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Northwest Sportsman 7

Sportsman Northwest

Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource

Volume 11 • Issue 10 PUBLISHER James R. Baker

Your Complete Hunting, Boating, Fishing and Since 1948.

Fi hi d Repair R i Destination D i i Si

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Dick Openshaw EDITOR Andy Walgamott LEAD CONTRIBUT0R Andy Schneider THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS Jason Black, Jason Brooks, Dave Graybill, Scott Haugen, Wayne Heinz, Doug Huddle, Sara Ichtertz, MD Johnson, Randy King, John Kruse, Buzz Ramsey, Mark Veary, Terry Wiest, Dave Workman, Mike Wright EDITORIAL FIELD SUPPORT Jason Brooks GENERAL MANAGER John Rusnak SALES MANAGER Katie Higgins ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Mamie Griffin, Garn Kennedy, Mike Smith, Paul Yarnold

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ON THE COVER Guide Shane Magnuson and Washington Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Dave Graybill show off an Upper Columbia summer Chinook caught off Chelan a couple seasons ago. (DAVE GRAYBILL)

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Northwest Sportsman 9

CONTENTS

87

VOLUME 11 • ISSUE 10

THREE-D TUNA TACTICS

(JASON BLACK, INSTAGRAM: @STRANGEGALAXYUSA)

Northwest albies are occasionally on top but always deep, so it pays to know how to plumb the depths. Andy Schneider “irons” out the details with Portland-based tuna tactician Dave Phillips!

FEATURES 50

61

JOHN DAY RIVER BASS As Oregon’s longest undammed river, the wild and scenic John Day is home to outlandish numbers of smallmouth bass. MD Johnson hops aboard guide Steve Fleming’s drift boat for a tutorial on running up the score this summer!

UMPQUA RIVER SMALLMOUTH Once upon a time, Sara found mid-July to mid-August to be “unfishy” on the Umpqua. But a trip to California and fishing gear

scrounged up by a cousin led to her first largie and a dawning realization there just might be bass back in Oregon for her and her “babes” to catch this time of year.

71

TROLL FOR COLUMBIA SMALLIES Call it bass-phemy, but it turns out you can troll up smallies too!

Tri-Cities-based angler Wayne Heinz shares secrets from his diaries on how to catch even more bass than the guys pitchin’, crankin’ and walkin’ the dog.

136 MONTANA TROUT TRIP: ROCK CREEK BROWNS, ’BOWS Not far outside Missoula is a stream that features miles and miles of public access, good creekside campgrounds, great trout numbers, prolific hatches and – should you be hungry after a long day of catching browns and rainbows in early August – an interesting “seafood” festival nearby. Fill up the gas tank and fly box for a trip east with our roving trout hound Mike Wright!

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 © 2017 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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Northwest Sportsman 11

COLUMNS

98 THE

KAYAK GUYS

(JOSH HUMBERT)

If you thought kayak anglers were a little bit cray-cray for going out in those little tubs to catch rockfish and lings, wait till you meet the freediving spearfishermen of the Oregon Coast.

79

130 NORTH SOUND

CHEF IN THE WILD

This winter reminded us that it still can snow around here, but the white stuff’s beginning to come off the North Cascades, opening up trout waters. Doug also has the lowdown on a lowland ’bows lake.

No! Not more bass heresy! Yep – we pair Wayne’s smallie trolling story with Chef Randy’s delicious bass recipe that would make Napoleon Dynamite proud.

107 WESTSIDER Puget Sound anglers, get ready, it’s the start of the selective king fishery in Areas 9 and 10, and this season is looking much improved over recent ones.

Terry sets us up for success.

115 CENTRAL WASHINGTON It’s salmon season on the Upper Columbia, and Dave has the deets on where to fish when as sockeye and summer Chinook return to Vantage, Wenatchee, Chelan, Brewster and beyond.

123 BUZZ RAMSEY Buoy 10 doesn’t open till next month, but if you’re putting in for vacation days now, check out Buzz’s guide to best salmon tides at the Columbia mouth.

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153 SOUTH SOUND On the occasion of our nation’s birthday, Jason spotlights a new Olympia-based organization, Outdoors For Our Heroes, aiming to match service-disabled veterans with hunting opportunities.

157 GUN DOGGIN’ 101 Your new pup’s going to do a lot of traveling once it grows into its role as your hunting companion, so now’s the time to get it familiar with crates. Scott has top tips for crate training young dogs.

161

ON TARGET You could say Dave’s shot a few rifle rounds in his time, but when it comes to deer cartridges, he argues that there’s only one best.

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Northwest Sportsman 13

20 THE BIG PIC: THE EDITOR ABROAD

Yes, Germany’s known for engineering excellence, brewing the best Bier on Earth and a vast array of heart-unhealthy pork products, but it has a surprisingly strong hunting and fishing culture too. Are there lessons for us? The editor investigates (and samples some swill and sausage).

DEPARTMENTS 17

THE EDITOR’S NOTE “The great .22 scratch paper incident of 2017”

19

CORRESPONDENCE Reader reactions to recent news

33

PHOTOS FROM THE FIELD Spring gobblers, spring bear and springers, plus rainbows and more!

39

PHOTO CONTEST WINNER Browning, Fishing monthly prizes

43

THE DISHONOR ROLL Court ruling a ‘significant blow’ to Oregon anti-poaching efforts; Sea cucumber overharvest alleged; Jackass of the Month

45

DERBY WATCH CCA-Washington July derbies; Recent results; Upcoming events

47

OUTDOOR CALENDAR Upcoming openers, closures, events

47

BIG FISH Record Northwest game fish caught this month

113 RIG OF THE MONTH From the vault: Da Humpy Killin’ Posse 147 PRODUCT REVIEW Troll-master Seahorse Downrigger system

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Northwest Sportsman 15

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THEEDITOR’SNOTE

T

he note our oldest son brought home from school gave me more of a belly laugh than feelings of butthurt. It was yet another reminder of how things have changed since I attended Sultan (Washington) Elementary, where a second-grade friend and I “shot” critters in Outdoor Life with pencils. Ah, times of yore.

Fast forward to the 21st Century and River’s teacher said she’d talked with him about his choice of scratch paper for math homework. He’d used one that The offending scratch paper. featured a couple paragraphs from a gun review and a pic of a box of .22 LRs on the other side. Next time, he should choose paper without either, the teacher wrote.

Bad Daddy.

You may not know, but along with editing Northwest Sportsman, I’m executive overlord (read: chief proofreader) of our Alaska Sporting Journal, California Sportsman and American Shooting Journal magazines. We give all articles at least three reads before they go to press to make sure most words are spelt real good, so as you can imagine we generate a bit of wastepaper. Several years ago, I looked at the pile and realized that it was all still half good. What’s more, River and his younger brother Kiran could use the unmarked-up side for their own devices – drawing, practicing their writing skills, making paper airplanes, cutting up for snowflake decorations, scrunching up to throw at their brother and/or shoot baskets with, etc., etc., etc.

Out of respect for my wife Amy’s views, I’m pretty careful with what comes home on Shooter proofs; I grade away from firearms, but never considered that a pic of plinking bullets and a few paragraphs might raise a fuss. Undoubtedly, River’s teacher was following something in the district’s rulebook, but yi yi yi.

At some level, bringing home all those marked-up proofs for scratch paper must help save a tree, which is pretty important to Amy and the boys – and me, as trees are kinda key for Northwest fish, wildlife and wildlands. So I was pretty amused by the situation’s irony. Try and do the right thing and you still get in trouble. Be all PC and get trumped by the PC Patrol.

I don’t do towering moral outrage so well, but I’m sure some will fume at political correctness run amuck. Meanwhile, the note led to laughs, which we all could use more of in these overpoliticized times.

“I doubt you would have even heard about this if you were in Eastern Washington,” a friend texted. Hell, I joked back, “I would have had a new subscriber!” One of our former shooting magazine editors saw it as a teaching moment to talk to the educator about hunting for one’s sustenance versus outsourcing the killing, but also suggested pushing back. Yeah, fine, we’ll make sure River doesn’t do any more homework on the back of gun reviews – but she never said anything about pages with pics of dead bucks and bulls and bears! And besides, it could’ve been worse, as our current American Shooting Journal editor pointed out: “Good thing you don’t work for Playboy…” –Andy Walgamott

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Northwest Sportsman 17

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SOCIAL

SCENE

Comment from the www

By Andy Walgamott

COLUMBIA STEELHEAD RESTRICTIONS After months of speculation, mid-June saw the Oregon and Washington Departments of Fish and Wildlife cut summer steelhead fisheries back sharply on the Columbia and its coolwater tribs starting this month, just as fishing gets good. Reacting to our story on Facebook, Rudy Mikaela Flores wondered, “Does that mean we get a refund on our Columbia River endorsement we pay extra for and now are not able to fully use?” Fair question, but unlikely. “I’m going to laugh when 300,000 steelhead go over the dam. ‘Well, we screwed up the count again on the Columbia!’” posted Casey Nelson. We’ll laugh too – with relief at what would be welcome news after this year’s fewest-since-1980 steelhead forecast due to 2015’s Blob. “Not great news,” said Bill Schmidt of the restrictions, “but we’ll all survive for a couple years until the ocean conditions get back to normal and the fish stocks rebound again.”

WOLF IN NORTHWEST WASHINGTON? After an eastern Skagit County man took pretty convincing photos of an apparent wolf that raided his chicken coop in mid-May, state and federal wolf managers captured and collared the animal, for which DNA confirmation was pending. As with any wolf post, reactions to ours were stark, with others worrying about the Skagit elk herd. Don Phipps couldn’t resist a barb: ”I’m glad they’re getting closer to Mitch Friedman,” director of Conservation Northwest, which strongly supports wolves but also works with ranchers and stood by WDFW’s 2016 removals when other wolfies whined.

SEA LION MANAGEMENT Support was building for Rep. Jaime Herrera-Beutler’s Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Prevention Act, including testimony last month from Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission Chairman Leland Bill and a letter from the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association’s Liz Hamilton. HR 2083 would give the organization’s tribes authority to remove problem California sea lions, as well as increase state management in more of the river below Bonneville, as well its tributaries. “Maybe the tribes can get something done,” said Steve Thayer. “They [the federal government] obviously don’t care what the sportfishery wants.” Meanwhile, ODFW is applying for a federal permit to remove sea lions Herscheling the hell out of listed winter steelhead at Willamette Falls.

MOST LIKED READER PIC WE HUNG UP ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE DURING THIS ISSUE’S PRODUCTION CYCLE Darrel Smith and his big spring Chinook got big likes as we put together your July issue. He caught the hatchery bruiser while fishing with guide Mike Zavadlov on the Olympic Peninsula’s Sol Duc River.

(FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

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Northwest Sportsman 19

The Editor Abroad On the trail of ďŹ shing and hunting in Germany.

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PICTURE

An angler fishes the Neckar as it flows through the southwest German town of Heidelberg, where my family and I stayed for two nights during a midspring vacation – and not far above where I spotted some sort of Teutonic river monster briefly surface. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)

By Andy Walgamott

D

er Angler was right where you’d have expected one to be, casting into the tailrace of a low head dam, where churning waters would deliver fresh meals to the fish he hoped to hook.

We’d just waltzed the Philosophenweg on the hillside across from Heidelberg and were crossing the Neckar back to the Altstadt for lunch and ice cream when I looked over and saw the man fishing off a ramp sloping into the river.

It was late morning and the sun was shining brightly over southwest Germany that mid-May day this spring, but with how stained the water was below the spillway of a set of locks, the fisherman must have felt he had a chance of hooking something. nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2017

Northwest Sportsman 21

MIXED BAG

I’ve been to Germany three times now with my wife Amy (inset), who was born in Cologne and lived there a dozen years, and on each trip I’ve marveled at all of the hunter huts built in the woods and fields. A single Jäger may hunt out of dozens, and it was near this one (main image), on a mountaintop just above Heidelberg and not far from a kids amusement park, that I spotted fresh deer tracks. (ANDY WALGAMOTT) I knew there was something very big swimming nearby too. When Amy and I and our sons River and Kiran had started our walk a couple hours before, I’d seen a dark back briefly surface about half a kilometer downstream, leaving a large set of ripples on the otherwise calm river.

Holy Fahrvergnügen, what the $%@$ was that?!? was my first thought.

If we’d been along the Columbia, I would have immediately said sea lion, but neither the Neckar nor the Rhine it feeds are known for their pinnipeds, let alone manatees or freshwater dolphins.

As my family walked ahead, I stood and watched the river, ruling out a swimmer, scuba diver and the odd waterbird. Had I just seen one of those wels catfish?

These sturgeon-sized bottomfeeders are native to the Danube and other Central and Eastern European basins, but have done well since being stocked in Western European watersheds. Not unlike Hells Canyon anglers posing in the water with their ginormous diamondsides, pictures abound of German, Italian and other 22 Northwest Sportsman

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continental fishermen in up to their gills in rivers and lakes while holding huge wels they’ve landed. I’m not sure if a whiskerfish was what the Heidelberg angler was after, but I took a couple photos of him and silently wished him good luck.

It would not be the last time I crossed paths with fishing or hunting during our two-week vacation throughout the middle and upper Rhine River valley.

A NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN as well as hook-and-bullet magazine editor, I naturally keep my eye open for fish and game wherever I go. If there’s a stream, I’m peeking into it, wondering about its angling possibilities. If there’s a patch of forest, I’m curious about what its leaves and needles might be hiding.

But I’m also interested in the cultural hoofprint of our favorite outdoor pastimes,

The Jägerhütte trailer at a youth hostel in Bonn, the capital of the former West Germany. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)

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Northwest Sportsman 23

MIXED BAG their strength as enduring institutions. So as we toured German castles and medieval city walls, traipsed through churches and market squares, tramped across country bridges and up and down forested hillsides, rode Stadtbahns and Seilbahns, funiculars and ferries, and pushed 160 kph (100 mph) on the Autobahn, I kept watch for critters and signs of their pursuit.

While many, many things in Germany are strange to us (I’m still puzzling over the “Sauerkraut orgy” listed on one menu), this country of 82 million is not unlike here either. Roughly the size of 12 Willamette Valleys – which it bears a striking resemblance to in ways – its woods and fields hold red deer (Hirsch), roe deer (Reh), wild boars (Wildschwein), rabbits (Kaninchen) and pigeon (Tauber). And its waters host ducks (Enten), pike-perch (Zander, which are closer to our walleye than either pike or perch), pike (Hecht), trout – brown and otherwise – (Forellen), introduced grayling, and carp (Karpfen) and its relative the asp, among other species.

Of course, fishing and hunting are tightly regulated, far more so than here, where frankly there are minimal barriers.

A 2003 article in Montana Outdoors outlines the rigorous steps needed just to get a hunting license – a year of study followed by what’s been described as a master’s-level test that half are said to fail – as well as the social responsibilities that come with hunting.

Writes author James Hagengruber: “The 450,000-some hunters in Germany play the combined role of game warden, wildlife biologist, and agricultural pest controller.

They also must ensure that wild game animals have sufficient food and habitat.

‘The hunting right and the conservation duty are inseparable,’ said [Thomas] Baumeister,” a native German who works for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

While we all head afield for similar reasons – to enjoy the outdoors, be with fellow sportsmen, the traditions – and use common tactics such as stand hunting and drives, German hunters are far more empowered with herd oversight than we are individually under the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. “By German standards hunting is not a sport or hobby, 24 Northwest Sportsman

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Hunting in Europe is strongly associated with the nobility, and this hall at Rheinstein castle above the Rhine was well stocked with the racks of red and roe deer, and other animals. But in Germany, Average Johans are able to participate too – with considerable time and monetary investments. (ANDY WALGAMOTT) it’s a mission of public concern. The mission is to maintain a healthy stock of wildlife,” reports a Realtree.com story.

There’s not much hunting on public lands, but private forests and fields are available, and hunters typically lease them for several years. Harvests follow a game management plan submitted to local officials, with quotas to be taken annually, and penalties imposed if wild animals under one’s supervision depredate crops.

“One hunter I spoke with said he paid €10,000 in reparations to a landowner

With two very active boys, we didn’t visit many museums, but I was glad we stopped at one on the shores of the Bodensee highlighting how lake dwellers lived here several millenia ago. On display were ancient fishhooks. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)

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Northwest Sportsman 25

MIXED BAG

In both the U.S. and Germany you can find commercially caught or reared game fish on the menu – this postcard-pretty hotel (right) in Meersburg served Zander, which look like walleye – but hunters there can also sell their venison to restaurants. I enjoyed Hirschragout mit Spaetzle and a local Pils at a country inn. (ANDY WALGAMOTT) last year, after wild pigs tore through the farmer’s fields,” reported an Oregon Public Broadcasting journalist for a 2013 story on guns in Germany. (Speaking of, the nation’s laws are said to be among the world’s strictest, with ownership limited to hunters, competitors and collectors, and with registration and mandatory safe storage.

“I doubt if American hunters and shooters would be very happy under this system,” a Field & Stream blogger wrote after a 2011 hunt.) You also need hunting insurance.

It’s easier to get a fishing license, but residents need to pass a 30-hour course and pay a $200 fee. With a Fischerschien one can then buy permits for specific waters.

Just don’t turn back your catch – because of animal welfare laws it is verboten to go fishing with the intention of releasing any.

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A blog post by a Neckar River valleybased catfisherman who has caught a 150-pound wels details some more of what he and other anglers are faced with: “We have bans on using livebaits, night fishing, boat fishing, wild camping, etc., and you have to abide by them. With special rigs and techniques, you can still present bunches of worms and deadbaits attractively. If you want to be successful, you have to use your imagination.”

Indeed, imagination and a lot of a desire are required to be a sportsman here.

STILL, DURING OUR travels through the country where my wife was born and grew up in [sidenote: while Walgamott and its 20-odd variations are German, my father’s side did not come from there; instead, my great-grandpa apparently stole the surname about 117 years ago from a dead guy], we crossed contemporary as well as historical references to fishing and hunting, showing their everlasting importance.

Right beside the Neckar River in Heidelberg was the Goldener Hecht – golden pike – restaurant and hotel. A

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Northwest Sportsman 27

MIXED BAG

Rothenburg rises over the Tauber River, in which I spotted numerous decent-sized silver fish I wouldn’t have minded casting for. Maybe next time, I tell myself. (ANDY WALGAMOTT) large stone northern was mounted on its outside wall above the Biergarten.

On the mountain above this university town and not very far at all from an amusement park for kids were a number of hunting stands, or Kanzeln. Near one I spotted the fresh tracks of a roe deer. And outside Meersburg, on the Bodensee, or Lake Constance, we spotted a herd of the diminutive deer in a field, though by the time I’d wheeled our rental SUV around to get a picture, all but one had retreated into a roadside patch of trees. There, in southern Baden-Wurtemburg state, we drove under numerous wildlife overpasses helping to prevent collisions with Wildtiere.

Above the Rhine, Burg Rheinstein offered an impressive antlers-and-armor man cave. One hotel we stayed at sported a large bear hide hung just inside the front door, while on the floor of a well-lit alcove in a never-conquered castle we toured was a wild boar rug. And in another – famed Burg Eltz – were some pretty impressive Alaskan bull moose racks.

We didn’t run into many Americans on our trip, but in Bonn, where we stayed at a travel trailer-themed youth hostel, a family of four with accents from Southern whitetail country emerged in the morning from the Jägerhütte, featuring a couple pelts, a deer mount and the somewhat miss-set antlers of a stag above the door.

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While I was surprised that one of the two dozen or so trailers at the hostel would have hunting as its theme – would that be the case at similar lodging in the U.S.? – author Hagengruber notes: “The burdens of a German hunter might weigh heavily, but the country also affords its hunters rewards and respect rarely seen on this side of the Atlantic …

I saw this for myself during the massive Folklore International Parade, which marks the beginning of Oktoberfest. Of the nearly 10,000 people who marched in the parade, some of the loudest applause from the crowds went to a group of costumed hunters. The normally stoic spectators lining the street shouted and pumped their fists in the air as the hunters marched past while gently tipping their hats to the crowd. It was the applause that onlookers at a Montana small-town parade would give to volunteer fire fighters or decorated military veterans.”

Unlike here, hunters can sell their game meat at farmers markets and to restaurants. At one countryside Gasthaus near where we saw that herd of deer, I had Hirschragout, venison in sauce – sehr lecker!

On a previous trip, I enjoyed wild boar.

In the future, I’d like to see Munich’s Museum of Hunting and Fishing, but we did stop at an open-air museum on the shores of the Bodensee that told the story

of the people who lived in villages built over the water a couple thousand years ago. On display were ancient fishing hooks, though I’m not sure I would have trusted them to hold the carp swimming amongst the pilings! For that, I might have consulted the Jenzi fishing catalog, a sticker for which I spotted plastered to a bench (an oddity in a notoriously fastidious country).

Thus properly outfitted, I wouldn’t have minded tempting the schools of silver fish swimming in the tiny Tauber below the famed walled medieval city of Rothenburg, where mounted outside one hunter’s home were a number of deer antlers, not unlike above my front door and those of other Northwest hunters.

DON’T WORRY, I won’t be moving to Germany anytime soon for its fishing and hunting. The Northwest’s opportunities are more varied and less restrictive, and as I look through this lens, I realize I should cherish them all the more.

But I do wonder if there are lessons from Deutschland on how to further strengthen our heritage and make fishing and hunting a more enduring, accepted part of life here. I’m not talking about appropriating hunting horns and Gamsbarts, der letzte Bissen and Waidmannsheils, but how can we elevate them to, as the Bavarians term it, cultural assets? NS

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READER PHOTOS As we’ve stated this year, anglers come from far and near to fish Rufus Woods Lake for its rainbows. Becky Burdick’s a member of the latter camp, and the Okanogan angler hooked this pair on a green pumpkin Super Grub.

No bull, Jeremiah Sitton harvested one big elk last season! According to his dad, Jeremy, the Western Washington wapiti is the new state record for youth muzzleloaders, scoring 369 3/8 and netting 355 5/8. Jeremiah describes the hunt as a two-year process, building on his success the year before with a five-point. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

(FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

^ ^

^

When the first lap around Whatcom County’s Silver Lake wasn’t turning up the grade of rainbows Corrin and Kaitlyn Campion were looking for, they rigged up a hoochie behind an Action Disk. “One minute down, the first fish buckled the little rod for all it was worth, zzzzzzzz, lunker in da’ boat,” reports their dad, Mike. “Back down 10 minutes later with an Olympic Tackle (hoochie) and bam, buckled the little rod, zzzzzzzz, lunker No. 2 in da’ boat.”

(FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

^

Keith Moen is all smiles after catching this Skykomish River summer Chinook last month while fishing with nephew and guide Shea Fisher. Though paralyzed Moen still enjoys fishing and hunting, and we plan to tell the story of this amazing Northwest sportsman soon. (THE FISHERE FISHING)

^

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Jon Wiley is a Deschutes River trout guide, but took a day off to get in on a little “lights out” springer fishing on the Columbia with his three daughters, Ava, Maya and Ella. They were run around the river by guide Brandon Glass. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

The final day of springer season was fine for Jessica Klein, Jules Edmiston and Megan Billinger. They were anchor fishing, and went five for nine, including Jessica’s first salmon. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

For your shot at winning great fishing and hunting products from Northwest Sportsman and Browning, 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 2017

Northwest Sportsman 33

READER PHOTOS It did not take Barrett Prock long to fill his spring bear tag, taking this one in Oregon’s Coast Range on opening weekend with a 350-yard shot. Carl “Pack Board” Lewallen helped bring the bruin out.(BROWNING PHOTO

Avid hunter McKenna Risley bagged her first turkey, this nice tom in North-central Washington. She was hunting with her dad, Rob, a retired smokejumper, and boyfriend Wyatt Lundquist, and her bird scored 65.

CONTEST)

(BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

^ ^

No foolin’, Ryann Park has turkey hunting down pat! “With several gobblers in the area, this one happened to come in with a hen, and despite her dad telling her to shoot, she waited for the right opportunity and made a perfect shot at about 10 yards,” recalls her father, Jared. They were hunting Chelan County on Washington’s April 1 youth opener, and Ryann used a 20-gauge Remington 870 to down the tom, which sported a 101/8-inch beard and 1-inch spurs. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

34 Northwest Sportsman

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nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2017

Northwest Sportsman 35

READER PHOTOS

Want to catch the big ones? You might follow Kelly Corcoran’s lead and fish a “big ugly green spoon deep.” That’s how he trolled up this 21.5-inch, near-5-pound rainbow at a lake near Olympia. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

36 Northwest Sportsman

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Eight-year-old Fischer Fortney loves fishing, even more so after he landed this nice rainbow trout at the Kitsap Peninsula’s Wye Lake!

(FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2017

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38 Northwest Sportsman

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Best of British Columbia

PHOTO CONTEST

WINNERS!

Megan Billinger’s pic of a great day for the ladies is this issue’s Fishing Photo Contest winner. It wins her loot from the overstuffed office of our editor!

Jared Park’s photo of daughter Ryann and her first turkey, taken this past spring, is this issue’s Browning Photo Contest winner.

He wins a Browning hat.

Sportsman Northwest

Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource

For your shot at winning Browning and fishing 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. nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2017

Northwest Sportsman 39

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I

n what was termed “a significant blow” to Oregon’s attempts to make poaching a more serious financial blow, a state appeals court ruling put the onus on collecting money for illegally killing game and other other animals on the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

As you’ll recall from stories published here and on our blog, judges have routinely sentenced defendants to pay restitution of as much as $25,000 for trophy big game, as well as fish and other species. But according to The Oregonian, the court said the law was not meant for judges to apply to defendants but to ODFW to pursue as a civil penalty.

The story did not include a response

from ODFW, nor did the agency respond to a request for comment from Northwest Sportsman magazine.

In the short term, it meant a Northcentral Oregon women didn’t have to pay a $2,000 fine for possessing a dead redtail hawk, though she had been ordered to before appealing her case.

Restitution payments to ODFW are meant to discourage poaching, and those who kill trophy-caliber and rarer big game face high financial penalties. They range from $25,000 for bull moose and bighorn rams to $15,000 for mature bull elk to four-point-or-better deer to $1,000 for other wildlife.

By Andy Walgamott

Earlier this year, two Western Oregon men were ordered to pay thousands in restitution for illegally killing these trophy blacktail deer. However, a state appeals court threw that in doubt, ruling it’s not a judge’s place to impose such fines but the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s to pursue. (OSP)

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S

ea cucumber poaching won’t garner the interest that illegal killing of big game or salmon will, but with high consumer demand in overseas markets, there’s a financial incentive to collect and sell more than is otherwise allowed, stressing the Puget Sound resource.

According to Director Jim Unsworth’s June report to the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission, an investigation that began in late 2015 of a company that buys, packages and sells sea cucumber

revealed to state wildlife detectives “that the amount of cucumbers purchased from commercial fisheries was often as much as 40 percent more than was documented on catch reports (fish receiving tickets).”

The agency says that “months of painstaking analysis” of documents seized under search warrants led detectives to believe that 131,424 pounds of sea cucumbers were harvested but not reported by some tribal fishermen in 2014-15, with 107,537 more pounds going

JACKASS OF THE MONTH

T

here’s shooting fish in a barrel, and then there’s killing a cougar in a cage. One’s an idiom, the other’s just idiotic. But the latter is what got a Redmond, Washington, hunter into trouble, leading to a two-year revocation of his hunting privileges.

Ronald D. Wentz, 54, was also fined $1,600 after pleading guilty to tampering with fishing or hunting gear, a trap set out in the woods of eastern King County by a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist to capture lions for ongoing research. Wentz and a partner stumbled across it in February 2016, and Wentz shot the young tom inside. He tagged and reported it, but after the biologist checked the trap and found blood, game wardens reinterviewed Wentz. According to The Seattle Times, Wentz initially denied shooting the cougar in the trap, but “eventually admitted” it had been.

The incident drew widespread interest and had the local director of the Humane Society of the United States fuming for a permanent hunting ban. The notoriety of the case and a JOTM probably will be enough to ensure Mr. Wentz and others never do something like this again.

unrecorded during the 2015-16 season.

No locational or tribal information was included in the report.

By comparision, during WDFW’s 201617 nontribal commercial fishery, around 350,000 pounds of sea cucumber were harvested in Puget Sound and the Straits – two-thirds or 235,000 pounds of which came from the San Juans district – before quotas were met and seasons were closed.

Additionally, Unsworth’s report alleges that four nontribal fishermen are also suspected of not fully documenting their sea cucumber harvests, selling nearly 15,000 pounds over three seasons, and that a fish buyer “admitted to … collusion” with the quartet.

“The effect these violations had on exceeding the total allowable catch for the fishery is still being determined,” reads the report. “Department biologists have observed classic signs of sea cucumber over-fishing in some areas for quite some time. This includes reduced abundance, reduced catch per unit effort, a diver transition to deeper harvest, and a reduction in the size (weight) of sea cucumbers.”

The report says that felony charges against the four fishermen are being prepared for county prosecutors to review.

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Northwest Sportsman 43

By Andy Walgamott

CCA-WA Derbies Kick Off In July

A

fishing derby renamed after a Wenatchee angler who died too young will lead off three July events put on by the Coastal Conservation Association of Washington.

The 6th Annual Pete Flohr Memorial Salmon Derby will be held July 14-15 between the Upper Columbia’s Rock Island and Wells Dams, the home waters of Flohr, who passed away at 47 last November following a car wreck in Southern Oregon.

The derby will be hosted by the local CCA chapter, of which Flohr was a member, and will feature a first prize of The legacy of Peter Flohr, deeply $2,000 for biggest salmon and involved in the North-central Washington fishing scene and who $1,750 for most weighed in by worked at Wenatchee’s Hooked On Toys before his untimely passing any boat.

Last year’s winners were last year following a wreck, lives in with the renaming of the Ryan Weythman, who brought Wenatchee Salmon Derby in his in a 20.67-pound summer honor. (BRIAN LULL) Chinook, and the team of Bob and Erik Shelton and Scott Griffith, who put 86.57 pounds of salmon in their fish box.

Tickets and more information are available online at wenatcheesalmonderby.com.

2017 NORTHWEST SALMON DERBY SERIES

July 14-16: Bellingham Salmon Derby July 26-30: The Big One Salmon Derby Aug. 5: South King County PSA Salmon Derby Aug. 12: Gig Harbor PSA Salmon Derby Aug. 19-20: Vancouver Chinook Classic Aug. 26: Columbia River Fall Salmon Derby Sept. 2: Willapa Bay Salmon Derby Nov. 4-5: Everett Blackmouth Derby II Jan. 5-7, 2018: Resurrection Salmon Derby Feb. 8-10: Friday Harbor Salmon Classic For more information, see nwsalmonderbyseries.com.

Next on the schedule of events is the July 21-23 Lower Columbia Summer Steelhead Challenge, put on by CCA’s Lower Columbia Chapter. It will be slightly hampered by this year’s low forecast and bag limit reductions, but the biggest summer-run brought in scores $1,000.

For more, see ccawashington.org/SteelheadChallenge.

Then, on the month’s last weekend comes the second annual Baker Lake Sockeye Shootout, which features a top prize of $1,000 for the red salmon closest to the derby’s average weight.

Also up for grabs are $500, $250 and $100 payouts for largest, second and third biggest, and another $100 for dinkiest sockeye.

Ken Brown won 2016’s inaugural event with a 6.72-pounder.

Five dozen anglers weighed in 61 sockeye.

Hosted by CCA’s North Sound Chapter, the Shootout is July 28-30. For more, see CCAWashington.org/BakerLakeDerby.

RECENT RESULTS

2017 9th Annual Mackinaw Derby, Odell Lake, June 3: First place: Mike Carlson, 24 pounds; second: Sean Wright, 22 pounds, 12 ounces; third: Glen Thill, 21 pounds, 15 ounces May Surf Perch Fishing Derby, Humbug Mtn. to Horsfall Beach, May 1-31: First place: Scott Carmichael, 3.0-pound pink fin ($285); second: Whip DeGraw, 2.82-pound pink fin ($100 gift certificate); third: Lance Mousel, 2.68-pound pink fin ($50 gift certificate) 8th Annual Lake Stevens Kokanee Derby, May 20: First place: Jon Mass, 1.08-pounder ($1,000); second: Dan Hoyt, .95 pounds ($500)

MORE UPCOMING AND ONGOING EVENTS

Ongoing through the end of season: Westport Charterboat Association Weekly Derbies – info: charterwestport.com Ongoing through Nov. 1: 2017 CCA Oregon Salmon Round-up – info: ccaoregon.org/derby July 1-2: Bonnie & Clyde salmon derby, Moutcha Bay Resort, Vancouver Island – info: nootkamarineadventures.com July 28-29: 2017 Deep Canyon Challenge, Ilwaco – info: oregontunaclassic.com Aug. 4-6: 12th Annual Brewster Salmon Derby, Brewster Pool – info: brewstersalmonderby.com Aug. 12: Washington Tuna Classic, Westport – info: washingtontunaclassic.com Aug. 17-18: 18th Annual Buoy 10 Salmon Challenge, Lower Columbia – info: nsiafishing.org More events: wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/contests/index.html.

nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2017

Northwest Sportsman 45

(PHIL COLYAR)

OUTDOOR

CALENDAR

Brought to you by:

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

JULY 1

New Washington fishing pamphlet regulations take effect; Crabbing opens on Puget Sound Marine Areas 6, 8-1, 8-2, 9, 10 and 13 (Thurs.-Mon.); Salmon opener in Washington’s Marine Areas 2, 5-7, Area 12 south of Ayock Point and Columbia above Priest Rapids Dam – info: wdfw.wa.gov; Catchand-release steelhead opener on much of Idaho’s Clearwater River; Leftover big game tags go on sale in Oregon and start of youth “first time” hunt application period 7-9 Berkley Experience Trailer at Englund Marine, Astoria – info: berkley-fishing.com/Berkleyexperience-trailer.html 8 Family Fishing Event, Jubilee Lake in the Umatilla National Forest – info: odfwcalendar.com; 19th annual Merwin Special Kids Day fishing event at Merwin Fish Hatchery, Woodland, Wash., for children with disabilities – info: (800) 899-4421; Scheduled Baker Lake sockeye opener 9 Family Fishing Event, Lhuuke Illahee Fish Hatchery near Logsden – info: odfwcalendar.com 13-15 Oregon Central Coast all-depth halibut back-up dates (if quota available) – info: dfw.state.or.us/ mrp/finfish/halibut/index.asp 14 Deadline to purchase Washington raffle hunt tickets 15 Crabbing opens in Area 7 South (bulk of San Juan Islands) 16 Areas 9-10 hatchery Chinook opener 22 Oregon bighorn sheep and mountain goat tagholders workshop and orientation at Columbia Gorge Community College, The Dalles – info: oregonfnaws.org

AUGUST 1

Opening of salmon fishing at Buoy 10; Steelhead retention closures begin on Columbia, lower sections of select tributaries; Fall bear season begins across Oregon as well as numerous Washington units 1-5 International Federation of Fly Fishers’ 52nd Annual International Fly Fishing Fair, Livingston, Mont.

– info: fedflyfishers.org 4-5 Summer Central Oregon Coast all-depth halibut opener (every other Fri.-Sat. until Oct. 31 or quota met) – info: dfw.state.or.us/mrp/finfish/halibut/index.asp 5, 11, 12, 19, 25, 26 Shotgun Skills Training (registration, $), Mid-Valley Shooting Clays & Shooting Schookl near Gervais – info: odfwcalendar.com 17 Crabbing opens in Area 7 North (Boundary Bay, Georgia Strait)

1.

The ONE place not to be is in the path of whales. Don’t position your vessel in the path of oncoming whales within 400 yards of a whale.

2.

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

3.

Remember these THREE ways to Be Whale Wise: follow the guidelines for viewing all wildlife, check for local protected areas and restrictions, and always be safe.

RECORD NORTHWEST GAME FISH CAUGHT THIS MONTH Date 7-1-93 7-6-02 7-10-96 7-23-11 7-25-11 7-26-14 7-28-16 7-29-09 7-30-86

Species Lahontan cutthroat Largemouth bass Pumpkinseed Common carp Rainbow-cutthroat* Tiger muskie Striped surfperch Rainbow Lingcod

Pds. (-Oz.) 18.04 12-1.6 .6875 67.65 34-11.8 37.88 2.27 20-02 61.0

Water Omak L. (WA) Ballenger Pd. (OR) L. Oswego (OR) CJ Strike Res. (ID) Snake R. (ID) Curlew L. (WA) Westport (WA) Snake R. (ID) San Juan Islands (WA)

Angler Dan Beardslee B. Adam Hastings Linda Mar Scott Frazier II/Brian Pokorney Mark Adams David Hickman Chris Otte Michelle Larsen-Williams Tom Nelson

* Image (IDFG)

Visit www.bewhalewise.org to learn more, download the laws, regulations, and guidelines, and to report violations.

Report Violations: Enforcement 1-800-853-1964 or online at www.bewhalewise.org

nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2017

Northwest Sportsman 47

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48 Northwest Sportsman

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Northwest Sportsman 49

SCENIC SMALLIE SPECTACULAR Absurd numbers of bronzebacks call Oregon’s wild John Day River home, providing stellar summer fishing.

Oregon’s longest undammed river, the wild and scenic John Day cuts a zigzagging path through stunning countryside on its way to the Columbia, and hosts outlandish numbers of smallmouth. (BOB WICK, BLM) 50 Northwest Sportsman

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FISHING

By M.D. Johnson

O

K, so let’s do the math together. One rod, 5 river miles, and 275 smallmouth. In a day. Yes, I said 275 smallies caught and released in one day by one guy wielding one rod. Best I can figure that’s 55 fish per mile, or 0.01041667 fish per foot of river traveled. Doesn’t sound like a lot? You do it and then don’t touch the aspirin the next day.

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FISHING With guide Steve Fleming on the sticks, author MD Johnson casts for John Day bass. Not every trip will result in triple-digit catches, but it’s not uncommon for anglers to land that many either. (JULIA JOHNSON)

But it’s just another day on Oregon’s John Day River. An exceptional day, yes, but if you know anything about this blue ribbon smallmouth fishery in the desert, you won’t find it hard to believe. Hundred-fish days, while not run of the mill, aren’t uncommon. Neither are 200-fish days.

Huge fish? Lake Erie Bass Islands smallmouth? No; however, and more than occasionally, the John Day will give up a bronzeback in excess of 5 pounds. Six pounds. Even higher.

“Biggest one I’ve seen? That would be 7.2 pounds, 23 inches long with a girth of 16 inches,” says Steve Fleming, owner of Mah-Hah Outfitters out of the North-central Oregon town of Fossil.

With close to 40,000 river miles having passed under his hulls, Flem52 Northwest Sportsman

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ing has logged some 21 years rowing a drift boat on the John Day. “That particular fish was caught in late April. March, April, and May – that’s when you’re going to catch your biggest smallmouth bass on the John Day,” he continued. “You catch the biggest ones before the water temperature hits 52 degrees and the ‘dinks’ come out.”

July and August, Fleming says, are the number months, the time when the John Day smallies put on the proverbial feedbag.

“The month of August is the highest metabolism month,” he said. “If you have (a population of) smallmouth that are all gill plate and no stomach, there’s no food. We have Nerf balls in the John Day. We have a phenomenal crawdad population. Nymphs for the

smaller fish. There’s tons of food. No industrialization. No (water) contamination. We continue to enjoy quality water in the John Day.” Here, the outfitter added an interesting aside, one that helps explain the overall incredible health of the river’s smallmouth population.

“Since 1971 when the bass were first stocked into the John Day,” Fleming said, “bass anglers have knocked the northern pikeminnow population down to almost nothing.

If you catch one in a week’s fishing, that’s an event.”

And that’s important why? Because northern pikeminnow are the primary predator on juvenile smallmouth, just as they are voracious consumers of salmon and steelhead smolts. So, bass anglers catch and

FISHING “dispose of” pikeminnows, thus lowering the overall numbers of these predators, and in doing so, assist the John Day’s stocks of kings and steelhead.

“The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife did a seven-year study,” says Fleming, “and it (became obvious) that the smallmouth bass have little or no negative impact on the salmonidae populations in the river.

They’re coexisting.”

So the smallmouth in the John Day aren’t native, and that being the case, why were they introduced?

“Smallmouth were stocked in the John Day in the 1970s at Kimberly and Service Creek,” says ODFW fisheries biologist Brent Smith, “essentially to help promote recreational fishing opportunities on the river.

They’ve done well, and seem to be doing just fine, so there have been no additional stockings since those original releases.”

Smith says that today, 46 years after those original plants, smallmouth can be found in all four branches of the John Day – North, Middle, and South Forks, and the mainstem, and in excellent numbers.

“With the elevated water temperatures in the John Day,” he says, “the fish have traveled further up into the system. There are no high-velocity barriers (to their progress) and plenty of food in the form of non-game minnows, shiners, dace, and crayfish.

It’s a very popular fishery, the most popular in the basin. Smallmouth are a pretty easy fish to catch, and while they’re somewhat overpopulated, the population is healthy.”

ABOUT THE JOHN DAY Flowing almost 290 miles through North-central Oregon, the John Day is rightly deserving of her designation as a Wild and Scenic River. The mainstem headwaters sit in the Strawberry Mountains of Grant County, at an elevation of roughly 9,000 feet – quite a change from the 286 feet at the river’s mouth about 20 miles upriver from 54 Northwest Sportsman

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Early spring is when most big smallies are caught on the John Day, but a late summer float yielded a 20½-incher for Johnson and October 2015 produced a personal-best 15-incher for CaraBeth Beaudry. The bruisers bit a Teeny Torpedo and 5-inch grub, respectively. (JULIA JOHNSON; FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

the town of Biggs. (It was near here in winter 1811-12 that the river’s namesake, fur trapper John Day, and a partner were relieved of their rifles and clothing by Cayuse Indians.)

Fleming, as do the other 18 commercial guides and outfitters currently operating on the John Day, is required to have purchased a renewable permit from the Bureau of Land Management, the overseer of the drainage, aside, obviously, from those individual private landowners with property along or near the river.

Privateers looking to float any of the launch-to-launch sections of the river, of which there are several, can do so only after purchasing a day-use/ launch permit online from the BLM. Information about the regulatory particulars of the John Day, as well as need-to-know and launch facility details and locations, including maps, can be found at the agency’s regional website, blm.gov/or/permit.

FISHING THE RIVER A graduate of Beaverton High School – he wouldn’t say when – Fleming lives with his wife, Linda, a tremendous angler in her own right, about 20 road-miles from the Service

Creek-to-Twickenham section of the river, technically known as River Segment 3A, where he spends the majority of his guiding time.

“This is a great place to guide,” he says. “The John Day is truly a jewel. She’s one of the premier, if not the premier smallmouth bass fishery in the United States, and the number one fly-fishing destination. She’s well-known, and on many an angler’s bucket list.”

As for crowded, she’s not.

“I floated 13.6 miles today,” he said in late May, “and never saw another person. Never even saw another campsite. And we caught 34 fish, including ones that measured 16, 17, and 18 inches. Plus lost two huge ones that we saw but didn’t land.”

When Julie and I fished with Fleming, it was the second week of September. The river was low, the water was warm – I’m guessing around 65 to 68 degrees – and the fishing was ridiculously good. No, we didn’t catch 200 fish each, but I’m sure we boated 100 collectively.

That included my personal best, a 20½-incher sporting a chunky 13inch girth that earned me not only praise from my wife and our host,

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Northwest Sportsman 55

FISHING

A drift boat or pontoon may be the best way to access the river’s fishery, but a number of Bureau of Land Management sites border the water, including at Rock Creek, where a family geared up for bass this past Memorial Day Weekend. (GREG SHINE, BLM)

but one of Fleming’s coveted red “Master Angler” ball caps, an honor bestowed upon the angler by the outfitter if and when a 20-plus-incher is captured.

If memory serves me right, we did it all that day, short of live bait, in terms of gear and presentations.

Garden worms are permitted on the John Day; however, Fleming doesn’t use them as they contribute to a high fish mortality rate. Instead, we opted for small poppers and streamers when choosing to flick flies, and a variety of hard and soft baits when doing the spincasting thing. My bruiser smallmouth fell to a Heddon Teeny Torpedo in the traditional yellow-belly frog pattern, a hard-bait that accounted for several fish that morning. Still, we found it difficult to find something the smallies didn’t find irresistible – twister-tail grubs, Mepps inline spinners, spinnerbaits, shallow-running crankbaits, and cork poppers.

“Mid-June,” says Fleming, “and 56 Northwest Sportsman

JULY 2017 | nwsportsmanmag.com

the river is a simply phenomenal topwater fishery. The water temperature is in the mid-60s, and you have a lot of choices. Torpedos. Buzzbaits. Spinnerbaits. Shallow-running cranks. But,” he continues, “we catch more bass on plastics than we do on anything else. And the go-to bait? I mean, the best available is Outlaw Baits’ 5-inch Ripple Worm. As for color, black is always a winner, but I’ll have a selection that includes electric grape, green pumpkin, and pumpkin. Fish ’em on a 1/16-ounce jig head, cut the body of the worm down to match the size of the hook, and, because smallmouth suck a bait in, make sure to drop (the worm) back and give ’em a little slack – a little time – before setting the hook.”

Rod and reel selection for John Day smallmouth is relatively elemental.

“I’m using (Shakespeare) 5-foot6 Ugly Stiks and 6-foot-6 Lamiglas rods,” says Fleming. “Those are fitted with Pfleuger President spinning reels spooled with high-vis yellow Power Pro braid. Ordinarily, I’ll splice a couple feet of P-Line onto the braid.”

Is such fluorocarbon stealth necessary for these ravenous oversized sunfish? Not particularly, Fleming says, citing example after example of instances where clients ran both hard and soft baits directly to the high-vis braid and netted fish after fish after fish.

“Smallmouth in the John Day aren’t line shy, so it’s a matter of personal preference,” says the traditionalist, who still knots P-Line behind his braid. “In fact,” he continues and in reference to this question of stealth, “I’ll often have anglers intentionally ‘slap’ the water with their fly line when they cast. Quite the opposite of your typical delicate presentation. But you want that popper to hit hard, so it’s like ringing the dinner bell.”

WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE? Silly numbers of fish. One hundred-smallmouth days. Two hundred. Two-seventy-five. Relatively

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Northwest Sportsman 57

FISHING easy fishing. Relaxing. Scenic. Wild.

Beautiful. So wouldn’t it make sense that come summer, the same section of river – Segment 3A – that yielded my best-ever smallmouth would be crawling, perhaps literally, with people and rubber rafts and coolers full of Pabst? Not that I have anything against a cooler filled with Pabst.

And ice. Not really, says Fleming, and there’s a reason for the solitude.

“The put-ins and take-outs are a long way apart,” he says, with 10 miles between launches in the upper river being the minimal norm, and between Clarno and Cottonwood Bridge closer to the mouth?

Seventy river miles.

“The river’s easy to fish, but it can be complicated when it comes to catching fish. By the third week of July,” he says, “I won’t see anybody.”

Sounds like Heaven empties right into the Columbia River, by my reckoning. NS

Float the Service Creek-to-Twickenham section with Fleming and you just might be treated to a shore lunch. The guide calls the John Day “one of the premier, if not the premier smallmouth bass fishery in the United States.” (JULIA JOHNSON)

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FISHING

Ump’ll Bump Your Catch Rate Summer’s heat brings a change of species for salmon-, steelie-slayin’ Sara and her ‘babes’ – Umpqua River smallies!

By Sara Ichtertz

W

Smallmouth bass may not have been created for moms looking for weekday fun for their kids, but in the case of author Sara Ichtertz and her son Nate and daughter Ava, it’s definitely true.

(SARA ICHTERTZ)

hen I first set out for that bite that never ends, I found myself semi-heartbroken as the water warmed, casting aimlessly for fish that were not interested in my baits. I threw everything under the sun and still walked away from the banks without a bite.

Declaring mid-July through mid-August unfishy, I took my babes swimming instead, like I have done on this river my entire life.

When the next year’s spring and summer runs were upon me, the water again warmed and I began to fret. In the meanwhile, I needed to go to Clear Lake, California, to say goodbye to my grandma. In the despair of it all I was blessed to be at my aunt’s home, where I made my pallet on the dock to sleep. In the night, I heard giants splashing around me.

The next evening I asked my cousnwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2017

Northwest Sportsman 61

FISHING

“A great little tug” – the bass that started it all for Sara, a California largemouth caught at Clear Lake during a visit to say goodbye to her grandmother. (SARA ICHTERTZ)

in to find me a fishing rod, and worm if he could, as I thought casting a line was exactly what my heart needed.

He gave me what he could come up with – a tangled reel, a single inline weight, one sparkly worm, and a worm hook – and I said it would work. I looped the inline weight through the main line, positioning it to where I had somewhat of a leader, and rigged up my worm. With my sister Joni by my side I gave the rod a cast and wondered what I had in store. I began retrieving the worm, jigging it slightly, totally unsure as to what I was doing. I felt a fish, but missed him. After a few minutes without any further action I thought I’d blown it.

I reeled in, cast again and was working the worm back to me when there he was! This time I had him!

The fish brought my heavy heart to life instantly and was far more exciting than I could have even envisioned. Very strong, he was, a great

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little tug, taking line. I thought, “Oh, I like this!” Joni was also thrilled: “I knew you were going to get one, Sara!” she exclaimed.

It is the only fish one of my sisters has ever seen me catch, and was my first bass of any kind. As I brought it up to check out, I said, “Wow, Jo, I caught a dandy! Look at this fish! He is awesome!” Letting it go felt amazing, and all at once I felt so much better.

As those monstrous catfish of Clear Lake jumped the night away once more, I lay on the dock listening, watching the stars, and thinking: Well, we must have bass at home?

And so it began: the pursuit of the red-eyed warmwater demon fish.

ARRIVING BACK HOME, I bought a little rod along with small jigs, worm hooks and a variety of colored worms. Some were typical of a nightcrawler yet colorful and sparkly, while others were short and thick. There were ones with a single tail and two tails, as well as frilly, elaborate jigs that made me giggle.

I got them all, then rigged my new little rod along with the trout rods for the babes, and we were ready for bass action.

Knowing that our river would be entirely too cold to the liking of these fish we headed out into the mainstem of the Umpqua in search of the hard-hitting red-eyed bass. When I found some slow-moving water that had rock shelves and snagged trees throughout it, I thought it could be fishy. Sure enough, it was! The entire stretch was full of smallmouth that had my daughter fishing stronger than I had imagined possible, and loving it at just four years old. This was the first time I saw the joy that fish bring to my soul inside my little girl’s as well.

Very aggressive and hungry, they are, and the Umpqua has all kinds of opportunity for bass, including hiring a guide. Imagine covering miles of this beautiful river while seeing the special landscape and birds of prey

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FISHING in their nesting habitats and hunting along the river, all while catching till your heart’s content. Joe Mello of ReelMellofishing is one of the guides we see when fishing from the bank.

Last year on our final day of summer break we saw he and a client. Joe told me later that the fisherman said, “Now that’s a good mom!” as they watched my babes both fight fish.

Those little things are not why I fish, but hearing them definitely makes me feel good.

Joe and I have done quite a bit of steelhead fishing together. His willingness to share what he knows with his clients is a great thing. He also loves to take children fishing (he’s a father of three boys), which is something I find to be an asset to our future. Being able to enjoy a stress-free day where your only job is hooking and landing fish while taking in the beauty of nature doesn’t sound too bad at all. You can find Joe on Face-

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Her “babes” may still need help from Mom from time to time, but they seem to have the swing of smallie fishing on the Umpqua down, whether fishing bait on the bottom or twitching plastic worms and creature baits. (SARA ICHTERTZ)

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FISHING

Along with smallmouth, bluegill (left) offer a good fishery for kids and during the “off-season” for salmon and steelhead. While the sheer numbers of bass in the Umpqua mean most are small, there are a few on the bigger side. This summer Sara’s looking to build on this (right), her personal-best. (SARA ICHTERTZ, BOTH)

book and at reelmellofishing.com.

Once you take a guided float, you’ll get ideas for your own boating adventures, or like me, I can always happily dream from the bank.

I’M THAT MOM in search of weekday summer fun for my babes, so we are on the banks and quite happy to be there. When we step away from steelhead and salmon I think it’s important to make these days more about time with my babes than the fish we target.

Tending multiple rods and riggings I keep it relatively simple, and yet we have 100-fish days on multiple outings a year. I find that you just can’t go wrong with split shot and nightcrawlers. When bounced slowly along shelves and beside snags, the fish come right out to grab that worm, one after another!

It makes this the perfect rigging for my babes to tend to the best of their ability, all while having great fun catching smallmouth and bluegill.

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Northwest Sportsman 67

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While Ava, my girl, fishes on bottom with live bait, my boy Nate wants to be twitching jigs with our colorful variety of worms and creature baits. Both kids fish within their abilities successfully, yet differently at the same time. As a mom taking her children out for a little hot July fun on the river, that is amazing to me.

These are the perfect eager fish to get your children excited about angling the rivers. The fishery is very low key, allowing kids to truly fish free of any pressure. With these fish, it is all catch and release for us. I find that to be a very important angle when teaching my babes how to fish. Allowing them to attempt the unhooking and release will make them better, more confident fishers, and that is what I want.

They do still need Mom’s help from time to time, but letting them give it a go is pretty awesome. Seeing them succeed in the release more often than they need a hand shows me that sharing my time with them matters.

I’M STILL LEARNING when it comes to these red-eyed little fish in the rivers, which is exactly what I always desire as a fisher. I want to be constantly learning and sharing what I learn with those who matter most.

I look forward to my babes being another year older and stronger, allowing us to broaden our abilities to use topwater lures and Rapalas.

With the water warming, I know they will be more ready than ever.

I absolutely cannot wait to see them in bass action this year!

Great summer fun is waiting for us – as well as you and yours – on the Umpqua River. The deeper I dive into this passion, the more I realize there is always a reason that my heart is on the river, and I couldn’t change it, even if I tried. NS Editor’s note: For more on Sara’s adventures, see For The Love Of The Tug on Facebook.

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Northwest Sportsman 69

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TROLL UP Big River Bass

FISHING Think of trolling as a very long cast, with less effort and more strikes.

From our boat logs: Over the past 19 years, in 368 summer trips on the Columbia River – from Richland down to Boardman – partners and I trolled up 2,398 smallmouth bass. That’s about 28 percent of our annual catches.

We logged 606 angler-hours.

That’s about four bass netted per hour. Our daily logs also record missed strikes and lost bass – 1,671.

Grouped with the netted fish, that’s six strikes per 60 minutes.

Casting for smallies, do you average a strike every 10 minutes? Maybe trolling deserves your attention.

FIND BARS, FIND BASS

Many Columbia bass anglers might cast and crank those plugs, but not author Wayne Heinz, who prefers to troll the big river for his smallies. Heinz says keeping his rods in a bow-mounted rack leaves more room aft to fight the plentiful bass here. (WAYNE HEINZ)

The tactic may draw sneers from hardcore bassers, but this is the Northwest, where trolling is productive not only for salmonids but smallies.

Many of the flooded bars you seek lay so far out, you couldn’t swim to shore.

You’ve seen the square green or triangular red markers midriver. You’ve motored by the pairs of red/green tripod markers that split channels. Between the markers – unseen bars.

Navionics’ Platinum + “West” chart chip in your GPS plotter will reveal these bars. Prefer paper charts?

Evergreen Pacific’s River Cruising Atlas shows every bar.

Are bass on the bars? Set your sounder’s scroll speed to 100 percent. Zoom to 4X. Select “High frequency.” Dial sensitivity up. Choose “Down-scan.” Choose “CHIRP.” A CHIRP transducer paints fish far better. Chart, depthsounder, tackle – you’re ready to troll.

MIMIC THE BANQUET

By Wayne Heinz

J

une was easy. Post-spawn – hungry bass roamed the shallows.

July … not so easy. Shallows are fishless. Ever wonder where smallies disappear to each summer? The answer begins 20,000 years ago. Milehigh glaciers bulldozed through the Okanogan hills. About 9,000 years later, those glaciers retreated.

Walls of meltwater scoured the Columbia. As floodwater receded,

glacial debris settled onto bedrock.

Gravel, sand, silt – billions of tons – formed immense bars.

Today, drowned behind dams, those ancient river bars act as magnets for smallmouth bass. That’s where salmon smolts stack up. That’s where smallies reappear.

FISH EFFICIENTLY Reluctant to abandon casting? Understandable. Trolling – a mechanical, monotonous way to fish. So?

Late-May to mid-June, Columbia Basin hatcheries release 12 million fall Chinook smolts. Over 10 million more salmon and steelhead smolts stream down the Snake. Find release dates at fpc.org. Millions of wild smolts join their hatchery cousins.

These smolts migrate quickly.

By early July, over 90 percent have passed McNary Dam. The 3- to 4-inch smolts swim far offshore, 10 to 20 feet deep.

Here’s a banquet no smallie can nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2017

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FISHING resist. Below McNary Dam, bass cruise the upstream aprons of bars, often 100 yards above the channel marker. When the sun westers low, smallies chase smolts to the surface.

Gulls and terns wheel and dive. In the melee, you’ll catch bass right in your prop wash.

Tired of trolling? Keep a spinning rod handy. Motor upstream of the feeding frenzy. Drift by the bass. Cast long.

Best time to get out and troll for bass just might be in the evenings, as the day cools, with the sundown bite being the best, according to the author, here with a nice smallie. (LUCIE FRITZ)

DEPTH CONTROL – THE KEY TO TROLLING

FLATLINE Of various techniques, flatlining is easiest. Plug, snap, line. Feed line out gradually. Covers the water column.

Retrieve line gradually. Bass often hit as you reel in.

If you troll lazy S’s, you’ll cover various depths and you’ll vary your bait speed. Troll upstream, downstream, cross-stream. Smallies don’t care where their meal comes from.

Pull plugs 2 to 4 mph. Pick a speed that best wiggles the plug. A third of your strikes will occur the moment you speed up. You cannot take a bait away from a summer smallie. The plug will stop working before the smallie stops chasing.

COLORS? WHO CARES! Water eats light. Its appetite increases with depth. Less light, less color.

Camera studies: Most colors turn gray at the depths you’ll troll. Down deep, it’s the plug’s silhouette, wiggle and rattle that matter.

Bass we catch on minnow-type plugs often cough up crawdads. Bass feeding on silver-sided minnows hit dull brown plugs. Bass that spit green sculpins in the net, hit chrome plugs.

Bass we catch on crawdad-type plugs often cough up minnows.

Smallies are gluttons. In the Columbia River, nobody’s safe.

We pull plugs of many colors. Conclusions from our logs: Color matters less than we think; plain plugs get as many hits as lifelike-painted plugs.

Color choices? Simple – dark or light, dull or shiny.

These are reaction strikes. A bass has a split second to hit or not hit.

Smallmouth bass’s motto: “Bite it now, spit it out later.”

More logbook eye-openers: Size doesn’t matter. We catch 9-inch smallies on 6-inch plugs; 20-inch smallies on 3-inch plugs. Also, rattling plugs catch more bass.

“Match the hatch” sounds logical, right? But our data defies logic.

Luhr Jensen trials: If you troll, you’ll increase the diving depth of your plugs 40 percent. As you troll, watch your depthsounder. When each plug digs bottom, record its max depth.

Before you let line out, watch your plug work beside the boat. A smallie plug must wiggle tight and fast. Mark plugs that get strikes. Some plugs outfish seemingly identical ones.

The more line you let out, the deeper your plug dives – up to a point. Line drag then lifts the plug.

For 8-pound braid and a ¼-ounce plug, let out 50 to 80 feet of line; ½-ounce plug, let out 60 to 90 feet; ¾-ounce plug, let out 80 to 120 feet.

Trolling against current or wind offers advantages: better boat control, plugs run deeper, and you drift toward a hooked fish. A 5-pound bass fighting upwind of you spells trouble.

About one in six bass you troll up will foul-hook itself. Bass panics. Pivots. Runs. Front hook pulls out. Rear hook snags bass’s body. Sharp hooks put more bass in the net.

WHAT’S A LITTLE MORE GEAR? You already own how many rods? Well, what’s two more? Baitcasters fill the bill.

To troll, you’ll need a medium-action baitcaster to pull plugs that dive 20 to 25 feet; a heavier action to pull plugs that dive 30 to 40 feet. A too-soft rod dampens the plug’s wiggle. A too-stiff rod smothers it.

Match rods with linecounter reels, filled with 8-pound braided line. Mono stretches. That slows a plug’s action. Braid doesn’t stretch. It telegraphs your plug’s action.

Braid drives plugs 25 percent deeper.

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Maybe your spool’s full. Maybe half-empty. Linecounter reels count spool revolutions. They estimate line out. That’s OK. You only need to know the number on the counter when a fish hits.

Rods: To pull small plugs, we use TICA Tactica series, 7-foot graphite rods – WLSA 70M1. To pull bigger plugs, we use Okuma ReFlexions series, 7-foot graphite rods – RX-C-701M. Both series have the backbone to drive a plug deep. Their flexible tips relay a plug’s action.

Reels: We use TICA Samira linecounter reels, KL150C. They’re light, easy to palm, hold a lot of line. They have good clickers and smooth drags.

Plugs: Luhr Jensen’s Hot Lips Xpress/ Troller: ¼ ounce, dives to 26 feet; ½ ounce, dives to 34 feet; ¾ ounce, dives to 40 feet. Yakima Bait Company/Worden’s Hawg Boss Super Toad II: 3/8 ounce, dives to 24 feet. Others: Norman’s Deep Diver, DD22, 5/8 ounce; Berkley’s Flicker Minnow, 9D & 11D. –WH

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FISHING

Columbia bass tend to suspend, and can often be found along the edges of midriver bars, well out of reach of shore anglers, but perfectly accessible to trollers. (WAYNE HEINZ, USFWS)

BASS BEHAVIOR From hundreds of trip logs, some conclusions: Storm fronts trigger a bite, even when bass are deep.

Current stirs smallies like nothing else can. Dams spill water, baitfish move, smallies feed.

Wind wakes up smallies. A chop on the water? Watch that rod!

Ship channels hold bass. Tugboat props washboard the river bed. Bass lay in the depressions.

River smallies gravitate to gravel.

Sand, not so much.

Smallies school. Strike? Waypoint 23!

The sundown bite is the best bite.

Bass move en masse. Yesterday’s hot spot may be today’s dud.

Deep bass stay deep. Early on, we trolled nearer shore at dusk. Big mistake. –WH

YANK AND YOU LOSE

LESSONS LEARNED TROLLING The first pass is the best pass. That’s when the biters bite. Smallmouth bass will rise many feet to slam plugs.

Troll upstream bar aprons. Troll edges of ledges. Follow contour lines along your chart’s blue hazard areas. Steep drop-offs are the best drop-offs. Steep and deep – even better.

Feel your plug ticking bottom?

Good. Attracts bass.

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the plugs you lose will exceed the fish you catch.

Turn your boat to trigger strikes.

Speed and depth change.

Summer, you can’t troll too deep.

Search-and-rescue divers: “We spot many bass 45 to 55 feet down, where the light plays out.”

Learn every trip. Fish a new lure in a proven place. Fish a proven lure in a new place. –WH

You’re trolling along, listening to a Mariners game. Sun’s low in the west. Rod’s in the holder. Tip thrums a steady beat.

“Batter swings. It’s a long fly ball.

Going … going….”

“Whop!” Rod plunges. Clicker sings. You grab graphite and …

No! Yank and you lose. Trebles rip out. Fish goes free. Assume every fish is lightly hooked. Let the boat set the hook. Let the drag do its job.

You set your drag to let line out when a bass hits, right? A bass’s first run is its strongest. After that, pump and reel – slow, slower.

The more you pressure a smallie,

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Northwest Sportsman 75

FISHING the more likely it will jump. Bass flips left. Plug flips right. Zings past your ear. What’s the hurry? You have open water and time on your side.

Lose a fish? That’s normal. Young bass have mouths too small to engulf the plug. Boat logs: Trolling from 2008 to 2016, we had 1,707 hits. We landed 1,058 bass. About one bass in three went free.

TROLLER’S TRANCE Putt, putt, putt. Your motor taps out its soothing rhythm. Lap, lap, lap.

Waves play their lullaby. Wind and water, sun and sound. Ten minutes, 20 minutes, your shoulders slump.

Your eyelids droop. You yawn.

Pretty soon you suffer troller’s trance! You fish the same bait, the same way, along the same weedbed, for an hour. That’s not trolling.

That’s just a boat ride.

Eyes wide, study your rod tip.

When the wiggle changes, your plug’s

Several manufacturers make solid smallie plugs, including the Northwest’s Yakima Bait and Luhr Jensen.

Hot Lips, created by the latter company, especially shine, though interestingly, color patterns don’t matter so much due to the depth the crankbaits are trolled and the hunger of the bass, says the author. (WAYNE HEINZ)

LLC

onto a fish, ticking bottom, or weeded.

Hitless for 10 minutes? Patience is strictly a land virtue. Change speed, change depth, change plugs.

Study your depthfinder. Study your charts. Run to new spots. Trolling’s not for nappers.

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Midriver, mid-July, 5 p.m.: Your T-shirt sticks to your back. Sweat beads on your brow. Eyes smart.

Throat demands “Water!”

It’s now that trolling shines. It’s now you’ll net bass that shoreline casters never touch. Set aside an evening. Hitch up your boat. Pack popsicles and ice water. The bass are there. You will catch them – if you give trolling a try. NS Editor’s note: You’ll troll up more bass when you put the electronics on your helm to good use. To unleash your depthfinder’s full fish-finding power, read Wayne Heinz’s award-winning book, Depthfinders A Guide To Finding And Catching More Fish. Available at amazon.com.

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COLUMN Some anglers would turn green at the thought of cooking the bass they catch, but as chef Randy King’s fellow Idahoan Napoleon Dynamite knows, they can be delicious. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)

How To Cook A Delicious Bass

I

t was on a tetherball court at my son’s elementary that I CHEF IN THE WILD school caught up with

By Randy King my wife. My skin was a little pinker than normal and I smelled like river water and BO. It was school carnival day, and I was supposed to bring the root beer. You see, I had taken a day of vacation to fish the bass spawn in Oregon with a friend. We had been quite successful.

As I neared her, I could sense the frustration. Not so much the words or even the lack of smile, but the general aura of the situation informed me I was sleeping on the couch that night. I was late – really, really late.

The theory of relativity postulates that the gravitational pull of an object can alter time. Basically, if something is big enough – like a black hole or a bass bite – time, as we know it, can change. I postulate that the gravitational pull of a successful bass bite pulls the atoms in a man’s brain. That is why time always seems to either drag or accelerate during a fishing trip. Time becomes relative, and being “on time” becomes as meaningless as sunscreen to a redhead in July.

As such, I advise a “window” return option. An angler should always say something like, “I’ll be home sometime between 1 a.m. and 1 p.m.” Giving an exact time means that people will rely on you to be there then, and if the bite is on, you will disappoint them.

Cue the school carnival and the two

liters of root beer in my hand. I sheepishly handed them to my wife. Time was beginning to slow; I could feel the weight of my decisions and the gravity of bass in the air.

“How was it?” she mustered, trying her best to smile.

“I caught you a delicious bass …,” I said.

Then I grabbed the nearest tetherball.

“Wanna play me?”

At this point, all I hoped for was that the quote from the Idaho cult classic Napoleon Dynamite would suffice for a quick distraction, allowing time to catch back up, and my ass to get degrassed.

IT’S BORDERLINE OFFENSIVE to some that I eat bass. The looks I get while carrying a stringer full of smallmouth are startling.

Apparently, somewhere along the way nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2017

Northwest Sportsman 79

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Prosciutto-wrapped bass fillet with sweet potatoes and sautéed lambsquarter.

(RANDY KING)

Dress Up Bass With Fancy Ham, More

F

ancy meals in one pan are like ghosts: People say that they exist, but it is hard to believe. That said, this is a one-pan “fancy” meal. This recipe feeds two.

Prosciutto-wrapped Bass Fillet with Sweet Potatoes and Sautéed Lambsquarter 1 medium-sized sweet potato 2 each skinned and deboned bass fillets (one whole fish) 2 slices of prosciutto, thin 2 tablespoon butter ¼ small onion, sliced 1 cup lambsquarter (see sidebar), or spinach, sliced thin ½ cup white cabbage, diced Salt and pepper Green onion, for garnish Olive oil, for garnish

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrhenheit. With a small knife, stab the sweet potato multiple times to puncture the skin. Microwave the sweet potato for three minutes. Remove from microwave and let it relax on the counter while you prepare the rest of the meal.

Cut each fillet in half lengthwise.

Lay one half of the fillet on top of the other. Place the fillet “stack” on a slice of prosciutto, then wrap the fish. Flip the fish over so the seam side of the wrap is on the cutting board. Repeat.

Heat a medium-sized skillet on medium low for about two minutes. Add half the butter and place the fish seam side down in the pan. Turn the heat up to medium.

Let the fish cook for three to four minutes, until it is no longer stuck to the pan and the prosciutto has a golden brown color.

(Cooking pro tip: Remember, meat will let go of the pan when it is ready to be

flipped. If you need a spatula to scrape the meat off the bottom, it is not ready to flip.)

While the fish is cooking, slice the sweet potato into half-inch-thick “coins.”

Move the fish fillets to the upper corner of the pan. Add the remaining butter to the pan, along with the coins and the onions.

Let it all cook on medium for two to three minutes. Next, add the lambsquarter and cabbage on top of the sweet potatoes.

Season it all with salt and pepper. Place the pan in the oven for five minutes.

Remove the fish from the pan and reserve on a plate. Arrange half the greens in a small pile in the center of the plate.

Shingle the sweet potato coins on top of the greens. Then place a fish bundle on top of the sweet potatoes. Garnish with green onion and olive oil. Enjoy your delicious bass!

For more wild fish and game recipes, see chefrandyking.com. –RK

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Chef Randy’s fishing partner steers the boat towards bassy waters. (RANDY KING) bass have become Untouchable. They are some nonrenewable sacred cow-fish, one that is best tortured in tournaments.

Live wells are not very effective and many bass actually die post “catch and release.”

So much so that all those dead fish even have a syndrome named after them – delayed tournament mortality. It is well documented that about 25 percent of the bass caught and released during tour stops die a few days later. Using my

poor logic skills, that means that I could conceivably eat about 25 percent of the fish I catch and do no more harm than tournament fishers.

Fish food for thought.

Bass is a white and tender meat. For pescaphiles, I compare it to snapper. It cooks quickly, so I often recommend a quick sear and pan roast in the oven.

The only “problem” with bass is that they are warmwater creatures. In our

region this means that they, generally, live in unnaturally warm bodies of water.

In my home state of Idaho and elsewhere in the interior Northwest, they often swim in waters withdrawn and returned for agriculture and irrigation. Combine living in ag water with being a predator and older bass can accumulate a fair bit of toxins in their bodies, specifically the fat.

Take note of where you are catching your fish and check if there are any restrictions on eating them there.

Also, don’t eat the fat.

What makes this even more astounding is that I have met semipro bass anglers who have never even tasted the sweet white flesh of the red-eyed monster. So, of course, I have to cook them some. So how do you cook a delicious bass? A good place to start would be with a simple recipe like the one on the previous page. NS

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“If it grows together, it goes together” is a common refrain in the culinary world.

It means, if the seasons of things line up, the food can be served with one another.

Think halibut and asparagus, or peas and mint, or potatoes and venison.

In the early summer, when bass are often caught, “wild greens” tend to be fully mature. This can be a problem because the tender leafiness of the greens can be what is so appealing about eating them.

However, even if your greens are fully mature, have no fear – tenderness can be regained with a knife and a little butter.

One of my favorite summertime greens is lambsquarter. It is a super common “weed” in much of the Northwest, so much so that I find myself pulling it from my own garden patch to make room for something else. Use it as you might steamed spinach, though in moderation because it also contains traces of oxalic acid. –RK

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Northwest albies are occasionally on top but always deep, so it pays to know how to fish for them there.

BAndy Schneider

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ishing for tuna is not for the easy-going. So maintains one of the Northwest fishery’s noted practitioners, Dave Phillips, a Portland-based fishing seminar speaker and lawyer considered to be a very efficient albacore angler.

“This is a high energy level of fishing. You can’t take it easy, and there are no siestas,” Phillips says as he describes a typical day on the hunt for tuna. “This isn’t like salmon fishing, where you are just looking for some

time away from the office. You’re working hard all day, and when the fishing gets hot, it’s really time to pump and crank. You’ve got to throw the whole kitchen sink at them when you can, because in 15 minutes it could all be over.”

Saltwater fishing, especially tuna fishing, is closer to a religion than sport. We develop a set of beliefs and practices in our pursuit of a creature that has an almost supernatural ability to appear and disappear in a way that inspires wonder and awe. We also find sanctuary in our communal search for

An albacore rises from the depths where it bit a jig. Expert angler Dave Phillips has spent many summers chasing the highly migratory species that comes close enough from July through October to reliably target them out of most Central and North Oregon Coast and Washington ports. (JASON BLACK, INSTAGRAM: @STRANGEGALAXYUSA)

these elusive beings, and when we do find success, we come together and rejoice and share our spoils with those who we are closest to.

Phillips takes a holistic approach to albacore fishing, looking at the numerous moving parts – not only the schools and water columns but also how you adapt your angling to be most productive at sea.

“You have to be a three-dimensional fisherman if you want to consistently catch tuna all season long,” he maintains. “Yes, there are fish on the surface at times, but they are

FISHING

also deep every day. What happens if they don’t want to come up that day? What are you going to do? You have to go down to them. You’re literally just scratching the surface of the ocean if you’re only trolling for these fish.”

He employs all techniques – trolling, live and dead bait, and jigging – to make sure his trips are successful.

Each tactic targets fish at different depths, and when you can effectively catch fish at them all, your day’s success will be much higher than it would be just targeting one section of the water column.

“I think we have one of the best fisheries on the planet, once these fish show up,” proclaims Phillips.

Here’s a look at how he does it.

PINPOINTING YOUR SEARCH We all know that albacore fishing is a lot of work and not inexpensive, so anything you can do to increase your success when on the water is worth pursuing. Some of that work can be done at home.

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Phillips – at right with Rick Hale – preaches a “threedimensional” approach to tuna fishing, extending the playing field into the depths albies always reside. “You’re literally just scratching the surface of the ocean if you’re only trolling for these fish,” he says. (DAVE PHILLIPS)

“RipCharts and Terrafin are expensive, but so is our sport,” notes Phillips. “You can’t just ride west without doing your homework.”

Utilizing satellite images of water temperatures and chlorophyll is nothing new and is a must to save some money in the long run. Having an idea on where to expect to find fish takes some of the stress out of such a long ride west.

“I’m looking for sharp temperatures breaks, like everyone else, but I believe most anglers are too focused on temperature,” Phillips suggests.

“Fifty-eight-degree water is good enough to catch fish. What I really focus on is finding birds – the sooty shearwater, especially, but also Arctic terns. If you see a dozen shearwaters sitting on the water, they are there for a reason. They are there for bait, same as the tuna.”

“I’m also looking for color breaks.

The first color break you come to is the green-gray water break, and while there may be some fish there, they are often scattered. The most

productive color break for me is gray to blue water. This is where I find most of my success. Some anglers will stay in closer and troll all day looking for scattered fish. But they would burn the same amount of hydrocarbons, or less, if they would just keep running west until they found more productive waters,” he says.

The last piece of Phillips’ puzzle for consistently finding fish is debris.

“Weedlines and kelp patties are abundant closer in, but they are teasers – you still have to stop and fish them. But the most productive weeds are the ones you find in the blue water. You’ve got to stop and fish those kelp patties until you find a school of fish that is receptive to your techniques,” he says.

“If I’m driving around and see tuna marks on the sonar, I’m going to stop and fish blind. My sonar has just marked tuna – that’s why I’m out here, might as well send the iron down, it’s a huge ocean. If I’m not seeing fish on the surface or birds indicated there might be fish below,

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Northwest Sportsman 89

FISHING why not stop? You have literally just located fish in a different dimension, and it’s time to fish,” Phillips says.

He relies heavily on his sonar when on the albacore grounds, and he keeps his maximum depth set at 200 feet and watches it closely.

Locating fish is important, but also being able to see the depth they are at when you’re parked over them makes sure you can effectively target them.

“You have to tune your electronics properly; each manufacturer is different. You want to tune down the sensitivity a little to eliminate some of the surface clutter, but still be sensitive enough to mark fish.

Having your electronics properly tuned is an essential part of vertical jigging,” says Phillips.

We all have ports we call home, but driving to different harbors to access better fishing can be a good idea.

“Sometimes it’s worth it,” con-

Phillips relies heavily on his sonar after arriving where sea surface temperatures and chlorophyll concentrations suggest productive waters for albacore. He keeps his maximum depth set at 200 feet to more effectively target schools of tuna. (DAVE PHILLIPS)

firms Phillips. “Early in the year, southern ports are more productive, and as the year progresses you’ll find more fish closer to the Columbia due

to structure.”

That said, there’s something of a caveat whether you’re launching out of a new port or your usual one.

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Northwest Sportsman 91

FISHING “If you’re not looking at the chlorophyll out of the port you’re planning on fishing out of, you’re wasting your time,” Phillips tips. “Follow the fish, as long as you’ve done your homework.”

GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS You’ve found some promising waters, now it’s time to get to work.

Many of Phillips’ days start with trolling.

“I’m not a good trolling fisherman because I don’t rely upon trolling to catch my fish. I’m only trolling to catch one fish. I use a multicolor spread, with lots of different lures to lure in just one fish. I fish X-Raps, cedar plugs and clones all at once just for that one bite. Trolling is a fish-finding technique, not a fish-catching technique for me.”

“Trolling can be a whole lot of singles all day long, whereas iron and bait fishing is much more sustained, where you’re pulling in larger numbers of fish in a shorter time,” Phillips says. “It’s a lot of fun hooking up.

You’ve fooled that fish all by yourself into biting that piece of iron instead of the boat trolling your gear around and doing the work for you. Seeing an anchovy being inhaled from 10 feet away as an albacore buzzes past the boat at 30 miles an hour is an experience. Or having a fish try and tear the rod out of your hands in 5,000 feet of water – now that’s fun!”

Once Phillips hooks up while trolling, he’s got a game plan already clearly laid out.

“I stop the boat as fast as I can after hooking up,” he says. “Hook up.

Neutral. Reverse. Ignore the fish you just hooked. Drop chum and jigs in the water. In that order, as fast as I can. I want my jigs at depth within 30 seconds of that troll hook-up so I can quickly convert my stop into a multifish and multihour stop.”

Phillips uses some of his duck hunting skills to ensure that his tuna trips are successful.

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When it comes to jig color, pink is a favorite for Phillips, who says it works “day in and day out.” He says he always switches to it as the sun climbs higher into the sky after beginning with darker colors in the early morning or under overcast skies. (DAVE PHILLIPS)

as possible,” he tips. “You want fish hooked up and hanging in the rod holders as decoys. Don’t land every fish; yes, you’ll have one or two that will be crazy and have to be landed, but a majority of albacore will be content to swim in circles if you’re not pulling on them. You want that school looking at your boat and your bait, and a hooked fish is the best decoy in the world.”

When “hanging” fish off the side of your boat, you will need to utilize lay-flat rod holders, just like you do for salmon. Using the standard pocket rod holders found on most salty

boats will result in broken rods and lost fish.

“Don’t be afraid to have the bite die,” reassures Phillips. “Stay for 15 to 20 minutes after your last fish; they will often come back. If they don’t come back, head to the start of the drift where you first hooked up.

On the rare day that there is no drift, just stay put. Those fish will eventually come back.”

Should you happen on a surfacing school, count your lucky stars.

“Casting to jumpers is one of the most wonderful things in the world,” says Phillips. “Definitely

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Northwest Sportsman 93

FISHING don’t troll through them; figure out which way the wind and drift is going and sneak up on them upwind and drift into them.”

Phillips explains that you have to keep your cool and stick with a plan when a school appears on the surface.

“Have the anglers closest to the school cast into the boil. Hand those rods back and have them cast more rods into the school. All the while, start chumming. Once you’re hooked up, and with chum under the boat, you can draw the school to you,” he says.

Phillips has slightly different tactics when there are just a couple fish showing.

“If there are only two or three fish, drive right up to them and send the gear down where you last saw them. Don’t cast to them, as those fish are usually moving fast. And if you see that single jumper, try and

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TUNA TIPS AND ETIQUETTE Go big: “Have a mindset to hook 100 fish each trip out,” coaches Dave Phillips.

While many of us don’t want to process or have the capacity for a triple-digit day, having a lofty goal will ensure that we find

As more efficient, reliable and safe outboard motors and boats hit the market, tuna become more reachable with each passing season.

Longtime albie anglers have a few words of advice for newbs. (DAVE PHILLIPS)

ignore it. Sometimes you may hook up, but more than likely you won’t.”

HOW TO BE AN IRON WORKER If you were to inspect Phillips’ tuna

success, he says.

Space issues: “If you see a boat that is stopped, don’t troll within a couple hundred yards of them. Don’t spook the fish that they worked hard for. If you’re really desperate for fish, call them on the radio,” advises Phillips.

“Space is the key; there will be more fish for everyone if you are courteous,” he says, adding, “And if someone does get too close and spooks your fish? Don’t get bent out of shape – we all make mistakes.”

For the win: And finally, Phillips recommends always having some anchovies on board to increase your success for the day.

“Don’t leave port without either 20 pounds of dead bait or one scoop of live bait,” he tips. –AS

tackle box, you’d see only a few colors of lures. He fishes just four shades regularly.

“Pink, pink and blue, purple and black, then green,” he says. “I’m not saying that other colors don’t work; they just don’t work for me. Pink is my most favorite; it works day in and day out. I’ll start with darker colors early in the morning or when there is a heavy overcast, then almost always switch to pink as the day brightens.”

His tried-and-true lure is a Shimano Butterfly Flat-Side Jig in 140 grams. To make sure the jig stays under the boat and fishes properly during low drift days, he runs a 112gram model, and a 160-grammer when it’s a fast drift.

Phillips likes a 6-foot-6 to 7-foot parabolic rod rated light or medium light, rigged with a low-profile reel capable of at least 30 inches of line retrieve per crank. Phillips runs 50-pound metered braided line for his mainline, with a 10- to 15-foot, 40- to 50-pound fluorocarbon top shot/leader.

“I like a light- to medium/light-action rod so that I can work the iron instead of the rod and iron working the angler,” he says.

Phillips makes sure that he always has tension on his line when

working his jig.

“I’ll cast just ahead of the boat if there is a drift, let it sink 50 to 100 feet, then start pumping and cranking the jig back. I want constant tension on the line at all times. It’s important to have gear specialized for vertical jigging; otherwise, you will have a hard time getting your jig to work properly.”

He says that when jigging vertically, constantly vary your technique to stay productive.

“Slow it down or pump it fast, give the jig a hickup, a misfire – just varying your cadence will often entice a bite,” he tips.

So why does jig fishing work so well on Northwest albacore?

“Iron is so effective because it’s darker where you’re fishing, and it’s easier to fool them than on the surface where it’s bright and clear,” Phillips says. “Those fish have huge eyeballs and can see all those flaws; it definitely gets tougher to fool them the closer to the surface that you get. Iron is also effective since you are triggering a bite. Those fish are going to be chasing down that bait, whereas a dead anchovy just drifting along can get inspected then rejected a lot easier.”

TAKE-AWAYS The most important lesson from Phillips is to be brave, to try something outside your comfort zone. He teaches us that to become better anglers, we need to constantly expand our fishing résumé.

“Have confidence in your three-dimensional approach to albacore. Go out there and target these fish on the surface, just below (the surface) and in the dark, unexplored waters, where most of these fish swim. Don’t be afraid to stop the boat on just three birds.

Just shut off the motor and start fishing; you’ve made it this far in a small boat, give it a try. You might just surprise yourself and turn that crew of good fishermen into great anglers,” Phillips says. NS nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2017

Northwest Sportsman 95

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Freediving spearďŹ sherman Ben Moon surfaces off the Oregon Coast with a full stringer. (JOSH HUMBERT) 98 Northwest Sportsman

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Freedivers Take Kayak Angling To Whole New Level “Water is acceptance of the unknown, of demons, of emotions, of letting go and allowing yourself WR ÀRZ IUHHO\ ZLWK LW ´ ± 1LFKRODV 0HYROL

T

he acceptance of fishing kayaks in the often-treacherous saltwater venues of the Pacific Northwest has been a slow evolution. Initial reactions among oldguard powerboat captains ranged Kayak Guys

By Mark Veary from “That’s just stunt fishing” to “You must be an idiot to bring that toy out here.” The intimate and minimalist approach challenged the status quo that only through horsepower and isolation from the depths and its unseen denizens does one remain safe.

Even though the Northwest’s “plastic navy” has established a hard-won legitimacy, there remain holdouts who will forever question our sanity. But if kayak

THE KAYAK GUYS

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COLUMN fishermen are crazy, then what adjectives are left to describe Northwest kayak freedivers? To anyone but a waterman that word would be enigmatic. You see, for all of the attention that kayak fishing has garnered over the last decade, few are even aware of the 60-year legacy of Oregon spearfishermen, stalking those aforementioned denizens of the deep where they live.

“But what does this have to do with kayak fishing?” you ask.

The answer: Everything.

BACK IN THE 1950s and ’60s, most Northwest skin divers were using large paddleboards to ferry themselves, their gear and their catch. In the ’70s, an innovator named Tim Niemier, looking to improve on the heavy and lumbering paddleboards of the day, came up with an idea to create a hollow board with an efficient paddling hull and depressions for seating and gear storage. This was the birth of the sit-on-top kayak, ubiquitous to modern kayak fishing.

In the ’80s, Niemier went on to start Ocean Kayak, whose roto-molded sit-on-top dive kayaks soon began showing up at dive resorts, diving competitions and, eventually, fishing venues around the world.

Through the ’60s, the freedive scene in Oregon was vibrant. Spearfishing contests were common and contestants traveled the length of the coast to participate in places like Coos Bay, Newport, Oceanside and Tillamook Bay. Though the early wetsuits were restrictive and the pad-

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No bait required – just a steady aim (main image) through the aquamarine depths off the Beaver State.

(Inset images, clockwise from top left) Brian Chamberlain pulls in a rockfish he speared somewhere on the Central Coast. With more than 40 years of experience under his dive belt, Paul Walker qualifies as one of Oregon’s OG freediving spearfishermen, and here displays a harvest from a kelp forest. An instructor with the Oregon Freediving Company teaches a class at a local pool. The Oregon City-based outfit also sells and rents gear. (JOSH HUMBERT, MAIN, UPPER LEFT; COURTESY PAUL WALKER; OREGON FREEDIVING COMPANY)

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Northwest Sportsman 101

COLUMN dleboards slow and awkward, the scene thrived until the stresses of an unpopular war and mounting counterculturalism derailed interest. Regardless, diehard spear divers continued their pursuits of deep immersion and calm under pressure, out of sight of the general public.

AIDED BY THE advent of Facebook and Internet forums, kayak spearfishing in the Northwest is experiencing a resurgence.

Today, observant ocean-goers might notice empty kayaks staged in bays, coves, on reefs or in kelp beds up and down the Pacific shore. Beneath the surface, divers wearing 10 to 20 pounds of lead around their waist glide silently through forests of kelp, across fields of oversized white plumrose anemone, to the broken-rock bottom, in search of rockfish, lingcod, crab and octopus. These hearty souls eagerly surrender leverage, distance and breath to meet their prey eye to eye.

The new generation of freediving spearfishers have at their disposal not only social media networks but also access to certified training resources. One such outlet is the Oregon Freediving Company in Oregon City, which augments their sales and rental of spearfishing gear with classes in performance freediving.

Where the old guard once learned their craft through trial and error and tribal knowledge, today’s initiates can take advantage of formal training in safety protocols and problem management, physiology, freediving techniques and breath-holding development. To hone their skills between spearfishing adventures, some divers will even join underwater hockey teams, where they build strength and stamina while applying freedive breathing techniques in a fun and competitive environment.

DESPITE ADVANCES IN gear, training and techniques, freedive spearfishing is still a high-risk sport. Weather windows can be small. Nearshore water clarity is rarely more than 20 feet, which can lead to disorientation or critical lapses in judgment.

Shallow-water blackout, where a diver suppresses his body’s need to breathe beyond the threshold for hypoxia, is a 102 Northwest Sportsman

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looming threat. And, of course, there’s the ever-present threat of sharks.

I asked freediving veteran Paul Walker how he’s managed to accumulate 40plus years of freediving experience off the Oregon coast.

“A lot of it has to do with relaxing,” he told me. “Stay calm and pay attention to what’s going on.”

“I seldom dive deeper than 25 feet anymore,” Walker continued, adding, “I don’t like to stick my head in caves.”

He also says water clarity helps determine whether he’s swimming down or Surely more than 95 percent of Northwest lingcod are caught off boats, with must of the rest from the bank or ocean-going kayaks, but for a select few, their fillets are hunted down beneath the surface, speargun in hand.

(JOSH HUMBERT)

fishing off his kayak for dinner.

“I’m uncomfortable when visibility is less than 6 feet. If I can’t see 5 feet, I’m probably not going to shoot any fish anyway, so I’ll just get back on my kayak and whip out my fishing pole,” says Walker.

If you’re one of those brave few who yearns to chase fish on their own terms, check out the Pacific Northwest section of Spearboard.com or the Below the Surface section of Northwestkayakanglers.com.

Ready to take the plunge? Sign up for one of the classes at the Oregon Freediving Company (oregonfreediving.com). NS

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COLUMN

9 Fine For Kings T

he anticipation is always great as we head into July, what with this month being the first legitimate shot WIESTSIDER at catching some

By Terry Wiest quality Puget Sound king salmon.

Once upon a time, these waters produced tens of thousands of oceanreturning Chinook throughout the summer for anglers as they passed through Marine Areas 8-1, 8-2, 9, 10, 11 and 13, with Whidbey Island alone home to dozens of fishing resorts. These days, there are far fewer lodges and fish, and with just 7,725 marked kings available, you may only get a two-week shot at them. Bottom line: Be prepared, it’s going to be like usual, fast and furious.

Per the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s angling regulations, season in Areas 9 and 10 opens July 16 with a daily limit of two salmon. Unlike 2016, hatchery coho can be kept this year, but you must release wild coho, as well as wild Chinook and chum, as usual.

The most notable part of the regulations states that “Season may close earlier if Chinook quota is attained.” Now, normally I’d say there is no way the season will last the whole 30 days, but the tides could have a huge impact on the catch.

The opening four days I’m expecting to be lights out! Then the tides really start rockin’, with some serious swings and lows. This could prove difficult for many anglers. The best advice here, since these are some nasty tides, is to fish from an hour before to an hour after slack tide. I normally would recommend two hours on each side but looking at the tide charts, I’m not so sure this year. With a more limited timeframe, be prepared in advance – have all your gear and back-up tackle ready, and fish, fish, fish.

THE EARLY PART of the Chinook season has

Much of the fleet will be banking on Midchannel when Area 9’s selective Chinook fishery opens in mid-July, but Don Pittwood shows off 20-plus pounds worth of why you might instead consider bellying up to the bar – Possession Bar. He caught the big king on a spatterback spoon in red racer while fishing with friend Ian Churchill. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST) “spoon” written all over it, especially Area 9. This is the area that made Silver Horde’s Coho Killer in white lightning a megaseller a few years back. How many remember when you couldn’t find one of these lures while everyone using them was having tremendous success?

Being a pro staffer and product tester for the locally based company (and Northwest Sportsman advertiser), I was also able to test the new Two Face spoons in Puget Sound, off the Washington Coast, and in Canada and Alaska the last several years before the lure hit retail outlets. What other testers and I concluded is this new style of Coho Killer in green is going to be the next white lightning craze. Due to the size of the bait and the color of Puget Sound’s water in July, most of our success

came while using these. As the bait size increases, more success seems to come from the Two Face Kingfishers, again in green. Blue was a close second, and when coho arrive, cop car can’t be beat.

(FYI, the best spoon off the Evergreen State’s coast was the Kingfisher Two Face in cop car, followed closely by purple haze.

Off Vancouver Island it was pretty much the same, though in Alaska we couldn’t tell a difference, as the Chinook were hitting them all. I was partial to blue, and I’ve always had success with that color the further north I fish.)

Luhr Jensen Coyotes and GibbsDelta Wonder Spoons are both good alternatives, but if nothing else is working, try Gibbs-Delta’s Clendon Stewart spoon in 50/50. It does great for the commercials,

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COLUMN so why not for the sporties?

Both Coho Killers and Kingfishers fish just fine without a flasher, but for early summer kings, an 11-incher in green definitely increased our catch over the last few years of testing. Simply direct tie 50 inches of 20-pound Maxima Ultragreen mono to the welded ring on the spoon.

Attaching a swivel to the spoon will diminish the action, as the lure was not designed for one. The flasher, however, should have a Sampo Ball Bearing Swivel on both ends to eliminate line twist. If still getting some twist, attach a bead swivel to the bottom swivel and then your leader to the spoon.

These salmon are moving, so you will generally find them in the middle to upper portion of the water column. I like to start out at first light down about 30 feet, then gradually increase the depth until I find the fish. If you have multiple rods, set them at 30, 60, 90 and 120 feet.

I rarely go deeper than 120 in this part of Puget Sound, and have most luck around the 90-foot mark. But know that this is only a suggestion – if you mark bait, get your gear where the bait is! As long as your lure is in the water fishing don’t be afraid to constantly play with depth.

AREA 9’S A pretty big stretch of water, but here are my favorite places to try and hook a Chinook or two.

Midchannel Bank has been “the” spot the last few years. A shoal located off the northern end of Marrowstone Island and east of Port Townsend, during tidal movement you’ll want to be off the bank and troll with the tide. You do not want to troll against the tide, especially with the strong tides that are coming up during this fishery. Pick up your gear and run! This gives you a chance to add scent and make sure nothing is tangled. It also puts you at the top of the run so you can troll through the main fishing areas.

Candlefish are abundant here, so Coho Killers traditionally have been productive.

If you see larger herring, or if you catch a fish and notice herring inside its stomach, throw a Kingfisher on a rod and see how it does. Go with what’s most productive!

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The Kitsap County side of Admiralty Inlet can be productive, as Ysa Sittser will attest. She was fishing last season when this nice Chinook bit her set-up.

(FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

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in tight to the bank. Trolling in a figure-8, when allowable considering boat traffic, can be very effective because the turning creates more movement up and down the water column, as well as changes your bait’s speed. Sometimes it’s these more erratic movements that cause fish to strike.

Possession Point is also a very popular location and gets tons of anglers – for good reason: There are fish here! When the water is calm, this is an excellent spot to fish, probably my favorite. But as the wind comes up and the currents get strong, it can be a pain. Check the weather and tides; if it looks to be more on the mellow side, hit Possession Bar. Always troll with the tide and follow the 90- to 130-foot contour lines on your electronics. Fish from 65 feet down to 120 feet, making sure to adjust your depth if you see bait. Once the bar drops off over 150 feet pick up and run again. Those fish will be on the bar chasing bait.

Point No Point is a little less productive, but on the outgoing tide some good numbers of Chinook can be found if bait is around. If so, it could be your chance to load up on numbers while everyone else is battling other boats in the more popular areas. If you don’t see bait after a pass or two, I’d suggest moving.

I haven’t forgotten you moochers.

For you, I’d suggest the “other” side of Area 9. Whidbey Island’s Bush Point has long been a favorite of mine and I’ve pulled some hefty kings out right off the point. A cut-plug herring dropped 60 feet just before the current brings you around can be killer. After you’re a couple hundred yards off the point pick up and make another pass, just like you would river fishing. Lagoon Point is very similar, although it also offers more opportunity for trollers as well.

If you’re looking for more ideas, get out the binoculars and search for a mass of boats. It won’t be hard to tell where the action is, and there should be plenty of that this year. NS Editor’s note: Terry J. Wiest is the author of Steelhead University: Your Guide to Salmon & Steelhead Success and Float-Fishing for Salmon & Steelhead, and is the owner of Steelhead University, SteelheadU.com.

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BAIT & TACKLE

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FROM THE VAULT

The Humpy Killin’ Posse NOTES With pink salmon returning through the Straits and Puget Sound starting this month, we’ve dipped into the vault for some killer set-ups. These simple rigs are among the best (the middle one is the traditional Humpy Killer), and work well 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 the eye of the pinks, and the 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 super-slow 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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(TERRY WIEST)

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COLUMN

This season’s summer Chinook return to North-central Washington will be bolstered by the first wave of adults back to the Colville Tribes’ hatchery near Bridgeport. Guide Shane Magnuson helps author Dave Graybill show off a king they landed at Chelan Falls on the July 1 start of season a couple years ago. (DAVE GRAYBILL)

Look To Upper Columbia For Summer Salmon N o other fishery attracts more anglers to the Upper Columbia than when summer Chinook and sockeye CENTRAL WASHINGTON open on July 1 evBy Dave Graybill ery year. While most salmonid seasons in this part of the watershed are announced by emergency regulations, summer salmon earned a permanent listing in the Washington Sport Fishing Rules pamphlet over a decade ago. This is the time of the year anglers can visit Central Washington and expect to find excellent numbers of fish to fill their coolers.

THE FIRST PLACE that salmon anglers focus their attention is above Priest Rapids Dam. There are a couple of spots that

some anglers will troll in the early season, such as right above the dam and off the mouth of Crab Creek near Schwana. The biggest crowd will be found right below Wanapum Dam. Here, boats circle around in what is known as the “Toilet Bowl,” where hordes of early-arriving kings stack up before entering the fish ladder. Anglers also encounter returning sockeye, which can be seen surfacing in waves along the face of the riprap bank. It is not unusual for sockeye to be taken on gear intended for kings.

Most of the boats will be trolling Super Baits behind flashers below Wanapum.

Some will fish lighter sockeye gear on a couple of rods after the morning bite has slowed. The fishing will be good here starting July 1 and for many weeks, until the bulk of the early-returning Chinook and sockeye have passed on to the upper river.

There is a much-improved staging and parking area right below Wanapum. Still, there can be a very long line of boats waiting to launch before daylight on opening day. There is also a very good launch on the opposite shore, on Huntzinger Road below the dam. When running up to Wanapum, take special care and watch for shallow, rocky reefs.

There is a small area on the west side of the river where boats will troll for salmon, just above Wanapum Dam, and a few will even fish the east side of the river below the Vantage Bridge. This is near the junction for the road to Mattawa. There is a launch in the town of Vantage, and at the state park on the west side of the river below the I-90 bridge.

THE NEXT MAJOR fishing locations for summer kings and sockeye are on the Columnwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2017

Northwest Sportsman 115

COLUMN bia at Wenatchee. There are good areas to find Chinook scattered “between the bridges” on either side of the river here.

Walla Walla Point, below the mouth of the Wenatchee River, is one of the bestknown fishing spots for Chinook. There is excellent access to the river via improved launches. One is at the base of Orondo Street, and is free of charge. Another is at Confluence State Park, where a Discovery Pass and launch fee is required.

Sockeye and Chinook are also taken below Rocky Reach Dam, and when the fish are really pouring through this area, above the dam too. Anglers launch at Lincoln Rock State Park (Discovery Pass and launch fee required), which is on the Douglas County, or east, side of the river, and run over to troll the west shore along the highway to Entiat and Chelan. In recent years, fishing for Chinook has been very good off the mouth of the Entiat River.

Rapidly becoming a favorite of salmon anglers, particularly in the early season, is Chelan Falls. Located just below the Beebe Bridge, with utility district parks and free launches on both sides of the river, this spot can get loaded with kings. Success has been very good here in recent years, and there is lots of good water for trolling Super Baits behind flashers on downriggers or with lead balls. One of the reasons that Chelan Falls has become popular is the high ratio of hatchery-origin fish in catches. This is due to the netpen releases of smolts in the Chelan River channel. Another benefit of fishing this area is that it is about a 15- to 20-minute run up to Wells Dam. When sockeye are in in good numbers, the fishing is very good, particularly in the big eddy on the north side of the river right below the dam.

Wells Dam is also an excellent place to fish for kings. Anglers will troll off the bar below the dam, and the big eddy on the opposite side of the river also produces very good catches of salmon.

There is an excellent launch accessed from the highway that leads to Pateros.

Some sockeye are taken above the dam, and fishing for Chinook is very good when big numbers of fish are crossing over Wells Dam. 116 Northwest Sportsman

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Along with the kings come good numbers of sockeye returning to the Okanogan and Wenatchee River systems. Rollie Schmitten, a former Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife commissioner, and his grandson Noah show off one they caught below Wells Dam in the big eddy. (DAVE GRAYBILL)

THE CROWN JEWEL of salmon fishing on the upper river is the Brewster Pool, where the Okanogan enters the Columbia. The Okanogan is a shallow, slow-moving river, and in summer it gets very warm, creating a “thermal barrier” that keeps the salmon from moving out of the pool. Kings continue to move up into the Brewster Pool from the lower river and stack up in the colder water of the pool. Thousands of fish mill around in this area, easy prey to anglers. Sockeye also prefer this colder water and join the kings in their wait for temperatures to drop in the Okanogan before they make their way to spawning

grounds in British Columbia.

This thermal barrier is one of the reasons that the Brewster Salmon Derby, which takes place the first weekend in August every year, is so popular. The success rate for anglers who participate is the best for salmon derbies anywhere. To learn all about the event, visit brewstersalmonderby.com.

Something that salmon anglers should know that will make this particular season on the Upper Columbia special is that it is the first return of 4-year-old Chinook that were released from the Colville Tribal Fish Hatchery at Bridgeport. These will add to

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COLUMN the numbers of fish available to anglers in the Brewster Pool and on up the river to where they meet their final barrier on the Columbia, Chief Joseph Dam. Summer-run Chinook season is a selective fishery, with barbless hooks required and wild fish must be released.

Not only will the fish returning to the Colville Hatchery add to the numbers in the Brewster Pool, they are all adipose-fin clipped – keepers. That means the chance of catching a king and keeping it is significantly higher this year in the Upper Columbia. There is the potential for a rule change affecting the Brewster Pool that may make fishing here even more attractive to anglers. Watch the department’s website, wdfw.wa.gov, for this change.

TECHNIQUES USED IN all of the locations The Brewster Pool draws a lot of attention for the thermal block that holds Canada-bound salmon in it, but before they get there, those fish are available below Wanapum Dam, where Graybill and friends waylaid a nice mess of kings and sockeye. (DAVE GRAYBILL)

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I have mentioned don’t vary much. There are some who stick to tried-and-true cutplugs, and those who really know how to properly cut and prepare herring do have success. By far the most popular method being used at this time for catching kings is with the Super Bait. Some use the old banana-shaped style, and more and more anglers are using the newer plug-cut version. Super Baits come in a wide variety of colors, but some of the more popular are the hot tamale, lemon lime and rotten banana. There are others that work very well, so have a good selection when you hit the water.

The advent of the Super Bait made it possible for anglers who had no experience with herring to become successful salmon anglers, and has increased the sport catch on the Upper Columbia considerably. They are designed to open on a hinge and are stuffed with tuna fish. The lure has vents on the sides to allow the scent of the tuna to leach out. Anglers prefer oil-packed tuna and then apply scent and mix it.

There are a variety of scents available, and one of the most popular in our area is made by Northwest Bait and Scent. These are based on the formula originally developed by my brother, Rick Graybill, many years ago. There are a number of scents that can be mixed, even in combination with others to create an irresistible attractant to salmon.

Baits are trolled behind a flasher; most anglers are using the ones made

by Pro-Troll. The fin on the bottom end of the flasher allows the attractor to turn at even a slow speed, and it also gives a consistent action to the flasher. It is recommended that at least a 42-inch leader be used from the flasher to the bait. This set-up can be trolled on downriggers or with lead balls. When trolling with flashers behind downriggers, put the flasher 12 to 15 feet behind the ball. Trolling speed will vary with river current, but flashers with Super Baits can be trolled over 2.0 mph. Many anglers like to see a 1-second throb on the rod when trolling flashers, and most prefer rods of 10½ feet matched with large-capacity linecounter reels for consistent placement of baits behind the boat.

When targeting sockeye, anglers scale down their tackle. Lighter rods and reels and lines are all used. A typical sockeye set-up is a small dodger and short leader to double hooks which are closely tied together. Bait is allowed on the Columbia and jarred shrimp are very popular. On the Brewster Pool it is typical to start the day at 20 feet deep and drop down as the day brightens. Many place their dodgers just 10 to 20 feet behind the downrigger ball. Trolling sockeye set-ups on lead balls is becoming popular, too.

I have produced several videos on both Chinook and sockeye fishing on the Upper Columbia. I suggest that you visit my website, fishingmagician.com, and go to the Fishing TV Page. By going to the archives and looking for videos posted in June and July you will find many devoted to salmon fishing. You can also do a search at youtubedavegraybill and find all the videos I have produced.

I am really looking forward to this summer’s salmon season in Central Washington. Although other fisheries have been disappointing on the river, this one could be outstanding for those who fish above Priest Rapids Dam. NS

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COLUMN

Charting Buoy 10’s Best Tides

Knowing how the tides affect the Buoy 10 salmon fishery is key to success here at the mouth of the Columbia. While afternoons can offer some decent opportunities, Buzz Ramsey likes a morning high the best, and says to focus on the three hours around tide change. (BRIAN LULL)

W

hen it comes t o catching salmon, planning a fishing vacation, or the best time BUZZ RAMSEY of day to fish, it’s all about the tides at Buoy 10. Every year, well in advance of this fishery at the mouth of the Columbia River, I write the time of each daytime high tide on my monthly calendar. The reason? The majority of the time the best bite will occur three hours before and after each high tide. And, unless you’re willing to fish the afternoon or evening high, (a growing number of anglers do this, especially local fishermen), the days I plan to fish are those when high tide occurs in the morning. To me, salmon mostly bite best before and after the early high tide.

The area extending from the Buoy 10 channel marker upstream to Tongue Point above Astoria opens to salmon fishing Aug. 1. While eager anglers can find a bite from opening day onward, the time not to miss this fishery is the latter half of the month. Given this logic, the best fishing at Buoy 10 should begin the week of Aug. 13 and run through the Labor Day weekend. Here’s a look at the tides during that period:

AUGUST 13-19 For the week of Aug. 13 to 19, there is a small exchange of water, 7 feet or less through the 18th, with a bathtub tide producing only 4 feet of outgoing tide for much of the week. Small tide exchanges mean salmon will not push as far into the bay as when riding a big tide upstream.

What will likely happen during this week is that groups of salmon will build

up in the estuary as continuing waves of fish are pumped into the river with each successive tide. If you fish the morning tide during this week, you may find the best salmon success in the middle estuary, near, say, Baker Bay, Hammond or along the western half of Desdemona Sands.

And while the morning tide will likely be good, the afternoon one at the beginning of the week might offer the best salmon action during this time period, as it is mostly 2 feet higher than the early tide. Given that the evening tide is the largest, it could push decent numbers of salmon to or above the Astoria-Megler Bridge.

Many anglers avoid fishing the afternoon high for fear of having to deal with the wind that often develops (it comes from the west), making the water rough and unpleasant. One way to avoid nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2017

Northwest Sportsman 123

COLUMN

As the tide begins to flood into the Columbia estuary, one way to work it is to fish near the actual Buoy 10 and hold against the incoming water, essentially “back-trolling, but with your bow facing westward,” says Ramsey. (BRIAN LULL) or lessen this is to realize that the bridge – at least on the Washington side of the Columbia, where it was built close to the water – blocks an amazing amount of wind. There are many times when the wind is nonexistent or slight on the north side of the river as compared to

the South Channel and all waters west of the big bridge.

Realize too that an afternoon wind coming from the west will make the water particularly rough when the tide is outgoing, compared to a flooding tide.

To avoid the big waves, try timing your

evening trip back to Oregon when the tide is still flooding or goes slack at its peak. In addition, if you fish the evening tide east of the bridge, you may be able to escape a rough ride back to port (presuming you’re returning to Oregon) by launching at the East Mooring Basin

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Northwest Sportsman 125

COLUMN or John Day boat ramps, rather than Hammond or Warrenton.

AUGUST 20-26 If you find yourself vacationing at Buoy 10 during the week of Aug. 20, realize that you could enjoy salmon success, especially for Chinook, by not fighting the morning crowds and instead start your fishing day four hours before high tide.

One strategy that has become popular at Buoy 10 is to hold your boat into the incoming water and allow the flooding tide to push fish into your gear as you hold steady into the current – it’s backtrolling, but with your bow facing west.

This method produces best during times when there is a large exchange of water, which is exactly what will occur this week, as there is 8 to 9 feet of water movement with each swing of the tide during most of it. Given decent coho numbers, this method can be productive at the western boundary of the fishery – near Buoy 10 itself – as the morning

tide begins to flood. However, it works in other areas too, like off Hammond and near the bridge, with the best salmon bite happening in these locations during the latter half of the flood.

If you try this, realize that if the tide pushes fish into your position – meaning, you and others are hooking salmon – you might be able to stay with the school by letting your boat flood upstream with the fish while the bow of your boat is facing westward.

Just back off on the throttle a little.

Once the tide goes slack, you should start forward trolling and then switch to downstream trolling (west) when the tide begins to ebb.

Given that big tides are the rule during the week of Aug. 20, realize that the first part of the outgo can be good on both sides of the river. However, the bite can turn off early on the Oregon side of the river as the water becomes fast moving.

For example, the bite is generally good when the tide first starts to ebb but may

turn off after only an hour or two.

If you have a fish finder with a builtin GPS (like my Humminbird 997), try keeping track of your ground speed while trolling downriver with the ebbing tide. What you will notice is that the bite is often best when your ground speed is less than 3 miles an hour, but may turn off as your speed over ground increases to 4 mph or more. The reason: the sheer volume of water, given that the Oregon side is a dredged shipping channel, where the water moves out a lot faster compared to the northern (Blind Slough) channel.

What I often do is troll with the outgoing current on the Oregon side until the water starts moving too fast, and then (presuming there are salmon around) turn my bow eastward and begin to back-troll, or (if I’m not seeing a lot of action) switch to the Washingtonside channel, where the water always moves slower on the ebb, and especially so during big tide cycles.

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Northwest Sportsman 127

Buzz has boated more than a few Chinook and coho at Buoy 10 over the years by paying attention to water movements here, and last year’s biggest might have been this 32-pounder caught while filming with Wild Fish Wild Places hosts Dreu Edward Murin and Denis Isbister. (BUZZ RAMSEY) If you decide to switch from the South to North Channel, keep in mind that crossing Desdemona Sands isn’t always possible. At the very least you will need to know where to cross, as there are many areas where the water becomes shallow or land visible as the water pours off the massive island during each ebb tide. For many anglers, and especially those with propeller-driven boats, the only safe way to travel from one channel to another is to circle around the western tip of the sands.

When charting a course from Hammond north to Chinook or vice versa, you will find the western tip of the island located about a third of the way across the estuary and identified by the three-pillar piling often called “The Checkerboard.”

Check it out on Google Earth or other map services.

AUGUST 27-LABOR DAY It’s likely that the hottest Buoy 10 fishing will be had during the week of Aug. 27.

Not only will the run be peaking during this week but the morning tides will be mostly gentle, meaning there should be a large build-up/accumulation of salmon in the estuary from successive days of moderate tides. In addition, the fish can be easier to catch when the tides aren’t racing in and out too. And these soft tides will continue through nearly all but the last day of the Labor Day weekend, when a building tide should push a large group of salmon from the mid to upper estuary, including above Tongue Point. NS Editor’s note: The author is a brand manager and part of the management team at Yakima Bait. Like Buzz on Facebook.

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Northwest Sportsman 129

Brookies, ’Bows Haunt Cascade Lakes W

ith the departure of this winter’s prodigious

By Doug Huddle North Cascades snowpack, higher elevation lakes in the forested foothills and even a few above the timberline are clearing up and becoming accessible to anglers as summer arrives.

Susceptible to being quickly overharvested, trout populations in most of these remote waters demand that their fishers adhere to catchand-release principles to conserve them between replenishments. But backcountry trout lairs with readily reproducing eastern brook trout will

NORTH SOUND

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support creel-oriented fisheries.

Younger, smaller brookies are most prevalent, gobble a variety of baits or almost any small fly pattern, and thus are the first and more often caught. And it’s this piscatorial demographic that needs thinning out the most.

If you are able to get offerings “below” these surface feeders in deeper lakes, occasional brightly colored lunker brookies will take your bait. In the fall these can be truly trophy-quality fish, but they are hard to catch.

Tending not to be cannibalistic, big brooks become scarcer as the population ages because available food tends not to sustain them. Water clarity and lack of cover along lake shores also

force these fish to be daylight-shy, so fishing at dusk also presents a good chance to tie into one.

Though largely disdained by both fish managers and effete fishers, among their positive traits brookies have one especially attractive attribute, that of being quite tasty, especially if they have any chunkiness to them.

When being able to treat kids to some reasonably rousing action or needing to take home a fish or two are important, these trout populations also are inviting.

The following are some readily accessible mountain lakes in Whatcom and Skagit Counties to plumb for brooks. Besides the opportunity for fishing, these spots all have the added charm of being

COLUMN

They aren’t the easiest drive-to tarns in Whatcom County to reach, but Twin Lakes have long-lived brookies. This image was taken in 2015, a year of very low snowpack; this past winter’s was far deeper and lingered with a cool June, and that may affect access to the heights and fishing. (USFS)

picturesque – and in a month or so, most will have blueberries.

UPPER AND LOWER Bagley Lakes, in the Heather Meadows Recreation Area, are a short trail walk from the big parking lot behind the ski area maintenance facility or the Forest Service’s Warming Hut. Following main meltout, they are gin-clear waters concealing few if any secrets, including their brookies. Most trout in the shallower lower lake tend to conceal themselves under and around sunken wood and submerged boulders, with only a few openly patrolling in midday light. Upper Bagley has more depth, which holds the majority of the trout, but a fair number patrol the

mudflat-like shallows of its west end.

Because of their ease of access, both Bagleys are candidates for fishing from small floating conveyances, which can improve angling success, especially at dawn or dusk. Bagley Creek is also available for youth fishing too.

Twin Lakes, both the upper and lower bodies, are considered drive-up mountain waters, though the last six road switchbacks, maintained as a mineto-market thoroughfare by Whatcom County, can be a serious hurdle for some nervous drivers or passengers. Camping is limited but allowed at both, and their ease of access encourages canoes and cartopper watercraft use. The brooks are long lived here and mostly small.

Relatively the same size at about 17 to 20 acres with good near-shore water clarity, both lakes still have large, depthshrouded areas to which the brookies retreat during the daytime.

Little Gee Lake, south of Concrete near the top of Finney Creek’s upper basin western ridgeline, is another of the Cascade foothills drive-to, family-friendly waters. It’s accessible by a lengthy network of Forest Service roads but is just a step or two from the car once you arrive.

Diminutive brook trout were king here for a long time but cutthroat trout have been added to the mix. Before its water level drops, Little Gee’s southwest shore on the backside of the mountain cirque is the best locale from which to fish.

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Northwest Sportsman 131

COLUMN FOR MORE ADVENTURE, these three brookie lairs require building a little sweat equity, but the fish usually reward the energetic investment.

Blue Lake, west of Lake Shannon in the Bear Creek watershed, on the lower western ridge line of the Baker River Valley, is considered one of the most familyfriendly mountain waters in the North Cascades. It’s not too far in, too high up nor is the logging road too nerve-wracking for parents and kids to endure. The trail is around half a mile long with a gentle grade. The shoreline along the north and east sides is conducive to easy casting.

Mazama Lake, the smallest and often overlooked of the so-called Chain Lakes cluster northwest of Table Mountain, is accessible by loop trail from either Artist Point or the Warming Hut parking area.

It is shallow with neither the depth nor structure to hide many of its brookies.

Fishing from the soggy shoreline is the norm, and a budding fly fisher with a long cast can keep their feet dry while fishing. It’s

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about 1.5 miles to Mazama, with the lure of additional lakes a little further up the trail.

Anderson/Watson Lakes is a unique grouping of three lakes to each surname that are located on the east flanks of the Baker River Valley above Baker Lake. They are accessible by trail, the Andersons over a 2-mile stretch and the Watsons via a 3-mile walk with some loss in elevation.

While the Andersons have a somewhat mixed fish-stocking history and may yield both cutthroat and rainbow trout of various lineages, brook trout predominate in the Watsons. Big Watson also has the reputation for yielding the occasional bigger specimen of brookie, with a 5-pounder among its storied history.

AS FOR BIGGER waters, while much of the angling limelight shines on its larger upstream neighbor, the middle reservoir of Seattle City Light’s Skagit Project, Diablo Lake, also is replete with its own noteworthy indigenous rainbows.

It’s accessed via two routes: the project road down from State Route 20 to and

The arrival of redside shiners from Ross Lake, where Tatiana Bruce caught this rainbow several years ago now, has enhanced the size of the native trout found in Diablo Lake. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST) across the dam and up the west shore a short distance; and a highway causeway further uplake.

Otherwise Diablo’s precipitous and occasionally vertical shores and uplands effectively guard its trout.

Unlike most other reservoirs, Diablo has a very narrow range of daily ups and downs. Unless there’s a major management issue that requires a drawdown and hold, the impoundment is operated year-round in a daily fluctuation range of about 10 feet up and down from near full pool (the water surface is listed at 1,205 feet above sea level).

Receiving daily power generation releases from clear, well-settled Ross Lake, Diablo also is secondarily fed by glacialinfluenced Thunder Creek, together with other named but minor tribs. With its two disparate feeders, the reservoir has a multiple-personality look. The Skagit River Gorge arm leading northeasterly up to the base of Ross Dam is, relatively speaking, clearer late in the summer. Trending southeasterly, Thunder Arm, on the other hand, gets a steady dose of glacial flour from spring through fall, keeping it a milky green or, more prosaically, an opaque turquoise, most of the time. Often, depending on the relative volumes of water from either source, full blending of the two water masses occurs just in the main lake body west of Thunder Point.

Diablo’s daily exchange rate does not seem to lend itself to temperature stratification, though the bottom 158 feet of the 389-

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Northwest Sportsman 133

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foot water column is dead storage, or water that’s below the threshold of the penstock intake.

Standard terminal tackle consists of six- or eight-bladed gang trolls tipped with either red worms or a small lure such as a Jitterbug, Miracle Lure, Dick Nite or FlatFish.

Redside shiners have made the leap from Ross and are now a food source for Diablo’s rainbows. That’s enhanced their size some and perhaps has led to several relatively new options for anglers as well.

One gambit focuses on fly fishing the nooks and crannies of the Skagit Gorge Arm’s inner bends. Try wet patterns mimicing alevins and dark leeches, though small, dry light duns will also draw surface strikes.

Good success can be had spin casting from the shore or rock causeway up in the glacial-clouded waters of Thunder Arm with Rooster Tail and Mepps-style weighted spinners.

The main boat ramp for launching trailered watercraft is on Thunder Arm at the Colonial Creek Campground complex.

Shore access is available there, as well as on the west side of the lower lake at the mouth of Sourdough Creek.

Besides the two closest National Park Service car/RV campgrounds at Colonial Creek and Gorge Lake, lake-shore campsites are available at Hidden Cove (north side), Thunder Point (south side) and Buster Brown (west side).

Free backcountry permits are required to use those and can be obtained at the Park Service Wilderness Information Office in Marblemount. They can be secured in person on your way in and now some can be reserved. See nps.gov/noca/planyourvisit/ backcountry-reservations.htm.

Diablo is open year-round to angling, with a daily limit of five trout (rainbow, cutthroat and eastern brook), but alas, the two-pole endorsement does not apply.

NEXT ISSUE: Nooksack River humpies and silvers, the first black bear hunts. NS Editor’s note: Doug Huddle lives in Bellingham, is retired from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and has written about hunting and fishing in the Northwest for more than 34 years.

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Western Montana’s Rock Creek is a destination fishery featuring plenty of trout and public lands in its lower half. The stream is about 20 miles east of Missoula and offers good fly fishing before and after spring runoff. (MIKE WRIGHT)

CRACKING

ROCK Western Montana stream features miles of access, good trout numbers, prolific hatches, interesting nearby ‘seafood’ fest.

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FISHING

By Mike Wright

A

t I-90’s exit 126, some 20 miles east of Missoula, stands a prominent billboard that proudly announces the dates for an annual festival held at this quaint, diminutive settlement in the mountains. The event is centered on what is commonly referred to as “Rocky Mountain oysters,” and strange as it may seem to some, it has become very popular and attracts large crowds each year to partake in the consumption of this “delicacy” and wash it down with voluminous amounts of alcohol.

However, those expecting to see heavily bearded backwoodsmen and hear rousing refrains of Dueling Banjos will be sorely disappointed.

The Testicle Festival does not resemble a scene out of Deliverance, but rather it is a tongue-in-cheek excuse for normally sane, sensible and affable people to get together for a party. And there are those who will say that Testy Fest made Rock Creek famous. But long before this annual gathering began (this year’s is Aug. 2-6), neoprene-clad men and women visited in search of a much different form of entertainment.

ROCK CREEK HAS long been considered a premier, blue ribbon trout fishery in a state filled with outstanding fishing destinations. Its excellent reputation and easy access off the interstate ensures an angler will not suffer from loneliness. On the other hand, the stream is 50 miles long and accessible throughout almost its entirety. This tends to distribute the pressure and helps the individual angler have a more pleasant experience. Forest Service land borders most of the creek, with ample parking and camping areas readily available. It should be pointed out, however, that the road is very narrow and some pull-outs can be less than spacious.

For this reason great care is sometimes needed to keep from blocking the nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2017

Northwest Sportsman 137

FISHING

While primarily drawing flyrodders for nice-sized browns and rainbows, as well as some cutthroat and bulls, spoon and spinner anglers can also cast a line for Rock’s trout. (MIKE WRIGHT)

road – or subsequently own a vehicle in need of bodywork. A prohibition on floating the creek after July 1 also reduces angling pressure and aids in the avoidance of combat fishing. And concentrations of fish throughout the drainage reduce the possibility of overcrowding in any one section.

Indeed, Rock Creek is a bank angler’s delight. The width and depth in most areas of the stream make it relatively easy to wade and cast to virtually any spot likely to hold fish.

On much of the creek an angler can traverse from bank to bank without a great deal of difficulty. However, since the bottom often contains very slick rocks and the current can be quite powerful, a walking stick may be a necessity.

Most of the time the water is very clear and the bottom is visible, but during runoff or after a heavy rain, it may be more difficult to see the bottom. During these times it might be best not to venture too far from shore. A friend of mine attempted to cross the creek in a particularly rocky area where he could not see the bottom. He is now the proud owner of a five-piece rod and a walking cast.

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THERE ARE THREE distinct sections of the creek. The first is generally labeled as upper Rock Creek and begins at the confluence of the East and West Forks. This section receives the least amount of fishing pressure, primarily due to the fact that a great deal of it flows through private property.

The first public access point is at Gillies Bridge on Highway 348 from Phillipsburg. If you follow the road that intersects with the highway at the bridge, it parallels Rock up to its source through private property.

Permission to fish the waters of this section is sometimes granted, but it is by no means a guarantee. This upper section also contains smaller fish than the rest of the creek, with the vast majority averaging 8 to 12 inches in length. However, in some of the deeper holes a very pleasant surprise awaits anglers. Browns predominate in this section, though there has been a noticeable increase in the number of cutthroat in the past few years.

This is an excellent spot for dry fly fishermen to toss Sofa Pillows, Elk Hair Caddis and Adams patterns.

Large stonefly nymphs and beadhead Pheasant Tails, Prince Nymphs,

caddis nymphs and red San Juan Worms are also readily devoured.

The middle section of Rock Creek is characterized by a good deal of pocket water created by a large number of boulders in the creek bed, with long deep pools behind the big rocks. This provides an opportunity for the fish to work along the edges of foam lines and feed on insects washed down by the swifter moving water. This section is marked by moderate, then steeper gradient, with faster moving water and some side channels with long deep pools, often the domain of the larger trout specimens.

Toward the bottom end of this section is an area known as The Dalles. In much of The Dalles huge boulders dominate the landscape, with large, deep holes formed behind these obstacles. These are the preferred habitat for larger browns and rainbows, plus an occasional bull or cutthroat. However, getting these larger trout to bite can be very challenging. Because of the depth of the water, wading any distance from shore is difficult and the larger specimens usually spend most of their time near the bottom.

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Northwest Sportsman 139

FISHING To catch one of these trophies often requires weighted nymphs or streamers, plus sink tip or sinking line. Even then the swift water in this section makes it difficult to keep the fly down long enough to hit the jackpot. The best approach may be to use a strike indicator and allow enough slack in the line to keep the fly deeper for a longer period of time.

Larger dry fly patterns can be effective at times in this section, especially during late spring’s salmonfly hatch. Sofa Pillows, orange Stimulators and other salmonfly imitations can bring the big ones up during this time. Golden stones can also be effective, especially just after the salmonfly hatch. Later on in the summer and in the early fall, ’hopper patterns can be very effective. However, as a general rule, dry fly fishing is usually much more consistent above and below The Dalles area.

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Although Rock is widely heralded as a fly fisherman’s paradise, lure fishing is allowed (bait is not) and can be very productive. Bucktails, larger Mepps and Panther Martins will all work well, especially if they are heavy enough to stay near the bottom in the deeper holes.

FOR MANY YEARS the middle section of Rock Creek was the preferred domain of rainbows. The species made up over 90 percent of the trout population below Hogback Creek.

But in the 1990s and early 2000s whirling disease struck the stream particularly hard. Brad Liermann, fisheries biologist for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and Rock Creek resident, estimates that nearly 90 percent of the rainbow population was lost during the height of the disease.

“Rainbow counts in the Hogback area were down to between 50 and 75 fish per mile, while before the

disease we were recording as many as 900 per mile,” he says.

In the early 2000s a catch-andrelease requirement was placed on rainbows throughout the drainage, along with the existing moratorium on retaining cutthroat and bull trout.

The most recent surveys indicate a slow but steady increase in rainbow numbers, from 100 to 200 per mile in the same general area. Although encouraging, Liermann is not convinced the catch-and-release requirement has had a significant effect on the rainbow population.

He believes the increase may be due more to the fact that many rainbows are spawning in the smaller, diseasefree feeder streams and their fry not entering the mainstem until they are old enough to fend off the effects of the disease.

After all, “Catch and release has been a tradition for most anglers long before whirling disease was detected.” Whatever the reason, the

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Northwest Sportsman 141

FISHING comeback of rainbows is viewed as a very encouraging sign. What is also encouraging is that a great many brown trout have moved into this section. It is estimated that 600 to 1,000 per mile are now residing in middle Rock Creek.

perfect brown trout habitat. The area between where pavement ends and potholes begin down to the mouth has an excellent concentration of fish – and also fishermen. If you want to work this lower section, being an early riser is an asset. prolific on Rock Creek throughout the year, but undoubtedly the most highly anticipated one is the salmonfly hatch. In most years the salmonflies begin to appear in mid-May or early June, with the hatch moving upstream a few miles per day.

Unfortunately, in most years it coincides with spring runoff. But on the positive side, Rock does not cloud up or become as offcolored as many other rivers where salmonfly hatches take place.

If the fish are not coming up for the salmonfly adults, nymphs such as a George’s Brown, Bitch Creek or a Potts Woven Stone can work

INSECT HATCHES ARE THE THIRD SECTION of the creek is usually considered to be from The Dalles down to its confluence with the Clark Fork River. Brown trout are the dominant species in this section, especially in the lower part of the stream. Besides the sizable population of residents, each fall sees an influx of trophy-size browns migrating in from the Clark Fork to spawn.

The creek’s gradient decreases and its waters broaden as it makes its way to the Clark Fork. The lower section is characterized by undercut banks, numerous side channels, bushy shores and numerous deep pools,

well, especially when fished close to the bank. One advantage of these nymphs is that they can be fished quite successfully before or after the main hatch has passed by.

We’re past the salmonfly hatch for this year, but another “golden” opportunity awaits. The golden stonefly hatch follows closely and sometimes overlaps the salmonfly occurrence. It runs through July. Although golden stones are smaller, they often will attract trout of 18 inches or more. Both dry and nymph patterns are highly effective in catching some very impressive fish.

There are also mayfly and caddis hatches that appear throughout the season. Elk Hair Caddis, parachute Adams, Purple Haze, Green Drakes, pale morning dunns and bluewinged olives are all effective dry fly patterns in July and August, with ’hoppers and October caddis patterns in late summer and fall.

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Northwest Sportsman 143

FISHING

Anglers work Rock Creek’s The Dalles section, marked by large midstream boulders and deep holes, and home to larger browns and rainbows. (MIKE WRIGHT)

For nymphs, it’s hard to beat a Prince, Pheasant Tail, Zug Bug or a brown or black Woolly Bugger.

In the fall a Crystal Bugger, white or chartreuse Zonker or Blue Fox spinner can be very effective for

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spawning browns.

WHENEVER YOU FISH Rock or whichever section of the creek you choose, chances are very good you will have a very enjoyable experience.

Highly cooperative fish, easy access, ample camping and picnicking areas, abundant wildlife and, if you hit it right, you may even be able to taste the local delicacy. Rock Creek truly is a treasure of the Big Sky State. NS

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Downrigger, Remastered

PRODUCT REVIEW

Troll-master is catching attention with its Seahorse Downrigger, based on Penn’s iconic Fathom-Master ’riggers popular with Northwest anglers. (TROLL-MASTER)

Company reintroduces iconic product line with Seahorse System.

By John Kruse

O

ld school.”

That’s the first phrase that popped to my mind when I opened up the box containing the Seahorse Downrigger system that arrived on my doorstep this spring. This manual downrigger is the reincarnation of the Penn Fathom-Master downrigger, something my best friend’s dad (along with thousands of other saltwater and big lake anglers) had mounted on his boat when I was a young teen. Mr. James Johnston used it on one memorable trip in which his son Rusty and I joined him for a morning of fishing out of the Shilshole Bay Marina near Seattle some 40 years ago. The company was good and the smell of the cigar Mr. Johnston

“

ABOUT TROLL-MASTER After Penn discontinued its iconic Fathom-Master downriggers, Troll-master, a Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida, company that produces ’riggers, accessories and hydrodynamic line releases, approached Penn with an idea to take over manufacturing the product.

It seems that our biggest challenge is when people recognize the product but see a different name; they think it’s a knock-off or something. This is not a knock-off but rather the same downrigger: Penn-approved, assembled and tested in the U.S. We also support thousands of older Penn units, as far as service, repair and parts.

We did introduce a few new features,

such as hydrodynamic line releases and a new dual adjustable rod holder attachment that allows to set both tubes at a perfect angle.

We sell through our website, troll-master.com, as well as Amazon. We currently have about 30 dealers nationwide that carry our products and are definitely looking for more dealers to help grow the geographical area of our distribution.

We are happy to serve our angling community by offering high-quality products at affordable prices, and we also cover all of our products with our 10-year warranty. Look for us at the 2017 ICAST Show (booth 3668) from July 11-14 in Orlando, Florida. –Troll-master nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2017

Northwest Sportsman 147

PRODUCT REVIEW was smoking stays with me to this day.

We didn’t catch any fish, but I snagged something. I can’t tell you if it was a rock, fishing net, derelict crab pot or what else it might have been, but I was absolutely convinced for 15 minutes that I had hooked into the mother of all salmon.

I was proven wrong on that count, something Mr. Johnston figured out about 90 seconds into my big fish fight.

However, I was impressed with the gear he had on his boat, from the rods and reels to his Penn downrigger, a sturdy device that got my bait to the bottom (or near it) in a hurry so that I could hook into what I sorely wanted to believe was a record salmon.

The memory of that Penn Fathom-Master stayed with me and a small piece of my fishing childhood died when Penn stopped making them.

That’s why I was very happy to hear that Troll-master, with the permission of Penn, was bringing back the Penn Fathom-Master manual downrigger, as well

as improving on it too.

Troll-master’s Seahorse Downrigger looks to be just as sturdy and reliable as the original Penn product, and they back up this new version with a 10-year warranty. The 140-pound-test steel cable spooled on the downrigger should give you years of service, and if you don’t like the standard 24-inch downrigger boom, you can buy an extension kit that will convert it into a 46-incher to increase clearance between your boat and the trolling gear. This extended boom will make it easier to manage multiple lines on multiple downriggers.

An optional item I received was the adjustable rod holder that attaches to the downrigger. A rod holder attached to a downrigger is not unusual, but being able to adjust the holder to the angle you want is something I appreciate, and I’m glad to see Troll-master went to the trouble of figuring out this was a problem worth solving.

You can order the Seahorse Downrigger with either a fixed mounting base plate or an adjustable swivel base, but

I asked for the gimbal mount adapter for my boat, which I fish Columbia Basin and other waters with. The 9.5-inch-long mount (with a 1.5-inch diameter) uses your boat’s existing flush-mount rod holder. Simply stick the mount in with downrigger mounted on top of it, and you are in business. Yup, it’s that fast and easy. No extra work or permanent mounting solutions required.

All of the components appear to be rock solid and are billed as corrosion resistant to boot. Purchasing the Seahorse Downrigger system looks to be an investment that will pay off for years to come. You can find out more about the Troll-master Seahorse Downrigger System and order it online at troll-master.com. NS Editor’s note: John Kruse is the host and producer of America Outdoors Radio, americaoutdoorsradio.com, as well as Northwestern Outdoors Radio, northwesternoutdoors.com. He retired as a captain from the Wenatchee Police Department.

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COLUMN

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uly is marked by several salmon opportunities in Puget Sound, summer steelies in Southwest Washington rivers, and snow finally SOUTH SOUND coming off of the high

By Jason Brooks country, allowing for hikes to backcountry lakes and scouting trips into alpine bowls.

But before all of that occurs, the month starts off with the birthday celebration of our country. Fireworks, watermeloneating contest, and family barbecues.

American flags waving in the summer’s breeze and a few of us give pause as the flag flaps in the wind. Hunting and fishing are American traditions, but if it weren’t for the few brave men and women who fought to keep our country free, they might only be for the noble.

My earliest memories of deer camp include my late grandfather and his “group” of guys, with Al Kennaugh being one of them. I always knew Al as my “uncle” but he was really my grandfather’s nephew by marriage. He had a big smile and could whistle while he talked, was thin and athletic. Al loved to hunt, though he didn’t get a deer that often.

Every year starting in the 1930s they would load up and drive from Lake Stevens to Republic and set up deer camp. When I was nine years old I finally got to join them. It was a weekend of camaraderie, with late nights and early mornings, a festive time, and Al loved every second of it. The outdoors is what he lived for, and later in his life, when he no longer could hunt or even make it to deer camp, he would ask me about my hunting

Olympia-based Outdoors For Our Heroes aims to match up service-disabled veterans with hunts for black bears, deer and elk. The nonprofit says it provides everything for its hunters, from lodging and transportation to license and tags, and hunts are held on private lands. (OUTDOORS FOR OUR HEROES) adventures. It was his way of stress relief, a way to relax and enjoy life. When he died I attended his memorial, where I learned that Al was more than just my “uncle.” He was a World War II veteran.

Al turned out to be one of the last few remaining Merrill’s Marauders, an elite force that was sent into Burma to cut off Japanese supply lines into China. He was one of the very few married men allowed into the unit, and like all of the other Marauders, he volunteered for it. Turns out Al loved the outdoors because it was his way of living and forgetting his time in the Army, a time that he never spoke of, ever.

JASON BROWN ALSO understands how the outdoors can help heal those who have given almost everything for this country.

Two years ago the Olympia resident formed Outdoors For Our Heroes, a nonprofit organization that sets up hunts for veterans who have become disabled through their service. Often a loss of a limb, hearing or other disability that

occurred during combat or while in the military means that those veterans won’t get to enjoy hunting like they once did.

But Brown makes it a point to get them back afield, out to the hills and mountains.

Outdoors For Our Heroes provides everything for the hunter, from lodging and transportation to license and tags, even food for the trip. Hunts are donated through the organization and are held on private lands. Outfitters and guides provide the opportunities. Local businesses give donations for fundraisers, and even other sportsman donate what they can to provide a valuable and healing hunt. Last year, OFOH was able to help set up 12 hunts, and this year they plan to double that to 24.

To qualify for the hunts a person must be a veteran who has a servicerelated disability. If you or someone you know qualifies and are interested, go to the organization’s website (outdoorsforourheroes.org) and fill out an application. It is that easy. Afterward, nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2017

Northwest Sportsman 153

COLUMN OFOH founder Jason Brown traces the nonprofit’s origins back to a work leadership course that challenged him to make a difference in someone else’s life. His thoughts turned to wounded veterans and those asking for money along our streets. (OUTDOORS FOR OUR HEROES)

a board reviews the paperwork and selected hunters are notified. Hunts vary from waterfowl and elk in Western Washington, to pheasants, deer, elk and bear in Eastern Washington and Idaho.

Brown and his group even helped a hunter last year obtain a bow and gear to help him shoot it with one arm.

OFOH’S ORIGINS GO back a few years.

Brown was taking a leadership course at his work, and part of the program was to figure out where you can make a difference in someone else’s life. He started thinking about disabled vets, recalling often seeing them on the side of the road, holding a sign. He says that it doesn’t matter if the sign is true or not, he always gives, and knows there are other disabled veterans out there who used to hunt but no longer think they can due to their disability. That was how Outdoor For Our Heroes started.

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Along with big game, OFOH hunters pursue upland birds such as pheasant as well as waterfowl. OFOH plans to lead 24 outings this year, double 2016’s. (OUTDOORS FOR OUR HEROES) volunteer driven, and if you would like to help out, contact Brown through OFOH’s website. Even if you can’t provide a hunt, you can help in some other way. Donations go directly to the hunts and help offset the costs for licenses and tags. Another way to get involved is a July 8 fundraising banquet in Tacoma, where several items will be up for auction and purchase.

THIS MONTH, TAKE advantage of arriving salmon and steelhead in the lowlands, or head to the trailhead for a hike, and find your solitude and healing in our outdoors. Like how my uncle Al used to, I will be out there, smiling and relaxing, and remembering our nation’s birthday and all those who have made and make it possible. Happy birthday, America. NS

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Visit Us Online! nwsportsmanmag.com

/NorthwestSportsmanMagazine/

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COLUMN

Great Crate Training C

rate training is one of the first steps in teaching a pup about discipline. It starts as soon as you bring the pup home, at seven or eight weeks of age.

GUN DOGGIN’ 101 The key to successfully crate

By Scott Haugen training a pup is consistency, patience and a positive attitude.

Since the pup is away from its littermates for the first time, it’s going to take some adjustment.

A crate is a new environment for your pup, and you want to make it a place of comfort for them.

If picking up your pup from the breeder, take a towel or soft blanket to rub on its littermates.

This will allow your pup to transition into its new home while having the familiarity of its littermates’ smells for comfort.

A crate should be a place of comfort that your pup wants to go to. This 3-month-old enters, sleeps and leaves his crates independently. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

BEFORE BRINGING PUP home, decide if it’s going to sleep inside the house or outside. If sleeping inside the house, consider having three crates in place. Have a crate for outside the house, inside the house nearest the door at which you’ll be potty training it, and in the bedroom, if the pup is going to sleep there.

If the pup will sleep inside with you, put a crate in the bedroom at eye level, where the pup can see you throughout the night. This will allow you to comfort it by poking your fingers through the wire door; this will also help in potty training communication.

Having a crate by the door you’ll be potty training at is ideal, for the pup can take a nap there and the second it awakes, be let out to potty. It’s a win-win situation. When outside with the pup, you don’t want it wandering out of sight, and having a crate to quickly place the pup in helps in maintaining control.

If the pup will eventually sleep outside as nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2017

Northwest Sportsman 157

COLUMN or extremely cold weather. it grows, be sure to have a kennel or run with a proper doghouse in place. Having a crate to put it in now, as a pup, helps in this transition.

NOW’S ALSO TIME to start crate training your pup in a car. When driving anywhere, even if it’s a quick run to the post office or corner market, put the pup in a crate and take it with you.

Eventually, you’ll be taking the dog hunting on extended road trips, so now is the time to introduce it to the crate and the noises that come with road travel.

If the pup is scared, put the crate in the passenger seat with the door facing you, so it can see you. Here, it’s easier to comfort the dog.

If the dog is really scared of the car and road noise, have someone ride with it in the back seat, where they can hold and comfort it. These are all new experiences for the pup, so be patient and use common sense; this is a time to teach them, not scold them. Never leave a pup in an enclosed car in warm

CRATES SHOULD ALWAYS be associated as a happy place by your pup. Never reprimand them and toss them in a crate.

If they are yapping uncontrollably in a crate, avoid hollering at them and hitting the crate. Instead, try to calm them with your voice, reassuring them all is OK. For the first week or so, they may only be in the crate for a few minutes, several times a day. Most pups will calm down and get used to this new place within a few days.

Find a rugged, safe chew toy the pup can keep busy with, as this will help in making crating a positive experience.

The goal is to get the pup entering and exiting the crate while under control. You want the pup walking into the crate, on command, and this can take up to a few months or more. Then again, some pups pick it up in a matter of days.

When letting the pup out of the crate, avoid talking to it in a high voice and getting it all excited. You want the pup to calmly exit the crate, slowly and under control. When opening the crate door, talk

Being separated from their litter mates can be stressful on a pup, which is why socializing and crate training them should start the day they are brought home. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

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calmly to the pup, put a hand in front of its nose and as it emerges, rub its ears, neck, back and rump. This will keep the dog calm and wanting to be touched, rather than letting it shoot out of the crate to run off and play. Again, it’s all about restraint and discipline.

When putting the crate in elevated places, like a car or back of a truck, make sure the pup is under control when you open the door. If the pup bolts out of the crate, uncontrollably, serious injury can occur. It can happen quickly, so always practice caution.

Crates should be a place of sanctuary and security for your pup. We use crates during family meal times and when we have a house full of guests. As a pup gets older, it will enter and exit the crate on its own. The pup will learn a crate is the best place for it to escape and rest, and this is a learned behavior that should be taught at a young age. NS Editor’s note: To watch some dog training tips, check out Scott Haugen’s series of short videos on his website at scotthaugen.com.

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COLUMN Longtime Northwest hook-and-bullet writer Dave Workman feels that .30-06 rounds have accounted for as many or more mule deer, blacktails and whitetails than the .30-30, and certainly all other caliber cartridges. (ODFW)

Why The .30-06 Is The Best Deer Round, And Maybe Not

P ON TARGET

By Dave Workman

eople often write about this or that cartridge, or a group of cartridges, as being the “best” for hunting deer or elk, or some other big game, but

the hands-down, all-around choice for North American game has got to be the .30-06 Springfield.

More than a century old, this .30-caliber round has probably accounted for as many, if not more, deer than the venerable .30-30 Winchester.

It’s a good elk cartridge, it can put down

caribou, black bear, bighorn sheep and mountain goats, and it’s also accounted for more than a few grizzlies. It is tried and true, with a well-earned reputation for putting meat in the cooler and trophies on the wall.

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NEW BULLETS FROM ROM HORNADY, SIG SAUER es, While we’re talking big game cartridges, Hornady has added .300 WSM loads to its ammunition lineup.

In the Superformance family, there ere MX is a new entry with a 165-grain GMX projectile, which is a good bullet. The he dy Superformance series uses what Hornady hat calls “ultra-progressive propellants” that get the most out of the bullet. The GMX MX is made from a copper alloy for controlled ed expansion. It retains 95-plus percent of its weight, according to Hornady.

Another .300 WSM offering features res a 200-grain ELD-X bullet in the Precision on Hunter series. This projectile delivers ers match-level accuracy and has the highest est ballistic coefficient in its class.

And for handgunners, Sig Sauer has added two new 9mm offerings in its Elite Performance ammunition line. The new selections feature either a 124- or 147-grain FMJ bullet. These new loads

(SIG SAUER)

join the h 115-grainers that h are offered ff d in both the V-Crown JHP personal defense and FMJ target loads.

On Target recently had a look at these new entries at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in

Atlanta. The FMJ loads are designed to “approximate” the performance of the JHP duty loads so that practice sessions are as close as possible to delivering accuracy and performance on the street. –DW

Magnum and .300 Winchester Magnum, and the “short, fat magnums,” along with a host of other calibers that include the .243 Winchester, 6mm Remington, .257 Roberts, .25-06 Remington and .280 Remington. They all have their devotees.

But the ’06 will just about do it all with the right bullets. I have shot deer at an estimated 400 yards, and at a definite 350 yards with this round topped by a 180-grain Nosler AccuBond bullet propelled by a full dose of Hodgdon’s Hybrid 100V powder ignited by a CCI primer.

It shoots flat, is accurate and if one is into reloading, it is a remarkably versatile and consistent cartridge. Bullet choices range from 125 to 220 grains, and my personal choices have been the 165- and 180-grainers. More about this in a minute.

SO, WHAT’S THE down side?

First, some people can’t handle the recoil. I’ll have to admit that my first experience with the ’06 many years ago was not so pleasant. It was a rifle that didn’t fit properly, combined with a hard recoil pad that didn’t absorb a bit of recoil.

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NEW RUGER HANDGUN MODEL We’re suckers for new handguns, and Ruger has been delighting shooters for some time now with various new versions of its popular LCRx doubleaction revolver.

The latest model is chambered in .22 Long Rifle. It’s a lightweight number, hitting the scales at 17.3 ounces, with a matte black finish, adjustable rear sight, 3-inch barrel cut with six lands and grooves, and a Hogue Tamer Monogrip.

This one is an eight-rounder, and the overall length is 7.5 inches, just the ticket for carrying along to pop small game including rabbits and grouse.

I’ve tested several different versions of the LCR and LCRx (exposed hammer) revolvers over the past few years, and recently finished with the LCRx in .357 Magnum. All of them have performed flawlessly, though I have come to like the 3-inch models with exposed hammers

(RUGER)

most of all.

This particular specimen has a patented polymer lower frame, which Ruger calls the “fire control housing,” and a stainless-steel cylinder with radical fluting to keep down the weight. The

cylinder has a PVD finish for durability.

The monolithic frame is made from 7000-series aerospace-grade aluminum.

If you remember the old kit guns in .22 LR, you’re liable to fall in love with the newest LCRx. –DW

These days, my rifles have superb modern technology recoil pads and they both fit rather well.

Other cartridges shoot farther, such as the 7mm Remington Magnum, the .300 Winchester Magnum and .300 WSM, and the various Weatherby magnums, to name but a few. But as with the ’06, all of those other calibers have pretty stout recoil, at least for some shooters.

The .30-06 can also make a mess of a deer if the bullet hits the wrong spot. Having shot deer in the neck, and just behind the shoulders, and once in the spine (ruining the backstrap in the process), I can attest to the devastating effect the .30-caliber bullet has on deersized game when launched from an ’06.

You simply have to spend time at the range to make sure the rifle shoots to point of aim.

Of course, that can be said of any round, even the .30-30, if your bullet placement goes awry.

Here I’m compelled to talk about rifles for a moment. Some of them are better than others. If your rifle has a trigger that 164 Northwest Sportsman

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MY BULLET WEIGHT choices were noted above, and for my money, the boattail is the best projectile for this cartridge.

It typically has the highest ballistic coefficient (in layman’s terms, how well it overcomes air resistance) of all bullet types. Speer, Sierra, Hornady, Nosler, Barnes – they all make good projectiles that work well in the .30-06, and it is up to the handloader to find the right bullet and powder combination for his specific rifle.

In brush country, some folks prefer the round-nose bullet because it will be less likely to be deflected by a branch, in theory anyway.

My two favorite propellants are H100V, mentioned earlier, and IMR 4895. I’ve taken deer in four states, and the .3006 made quick work with every shot. In areas with little wind, the 165-grain pill delivers, but over on the Snake River in those canyons with their breezes, I’ll use the 180-grainer for the additional weight to fly true.

For hunting out on the plains, the magnums excel because they are longerrange cartridges. On the other hand, there is something to be said about the ability and patience to stalk to within reasonable shooting range, say, 300 to 350 yards for most people. I would rather try moving in closer for a sure shot than take my chances at a ridiculously long range where all kinds of factors can play havoc with your bullet.

The brutal fact is that there probably is no “best” cartridge for everyone because we all have our preferences. You simply cannot please everyone.

Yet when push comes to shove, the .30-06 stacks up. You can find factory ammunition just about anywhere, and it will handle virtually all North American big game, provided you do your part. NS 166 Northwest Sportsman

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