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Sportsman Northwest

Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource

Volume 8 • ISSUE 10 PUBLISHER James R. Baker ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Dick Openshaw

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EDITOR Andy Walgamott COPY EDITING Katie Sauro LEAD WRITERS Jeff Holmes, Andy Schneider CONTRIBUTORS Ralph Bartholdt, Randall Bonner, Jason Brooks, Randy King, Terry Otto, Rob Phillips, Buzz Ramsey, Ted Schmitt, Terry Wiest, Dave Workman, Mike Wright SALES MANAGER Katie Higgins

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CONTENTS

VOLUME 8 • ISSUE 10

111 TRI-CITIES SOCKEYE Lower Columbia anglers may not pay sockeye much heed, but the boys around Tri-Cities have dialed in how to catch the Northwest’s fastest growing salmon run. Find out their secrets for tapping this new bounty!

FEATURES 20

THE BIG PIC: MORE WALLEYE FOUND IN LAKE WASHINGTON A decade after the first walleye was found in Lake Washington, state biologists earlier this year stumbled across six large and eager-to-spawn fish – what’s being done to keep the nonnative species at bay?

WESTPORT ALBACORE: THERE WILL BE BLOOD Get ye to Tuna Town, man! An early start and an epic season of albacore fishing is expected this year, Jeff Holmes reports.

TUNA HOW-TO From dropping iron to casting swimbaits to trolling cedar plugs, our Andy Schneider details how to can more Charlie this season.

PUGET SOUND CRAB Crabbing kicks off in earnest this month, and Jason Brooks has everything you need to know to haul up more Dungies and red rocks.

103 SANTIAM CHINOOK, STEELIES Snaggers may have met their “Waterloo,” but there are plenty of legit ways to catch springers and steelies on the Willamette tributary.

126 BREWSTER POOL SALMON With a hot summer on tap, the waters off the Okanogan River should be boiling with kegged-up summer kings and sockeye, and Jerrod G. knows how to catch ’em.

133 TROUT OF TIGER PASS Winding through the mountains of Northeast Washington, Highway 20 leads to more than a dozen small, fishy lakes that also make for great summer getaways.

149 WASHINGTON CATFISH The Evergreen State’s whiskerfish stocking program has seen a rebirth, and the tens of thousands of channels released at 30 lakes in 2011 have grown to worthy size. Find out where the tasty fish live!

(TJ HESTER)

SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Go to nwsportsmanmag.com for details. NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN is published monthly by Media Index Publishing Group, 14240 Interurban Avenue South, Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. Periodical Postage Paid at Seattle, WA and at additional mail ofﬁces. (USPS 025-251) POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Northwest Sportsman, 14240 Interurban Ave South, Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. Annual subscriptions are $29.95 (12 issues), 2-year subscription are $39.95 (24 issues). Send check or money order to Media Index Publishing Group, or call (206) 382-9220 with VISA or M/C. Back issues may be ordered at Media Index Publishing Group ofﬁces at the cost of $5 plus shipping. Display Advertising. Call Media Index Publishing Group for a current rate card. Discounts for frequency advertising. All submitted materials become the property of Media Index Publishing Group and will not be returned. Copyright © 2015 Media Index Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher. Printed in U.S.A.

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CONTENTS

COLUMNS 81

CHEF IN THE WILD Watercress and crawfish tail salad

BUZZ RAMSEY Salmon fishing off Ilwaco, Hammond

WESTSIDER New Dungeness Bay pink salmon fishery, Strait of Juan de Fuca kings

123 BASIN BEACON Wanna(pum) catch some sockeye? 159 INLAND NORTHWEST No, Chef Randy didn’t kill and cook up Krampus for his latest recipe, but he is coming out with his first book, Chef in the Wild. Ralph Bartholdt chats with our “magician of marinade, doyen of drippings (and) kaiser of the carving knife” on what’s behind King’s tasty wild game and fish recipes that feature Northwest twists. (RANDY KING)

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DEPARTMENTS 145 STUMPTOWN Greater Stumpland’s 10 best fishing holes for your young anglers 155 NORTH SOUND No winter steelhead smolt releases again for Nooksack, North Stilly

THE EDITOR’S NOTE

CORRESPONDENCE

THE DISHONOR ROLL Five Washington men barred from hunting Montana, and other notable sentences; Kudos; ‘Wildlife Detectives’; Jackass of the Month

DERBY WATCH Upper Columbia derbies; recent results; upcoming events

OUTDOOR CALENDAR; Record Northwest Game Fish Caught This Month

READER PHOTOS FROM THE FIELD

DAIWA, BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS

165 ON TARGET How hunters pay the freight for wildlife management; also: new rifles

101 RIG OF THE MONTH The Humpy Killin’ Posse

nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2015

Northwest Sportsman

Happy albacore anglers celebrate their catch, made out of Westport last July. (ALLRIVERSGUIDESERVICE.COM)

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THEEDITOR’SNOTE e may not always agree with the tribes, but in late spring the words of one of their fisheries managers resonated strongly with me. They came from Carlos Smith, chairman of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, and were along the lines of those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it. If I recall my own personal history, some of my first exposure to the sport of steelheading was on the Seattle suburbs’ Sammamish Slough somewhere back in high school, in the late 1980s. I tagged along with a friend as he fished for them near what would eventually become the industrial-scale shopping-tainment complex near the mouth of Bear Creek (which we also fished in summer with worms). I recall seeing one or two steelies caught out of the slow river, even after Herschel and a veritable Dread Pirate Roberts cast of fellow California sea lions had taken huge bites out of the run. These days, there isn’t a run to speak of. CRITFC’s Smith was talking to pinnipeds in the Columbia system when he spoke on the banks of the Willamette during a late May rally that was also attended by sport anglers and a U.S. Congressman. “We know from experience that unchecked sea lion predation can wipe out an entire run of fish, as they did to Lake Washington winter steelhead,” Smith said. “We simply can’t allow that to happen in the Columbia Basin. This problem can be addressed, but we need the right tools. Congress can provide some of those tools by passing (House Resolution) 564.” Introduced earlier this year by Northwest Oregon Democrat Kurt Schrader and Southwest Washington Republican Jamie Herrera Beutler, the bill would A chart from the Army Corps of Engineers provide more safety valves, compares sea lion predation on salmon and steelhead (rising line) through mid- per se, for states and May with the average of the past dozen tribes to deal with Marine years. The ﬂat line reﬂects sturgeon Mammal Protection Actpredation. (CORPS OF ENGINEERS) listed pinnipeds chowing on Endangered Species Act-listed salmonids. That particular aspect – dubbed “protected predator vs. protected prey” in a recent paper by federal biologists – is a bit of a stumbling block, because while the goals are to recover populations of both, they’re not necessarily looked at together. “… It is clear that single-species approaches have limited authority to balance objectives for two species, let alone whole ecosystems,” they write in the latest issue of Conservation Letters. We’re lucky that at the moment Columbia salmon numbers are booming, so there’s a little bit of room to play around with nonlethal ideas like hanging beach balls off the docks and sailing fake orcas out in hopes they’ll scare off sea lions. But stronger measures are needed to make sure that all the work that’s gone into salmon recovery isn’t derailed by the otherwise good news of another species’ comeback. It’s kinda like wolves and mountain caribou in that way: We can’t sacrifice one critter for another. -Andy Walgamott

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Northwest Sportsman

Happy albacore anglers celebrate their catch, made out of Westport last July. (ALLRIVERSGUIDESERVICE.COM)

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CORRESPONDENCE FISH IN PEACE In mid-May, Lamiglas’s Richard “Dick” L. Posey passed away in Vancouver, Wash. He was 88. He will be remembered for his sportfishing advocacy work, as well as the fishing rod company that he owned for 50 years. “RIP,” wrote Dave Phelps on our Facebook page. “Thank you for everything you have done for the fisheries!” On a remembrance posted to our blog, H.J. Sauls added, “I haven’t fished every rod out there, but out of the rods I have fished and the rods I own, I hold my Lamiglas as the best I have, thank you. Save a spot on the river for me in heaven; it’ll be an honor to fish with you.”

UP, UP AND AWAY! Their monumental and mosquito-plagued and sweat-soaked efforts to move tiny fish up steep paths to maintain one of the state’s most unique fisheries earned the Washington Trail Blazers high recognition in midspring. The Department of Fish and Wildlife named the club one of its two organizations of the year for 2014, and afterwards Debi Sanchez called their donated hours and dollars “priceless. They have been an inspiration to me throughout my career. I am honored to have been involved in their work. Backpacking fish to high lakes was the best, most satisfying part of my job as a fish culturist. They deserve the recognition!”

AN EASIER-TO-UNDERSTAND REGS BOOK IN THE OFFING? News that Oregon was going to come out with simpler rules for trout and warmwater fisheries next year was hailed as “long overdue” by both Derrel Hewitt and Kevin Aldrich on our Facebook page, while Phil Matthews’ observation suggests what species might be next on the docket: “I stopped fishing for salmon/steelhead years ago because of the confusing regs. Wasn’t worth the effort or ticket if I read it wrong.”

MOST LIKED PHOTOGRAPH WE HUNG UP ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE DURING THIS ISSUE’S PRODUCTION CYCLE His legend was as large as his antlers, and so too was the outpouring of sadness after we posted late May’s news that Bend’s Buck Norris had been struck and killed by a vehicle. The mule deer, estimated to have been around 9 to 10 years old, annually grew ginormous, unique antlers sporting incredible drop tines, and as one viral video showed, he sometimes had trouble staying awake. (This image was taken last November when state biologists had to remove potentially life-threatening wire wrapped around the deer’s neck.) “While Buck Norris’ habit of staying within Bend city limits helped protect him to an older age, it ﬁnally put him at risk,” noted ODFW spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy. (ODFW)

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Northwest Sportsman 19

More Walleye Turn Up In Seattle Lakes State, tribal netters catch 13 large fish a decade after first discovery in Lake Washington; first one found in Lake Sammamish too. By Andy Walgamott

MERCER ISLAND, Wash.—A 13.5-pound gravid female walleye is raising as many questions as eggs it could have released into Lake Washington this spring had it not been for a stroke of luck. Gravid means the fish was ready to spawn, and five mature males that had also gathered off the shallow, windswept beach below the I-90 bridges between the island and Bellevue were more than willing to oblige her – until they too were gillnetted. “They were spewing milt and she had eggs coming out of her vent,” said WDFW biologist Danny Garrett, who captured the sextet over the course of a week in March. Along with seven more netted by Muckleshoot Tribe biologists, it represents a tripling of the number of walleye known to have come out of Lake Washington in the past 10 years. And this year also saw the first netted out of Lake Sammamish, at the other end of the King County watershed. It begs the question, how many more might there be in the system? And who is behind the illegal introductions? The latter is far easier to answer. Walleye are native to the Mississippi River and lower Missouri River basins, but in the 1930s and 1940s some had been moved west into Montana. In 1950, they were reported on this side of the Continental Divide, in Lake Roosevelt, and from there they spread inexorably throughout the Columbia Basin. With the Wanapum Pool just 100 miles to the east of the two Seattle lakes, and other impoundments of the federal hydropower and irrigation system such as Potholes Reservoir and Moses Lake not much further 20 Northwest Sportsman

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away on the interstate, it was inevitable walleye would cross the Cascades in livewells. Those netted this year were probably dumped into Lake Washington several years ago by local bucket biologists bent on creating new and much closer-tohome fisheries. But it’s also possible the fish are the progeny of earlier illicitly stocked fish that successfully spawned in the lake, though no juvenile walleye have yet to be found in the King County watershed. Nobody is actively looking for young walleye either, but that may change as ramifications begin to sink in with the many stakeholders.

IT’S UNDENIABLE THAT Lake Washington presents good walleye habitat, has several areas where the species can broadcast spawn, and offers a first-class forage base. Walleye are not above chomping on their cousins, yellow perch, which the

State ďŹ sheries biologist Danny Garrett scowls while holding a large male walleye netted on Lake Washington earlier this year. It was one of six he and fellow WDFW bio Aaron Bosworth hauled out of the waters near Enatai Beach, under the I-90 bridge between Mercer Island and Bellevue. (DANNY GARRETT)

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Northwest Sportsman 21

MIXED BAG

Mathematically, this 13.5-pound walleye could have released around 750,000 eggs had it not been caught in a gillnet set out to study different predators on Lake Washington. It now resides in a WDFW cooler. (DANNY GARRETT)

lake has scads of, and with their soft rays, northern pikeminnow could also prove to be a favorite. But the fear is that as the walleye population grows, it has the potential to impact Endangered Species Act-listed Chinook and steelhead smolts, which transit through the lake from the Cedar River and Sammamish Slough. Young coho spawned in the system’s many tributaries also use the lake. And then there are the sockeye salmon, which are produced at a new Seattle Public Utilities hatchery on the Cedar and spend more time in the lake than any other salmonid species. Though of late returns of the red salmon haven’t been big enough to open a recreational season – it’s unclear if that’s related to inlake predation by cutththroat, pikeminnow and smallmouth (the bass of Idaho’s Dworshak Reservoir are known to suspend in open water to prey on kokanee) or competition in the North Pacific with the outlandish numbers of pink salmon there, or all of it and more – anglers and sporting goods shops eagerly await the day that last decade’s legal wrangling over the multimillion-dollar facility begins 22 Northwest Sportsman

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to pay off, as no other fishery in Washington generates as much excitement as a Seattle sockeye season Walleye were first confirmed in the lake in 2005 with a 16-inch male. Two more males were netted in both 2010 and 2011. There are rumors of angler catches before and since, and in winter 2010 a picture of a 22-inch, 5-pounder caught by a bass angler who was jigging near Coleman Point, north of the mouth of the Cedar, popped up. That’s near where the Muckleshoot Tribe netted one of their seven; the others came from the East Channel near the I-90 bridges. (A phone call to tribal counsel for comment was not returned.) If all that were ever illicitly released were males, the population could only grow as fast as livewells could be emptied at Lake Washington’s many ramps, but March’s female shows that we can’t depend on the bad luck of bucket bios to only transport bucks. A hen of its size could theoretically have pumped out over three-quarters of a million eggs.

GARRETT WASN’T ACTUALLY after walleye that day when the big girl turned up. He

was assisting University of Washington fisheries scientists building baseline data on Lake Washington’s cutts and pikeminnows. He let one net soak for an hour while he did some electroshocking, and then afterwards pulled it and was surprised when a walleye came over the gunnel. Over the next week he did more netting and ultimately caught six. The males were all 2-plus feet long. “The last small one was the one caught in 2005,” Garrett notes. While it’s only one walleye, the Sammamish fish was in the same system as an important state salmon hatchery which raises more than 2 million Chinook and coho annually to fuel sport and tribal fisheries (most years) in Marine Areas 9 and 10, the Ballard Locks and Lakes Washington and Sammamish. There are also ongoing federal, tribal, state, county and local efforts to recover the lake’s kokanee (Northwest Sportsman, April 2014). Overall, it’s a troubling development. From a management standpoint, Lakes Washington and Sammamish are far too large to rotenone like fisheries managers might do elsewhere to control unwanted species. While intense gillnetting is being performed on the Pend Oreille River to tamp down its northern pike population, that’s a trickier proposition in Lake Washington because of the ESA listings. Basically, late winter is the window. It also puts WDFW into yet another conflict with some warmwater anglers, who already feel put upon by the agency’s liberalization of walleye, bass and catfish rules in the Columbia system a couple years ago, and a sense that their species are the state’s proverbial red-headed stepkids to the golden ones – trout, salmon and steelhead, praise be their names. And while it’s true that once upon a time, the bucket biologists wore government emblems on their sleeves, those days are now well past as new understandings of species’ impacts and new management challenges, such as ESA listings, have arisen. These days, fishery managers are going after problem species early to try and head off more serious issues down the road, like getting in front of pike before they spread

MIXED BAG into North-central Washington’s most productive salmon waters. While this year anglers have been catching northerns to 15 pounds near Kettle Falls on Lake Roosevelt, WDFW and tribes plan to gillnet next year. And then there are the health concerns about eating an apex predator like walleye out of Lake Washington. Even if it isn’t the sewer it was in the 1950s, it’s anything but pristine. Its carp and pikeminnow are both on the no-fry list, and people are advised to eat just one meal of cutthroat a month and only one of yellow perch a week. Though he knows of no tests done on the flesh of walleye from the lake, Garrett wonders if similar if not stronger warnings might be applied to the species. In their selfishness, bucket bios may not only have introduced a species that could deeply impact the lake’s ecosystem, but they may ultimately be advised not to eat their quarry. Muckleshoot fishery managers will get very little sympathy from sport

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anglers after what happened to the Area 10 king season at North of Falcon this year, but no doubt a Lake Washington trophy walleye catch-and-release fishery would be particularly galling to the tribe.

AS FOR NEXT steps, in Eastern Washington, WDFW biologists perform what is known as fall walleye index netting, or FWIN, surveys to figure out fish numbers on lakes the state does want the species, places such as Banks and Moses Lakes. Garrett says he’d like to net Enatai Beach in the future, where he caught the six fish, but efforts at the lake-level will be dependent on funding and support. Thus far, the University of Washington and the Muckleshoot Tribe have played pivotal roles in the discovery process. NS WDFW netters found the walleye off Enatai Beach, which is just south of the east end of the I-90 bridges between Mercer Island and Bellevue. It either represents a likely spawning area, or is close to lake accesses from which the ﬁsh were dumped. (NOAA)

Editor’s note: Anglers who catch walleye in the lakes are asked to call WDFW biologist Aaron Bosworth (425-775-1311) with info on length, sex and catch location.

MIXED BAG

5 WA Residents Barred From Hunting MT

ome great game warden work and cooperation between fish and wildlife officers on either side of the Northern Rockies led to hefty fines, as well as the

By Andy Walgamott loss of Montana hunting privileges for half a decade for four Washington men, while another lost his for three years. The Great Falls Tribune reports that the Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay residents were fined $41,000 for their roles in shooting six elk, five of which were

JACKASS OF THE MONTH

tealing fish from kids?!? Not cool in anyone’s book, but it may very well have been what one joker was up to in Northwest Washington this spring. A trail cam stationed near a hatchery in Whatcom County caught images of a male subject walking down a road to and from the facility with fishing rod in hand and, reportedly, a stringer of 2-pound trout. It’s a crime that hit local kids hard on two fronts. The fish were being raised by students at Mount Baker High School in Deming for a childrens fishing derby, which had to be cancelled. It wasn’t exactly clear how many of the trout had been illicitly fished out of the rearing pond, which is behind a fence and covered by nets – hardly an invitation to cast a line – but the teacher in charge of the program estimated that 50 to 100 trout were missing. “You get people that are pretty selfish and looking at is as, ‘Hey, free fish,’” Todd Rightmire told the Bellingham Herald. Sounds like jackassish behavior to us.

categorized as trophies, on a private ranch in a closed hunting district near Augusta in 2010, 2011 and 2013. The paper says that the investigation began last spring when Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officers were told about unexplained elk carcasses found on the ranch near the Sun River Game Range. Using a left-behind clue and check station records for deer taken in the area, eventually they were able to match up pics of kills with locations at the ranch. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officers assisted during search warrants and interviews of the men. “We put a lot of time into this, hours and hours and hours,” FWP officer Bryan Golie told the paper. “Some of these cases are difficult. You can’t make every one of them. In this case, we made some very solid cases.” The Tribune reports the men and their

sentences were: Robert McMillan, Sr., 65, of Montesano: guilty of failure to stop at a check station, closed-season hunting, unlawful possession of an elk; fines: $4,085; restitution: $10,000; five-year hunting privileges revocation. Robert McMillan, Jr., 39, of Montesano: guilty of failure to stop at a check station, closed-season hunting, unlawful possession; fines: $2,085; restitution: $8,000; five-year hunting privileges revocation. Robert Church, 52, of Raymond: guilty of failure to stop at a check station, closedseason hunting, unlawful possession, overlimit; fines: $3,585; restitution: $1,500; five-year hunting privileges revocation. Brent Schiller, 44, of McCleary: fines: $2,085; restitution: $8,000; five-year hunting privileges revocation. Ken Mills, 48, of Montesano: fines: $2,050; restitution: $8,000; three-year hunting privileges revocation.

Watching The Detectives

he work of Northwest fish and wildlife officers received significant attention with late spring’s airing and publication of “Wildlife Detectives,”a multimedia package that followed the work of Washington and Oregon wardens for a year and a half. A joint production of public TV and radio reporters, stories focused on Puget Sound shellfish and Columbia sturgeon poaching, bull elk being chased down for their antlers and the dichotomy between sport and commercial infraction penalties. While the scope of poaching is known to Northwest sportsmen (similar cases have been written about here) and viewers of Rugged Justice, which follows WDFW

and ensuring unsafe shellfish aren’t on the market to patrolling vast swaths of country the size of entire Eastern states and where, unfortunately, wildlife crime can pay, as part of the series notes. “Present-day fish and wildlife officers’ depth of responsibility is little known,” noted WDFW Deputy Chief Mike Cenci. “Similarly, the breadth of illegal human activity connected to our precious natural resources is not widely understood. Hopefully this series increases awareness and the support for the men and women who dedicate their lives to natural resource sustainability, the protection of seafood consumers and legitimate

officers, the series brought important issues to another audience. Bottom line, there just isn’t enough money available to protect all that needs attention – everything from overharvest of geoducks

industry, and the public’s safety in the outdoors.” Even for The Dishonor Roll, it was an eye-opener. For more, see opb.org/news/ series/wildlife-detectives/.

JULY 2015 | nwsportsmanmag.com

Northwest Sportsman 27

MIXED BAG

Foul Play Suspected

o use a baseball analogy, the pitches are adding up, the count is full and the guys on base intently watching the back of the former pitcher suspected of illegal commercial crabbing are actually game wardens. Though he hasn’t been charged with any crimes at press time, the rental home of the 38-year-old Anacortes resident who played in the minor leagues in the U.S., as well as Japanese and Korean leagues, was searched and his vehicle and crabbing gear were seized in mid-April. KIRO TV reported that the man is believed to be the ringleader of an operation that was not commercially licensed and didn’t record catches, which also allegedly included female and undersize crabs. The abodes of three other suspects were searched too. The case follows a 2008-09 investigation of illegal commercial crabbing by three other Anacortes residents, including a former basketball coach.

KUDOS T

he Oregon State Police’s Fish and Wildlife Division recognized Martin Maher as its 2014 “Trooper of the Year” this spring. Assigned to southern Lane and some of northern Douglas Counties, the senior trooper was lauded for his diligent patrolling, working with landowners, residents and state biologists, and cooperation with other OSP branches. till call for “Martin is the one I still answers to my questionss and for advice,” said one fellow trooper on sented the the day Maher was presented award by Capt. Jeff Samuels uels along the banks of the McKenzie ie River in front of supervisors, peers and family, according to OSP. The agency has given out nine such awards, and Maher has been nominated before. He’s worked for OSP for 16 years, fe beat. the last 10 on the wildlife -based One fellow Springfield-based trooper happens to be his brother, Marshall, and together with ith the ’s 2010 rest of the team were OSP’s team of the year. g WDFW And kudos to retiring officers Cal Treser, who patrolled rolled the

coast and Yakima area before spending the last 16 years of a 36-year career in the Methow Valley (and who was recognized on this page earlier this year as his agency’s officer of the year), and Lt. Dan O’Hagan, skipper of the state’s offshore patrol boat, the G.H. Corliss, and who served for 35 years.

JULY 2015 | nwsportsmanmag.com

he offer of handsome reward money for info on buck and bull poachings in Jackson Co., Ore., early last September appears to have paid off with May’s sentencing of a 19-year-old local man. In a plea deal, Austin Burkett of Eagle Point pled guilty to unlawfully killing the trophy elk, which led to a restitution fine of $15,000, and he must also pay $2,000 for two blacktails, the Medford Mail Tribune reported. The animals had been shot off Lake Creek Road solely for their heads and racks; the rest of the carcasses were wasted. A total reward of up to $15,000 had been offered by the Cascade Ranch, Oregon Hunters Association and Humane Society of the United States for tips leading to an arrest and conviction in the case. Burkett lost his hunting privileges for three years and received two years of probation, the Tribune reported. The trial of a codefendant, Christian D. Cochran, was slated for late spring.

Mama, Fawn Pronghorns Shot In SW Idaho

Senior Trooper Martin Maher. (OSP) 28 Northwest Sportsman

CASE CLOSED

pair of pronghorn fawns were left motherless after a poacher shot their dam with a high-powered rifle north of Mountain Home, Idaho, in late May or early last month. One of the weeks- if not daysold fawns was also shot through both rear legs, according to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. The agency reports the shooter(s) made no effort to use any part of the doe. The fawns were taken to a Nampa vet for medical attention before hoped-for placement with a wildlife rehab center. Conservation officers hope shooters using a popular nearby range might know something. Anyone with info on the case is being asked to call the Citizens Against Poaching tipline (800-632-5999) or Elmore County Sheriff’s Office (208-587-3370).

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Sagebrush Salmon Derbies On Tap

Last summer’s Mother Nature-wracked “Sagebrush Salmon Derby Series” included an apocalyptic smoke plume from the Carlton Complex ﬁre (above) and a squall line that kicked dust, smoke and rain over the Brewster Pool. (BRIAN LULL)

ere’s hoping for slightly less calamity than last year at North-central Washington’s two summer salmon derbies. Let’s see, the Wenatchee derby occurred not only as the largest fire in Evergreen State history went thermonuclear just upriver, but the Brewster event was hit by a huge squall line that raised 5- to 8-foot rollers out on the Upper Columbia pool. But despite Ma Nature’s tantrums, Wiley Flohr shows off his nearly 25-pound Chinook that the derbies soldiered on, and this topped all ﬁsh weighed at last year’s Brewster Salmon Derby and won the lad $600. (BRIAN LULL) summer they return better than ever! The 4th Annual NCW CCA Salmon Derby out of Wenatchee will be held July 17-18, and the 10th Annual Brewster Salmon Derby follows two weekends later, July 31-Aug. 2 It took a 21.85-pounder to win at Brewster last year – sort of. That Chinook was caught by Cory Maynard, who placed at the head of the adult bracket. But an even larger king was caught by young Wiley Flohr, a 24.97-pounder, to score $600 for top kids fish. New this year at Brewster is an all-ages top prize of $2,000, as well $1,500 for the biggest weighed by an adult, $750 for largest brought in by a youth, and $100 for the top fish for anglers 8 and under. There’s also a $500 youth sockeye category, as well as numerous sidepots to enter. Wenatchee’s top prize is $2,000, while heaviest boat bag yields $1,750 (it’s $1,500 for Brewster). All totaled, nearly $10,000 in cash and prizes are up for grabs at Wenatchee, and over $20,000 – including raffles – at Brewster. And once again there will be a combined individual weight prize for anglers who hit both derbies. Last year, Bob Shelton of Wenatchee won that and walked off with a pair of Cannon Digi Troll 10s. Tickets to the Wenatchee event are $60, and you can find out more information at wenatcheesalmonderby.com. For Brewster, it’s $50 for adults and $20 for kids from 9 to 14, but limited to the first 275 purchasers; see brewstersalmonderby.com for more.

$3,500 Top Prize At South Sound Derby Chinook fishing in Area 10 may have been scrubbed, but not the South King County Chapter-Puget Sound Anglers Salmon Derby! The 14th annual running goes down Aug. 1 with Areas 11 and 13 still available for trying to land that $3,500 winner. This year’s derby features a new category, active military or veteran, with a payout of $500 for big fish. Organizers say top prizes for kids have also been upped to $300, $150 and $100, and all youngsters at the awards ceremony at Point Defiance Boathouse with a derby ticket will receive goodies. Last year’s winning fish weighed 20.85 pounds, but in 2012, a 27 took top honors. Tickets are $35 (under 13 free), and are available at Sportco, Outdoor Emporium, Auburn Sports and Marine, Sportsman’s Warehouse, Narrows Marina, the boathouse and pugetsoundanglers.net.

UPCOMING DERBIES

This month and next mark the height of fishing derby season in the Northwest as both the Northwest Salmon Derby Series and tuna derbies kick into high gear. Here’s a rundown on summer’s events. July 10-12 Bellingham Salmon Derby in Area 7; info: bellinghampsa.com/derby.htm July 18-19 Chimacum Salmon Derby in Area 9; info: chimacumsalmonderby.org Aug. 7-8 Oregon Tuna Classic’s Deep Canyon Challenge out of Ilwaco; info: oregontunaclassic.org Aug. 7-8 Washington Tuna Classic out of Westport; info: washingtontunaclassic.com Aug. 8 20th Annual Gig Harbor ChapterPuget Sound Anglers Salmon Derby in Areas 11 and 13; info: gigharborpsa.org Aug. 15 South Sound Salmon Derby in Area 13; info: (619) 994-4319 Aug. 21 16th Annual Buoy 10 Challenge at the mouth of the Columbia; info: nsiafishing .org/event/buoy-10-challenge Aug. 21-22 Oregon Tuna Classic out of Garibaldi; info: oregontunaclassic.org Aug. 28-29 12th Annual Salmon Enhancement Derby on Nootka Sound and Esperanza Inlet, Vancouver Island, BC; info: info@westviewmarina.com Editor’s note: To have your derby listed or results posted here, email awalgamott@ media-inc.com. nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2015

Northwest Sportsman 31

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July 1 Leftover big game tags go on sale in Oregon and start of youth “first time” hunt application period; Trout, salmon opener on several South Sound, North Cascades waters; Salmon openers in Columbia from Priest Rapids Dam to Wells Dam, Brewster Pool above Highway 173 bridge and in the Okanogan River, and Marine Areas 5-7, 9 and 10 and parts of Areas 6 and 12; Idaho’s Clearwater River catch-and-release steelhead opener July 2 Crabbing opens in Areas 4 (east of Bonilla-Tatoosh Line), 5, 6, 8-12 Thurs.Mon. through Sept. 7 July 4 Free Family Fishing event at Mingus Park (Coos Bay); info: odfwcalendar.com July 6 Clamming and crabbing seminar, Charleston; info: odfwcalendar.com July 11 17th annual Merwin Special Kids Day fishing event at Merwin Fish Hatchery, Woodland, Wash., for children with disabilities; info: (800) 899-4421; Free Family Fishing event at Jubilee Lake (Umatilla NF); info: odfwcalendar.com July 12 Free Family Fishing event at Lhuuke Illahee Fish Hatchery (Logsden); info: odfwcalendar.com July 15 Deadline to purchase Washington raffle hunt tickets July 16 Puget Sound Area 9 hatchery Chinook opener; Crabbing opens in Area 7 South Thurs.-Mon. through Sept. 28 July 18 Public Archery Instruction, EE Wilson Wildlife Area; info: odfwcalendar.com; Oregon bighorn sheep and mountain goat tagholders workshop and orientation at Fort Dalles Readiness Center, The Dalles; info: oregonfnaws.org July 25-26 Family Introduction to Hunting Dog Training Workshop, Queener Ridge Pheasant Company (Scio, registration, $); info: odfwcalendar.com

AUGUST Aug. 1 Opening of salmon ﬁshing at Buoy 10; bear season begins across Oregon as

well as numerous Washington units Aug. 8-9 Free Family Fishing event, Charleston Seafood Festival; info:

odfwcalendar.com Aug. 13 Crabbing opens in Area 7 North Thurs.-Mon. through Sept. 28 Aug. 13-15 International Federation of Fly Fishers’ 50th Annual International Fly

Fishing Fair at Riverhouse Hotel & Convention Center in Bend; info: fedﬂyﬁshers.org Aug. 15 Public Archery Instruction, EE Wilson Wildlife Area; info: odfwcalendar.com

RECORD NW GAME FISH CAUGHT THIS MONTH Date

Species

7-6-02 Largemouth bass 7-16-12 White crappie 7-20-82 Sockeye* 7-26-14 Tiger muskie** 7-29-09 Rainbow 7-30-86 Lingcod * Freshwater record; ** image 32 Northwest Sportsman

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(DAVID HICKMAN)

Pds. (-Oz.) Water

12-1.6 3-12.8 10.63 37.88 20-02 61.0

Angler

Ballenger Pd. (OR) B. Adam Hastings Crane Cr. Res. (ID) Trenten Smith L. Washington (WA) Gary Krasselt Curlew L. (WA) David Hickman Snake R. (ID) Michelle Larsen-Williams San Juan Islands (WA) Tom Nelson

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Northwest Sportsman 33

Happy albacore anglers celebrate their catch, made out of Westport last July. (ALLRIVERSGUIDESERVICE.COM)

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READER PHOTOS

Ryan DeMarre (far right) and friends Ryan Elwell, Nolan Elwell, Tim Erickson, Tom, Casey, Dane Elwell, Guy Minock and Patrick tapped into La Push’s great ﬁshing this spring. Safely back in the tiny harbor, they hoist the lings and halibut they yarded out of the depths off Washington’s West End. (DAIWA PHOTO CONTEST)

The upper end of Tillamook Bay provided some memories for Megan Billinger this season. She landed two springers on spinners near Memaloose, and during one of the battles, “the dog jumped in the water in the middle of the commotion and we had to ﬁsh her out with the net! LOL!” (DAIWA PHOTO CONTEST)

Marc Simonson shows off a hefty spring Chinook, caught out of the Klickitat in mid-May. Friend Bob Smith reported it went 30 pounds. This year’s above-Bonneville run topped the forecast, and even provided a tribal ﬁshery in Nevada – yes, that Nevada. (DAIWA PHOTO CONTEST)

Bundled up against the cold of a Northeast Washington winter day, Brenda Malakowsky landed this nice walleye on the Spokane Arm of Lake Roosevelt. (DAIWA PHOTO CONTEST)

Whether trolling bait in the bay or plunking off the rocks of the Rogue, Erin Eastman loves it all. The Gold Beach resident targets the South Coast river’s salmon and steelhead religiously, and here displays a winter-run from last December. (DAIWA PHOTO CONTEST)

For your shot at winning great fishing and hunting products from Browning and Daiwa, send your full-resolution, original images with all the pertinent details – who’s in the pic and their hometown; 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, PO Box 24365, Seattle, WA, 98124-0365. By sending us photos, you affirm you have the right to distribute them for use in our print and Internet publications. nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2015

Northwest Sportsman 35

READER PHOTOS

Brian Foytack notched his 2014 deer tag with this Blue Mountains muley. He killed it on the October riﬂe opener. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

^ A 300-yard shot with a .300 Win Mag anchored this spike bull for Pat Roche last October. He was hunting on an any-elk tag at the Yakima Training Center with friends Bob Roberson and Norm McKean. “It was a great day!” reports Norm, who sent the pic. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

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Hunting near the tiny South-central Oregon hamlet of Plush last August, Marvin Williams of Pleasant Hill bagged his speedgoat with a one-shot, 165-yard kill from his .30-06. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

A big channel catfish Margaret Han hooked while walleye fishing this past March gave son Jerry momentary visions he would be netting a new world record walleye. The wintery midteens whiskerfish bit a worm on a Whistle Pig jig. (DAIWA PHOTO CONTEST)

The long drive over from the Boise area was worth it for Sydnie Shirley and her dad, Garry Shirley. She landed this 17-pound spring Chinook while on a guided trip at Drano Lake in May. (DAIWA PHOTO CONTEST)

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Northwest Sportsman

PHOTO CONTEST

WINNERS!

With this pic of son Colby and his Columbia River spring Chinook, monthly Daiwa Photo Contest winner Mike Davis wins a Daiwa hat, T-shirt and scissors for cutting braided line. It also puts him in the running for the grand prize of a Daiwa rod-and-reel combo!

Hanginâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; loose after a Hawaiian hog hunt pays off with a hat for Chris Bell, who is our monthly Browning Photo Contest winner!

Sportsman Northwest

Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource

For your shot at winning Daiwa and Browning products, send your photos and pertinent (who, what, when, where) details to awalgamott@ media-inc.com or Northwest Sportsman, PO Box 24365, Seattle, WA 98124-0365. By sending us photos, you affirm you have the right to distribute them for our print or Internet publications. 38 Northwest Sportsman

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Northwest Sportsman

Happy albacore anglers celebrate their catch, made out of Westport last July. (ALLRIVERSGUIDESERVICE.COM)

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FISHING

There Will Be Blood An early start and an epic season of albacore ﬁshing expected this year. By Jeff Holmes

s we prepare for a summer of drought and the impacts that low, warm water might have on salmon, steelhead and trout, it remains to be seen how ﬁshing will be impacted in the short term. Big predicted numbers of coho and Chinook are en route from the Gulf of Alaska to the Northwest coast. Fishing will likely be good to excellent, but even the ocean will be warmer than normal in 2015 with an El Niño weather pattern in place. Inland waters could be far warmer than normal if this is a hot summer, and that’s been the trend. And thanks to the lowest snowpack in recorded history throughout most of the Northwest, streams were already at summer levels in May. Despite the immediate challenges of El Niño-inspired drought conditions, anglers will no doubt adapt, and 2015 will probably go down in the books as one of the best Northwest salmon and steelhead seasons by many accounts. The longer-term future, however, is far more uncertain for our coldwater ﬁsh. Whether from unproductive ocean conditions linked to El Niño’s effects on weather patterns and ocean upwelling, or from threats centered around habitat, predation, harvest,

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Northwest Sportsman

FISHING

Anchovies circle in the bait tank of Mark Coleman’s tuna boat. Pinning live bait on a hook and light rod-and-reel combo and letting it loose near a tuna school is the ultimate drug for some ﬁshermen. (ALLRIVERSGUIDESERVICE.COM)

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environmental factors and more, the wisdom of embracing warmwater fisheries is becoming more clear to those of us who don’t solely fish for salmon and steelhead. Me? I’ll fish for anything from pumpkinseed sunfish to halibut, and I’m far from alone in my multispecies interests. There are plenty of awesome warmwater and saltwater options in the Northwest to diversify one’s fishing palate, but tell this to some diehard salmon-steelhead-only anglers and expect scorn and bigotry. “I only fish chrome, bro … I like to catch big fish that actually fight hard and taste good … Salmon and steelhead are the kings of Northwest gamefish.” It’s tough to argue personal preference, and salmon and steelhead are my year-round favorites too. But to those chrome addicts fishing over uncertain coldwater fisheries, assuming there are no fish more bad ass in the Northwest, I gotta ask

FISHING something: Do you even tuna, bro? Do you? Cuz this year is gonna be epic. And so will next year, and the next year, and … El Niño conditions can impact albacore, as they impact the entire ocean food web, but generally speaking El Niño does little to our coastal tuna populations except bring them here sooner. El Niño hammers salmon. Due to their spectacular abundance and status as one of the world’s healthiest foodﬁsh stocks, any minor decrease in albacore abundance will be imperceptible to anglers. It’s going to be a bloody mess on the decks of a lot of boats this summer, and it may cost less in gas to chase them. Tuna could be much closer to shore this season thanks to warm ocean temperatures. It’s pretty much impossible to convey to tuna virgins just how cool this news is and how powerful albacore are, so let’s review some basic facts about them.

ALBACORE ARE HIGHLY migratory, numerous and are the world’s most widely distributed tuna. They swim great distances from the West Pacific to our coasts during summer and fall to mature by gorging on anchovies and other baitfish. As warm, cobaltblue, subtropical currents push against the continental shelf off the Northwest Coast during early summer, albacore arrive with the blue water. For several months they feed voraciously on baitfish – mostly anchovies – and grow several pounds by the time they turn around and head back west in late autumn. Designed to swim fast and eat on the run, they sprint to 50 mph and feed on fish swimming 20 to 30 mph. Chinook and steelhead can’t even hit 20, by comparison. Their bullet-shaped bodies, long, thin fins, and muscular builds propel them to these speeds. Their power becomes immediately evident to the eye and

ear after an angler wrestles one to the gaff and the fish hits the deck. Tuna keep “swimming” once out of the water, slapping out a loud, staccato rhythm until they are brain-spiked and bled. Mere bonking won’t do the trick on an albacore; they need a sharp object jammed into their skull. They’re tough and nasty, but their flesh is some of the best around, and each fish is packed with 60 percent of their total weight as boneless loins. Whereas hot salmon harvesting stops pretty quickly due to tight salmon limits, there are zero limits on albacore in Washington and for all intents and purposes, there might as well not be one in Oregon, where it’s 25 a day. Albies weigh from 10 to 40 pounds in our waters, averaging 15 to 18 pounds early and get larger later in the feeding season. A big haul of 10 tuna averaging 18 pounds will yield about 100 pounds of loins. This is way more meat than a big buck deer yields and

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Northwest Sportsman

more meat than a salmon angler can land in days of catch limits of kings.

I’VE BECOME OBSESSED over the last few years with albacore, taking a couple of annual tuna trips. This has proven to be too little ocean time, and I don’t like to share. My wife – who is especially into tuna ﬁshing – supported buying a larger boat than we would have ordinarily needed for the Columbia around our Tri-Cities home so that we can be safer offshore chasing tuna for ourselves. We’ll ease into it, ﬁshing out of our Thunder Jet

Good tuna fishing means standing in crimson blood amongst dead and dying tuna, listening to the staccato smacking of their bodies on deck while fighting more fish on high-performance gear capable of handling 50-mph runs. Coleman relies on the quality and value of Okuma tuna tackle, using Andros reels and Cedros rods aboard his three boats. (ALLRIVERSGUIDESERVICE.COM)

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Luxor OB along with buddy boats, and only during good weather and on improving weather patterns. And part of our learning process will be continuing to ﬁsh with friend and favorite tuna captain Mark Coleman, who recommended our Raymarine radar and electronics. In an age of paper pro-staffers on social media and hot chicks who reel in passed-off ﬁsh and pose, Coleman is anything but a paper prostaffer or a hot chick. He’s an awesome tuna captain, a wizard with a gaff and the proprietor

FISHING Mike Colbach’s boat, the Shake N Bake, sits in port. (MIKE COLBACH)

ILWACO ALBACORE, MEET JURZEE STYLE A Portland man is bringing New Jerseystyle tuna fishing to Ilwaco this season. Uh, wait a minute, what exactly does that mean? “The East Coast style is big, fast inboard boats with huge cockpits that can run 90 miles each way to chase albacore,” emailed Mike Colbach whose charter boat, the Shake N Bake, came through the Panama Canal on its way from the Garden State to the Southwest Washington port. Colbach, a personal injury attorney, says his 42-foot Henrique is decked out for comfort at sea. Outfitted with two large fish boxes chillable to 10 degrees for when Charlie and pals are brought aboard, it will soon sport a through-hull

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high-definition camera feeding a 21inch screen so that Colbach can monitor feeding tuna from the cockpit. “I am an Oregon guy who got the tuna bug bad around 2006 and have been fishing for tuna four months out of the year since them,” he explains. “We fish the local tournament – we won it [Deep Canyon Challenge] last year – but mainly our goal is to catch a lot of tuna while educating newcomers on tuna, rigging, safety and the Columbia River Bar.” With a little help from skipper Mark Coleman up in Westport, he got a charter license (shakenbakesportfishing.com), and reports that his deckhand hails from the San Diego tuna fishing scene. –NWS

of three Defiance Pilothouse tuna boats. A pro-staffer for Raymarine, Okuma, Defiance and more, Coleman probably puts in as many fishing guide-days a year as anyone in the Northwest, and his specialty and greatest passion is fishing for pelagic fish. Off of our coasts, that primarily means albacore, but his boat also was responsible, briefly, for the staterecord bluefin tuna. Bluefin and other subtropical pelagics like yellowtail, Opah, bigeye tuna and more may be more common this year, but albacore will rule. As Andy Schneider delves into in this issue of Northwest Sportsman, there are a variety of techniques for taking albacore. Coleman and crew even bobber fished for them last fall. Yeah, fished for albies way, way out on the ocean with floats. While there are many methods worthy of discussion, the Washington ports of Ilwaco and Westport are lucky enough to support live-bait facilities. Free-spooling live anchovies on light tuna gear is easy, deadly and so addicting that for most Washington tuna operators, the ultimate goal is to get on a live-bait bite. For those unfamiliar with the Washington tuna “program,” here’s an overview of a typical day on the water.

AFTER LEAVING PORT with lots of ice, bait and fuel, captains run 30 to 60 miles offshore to find the blue water where tuna are typically found. They scan for slashing tuna on the surface and birds as they run, and if they see fish activity, they’ll cut the engine for the trip’s first bait stop. If they don’t see reason to deploy bait, captains will begin trolling cedar plugs, Rapala X-Raps and other lures capable of holding up to 6 to 8 knot trolling speeds. Some boats fish handlines, some outriggers and some just use standard rod holders. Once a fish is hooked up, the captain will cut the engine and either a deckhand or a client will reel in the “troll fish,” being especially careful not to lose it. Albacore travel in

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Northwest Sportsman

FISHING schools, and when fish come off, they flee and take their schoolmates with them. As the troll fish is being reeled in, deckhands bait up live bait rods for waiting anglers. With no weight, a small rubber-core sinker, or a small chunk of pencil lead and surgical tubing, anglers drop squirming anchovies over the side and allow them to free-spool into the blue. Hooked through the collar, nose or back, the anchovies swim away from the boat at a couple miles an hour. Anglers hold their rods and watch line playing out. If that 2 mph pace increases suddenly to 20 to 30 mph, a tuna has grabbed the bait. Clients struggle to allow the tuna to run for a three-count before engaging the drag and bracing themselves as the rod loads up with a lightning-fast chrome bullet. Tuna set the hook themselves. After 5 to 15 minutes of fight for every fish, an albacore circles its way to the surface to be gaffed, bled and

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brain spiked on board. As the bite dies off, if it does, captains resume the troll and repeat the pattern of finding fish and doing bait stops. Sometimes, fishing with Coleman, we haven’t needed to troll at all, including both of the last two trips we took. Once a boat is loaded up with all the iced tuna it can hold, captains return to the harbor and deckhands begin loining hundreds or even more than a thousand pounds of fish. There is nothing about even the typical tuna program that isn’t fun and exciting, and specialists like Coleman bring perhaps some extra enthusiasm and excitement to the experience. Several express-style tuna outfits have seen Coleman’s success and are now running out of Westport. Lots of people like tuna fishing on larger, slower boats too, because they love the experience so much that they want to maximize ocean time as well as room for storing iced tuna. Others, like me, love the one-day experience.

Whether you choose an expressstyle trip like Coleman’s or a more traditional large-boat experience, you can’t go wrong with a skilled tuna skipper, and there are many available, especially in Westport, Washington’s largest ocean port.

THERE’S NO REPLACING salmon and steelhead, and the special places they occupy in our hearts, traditions, economies and ecosystems. Nor should we accept anything less than forever seeking and demanding their conservation. Albacore tuna nonetheless present an alternative for big-fish junkies who like tasty fish that flat outfight all Northwest gamefish. An El Niño year is the perfect time to get after them since they’ll likely be even closer to shore than normal and in our waters for longer than normal. You’ll find tuna boats in all four of Washington’s ports – as well as most of Oregon’s – but Westport is undeniably

FISHING With no limit off Washington and all but the same off of Oregon, albacore represent a fast way to ﬁll a freezer. (ALLRIVERSGUIDESERVICE.COM)

the tuna capital of the Evergreen State, with Ilwaco a close second. I strongly recommend a trip with All Rivers and Saltwater Charters out of Westport. Coleman and his captains

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work closely together to get on ﬁsh, have fun doing it, maintain courtesy and good cheer on board, and load the boat and return to harbor really fast. A quick zip to the tuna grounds

often takes the same amount of time it takes other boats just to reach the much closer bottomfishing grounds. Regardless of whomever you choose to get out with, there are no excuses not to fish tuna if you haven’t, especially if you’re a salmon and steelhead junkie. See for yourself that, athletically, even a smokinghot chrome king or steelhead is like a very fit golfer compared to Marshawn-strong albacore tuna. The Northwest’s only warm-blooded sportfish, albacore “go” the piscatorial equivalent of Beast Mode once hooked. Their power is shocking and must be experienced to be believed. Tuna should be here in very large numbers from now until the coastal waters become too rough to fish in late fall, and they get bigger and fatter and hungrier all season. Go seize your share of the bounty, and watch your popularity soar on shore with tunaloin-gobbling friends. NS

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Northwest Sportsman

and Follow the Law It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3... 1.

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Stay at least TWO hundred yards away from any killer whale (200 yards = the distance of two football fields or about 200 meters).

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FISHING

Comin’ Atcha! From jigging iron to casting swimbaits to trolling cedar plugs, here’s how to can Charlie.

The author’s wife, Missy Schneider, displays a swimbait-caught albacore from last season. (ANDY SCHNEIDER)

By Andy Schneider

he call of the ocean can be subtle and tempt some anglers to venture into its saltiness. To others, the pull of crossing the horizon can be very strong. But to most albacore anglers, it goes way beyond a “fun thing to do,” and into the realm of obsession. There is a reason that hundred-thousand-dollar offshore boats don’t sit for sale long, as some anglers will do whatever it takes to get past the 125 Line, over and over. Indeed, the fastest-growing ﬁshing trend in the Northwest didn’t get so popular by being boring – oh, no. Tuna ﬁshing not only is fun, but

mentally and physically challenging, making it an adventure for any sportsman. While July is the traditional kickoff for albacore fishing here in the Northwest, there is no easy way to forecast how the season is going to be for us since tuna hit the entire West Coast at roughly the same time. Still, this year we have seen some early indications that we may be in for one heck of a good season. El Niño may not be directly responsible for the record late-spring flooding in Texas, but it may have played a small role in some of the extreme weather patterns we have been seeing lately. No one wants to confirm that we have a Godzilla of an El Niño brewing in the Eastern Pacific, but

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Northwest Sportsman

FISHING there have been plenty of references comparing the warmer waters of the Paciﬁc to the world’s most famous monster. Coincidence that Godzilla and El Niño are born from the same waters? I think not! What an El Niño provides for Northwest tuna anglers is a slightly warmer ocean, which can bring bigger numbers of albacore closer to shore. And amongst those schools, anglers

will also ﬁnd a few more exotics in their catch. Yellowtail, blueﬁn, those warm-blooded opah and dorado are all known for making a showing during normal ocean conditions. Imagine what may show up with even warmer waters!

DROPPING IRON, SWIMBAITS AND ANCHOVIES Albacore may be the fastest-growing ﬁshery in the

Northwest, but a lot of anglers are still doing it ye old-fashioned way: trolling. Mind you, there is nothing wrong with the technique: ﬁnding schools of tuna and keeping them around the boat for hours on end has an appeal. But anglers willing to do a little more work will be rewarded with bigger hauls than anglers trolling topwater gear all day. Over the last few years, albacore have not been feeding on the surface in large schools as they have in years past. This makes it especially hard to locate schools and then lure them to the surface to bite your trolling gear.

filleting the loins, cut or break the head off the spine and tail. Next fold the spine in thirds. With the carcass folded up, it should fit nicely into a gallon-sized zip-locking bag and store easily in the freezer for your next trip. After a long day of tuna fishing, sometimes the last thing you want to do is mess with a bunch of crabs. But put the fillet job on hold and cook up your Dungeness while you wash down and unload the boat. Keeping your albacore on ice for another 12 hours will make filleting them so much easier, as the meat will be firm and the skin will tear off nicely. Crab only take 20 minutes to cook and will provide a quality and easy meal for you once you drag your exhausted self home. Cooked and ready to eat! (ANDY SCHNEIDER)

Here are some more tips:

efore you plug those distant coordinates of Tuna Town into your chart plotter and hit the “Go To” button, make a small detour north or south of the jetties to drop some crab traps. Two or 3 miles in either direction should be enough for finding some brine spiders. Right now commercial crab pots are strung at all depths for miles in either direction, so you may have to be a little savvy finding waters that have not been overharvested. Most commercials will set their pots in long strings at a certain depth, so make sure you set yours at different ones. You may have to go as shallow as 30 feet or as deep as 150 feet to find some crabby waters. Also avoid areas where fellow sport crabbers are working. Instead, search out waters where you can’t see another crab pot in any direction (easier said than done). Hopefully you saved some albacore carcasses from your last tuna trip. If not, make sure you do on your next one. After

TUNA WITH A SIDE OF

CRAB

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Beef ’em up: If you have a crab puller, add as much weight to your pot as you feel comfortable having your puller haul. Some crabbers go as far as adding a couple cinder blocks to the side of their traps to make sure the traps are not checked for them while they are over the horizon. Make it tougher: Putting your bait into a container or “chewy” bag will help prevent most of your bait from walking away in the claws of undersized crab. After a couple hours of soaking, small fish, small crabs and even snails can clean out most of your bait if it isn’t protected in some way. Go deep or go shallow: More than likely the ocean is going to be pretty nice if you’re heading out for albies, and dropping your pots in 30 to 40 feet of water might put them just a couple hundred yards from the beach. Few crabbers venture this shallow, but that doesn’t mean that Dungies don’t. Just make sure to keep a safe distance from the breakers and secure any excess rope so your buoys don’t float any closer to shore. Just barely a keeper: In Oregon waters, commercial crabbers can only keep Dungeness 6 inches or bigger, which leaves lots in the 5¾-inch range. These may not be the jumbos on chipped ice at your local grocery store’s seafood counter, but they’re still better than no crab at all, so be a little less picky when sorting. –AS

FISHING With a quality sonar unit, albacore can be easily located below the surface and can be very effectively targeted with jigs, swimbaits and live and dead bait. Don’t worry if your sonar doesn’t lock onto bottom in 3,500 feet of water, as most don’t have the capability of doing so. Instead, set your max depth at 300 feet and look for any activity in the top 200 feet of water. Albacore usually don’t show up like a standard salmon arch on your screen; more than likely they are streaking shallower or deeper and will show up as a confusion of lines. Once you locate a school of ﬁsh under your boat, kill the motor and start chumming and dropping jigs and casting swimbaits out to sink. IQF, or individually quick frozen,

Warmer waters could bring tuna to the Northwest Coast earlier and closer than in past years. (NOAA)

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anchovies are pretty much a necessity to lure fish to the boat and keep them there for any length of time. If you are lucky enough to launch out of a port with live anchovies available, you are pretty much ensured a onestop fishing trip, as long as the sharks don’t show up and crash the party. With a steady flow of chum overboard, drop your jigs to the depth that you are marking fish and start a fast retrieve. Metered line, which changes color every 10 feet, makes deploying your jigs to the proper depth much easier. As you’re free-spooling your jig to its target depth, pay attention to make sure that a fish hasn’t picked it up on its downward flutter. If it feels like the jig has hit bottom – pretty much an impossibility – set the hook, since that is an albacore. Once you have your jig at its desired depth, start a fast retrieve while making 1- to 1½foot strokes with your rod, all the while reeling at a frantic pace. Each jig performs differently at different

speeds, so monitor how fast or slow you need to lift the rod to achieve the designed action of the jig. A sure sign that you are jigging too fast is if you get rod-tip wrap; you can also tell if you are jigging too slow by not getting any hook-ups. A fast-retrieve reel with at least a 6:1 ratio and a rod matched to the weight of the jig you are fishing will make fishing jigs more productive. If you are sore at the end of the day from jigging, you were doing it right. Once you are hooked-up and starting to bring your fish closer to the surface, start casting swimbaits. Many times a school of albacore will follow hooked fish right to the boat. Make long casts past the school of feeding fish, give the swimbait a 20to 30-count to sink to depth and start a slow retrieve. Don’t expect a hard or violent bite on a casted swimbait; any time you feel extra weight on it, set the hook. If you find yourself with a school of fish busting the surface all around the boat, make some sideways casts with your jigs, since a sidewaysretrieved jig is just as effective as a vertically retrieved one. As you start bringing fish to gaff

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FISHING No albies showing on the surface? Break out the diving plugs, like Rapala X-Rap Magnum 30s (top), and troll. And then when you ﬁnd tuna, feed them a steady diet of chum, live or dead bait, swimbaits and iron. Lighter jigs, like this 1.75-ounce Gomame from the author’s arsenal (bottom), come with a single assist hook, while larger ones will have two. (ANDY SCHNEIDER, BOTH)

a n d seein seeing lots of other ﬁsh st streaking at the edge of vi ib visibility, make sure to keep a steady ﬂow of chum overboard. And just as these hungry torpedoes are getting

used to groceries the grocerie you ar are feeding them, them surprise them with a live b bait hook in a couple of those dead anchovies. A No. 1 or 2 hook in the middle of the back of an anchovy works amazingly well for exponentially increasing your catch rate. Once you see or feel your anchovy has been eaten, let the line

free-spool for a count of 10 seconds before engaging the reel. If sharks haven’t found you yet, dead anchovies on a hook don’t get much simpler and easier. Just be sure to bring enough hooks, since many times you will not be able to retrieve the small hook from the depths of an albacore’s stomach. Twenty- to 25-pound ﬂuorocarbon leaders tied directly to a live bait hook work best

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FISHING and can be cast quite a distance with a spinning rod. If the sharks move in, make sure you don’t have any blood dripping into the water from a scupper, bilge pump or ﬁsh box, stop chumming and take a breather, and let the apex predators get bored and move along. Many times a school of albacore may look like it has disappeared, but often enough they have just sunk to the depths that you originally found them at and it’s time to break out the jigs again and repeat the whole process.

RIGGING UP FOR ONE-STOP SHOPPING Dead bait: Start with a lighter action spinning rod and reel spooled with 20- to 25-pound monoﬁlament. Tie your mainline directly to a No. 7 barrel swivel after sliding a

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¾- to 1-ounce egg sinker on your mainline. On the other end of your barrel swivel, tie 3 to 4 feet of 20to 25-pound fluorocarbon leader with a No. 1 or 2 live bait hook. You can either collar-hook your dead anchovy or hook it through the middle of the back. If the fish are staying close to the surface, you can forego the egg sinker and tie your leader directly to your mainline via a blood knot. Swimbaits: Three-, 5- and 7-inch swimbaits all work at different times for albacore – knowing which to use when starts with knowing what the fish are feeding on that time of year. In the early season, tuna are usually chasing larger baitfish like sardines, herring and saury, so a larger swimbait may work better. Later on, albacore usually feed on candlefish and anchovies, so a smaller swimbait will be the ticket. Depending on how fast the drift is and how deep the fish are will determine what size jighead you need. A 2-ounce jighead

usually complements swimbaits well, but sometimes going heavier or lighter is needed. Jigs: Dart, flutter and butterfly jigs are the most popular for Northwest albacore anglers, and they range in weight from 85 grams (3 ounces) to 200 grams (7 ounces). Go lighter in calm conditions and heavier when the drift is fast. Fifty- to 65-pound metered mainline with a 10- to 15-foot leader of 30- to 40-pound fluorocarbon tied directly to the jig ensures that you can drop your jig to the proper depth and not spook any fish. Most jigs on the market today come with a single assist hook looped to a solid ring at the top of the jig. When using heavier jigs, add another assist hook to the solid ring. Smaller jigs work well with just a single assist hook, since they are often inhaled whole. Since larger jigs may not make it all the way into an albacore’s mouth, having an additional hook will ensure a higher hook up rate.

FISHING KEEPINâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; IT OLD SCHOOL Just because the hot trend right now is to drop iron or live bait out past the 125 Line doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean you have to follow suit. Old-school tactics can be just as effective as they once were. Trolling clones, cedar plugs and diving plugs will always be popular with some anglers not because they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know how to work iron, but because they just work. Even if it has been discontinued, the SevenStrand Clone is probably one of the most popular and productive lures ever made, and fortunately others make similar products. Somewhat similar to plastic squids we use for salmon, the lure catches dorado, billďŹ sh and lots and lots of tuna, and typically is extremely durable and will last many seasons. The 6.5- and 4.5-inch

clones in Mexican ďŹ&#x201A;ag, zucchini, loco joe and midnight are the most popular for Northwest anglers. A cedar plug in the natural color is a consistent producer year after year. The erratic action of this simple lure has been the demise of many tuna. But the plugs donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t play well, per se, with other lures, due to their erratic behavior, so they either need to be run in conjunction with other cedar plugs or kept apart from the rest of the spread. Diving plugs like Rapala X-Raps and Yo-Zuri Hydro Magnums are an easy way to target ďŹ sh that are not showing on the surface. They can be trolled at the same speed as clones and cedar plugs and reach depths of 40 feet. Tying 40- to 50-pound monoďŹ lament mainline directly to the plug provides the most consistent and reliable action. When deploying clones, cedar

plugs or diving plugs, remember, this isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like steelheading, where you want a wall of death in which all your lures are the same distance behind the boat. Rather, run your plugs in either a V pattern â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with four rods, the outside rods must be further back than the inside rods â&#x20AC;&#x201C; or a W, with the outside and center rods further back than the second in on both sides.

GET OUT THERE! Albacore ďŹ shing can be very challenging, physically and mentally, but it can be very rewarding, regardless of whether you troll or cast. The ocean teems with life offshore. Whales, porpoises, birds and ďŹ sh are plentiful, and looking out over the vastness of the clear blue waters of the PaciďŹ c, you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t help but feel alive. NS

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FISHING

Let’s Get Crackin’! Puget Sound’s summer crab season kicks off, and here’s how to catch ’em.

The meaty legs of Dungeness make them a favorite of Puget Sound crabbers, whose season kicked off last month in the South Sound. July marks the opener in much of the rest of the inland sea and Strait of Juan de Fuca, while the San Juans open in August. (JASON BROOKS)

By Jason Brooks

BOSTON HARBOR, Wash.—The boat rocked back and forth as the waves spilled over the sides and soaked my legs and feet. Luckily my crewmate had given me warning – “Dad, a big wave is coming!” he yelled just as the wave broke. I yelled back to my son Ryan to sit down and hang on. Visions of foamy waters and rope entanglements raced through my mind, but before Sig Hanson or any of the Hillstrand brothers of Deadliest Catch could race to my rescue, Ryan muttered about how summer yachts need to slow down when they go by. OK, so yeah, we weren’t on the Bering Sea, nor were our lives in

jeopardy. It had been more like a party barge with teenagers cruising by and raising waves instead of the deadly seas of the north. Summertime in Puget Sound means warm days filled with lots of boaters and some of the best fishing possible – crabbing. With Chinook salmon seasons reduced or outright closed and a lower run expected elsewhere, it might be hard to load up the boat and trailer it to one of the many public launches, where fees rival a ticket to a Mariners game. This is why we make our trips a combo event, and in recent years, most of the fishing we’ve done is to catch more bait to put into our soaking crab pots, leaving the salmon fishing for fall rivers. Crabbing is

Shore-bound anglers have several options for crabbing, including rings, which are an inexpensive way to get into the sport, as well as tangle and butterﬂy traps, which can be cast. From a boat, a pot works best, but be sure to weight it down and use more than enough rope to compensate for tide changes and currents. Best spots for Dungeness are muddy- or sandy-bottomed bays and areas with or near eel grass. (JASON BROOKS)

fun and very productive for putting some good-eating food on the table. I must admit that I am not a big fan of Dungeness meat, but several members of my family are, especially Ryan, as well as most of my friends and neighbors. This gives me a reason to enjoy Puget Sound’s bounty and some great family time.

WE DIDN’T START off ﬁshing, or crabbing, out of a boat. Instead, we bought a folding pot and headed to a local pier. Pier crabbing can be a lot of fun, and

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Northwest Sportsman

FISHING with the pink salmon ﬁshery we will have later this summer, soaking a pot while throwing Buzz Bombs for pinks is a great way to spend the day. If you visit many of our state parks with beach access, then crabbing can be done by using a ﬁshing net or even snorkeling and grabbing them by hand – as long as you accept the fact that you might get pinched a few times. Rakes were once used, but with the regulations in place to protect crabs, it’s not a good idea to use them anymore. Techniques for catching crabs comes down to location and the species you want to catch. Dungeness rule all in Puget Sound. Their fairly meaty legs make them very popular, but they tend to have small claws. In Puget Sound and Hood Canal, you need a Puget Sound Dungeness Crab Endorsement and Catch Record Card. Seasons vary between zones, but generally they are Thursday through Monday (except open all week in Area

Mature red rock crabs are smaller than their cousins, Dungeness, but their meat might be sweeter tasting. They’re plentiful and you can keep both sexes. As their name suggests, target rockier areas than you would for Dungies, but their ranges often overlap, as this pot pulled last month in Area 13 proves.(JASON BROOKS)

13) and no night ﬁshing or pulling pots after dark. Only male Dungeness measuring 6¼ inches across the back and not in soft-shell form can be kept. All females need to be gently placed

back into the water. I often see people hurl the crab far away from their boat or the pier, thinking that if they reset their pots, then the crab will be far enough away to not come back. This

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FISHING only hurts the crab, which can die from the force of hitting the water hard, especially if it lands on its underside. And besides, the crabs crawl along and get pushed by tides so there is no way you can throw it far enough to keep it from coming back to your pot. Dungeness prefer soft muddy or sandy bottoms or bays with eel grass. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife offers an extensive web page on crabs and how they grow. Females can lay up to 2.5 million eggs, and it can take up to two years before the crabs are in hard-shell form, though they’ll still only be 1½ inches across. After their third year they reach maturity, but the males are still under the legal size. This allows them to reproduce at least once before they are big enough to harvest. They can otherwise live to 8 to 10 years old.

SINCE DUNGIES LIKE soft bottoms and eel grass, popular places to crab with pots

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are large flats like the South Sound’s Nisqually Delta. If you are heading to the Nisqually area, the Luers ramp on the south side of the mouth of the Nisqually River is closest, but it has limited parking and can be completely dry during low tide. Once you arrive, look for the large “green can” buoy, which marks the northern entrance of the river channel. A popular spot for trolling flashers and Coyote spoons or mooching herring for July Chinook, this is also a great marker to remember where you placed your crab pots if you don’t have GPS. If fishing the incoming tide, it is recommended to drop your pots north of the buoy. For outgoing tides, drop them south of the buoy. This is because the Nisqually Reach can have strong tidal currents, and if you place your pot too close to the edge of the flats, it might get pushed out to deeper water and you will never see it again.

Another popular South Sound ﬁshery is at Boston Harbor. Launch at Zittel’s Marina and head south, crossing the outlet to Henderson Inlet. You can also launch here and head towards the Nisqually. In the Central Sound, try Dash Point and Redondo Beach. In Hood Canal, the large ﬂats by Union and Belfair, as well as the coves just north of the Hood Canal Bridge on the east side near Hansville, can be very productive. Most places that sell crabbing gear in your local area will also know where the popular spots are, so don’t be afraid to ask when buying your pot. Red rocks, also known as rock crabs, have large claws full of sweetertasting meat than Dungeness. Their legs are a bit smaller, but have enough meat to make it worth the effort. As the name suggests these crabs are found in more rocky areas, and they are very prevalent throughout Puget

FISHING

CLEANING & COOKING CRAB

f you decide to clean your crab in the field, you need to keep the back shell on while in transit to show the size and also keep the bottom “flap” or plate that proves the sex of the crab. I have cleaned crabs in the field and also waited until I got home. One advantage to cleaning them dockside is that crab guts are messy and turn bad very quickly, so why take that home and stink up your garbage can? On the flip side, if you take them home whole and happen to be stopped, there is no need to worry about proving your catch, plus crabs can live for a few hours out of water. Keep them moist and cool. I live 30 minutes away from my ramp, so I keep mine in a fivegallon bucket, emptying the water as we leave the launch. You can also place them in a burlap sack and in a cooler. To clean a crab, grab it by its back legs in one hand with the top shell facing you. Quickly strike the front edge

of the plate – the crab’s face, if you will – against a hard surface; a concrete driveway works well. This stuns the crab and makes it easier to separate the shell. Next, put your thumb under the side of the shell while holding the legs in your other hand. Then pull apart in the same way you would shuffle a deck of cards pulling the back plate off. Fold the crab in half and shake out the innards, which some people call “crab butter” (it is not recommended to eat this, as it is where most toxins are stored). Pull off the gills, which look like long white fingers on the side of the crab. Place the halves into boiling water for about 10 to 15 minutes. If all of that seems complicated, just cook the crab whole for 20 minutes in boiling water. After it is cooked you can cut it in half with a large kitchen knife on a cutting board and clean out the guts by rinsing it in hot water. Whether you like to clean them

ﬁrst or cook them whole, I highly recommend boiling your crabs outside; otherwise, they will leave an odor in your house for days. -JB

Pro tip: Boil your crabs outdoors – otherwise, your kitchen may smell like Dungies for days. (JASON BROOKS)

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FISHING Sound. Their color – a red-colored shell and black-tipped claws – makes them easy to identify. Most crabbers I know don’t target red rocks, but I really don’t know why. They don’t count towards your Dungeness limit, they can be of either sex and you are allowed as many as six a day, as long as they measure 5 inches across and are not in soft shell condition. To target them, keep an eye on your depth finder and look for flats that are protected in coves and then check the shoreline. If you see the beach is mostly larger rocks, this is a good place to drop your pots. We find most of our red rocks fairly shallow, in around 40 feet of water. This makes it much easier to pull the pots several times a day to check for crabs.

USING CRAB POTS is fairly simple, but there are a few things to consider that can lead to more success. First is to look at the design of your

pot and how much it weighs. We mostly use the lightweight folding crab pots, which can be easily stored in the off season. These pots are lightweight and inexpensive. However, since tides can push pots around, we weight ours down. A few cheap bricks zip-tied on the bottom will hold the pot on the seaﬂoor. If you are using a heavier pot, this won’t be much of an issue – just remember: the heavier the pot, the harder it is to pull up from the bottom. All crab pots must have a “biodegradable escape device.” This is usually a hatch that is secured with a piece of cotton cord, which will rot away and allow the crabs to escape if your pot is lost. The doors on most crab pots are simply metal cable or wires that are welded together and then hinged on the frame. I have found that if I wrap some lead around the wires of the door, it keeps them from ﬂapping open in strong tides, and prevents crabs from escaping.

Just don’t make the doors too heavy for the crab to open. I have tried a few different types of bait boxes, as well as just tied the bait in the pot. It’s personal preference, but I have found the mesh bags to work best. The key to bait placement in the pot is to make sure it is on the bottom and can’t be reached from outside of the pot, giving crabs a free meal without having to enter the pot. Your rope must either sink, such as a lead wired rope, or have a weight attached so it sinks. This is just in case your buoy comes off so that the rope won’t become a hazard to boaters. The ﬂoat or buoy must have one attached that is red and white and your name and address must be on it. Only one person’s name can be on the buoy, so if you are out crabbing with friends, make sure the person with the name on the buoy is also on the boat. Crab rings are a lot of fun and a very cheap way to start your crabbing

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FISHING adventures. I bought one at a local sporting goods store for 12 bucks. This is the most popular way to crab from a pier. You don’t need a buoy on the rope if it is tied to the pier, but if you are out on a boat, it is a good idea to use a weighted rope and buoy just in case you decide to leave the ring for a few minutes. The idea behind the crab ring is that they lie flat on the bottom, allowing the crab to crawl across to get to the bait. When you begin to pull it up, a basket forms and traps the crabs inside. One great thing about crab rings is that it is easy to access the crab, unlike pots, where you need to reach in to grab them and chance getting pinched. The downfall of a crab ring is that crabs can freely come and go, which means you might miss your prey if you don’t check it often … but if you check it too much, you don’t allow enough time for the bait to attract the crabs. There are a few other ways to catch crabs, including two traps that can be tied onto the mainline of your fishing rod and cast out. One is the tangle trap, or crab snare. It is a small bait box with several large loops of heavy plastic wire or monofilament line. The idea is when a crab crawls onto the box, it will move your rod tip, much like a fish biting, and as you reel up the line, the loops tighten around the crab’s legs. The other castable device is a butterfly trap and it works similar to the crab ring. It lies flat on the bottom with the bait placed in the middle, but once you reel it in, it causes the trap to close like a clamshell and traps the crab inside. Both styles allow shore anglers to catch crab without having to wade into the water.

GOOD BAIT IS the key to catching crab, regardless of which type of trap or pot you use. Some people tend to think that crabs eat rotten and decaying ﬁsh or animals in the water, so they use “overripe” baits such as rotten chicken. When state shellﬁsh biologists studied Dungeness, they 78 Northwest Sportsman

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Now, let’s get crackin’! Ryan Brooks is ready to dig into a bounty of Puget Sound crabs. (JASON BROOKS)

found that fresher baits worked best. I also have found this to be true, so I try to use the freshest bait possible. I also like to use natural baits that crabs normally feed on, such as ﬁsh carcasses, clams and squid. I keep a few salmon heads, and when trout season opened this past spring I kept their heads and innards, each frozen in a small plastic bag. This way when I get to the crabbing grounds all I have to do is rip apart the plastic bag, empty the frozen contents into my mesh bait bag, and drop the pot overboard. If you don’t have ﬁsh heads or carcasses, any beach open for clamming can provide some big horse clams that work great for crab bait. Chicken also works and a drumstick can be tied into your pot or onto your crab ring easily with some cotton garden twine. At the

end of the day simply cut the twine and allow the bait to fall – no mess to clean up in the bait box. Rounding out your crabbing gear should be an extra copy of the ﬁshing pamphlet, as different marine areas can have different seasons. I take that copy with me as reference while out crabbing. And you will need some way to measure Dungies and red rocks. Crab gauges are available wherever crab pots or rings are sold, and they allow you to check the width of the shell fairly easily. Crabs are found throughout all of Puget Sound and you don’t have to have a boat to enjoy catching them. Make a day out of it and enjoy some of the best of the Northwest bounty. Crabbing can become deadly addictive – give it a try this summer. NS

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COLUMN

Who’s Your Crawdaddy?

From remote Rocky Mountain rills to streams lazily coursing through the Columbia and Snake Basins to Westside waters like Oregon’s Silver Creek – where last summer the magazine editor’s oldest son, River, learned the ﬁner points of crawdadding – the freshwater cousins of lobsters can be found throughout our region. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)

he battle royal was playing out in the shallow water in front of me. A large crawdad with a blue dot on its tail was wrestling with IN THE WILD By Randy King another crawdad for, I guess, a prized location under a tree root. It looked like Mr. Blue had the upper hand when a third river lobster joined the fight – and then a fourth. It was a whirling ball of crayfish fighting it out in 6 inches of the crystal-clear waters of Jump Creek. The stream is located near Marsing, Idaho, west of Boise in a ridiculously deep box canyon that hosts red-banded trout and loads of poison oak. While not exactly paradise, considering that I am hyperallergenic to poison oak – once I had it from the top of my head to my toes and, yes, everywhere in between – it still holds

CHEF

a special place in my heart. I was married near it on my wife’s family farm, I swim in its waterfall pool, I’ve caught and ate rattlesnakes off its cliffs and I’ve drank more cheap strawberry wine there than I will ever admit to my children. Basically Jump Creek is an oasis in the sagebrush, and like other oases, this one is full of life and food. Watercress lines the bank while wild onions sprout from the rocky hillsides and permeate the air. Currants – gooseberries to some – are thick right off the water’s edge. Cattail, dandelion, juniper, dock weeds and many other edibles garnish the riparian area. But the waters of Jump Creek hold the largest bounty. The clean and clear stream holds an outlandish number of crayfish – and they are delicious.

EVENTUALLY, THE BATTLING mass of delicious claws and tails fought its way off a ledge and into the swift current. Three of the four were washed downstream, leaving

Mr. Blue alone and with his prize, a small hole under a root. My father and I watched as he slowly worked his way backwards into his hole and waited. It was one of those magical moments you would never experience unless you just sit and watch nature take its course. We smiled stupidly at each other knowing we had witnessed nothing special in the crawdad world, but something truly original in ours. Unfortunately for Mr. Blue, watching the battle made me hungry. I quickly stripped some line from the end of my fishing pole and tied it into a loose bundle around my worm and hook. I gently lowered it on top of Mr. Blue and watched as he clamped down on my bait with his big claw. (I was once told that crawfish have a dominant hand – like us – so they are either left- of right-handed, and this is what determines the claw sizes. I cannot confirm that this is true, but it makes for good bar talk.) As soon as he was good and tangled, Mr. Blue

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COLUMN

WATERCRESS AND CRAWFISH SALAD This recipe combines natural ingredients you can gather from a stream or lake and beside it – just be sure to be able to identify watercress – as well as your herb garden.

Watercress and crawﬁsh tail salad garnished with claws. (RANDY KING)

CRAYFISH PREPARATION 30-ish crayfish 1 each lemon, quartered 1 tablespoon salt 2 quarts water ½ gallon ice water

Let chill completely, but do not let them stay in the water for more than half an hour – they will get waterlogged and soft. Crack and peel the tail meat (just like a shrimp tail), and reserve the large claws for garnish.

Bring water and lemon to a boil in a 1-gallon stock pot. Add the salt when the water is boiling. Slide a knife between the eyes of all the crayfish, killing them. Add crayfish to boiling water in stages, about one-third at a time. This will keep the cooking water hot. Cook crayfish for about four minutes, unless they are very small, and then only about three minutes. They will be bright red when cooked. Afterwards, add the crayfish to ice water.

RED WINE VINAIGRETTE 1 tablespoon honey 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 clove of garlic, crushed and minced Pinch of salt Fresh cracked pepper

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Add all ingredients to the bottom of a large salad bowl. Whisk together. This will not be a solid emulsification, and that is OK

SALAD GREENS 2 cups gently packed watercress ½ cup Italian parsley leaves 15 each chive flowers (optional; otherwise use chive sticks about 2 inches long) 1 Fuji apple, cut into match sticks Crawfish tail meat Add all the salad greens, apple and crawfish tail meat to the bowl in which you made the vinaigrette. Toss to fully coat. Serve on four plates as a great starter course (serves two as an entrée). Garnish each plate with the crawfish claws. Prep time is around 30 minutes. For a web exclusive on how to devein a crawdad as well as more wild game recipes, see Chefrandyking.com.

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COLUMN took a ride into the sky and eventually into a burlap bag to join a few of his colleagues. I felt bad that it had been such a shortlived victory for Mr. Blue, but I had plan for him and his friends. It involved a stock pot, a little lemon vinaigrette and some watercress and wild onion I stuffed into a Ziploc bag, which I keep handy for foraging, on the way out of the canyon.

4 WAYS TO CATCH CRAYFISH The Lift and Grab: This is a fun method, if not always the most productive. Basically, you wait until it is stupid-hot outside, then you go down to the river and wade around until you find a rocky bar area. Working your way upstream start slowly lifting rocks into the current, allowing the water to push the excess debris away. It is vital that you work upstream; this will allow the “cloud” of debris to float behind you, not obstructing your view. Look for movement and the lobster like-bodies of crawdads. It is also a good idea to wear a glove of some type while doing this. It makes

grabbing the little buggers that much easier without having to worry about a claw getting a hold of you. Slowly slide the gloved hand into the water and get within a few inches of the crawdad. Quickly thrust your hand down and grab the mud bug – this can become quite the sport. Make it a contest with the kids or a buddy. The Line Trap: This method can be very effective for those who want to catch crayfish, but not get wet. Basically you take a wad of line – a good and tangled bird’s nest – and wrap it around bait of some kind; KFC legs are known to work well. This will attract the attention of crawdads and they will ensnare themselves in the line trying to get at the chicken. This method works great in places you can see the crawdads; be sure to reel in slowly but steadily. The Trap Trap: This is perhaps the most productive method – just not for me. Basically you run a line of several wire cage traps with bait of some kind. Little cones make it so the crawdads can go into the trap but not come out.

Like all traps, it’s best to find off-thepath spots to deploy them. Use a section of parachute cord or other thick, braided line and tie the trap to a stiff branch or other anchor. Mark the location and come back in a day or two hoping for the best. The Snorkel-and-bag Method: During college I would snorkel the Boise River every summer and forage for a few dozen crayfish at a time. The basic method is to slowly work a rocky bar about 2 feet deep with your head in the water. The snorkel mask lets you see under the water and perform the “lift and grab” technique with a lot more accuracy. Since the snorkel tube allows you to stay under water, the area you can cover will be larger than the traditional lift-and-grab style. Two notes on this method: Below the water’s surface everything appears about one-third bigger in size, so those 5-inch crayfish will look like freakin’ lobsters. Also, it does not suck to do this on the Boise River or any other large stream in the middle of rafting season. NS

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Punch ’Em Off The Mouth A

flooding tide, flat ocean and lack of boat traffic made the sometimes rough water between the jetties seem mystically calm as our boat skimmed the salty surface heading west. As we turned northward from the Columbia River bar, the mist-filled air began to illuminate from the sun, signaling the new day. We had left our port in the black of night heading where we knew thousands – maybe hundreds of thousands – of salmon would be schooling. We didn’t have to parallel the mainland long before the sea birds gave away the location of bait. We knew hungry Chinook and coho would be amongst them, feeding up for their coming journey upstream. We hooked up within seconds after our lines hit the water. These were big, strong-fighting fish that melted line from our reels and put excited grins on our faces. Before the day really began for most Northwesterners, we were limited.

BUZZ RAMSEY

THIS MEMORABLE ADVENTURE may be realized again during the season that is now open off the mouth of the Columbia. That’s because this summer’s outlook for ocean salmon angling appears excellent again. Fishing from Cape Falcon, near Manzanita, Ore., north to Leadbetter Point, Wash., which encompasses the ocean where the river’s returning salmon stage, opened June 13 and will remain so until Sept. 30, or the quota of 79,400 finclipped coho (over 16 inches) and 15,000

Anglers like Northwest Sportsman’s own Becca Ellingsworth found fantastic coho ﬁshing off the mouth of the Columbia last summer, and while not as many silvers are expected back this year, it should still be well worth checking out as salmon stage there this month and next. (JOEL ALLEN)

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COLUMN Clients of guide Jeff Keightly of Astoria Fishing Charters look forward to a day of salmon ﬁshing off the mouth of the Columbia as they head out of Hammond last summer. (JOEL ALLEN)

Chinook (any king over 24 inches, finclipped or not) are caught. The daily sport limit is two salmon, of which only one can be a Chinook. Most anglers reach the ocean between Falcon and Leadbetter by launching out of Ilwaco and Hammond – the nearest ports to the fishery – or Warrenton, Astoria or Chinook, all of which are inside the mouth of the Columbia. If you do this, remember that you must pass through the Columbia River Control Zone (closed to angling) to reach open water. The zone extends from the north-south line at Buoy 10 out to Buoy 4 (red), north to Buoy 7 (green) to the North Jetty. During the first hour of light is when ocean salmon fishing is best, as most of the fish are located in the top 15 to 20 feet 90 Northwest Sportsman

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attractor, like a Fish Flash or other flasher, and trolling sinker or diver, like a Delta or Deep Six. Of course, downriggers are the ultimate device for controlling the exact depth of your bait. If this year is like recent ones, the bulk of the coho will be located just south of the Columbia mouth’s red buoy line over water that is 90 to 180 feet deep. The red buoys mark the south side of the river’s channel and extend well out into the ocean. If you have GPS mapping or a chart, this area will be found from Buoy 2 west. Careful there, pup! Rockford the All coho must have their adipose dog greets a coho. fin missing in order to qualify as a (JOEL ALLEN) keeper. The adipose fin is the small fin located between the fish’s dorsal and tail Once they leave the surface, king fins. Even inexperienced anglers should be salmon will normally be found from 60 able to identify fish missing this fin before to 90 feet down. You can deep mooch or attempting to net it. Don’t net a coho and troll your herring rigged 6 feet behind an of water. After this time period has passed, coho may linger near the surface while Chinook descend into the water column. If you want to target the larger Chinook, you will have to get your bait down to them.

COLUMN

Out on the open ocean, birds like murres, auklets and pufﬁns can be a good sign for anglers. Typically, they mean baitﬁsh are near, and where there’s bait, there’s salmon. (JOEL ALLEN)

then look to see if you can keep him. If you catch a wild coho, cut your leader near the hook or take the hook out without removing the fish from the water. More than anything else, this will increase the survival of the fish which hold the seeds to recover our native runs, and consequently allow more liberal fisheries. The majority of Chinook bound for the Columbia spend their lives foraging off British Columbia and in the Gulf of Alaska (many coho do also), and they will stage north of the river’s mouth before passing the bar. Chinook numbers will increase daily until they begin to leave saltwater and begin their migration out of the salt and into freshwater in mid- to late August. You can identify Chinook by the large oval spots on their back, along with their heftier build and black coloration all throughout their inside lower mouth. Just remember, the best bite will be the first hour of daylight, so if you want to catch a big boy, you should leave the dock before the day begins for most people. NS Editor’s note: The author is a brand manager and member of the management team at Yakima Bait. Find him on Facebook.

In the net! A coho comes aboard off the mouth of the Columbia last season. Herring behind a ﬂasher and either a banana weight or diver is a great setup for silvers and kings here. (JOEL ALLEN) 92 Northwest Sportsman

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Back at the ﬁsh-cleaning station, the day’s catch is ﬁlleted and trimmed for dinner. (JOEL ALLEN)

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COLUMN

Double Down In The Straits S

almon anglers will be rockin’ it from Sekiu east to Port Townsend this year with more opportunities than most summers to wet a line WIESTSIDER and fill the freezer. While always popular for By Terry Wiest Chinook, this year a ridiculous number of pink salmon are expected as well. What kind of numbers are we talking here? Try almost 1.3 million headed to rivers along Washington’s side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca alone. That’s up from an estimated 32,000 that returned in 2013, and it’s in addition to another 5.3 million-plus that will cruise through en route back to Puget Sound. Exactly where did these new northern Olympic Peninsula pinks come from? Good question! It seems like there’s at least one river that gets a surprise return every so often that we just can’t explain, but we don’t complain either. But even the top state pink salmon biologists are confused as to why all of a sudden we’re getting strong runs here. “Over the last 10 to 15 years or so, we’ve seen a large increase in the numbers of pink salmon returning to Puget Sound,” says Ryan Lothrop of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Truth be told, nobody really knows exactly why we’ve seen this increase in pink salmon abundances. However, it’s likely that favorable ocean conditions have helped contribute to their returns.” Twenty years ago the Skagit system was really the only area to target for pinks. While most of us thumbed our noses at this littleknown fishery, those who fished for them knew it as a hidden gem. The Skagit took a turn and the numbers dwindled in recent years, but now it’s back – and back strong. Two decades back, you could hardly have found a pink salmon in King County’s Green, and most were glad. But things would change, as they always seem to do with pinks. The river has gone from a nonexistent run to a full house. Starting in about 2005 the forecast was for 800,000 and has been at least that every odd year, until this year. The 2015 forecast is only at 679,000, down from a high of 2.1 million in 2011. This year’s surprise run? Well, there are two: the Nisqually in the South Sound and the new kid on the block, the Dungeness in the eastern strait.

Strait of Juan de Fuca anglers will have a chance to cover the dock with a brand-new ﬁshery targeting Dungeness Bay pink salmon. It begins this month. Miranda Weitz and a friend caught these off Sekiu during the 2013 return on the good ol’ “humpy killer” set-up, a white ﬂasher and pink mini hoochie. (DAIWA PHOTO CONTEST)

WITH AN ABUNDANCE of pinks in the forecast, our friends at WDFW have decided to give us a bonus fishery, one that is normally out of bounds: Dungeness Bay. According to the state, the Dungeness Bay pink fishery was added to provide opportunity on surplus pink salmon while minimizing Chinook encounters with specific gear restrictions. The open area of this July 16-Aug. 15 bubble fishery includes the waters inside an imaginary line stretching from the Dungeness Spit Lighthouse to the No. 2 buoy south to the Port Williams boat ramp. Daily limit is four, and only a single barbless hook that measures ½ inch or less from point to shank may be used. Now, this won’t be an easy fishery. These waters are pretty shallow and they’re wind wracked. If there’s good news, it’s that

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Northwest Sportsman 95

there are a number of boat ramps in the area to choose from, which is good because at low tide, some are difficult to use. Launches include: Cline Spit County Park (beach), Dungeness Landing, Port Williams (Marlyn Nelson County Park; beach), Ediz Hook, John Wayne Marina and Sequim Bay State Park. “Pink salmon tend to travel in very large groups and can be found in both deep and near shore,” says Lothrop. “However, compared to the other salmon species, they are more likely to be traveling nearshore, which provides a much better opportunity to catch them from the beach. One factor that likely leads to pink swimming closer to shore is that they are not as strong swimmers as coho or Chinook, so they could be using the shoreline to slow down the current; additionally, they are also less likely associated with major tide rips.” If you target this new fishery, make sure and follow the guidelines when it comes to the hook-gap restriction. That’s not going to be your typical salmon hook, but rather a much smaller one, say a 1/0. Not to worry, though, as these are small fish compared to the mighty Chinook. The ol’ “Humpy Killer” set-up – a white flasher with a mini pink squid – is always a solid bet if trolling for pinks. In this fishery, however, I might suggest a 3½-inch Kingfisher Light Spoon in bright pink. Because of how shallow Dungeness Bay can be, run your gear further back from the boat, like 75 feet, so you don’t spook them. Flat-lining is a great way to target this area. Just fish your gear behind a 2-ounce banana weight and put out between 40 and 60 feet of line. No matter where you’re fishing for pinks, remember to troll ultra slow and target them down to 60 feet. Another option is to pull in the trolling gear and just cast with small pink Buzz Bombs into the middle of a school. They slam them!

THAT’S THE NEW prince in town, but kings still rule the Straits. Most anglers will be out to try and get a slab in the boat and there will be great opportunities, as always. If a bonus pink or sockeye bites, 96 Northwest Sportsman

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ANGLER 17 CENTER CONSOLE ARIMA

Joshua Garland’s 32-pound Chinook from 2013 hearkens back to the glory years of the Straits’ salmon ﬁshery. He was ﬁshing a white jig off Port Angeles.

19 SEA CHASER

(DAIWA PHOTO CONTEST)

so much the better. July 1 will be hot for hatchery Chinook, no doubt about it, as it always is. If you want to target nice fish, there’s no finer place than Sekiu. The Caves has produced some huge fish for myself and others, and year after year it is one of the most coveted spots on the water. Even though I prefer to troll for summer Chinook in most cases, not here. I turn into a moocher and can’t wait for the first pig to tease me with his gentle take of my bait. If you’re not inclined to join everyone at Sekiu, there should be fish all along the Strait. Catch records indicate that all of July is very productive for Chinook, while from mid-July to September there will be pinks, and how. With the bonus pink (and sockeye) limit in play, anglers are able to retain as many as four salmon a day, but opening dates and bags vary by area and fishing period, so see the rules pamphlet for more. There are several closure areas to beware of, as well. NS Author’s note: A special thanks to WDFW’s Ryan Lothrop for his valuable info on pinks.

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The Humpy Killin’ Posse NOTES Of the myriad ways to catch pink salmon, there may be no more effective way in the salt than putting any of these simple set-ups (the middle rig is the traditional Humpy Killer) 35 to 50 feet behind the boat and up to 60 feet down on the ’rigger. Expert Terry Wiest of Steelhead University believes the white dodgers catch their eye and pink lures trigger their feeding instinct. If you substitute a flasher for these dodgers, add 2 to 3 inches to your leader to keep the action that the short leaders provide. Wiest says to troll superslow in a zigzag, and when you hook one pink, leave the other rods down, if possible, as the fish travel in large schools. –NWS

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FISHING

Spring Chinook, like this one held by guide Matt Halseth, can be found in the Santiam system in early summer. Sam Wurdinger of Dinger Jigs looks on. (TY WYATT)

Santiam Secrets There’s more to spring Chinook and summer steelhead ﬁshing on the system than just Waterloo Falls. By Randall Bonner

WATERLOO, Ore.—If you keep up with the headlines on this magazine’s blog, you may have recently read that the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is regulating the kind of gear that can be ﬁshed at Waterloo Falls. The very narrow passageway is a pausing area for spring salmon and summer steelhead migrating towards the hatchery at Foster Dam on the South Santiam River. It’s also a notorious combat ﬁshing area known for a few unsavory characters who some of the more ethical and knowledgeable anglers jokingly refer to as “Waterlosers.” Oregon State Police have issued

multiple citations at this location, and district fish biologist Elise Kelly says that the public has repeatedly reported incidents of flossing and snagging. Anglers are now limited to using bobbers with a leader less than a yard long or fly-fishing gear. The leader on the bobber must be suspended in the water column and not resting on the bottom. The regulations extend from the falls to the Waterloo Road Bridge, which is about 500 feet downstream.

WATERLOO FALLS AND Waterloo County Park boat ramps are marked by signs for Waterloo Road just off Highway 20. There are a few options within the vicinity of Waterloo to ﬁsh if you want to avoid rubbing elbows with fellow anglers. If you want to make

room for yourself to fish the falls, go across the bridge from the boat ramp at Waterloo and follow the trail on the right down to the river. You’ll be face-to-face with the battleground of the combat fishery, but at least you’ll be on the side where the sun shines and you can get a tan if the fish aren’t biting. You’ll have to jump into the casting order if there’s a crowd across the river, but the angle of the shoreline tends to blow out your drifts, so keep them short. If you plan to fish the falls by boat, be there before crack-of- dawn early – and even then don’t expect to be there first, you’ll just question why you didn’t hit the snooze bar instead. It’s not unheard of to be the seventh boat in the water to fish the

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FISHING falls at 4 a.m. If that sounds unappealing, you can launch just upstream from the falls at Waterloo County Park. On the same bank as the ramp and just downstream there is a short stretch of water with a deeper trench that is a travel lane for fish that have just tackled getting up the falls. You’ll want to keep the boat to the right side of the river as you’re fishing downstream until it starts to curve towards the right, then you can row into shallow slackwater back upstream to an island just above the ramp. From either side, running plugs or back-bouncing can produce fish splitting around the island. There are a couple more holes on the park’s side of the island that are accessible from the bank.

IF YOU WANT to devote the day to your trip, ﬂoating upriver sections

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Summer steelhead also return to the Santiam system, though this year’s run may have had a pretty sharp bite taken out of it before crossing Willamette Falls. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)

nwsportsmanmag.com nwspo nwsp ortsmanm man ag.c ag. om | JJULY ULY 2015

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FISHING ffrom fr rom tthe he P he Pleasant l as le a an a t Va V Valley allley ey b boat oatt ra oa ramp amp p tto o Wa Waterloo ate erlloo o P Park, ark, ark, ar k, o orr to o Plea Pl ea asaant V alle al ey from f om the fr the he boat boaat launch laaun nch h near nea ar Foster Fost Fo s err Dam, st Dam a , can can ca Pleasant Valley be productive. pro rod odu duct ctiv iv ve. e. There The heree aare here ree a ccouple oupl ou plee of b pl a k ac an aaccesses cceess sses es near neaar be bank th he dam, dam, da m including inc nclu ludi lu ding g Wiley Wil iley ey Creek, Creeek k, that th hat a are aree as as competitive comp co pet etit itiv tiv ve as a the th they hey ey aare ree p productive ro rod odu duct ctiv iv ve co ccombat omb mbat bat a fi fishing shin sh ng zo zzones. ne es. s. W With i h the it th he ne new ew regu re egu g laati tion ion onss fo forr Waterloo Wa ate erl rloo oo Falls Fal allss targeting tar a ggeeti ting g tthe he flossers he flossse sers rss and and d regulations s ag sn snaggers, agge agge g rss, there’s th her e e’ e s a good g od go od chance cha hanc ncee yo you ma you m may ay end end up en p floating floaati ting ing g pa p ast s or or rubbing rubb ru bb bin ingg elbows elbo el bows bows w with wit i h them th hem em in in th hesse areas. a ea ar eas. ass.. Upriver Upr p iv iver ver er past these of Waterloo of Wat a er e lo loo oo Park Paark k to to Foster F st Fo s err Dam Dam a is is easily eaasi s ly y navigable navig aviggab av ablee with wit iha drifft boat dr boat bo a or or pontoon. p nt po n oo oon. n. IIff you n. you cross cross cr osss the th he da d am an aand nd take ta ake ke a lleft eftt ef drift dam onto onto to N North orth hR River iv ver Road, Roaad, d you you ccan an fi an fish sh h a sshort hortt sstretch hort ho tret tr ret e ch ho off ba b bank ank k a ce ac ess s at at th he si site site eo he ol o ld ha h atc tche hery he y. Iff y ou ggo o a li litt ttle tt lee ffurther urth herr access the off th the old hatchery. you little down do w tthe he rroad, he oaad, oad, d y ou’’l ou ’ll re eac a h an an unpaved unp pav aved ed p a ki ar king g aarea reea on rea n down you’ll reach parking th he le eft ft ccommonly ommo om mo onl n y kn k now wn as a C hurc hurc hu rch h Ca amp mp,, be beca caausse th her e e’ es the left known Church Camp, because there’s tra ailh ai heaad th hat a ggoes oe es be etw wee een n a Ch hurch h o hriist st ssummer u me um er a tr trailhead that between Church off Ch Christ caamp p aand nd dab aseb ebal all fie field ld. ld d. Th he tr tra ailss aare ai re em a ke ar ked wi w ith h ssigns ig gns camp baseball field. The trails marked with th hat a rread eaad “F Fis ishe ishe herm herm rman an” pointing an p in po inti ting ing g tthe he w he ay tto ay o th he ri ive verr.. that “Fisherman” way the river.

The Santiam offers numerous boat ramps as well as room to roam in search of ﬁsh. A ﬂyrodder works for the east-central Willamette Valley system’s numerous species. (PETEFORSYTH, WIKIPEDIA)

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FISHING Sand shrimp or small presentations of eggs can produce spring Chinook or summer steelhead, increasing the opportunity for a mixed bag. However, at press time, summer steelhead were showing up in significantly lower numbers than usual (roughly 1,700 at Willamette Falls at the end of May vs. a fiveyear average north of 9,000). With this year’s low flows combined with heavy fishing pressure, try using low-visibility line like a lighter test flourocarbon. Smaller presentations like a drifted Corkie and strip of yarn or a single-egg pattern of some sort tends to be more productive. Cleardrift floats tend to be less distracting for the fish looking up at your bait in clear water, as well. Spinners and spoons will draw bites from fish that are shy on the bite. Anise and shrimp are pretty reliable flavors of choice as well. Just remember that all these areas along

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the South Santiam are ﬁshed heavily because there’s a lot of ﬁsh in them.

TO AVOID THE traffic of the South Fork, head for the North Santiam. You can contact the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife regional office in Corvallis about getting a key to access its float from Greens Bridge in Scio to Jefferson (June 20 marked the start of when the gate was locked this year). There is a short application process you will be sent by email, as well as a confirmation of your approval. The purpose of closing this area off and making it only accessible to anglers is to prevent the launching area from becoming a local riviera. Once your approval is confirmed, you can purchase a key to the gate from Clyde’s Lock and Safe in Salem for around $5. To get to the gate from I-5, take exit 238 onto Jefferson Highway 99 East. After you cross the mainstem of the Santiam River,

you’ll take a right on South Main Street and continue onto Jefferson Scio Drive to Greens Bridge. Continue over the bridge and take a right onto Densmore Road; the gate to the boat launch under the bridge will be on the immediate right. There are a few holes on the North Fork float that hold fish and you’ll know them when you see them. Pikeminnow run rampant through this stretch, so bring plenty of bait. The confluence of the North and South Forks can be a dangerous area to push a boat through in low water,.But it also presents a unique opportunity to catch fish holding in the area before moving up the North Fork, as well as fish on their way up the South Fork. There are a few other holding areas on the mainstem, but plan on spending most of your time up in the North Fork, and don’t be afraid to anchor up and focus most of your energy on those holes earlier in the day. NS

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FISHING

Reach No Stretch For Sockeye Anglers continue to dial in the Columbia near Tri-Cities for booming numbers of the red salmon.

By Jeff Holmes

PASCO—Hanford Reach sockeye fishing has drawn a lot of attention over the last few years. Since the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife declared the first season in 2009 with an inseason rule change, interest has steadily grown from the department and from anglers, and so have catch rates. For the first couple years of

opportunity, Reach sockeye were a mystery. Two of the first to crack the code were just kiddos from Yakima, fishing buddies Craig Mitchell and TJ Hester. They’re both excellent young anglers who put in the hours and figured out little nuances of the fishery in a little open boat. That know-how converted into a lot of guided trips with limits on the decks of Hester’s Alumaweld in 2014. Owner of Hester’s Sportfishing (hesterssportfishing.

TJ Hester and Craig Mitchell just may have been the ﬁrst ones to limit out on sockeye in the Hanford Reach, putting together these impressive hauls in the free-ﬂowing section of the Columbia on July 4, 2011. (CRAIG MITCHELL)

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com), Hester ran two trips a day for weeks on end as last year’s recordbreaking sockeye run swam through Tri-Cities and into the 51-mile freeﬂowing portion of the Columbia River upstream of Richland and downstream of Priest Rapids Dam. Hester and other successful Reach sockeye anglers will all tell you the same thing: ﬂow dictates everything. This stretch of the Columbia features the wildest swings in elevation of any

portion of the big river due to Priest Rapids Dam producing power during usage spikes. The river can swing well over 10 feet in 24 hours. Predictably, heavy ﬂow due to increased power consumption during the hottest days of summer pushes sockeye against the bank, constraining their travel lanes and making them easy pickings for good anglers. I have not personally heard of anyone whose boat has caught nearly

TOP 10 ANCHOR POINTERS 1 Above obstructions, eddies: Look for current breaks protruding out from shore. As sockeye travel along the bank, they can become concentrated when they have to move around a point/ bush/log and right into your gear. 2 Current: I’ve been amazed at how heavy of water sockeye will travel in. In many instances, they seem to prefer it. Heavy current will also concentrate travel lanes, increasing the odds of a hookup. Don’t hesitate to fish the outside of a curve. 3 Steep banks: Sockeye travel lanes can shift through the day as more or less light hits the water. By anchoring on a steep bank, you’re able to target a wider range of depths and monitor the travel lane to determine if the boat needs to be edged deeper or shallower. Expect to find sockeye in as little as 3 feet of water in low light and as deep as 20 feet in the middle of the day. 4 Dawn and dusk: Like with many other species of fish, dawn and dusk are prime times to anchor up for sockeye. With a 5:30 a.m. sunrise and 9 p.m. sunset in July, it can be brutal but worth the effort. 5 Move around: In the middle of the day, fishing will be slower. In morning or evening, if you haven’t had a takedown in about a half hour, it’s time to move the boat, either chalking deeper or shallower or completely changing locations. Definitely reposition the boat somewhere. other boats: While 6 Watch searching, pay attention to other boats. See if other anglers are catching fish and where. If a boat tags out, go in and try their spot.

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7 Lead or divers: Try using inline divers like a Brad’s Magnum Diver and lead droppers off a spreader bar in each new location. For some reason, some produce with 4 to 10 ounces of lead about 12 inches below a spreader bar, while others produce with the inline diver. I can’t explain why, but I’ve observed it in multiple locations. 8 Treble trailers: My preferred rigging is a Smile Blade, spinner blade or SpinN-Glo with Corkies to a single hook (for holding a shrimp), followed by a small treble hook about 2 inches behind it. Twenty-five- to 30-pound mono works well because it is stiff enough to prevent tangles. I mostly used a size 6 treble as my trailing hook, resulting in a respectable landing ratio. Most fish we’re able to net have all three points pinning their mouth shut. 9 Don’t set the hook: The natural response to a violent sockeye takedown can be to counter it with an equally violent hook-set while removing the rod from the holder. Unfortunately, this will result in lost fish. To effectively land these soft-mouthed salmon, gently lift the rod from the holder and reel with constant pressure. 10 Reach with the net: When sockeye get next to the boat, they’ll do everything possible to avoid coming in for a ride. Netting them quickly is the key. This can best be accomplished with a long-handled net or sending the angler with the fish to the bow while the fish is netted from the stern. I prefer a rubber or coated net for ease of unhooking after the sockeye has thrashed and twisted in the net. –Ted

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as many Reach sockeye as Hester, so I asked him to discuss how drought and low ﬂows might affect us in 2015. Here’s the take on 2015 from arguably the Reach’s best sockeye angler, and inarguably one of the most fun and ﬁshy young guides in the Northwest:

“HANFORD 2015’s SOCKEYE season brings us a new challenge that we have yet

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This summer’s salmon seasons for the Tri-Cities stretch of the Columbia may seem slightly confusing, what with the 2014-15 regs in effect through June 30 instead of the traditional April 30 and the announcement of a new catch code for part of the fishery. Fortunately, a June 1 emergency rule from WDFW provided clarity for June 16 through Aug. 15, as well as liberalized the limit on abundant Upper Columbia sockeye while protecting another emerging red salmon run. With good summer Chinook and sockeye returns expected, WDFW is allowing anglers in the Hanford Reach to retain up to eight salmon, no more than two of which may be adult hatchery kings and no more than six of the eight can be sockeye. Note that any jack may be retained, and you can use two rods while pursuing an eight-fish limit if you purchased the two-pole endorsement. The most dramatic change to the regs is the addition of a management area between the Highway 395 and I-182 bridges, designated as Catch Code 534. It was added to protect the emerging Yakima River sockeye run, introduced in 2009 to Cle Elum Lake by the Yakama Nation. Last year 2,576 sockeye were counted crossing Roza Dam on their way there. The goal of the program is to attain selfsustaining, harvestable returns of sockeye to the Yakima Basin. Until that is achieved, anglers and the fish are better off with efforts directed above the I-182 bridge. For more information, see yakamafish-nsn. gov. –Ted Schmitt

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FISHING to have to experience with this new fishery. Low, slow water is a sin for Reach sockeye, and it remains to be seen what flows will look like when good numbers of sockeye start to arrive in July. If flows are lower than normal, those low flows from Priest Rapids Dam will allow the fish to separate from the slower, bank-following lanes we are used to seeing. Fish very well may run practically in the middle of the river in some stretches with minimal resistance. Finding a funneled concentration point will still be important, as during normal flows, but those fish funnels may be more difficult to find this year. Sockeye congregation areas may be disguised because we are so conditioned to look for a particular style of water. Remaining flexible and observant will be key, as it has been for me in the past when confronted by low flows,” Hester says. “During the 2014 Hanford Reach season, I was hit with a curve ball

Sockeye set-ups incorporate elements from the salt- and freshwater salmon, walleye, kokanee and trout ﬁshing worlds, and can include Smile Blades, hoochies and/or spinners similar to Wedding Rings and Silver Magics, and are typically tipped with a shrimp. They’re run behind divers in nearshore traveling lanes. (TED SCHMITT)

when the water on the morning of 4th of July decreased signiﬁcantly and did not come back up. This changed sockeye behavior from a ‘deer walking on a trail’ pattern due to current pushing them against the bank. The low water made their travel lane much broader. This reduced strikes and made it more difﬁcult to sit on anchor on just one of the many lanes

they may run. This is when backtrolling became my low-water cure. “Back-trolling for sockeye allows you to not just cover more water, but when done correctly it also makes for a huge spread of rods and baits. That means broadly spaced targets to attract these little red-meated chromers into biting. Running rods ranging from 10foot-6 on the bow to 8-foot-6 at the

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FISHING stern allowed me to spread out my gear and make a wall. The 9-foot-6 LX96MC Lamiglas X-11 proved to be a low-price-point sockeye killer for me. “I ran 30-pound Maxima Braid 8 as my main line to a size 7 crane swivel with a size 54 duolock clipped on to either a Brad’s Magnum Bait Diver or Standard Bait Diver, colors black, red or clear. From the bottom of the diver I ran a 3½- to 4½-foot leader of 15-pound Maxima Ultragreen to a Mack’s Smile Blade with some beads and a shrimp, or a Yakima Bait Silver Magic strung with a new 15-pound Ultragreen leader and 1/0 hooks and shrimp. “Mack’s Lure has come out with a new Smile Blade called Glo UV Burst, which I am including in a lot of the rigs I’m tying up right now. The Smile Blade is a very versatile blade, and some days taking the blades and flipping them inside out so the fish see flashing pink, red, silver, UV or any

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other color instead of the standard inside finishes can make a slow bite a hot bite. Also, coon shrimp (my choice is Columbia Basin Bait Shrimp in red, pink, and sometimes purple) always did the trick for me, juiced up with Pautzke’s Nectar and Fire Power. Be aware of the action of your shrimp and vary it from spinning to stationary. Certain days they want a certain presentation, and it definitely varies, believe it or not. “Last year on the Fourth, looking for water that featured a long straightaway with a good amount of current was the key. The long straight stretch of river with ample current kept the fish in a ‘zone,’ and I was able to back my way slowly down, covering this stretch of water with my new and improved spread. Another technique to try is backing down in a zigzag pattern to make yourself even larger and also to entice a fight-or-flight response in the fish when gear swings in front of

their face and they don’t have a bunch of time to decide if they want that presentation,” says Hester. “I always say this, and I am going to keep saying it, but turn off your depth finder! Water speed and direction is more important than the depth. Sockeye do not care if it is 10 inches or 10 feet; they just do not want to fight the current if they can. But remember they also need some current for sense of direction. Keeping your gear 1½ to 3 feet off the bottom and in a travel zone will allow you to get in front of these fast-moving fish, even in low water. “When you hook up while backtrolling, do not let off the kicker once hooked up if you can help it. You can turn the thrust down, but that little bit of extra tension when fighting these feisty acrobatic silver bullets was a life saver for me last year. I love the easy anchor fishery these fish provide in high flows, but we may not see that luxury in 2015,” says Hester. NS

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Wanna(pum) Catch More Columbia Sockeye? BASIN I t has taken a few years but Central Washington anglers BEACON are finally starting to By Rob Phillips figure out how and where to catch Columbia sockeye. The small but incredibly tasty salmon are notorious for getting in the river and just blasting upstream. Until recently, most anglers would concentrate on catching them in Lake Wenatchee or at the mouth of the Okanogan River near Brewster. But as the runs continue to return in good numbers, some fishermen have been learning by trial and error that there are other places and other techniques that can be used to catch the finicky fish as they migrate upstream. One of those anglers is Rick Graybill of Wenatchee. The former guide, writer and now fishing guru at Hooked on Toys (509663-0740) in Wenatchee has worked hard at trying to catch the red salmon on the Columbia during their migration. “Most people concentrate on the waters below the dams,” Graybill says. “But I have had good luck fishing other spots on the river.”

MOST TROLL, BUT Graybill uses a bobber and jig or just a bobber and bait to catch fish in several spots between Vantage and Wenatchee. He says a small marabou jig with a dyed, cured shrimp tail will work, as will a 2/0 hook with a small hoochie dropped down over it, again with a shrimp tail attached. But his favorite rig is a single size 2 red

The ﬁrst sockeye of an expected 392,000 back to the Upper Columbia’s Wenatchee and Okanogan/Okanagan systems was counted at Bonneville in mid-May, and by July, the red salmon should be providing good action in the waters below Wanapum and Rock Island Dams and elsewhere. (ROB PHILLIPS)

hook baited with a whole cured shrimp. “It needs to be a small shrimp,” Graybill emphasizes. “And because sockeye are very visual fish, the best shrimp are the ones with the antennae and eyes intact. If the shrimp has no head, you are wasting your time.” He says the bites from the sockeye on these rigs are very subtle, so using the proper weight and a very small bobber is crucial to see the bite and be able to respond in time to set the hook. “If the fish feels any resistance at all, they will spit the bait out before you have time to set the hook,” he says. As sockeye migrate upriver they stay very close to the banks, so that is where you want to fish. Graybill will anchor up sideways in the river, on points where the water comes up to 10 feet deep. This funnels the fish right to where the bobbers and bait are waiting. “Your bobber doesn’t have to be very far out,” he tips. “I’ve had them take it down right next to the boat.” And he recommends being patient, especially when there are good numbers of sockeye pouring over the dams (see fpc.org), as should be the case this month.

“You might go a half hour or 45 minutes without a bite,” he explains, “but then you look downstream and see fish splashing along the bank and here comes a wave of fish. All of a sudden, bobbers are going down everywhere. It is a great fishery for kids because they can watch the bites.”

THE MAJORITY OF sockeye in this stretch of the Columbia are caught below the dams, including Rocky Reach. Probably the most popular spot is just below Wanapum Dam, south of Vantage, where anglers will troll near the eastern wing portion of the dam. The migrating sockeye get slowed down there just long enough for anglers to get a good crack at them, and beginning in early July the fishing there can be red hot. Be forewarned, though: Trolling below Wanapum, as is the case below other dams up- and downriver, is not for the faint of heart. It can be crowded and a little tricky to navigate, depending on the electrical needs of the region. If water is being dumped through the turbines, it can be a rough ride. You have to be careful not to get sucked into the whirlpools created by the huge amounts

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Northwest Sportsman 123

COLUMN of water coming over and through the dam. In the past couple years, the best setup for successful trolling below Wanapum includes an 8-inch silver dodger just ahead of a small hoochie or Spin-N-Glo on a 1/0 red or pink hook. Most anglers will tip the hook with dyed shrimp. Try different bait set-ups and let the fish tell you what they want. Two years ago just a chunk of prawn or shrimp was all you needed to get bites. But last year a whole dyed shrimp seemed to work better. Keep the leader between the dodger and the hook short (8 to 14 inches) so the bait really swings back and forth with the dodger. Some anglers will troll using a dropper weight of 4 to 6 ounces, while others will use downriggers to get the rig down. Adjust the downrigger depth to keep the dodger, lure and bait just off the bottom. Best hoochie and Spin-N-Glo colors are anything in the pink spectrum.

Sockeye keep their bright red meat despite traveling hundreds of miles up the Columbia. (ROB PHILLIPS)

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d the most And productive uctive shrimp color is lthough purple and red, although natural colors will work at times p your trolling speed too. Keep just fast enough ough to get a good rhythmic bob ob on the rod tip indicating thatt the dodger is swin swinging back and forth in n an attractive attracti action. Graybill uses fairl fairly light trout gear on his bobber and bait set-up, and because the fish are not huge that normally works just fine. A light steelhead rod and levelwind reel works great for trolling.

PRESEASON FORECASTS FROM the state Department of Fish and Wildlife were calling for a return of more than 390,000

No, you’re not ﬁshing for pink salmon – rather, reds – but the idea is similar: lots and lots of pink in your terminal tackle. This set-up, featuring a Spin-N-Glo, beads, 1/0 hook and dyed shrimp, has been effective in recent years, though what sockeye like from season to season can vary. (ROB PHILLIPS) sockeye to Upper Columbia tributaries. Virtually all of those fish will be available to anglers working the big river from Wanapum upstream. Keep an eye on the counts and be ready to hit the river when it opens this month. And don’t be afraid to try some new spots and new techniques. They have worked well for some anglers, including Graybill. “I’m not sure why the bobber and bait thing hasn’t taken off yet, but it will,” he says. NS

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Northwest Sportsman 125

Another Good Run Brews Conditions aligning for great sockeye, Chinook ﬁshing on the Upper Columbia.

By Jeff Holmes

BREWSTER, Wash.—Despite the immense popularity of the Brewster Pool and adjoining salmon holes to Eastern Washingtonians – among plenty of visiting anglers – most Northwest anglers will never fish the actual Upper Columbia salmon fisheries. Nor do many know where they are. According to several Western Washington and Oregon salmon anglers I know, the Upper Columbia supposedly starts somewhere around Drano Lake. Not quite. The real Upper Columbia salmon fishery is the gorgeous stretch of river roughly between Wenatchee and Chief Joseph Dam. Here, 465 and 530 river miles above the

ocean, respectively, Wenatchee and Brewster both feature excellent summer Chinook and sockeye salmon fishing. Wenatchee remains solid as long as fish are still spilling over dams in August, but as the numbers decrease downstream at Wanapum, the bite and attention turns to one of Washington’s grandest landscapes and best fishing holes: the confluence of the Columbia and Okanogan Rivers. During the first couple weeks of August – sometimes longer – sockeye and Chinook fishing reach their peak in the Brewster Pool. Peak fishing coincides with the very popular Brewster King Salmon Derby (brewstersalmonderby. com), which is held during the first weekend of August, beginning

A ﬁsherman nets a friend’s salmon early in the morning on the Brewster Pool, an impoundment on the Upper Columbia where sockeye and Chinook gather before ascending the Okanogan River. (BRIAN LULL)

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July 31 this year. I fished part of the 2014 derby with Austin Moser of Austin’s Northwest Adventures (austinsnorthwestadventuresllc.com) and had a really good time soaking up the heat and bonking some fish. We didn’t place, but we put fish on the board and had opportunities on some larger hatchery fish that left us shaking our heads. Last year’s epic Carlton Complex fire raged during the derby, making air quality low and casting a somber haze over 272 paid entrants vying for prizes in a range of categories. During my two days at the derby, I booked a room in Twisp to get a closer look at the fire and efforts to fight it. I stayed in surprisingly upscale digs for a good price at the Twisp River Suites

FISHING

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FISHING to return, fishing should be excellent again in the Upper Columbia, especially in the Brewster Pool. Low flows and high water temperatures should combine to set up an early thermal barrier at the mouth of the Okanogan where it flows into the pool. That barrier effect occurs when the tributary’s temperature hits the 80-degree mark. Bathtub temps and super-shallow conditions constrain salmon migration and stack up fish by the tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands in the big pool upstream of Brewster. The Columbia’s much cooler water provides a thermal refuge, even in drought years like this one. When the thermal barrier stacks up salmon, fishing becomes insanely

With the Carlton Complex smoldering in the background, guide Jerrod Gibbons hefts a big Brewster Pool Chinook. (OKANOGANVALLEYGUIDESERVICE.COM)

JERROD’S TOP 10 TIPS FOR BREWSTER SALMON (twispriversuites.com). I admit that I’d usually stay someplace less cool, but I was pleasantly surprised and have since taken my wife there. As I stayed in comfort, 3,000 firefighters labored in the hills trying to suppress a fire that would burn more than 300 homes and over 250,000 acres of wildlife habitat. I took an evening drive east on Highway 20 toward Loup Loup Pass to see the damage and mostly extinguished burns on both sides of the road. A massive, very hot fire had torn through the timber, and hot spots were still everywhere. Increasing winds and reigniting fires reclosed the state route while I was up there, so I beat a necessary retreat to Twisp to sleep in anticipation of fishing. Ultimately, Wiley Flohr in the youth division would land the largest hatchery fish of the entire derby, a 24-pound, 15-ounce king. While taking the youth division and its $600 prize, he would lose $1,500 honors to an adult division fish weighing more than 3 fewer pounds.

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errod Gibbons is one of the most respected and best anglers on the Brewster Pool. He’s logged thousands of hours trolling here and has dialed in a program that puts him back at the launch with limits ahead of many guides. Last year his boat landed 70plus kings on sockeye gear, so the top-ten list that follows offers insight specifically into catching the tasty little salmon. Expect to hook kings on sockeye gear if you follow this advice and put in your time on the water.

1 Your hands must be clean for sockeye and kings. Make sure to wash with Lemon Joy soap, which works great as a neutralizer to any gas, oil or other scents on your fingers. 2 Keep baits, dodgers and flashers clean as well. Take two minutes and wash and soak baits every day. Sauce and tuna left in heat may leave a smell that can dramatically decrease strikes. Get rid of it. 3 Find the thermal barrier that concentrates fish at the mouth of the Okanogan, and work it and all around it. 4 Read your graph often, checking for water temperatures. Find that

70-degree temp and where fish are being marked. 5 Watch your speed! Trolling at a 1 to 1.2 mph pace and having a constant little bounce in your ’rigger rod is important. 6 Go with a short leader length of one and a half times the size of your dodger. Use Luhr Jensen or Sling Blade dodgers. 7 Make sure your gear is 25 feet back. Give enough room for it to work properly, but not so far back as to catch other boats in traffic. 8 Carefully mind the depth of your lures. Always fish 2 to 3 feet above where you are marking fish, even if they are on the bottom. 9 Try using something more enticing than your standard pink squid. My new Money Maker products are extensively field tested and proven, including UV holographic squids with Shaker Wings. 10 Use scent liberally! Super Dipping Sauce is a must-have, do-not-leavehome product to ensure success. I prefer Sockeye/Kokanee and Garlic and use a Money Maker Scent Bomb ahead of my dodger to continually release a cloud of scent while trolling.

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FISHING and fish are often so numerous and shallow that fishing dropper weights is arguably easier than mucking with downriggers, but you’ll see plenty deployed and whacking fish. Hundreds of boats stack up here for the sockeye bounty of six fish every morning, and a good number continue to fish throughout the day in pursuit of summer Chinook. Most Chinook are wild and must be returned to the river unharmed, but good numbers of keepers get caught, and the fat fish cut remarkably well throughout August. Both sockeye and Chinook present an opportunity to harvest a lot of high-quality, fatrich salmon flesh, far from the salt. With low flows all summer, fish should make a wake swimming upriver, moving much more quickly to Brewster than in years where high flows impede progress. This means lots of fresh, chromey fish arriving every day to await the right

X N O X

TR IA NG

conditions to continue migration into the Okanogan. It could be a long wait for them. Summer thunderstorms can sufficiently cool and rewater the Okanogan to send many of the fish – especially sockeye – jetting upriver. But the normal weather pattern in Brewster during late July and the first two weeks of August is scorchingly hot with bluebird skies. Fishing and temperatures usually reach their peak around the first week of August. Super-hot weather coincides with Brewster Pool’s very best fishing, and anglers must take care to avoid suninduced illnesses and dehydration. Seek shelter from the sun during some of the day. Experienced guides know this and shade their sleds to avoid cooking clients. The relentless sun, when shown proper respect, becomes a welcome friend as it keeps fish pinned in the Columbia for you to catch. NS

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easy for limits of early morning sockeye, and excellent for Chinook throughout much of the day. Ninety-five percent of Chinook anglers fish flashers and Brad’s Super Baits, which were first made famous here. Both the original and cut-plug varieties are popular, as are various mixtures of canned tuna and other baits that can easily and economically be stuffed into the Super Baits. Most opt for an 11-inch Pro-Troll Flasher or other rotating flasher, but Yakima Bait’s Fish Flash accounts for plenty of fish too, especially sockeye. Catching sockeye can be as easy as trolling for kokanee – when kokanee fishing is really good. Slowly trolled large chrome dodgers, Fish Flashes, and small rotating flashers in chromes are popular, followed closely by combinations of pink blades, beads and two-hook coon shrimp rigs. Chrome dodgers and spinner-fronted shrimp rigs do most of the damage,

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FISHING

The Trout Lakes Of Tiger Pass Northeast Washington’s stretch of Highway 20 provides access to 14 good trout, spinyray lakes.

H N D / Q R L W D Y U 6WD

gler heads out onto A pontoon-borne antside Colville. The lake ou , ke La da Starvation ut, good hatches an features rainbow tro(DIANNE LOFFLIN, DNR) state campground.

By Mike Wright

ith the onset of summer’s heat, lakes at lower elevations in Eastern Washington become less productive,

so many hardcore anglers look to the northern mountains for better ﬁshing opportunities. In the area between Ione and Colville there are a number of small lakes that can fulﬁll these needs. Even better, many of these waters

are either just off or at least within a short distance from Highway 20, the Evergreen State’s most northerly route and known locally as the TigerColville Road. Most lakes are clearly marked and often clearly visible from the road, while one in particular is more suited to the Daniel Boone type

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FISHING of individual. The lakes contain many types of trout, as well as spinyray species in certain waters. The spread includes rainbow, westslope cutthroat and brook trout, largemouth and smallmouth bass, crappie and bluegill.

TRAVELING FROM EAST to west on the Tiger-Colville Road, the first of these mountain waters is one named Carl’s Lake. It was originally known as Little Browns Lake and still has that designation top of Tiger Nile Lake sits near thecked rainbows on many of the area maps. sto es tur fea d Pass an (MIKE WRIGHT) Whatever you choose to call and feral brookies. it, this lake might best be described as a pathfinder’s sign heralding entrance into the delight. The Washington Colville National Forest, you have Department of Fish and Wildlife terms gone too far. The sign is a couple the road to Carl’s as challenging, hundred yards west of the lake’s turnwhile many anglers might have a off. Once on it, after approximately more colorful description. There is half a mile of travel you will come to no sign indicating where to turn off a Y. At this point, turn right, cross a the highway or, when you come to cattle guard and the fun begins. On the inevitable fork in the road, which one section of the pathway there is dirt pathway will lead you to the a major depression in the roadway, promised lake. Basically, shortly after requiring the proper angle to avoid you exit one of the many switchbacks leaving a muffler or tail pipe behind on this section of the highway, look as a reminder of your adventure. for the road to the left. OK, so that’s Further along the trail there is a steep a little vague, but let me narrow it rocky section; a four-wheel drive and down: If you pass a Forest Service Along this stretch of highway sometimes known as the ColvilleTiger Road, tiger trout fit right in. Half brown trout, half brook trout, they’re sterile fisheaters stocked by WDFW to provide another angling opportunity and to tamp down brookie populations. (MIKE WRIGHT)

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e k a L e l i N good acceleration should allow you to bounce your way to the summit. After reaching the top all you have to worry about is avoiding the potholes – or crevasses, depending on your point of view. Although there are some other roads, if you stay on the mainline, you will eventually reach Carl’s Lake. Once there, chances are you will have the lake to yourself, as with the challenge of finding and reaching the lake, it’s safe to say that it does not receive a great deal of fishing pressure. Except for the occasional winterkill, there is a good holdover from previous plants and consequently bigger fish. Sixteen- to 18-inchers are fairly common. This year the lake received a stocking of 1,600 catchable-size rainbows and an additional 1,000 fingerlings. Considering the mild winter and number of trout planted, fishing should be very good. The lake is blessed with an abundance of insect life and other food sources that help keep the trout healthy and in prime condition. There are no special regulations on Carl’s Lake, meaning bait, hardware and flies are all acceptable. For flies, damsel imitations, black and brown

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FISHING Mohair Leeches, Pheasant Tails, chironomids, and Peek-a-Boo and Prince Nymphs all work well. Because of lily pads near the banks, shore ﬁshing is very limited, but camp sites are available in two spots around the lake.

FOR THOSE ANGLERS so

who aren’t adventurous (or foolhardy, depending on your perspective)

population inhabiting these waters. Overnight camping and a boat launch are also available at Nile. As for Frater, the situation is much different. There is no road to the lake, no camping area and no boat launch. Although it is just a short walk to the shoreline, it is a rare occasion to see anyone ﬁshing. Still, this 13½-acre lake received a plant of 1,000 rainbows this spring and also contains westslope cutthroat. Frater is a bit of a sleeper and a

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lies what’s known as the Little Pend Oreille Chain Lakes. These waters – Heritage (20 acres), Thomas (208 acres), Gillette (31 acres) and Sherry (3.6 acres) – are multispecies lakes that have received generous trout stockings from WDFW. In addition, a local utility company has donated $100,000 to help stock and improve the fishing opportunities in these lakes, as well as others in Pend Oreille and Stevens Counties, to improve the fishing. The Chain is a popular summer destination. While large tracts of private land surround these fisheries, there are some public accesses, but you need to be careful not to trespass. In the lakes await rainbow, tiger and brook trout, both kinds of bass, as well as panfish. However, you will have company.

as to attempt a trip to Carl’s, there is a multitude of other, more accessible spots available along Highway 20. Continuing west after maneuvering up the twists and turns of Tiger Pass you will come to the turnoffs to two small, ﬁshable lakes. To the left is Nile and to the right is Frater. Nile was managed for many years for brook trout, but since 1993 the emphasis has been on rainbows, so brookies are no longer stocked. However, since they successfully spawn both in Nile and in Lost Creek (the feeder stream) there is a sizable 136 Northwest Sportsman

JULY 2015 | nwsportsmmanmag.com

ANOTHER 3 MILES down Highway 20 is Coffin Lake. For a number of years it was managed for brookies, but today is a multispecies lake receiving an annual stocking of rainbow Gillette Lake is part of the po and tiger trout. With pular Little Pe Lakes, and ho nd sts trout, bass and panfish.Oreille Chain the introduction of the (MIKE WRIGH T) piscivorous hybrid, the resident brook trout are fewer in number, but good place to go for solitude, generally larger than they if you don’t mind traffic noise from have been in the past. the nearby highway. Access to Coffin can be somewhat Approximately a mile west of difficult. A turnoff on the west side Nile and Frater lies Leo Lake, a of the lake and a primitive trail leads multispecies water in a heavily to the water. A float tube is probably timbered, tranquil setting. A Forest best, though the soft bottom makes it Service campground and boat launch difficult to get in and out of the water. are located on the north side. Leo At 21 acres, the lake is large enough was stocked with 1,850 rainbows that you may not fish all of it in one this spring and should provide good outing, but on the other hand, the fishing throughout the season. action is good and chances are you Another mile down Highway 20 will not have company.

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FISHING

Black Lake

The next stop is Black Lake, 2 miles off the highway, approximately 5 miles west of Coffin. Its main attraction is tiger trout, and offers the best fishing for them in this area. In case you’re unfamiliar with the Black Lake offers the bes t fishing for tiger trout of species, their name any of the waters along the highway. (MIKE WRIGHT) is derived from the curvy vertical stripes on the sides of the lighter colored fish. However, on stocked. many of the darker specimens there A number of houses and private is a pattern more closely resembling property surround the water, with a leopard. With hybrids – tigers are only one relatively small public half brown, half brookie – no energy access area and boat launch at the is lost in spawning, so consequently, south end of the lake. There, lily in some spots they grow to a very pads extend far into the lake, and respectable size. At Black, 16 to 18 the lack of a boat dock makes shore inches is about as large as they get. fishing extremely difficult. There This year rainbows have also been is no camping area available, and

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although there once was a resort and cabin rentals, that is no longer in operation. The lake’s south end is fairly shallow, but the north end reaches depths of 45 feet. It is not uncommon to see larger boats with anglers using leaded line and flashers in the deeper sections, with small boats and canoes fishing with bait and smaller lures closer to the south end and fly fishermen working around the edges of the lily pads. Good catches are available throughout the season. If you venture a mile and a half on the highway past Black Lake Road, you will come to Bohana Road on the right-hand side. Taking it will lead

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FISHING to Little Twin Lake. Its name comes from the fact that at one time it was actually two separate lakes. Little Twin provides excellent fishing for westslope cutthroat, one of the few spots in this area that has this species. Camping is available, and a relatively short road leads back to Black Lake. If you are so inclined, you could camp and try Little Twin in the morning and easily fish Black in the afternoon. Although Little Twin’s cutts are generally small, there are some carryovers to 14 inches or more. Continuing west on Highway 20, a sign and road to the left leads to Starvation Lake, located in a pastoral setting, with rolling grassy hills leading to timbered hills and ridges. An abundance of reeds and lilies limits shore fishing to the long boat dock located in the only public access area on the lake. Heavy aquatic vegetation on the bottom of the lake provides good insect hatches

McDowell Lake

Oreille out in the Little Pend McDowell Lake hidesfuge. (MIKE WRIGHT) National Wildlife Re

throughout the season, and given the good food supply, there is the possibility of catching some trophy trout. The lake does have catch-andrelease regs during this part of the season, but there is a great deal of ﬁshing pressure and a large portion of the ﬁsh caught end up in a frying

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pan. In addition, Starvation has had a history of winter kill. To help with this problem, an aeration program has been instituted. This, along with reducing the number of ﬁsh an individual can keep, may improve the trout size. A heavy algae bloom can slow the action late in the season. Starvation was stocked with

2,000 rainbows this spring and WDFW expects the ﬁshing to be excellent well into July. A spacious, well-equipped state campground is another advantage of Starvation.

AND FINALLY, A relatively short side trip off the Tiger-Colville Highway will take you to a couple of very productive lakes on the Little Pend Oreille Wildlife Refuge, Bayley Lake (featured in the September 2014 Northwest Sportsman) and McDowell Lake, which was rehabilitated last year and restocked this spring. WDFW didn’t skimp on fish size when the lake was restocked, planting a great deal of rainbows in the 16to 18-inch range. Although the rotenone treatment helped eliminate McDowell’s tench, it also killed off the last vestige of the redband rainbow population. According to Jerry Cline at the wildlife refuge, “The coastal strain of rainbow has replaced the redband simply because there were no hatcheries in the region that were raising the redband strain.” McDowell and Bayley have special gear requirements that limit fishing to flies only, and single barbless hooks. There are angler survey boxes at both lakes and fishermen are urged to fill out the form to help better manage the lakes. Both have free camping available. To reach McDowell from Highway 20, turn south on the Kitt-Narcisse Road, turn south again on the Narcisse Creek Road and follow the signs to the wildlife refuge. The roadway to both lakes is well marked and you should have no problem finding them.

THE LAKES OF the Tiger-Colville Highway provide an excellent alternative to the lower elevation waters in Eastern Washington come July. They generally have cooler water plus a wide variety of ﬁsh available. They have all been generously stocked and midsummer ﬁshing should be very good. NS

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Stumpland’s 10 Best Kids Fishing Holes T

he quaint picture of the barefoot kid with the cane pole and can of worms is an iconic symbol in American history and STUMPTOWN literature. It is lost in the past, though, and By Terry Otto now a young boy is as likely to be found working his thumbs off with an electronic game. All is not lost, however. There are plenty of local fishing clinics to take your children to, and they can be very helpful for both kids and adults too. And when it comes to the point when it’s time to take your young one(s) off and try to catch a few fish by yourself, it’s not that hard, as the Portland-Vancouver area is chock-full of excellent places to take kids fishing. Also, summer is the best time to do it. The weather is fine, the fish are hungry and the kids are out of school. It really can be just as easy as sticking a worm on a hook and throwing it out under a bobber. This simple trick is still one of the best and simplest ways to catch fish the world over. There are lakes, ponds, sloughs, little rivers and every other water imaginable right here, and almost all of them have some kind of fish. Listed below are some of the best places to go locally, but there are dozens of others. Both Oregon and Washington’s Departments of Fish and Wildlife provide help on their websites (dfw.state.or.us, wdfw.wa.gov). Somewhere just a few miles from your home there is a bank waiting for you. Grab the kids, some bait and a few bobbers, and help a youngster explore their world.

The author’s grandkids, Kai and Eyalu Zimmerman, team up to lift a freshly caught stringer of rainbow trout. (TERRY OTTO) miles of shoreline access, and each of the waters holds plentiful panfish, catfish and bass, as well as trout in the spring. Designed with family bank fishing in mind, there are bathrooms, playgrounds, easy-to-walk trails and sidewalks, and a generous amount of ADA-accessible sites. Sink a worm in any of these ponds and you can expect a bite from something.

ST. LOUIS PONDS It’s hard to top this little enclave of ponds just north of Salem when it comes to sweet bank fishing. There are

CANBY POND This youth-only pond near the town of Canby offers great access for kids

amidst a family park setting. Anglers 17 and younger can catch warmwater fish like bass and perch, or trout in the right season.

MT. HOOD POND From May through August this small impoundment on the Mt. Hood Community College campus in Gresham is only open to kids 17 and younger. Trout are the target here, and they are generously stocked during the season. Try the narrow section where Beaver Creek enters the lake for eager biters. Both bait

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COLUMN and spinners work well.

BLUE LAKE PARK Absolutely busting with panfish, Blue Lake is a fun place for kids. There are playgrounds, ADA-accessible fishing areas, boats for rent and a shady place for picnics at this park off NE Marine Drive near Chinook Landing in Troutdale. The panfish are everywhere, but the best numbers are at the west end of the lake. Kids can also catch trout and largemouth. HENRY HAGG LAKE There is a reason this Hillsboro-area impoundment is always mentioned whenever folks talk about kids’ fishing. The lake is surrounded with easy bank access, and it’s full of panfish, trout, bass, bullheads and other species that will be happy to pull on a young angler’s line. Try the areas near the launches to start, and target the fish structures placed in the lake by the Oregon Bass and Panfish Club.

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SMALL FRY LAKE Near Estacada, this is a 12-and-younger 1-acre pond that is stocked with rainbows. Designed for kids, there is easy access around its entire perimeter, and the floating fishing dock is very popular with families.

Vancouver, this 1-acre pond is surrounded by easy-to-manage grassy banks perfect for children of all ages. Trout are stocked regularly, and eagerly bite worms, dough baits, spinners and more.

VANCOUVER LAKE Brimming with bluegill, FARADAY LAKE Also near Estacada, this impoundment off the Clackamas River is a great place to take a kid fishing for trout. The 26-acre lake is stocked generously all season, and the banks are wide and open. The trick here is bait fished tight to the bottom. Salmon eggs and PowerBait are popular here. For more ideas around the Rose City, check out ODFW’s website for a brochure on 50 places to go fishing within 60 miles of Portland (others are available for Medford, Roseburg, Bend and the greater Eugene-Springfield area).

KLINELINE POND Across the Columbia in

perch, crappie, bass and catfish, there is plentiful and easy bank access, as well as launches for small boats here. The lake is big, over 2,000 acres, so families can find a space for themselves.

BATTLE GROUND LAKE This is a perfect destination if you want to camp and fish with your family. Forty secluded campsites are available for tent and RV camping at a state park here. The lake is stocked with rainbow and cutthroat trout, and there are plentiful bass, panfish and catfish. Getting something to bite here is not difficult. For more ideas, try WDFW’s Vancouver office, (360) 696-6211. NS

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FISHING

New Cats Come Of Age

Roses Lake, near Chelan, is one of 19 lakes in Eastern Washington stocked with channel catﬁsh. (WDFW)

Tens of thousands of channels planted across Washington in 2011 are now reaching worthy size. By Terry Otto

he ﬁshing rod was propped up against a tackle box, and the line stretching from the rod into the deep water of the pond was

baited with a nasty, bloody chicken liver. In the depths of a moonless night, I watched the line for any sign of movement. When I saw it begin to tighten, I gripped the handle of the Zebco 404 and waited.

When I felt the line go taut, I struck the hook home. The little rod bent at an almost impossible angle, and I knew this was a good one. It ended up being a 3-pound channel catfish that I added to the stringer. The fish was a double-edged sword. It was bragworthy, but I had snuck out of the house to fish this night, and if my parents found out,

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FISHING my 13-year-old hide would pay. However, I never could resist catﬁshing at night. It was a summer tradition, and though I got caught from time to time, I always went back. Those nocturnal ﬁsh were eager to bite, and they were so much fun!

Fazon Lake Campbell Lake Gissberg Ponds

CATS AND NIGHTS go together like summer and ice cream. Fishing for big cats on a hot summer night is a huge tradition back east, and it’s one that’s building in the state of Washington. While it may seem strange for a catfishery to develop in one of the country’s most northern states, it has done just that. Folks like these whiskered bottom feeders because they are eager biters, and they really like to put on the feedbag under starlight. “Night time is the best time for channels in the summer months,” says Stacie Kelsey at the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Region 5 office. “They bite well all summer, and they really like hot summer nights.” If you doubt the attraction of nightfishing for catfish, just drive by the mouth of the Yakima River on any summer night, and check out all the fishermen lined up on the old bridge, fishing by lantern light. Bruce Bolding is a biologist with WDFW’s warmwater fish program.

Stockings at select lakes across Washington in 2011 reinvigorated the state’s channel catﬁsh program, and last year saw more go into waters like Seattle’s Green Lake. Released into lakes with no outlet to other waters and which don’t warm enough for the species to spawn, they provide a popular, rare and controllable ﬁshery. (WDFW)

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Whitestone Lake

Roses Lake

Green Lake Stan Cofﬁn Lake Chambers Lake St. Clair Lake Sarge Hubbard Lawrence Lake Pond Swofford Pond

Rotary Lake I-82 Ponds 1,2,3,4,6

Bear Lake Bailey Lake (private) Liberty Lake Sprague Lake Potholes Reservoir Scooteney Reservoir Powerline Pond Columbia Park Pond

Kress Lake

A WDFW map shows that channel cat lakes are well distributed up and down the I-5 corridor in Western Washington, as well as the greater Yakima-Tri-Cities area. (WDFW)

“Channel catfish are a priority for the program,” he says. “They are hugely popular.” Nineteen Eastside lakes were stocked in 2014, follow-ups to 2011 releases. Nine Westside lakes were also stocked in those same years. Anglers have really responded, and the lakes draw a lot of fishermen. Night fishing is legal in Washington, and cat-fishermen are finding out how much fun a nocturnal excursion

for these chunky, hard-fighting fish can be. Recent years’ releases mark a rebirth of WDFW’s catfishery. “We did some stockings in the 1990s, and in 2000,” says Bolding, “but there was no regular program.” But with interest in the species, the agency planned and implemented a program in 28 lakes. The 2011 stockers, which came from Arkansas, went in as 12-inchers and have now grown to 3 to 5 pounds. “That’s a good size for catching and eating,” says Bolding. And last year’s releases should bolster these fisheries, and keep them going strong for years. The two-pole endorsement is in effect for many of these lakes too. Check the regs to see if you can double up on your favorite catfish lake. Bolding says WDFW hopes to expand the program, especially in urban areas, but is being careful about which bodies of water get the fish. Managers do not wish to generate controversy by putting the catfish into waters where there are wild, anadromous fish, and have selected

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FISHING closed systems for their plantings. So far, the catﬁsh have not reproduced in any of these waters either. “Catﬁsh need warm water to spawn,” says Bolding.

WASHINGTON CATFISH CAN be caught on a wide variety of baits, from dough balls to bloody chicken livers to worms, and more. These opportunistic feeders will also chomp stinkbaits, and live bait where it is legal. Channels really like crawdads too. Most of the time the bait is fished on the bottom, but at night the channels will move shallow and feed in the upper water column. Then it is possible to fish them with bait suspended under a float. The nine stocked Westside lakes include Green, Campbell, Fazon, Kress, Chambers, Lawrence and St. Clair Lakes, and Gissberg and Swofford Ponds. Green, Campbell, Lawrence and St. Clair have received

the healthiest stockings. The Gissbergs, located in a county park just off I-5 between Marysville and Arlington, are an excellent place to take families, and the north pond is open only to juvenile anglers 15 and younger. There is a two-fish limit on channels. Northeast of Bellingham, Fazon Lake offers fine catfishing, and 10-pounders have been pulled from this lake. Campbell Lake on Fidalgo Island in Skagit County has received over 9,000 channel catfish in the last five years. It was also where a 31-pounder from a long-ago release was captured in 2013. Green Lake, on the north end of Seattle, has been well stocked as well – a total of 8,000 combined in 2011 and last year. On the east side of the Cascades, Yakima County’s I-82 ponds are a string of fill pits dug during

construction of the highway, and now these small waters make for excellent catfishing. They stretch from Union Gap to Zillah. Sprague Lake sits alongside another interstate, I-90, in Lincoln and Adams Counties, and 7,500 channels have been planted in its 1,800 acres over the last five years. And 685-acre Scooteney Reservoir, paralleling Highway 17 in Franklin County, has received over 6,000 in recent years. For more on Washington’s ops, check out wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/ washington/Species/1171/. Catfish get more active when temps rise, and with the dry, warm weather we’ve had this year, this could end up being a very hot summer. Bring a lantern, some bug spray and a stout stringer, but if you’re a youngster slipping out at night, take care: catching a bragging-sized catfish could be your undoing. NS

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