vacationing anglers should consider fishing the popular and fish-rich waters close to Boardman, Irrigon and Umatilla/Plymouth –

Columbia Basin smolts have innumerable threats to avoid on their way to sea, the biggest being the hydropower system. This walleye packed with six Chinook smolts may not be a dam itself, but slow-water predators like walleye, smallmouth and channel cats are enabled by reservoirs in the hydropower system. Smolts swim through a slow-water gauntlet of toothy predators to get to sea, so imitating smolts is a solid strategy from midspring through early summer. (FISHMILLERTIME.COM)

without overlooking other nearby Mid-Columbia impoundments.

The John Day Pool is always good for walleye but really shines in late spring and early summer as runoff begins to abate, pulling walleye out of softer side water and back onto breaklines in the main river channel to continue their three-month salmon and steelhead smolt binge. Even after the smolts pass, they will still whack smolt imitations after months of feasting on them. Whatever a

person’s opinions about salmon recovery or the perceived values of the walleye fishery, one thing is undeniable: Walleye, especially smaller ones, eat a ton of smolts. There’s a reason guides imitate smolts exclusively during their downstream migration. The hunger of walleye for smolts makes them vulnerable to any angler capable of safely operating a boat motoring upstream at a trolling speed. Lessening runoff makes walleye especially susceptible to plugging, one of the most effective and foolproof approaches to catching walleye on the Mid-Columbia.

BY FAR THE most popular walleye plug on the John Day Pool and elsewhere on the Mid-Columbia is the extendedbody Bandit. The Bandit Walleye Deep and Bandit Generator in a wide variety of colors are highly effective from the dead of winter to the heat of summer. Colors from silver to chartreuse to purple to realistic smolt patterns are excellent, and there are a lot of factory options and tons of custom options available online. I am very fond of Bandits and have seen them used by all of the best walleye anglers I know.

Of course, other extended-body plugs work, as do a variety of diving plugs capable of reaching depths of about 20 feet. I used to troll exclusively Hot Lips Express plugs when new to the area and caught lots of walleye on them. Honestly, the lure profile and color matter less than making sure your plug is ticking or within a foot or two of bottom at all times.

Along with the general depth range a lure is capable of reaching, other key factors influencing how deep a lure will run include line diameter, trolling speed and current. Some expert pluggers in this stretch run plugs slowly upstream 1 to 1.25 miles per hour, the same speed many guides drag plugs in the dead of winter when water temps are in the 30s instead of the mid-60s. Other expert pluggers “power troll” in June and July, depending on flows, by dragging plugs swiftly upstream, covering lots of water

looking for reaction bites. All expert walleye pluggers are on the bottom, or they are not fishing. Columbia River walleye do not suspend.

As always, the best way to reduce the learning curve here is to book with an expert guide like Bryce Doherty (odohertyoutfitters.com), Tyler Miller (fishmillertime.com), Gerardo Reyes (flatoutfishing.net), TJ Hester (hesterssportfishing.com), George Preszler (preszlersguideservice.com) and a small handful of others. So much can be gleaned from a day with a guide, including locations, techniques, speeds and more.

But for those not interested in hiring a guide but instead figuring it out through trial and error, a good entry point to the fishery is starting at the right boat launch: Plymouth, Umatilla, Irrigon, Boardman. You

will notice clusters of boats sharing popular walleye water upstream and downstream of all of these launches. I learned a lot on this stretch years ago – as many do – by looking to where folks were dedicating their efforts without invading space or otherwise offending. Generally, look for water maybe 16 to 24 feet with 18 to 20 being a generalizable sweet spot. Along with walleye, dragging Bandits

upstream will result in catches of smallmouth bass, occasional channel cats, occasional monster northern pikeminnows, even steelhead. An unintentional and unfortunate result of dragging treble hooks across the bottom results in occasional sturgeon snaggings. When you accidentally snag an oversize sturgeon with big trebles, they express their dislike, sometimes by spooling a reel before an angler can get it out of a rodholder!

Downstream trolling Slow Death rigs and Smile Blades with bottom walkers can be extremely effective during higher water and remains a good choice as the river begins to drop toward summer flows. Similarly, other tried-and-true tactics like blade baiting and other forms of jigging shine during June and July. The key to catching walleye is less about the presentation and more about finding the fish, presenting a lure or bait right in their face on the bottom, and hoping they are in a snapping mood. For me, plugging is how I have identified a lot of the walleye waypoints that I have. I prefer to drag plugs to find fish when possible, and I have found productive jigging waypoints by marking trolled fish and coming back to fish these areas.

NOT TO BE a downer, but it pays to be safe and mindful of the immense dangers of boating on the Columbia. The hallowed walleye waters of the MidColumbia are far from the shimmering carefree lakes they might appear to be as you zip along at highway speeds admiring from the roadway. There used to be a living, breathing river under all that reservoir, and it drew people since time immemorial.

Kyle Kirby and Miller Time Fishing’s Tyler Miller imitated smolts to bring these two nice walleye on board. Miller is one of several guides I would recommend learning from, including O’Doherty Outdoors, Flatout Fishing and Hester’s Sportfishing. (FISHMILLERTIME.COM)

Bandit plugs are popular year-round. They imitate smolts and many other prey species, and while this particular pattern scarcely resembles a young salmon, it is a favorite of mine. That said sticking with patterns that resemble smolts is a good June starting point. On 20- to 30-pound braid, moving upstream at 1.25 mph, Bandits trolled 100 to 150 feet behind the boat achieve depths of 17 to 20 feet, deeper with braid and a slightly faster troll. Either way, your plug should occasionally tick bottom. (JEFF HOLMES)

There are roads, railroad tracks and untold artifacts entombed forever, or at least through the lifespan of the concrete comprising the Columbia’s dams. There are also all manner of underwater hazards, including dramatically shallow water out of

nowhere, submerged islands, rock formations, sandbars, rocky spits – I’m probably leaving some stuff out, but you get the idea. Study your trusted mapping system(s) in advance to plan your courses, and if you don’t have a modern mapping system you

trust, you should get one, even if it’s just Navionics on your phone.

There are of course many places where the water is quite deep and where boaters can run without worry, but other places are treacherous. Don’t ask how I know how it feels

INCREASE YOUR CATCH BY ‘SHADDING’

Shad are not a hard fish to catch because there are way too numerous and because they are ready biters. Most people anchor for shad on the Mid-Columbia as they pass through in June and July, me included. That is, until my friend Don McBride told me to give up the anchoring and to start trolling the tiniest Dick Nites 20 to 24 inches behind a hookless plug or Brad’s diver in and around the same 14- to 18-foot water people anchor in below McNary Dam.

The first time I took to the water with this approach, which I now stupidly call “shadding,” we fished three rods and landed shad at such a frenetic pace that we had several triples and would have had many more if we’d been able to get three rods in the water without hooking a shad. I’d taken the hooks off of Yakima Bait’s Mag Lip 3.5s and tied 20 inches of 15-pound Maxima Ultragreen to the butt end, followed by the Dick Nite. The heavyish line – which could likely be heavier – allowed anglers to yard their own fish into the boat without losing my precious supply of the tiniest silver, and silver and gold Dick Nites that landed and have continued to land three to four times

more fish than those one size larger.

Slowly zig-zag trolling these rigs upstream on that first trip and on subsequent ones undeniably yielded more shad than any of the anchored boats, as well as better results than I had ever seen. I have now also witnessed other boats mopping up shad at a wild pace while on the troll. Like me, they concentrate on the travel lane and eddy lines.

In the frenzy of shadding in moving water, it’s important to be watchful and to avoid anchored boats, showing them respect while they are on the hook. If you’re new to the fishery around Umatilla and Plymouth, you can, however, look for the anchored boats in about 15 feet of water to get a sense for where shad travel and stage.

TROLLING FOR SHAD is a great way to get not only kids but also newbies of all ages on tons of fish. A few years ago I donated a shad and walleye trip to a benefit, and a gal I know bought it for a good amount and told me she’d be bringing her sister and sister’s partner. They were stoked to fish but not stoked to meet me at 6:30, but they did. They had taken the liberty of getting

up yet earlier in order to be thoroughly in their liquors upon arrival. In six hours, a big chunk of which was a requested boat ride to cool down and to see the sights, the crew landed three walleye over 20 inches and about 70 shad, all whilst shadding. Due to a lack of fitness and an increasing trend in intoxication, my three guests ultimately led a mutiny by announcing the trip a success and officially ending our time on the water.

As a result of my last couple shad trips and the best of intentions, I recently buried approximately 150 frozen shad in a fertilizer project that started as an intended crab bait project that started as mindless killing of trolled-up shad project that started as a taking kids fishing project. I have no regrets for the slaughter, however. Shad are invasive, have a huge but unmeasured impact on the food chain of the river, and number well into the millions passing Bonneville yearly. The fertilizer project was well worth watching friends’ kids wield fish bonkers with glee. For me, enabling kids to kill shad and reel them in nonstop while giggling and splattering shad blood is the highest expression of the sport of shadding. –JH

Trolling for shad is so easy. Take the hooks off of a MagLip 3.5 and tie 20 to 24 inches of 15- to 20-pound mono to the butt, followed by a tiny silver or silver and gold Dick Nite. That’s it. The heavy mono avoids tangles, line memory issues and lost rigs, including due to incidentally hooked salmon, steelhead and large walleye. Troll slowly upstream, varying your pattern and speed to identify a bite-triggering approach that works for you.

(JEFF HOLMES)

to go from 27 mph to 0 in 2 seconds. There’s perhaps good news, though, if you do get in such a wreck and similarly take a steering wheel to the stomach and collapse a center console and land in a friend’s lap. If your experience is like mine, you will survive and will also ultimately be able to poop again. Seriously, though, you need to be careful, especially in the most popular waters from McNary Dam to Crow Butte. There are untold dangers on every stretch of the Columbia that can turn a beautiful summer day ugly for inexperienced or inattentive boaters, but common sense and attention to maps will carry the day for most.

Heat and wind are other summer

Sunnyside’s Kevin Webster gets way more excited about walleye than I can even approach, and I respect that. Here Webster poses with a nice day’s catch landed in the Boardman area of the John Day Pool. He got on the water early, protected himself from the sun and enjoyed an epic morning before triple-digit temps descended on the fishery shared by Oregon and Washington. (KEVIN WEBSTER)

dangers to observe, and don’t be fooled by most of June not yet being summer. We will almost certainly have several 100-plus-degree days in June. Even in mid-May at the time of this writing the weather in Tri-Cities has topped 90 degrees nearing 10 days already! Count on the sun being merciless when you fish the Mid-Columbia, and get on the water as early as possible covered in sunscreen and equipped with head protection, sunglasses and long-sleeved light clothing. Don’t underestimate the need to shield yourself from the June and July sun. Many guides launch before or at first light, in part for their clients’ and their own comfort and at times for safety.

But there is also a more motivating incentive that drags lots of anglers out of bed very early in the morning this time of year: The walleye usually bite better early in the morning, often triggered by dam operations that chop up, stun and otherwise serve up meals to waiting fish. NS

The Columbia’s Other End

Hundreds of miles above the ocean, Lake Roosevelt and the free-flowing river above it host good trout fishing.

By Mike Wright

To a host of avid anglers, Eastern Washington is one of the finest fishing destinations in the Northwest. Many of these same fishermen view the Columbia River as the crown jewel of the region. Where the Upper Columbia once was famous for its outstanding salmon runs, all that changed in the 1930s with construction of fish-ladderless Grand Coulee Dam. Still, a multitude of other fish species inhabit Lake Roosevelt and the freeflowing waters above it, where native rainbow trout are a primary target for anglers. Food sources are plentiful, and the trout pack on the pounds, with many reaching trophy size. Fish measuring 18 to 20 inches are rather common place.

Natural reproduction is the norm on the Upper Columbia, but downstream in the 150-mile-long reservoir finclipped triploid rainbows have been introduced and are thriving. According to Bill Baker, fisheries biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Upper Columbia and Lake Roosevelt rainbows do not migrate to any great degree, but it still would be advisable to pick up a copy of the state sportfishing pamphlet, since size and daily bag limits, along with season dates and clipped-fin requirements, do

The waters of the Upper Columbia – Lake Roosevelt and the free-flowing river above the 150-mile-long reservoir – are famous for its rainbow trout fishing, both fin-clipped triploids like this one and native redsides. Anglers troll the stillwaters with Flicker Shad, cut-plug imitations, Wedding Rings, trolling flies and more. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

vary by area.

The lake is also home to the occasional brown trout, which may exceed 20 inches, nice-size smallmouth bass and slower-growing walleye, as well as northern pike that the Colville Tribes pay a $10-a-head bounty (cctfnw.com/northern-pike) for.

Speaking of the tribes, the Colvilles and others in the area are reintroducing Chinook above Grand Coulee, and this year’s fry release is the largest yet. This has been done in Idaho’s Clearwater drainage and the results have been nothing short of spectacular. It is also currently being done on the Yakima River and some of the early surveys look promising.

MEANWHILE, ROOSEVELT TROUT fishing is rated as best in May and June and one of the most popular sections of the overall reservoir/river fishery starts below Kettle Falls, then follows Highway 25 north to Onion Creek,

which is just a short distance from Northport and the Canadian border. These waters are home to a sizeable number of hard-fighting, trophycaliber rainbows. There are several boat launches and campgrounds along the river, as well as a number of interesting historic sites. If you have the time and buying a British Columbia fishing license isn’t an inconvenience, there are some excellent fishing opportunities just north of the border.

Fly fishing on the Upper Columbia can be very productive at times, but it is probably better to use streamers such as Muddler Minnows, Woolly Buggers, Crystal Leeches, Zonkers, Sculpins and Egg-sucking Leeches. However, there are some dry fly hatches that occur during the season, so it might be helpful to have some Elk-hair Caddis, Pale Morning Duns, Yellow Sally, Golden Stones and Adams patterns with you. Small

nymph imitations such as Pheasant Tails, Prince Nymphs and Hare’s Ears can be very productive when the fish are not feeding on the surface.

[Editor’s note: In a June 2020 article on these same waters, Black Drakes and Low Light Sedges – mayfly dries and caddis nymphs, respectively – were also recommended for the evening bite.]

For lure fishermen, red and white Dardevles, Cleos, Thomas Bouyant and Kamloops lures work. Wedding Rings with bait are popular, as are trolling flies and various plugs.

For the bait fishermen, the same types of material used in most other bodies of water can be used successfully in the Columbia and Lake Roosevelt – worms and PowerBait. Although there isn’t a great deal of weeds through the river and lake because of how reservoir levels are controlled, one popular method of bait fishing from shore is to attach a small weight several feet up from the

As the Columbia slides out of British Columbia, it provides about 20 miles of the biggest little trout stream around, but these large rainbows aren’t easy to catch. (MIKE WRIGHT)

ROOSEVELT STURGEON SHIFTS

Changes are planned for Lake Roosevelt’s sturgeon fishery to protect smaller year-classes of juveniles released last decade. Where stop-gap measures in the early 2000s using broodstock fish successfully helped head off extirpation of the Upper Columbia stock and produced a harvestable surplus first tapped into in 2017, concerned about the population’s genetics, managers switched in 2010 to rearing wildcaught sturgeon larvae but have also been releasing far fewer of them.

As those fish mature, managers want to ensure that enough reach spawning age to help reach the recovery goal of 5,000 of the long-lived adults by 2080, so they’re essentially sheltering them from harvest over the coming eight seasons by tweaking several angling regulations.

Starting this year, plans call for moving the keeper fishery from summer’s heat to the cooler, less-stressful-for-fish waters of fall (September 16-November 30), and the slot limit will also shrink from last year’s 50 to 63 inches (fork length) to 53 to 63 inches. That will narrow further in 2025 and again in 2027 before plans call for a switch to at least two years of catch-and-release fishing only.

Retention could resume by 2031, but that’s also dependent on a stock assessment and how big the year-classes of wild-caught larvae have grown by then.

On the flip side, this fall’s sturgeon season is proposed to expand all the way to the Canadian border, 20 or so river miles above the China Bend boat ramp, which has been fishery’s upper boundary in recent years. –NWS

hook and bait to allow the weight to slowly drift along the bottom. Use a light enough bait or a strike indicator to allow the bait to float higher in the water column. This is often easier said than done, but with a little manipulation it can be accomplished.

ONE THING TO keep in mind when fishing this end of the Columbia is that there can be extreme changes in water levels, which can have a major effect on the fish. Lake Roosevelt typically begins to refill from low winter pool at the start of May with snowpack runoff, reaching peak elevation by early July. Also, above Kettle Falls and above and below Northport, there are places that require a great deal of skill to avoid boat damage from rocks or running aground in the shallower sections.

Still, use of a boat is highly recommended, since shore fishing is somewhat restricted and better in winter anyway. On the other hand, there are places further downstream in Lake Roosevelt where the depths can reach well over 100 feet. It might be advisable to have a fish finder for these holes. If fly fishing these depths, it would be prudent to include several spools of various fast-sink lines to reach the level where the fish are congregated. During the hottest parts of the summer, these deeper sections may also serve as cold-water refugees for the fish to gather, making a fish finder an invaluable tool.

And although it isn’t specifically required, catch-and-release fishing may not be a bad policy on the Upper Columbia and Lake Roosevelt. A Washington Department of Health flyer distributed at sites along the river and the lake advises anglers how much of various fish species they and their families can safely consume. This is due to certain pollutants that are present in these waters. The standing joke is that night fishing could be the best strategy since the fish tend to glow in the dark. Obviously, this is a bit of a gross exaggeration, but it might be wise to follow the guidelines outlined in the flyer. NS

Bill Stanley holds a Lake Roosevelt sturgeon caught in a recent season. (COAST PHOTO CONTEST)

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Pudelpointers: A Versatile Breed

Jess Spradley is one of the most respected trainers and field trial specialists in the country. He’s been around dogs his whole life and built his field trial reputation working with German shorthaired pointers. A decade ago he had the opportunity to start working with pudelpointers.

“I did a lot of looking at breeds and chose pudelpointers due to their versatility,” states the owner of Cabin Creek Gun Dogs (cabincreekgundogs.com) in Lakeview, Oregon. “As a trainer, working with a breed that naturally hunts upland birds, waterfowl, shed antlers, squirrels and more made my choice pretty easy. And we owe these qualities to the breeders before us who set high, stringent standards and stuck with it. When I got into it, the breed was well-handled and hunters could get great dogs, but today, as more people are breeding litters to sell at high volume, the quality of dogs has become watered down, so potential owners need to do their homework.”

IN THE LATE 1800s, Germany aggressively promoted hunting within their country. The development of dogs to be used in hunting was also encouraged, and this is when pudels – the German spelling of poodle – widely known as water dogs, were becoming extremely popular. The water dogs varied in coat color and length, but they all had long hair, usually curly, and worked diligently in water and cold conditions, largely as herding dogs. They were known for their drive and intelligence.

During this time in history, English pointers were very popular throughout

Lon is likely the most accomplished, renowned pudelpointer in history and is the sire of author Scott Haugen’s two dogs. The breed is great for first-time dog owners and seasoned hunters alike. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

GUN DOGGIN’ 101

By Scott Haugen

much of Europe, which added to the interest of a new possible breed. English pointers were known for their speed and drive to work hard in the field. Breeders of the time crossed various water dogs with prized English pointers. Eventually, desired hair types and behaviors were achieved, and ultimately, pudelpointers were born.

In the 1890s pudelpointers became a registered breed, meaning pudelpointers could be bred with other pudelpointers. The goal of early lovers of the breed was to produce a rough-coated dog with a wide range of hunting abilities to be utilized in an array of habitats and conditions for multiple species of birds and small game.

Sigbot “Bodo” Winterhelt is credited with bringing the pudelpointer breed from Germany to North America in the 1950s. Winterhelt, a cofounder of the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, eventually settled in Oregon. Oregon has a very active, dedicated group of pudelpointer breeders and owners.

“Pudelpointers are very intelligent to train,” states Spradley. “They retain information for a long time and there’s often little need to reteach them, even the following season, like you would other breeds. They’re also a great first-time dog for people because they’re easy to handle and their disposition is second to none. Pudelpointers have a great personality and have an off switch, and they know when to use it. They’re fantastic around children, yet have a tenacious drive in the field.”

I OWN TWO pudelpointers, both coming from Spradley’s bloodline, and everything he says about them is true. I quickly learned with my dogs – and other pudelpointers I’ve worked with – that they’re a sensitive breed.

“Pudelpointers don’t do well with a heavy hand,” notes Spradley. “I can steer most of the training with verbal commands and eye contact, versus having to use an e-collar. These dogs know quickly if you’re disappointed in them and they’ll try their hardest to please you.”

Hunters who’ve owned Cabin Creek Gun Dog pups will wait years for the perfect pup on their second go-around.

“Starting out, my goal was to finish with pudelpointers that were better than

what I started with,” concludes Spradley.

“I wanted to improve the breed any way I could and have tried doing this by importing high-end bloodlines and infusing those into the best U.S. bloodlines I could find.”

Spradley’s plan worked, but with such high standards, he’s only breeding one to three litters a year. Understandably, many new dog owners don’t want to wait that

long for a pup. While Spradley has been rigorously importing, training and testing pudelpointers at the highest level, then tediously trying to breed them, many other pudelpointer breeders in North America – including lots of new ones – have been producing more litters and selling them for much less. Even after months of training, if a dog doesn’t fit Spradley’s standards, he’ll sell it, which sets

Noted trainer Jess Spradley works with one of his prized pudelpointers. Spradley doesn’t breed many litters a year, but you can bet the pups he does produce are elite. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

The

him back further. For Spradley, it was never a race to mass produce and sell lots of pups. He wants quality pudelpointers that seasoned hunters will truly appreciate.

If you’re not in a rush and looking for an extremely high-quality bloodline of pudelpointers, then Spradley is your man, but get on his waiting list right now. If you’re wanting one of these lovable, highperforming dogs sooner rather than later, carefully research the bloodline you’re considering. As with any hunting dog breed, quality bloodlines are vital to a healthy dog that’s designed to hunt and behave at an optimal level. Either way, once you see how hard pudelpointers hunt, how intelligent they are, and the level they’ll reach to please you, you’ll likely be planning on getting another one sooner rather than later. NS

Editor’s note: Scott Haugen is a full-time writer. See his basic puppy training videos and learn more about his many books at scotthaugen.com. Follow his adventures on Instagram and Facebook.

author and his then 2-year-old pudelpointer Echo with a mixed bag. Haugen chose the breed for its versatility, intelligence, ease of training and because they’re a great family dog.

(SCOTT HAUGEN)

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Are You Really Ready?

Are you ready?

Know your limitations and what you signed up for?

BECOMING A HUNTER

By Dave Anderson

You’ve completed hunter education class, purchased a bow, rifle and/or muzzleloader and you are ready to hit the mountains! But you have to ask yourself, are you really ready? There are so many variables and obstacles that hunters face each year and they are never the same year in and year out. For instance, one fall it could be 80 degrees and the next season it could be 20 degrees and snowing. The weather alone is a huge variable and can affect a hunt much more than you may think. Clothing

for 80-degree hunts is going to look a lot different than clothing for 20-degree hunts. Bottom line, when you prepare to go hunting, you also need to prepare for different obstacles and variables.

I ALWAYS WANT to be prepared for any type of situation, so when I pack for hunts, I probably look like Paris Hilton or one of the Kardashians with all the bags, cases and totes I bring. My gear carriers may not be nearly as fancy as those of social influencers, but I want to make sure that I have everything, including the kitchen sink, for whatever that may be thrown at me. When rifle hunting, I also bring my range box, which includes everything I would need to install a riflescope, such

as cleaning solvents, rods, screwdriver sets, torque wrenches, levels and patches. I also have targets in my box just in case I need to reset zero if I fall with the rifle. This box also includes way too much ammunition. But if something happens and I have to reset, I want to make sure I have plenty.

When I’m hunting with a bow, I also have tools to be able to make adjustments in the field if needed. I will keep a bow target in the truck too, so I can continue to shoot arrows, especially if I am mobile and by my rig. I never want to be in a situation where I have to cut my hunt short because I wasn’t prepared. Of course, there are some things that are completely out of our control and unavoidable, but I always try and stay ahead

If you’re a beginning hunter, sharpening your shooting eye now – not two weeks before season – is essential when preparing for fall, whether you’re heading afield with a bow, rifle or muzzleloader. These young archers are participating in a 3D match held in the Anthony Lakes area of Northeast Oregon, a great way to practice realistic shots. (BAKER COUNTY TOURISM)

of these situations the best I can.

THE NEXT VARIABLE to consider is your body. Is your body ready, both physically and mentally? Is your mind mentally there? If you get the chance to squeeze the trigger or squeeze your release, will you be able to physically get that animal from wherever you shot it back to the trailhead or where you parked your truck on the side of the mountain?

Now, this really doesn’t amount to anything if you can drive up and throw a critter in the back of your truck. However, hiking a few miles in away from roads can translate to a lot of work getting a harvested animal back to your vehicle or camp. Some areas I hunt in North Idaho are steep and deep with some logging roads, while others are just a trailhead that allows you to go as far as you can physically and mentally go.

When I say mentally, there are many other variables to this. Mentally to me is the notion that you enjoy doing hard things and pushing yourself to accomplish them. So ask yourself, do you like to do hard things? For example, if the weather takes a turn while you are packing out your kill and you have to hike 1,000 feet out of a hellhole with 80 to 100 pounds of meat strapped to your back, will you be able to do it? Most all of us have the physical ability to do much more than what we mentally think we can.

Another thing that can mess with some people mentally is the idea of being alone in the woods in the dark. Most people would never consider this, but ask yourself, are you afraid of the dark? If you had to, could you spend the night on a mountainside? What would happen if you get turned around and your phone or GPS stop working?

One thing someone told me when I

was younger is the idea that all the animals that are there in the dark are also there during the day. I have had several clients who I was guiding freak out in the dark. I can vividly recall them wanting to leave their pack and rifle behind because they couldn’t make it coming off the mountain in the dark. I was in my mid-20s at the time and watching someone in their late 40s to mid-50s want to give up was mindblowing to me. I had to talk them off the ledge and get them to calm down before we were able to continue on our way out in the dark. Believe me, this is a real obstacle and situation that you may not understand until you find yourself in that scenario, so spend time considering it now.

AS YOU READ this article it is June and hopefully you’ve already begun practicing whatever hunting discipline you decided to go with this year. This does not just apply

Along with totes full of extra clothes in case the weather throws a curveball such as an unexpectedly heavy snowstorm, author Dave Anderson brings along tools that will help him fix his rifle or bow should he fall, not to mention extra ammo and arrows to get back on the bull’s-eye before taking a shot at a big game animal. (BEN HOWARD)

Much of the focus of hunting is on harvesting an animal, but don’t forget to consider the physical and mental challenges of possibly being far away from your vehicle or camp with a kill as the sun begins to go down. Are you ready to work in the dark or even spend a night in the woods? (DAVE

ANDERSON)

to bowhunters. Most bowhunters I know shoot year-round, but there are some who just pick it up two weeks before season. Maybe they will get lucky, but the odds of them wounding something and never finding it are much higher than someone who has been practicing all year. Even with time constraints and busy schedules, you should focus on shooting your bow at least spring through summer and up to the season at a minimum.

When it comes to rifle hunting, do you know how far you are comfortable shooting out to? I can assure you that if you are hunting east of the Cascades, the chance of a 300-plus-yard shot is much higher than if you hunt the coast side of the range. Have you practiced true-life scenarios on the mountain or at a range that has steel targets out to 1,000 yards? I’m not telling you that you should or have any business shooting that far, but have you tested your abilities? If you are shooting long range, is the gun you have set up for it? Do you have a shooting system that will hit an animal way out there? Do you have the ability to dial in your yardage

and windage? These are all important questions and variables to consider before venturing out on your first rifle hunt.

I know with 100-percent confidence that I am comfortable shooting out to 600 yards with my rifles. I have spent time at the range and practiced shooting long ranges to do that. To me, that is plenty. There are way too many things that could go wrong and different variables that can change when shooting beyond 600 yards. In addition, when shooting at longer ranges, the conditions need to be absolutely perfect. This includes: a rocksolid rest and controlled breathing and heart rate. My point is that you need to test your abilities and focus on practicing so that you can give the animals you are shooting at the respect they deserve.

CONSIDERING ALL THE variables and potential obstacles you may face during the fall, the best time to prepare is now. This is the time to go through all your gear. Get everything laid out and fill in any holes you are missing. Get prepared for the season because it will be here before

you know it.

If you are thinking about backpack hunting, I would highly recommend you spend a weekend in the mountains. Do you have what it takes? Did you enjoy it? One thing you want to remember when you backpack hunt is that you will have a 50- to 80-pound pack going in and if you shoot something, you will most likely have to take multiple trips to get your animal –especially if it is an elk – out. Testing your abilities and practicing is the only way to know if you have what it takes. It will also show you where you are weak and need to improve. This doesn’t just test your body and mind; it will also test your gear.

Now is the time to start preparing, thinking about your potential limitations and practicing so you can have a successful 2023 season. Hopefully this article will help you identify possible snags so that you can take those into consideration and start preparing to be the best hunter you can be, both physically and mentally. As I get older it amazes me how fast time goes by. Before you know it, September will be here, so get crackin’! NS

Why The .308 Is Great

Aa .30-caliber bullet weighing anywhere from 110 to 200 grains, which makes it remarkably versatile.

ON TARGET

By Dave Workman

lot of people will be sticking with the firearms they have rather than jump through Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s new gun control hoops, and if you’ve got a rifle chambered for the .308 Winchester, it’s probably all you need for any Washington big game.

My last couple of deer fell to a boltaction Savage chambered for the .308, and my brother also anchored his most recent buck with a Ruger in the same caliber using my handloads. (Hey, he’s my brother!)

Having shot deer with a variety of calibers ranging from .257 Roberts to the .350 Remington Magnum, I can say without fear of too much argument that the .308 Winchester is a perfect Northwest big game cartridge. It launches

My ammunition preference is for the 165-grain boattail bullet and my favorite propellant is Hodgdon 4895. My loads will clock above 2,550 feet per second, which is easily capable of stopping deer, black bear, elk, mountain goat or sheep.

Commercial ammunition is available just about anywhere, and today’s bullet designs are the best you can find, producing deep penetration and expansion. You will always find at least one box of .308 Winchester ammunition in my truck any time of the year, regardless of whether the rifle is there. It enables me to grab the Savage or an old single-shot H&R break-action with a bull barrel and variable scope that is capable of producing sub-minute-of-angle groups and head down the road, knowing there is ammunition within reach.

What’s the “secret” of this 70-year-old cartridge? There really isn’t one. Originally developed for the military in the late 1940s as a replacement for the .30-06 Springfield, made popular in the Springfield 1903 during World War I and the M-1 Garand during World War II, the shorter cartridge would be used in the M-14 in the 1950s. It was initially identified as the “T65” for 7.62x51mm NATO, but thank Winchester for giving it a new identity with a strictly American designation.

With comparable loads, the .308 Winchester gets awfully close to the ’06 ballistically, and it is offered in shortaction rifles, which help save weight and overall length.

Thankfully, gun makers started building such rifles around the .308 Winchester and it gained quick popularity among big game hunters, especially in the Great Lakes region for big whitetails and in the

Author Dave Workman’s bolt-action Savage American Classic is chambered in .308 Winchester and is a proven buck buster. (DAVE WORKMAN)

WASHINGTON’S OUTRAGEOUS NEW GUN CONTROL LAWS

Washington Governor Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson and their allies in the gun prohibition lobby may be all smiles, but if you were planning to buy a new rifle or shotgun, or a new handgun sometime next year, you’re about to find out just how extremist those people are.

For openers, you are no longer allowed to purchase a modern semiautomatic sporting rifle. If you already own an AR-15-type rifle, you can keep it. But you’re out of luck if you want to buy one under the conditions of Substitute House Bill 1240, which became law the moment it was signed in April.

Next, beginning January 1, 2024, you will be unable to buy any kind of firearm in Washington unless you can show completion of a firearms safety course within the past five years. Good luck getting into a class anytime soon because by now, there may not be any classes available without having to wait, and you should expect to pay for it. So, sometime between now and the end of this year, you better scramble to get a class or buy your new gun before, say, Christmas because once that new law kicks in, you can be assured it will be enforced.

On top of that, if you do buy a new firearm in 2024, there’s a 10-day waiting period attached to the new law.

Translation: Inslee, Ferguson and the Democrat legislators who pushed through

these restrictive laws consider you secondclass citizens who probably shouldn’t be trusted with a firearm until you have spent ten days “cooling off,” maybe so you don’t shoot a buck while you’re angry.

Not a single Republican lawmaker voted for these bills, something Evergreen State sportsmen and -women should keep in mind in November 2024, when posting angry messages on Facebook will not substitute for filling out a ballot and making sure you submit it. The only vote that never counts is the one that isn’t filled out and submitted.

The Second Amendment Foundation of Bellevue filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Seattle challenging the new law while Inslee was in the process of signing it. On the same day, the National Rifle Association was filing a second lawsuit, in U.S. District Court in Spokane on behalf of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Both complaints say the gun ban law violates the Second Amendment and both complaints are asking for an injunction.

At this writing, no lawsuits had been filed to challenge the bill requiring proof of training and a 10-day waiting period, but I expect that will change.

Meanwhile, a state-level lawsuit was filed in Grant County Superior Court by a private group based in Pasco.

Other legal actions may be filed, challenging the training requirement and

waiting period as impairments on your right to bear arms, which would violate the Washington State Constitution, Article I, Section 24.

SAF’s lawsuit involves the Firearms Policy Coalition, Clark County gun retailer Sporting Systems and three private citizens. The NRA lawsuit was filed on behalf of the NSSF, as well as Spokane’s Sharp Shooting Indoor Range, The Range LLC in Yakima, Aero Precision in Tacoma and a private citizen. Both federal lawsuits have some heavy-hitter legal teams on board, and both asked for restraining orders.

The lesson in all of this is for the people who figured “they” would “never come after” your shotgun or bolt-action rifle, much less your rights. In years past, some gun owners might have condoned background checks and waiting periods on “those” guns, but now it applies to your guns.

The state just banned a whole class of firearms. Do you think the state won’t eventually come after your guns? The line has been crossed, and by now you should all have figured out which political party crossed it. They don’t trust you, so you should not trust them to represent you ever again. It should make no difference whether your local representative supports other social programs you like, or you have always voted for one party. If he or she voted to pass these laws, they are not your friend. –DW

Many of the guns in this photo are no longer legal for purchase in Washington, thanks to bills signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee. Gun rights groups promptly sued the state in federal court, in both Eastern and Western Washington. (DAVE WORKMAN)

West, where longer-range shots were the norm. I’ve probably encountered more people carrying rifles in .308 Winchester in the backcountry than any other caliber. The lightweights are marvelous mountain guns.

DOWNRANGE, I’VE HIT mule deer at better than 200 yards, and I know folks who have clobbered game out to 300plus with their .308s. A flat-shooting round, the .308 Winchester is well-suited to the varying hunting conditions and

terrain one finds across Washington and neighboring Oregon and Idaho, whether in coastal timber country or on the open eastern slopes of the Cascades, or down in the Blue Mountain country along the Snake and Grande Ronde Rivers.

The round performs best through barrels with a 1:10-inch twist, which is the most common rifling twist for this caliber, and handles the majority of bullet weights well, especially projectiles in the 150- to 180-grain range. If you’ve got a rifle in .308 Winchester, this is likely the twist rate in

your bore.

My rifle is zeroed to shoot about 2.5 inches high at 100 yards, which puts it dead on at 200 to 225 yards. By 300 yards, the bullet will drop approximately 8 to 9 inches, so I try to get within 200 to 250 yards of whatever I’m going to shoot. I’ve never cared for really long-range shooting, though there are cartridges out there capable of reaching out several hundred yards and I confess to having taken a deer at 350 yards across a canyon with a .30-06 several years ago, but that was out in the open with no chance of losing my buck in heavy brush.

If you’re looking for a rifle in a do-itall caliber, and hope to beat Inslee’s new gun control law (see sidebar last page), one chambered in .308 Winchester will fill the bill. NS

Compare the .30-06 (left) to the .308 Winchester. The shorter cartridge allows chambering in short-action rifles that are typically lighter, but are accurate. (DAVE WORKMAN)

Frank Workman anchored this Douglas County, Washington, buck with a Ruger bolt-action chambered in .308 at about 125 yards. (DAVE WORKMAN)

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