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Northwest Sportsman 11
Sportsman Northwest
Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource
Volume 12 • Issue 10 PUBLISHER James R. Baker
Your Complete Hunting, Boating, Fishing and Repair Destination Since 1948.
ALUMAWELD STRYKER
EDITOR Andy Walgamott THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS Dave Anderson, Randy Bonner, Jason Brooks, Scott Haugen, Sara Ichtertz, MD Johnson, Randy King, Buzz Ramsey, Amanda Wiles, Dave Workman, Mike Wright, Mark Yuasa EDITORIAL FIELD SUPPORT Jason Brooks GENERAL MANAGER John Rusnak SALES MANAGER Paul Yarnold ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Mamie Griffin, Jim Klark, Mike Smith DESIGNER Lesley-Anne Slisko-Cooper PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Kelly Baker OFFICE MANAGER Katie Aumann INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGER Lois Sanborn WEBMASTER/DIGITAL STRATEGIST Jon Hines
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ADVERTISING INQUIRIES ads@nwsportsmanmag.com CORRESPONDENCE Email letters, articles/queries, photos, etc., to awalgamott@media-inc.com, or to the mailing address below. ON THE COVER Craig Mostul holds a fall Chinook caught at Buoy 10 during 2018’s fishery. (CRAIG MOSTUL)
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CONTENTS
VOLUME 12 • ISSUE 10
87
5 SUMMER SLEEPERS
Looking for something besides same ol’, same ol’ steelhead and Chinook to fish for in Western Oregon? Randy Bonner identifies five species that are more than willing to bite in the hot months!
(BEN OLSEN)
ALSO INSIDE 75
CUTT TO THE CHASE Thanks to plentiful cutthroat, North Idaho’s St. Joe is one of the most famous trout waters in the Inland Northwest, but it wasn’t always that way. Mike Wright explores the comeback story of this river’s westslopes, as well as details top spots and patterns for its destination fishery.
97
10 TOP WARMWATER BITES FOR SUMMER, FALL Now is the time to fish for warmwater species like yellow perch and walleye – and fall isn’t too shabby either! MD Johnson gets out his 2020 calendar and highlights some of our region’s best spinyray waters by month through the end of the year.
121 AREA 9-10 CODES With a higher quota and a midmonth start of fishing once again for Central and North Sound hatchery Chinook, Mark Yuasa dials in how to fish for kings in these Seattle-area marine waters. 127 GO DEEP FOR OCEAN CHINOOK Last issue Dave Anderson shared how to fish for kings just outside the breakers, and this month he ventures well offshore and breaks out the downriggers, hoochies and more for a tutorial on catching open-ocean Chinook.
SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Go to nwsportsmanmag.com for details. NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN is published monthly by Media Index Publishing Group, 14240 Interurban Avenue South, Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. Periodical Postage Paid at Seattle, WA and at additional mail offices. (USPS 025-251) POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Northwest Sportsman, 14240 Interurban Ave South, Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. Annual subscriptions are $29.95 (12 issues), 2-year subscription are $49.95 (24 issues). Send check or money order to Media Index Publishing Group, or call (206) 382-9220 with VISA or M/C. Back issues may be ordered at Media Index Publishing Group offices at the cost of $5 plus shipping. Display Advertising. Call Media Index Publishing Group for a current rate card. Discounts for frequency advertising. All submitted materials become the property of Media Index Publishing Group and will not be returned. Copyright © 2020 Media Index Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher. Printed in U.S.A.
14 Northwest Sportsman
JULY 2020 | nwsportsmanmag.com
68
(SARA ICHTERTZ)
FOR THE LOVE OF THE TUG
Restoring The Heart Of A River, Of A Woman Sara Ichtertz marks her return with a heartfelt column about removing dams on Northwest salmon and steelhead rivers, setting them free to be.
COLUMNS 105 NORTHWEST PURSUITS Time For Double-duty Day Hikes A summer hike is not only a great way to exercise, but a chance to explore new waters and woods for fish and game. Backcountry sportsman Jason B. loads up your daypack with lots of ideas and more! 113 BUZZ RAMSEY Make The Most Of Buoy 10’s 14-day King Opener With just two weeks of Chinook retention this season at the mouth of the mighty Columbia, paying close attention to the tides and working the best channels will yield top results. Buzz sets us up for salmon success at Buoy 10! 133 CHEF IN THE WILD Loving To Fish In The Time Of Covid, Cancellations Chef Randy didn’t let a global pandemic or a little seasickness slow him down. A well-masked but rough outing off the Oregon Coast aboard a local charter yielded a tasty ling that varnished up his clam chowder recipe. 143 ON TARGET The .410-bore Is Anything But Boring Dave’s admired .410 shotguns since his school days and a chum who “was rather proficient” with one. He details this bore with 150-plus years of history – and which “still has what it takes for small game and upland birds” – and shares news on justout models chambered in it and more, as well as kicks off a fall reloading focus. 153 GUN DOG Just Say ‘Whoa’ “Whoa!” isn’t just for reigning in frisky horses; it’s an order to instill in your fourlegged hunting partner – and one that might save them from serious injury. After a snowy winter that kept them indoors, Scott talks about how he needed to work with one of his gun pups to reinforce this key command.
16 Northwest Sportsman
JULY 2020 | nwsportsmanmag.com
28
(AMANDA WILES)
THE BIG PIC:
‘Room For All’ Whether on the rivers, lakes or ocean, there are plenty of ways for women and girls to become a “fisherman,” writes Amanda Wiles.
DEPARTMENTS
18 Northwest Sportsman
JULY 2020 | nwsportsmanmag.com
23
THE EDITOR’S NOTE Columbia fisheries management
25
EDITOR’S SPECIAL STATEMENT On racism in the outdoors
39
FISHING AND HUNTING NEWS Elwha steelhead ‘rising from the ashes’; Southern sockeye stock woes
49
PHOTOS FROM THE FIELD Spring Chinook, turkeys and more!
53
PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS Coast, Fishing monthly prizes
55
THE DISHONOR ROLL Oregon trio faces 27 charges, huge restitution for alleged poaching; Kudos; Jackass of the Month
57
DERBY WATCH Pencil in two late July derbies; More upcoming events
59
OUTDOOR CALENDAR Upcoming openers, free fishing days, events, more
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THEEDITOR’SNOTE
Spring king anglers fish below Beacon Rock during a recent season. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)
T
here are two Northwest fish and wildlife stories that one should never expect to write the final word on. Well, actually there are many, but for our purposes here they are agency budgets and Columbia management. No sooner had the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife scored a hard-won General Fund boost in mid-March – to quote yours truly: “Hoping that this is the last WDFW budget article I have to write for a good long time” – than Covid-19 sneezed on state coffers and left WDFW having to identify 15 percent/$12.8 million in potential cuts at press time. As for fisheries on the big river, way back in the early 2010s, a time of relative salmon abundance, Oregon and Washington agreed to prioritize recreational Chinook allocation and move commercial gear away from gillnets. Long story short, some overseers have been working to tweak those policies (see Big Pic, April 2019) for various reasons. It’s an adaptive plan and some things haven’t worked out, they assert; it’s a commitment, so stick to it, counter anglers. At its late July/early August meeting Washington’s Fish and Wildlife Commission could fillet the reforms further from previous cuts. That’s the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association’s concern. The organization issued a“call to action”warning that catch shares and mainstem gillnetting for spring and summer kings were back in play. The proposals amounted to “budgetary suicide” for the commission’s charge, WDFW, warned NSIA. Public comment is open now. Given recent years’ runs, Commissioner Dave Graybill expressed conservation concerns for Upper Columbia stocks; chair Larry Carpenter spoke passionately about the “sweat equity” he and others put into the original policy and “implementation failure” as its primary problem; and member Brad Smith wanted much more time for the public to mull the relatively late-breaking proposed policy changes.
ANOTHER FACET OF Columbia management was on display during a conference call last month as Oregon and Washington honchos debated a mid-June sturgeon retention opener in the estuary. It should’ve been a slam dunk: Fish were available and staffers from both DFWs were recommending a conservative one-day approach, with more time on the water possible depending on catches. But there was a catch: Washington balked, and then some. ODFW’s Tucker Jones offered two compromises that would have provided some immediate opportunity for lower river anglers who were left out of the spring Chinook season, but WDFW’s Bill Tweit held out and held out in favor of maybe September sturgeon. We may never get to see behind the doors of state-tribal negotiations at North of Falcon, but this particular call was a surreal one to listen in on as a management disagreement was laid bare. Oh to see so clearly what’s behind the drive to change the Columbia River reforms. –Andy Walgamott nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2020
Northwest Sportsman 23
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“
ook out, guys, it’s the Klan,” the black bowman said loudly to his companions when he saw us. Dad and I were searching for grouse on a clearcut ridge high above I-90 near Snoqualmie Pass when the elk hunter had emerged from the woods. The three men with him, also hunting elk, were black too. We were white and stood above on the mountain, shotguns cradled in our arms, as they made their way toward us.
THAT SCENE FROM 20-plus years ago replayed in my mind last month as the Northwest and the country, as well as parts of the world, grappled with the twin scourges of racism and the coronavirus. We actually knew the bowman. Danny and Dad had worked together for years, and I was at the same company with them over several summers during high school and college. We knew Danny as a hardcore Northwest sportsman, so it wasn’t surprising to find he, his father and the other two men out after elk that September day. If they hadn’t been there, they might have been fishing for salmon. At the time I took Danny’s Ku Klux Klan reference as just a friendly jab, but it took me decades to realize there was far more behind his words. In truth I don’t know that I heard the undercurrent until June while listening to an episode of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Beaver State Podcast with Chad Brown of Soul River in Portland. Brown is a war-scarred black Navy vet who on a local river “found an ‘awakening in his soul’ while contemplating taking his own life,” as our Randy Bonner wrote in a late 2015 feature about his and other organizations helping former soldiers and sailors deal with post-traumatic stress syndrome through fishing and other outdoor activities. During that podcast Brown talked about having to carry concealed in the outdoors, how during a phone call his father advised him to stay at a large campground rather than in more remote settings, and the time after a day of fishing he discovered his rig’s brake lines had been cut. Brown says his tires have
been slashed other times. In the wake of the killing of George Floyd, Brown wrote elsewhere about being “accused of ‘taking’ fly fishing from white people” on social media, how he supposedly needed “to ask permission to fish my river!” as well as receiving “threatening phone calls where I was told I will be drowned the next time I try to fly fish.” “My walk,” Brown told ODFW podcast host Tim Akimoff, “is completely different than your walk.”
WE MAY HUNT the same mountains, fish the same rivers, camp in the same state parks, and believe in the same conservation causes, but I see more clearly now that our walks are indeed very different. In my lifetime in the wild, outside of hunting season I have never once considered packing anything stouter than a walking stick and a pocket or fillet knife, so Brown’s wariness afield shocked me. And in being shocked, it helped lift the fog that makes things seem OK here in the Northwest compared to elsewhere, particularly in regards to our shared outdoors. At the same time, I do think we are headed in the same direction, and on the way to where our paths hopefully intersect I have made a point of sharing the diversity of hunters and fishermen in these pages, publishing many covers of Asian American anglers, printing perhaps the first Spanish-language “go-and-do” fishing article in a hook-and-bullet pub, and dedicating several hundred pages over the last decade to the real women of Northwest fishing. As long as I am the editor I will continue that, and I also want to invite underrepresented voices to send in their stories, perspectives and reports. Still, while Danny might have been comfortable with Dad and I because we knew each other, his long-ago greeting and Brown’s words show me that I have much more work to do to help make our sports, woods and waters all-inclusive and welcoming. After all, fish, wildlife and habitat don’t give two hoots about the color of anyone advocating for (or chasing) them, and we ourselves are that much stronger with a more diverse camp. –Andy Walgamott
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26 Northwest Sportsman
JULY 2020 | nwsportsmanmag.com
SHELTON Verle’s Sports Center (877) 426-0933 www.verles.com
‘Room For All’ Whether on the rivers, lakes or ocean, there are plenty of opportunities for women, girls to become a ‘fisherman.’
Some may judge female anglers by the color of their gear, but author Amanda Wiles says, “Perhaps that pink Okuma rod has hooked countless fish already. Those cute girly waders and jacket serve the purpose of correctly fitting a smaller-framed female. Hair and makeup? Come on; let’s get over this redundant and pointless issue.” (AMANDA WILES) 28 Northwest Sportsman
JULY 2020 | nwsportsmanmag.com
By Amanda Wiles
T
he chill of the morning is slowly disappearing with the break of daylight. The riverbank is already filling up with excited and eager anglers ready to land that first fish of the day. As my husband and I get settled into a good location, I scan the area and notice right away that I am the only female on this part of the river. This is not uncommon at all; in fact, it is something I have grown used to. When I grab my rod and prepare myself, the pressure kicks in: to perform at a higher level than the average angler. I take my rod and toss out my first cast, a cast that I have made a hundred times. But this time, I toss my lure right into a low-hanging branch and watch as my lure wraps around like a bird’s nest in the branches. My thoughts immediately go to panic mode. I want to get my lure back without others noticing. After all, I am a female in a crowd of male onlookers. I know them and feel the judgment in their faces. I look up to my husband and in his calm but slightly annoyed voice, he says, “You will need to tie a new lure on yourself.” I feel embarrassed and I feel embarrassed for my husband. I also feel bad for losing a $10 lure. Whoopsies! As I work to tie my new lure on, I still feel those eyes watching me, but I continue anyway. After receiving advice on where exactly to cast from my husband, we continue our day of fishing as normal with minimal issues.
THE PRESSURE GOT to me, but was it in my head or was it cast on me by my fellow anglers? I cannot speak for the other anglers, but I know the pressure I put on myself was hindering my efforts. For me, this has been one of the challenges I have faced in the outdoor activities I love. Pressure. To perform; to fit in with the boys; to blend in; and to not be “that” girl. You all know the type of girl I am referring
PICTURE
Wiles aimed to become a fisherman, and she’s more than succeeded on that front, taking to her local rivers for salmon and the sea for bottomfish. (AMANDA WILES)
nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2020
Northwest Sportsman 29
PICTURE to: the girl with the pink rod, cute girly fishing gear, hair and makeup on point, and who inevitably cannot fish like the boys can. The girl who everyone judges, but why? Why are any of these things a bad thing? News flash; this isn’t a bad thing in any way. Perhaps that pink Okuma rod has hooked countless fish already. Those cute girly waders and jacket serve the purpose of correctly fitting a smaller-framed female.
Hair and makeup? Come on; let’s get over this redundant and pointless issue. Not the best angler? Perhaps this is a new hobby and the angler is still learning; one might never know. Should we let this pressure stop us from trying new things or expanding our knowledge? Absolutely not! This was a process for me to overcome, one that I still struggle with today. But through the years, my confidence in my abilities and techniques has grown to the point where I feel I can hold my own and be proud of my progress and dedication to this sport and community.
IN A SPORT dominated by males, where does the typical female angler even start? There are so many avenues of learning to fish, but here are a few that I personally have found to be most rewarding and educational. If you are one of the many Facebook users in this world, you are most likely aware of the plethora of group pages for any topic you can imagine. There are local fishing groups, as well as general fishing groups available for anyone to join. So naturally I joined as many as I could. A person can learn a lot of new tips and tricks from these groups. There are good people out there who offer advice and information as needed. For women and girls, there are hundreds of femaleonly groups as well. This could be a safe space for those questions you might be nervous to ask a general group of anglers. These communities of female anglers are incredibly supportive and very welcoming. We celebrate victories together and we share frustrations together. We are a united group of women. There is, however, a lot of incorrect information out there as well. If you are unsure about anything, please do your research and always read your regulation books.
FOR A MORE hands-on experience, my
“Should we let this pressure (of performance) stop us from trying new things or expanding our knowledge? Absolutely not!” writes the author, who recalls sticking a lure in a tree on her first cast while male anglers watched. She rerigged and continued fishing. (AMANDA WILES) 30 Northwest Sportsman
JULY 2020 | nwsportsmanmag.com
number one recommendation is to hire a guide or a captain to take you out for some one-on-one fishing. Before I get into this, however, I do want to acknowledge a question I have been asked a few times: “Why would you hire a guide or captain if you have a significant other who fishes?” Here is my personal answer for that: Sometimes it is easier and less stressful to learn from someone who is not your significant other. Plain and simple. Like any arena of growth, grasping information from multiple channels only increases your knowledge. A guide or captain has extensive knowledge in the field and can offer great advice while being aware of the different skill levels they are working with. I have been on numerous guided/ chartered trips and found them to be the most rewarding in learning new things. But this also brings up a good question I too have
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PICTURE pondered: Is there a difference between the female angler and male angler? This is such a wide-open question that it would naturally have many answers in opposition and agreement. I’ve often heard my guides/captains say how much easier it is when the client knows how to fish or is willing to learn. But I wanted to know more about their views on the differences between the two. For that, I reached out to John Thiel of Alpha Angler Charters (alphaanglercharters.com). John has taken my husband and I on many trips throughout the years. His knowledge and ability to cater to his clients’ needs based on skill level has rewarded him with returning clientele and referrals from those clients as well. I had the time to sit down with Capt. John (aka Capt. “Fuzzy Cheeks,” as many people know him by) to discuss and listen to his views and experiences between the female and male angler. “Yes, there are differences between my male and female clients,” he told me. “One of the major differences is, typically a woman is not expecting anything but to have a good time. Sure, catching a fish would be awesome and a bonus. But really, they are there for the experience. They simply want to have a good time, possibly learn new techniques and just enjoy their surroundings, [compared] to some men who come on the boat with prior fishing knowledge or they have spent countless hours watching videos on how to fish for a certain species.” “They come with the idea that they know what they are doing and struggle with following my directions. This causes clients to feel frustrated by putting pressure on themselves to catch fish. I find women to be more open and accepting to directions, as they want to learn, and they know I have the knowledge and experience to help them. In the five years I’ve been running my own boats, my allwomen trips have been much easier on my boat, my gear and my crew. With normally the same catch results or better than a lot of all-men trips. I personally do cater more to my lady anglers as a captain, however. 32 Northwest Sportsman
JULY 2020 | nwsportsmanmag.com
Along with joining Facebook groups, Wiles recommends taking guided or charter fishing trips. But why if your partner already fishes? “Sometimes it is easier and less stressful to learn from someone who is not your significant other. Plain and simple,” she writes. (AMANDA WILES)
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PICTURE Not because they need it, but because most of the time it’s their first offshore trip and I want to ensure they have a great time and are comfortable. I love to see ladies fall in love with the sport.” I agree with Capt. John’s statements. I too had found myself just excited to be out and having fun on my trips. I was more eager to learn and ready to listen, which made for an enjoyable experience. The key to a great day on the water is to just enjoy your time. It’s all about the experience and what you make of it.
“In the five years I’ve been running my own boats, my all-women trips have been much easier on my boat, my gear and my crew,” Capt. John Thiel of Alpha Angler Charters told Wiles, “with normally the same catch results or better than a lot of allmen trips.” (AMANDA WILES)
THE SPORT OF fishing is evolving and there are new anglers every day, including increasing numbers of female anglers. They are growing in the sport, making a name for themselves and proving their abilities and love of fishing. However, there are always hurdles
along the way. One of the biggest hurdles I have faced is the availability of appropriate gear made specifically for women’s needs. After a few years of wearing waders made for men, I was finally able to upgrade to a
There have always been female anglers, but recent years have seen steady growth, up to 17.6 million on the water in 2019, according to a nationwide report. This magazine has long supported the trend, celebrating with our annual Real Women of Northwest Fishing, and the three West Coast states see some of the highest participation rates, 10.3 percent. (AMANDA WILES) 34 Northwest Sportsman
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pair made specifically for a woman. That said, as a woman I soon was frustrated by how few companies there were to pick from. I did my research and only found three that would be able to properly fit my smaller frame. This was the first time it hit me – the sport is progressing, but slowly. I also noticed that many of my fellow female anglers also struggled in this department. I was not alone in my frustrations. Many women are either uncomfortable in their gear or find that it just does not work for their needs. This inevitably leads to a less than enjoyable experience, which could deter females from moving forward in the sport. For me, proper-fitting gear made a complete difference in my experiences. I was no longer tripping around waders too long for my legs. I was warm, dry and more willing to stay out on the river all day. As the sport grows, I hope to see more companies widening their selections for women, or frankly, just having women’s styles available. But for the time being, know that there are some options available for us. Do your research and do not settle for something if you have the options to upgrade.
WITH THE SHIFT of the fishing industry slowly catering towards both genders, there is also a shift within the community and the acceptance of women enjoying
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PICTURE
For the author, proper fitting gear has been key to making the best of her experiences on the water. “There is room for all in this sport – different dynamics of people, different thought processes, and different views. We are all welcome to enjoy as well as protect our fisheries,” she writes. (AMANDA WILES)
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the sport as well. Women are popping up everywhere as leaders and role models within the community. This is such a crucial component to the evolution and growth of the sport, in my opinion. It all comes down to that “If she can do it, so can I” mentality. Guess what, ladies? Yes, you can do it. There is room for all in this sport – different dynamics of people, different thought processes, and different views. We are all welcome to enjoy as well as protect our fisheries. Keep learning, growing and expanding your skills. Utilize resources available to you, but most of all, have fun. Enjoy those moments floating down a river with nothing but the sounds of nature around you. Enjoy the spray of the ocean on your face when heading offshore for some monster fish. Enjoy the community of dedicated fishermen who devote time and energy in protecting and growing this sport. Leave the negativity behind and just be a “fisherman” – regardless of gender. NS
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NEWS
Wild Elwha River summer steelhead, a northern Olympic Peninsula population, were once considered extinct but are resurgent after the removal of two dams that blocked the stock from going to the ocean for generations. (JOHN McMILLAN)
Elwha Summer-runs ‘Rising From The Ashes’ I
t was a summer somewhere in the midto late 1980s and my dad, sisters and I were camping along the Elwha. After we took our ganders at the dams and reservoirs, as well as Olympic National Park’s trees and mountains, I decided to fish the river one afternoon for trout. The stretch above the old Altair Campground looked inviting, as well as steep, and I carefully bushwhacked and waded my way along the banks while taking casts here and there. Tasty-looking water at the head of the run pulled me further and further upstream. “Surely lots of rainbows lurk
there!” my young angler’s brain screamed. I never found out. Just as I got to the best spot to fish the stretch, I disturbed an unseen bees nest, was swarmed and literally stumbled blindly out of there as fast as I could. It was maybe my luckiest scrape in fourplus decades of fishing – one that might have turned me into river nutrients if I’d slipped off the narrow submerged ledge that my feet somehow followed perfectly downstream to safety. I haven’t been back to fish the river since, and of course it is closed waters through at least July 1 of next year, now
that those two dams – Elwha and Glines Canyon – have been removed. But the rainbows remain, and what’s more, after being damlocked for over a century, they’ve reverted to their anadromous ways as if the concrete plugs had never blocked their path to the Pacific Ocean and back.
RAINBOWS AND STEELHEAD are one and the same fish, and they exhibit a preposterously diverse spectrum of life histories – from homebodies that never leave their natal waters to those that make multiple runs to the sea and back, and nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2020
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NEWS Washington Coast.” “They’re like the Phoenix, rising from the ashes,” says John McMillan, Trout Unlimited’s science director. He was among those who snorkeled the river deep in the heart of the Olympics as filmmaker Shane Anderson of North Fork Studies in Olympia documented it. “Forty-three steelhead!” the surveyor shouts to others about how many he’d just counted in a single rockbound pool. “Four-three!” In April, Anderson’s nine-minute feature, also called Rising From the Ashes and coproduced by TU and Wild Steelheaders United, was released. It’s a beautifully shot and edited work that highlights the latest inspiring story to come out of the Elwha – “a living laboratory,” in McMillan’s words in the film – as the river flushes built-up sediment out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and its fish runs return and colonize ever further upstream. Chinook, coho, pink salmon, winter steelhead – a mix of wild and hatchery stocks – and bull trout are all taking advantage of the newly available habitat. But it’s the summers – which are completely wild – that are the focus of the film.
Lake Mills behind Glines Canyon Dam drains during removal of the 1927 obstruction inside what became Olympic National Park. In 2014, passage to the Elwha’s headwaters was restored with demolition of the dam and several salmon species are now recolonizing the upper reaches. (OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK, FLICKR) everything you can imagine in between. Those in the big, brawling Skagit have 35 different expressions; those in the tiny West and East Twin Rivers between Port Angeles and Sekiu have 18. In the Deschutes, skulking little stay-athome male redbands sneak into the redds to fertilize the eggs of ocean-returning females. Idaho’s famed B-runs spend two and even three years in the Pacific, growing twice as big as A-runs. What’s particularly amazing about Elwha River summer-runs is that because the dams were (illegally) built without fish 40 Northwest Sportsman
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passage facilities, the stock was believed to have gone extinct, yet just a few years after removal, they’re showing a remarkable resurgence. Last summer, survey crews counted at least 309 adult summer-runs in the 15mile headwaters reach – more than 2018’s count for the entire river, and 100 times as many as were found below the dams from 2009 through 2012. And they estimate that 920 returned to the system overall in 2019, making it “now likely the largest population (of summerruns) in Puget Sound, and along the
THE “CHAMPION FISH of Elwha restoration” is what Allyce Miller, a Lower Elwha Klallam biologist, calls them in the film. That’s high praise but also fitting for a fish exalted as “the most extreme athletes of the steelhead” world for their ability to swim higher upstream than any other. Genetic analysis on Elwha summers is currently underway by the National Marine Fisheries Service, but in an email McMillan told me the data suggests they are mostly coming from resident rainbow populations that were trapped behind the dams. “These fish showed up the past two years in big numbers,” he noted. “That timing aligns with the first return of smolts that we would expect from Glines Canyon Dam being fully removed in 2015/2016. Presumably, if these were mostly strays, we would have had lots of summer steelhead show up in previous years and even in years prior to the dams coming down – because the fish in the ocean don’t know the Elwha no longer has a dam, so why
would they all of a sudden show up?” While allowing that it’s possible a few did wander in from other systems, McMillan also pointed out that Puget Sound and coastal stocks are doing so poorly these days that “there simply aren’t enough adults elsewhere to account for this large increase.” Nor has there been a corresponding bump in winter-run numbers that might point to strays playing a strong overall role, he says. “Another piece of data suggests the population is coming from rainbow trout. During the surveys about 80 to 85 percent of the (160) adults I counted … were female. Females should theoretically be the first fish to head to sea because they benefit more from achieving a large size than males. Larger size equals more eggs. More eggs equals higher fitness, generally,” McMillan says.
IN A TIME of dismal Washington steelhead runs, and at a moment of great uncertainty in the country and world, the resurgence of Elwha steelhead is a glimmer of hope. Anderson, who filmed another feature on upper Chehalis basin issues that also came out this spring, called the story of the northern OlyPen salmonid stock “by far the most inspirational, magical and painful assignment I’ve done.” While the removal of the two dams may have produced more dust and mud than ash, it’s the memory of a camping trip and its campfires long ago that also has me looking forward to returning to the heart of the Olympics. “My hunch is we are still looking at the first fishery being three to five years away,” McMillan told Peninsula Daily News outdoor reporter Michael Carman. “That’s a rough guess, could be eight years away. We have to be patient, we don’t want to open the river too early. [Continue to] give the river a chance to recover and reach its potential.” I hope one day my sons and I are able to fish the Elwha for not only its legendary 100-pound Chinook but also its rejuvenated summer steelhead – and this time I’ll keep an eye out for bees nests guarding prime water. –Andy Walgamott
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NEWS
Warm Ocean Waters, Competition With Pinks Hurting Southern Sockeye I
n addition to cascading habitat issues, it’s well known in the Northwest that marine mammals, piscivorous birds and predatory fish – both native and nonnnative – are having big impacts on our salmon numbers. But a brighter and brighter light is being shed on two growing factors affecting one species at sea. The productivity of sockeye runs from rivers at the southern end of their range was 15 percent lower on average
between 2005 and 2015 due to warm ocean conditions and the 82 million pink salmon pumped out annually by hatcheries in Alaska and Asian countries, Russia in particular. That’s according to a paper published in late May in Canada’s NRC Research Press. Coauthor Dr. Greg Ruggerone of Natural Resources Consultants in Seattle has been studying pinks and warning about their high numbers for some time. “Our work contributes to a growing
body of evidence that increasing abundances of salmon across the North Pacific, and in particular pink salmon, are linked to a trophic cascade resulting in fewer zooplankton, reduced growth, survival and delayed maturation of salmon and other marine fishes, reduced reproductive success of seabirds, and perhaps even reduced foraging efficiency of southern resident killer whales,” he told Sidney Gerst of the University of California, Santa Barbara’s National Center
Detail of pink salmon swarming up a stream on Alaska’s Kodiak Island. (KATRINA MUELLER, USFWS)
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for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. In addition to humpies, northern-stock chum and sockeye salmon numbers are also well up. Essentially, Ruggerone as well as Canadian, US and university researchers looked at records for 47 sockeye runs from the Fraser River north to Southwest Alaska and how warm the ocean was when smolts entered the Pacific and compared that with how abundant their competitors were as they grew to adulthood in their saltwater pastures. “What the team found was that a warm ocean and abundant salmon competitors combine to reduce sockeye survival for southern stocks including those from the Fraser River in British Columbia,” summarized Gerst, who noted opposite trends for northern salmon. Last year saw at least 126.6 million pinks harvested in Alaska waters alone, about average for odd years since the 1990s, and roughly half 2013’s record high catch. Northern sockeye stocks were only diminished 5 to 10 percent by high pink production, according to the paper.
LOWER 48 AND British Columbia anglers are well aware of sockeye woes. Last year’s Fraser run came in at an eighth of the forecast, Lake Washington’s is all but done, Baker Lake’s 2020 return is expected to be the lowest in more than 10 years, and this year’s Upper Columbia prediction is well off high marks in the middle of last decade, though also off to a good start at press time. As low numbers of sockeye returned last summer, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Marissa Litz called the downward trend for southern stocks “disturbing.” But along with ocean conditions, she advised me that the lake and river residency period of sockeye shouldn’t be overlooked. Researchers are finding “that freshwater residency time makes salmon vulnerable to climate change, with gradations from south to north and coastal to interior. Sockeye typically spend a full two years in freshwater before migrating to the ocean. They are vulnerable to warming stream temperatures and lower stream flows,” she said. “And then when they head to the ocean, they arrive to the productive feeding grounds later than Alaska fish, and one hypothesis is that they aren’t as competitive as the Bristol Bay fish and the hordes of hatchery pink and chum in the North Pacific,” Litz added, while acknowledging more research was needed. In the case of Lake Washington sockeye, predation by cutthroat, pikeminnow and other fish has a strong impact on fry survival, while adult passage through the warm ship canal exposes them to water temperatures that are killing more than half that swim through the Ballard Locks on the way to the Cedar River. But Columbia sockeye were likely not only impacted at sea by The Blob, the devastating 2014-15 marine heatwave, and when they tried to swim up the river in 2015, with a quarter of a million disappearing between Bonneville and McNary Dams due to low, hot water. -AW
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READER PHOTOS Three Southern Oregon boys (and their proud dads!) enjoyed a great turkey season in the Applegate Unit. Participating in the mentored hunting program, Mason Thompson and his father Jason (below) were first on the board with a gobbler sporting a 10-inch beard, followed by Austin Estremado (right) out with his dad Justin, and then Kade (left) and Pete Eary. “All these boys hunted with shotguns from .410, 20-gauge to 12, and the smiles on their faces lasted for weeks,” reported Justin. “Love living through them and rearing the next generation of Oregon hunters.” (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
Long-distance high five to Jennifer Bauman of High Five Adventures on Facebook! She caught her first Wind River spring Chinook in May. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)
The Han family had some pretty good days at Sprague Lake in late spring, trolling up a number of fat rainbows to 5.5 pounds that bit a mix of Wedding Rings and worms or Rapalas. Lexi shows off her June 1 fish. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)
For your shot at winning great fishing and hunting products from Northwest Sportsman and Coast, respectively, send your full-resolution, original images with all the pertinent details – who’s in the pic; when and where they were; what they caught their fish on/weapon they used to bag the game; and any other details you’d like to reveal (the more, the merrier!) – to awalgamott@media-inc.com or Northwest Sportsman, 14240 Interurban Ave S, Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. By sending us photos, you affirm you have the right to distribute them for use in our print and Internet publications. nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2020
Northwest Sportsman 49
READER PHOTOS Maralee Moore shows off a dandy walleye she caught while trolling at Potholes Reservoir in mid-May. She released it after the photo.
When coronavirus messed with everyone’s school year, it opened up a lot of time for Braden Tompkins to get on the water with his dad, Jason. Their spring Chinook came from the Columbia Gorge. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)
(FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)
Hunter Schumacher had the “time of his life” with a pair of high school buddies. They took off on a Sunday to chase turkeys in Klickitat County and Hunter didn’t come back home till Thursday after bagging his first gobbler, “the only one on this epic adventure with lots of stories,” reports his mom, Laurie Gwerder. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)
Darrel Smith came down with the good kind of fever to have this year – springer fever. He can often be found prowling coastal rivers. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST) 50 Northwest Sportsman
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Logan, Chad and Zac Smith smile over their six rainbows caught at a Snohomish County lake in May, just one of many fishing trips the lads and their dad went on following the reopening of angling in Washington. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)
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For your shot at winning a Coast knife and light, as well as fishing products from various manufacturers, send your photos and pertinent (who, what, when, where) details to awalgamott@media-inc.com or Northwest Sportsman, 14240 Interurban Ave S., Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. By sending us photos, you affirm you have the right to distribute them for our print or Internet publications.
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MIXED BAG
Trio Faces Many Charges, Huge Restitution For Alleged Poaching
T
hree west-central Oregon men were charged in midspring with poaching 27 deer, elk, bears and other big game in six coastal and valley counties, and they face paying restitution as much as $162,000, thanks to a 2019 change to state law. The trio includes William Hollings, 34, of Philomath; Nicholas Lisenby, 39, of Lebanon; and Eric Hamilton, 33, of Alsea. They allegedly poached in Benton, Lane, Linn, Lincoln, Polk and Tillamook Counties over the past two years, often “during closed season or prohibited hours,” according to the Oregon State Police. Fish and Wildlife Division troopers were keeping case details confidential until after the men had gone on trial, but said that it began with a tip. “We had an anonymous member of the public lodge the original complaint,” OSP Fish and Wildlife Division Senior Trooper Jim Andrews said. “He did an awesome job. He’s the reason we got this case going and he’s going to get some hunting preference points.” A search warrant served on Hollings’ home on April 8 turned up some evidence, and based on that more warrants were
KUDOS There are three more coolers worth of crabs in Bremerton’s Sinclair Inlet for the start of season this month than there otherwise would have been if not for the late-night work of Washington game wardens. Officers spotted six people crabbing, pulling and rebaiting pots several times off Port Orchard before contacting them. Their coolers and 10 pots were seized, and individuals were issued violations for crabbing without a license and during a closed season, as well as overlimits in the first degree. The Kitsap County Prosecutor’s Office was expected to receive recommended charges. (WDFW)
served on April 25. Those led to charges of unlawful killing or possession of bucks, bulls, bruins, bobcat and cougar, along with illegal tag transfer, closed-season hunting, and hunting without tags. Also charged was Amanda Hughes, 37, of Lebanon. Under legislation passed last year that increased poaching penalties, the men could be on the hook for $162,000 to the state, along with likely losing their hunting privileges and facing other fees, according to OSP. “This sends a message to others who might poach, that we can and do find perpetrators,” said Yvonne Shaw, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Stop Poaching campaign coordinator. “Poachers steal from all Oregonians. Everyone who enjoys our natural resources lost numerous opportunities to observe these animals, to enjoy their presence. It was stolen away.” Tipsters can choose to receive cash instead of preference points for info on poaching or habitat destruction that leads to an arrest or citation.
JACKASS OF THE MONTH
T
here are angry grandpas, dirty grandpas and then there’s the jackass grandpa that an Oregon fish and wildlife trooper ran into in Brookings. According to state police, the trooper watched two youths fishing and shellfishing at the port keep at least seven “very small” Dungeness while also acting nervously, concealing their catch in one bucket underneath another. After their grandpa came down from a parking lot for a look-see and returned to his vehicle, the trooper went to have a chat with the youths, prompting one to “frantically” dump all the crabs into the water, despite being repeatedly told to put the bucket down. They were also “dishonest … multiple times” before finally allegedly admitting that all the crabs had been undersized and they had planned on keeping them, according to OSP. The duo, aged 13 and 14, “appeared to have been coached on what to say to the trooper” by their gramps, and when the officer had a chat with him in the parking lot, he “was also dishonest, making similar statements as the youth.” A little digging revealed Grandpa had “numerous fish and wildlife violations in both Oregon and California.” What’s more, one of his grandkids wasn’t licensed, and “he was aware of this.” The youths got a stern talking to about size restrictions on Dungies and licensing needs, while the old dog was cited for counseling in a wildlife violation. South Coast crabbers were also allowed to spin donuts on his lawn while shaking their fists at him.
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Pencil In Two Late July Derbies
By Andy Walgamott
updates on either derby, see the links at nwfishingderbyseries.com, as well as Lake Coeur d’Alene Anglers Association and Brewster Salmon Derby on Facebook.
Daryl White fights the near-27-pound Chinook that would go on to win a past edition of the Brewster Salmon Derby. This year's is tentatively on for later this month and early August, but check ahead. (BRIAN LULL)
E
ven as Covid-19 continued to wreak havoc on the Northwest derby circuit, some events are still on, including two later this month, though one is more tentative than the other. The Big One Salmon Derby on Lake Coeur d’Alene and the Brewster Salmon Derby feature $3,000 and $2,000 grand prizes for the biggest weighed in, along with many more awards. In early June, organizers of the former announced their event would have two new youth divisions for kiddos 3 to 6 and 7 to 13. Entry into either is free. Those in charge of the Brewster derby
actually announced in late May their event was cancelled, but after “overwhelming response from our dedicated fishermen, with many good ideas,” they reversed that decision later the same day. However, it still depends on the city of Brewster, Okanogan County and state of Washington all being on the same page in these coronavirus times, so ticket sales were on hold. Also at press time, summer Chinook fishing was closed on the mainstem Columbia, but the count at Bonneville Dam got off to a good start early last month. Sockeye retention was to open. For details on tickets, rules and any late
NORTHWEST FISHING DERBY SERIES EVENTS
Now-Aug. 7: Slam’n Salmon Ocean Derby, Brookings July 29-Aug. 2: The Big One Salmon Derby, Lake Coeur d’Alene July 31-Aug. 2: Brewster Salmon Derby Sept. 12: Edmonds Coho Derby Sept. 19-20: Everett Coho Derby
For more information and updates, please go to nwfishingderbyseries.com.
*Confirm events before attending. Derbies continue to be cancelled or modified due to Covid-19 and social distancing requirements.
AS FOR OTHER events, spring and summer saw a number of cancellations, some out of an abundance of caution or because workarounds proved unwieldy. The latter was the case with a derby I wrote about in this space last issue. “Frankly, these changes – later dates, no banquet, no social interaction, etc. – proved to be unappealing as we struggled to attract a reasonable number of anglers to participate in our event,” the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association said in scrubbing its “pandemic style” Spring Fishing Classic fundraiser. It went from team fishing on the Willamette and a dinner and awards ceremony afterwards in late April, to a very socially distanced contest spread across Oregon and Washington in late May. Anglers were to post pics of their catches to the organization’s Facebook page as entries in cash and prize drawings. But the bad news arrived the afternoon before fishing was to begin. Those who’d purchased a $25 entry had a choice of receiving a refund or donating it to NSIA; I chose the latter for my youngest son and I.
MORE UPCOMING EVENTS* July 10-12: Northport Chamber of Commerce Annual Fishing Derby, Upper Columbia River; northportwa.us July 11: Lake Stevens (Snohomish Co.) Individual Open; pondjumperz.com July 11-12: Limit Out Marine Shoot Out Bass Tournament, Potholes Reservoir; bigbasstrail.com Aug. 13-14: 20th Annual Buoy 10 Salmon Challenge; nsiafishing.org
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Columbia Gorge steelheaders should be aware of new restrictions in effect in July, including closure of the mouths of Eagle and Herman Creeks (top, bottom). They and other tribs have traditionally hosted great fishing in summer because they’re thermal refuges for migrating fish. This year’s run is expected to be “well below average.” (ODFW)
JULY 1
Leftover big game tags go on sale in Oregon and start of youth “first time” hunt application period; New Washington fishing regs pamphlet takes effect; Marine Areas 5, 6, 7 and 12 (south of Ayock Point) open for salmon; Steelhead restrictions begin in Washington-side Columbia Gorge thermal refuges 2-8 Series of significant daylight minus tides 9-11 Oregon Central Coast all-depth halibut fishing weekend 15 Deadline to purchase Washington raffle hunt tickets; Steelhead restrictions begin in Oregon-side Columbia Gorge thermal refuges 16 Areas 9-10 hatchery Chinook opener 18-24 Series of significant daylight minus tides 23-25 Oregon Central Coast all-depth halibut fishing weekend
AUGUST 1
Fall bear season begins across Oregon, Washington; Opening of salmon fishing on the Columbia from Puget Island upstream to Warrior Rock, and Bonneville Dam to Tri-Cities 7-9, 14-16, 21-23, 28-30 Chinook, hatchery coho retention openers on Columbia from Warrior Rock to Bonneville Dam 8 CAST for Kids event on the Umpqua River at Elkton (registration); info: castforkids.org 14 Opening of salmon fishing on the Columbia from Buoy 10 upstream to Puget Island 15-16 Oregon Free Fishing Weekend 27 Last day of Chinook retention on the Columbia from Buoy 10 upstream to Puget Island 28 CAST for Kids event on Yaquina Bay (registration); info: see above 29 Opening day of bowhunting season for deer and elk in Oregon; CAST for Kids and Take a Warrior Fishing event at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (registration); info: see above 30 Opening day of bowhunting season for deer and elk in many Idaho units; CAST for Kids event at Prineville Reservoir (registration); info: see above
* Check ahead. Some events may not take place due to Northwest governors’ Covid-19 orders. nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2020
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The Heart Of A River, Of A Woman
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COLUMN
H
ow important is it for us to live a life fulfilled by purpose? One where we not only believe in FOR THE LOVE this purpose, but we OF THE TUG know it, we trust it, we By Sara Ichtertz live it? Purpose is not forced. Purpose flows just as naturally as the river herself and I realize no matter the obstacles this life will bring, I must stay as steady as the rivers. Even those rivers who were dammed up (with zero fish passage) by the somewhat naive industrial rise of America: these mistakes of our past sadly are still unrecognized today. We somehow often still turn our heads the other way to this “dam nightmare.” Amazingly, the rivers never stop flowing, despite it all. And the fish never give up; no matter the man-made mountain before them, they swim home. Whether it be in the pages of history or chapters of life, the thought process that she will be better to us altered, forced into something she was not intended to be, is wrong. Not only will it cost her, and those who matter most to her, in the long run, but it will cost those who would control her too.
A RIVER IMPEDED by this huge and
Home is where the heart is, and that’s true of columnist Sara Ichtertz and her beloved Southern Oregon summer steelhead river. (SARA ICHTERTZ)
unforeseen change knows not what to do with this heaviest of masses that is trying to contain her; she knows nothing good will come of this deep down, but it will not budge. She flows just as fiercely as ever in the beginning, not realizing the long-term effects that await her very existence or that of those who rely on her. The damage isn’t noticed overnight, but those who rely on her observe her nourishment is beginning to dwindle. Parts of her that once existed are lost in the depths, and there is no beauty in it. She may very much still be trying to stay steady on her course, but she is not flowing naturally at all now. The environment for which she provides so much love and life is struggling. It no longer has all of her; hell, she doesn’t even have all of her. She is beginning to feel so heavy, so slow, she has almost lost direction even though the stones that are her riverbed are still firmly beneath her.
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COLUMN Little by little, pieces of her are changed so that what made her so beautiful, resilient and resourceful appear to be lost. Those who rely on her learn to adapt to this unforeseen dam, just as she does. However, the river’s way of life is no longer wholesome, isn’t natural, nor is she leading the life she was intended to, and therefore neither are the creatures she loves. She is meant to flow freely for a reason! Without her strength, how can she protect and nourish all that matters? The truth is she cannot. She can survive longer than most with such an obstruction in her life, but the day will come that she must be free.
ONCE SHE’S FINALLY set free again and her endless seams and ripples resurface once more, she is instantly better from that moment forward. Yes, the layers of deep dark silt and debris must work their way out, but she knows everyone involved will reap the benefits of setting her free. Vegetation thrives along the banks of the Rogue River, where it was once covered by the waters of Gold Ray Dam, which was removed in 2010. Sara was moved to see the regeneration of the riparian corridor, which itself is a key part of the riverine environment. (SARA ICHTERTZ)
The sun rises over the mightiest river in the Northwest, and also the region’s workhorse, as it eases toward the ocean. There are some 481 hydropower, irrigation and other dams on the Columbia, some of which helped win World War II, some of which need to go, and the sooner the better. (SARA ICHTERTZ) She is just the one who feels it first. There is great work to be done, but her purpose regains hope. There is nothing she wants more than to regain her intended place in this world, living a life where purpose and passion lead to success. It is not even her own success that matters most to her; she knows she must be balanced, strong and steady to help make the success of those she loves a reality. She can imprint a never-ending supply of goodness to all of those around her. It seems silly not to let her. She survived this long for a reason. Her life is 70 Northwest Sportsman
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meant to intrigue, to give us joy, to help us grow and provide for us in this beautiful one-of-a-kind way. Allowing those who rely on her to truly thrive, she is willing and able to give you all that you could possibly desire exactly the way she is. Unaltered, she could never let you down but rather be your deepest love and your truest stronghold. Force her to be something she wasn’t intended to be and, sadly, it is only a matter of time before her natural gifts she so faithfully gives to you will run dry, even though there may be water all around you.
COLUMN REMEMBERING WHO WE are on the days we feel lost is so important. In relating to the river, I remind myself of her unwavering resilience, which compares to few things on Earth. No matter the amount of time she might be trapped, flooded in a stagnant sorrow, her beauty and purpose still live deep within her soul. The river and the heart of a powerful woman are so remarkably similar, trying to confine and control her is never what is best for anyone. Wild and powerful souls need to be free, just like the rivers. So if fate, timing and passion align with a chance for you to help set even a single river free (from one of the over 75,000 dams over 3 feet high in the United States), do it! The benefits will be plentiful to all, but you will never know until you try. If you give her half the chance to amaze you with her unwavering purpose and devotion, she will. Let her legacy of enrichment live on as it is intended to. My heart is on the river and I couldn’t change it, even if I tried. NS Sara might have caught this summer-run “with not a soul in sight,” except there was – the soul of the free-flowing river it swam up. (SARA ICHTERTZ)
Editor’s note: For more on Sara’s adventures, see For The Love Of The Tug on Facebook.
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FISHING
An angler on the St. Joe River brings a trout to hand. It’s one of the most famous fisheries in the Inland Northwest thanks to plentiful westslope cutthroat, but it wasn’t always that way. (MIKE WRIGHT)
Cutt To The Chase North Idaho’s St. Joe a gem of a river to fish for westslopes and other trout. By Mike Wright
L
ong before the term became part of our common vocabulary, the St. Joe was practicing “social distancing.” The river was referred to, in some circles, as one of Idaho’s best kept secrets. It was rarely, if ever, crowded and the distance between anglers could be measured in miles rather than 6-foot increments. The situation has changed somewhat, but most people still
wouldn’t consider the river to be overly crowded. This is true, even though much of the 140 miles of the St. Joe is paralleled by a wellmaintained, paved highway that provides ample access to the river. In recent years, the overall quality of the fishing has improved dramatically, and with this high quality comes an increased interest in the recreational use of the river. Even so, the St. Joe has not experienced the combat fishing conditions that have befallen
many of the more heralded rivers of Idaho. It is still possible to work a rather large section of water and never encounter another angler. Ahh, social distancing!
THE TRANSFORMATION FROM a scenic mountain stream to a world-class blue-ribbon fishery has not been an easy task. At one time there may have been more harvested timber in the river than cutthroat trout. Idaho Department of Fish and Game nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2020
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FISHING The 140-mile-long St. Joe has its headwaters on the Idaho-Montana border, and for the first 26 miles is a wild and scenic-designated river. From Spruce Creek Campground downstream all the way to the south end of Lake Coeur d’Alene, it is paralleled by Highway 50 and Forest Service roads, making for excellent access and allowing anglers to spread out. (MIKE WRIGHT)
snorkeling surveys done in the 1970s revealed dangerously low densities of westslope cutts. In addition, only 5 percent of the trout were 13 inches or larger, not good for reproduction. It seemed painfully obvious that changes needed to be made in order to resurrect the native trout population. One of the first steps taken was 1978’s designation of a 26-mile section of the upper stream as a wild river, which put it under the protection of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. In 1989, IDFG made the upper 50 miles of the St. Joe a catch-and-release area and then in 2008, C&R regulations for cutthroat were extended to the entire Coeur d’Alene and St. Joe drainages. These regs had a profound effect on the cutthroat population. Where only four or five cutts were found in 76 Northwest Sportsman
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those 1970s survey transects, by the early 1990s, biologists were finding 50 or more of the resilient cutthroat in them. In addition, 30 percent of the fish were 13 inches or longer, which would be a favorable indicator for spawning possibilities. The cutthroat, which were feared to be on the verge of extinction, were now observed in all transect sites. “The shift to catch-and-release rules led to improvements in the cutthroat populations,” says Andy Dux, IDFG’s Panhandle fish manager. “However, increased education, enforcement of regulations and habitat rehabilitation also contributed.” The shift to more conservative and nonconsumptive cutthroat angling regs, as well as other measures taken, has led to the resurgence of the St.
Joe as one of the very finest cutthroat fisheries in the Northwest. Besides westslopes, the St. Joe also contains a small number of rainbow trout and an even smaller – and dwindling – population of bull trout, which must be released immediately. The rainbows are more prevalent in the lower sections of the river, while the bulls tend to prefer the colder waters of the upper river. For several years there was a stocking program for rainbows, but it was discontinued, at least in part to prevent hybridization with the cutthroat. With the change of seasons, the cutts move into deep holes in the lower river to spend the winter, then as the water warms in the early spring they move upstream to spawn in the tributaries. They generally
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FISHING
Surveys in the 1970s found only a handful of cutts in each transect, with nearly all less than 13 inches. But with river protections, catch-and-release regs, education, enforcement and habitat work, numbers have risen to 50-plus per survey site, with six times as many now 13 inches or better. This one was caught last August. (TRAVIS SEABORN)
remain in the upper reaches until fall when they again move downstream for the winter.
THE BEST TIME to begin fishing the St. Joe is after the spring runoff has subsided, which typically happens by June or the first part of July. The water from Avery to St. Maries is easily floatable, while the river above Avery
is more suitable for walk-and-wade fishing. The section between Gold Creek and Prospector Creek provides some excellent pocket water fishing, with long riffles leading into deep holes with an abundance of holding water behind the large boulders that are strewn along the river bed. Floating a Purple Haze, Adams, Golden Stone, Yellow Sally, Green
The lower St. Joe below Avery is easily floatable, with pontoons and drift boats both able to navigate the waters. (MIKE WRIGHT) 78 Northwest Sportsman
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Drake or Chubby Chernobyl around a boulder or through a hole will often elicit a quick, violent response – St. Joe cutthroat are not generally well known for their polite table manners. Elk Hair Caddis, Blue Wing Olives, Humpies and Griffith’s Gnats are also excellent dry fly patterns, as are nymphs such as Pheasant Tails, Princes and Hare’s Ears. The region from Prospector Creek to Turner Flats also provides large sections of riffles and deep holes, with similar fly patterns being highly productive. However, there are two very treacherous whitewater rapids between Gold Creek and Turner Flats that anglers need to avoid. The stretch of water between Packsaddle Campground and Avery is highly productive and thus can sometimes attract more anglers. Below Avery to Marble Creek or Calder is a relatively popular section for drift boats, with longer, deeper runs, but less pocket water. Mike Beard, owner of the Northwest Outfitters Fly Shop (nwoutfitters.com) in Coeur d’Alene,
FISHING suggests using a rubber raft in the upper portion of this section, since there are a number of obstacles and faster water that must be maneuvered around and through. Downstream of Calder and The Cutthroat Resort, formerly known as Big Eddie Resort, the river widens and slows considerably, with warmwater
species becoming the more dominant population. In the summer this is an excellent area for bass and pike fishing. This is also a very good late season and winter fishing area for trout, since the cutthroat begin moving downstream in late September and October. The St. Joe is open year-round, but by fall many of the summer
Much of the watershed was scorched in 1910’s historic Big Burn, a summer of fire caused by drought and fanned by “hurricane-force winds” that August. The scars were still visible in 1938. (KD SWAN, USFS) 82 Northwest Sportsman
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anglers have turned their attention to elk hunting. However, for true hard-core fishermen, this time of the year is quite possibly the best part of the whole season to tie on a fly. September and October is prime time for both the October caddis and the spruce fly, as well as terrestrials such as grasshoppers, ants and beetles, which
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FISHING often appear en masse. Many of these insects provide a more substantial meal for cutthroat needing to bulk up for the upcoming winter. This can, at times, create feeding frenzies.
IF YOU’RE DETERMINED to fish in a pristine, wilderness-like setting with only a remote chance of sharing the stream with another fisherman, the wild and scenic stretch of the St. Joe above Spruce Tree Campground might just be your little slice of paradise. This part of the river offers some truly outstanding fishing opportunities, but getting there can be a challenge, as it is a long hike up the 21-mile St. Joe River Trail to many of the more desirable spots. The best strategy might be to pack in, with the idea of spending a couple days fishing, enjoying the scenery and preparing yourself for the long hike out. There is a fly shop in Avery and some services, but it might be a wise
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decision to stock up on what may be needed, since it can be a long trip back to the nearest sizable town, especially if planning to fish upper regions of the river. There are a number of good campgrounds near the stream, so camping should not be a problem. Carrying a copy of the fishing regulations would also be highly advisable. Even though the vast majority of the fishing on the upper St. Joe is accomplished with flies, lures with single barbless hooks are allowed. Bait fishing is allowed in the lower stretches of the river. While the fish are not particularly leader-shy, the upper river is crystalclear, so fluorocarbon leader and tippet may be advantageous. Some of the trout can measure over 20 inches, but 3X or 4X tippet and leader is usually more than sufficient. A 4or 5-weight, fast-action rod would
also be advisable.
SEVERAL ROADS LEAD to the St. Joe, but the most popular route would be through St. Maries and then turn onto Highway 50 just east of town. Another way would be over Moon Pass outside of Wallace, off I-90 between Spokane and Missoula, then follow the North Fork of the St. Joe down to Highway 50 just east of Avery. A third route would be via St. Regis, Montana, and follow Highway 50 to the mouth of Gold Creek. A great deal of credit needs to go to IDFG for the increase in numbers and size of the cutthroat in the St. Joe. The river has been transformed from a transportation corridor for logging into a cherished destination for fly fishermen, campers, sightseers and other outdoor enthusiasts. It truly is a hidden jewel in the Gem State. Hopefully it will remain this way for many years to come. NS
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FISHING
5 Summer Sleepers Looking for something different to fish for in Western Oregon this season? These species are more than willing to bite. By Randall Bonner
A
s summer sets in, warm weather gives us all a good excuse to go out and get our feet wet and work on a tan. Spring Chinook and summer steelhead dominate the conversation among most Western Oregon anglers, but there’s more than meets the eye to our fisheries, and lots of opportunities far from the crowds or close to home, wherever you may be, to take advantage of. These underrated and overlooked fisheries offer a change of pace and scenery, along with a chance to step out of your comfort zone and try something new.
AN OVERLOOKED KOKANEE fishery that deserves more respect for delivering quality-sized fish is Detroit Lake, where the landlocked sockeye often average 13 to 15 inches. And it’s not uncommon to catch rainbows over 20 inches, holdovers from stocking the previous year. Wild Chinook smolts also inhabit the reservoir, but are protected and must be released. The combination of the three species offers lots of opportunities for a bite and plenty of action, while the conservative limits kind of force you into putting in the time to chase after a quality grade of fish. Piety Knob, an island within view of the launch, is the most popular area for trolling in the early morning hours. However, if you’re
A stoked Emily Wittkop shows off a Detroit Lake kokanee, an overlooked opportunity in the Cascades. (RANDALL BONNER) nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2020
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FISHING
Author Randy Bonner reaches for a smallmouth he hooked on the Calapooia River near Tangent, one of several Willamette tribs offering good bass fishing. (BEN OLSEN)
still chasing your limit by lunch, the recreational boater traffic and wind start to become challenging factors. The two coves on the southwest side of the lake not only offer some sense of escape from both factors, but the plankton that the fish feed on tends to collect at the mouth of those inlets as the day progresses, turning them into hotspots later on.
THE SMALLMOUTH BASS of the Umpqua River offer a world-class fishery. Anglers flock to the Elkton area during the summer for a shot at triple-digit days. However, there are Willamette River tributaries with bronzeback wolfpacks by the dozens and where smaller crafts like kayaks, pontoons and canoes are more practical. 88 Northwest Sportsman
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The Tualatin River is a fairly accessible area for Portland residents to get in on the action. The waters near the mouth are no different in terms of the fish population, but Willamette recreational boat traffic can be problematic. Further south, the Yamhill and Little Luckiamute Rivers offer exceptional smallmouth fishing for McMinnville and Salem residents, and near Corvallis and Albany, the Calapooia River features few boats and more fish. Access is limited to a few random bridges in Tangent, and nearly every mile of river flows through private property and requires portage of your vessel if you’re traveling through, but during lower flows you can cover plenty of water
but still easily row right back to where you put in. One thing all of these tributaries have in common is that the largest populations of smallmouth exist within a few miles of the Willamette, and the further you go from there, the fewer bass there will be. The slowmoving pools contain warmer water than the spring-fed areas upstream, which are havens for coldwater fish.
WHITEFISH ARE ONE of the most underappreciated and challenging species in Oregon, and the Santiam is full of them. Typically confused with pikeminnow and other less desirable species, whitefish are excellent table fare. While they’re typically a bycatch for anglers targeting springers and
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FISHING
Whitefish don’t get the attention they should in the Northwest, but they’re readily available in cooler waters. The trick is use smaller hooks and single eggs or egg imitations. (RANDY BONNER)
steelhead in the Santiam system, fishing specifically for them can be a fun challenge that often produces Chinook and summer-runs as incidental catch. Deeper pools along the upper stretches of the North Santiam offer an opportunity for a wide variety of chrome, but when small single-egg
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presentations fail to work, micro spoons like an 1/8-ounce Kastmaster will catch anything that swims. There’s no shortage of good water along the entire South Santiam system, from the dam to the confluence, either. The trick to getting more whitefish into your creel is downsizing your hooks and
presentation to fit their tiny mouths. With no limit on these fish throughout most of Oregon, they’re fair game to whack and stack.
BROOK TROUT ARE surprisingly excellent table fare and these aggressive fish inhabit many lakes in the Cascades. Any novice angler who can present
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FISHING Say the word “perch” on the Oregon Coast, and the first thing that comes to mind will be surf, but there are yellowbellies to be had in the lakes too. (RANDY BONNER)
He’s from Alabama, but Bonner is no stranger to brookies. The “trout” – they’re actually char – can be found in numerous lakes throughout the Cascades, and they’re willing biters – though so are the mosquitos! (RANDY BONNER)
a dry fly or cast a Rooster Tail can catch one, you just have to know where to look. What’s not surprising is that most of the places on the map that have brook trout are the hardest places to reach. After doing my research a few years ago trying to catch my first brookie on Elk Lake just outside of Bend, I ended up 143 miles away at a completely different lake of the same name near Detroit, and it became the happy accident that seemed to unlock the code to finding brook trout after failed attempts elsewhere. Larger, more popular lakes with recreational boaters and campers are the spots to avoid, while hike-in lakes or waters off lightly trafficked forest roads offer larger populations of fish, and more aggressive biters. You can catch brook trout in both Elk Lakes, but a boat is 92 Northwest Sportsman
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all but a necessity at the former, while signs on the way to the latter may warn against hauling a trailer of any kind because it takes about an hour of rock crawling in four-wheel drive to make it 8 miles to the lake. That’s just one example of many across the Cascades. Many of the more popular and accessible lakes have satellite ponds that tend to be overlooked. If there’s a set of twin lakes anywhere in the Cascades and one has the word “Little” in its name, that’s the one to try first. If no roads lead to the water, there will be no Jet Skis and few to any campers. Packing in a float tube is a huge advantage for accessing areas that big boaters and bank anglers can’t reach.
AND FINALLY, PERCH are another option
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for anglers with minimal gear or experience but who want to fill their freezer. Often called “poor man’s walleye,” yellow perch certainly live up to that in terms of approach to catching them and their quality on the table. You don’t need expensive electronics and a tank of gas to load a stringer. Inexpensive tackle and a few nighcrawlers will do just fine. While perch are fairly common in the Willamette Valley, coastal lakes have the best quantity and quality. Siltcoos, Mercer and Tenmile are easily accessible by boat, but Sutton and Woahink see less traffic. Newport’s Big Creek Reservoir and Toledo’s Olalla Lake have boat ramps, but gas motors are restricted. Yellow perch are aggressive biters but finicky eaters, meaning they tend to chew and spit your bait, which can be frustrating when you swing for the fences to try and set the hook. Use sharp, thin-wire hooks and thread the worm on so that the fish can’t pull it off without inhaling the hook. There’s no limit on yellow perch either, and although they’re smaller than walleye, the amount of effort that goes into cleaning a stringer full of them makes for a satisfying meal at the end of the day. NS
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FISHING
10 Top Warmwater Bites For Summer, Fall What to fish for and when from now through the end of the year.
By MD Johnson
A
few months back, Northwest Sportsman ran a warmwater angling calendar, a monthby-month guidebook, per se, of some of the best fisheries in the world of what many of y’all call spinyrays. Warmwater gamefish. A good read – I know; I wrote it – but it only highlighted a portion of the year. March through July, if memory serves me right. Fortunately, my kind editor has seen fit to allow me to highlight the
remainder of the year. So without further ado, let’s take a look at what’s available from August until after Christmas for those with a passion for everything warmwater.
AUGUST
BONNIE LAKE CRAPPIE
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Danny Garrett, who told me about the awesome bluegill fishing to be had at Lake Fazon outside Bellingham, also informed me of the excellent crappie fishing to be had on
Bonnie Lake, in southwest Spokane County. Though 4 miles long, it’s a relatively small body of water – only 327 acres – and is accessible primarily by boat. Little boats are the ticket at Bonnie as the ramp, located off the interestingly named Hole in the Ground Road on Rock Creek a mile downstream of the lake proper, is rough. And that’s putting it mildly. It’s a simple fishery: light pencil bobbers and tiny 1/16- or 1/32-ounce jigs. Berkley’s Atomic Teasers would work well; their Crappie Nibbles too.
Summer is the time to fish for warmwater species like yellow perch and walleye. Julia and Isaac Murauskas caught these last year at Banks Lake, one of the Northwest’s top destinations for spinyrays and more. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)
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FISHING One of the more unusual fisheries in the Northwest is Bonnie Lake, deep in the Channelled Scablands and which requires a 1-mile paddle up a creek to reach its crappierich waters. (SCHIERMAN SPRINGS, FACEBOOK.COM/INWOASIS)
Local advice is to beware of the afternoon winds, and don’t park in front of farmers’ gates.
LOWER COLUMBIA PIKEMINNOW OK, so the northern pikeminnow fanatics around Cathlamet are going to leave a flaming bag of dog poop in my driveway – please, just not the front porch! – but it’s no secret that the Elochoman Marina has been the hot ticket for boating this scourge of Northwest salmon and steelhead smolts for the past couple years. Numbers from the 2019 season put the Cathlamet check station at 27,329 fish, with the Snake River’s Boyer Park station coming in a distant second with 21,004. Where around Cathlamet, exactly? Bahhhhhhhhhhhhh! You’d have better luck getting me to show you my chanterelle spots in late September, which, just in case you’re wondering, isn’t going to happen. This warmwater opportunity isn’t really about dinner or the thrill of the fight, but turning your catch into cash. Last year, after a bit of a midsummer lull, fishing picked up in late August and saw the best catch per unit effort in September, with as many as 17.7 pikeminnow per angler, according to data at pikeminnow.org. That website includes a map with tips on where to try, as well as gear
and other fishing tips, plus details on how to register for the program.
SEPTEMBER
BANKS LAKE WALLEYE
Trust me. The walleye in Banks Lake – in fact, the walleye pretty much everywhere in the Columbia River system – know that fall’s coming, and they put the feed bag on in September. Yes, I know it’s
deer season and elk season, grouse and early goose seasons, but now’s an excellent time to run a jig, pull a bottom walker, or troll a crankbait, with walkers and tested favorites like Mack’s Lures’ Smile Blades or other traditional nightcrawler harness-type spinner rig. FlatFish might make for a good choice; same with Storm Lure’s Hot ‘n Tots and Berkley’s Flicker Shad. Along with the ’eyes, you’re going to find holdover rainbows, smallmouth, largemouth, yellow perch and crappie. Plenty to do, and plenty to catch at Banks year-round.
WILLAMETTE RIVER CARP
No need to tell Isabella Esquivel there are carp to be caught in the Willamette system – she knows, and then some. She landed this one on the Multnomah Channel. They’re not recommended for eating, but battling? Heck yeah! (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST) 98 Northwest Sportsman
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Have I eaten carp? Absolutely – Wisconsin smoked carp are quite good, especially when combined with cheese curds and ice-cold Pabst Blue Ribbon. Would I eat carp out of the Willamette? I would not. In fact, I’m not sure I’d eat any resident fish out of the Willamette, and let the writer roasting begin! But an 8-pound carp on light tackle will make a believer out of even the hardest of hardcore salmon fanatics. Bank access, small boats, big boats
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Northwest Sportsman 99
FISHING – it’s all there and available, and what’s best, you don’t need $1,800 worth of gear to catch carp. A light spinning outfit, a can of whole kernel corn or commercially prepared dough bait, and a whole lot of Hold On!
OCTOBER
LAKE SAMMAMISH SMALLMOUTH I think it’s safe to say King County’s Lake Sammamish ranks among the top five, if not the top three smallmouth waters in Washington state. And one of the finest such waters in the whole of the Northwest. However, that’s not to say Sammamish smallies are fighting amongst themselves to jump into just anyone’s skiff. It’s a tough fishery at
times, made even more challenging by the almost constant fishing pressure these bass see throughout the course of the Roman calendar. Drop-shots. Cranks. Tubes. Maybe even a first-light topwater bite, if the weather and the water’s right. Experimentation is the key.
LAKE PEND OREILLE POTPOURRI She’s big at more than 92,000 acres, and she’s silly deep – over 1,100 feet in some places – but this popular lake in North Idaho is home to a list of warmwater species that is guaranteed to make even the most jaded angler all giggly. Largemouth and smallmouth both reside, as do some pretty impressive
walleye. They’re not supposed to be there, and sadly, due to their habit of eating more desirable fish, e.g. kokanee, they are frowned upon by many; however, it’s an awesome fishery, particularly in the fall. Catch data from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s walleye lottery program suggests that the waters just south of Sandpoint, off Sunnyside, and the mouth of and a short distance up the Clark Fork River are best from October through December. For more on the program, see idfg .idaho.gov/lake-pend-oreille-anglerincentive-program. Yellow perch, crappie, bluegill and the ubiquitous bullheads all make their home in LPO too.
Putting the po in potpourri, Lake Pend Oreille features stand-out kokanee, rainbow trout, largemouth and smallmouth bass fishing, and its walleye fishery is coming on strong. Nathan and Deborah Sylvester show off a pair from last year. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST) 100 Northwest Sportsman
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HIKE
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FISHING NOVEMBER
GERBER RESERVOIR (OR) CRAPPIE I’m always looking for the next great crappie lake out there in the Northwest, and ol’ Al Gore’s Internet took me to Gerber Reservoir. If you look at a map of “The Middle of Nowhere,” most will show you the whereabouts of Gerber Reservoir, which sits due east of Klamath Falls in Southern Oregon’s Klamath County. Bank access is here-and-there; best to launch a small skiff at the ramp off Gerber Dam Road on the north end, and tool around looking for crappie that can weigh 2 and 3 pounds. Average fish of a pound or so are plentiful, with yellow perch a nice bonus. Look for more on Gerber in an upcoming issue.
LOWER COLUMBIA WALLEYE It may not be the bite you’ll find at the Tri-Cities or Biggs, but for those willing to hunt ’n peck, there are, without question, walleye to be had around the twin cities of Camas and Washougal on the Columbia. It’s a big expanse of similar water, with sand bottoms and here ’n there structure, so it’s a matter
Burbot have a face only a mother could love, but as Mamma will tell you, it’s all about what’s on the inside that counts – in this case, fillets that have been dubbed the “poor man’s lobster” they’re so tasty. (AUSTINSNORTHWESTADVENTURES.COM)
of running electronics and putting in your time. Bottom walkers with ‘crawler harnesses or crankbaits help cover ground. Ough Reef, Reed and Government Islands, and Rooster Rock are all names traditionally associated with ’eyes in this lower part of the big river. Watch out for pilings.
DECEMBER
LAKE ROOSEVELT BURBOT
Bucket list alert! This winter, among The absolute porkiest perch the Northwest has to offer swim in Idaho’s Cascade Lake, with the state record a near-3-pounder. (JORDAN MESSNER, IDFG)
a couple other things, I plan to spend a morning or two on Lake Roosevelt with Craig Dowdy of YJ Guide Service (509-999-0717) catching a whole bunch of burbot. Why burbot? For starters, I’ve never caught one, and I want to see if they’re as ugly and slimy as I’ve always heard. But more so, I want to get them, put them on ice and eat them. “You get water temperatures into the 40s,” said Dowdy, “and it’s game on.” Dowdy went on to tell me about the poor man’s lobster, with “flaky white meat comparable to walleye.” Count me in, sir.
LAKE CASCADE YELLOW PERCH Since January 2016, Idaho’s Lake Cascade north of Boise has put an astonishing five entries in the record books, including a 40-inch tiger muskie (2017) and two largescale suckers (2016 and ’17), as well as three yellow perch ranging from a “mere” 14.5 inches to Tia Wiese’s 16-inch hardwater monster. Skye Coulter’s standing record yellow perch measured 15.63 inches and tipped the scales at – ready? – 2.96 pounds. In 2018, David Ekmark registered a catch-and-release yellow perch measuring an incredible 17 inches. Yeah, I’m going there too! NS 102 Northwest Sportsman
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COLUMN
Time For Doubleduty Day Hikes T
he lazy swaying of the trout’s tail kept the fish in place under the shade of an overhanging brush. I NW PURSUITS had walked along this By Jason Brooks creek several times before but never seen a trout. Most of my
previous endeavors in this city park were to walk my dog, or chase after my kids as they rode their bicycles. But this time I was out getting some fresh air after a few weeks of “social distancing” at home. It was now time to go outside and all of a sudden I was seeing a world that was always there but I just hadn’t noticed it. A quick look through the regulations on the
phone app revealed the creek was open to “selective” fishing, meaning flies and lures but no bait. The limit was two trout daily. It may not have been a “blue ribbon” fishery, but it was right around the corner from my house and was a place I could go for a few hours after work or on a weekend morning and wet a line. Turns out there are several places
A summer hike is not only a great way to exercise, but a chance to explore new waters and woods for fish and game. The author’s son Ryan Brooks and their vizsla look over a backcountry trout lake. (JASON BROOKS) nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2020
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COLUMN
Whether you’re heading into the heights or just to a local park or forest, go prepared with plenty of water and other supplies. Water in bottles also makes a great weight for sticking in the pack for physical conditioning hikes. (JASON BROOKS) like this and most are overlooked. We spend countless hours hiking into the backcountry, researching maps and using Google Earth to plan trips to potential honey holes, yet there are opportunities often within an hour’s drive (or less) that offer a whole new world of experiences. And not just trout lakes but hunting too. Scouring hunting app OnX maps revealed several public tracts of land that I’ve been driving right by on my way to chase grouse. Now I can go after work and get a good hike in and find a few birds.
HIKING IS THE key to finding new hunting
and fishing grounds that are not so out of the ordinary places. This spring, when things started to open back up but no overnight camping was allowed, it forced me to find day hikes and places where I could just get outdoors for an hour or two. That is when I saw the trout in the creek at my local park. Soon I was hiking some Department of Natural Resources lands and finding old buck rubs, along with alder groves where grouse like to perch. My family also joined me and it became a great way to spend time with them and enjoy the outdoors. A day hike that doubles or even triples in
duty for scouting and physical conditioning can be helpful if you plan it accordingly. First is to do a little research on the location you plan on hiking. Start by searching the internet for city and county parks, state and federal lands. If you are looking for a new hunting area, then be sure to check the game regulations as well as local ordinances for firearms restrictions. A few weeks ago we did a family hike up Tiger Summit, a very popular hiking and mountain biking trail near Seattle. There were posted signs saying “no shooting, except during WDFW hunting seasons.” Personally, I wouldn’t hunt up there due to
PLAN THE HIKE TO SUCCEED
M
aps and research are invaluable when it comes to finding a new place and this is true of a double-duty day hike. Be sure to look over access points, parking lots, rules and seasons. Then the best thing to do is set a day aside and go hike it. It might take three, four or more times to finally find a new place that has good fishing or hunting. But each time you head out is a new chance to find that place and each year it might change.
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A GPS is extremely helpful, especially one with a mapping program that shows land ownership. Take a paper map as well and make notes on it as you hike. Keeping notes is a valuable tool when it comes to scouting and learning a new area. As for physical conditioning, I find it way more rewarding to put on a heavy pack and hike a local trail than it is to run on the treadmill in the den of my house. One trick for a day hike is to load your pack with water containers. It makes for
a heavy pack going up the hill, but when you get to the top you can drink and/or pour out the water and lighten the load to head back down. This way you can push your body hard and get fit for an upcoming hunt, yet still make it home in time to sleep in your own bed. It is rewarding to climb up a trail and break a sweat in the fresh air; take the family along and while you lug up the mountain with a heavy pack, they can enjoy the surroundings. –JB
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COLUMN the amount of people activity, but a glance at a map could reveal a few hundred-acre tracts where there are no established bike trails and are maybe a good place to hunt. Other places offer archery-only hunting and some even have extra deer tags, like the islands in Puget Sound. If you are looking for a new place to fish, be sure to check out state parks as well as city and county parks. My new trout stream is in a city park and there are several county parks that have streams running through them too. Saltwater parks, either county or state, offer clamming, crabbing and fishing, if you find the right one. A quick search can reveal what the park offers. National parks are often overlooked when it comes to a day hike that includes some fishing. Here in the Pacific Northwest there are several national parks, recreation areas and monuments that have lakes, streams, rivers and even ocean fishing. Each park will have its own regulations, so be sure to check which park or monument you plan on visiting.
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THE OLYMPIC PENINSULA probably has
You can track your activity with a Fitbit or a GPS, with the latter device also able to tell you where you are and who owns the land for future reference. (JASON BROOKS)
more day hikes with fishing than the rest of the entire Pacific Northwest. This is because it has a few attributes that other places don’t have. An extensive trail system through the national forest as well as the national park will get you started. Since it is a rain forest there are dozens of streams and hundreds of lakes to fish, plus the Pacific Ocean and Puget Sound. The West End might be a stretch for a day trip from the I-5 corridor, but I have personally done this during winter steelhead season, so it can be done. Most of the rivers that get salmon and steelhead returns also have trails along them. Be sure to know where the boundaries of reservations or private timberland are. The Cascades, Blues and Selkirks in Washington, along with the Rockies and Sawtooths in Idaho, and Oregon’s high desert offer good opportunities. But for those stuck in the major cities, you would be surprised how much you have right in your own backyard.
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COLUMN DRESS FOR SUCCESS, AND BE NICE
R
ealize that you might encounter nonhunters or nonanglers while out hiking. This is not the time or place to get into a heated discussion on your beliefs and that is because you will probably be outnumbered, and in reality won’t change anyone’s mind anyway. At least not right then, right there. Camo is nice but not necessary, at least not while out scouting. This is also a great time to break in new gear. Boots need several miles under them to fit and work properly. Lace them up and go up the mountain, and when you return to the truck or car, have a pair of tennis shoes to drive home in. That’s the great thing about a day hike: You can have little comfort amenities waiting for you after the hike is over. Be sure to have the right attitude. You are here to enjoy the scenery and maybe find a new place to hunt or fish. A few years ago I was hiking into an area that my hunting buddy had drawn an elk tag for. The trail I was using was a very popular day hike out of a ski lodge and as I hiked up to meet him with my main wildlife camera and lens strapped on my pack, two ladies coming down the mountain asked what I was doing. I told the truth, sort of, and mentioned I was heading up to photograph wildlife. They didn’t know that a few days later it would include a bull my buddy killed. They were nice and even told me of the animals they had seen that day – a few mountain goats, some grouse and, yes, elk. Even though I was clad in camo, they didn’t mind and as we hiked away from each other they made sure to warn me of a “hunter” who had pitched a tent on the ridge – which happened to let me know my camp was already made! There was no need to be confrontational and we each were able to enjoy our day hike in our own ways. –JB
BERETTA CX4 STORM
Bend, Yakima, Eugene-Springfield, Missoula and Portland all have great fishing rivers flowing right through them. You can take a metro bus to access the many parks along their banks. Years ago I lived in Idaho and visited Boise often. Walking along the river in downtown I would often see people fly fishing on summer evenings. Spokane also has great fly waters right downtown. Of course when it’s an odd-numbered year we know the Duwamish in Seattle will be lined with anglers, but it also gets a good coho run each fall. The idea here is to look around you for someplace you can get to easily, escape for a few hours and then return home. You might find a honey hole, or that the place wasn’t exactly what you had hoped. Either way, you get outdoors and experience a new place and that might lead you to try new techniques such as fly fishing or archery hunting. Staying close to home and taking a hike can lead to something great, and at the very least be a chance to get out, even for just the day. NS
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COLUMN
Make Most Of B10’s 14-day King Opener T
his year’s Buoy 10 season is going to be a short one, with the fishery not scheduled to start until August BUZZ 14, as opposed RAMSEY to the first of the month as in past years. Since the last two weeks of August is when limits are pretty common at the mouth of the Columbia, with many of the 431,000 Chinook predicted likely to return then, the delayed opener is sure to be a busy time for Astoria, Ilwaco and nearby communities. The one Chinook or fin-clipped coho season is scheduled to last only through Thursday, August 27; however, the waters in the area from Buoy 10 to Puget Island will remain open after the 27th for hatchery coho only. As of this writing, the daily limit for coho is one and fishing is expected to last through September 22. While the Chinook fishing should be pretty good anytime during August’s 14day window, ocean tides, as always, will determine the peak times to be on the water and where the salmon might be the most numerous, and biting.
THE BASIC CONCEPT of where salmon can be found here is pretty simple: Fish wanting to enter the river each day collect at the mouth when the tide is outgoing (ebbing) and simply allow the flooding water to carry them into the estuary. Many anglers wait for this pulse of fish near the fishery’s western boundary, the actual Buoy 10, at the beginning of the incoming tide. How far each wave of salmon will flood into the estuary just depends on how big the tide is. A tide book or smartphone app (Ebb
With just two weeks of Chinook retention this season at the mouth of the Columbia, paying close attention to the tides and working the best channels will yield top results. Author Buzz Ramsey and guide Bill Monroe Jr. show off a very nice Buoy 10 fall king. (BUZZ RAMSEY)
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COLUMN The author says that using his company’s Free-Sliding Spreader and Rigging Wires “can significantly reduce the chance of a line tangle.” With the wire as his dropper instead of fishing line, Ramsey says he doesn’t need to space his Fish Flash 20-plus inches away from his spreader. “Although my total leader length – from Fish Flash to bait or spinner – is 50 or so total inches, the monofilament portion is only 36 inches, as the Rigging Wire, complete with a snap and swivel, makes up the first 18 inches. This short section of monofilament is much easier to untangle, should one occur, as compared to one totally made up of mono,” he states. (BUZZ RAMSEY)
Tide is a reliable phone app) can provide you with the timing of the daily tide swings at various locations and tell you the amount of water being exchanged with each in-and-out tidal movement. This is important because a big tide will push more fish farther into the estuary, in which case you will need to move upriver with the school, while a low exchange will cause fish to accumulate in the middle estuary, near Hammond, the west end of Desdemona Sands or along Baker Bay, where they may linger until building tides move them east. Given reasonable water exchanges of, say, 7 feet or more, you will find most fish in the area extending from the west tip of Desdemona Sands eastward past the Astoria-Megler Bridge in both the north and south channel. Given these larger tides, the best bite will likely occur during 114 Northwest Sportsman
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the last half of the flood and first half of the outgoing tide. The Desdemona Sands island separates the dredged South Channel from the North, or false, Channel. Although much of the island is submerged, even at low tide, its western tip is located 2 miles west of Hammond and extends eastward all the way to Rice Island, northeast of Tongue Point. The North Channel, although ultimately a dead end in Grays Bay, maintains good depth over 3 miles above the Astoria-Megler Bridge and can offer success equal to the south, which is a well-maintained shipping channel. Again, assuming a decent exchange of water, your strategy should be to troll upstream, the same direction as the flooding water, during the latter half of the flood and switch directions, going westward, when the tide begins to ebb.
The trolling strategy here is to make milelong tacks before picking up your gear and running back to make another pass. What many anglers do when trolling the North Channel is to parallel the island in 20 to 30 feet of water and make their upriver troll well past the bridge as the flood tide is nearing its peak. Once the tide changes direction and begins to ebb, they turn their boats around and troll westward. In the South Channel, since it is mostly deep water that accommodates container ships, anglers will let their lines out 20 to 30 feet on their linecounter reels, as many salmon will suspend at middepth over deep water.
DAYTIME TIDES LEADING up to and during the August 14 opener are mild, with only 2 feet of exchange. These soft tides will
Spinners can produce as well as and sometimes better than bait, especially in the Columbia estuary’s eastern half. “The 5 1/2 or 6 1/2 Toman or Mulkey squid spinners are popular ones,” says Ramsey, who adds that his go-to colors include red-and-white, chartreuse/green dot, pearl red dot, and Mexican flag. “Set the hook when your rod first bottoms out when fishing a spinner,” he tips. (BUZZ RAMSEY) likely fill the middle estuary with salmon and given the midmorning peak, make for pretty good fishing here. However, decent numbers of salmon might also be found at the top end of Blind Slough in the morning, as the nighttime tide is the bigger one and may carry salmon above the bridge where they could linger in the false channel for a time. This begins to change on August 15, as tides begin to build (5.7 feet of daytime exchange) that will likely push salmon toward the bridge, resulting in some pretty good midday catches given the 12 noon high tide. These midday tides will continue through August 19, with each high tide occurring later in the day to the point where there will be 8 feet of exchange with a 5 p.m. high on Saturday, August 22. This will likely make for some decent afternoon catches at or above the bridge. 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 the bow of your boat facing westward. Realize too that an afternoon wind coming from the west can make the water particularly rough when the tide is outgoing, as compared to when it’s flooding. To avoid the big waves, try timing your afternoon trip back to Oregon when the tide is still flooding or goes slack at its peak. 116 Northwest Sportsman
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In addition, if you fish the evening tide east of the bridge, you may be able to escape much of the rough ride back to port (presuming you’re returning to Oregon) by launching at the East Mooring Basin or John Day boat ramps, rather than Hammond or Warrenton.
THE AFTERNOON HIGH tide will flip to a morning high on August 23, with a 5:30 a.m. peak. That’s pretty early and means you’ll need to get on the water at the crack of dawn, as the best morning bite will likely be during the first half of the outgo. This may result in many early limits , but the bite could begin to fade by midmorning. Keep in mind that the evening high, at 5:30 p.m., is the biggest tide of the day and will likely carry a lot of salmon in with it too. Although morning high tides will continue until the last day of the Chinook season, when we will see a 10 a.m. high, the amount of exchange is several feet compared to the evening tide. Depending on what kind of success you find during the morning high, this might be a time to catch a midday nap before trying your luck near or above the Astoria-Megler Bridge around the evening flood. NS Editor’s note: Buzz Ramsey is brand manager for Yakima Bait Company and a member of the management team. For more, go to yakimabait.com. Find Buzz on Facebook/ Instagram.
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FISHING With the sun rising behind Whitehorse and Three Fingers Mountains, salmon anglers fish Marine Area 9, Admiralty Inlet, on last year’s Puget Sound mark-selective Chinook opener. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)
Area 9-10 Codes
With higher quota, midmonth start again for Central, North Sound hatchery Chinook, here’s where and how to fish for them; other king options open in July too. By Mark Yuasa
T
here’s no need to travel far to experience some of summer salmon fishing’s crowning moments, as many are within an earshot of the hustle and bustle of major Puget Sound cities. Since spring there have been many obstacles in our daily lives to overcome and now it appears optimism is knocking on the doorstep of central and northern Puget Sound.
“I am hopeful the larger catch quotas for hatchery Chinook in Areas 9 and 10 will lead to some good fishing,” says Mark Baltzell, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Puget Sound fisheries manager. “We worked hard during the salmon-season-setting process to make sure summer was our priority.” “Obviously it is a wait-and-see game, but on paper (the preseason model forecast) looks decent for Chinook,” Baltzell said. “An expected
decrease of fishing pressure in Canada should also provide some relief for inside Puget Sound.”
AREA 9 OPENS for hatchery-marked kings from July 16 to Aug. 15 with a catch quota of about 6,529, up from 3,491 in 2019 and 5,400 in 2018. These waters also remain open from Aug. 16 to Sept. 30 for hatchery coho. Good locations include Possession Bar; Point No Point; in front of the Edmonds Marina breakwater; the nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2020
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FISHING Other good choices for hatchery kings opening July 1 are Sekiu to Port Angeles (Areas 5 and 6); southcentral Puget Sound (Area 11); and the San Juan Islands (Area 7). Deep South Puget Sound (Area 13) is open year-round, with kings lurking around Fox and Anderson Islands.
Besides Marine Areas 9 and 10, Chinook fishing opportunities are also available in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the San Juans and South and Deep South Sound this month. (MARK YUASA)
Pilot Point/Eglon area; Double Bluff north to Fort Casey on the west side of Whidbey Island; Marrowstone Island’s east side; and Midchannel Bank off Port Townsend. The Central Sound, or Area 10, opens July 16 to Aug. 31 with a catch quota of 4,149, up from 3,057 in 2019. It opened for coho on June 1 and fishing continues for the species Sept. 1 to Nov. 15. Try Kingston; West Point south of Shilshole Bay; Point Monroe, Skiff Point and Yeomalt Point off Bainbridge 122 Northwest Sportsman
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Island; Jefferson Head; Richmond Beach to the Edmonds oil dock; Allen Bank off Blake Island; Southworth; and the north end of Vashon Island. There could be a brief opportunity for kings in inner Elliott Bay from Aug. 2 to noon on Aug. 5. Anglers should check wdfw.wa.gov for updates. Shore-bound anglers can get in on the Chinook action off the numerous piers scattered across Puget Sound that are open year-round for salmon. The Edmonds Pier has seen a few caught since early June.
THERE ARE MANY factors to catching summer kings and doing some homework before hitting the water will put the odds in your favor. First off, set the alarm clock bright and early to ensure you’re on the water before the crack of dawn, which is often a prime time for targeting migratory kings. Three major techniques are mooching, jigging or downrigger trolling. I’m an avid old-school moocher – a technique invented in Puget Sound more than a century ago. It consists of a banana lead weight (3 to 6 ounces) attached to a tandem barbless hook leader baited with a whole or cut-plug herring. The key to mooching is keeping your line at a 45-degree angle to avoid tangling the weight and leader. Mooching involves dropping your bait down to the bottom and then slowly working the entire water column back to the surface. When you first feel the bite, don’t set the hook and wait until you see the rod tip nose dive into the water. There are definitely moments I’ll change my technique to catch a king. This is especially true when pesky, leader-fraying dogfish are thicker than fleas. The majority of anglers troll downriggers with 12- to 15-pound balls at speeds of 2.0 to 2.5 mph. For gear, try a Gibbs Delta Highliner Flasher with Gold Star plastic squid or Silver Horde Ace Hi Fly or Coyote Spoon. Running a Tomic Plug with no flasher is also highly effective. If you don’t have a downrigger, try a diver to get deeper into the water column. Jigs have gained popularity too; try a Point Wilson Dart, Dungeness Stinger, Buzz Bomb or Crippled
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FISHING
They may not be feeding as ravenously as resident Chinook, or blackmouth, but ocean-returning kings can be tempted to bite whole or cut-plug herring, either mooched or trolled. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)
Herring. Change out the treble (illegal in local waters) for a tandem or single barbless 3/0 or 4/0 hook. Unlike winter Chinook, which tend to lurk right off the bottom, summer kings are on the move and can be found in the upper and middle water column at daybreak. As daylight gives way, there’s no doubt some will be found near or on the bottom. Tidal influence will determine how successful you’ll be at catching kings. Looking at tide charts for the Edmonds area, the July 16 opener should provide the maximum opportunity on a good morning outgoing tide with slack tide occurring at 8:40 a.m. The high tide change that day happens at 4:42 p.m. The morning outgoing tide also looks good for July 17-20, but then switches to a better afternoon tidal exchange on July 21, allowing anglers to fish up until sunset on a rising tide. While sticking to the “rules” increases your odds, there are times when simple dumb luck prevails and a hungry king grabs your bait when you least expect it!
FOR THIS SEASON, WDFW staff is emphasizing the importance of being cooperative with the “new norm” of dockside and ramp sampling. “We’ll really need the help when it comes to sampling and social distancing because if anything should 124 Northwest Sportsman
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Besides plugs like a Tomic, a hoochie behind a flasher is another solid option. This basic setup (below) accounted for Tim Lennox’s hatchery king and two others in three passes at Point No Point early last August. (ANDY WALGAMOTT, BOTH)
happen or get out of hand, we may end up hitting the pause button,” Baltzell said. “In some places we plan to have sampling stations where anglers can bring their fish. Angler cooperation will be very important not just for the safety of our staff, but the fishermen themselves. We’ll do our best adapting to the changing times. Our biggest fear is not getting enough data and being forced to close down early.” WDFW intends to post a news release on summer salmon fishing guidelines. Watch for it at wdfw .wa.gov/fishing. NS
FISHING Chinook are open off the Washington Coast and while some will be found close to the beach (see last issue), many will be well out in the Pacific, with downriggers the best way to target them. (DAVE ANDERSON)
Going Deep For Offshore Kings Yes, some Chinook will be caught right off the beach, but when the action’s offshore, here’s how to tap into it. By Dave Anderson
M
ooching can be highly effective at times for kings, but being able to target them with downriggers is a lot easier and my go-to method when fishing deeper water offshore. Here are my tips, gear
and setup for ocean Chinook.
THERE ARE A few different electric downriggers on the market, but I prefer using a high-speed Scotty 2106. I will run a 20-pound downrigger ball using the Offshore Tackle Pro Snap Weight Clips. These clips have an
extra-heavy spring tension and are heavier duty than the Scotty weight clips, which will work but I prefer the heavier duty clip since they seem to prevent false releases. By using a 20-pound ball, you will also not have nearly as much blowback as you might see with lighter ones, and nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2020
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FISHING
Author Dave Anderson’s offshore strategy starts with “highly effective and easy to use” hoochies and flashers. “You do not have to always worry about checking or losing your bait, which is why this is my go-to setup,” he states. (DAVE ANDERSON)
you can target bait and arches much easier using your sonar. My preferred downrigger rod and reel setup is the G.Loomis 1263-2C medium rod with a Shimano Tekota 600LC and 25-pound monofilament. All my downrigger rods are 10-foot-6 and I prefer the medium action. Before I deploy that gear there are a few things I consider. First and foremost, I will contact a few of my friends to see if they have any recent reports on where fish have been caught. I will also look for any commercial boats in the area. It is easy to spot where fish are being caught based solely on the amount of boats in the area. My number one tip when fishing offshore will always be to create a good network of friends and people you can contact and share information with.
MY INITIAL SETUP for targeting kings offshore will almost always be an 11inch flasher and a hoochie. The only exception is if I have a report that something different is working better. The complete setup consists of a 32- to 36-inch leader with a hoochie 128 Northwest Sportsman
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tied up using 40- to 50-pound fluorocarbon with two 4/0 Gamakatsu Big River hooks. This is all rigged up behind a flasher. Hoochies are highly effective and easy to use. You do not have to always worry about checking or losing your bait, which is why this is my go-to setup. My favorite colors are green spatterback, green glow and purple haze. I will also use some sort of scent on the hoochie as well. I prefer Pro-Cure’s Bloody Tuna and Anise Krill or Smelly Jelly’s Pro Guide Formula Scent in anchovy-salt glitter or herring. There are so many different flashers on the market, but those I have had the most success with are Pro-Troll lighted flashers. Here are my preferred colors: purple blaze, herring flash, mood racer, morning mist and green hornet. I also have several of the discontinued Q-Cove flashers in the colors polar orange and nuclear crush that I use on a regular basis when targeting kings.
IF HOOCHIES AREN’T working I will try a spoon on one rod and bait on
the other downrigger. I will also target different depths based off of what I am seeing on my sonar. I am specifically looking for bait balls and arches. Each downrigger will be run at different depths until I find a consistent pattern among hookups. Once I hookup, I always try to stay in gear when running the boat as well. If I switch out to a spoon, I will typically run Silver Horde Kingfisher in 3½- and 4-inch sizes. My preferred colors are cookies and cream, cop car, herring aide and Irish cream. If I switch out to bait, I will run it behind the 11-inch flasher. I will rig my herring whole anywhere from 4 to 5 feet behind the flasher. I prefer the herring to be a little further back, but you can also run them closer if you want to. The main benefit to running a herring whole is that you will not have to worry about blowing the bellies out and they will always spin if rigged properly. Ninety percent of the time I will use green label herring and cure them in Mike’s Brite and Tight herring brine in the clear color. One bottle will cure about three flats of herring. My leader will be at least 20- to 30-pound fluorocarbon with a 5/0 hook up front and a 4/0 in the back. I always run Gamakatsu octopus hooks with prepinched barbs for my herring setup. Here is how I rig my herring whole: 1) Take out the front hook and run it through the hard smile portion of the herring’s mouth from one side to the other. 2) Run the front hook all the way through the smile portion on the herring. 3) Flip it back around, pinning the hook through the stiff part of the spine until the hook just barely comes through the other side of the herring. I will always test the rig on the surface to make sure the herring has the spin I am looking for. I do this with a bit of caution and make sure I am properly holding on to the rod. I have had salmon crush the bait on the surface while testing it several times and when I am getting ready to throw it in the clip on the downrigger.
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FISHING There are several ways to rig a whole herring, and whichever you run the key is a good tight spin that imitates a wounded baitfish. (DAVE ANDERSON)
I also make sure to have a pair of diver rods ready to go as well. You can still catch good kings on the surface even when fishing offshore. There have been several times when I have had diver rods outproduce the downriggers offshore. My diver setup is basically straight out the back with a 5- to 6-foot leader rigged with whole herring and attached to a Delta Diver. I typically will run the diver 13 to 21 feet down. Nothing beats the hit on a diver rod by a 20-plus-pound king right on the surface. It is one of the most violent bites, with the drag getting pulled immediately. One of my favorite
Anderson’s wife Kristina shows off a nice Chinook from a past ocean salmon season. This year’s began in late June, but there’s a wrinkle for Westport anglers: Marine Area 2 is only open Sunday through Thursday. Elsewhere it’s open daily. The coastwide Chinook quota is 26,360, similar to last year, but only 26,500 coho are available, a sharp decrease from 2019. (DAVE ANDERSON)
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things to see and hear is a rod buried and the clicker screaming.
GOOD LUCK OUT there and I hope that I was able to provide a few helpful tips so you can be successful targeting kings offshore this summer. If you do not have a boat but want to take part in this great fishery, I highly recommend booking a charter on one of the six-pack boats out of Westport (charterwestport.com). Not only will you have a great time, but you will also learn a lot. The Pacific Ocean is a magical place and we are incredibly lucky to have it right in our backyard. NS
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COLUMN
Young Idaho anglers head out for a chance to catch rockfish and lingcod off the Oregon Coast. Given Covid-19 and an outbreak just to the south, their Depoe Bay-based charter required them to wear masks, fish only with the rod they were given and take other preventative measures. (RANDY KING)
Loving To Fish In The Time Of Covid D
“ CHEF IN THE WILD By Randy King
a d ? ” came the question from the back seat. “Yeah, bud?” I said, adjusting my now numb left butt
cheek. “What was the town we are fishing out of again?” my middle son asked.
“Newport; what up?” I replied. “Well, we might want to look at that …”
LIKE MANY IDAHOANS who can’t afford Hawaii I try to make a trip each year to Oregon’s Central Coast. As a desert rat I don’t see the ocean all that much, but I love the breeze in my face, the smell of the salt and the clam chowder from Mo’s. The annual migration is a must.
But I was not sure about being able to go this year, Covid-19 and all. I changed my mind when all of our other plans began to get cancelled. My eldest son’s senior trip to Europe, cancelled. My middle son’s summer trip to DC, cancelled. My youngest boy’s creative writing summer camp was, you guessed it, cancelled. Good news was, I was only out the
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COLUMN bulb on each clam. That is the gut sack; you want to pinch that and pull it off. Then wash the exposed end free of any remaining green/grey/black stuff. Wash them again. Fourth, keep the abductor and cleaned section in a separate bowl until you are ready to use them. While the process is very easy, it can take a little bit of time for 72 clams. Good things require work, and these clams are delectable. 72 purple varnish clams, cleaned 1 pound diced lingcod meat
Lingcod and purple varnish clam chowdah. (RANDY KING)
LINGCOD VARNISHES UP OREGON CLAM CHOWDER
A
t press time and until further notice, clamming on the Oregon Coast was closed to nonresidents. That said, pre-Covid-19 I had a chance to dig some purple varnish clams in Alsea Bay and save them for a recipe. I specifically targetted this species because they offer the highest bag limit in Oregon and are very easy to dig. They reside in all parts of the intertidal zone. I clammed the north side of the bay in Waldport and had my limit in the bucket in less than an hour. I dug three holes in total, and the low tide that day was a +1.8. I found purple varnishes tend to congregate in larger colonies than other clams. It makes it easy to get a limit. Also, getting a limit is not something that you should feel that bad about. They are an
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invasive species. You are kinda doing the environment a favor by removing them. They’re also delicious. To cook them follow a couple easy, if time consuming, steps for success. First, wash the crap out of them. Find the “sand” clams in the batch. Whenever I cook clams, I am reminded of the time I made risotto with a dead clam that was full of sand because it looked alive. Sandy rice is not a good dish. It was tossed out. All the digging and work, wasted. Never again. Second, bring a pot of water to a boil to pop open the shells on the clams. It should only take 20 to 30 seconds to get them all open. Remove them from the hot water and cool them in cold water from the sink. Third, remove the meat from the shell. When you do, note the green/grey/black
½ pound of bacon, sliced 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 medium onion, diced 1 stalk celery, diced ½ cup pancake mix (or flour) 4 small potatoes, diced ½ teaspoon celery seed 1 11-ounce jar clam juice 1 16-ounce can chicken stock 2 quarts cream 1 tablespoon dried oregano Salt and pepper After cleaning the clams as described above, in a heavy-bottomed six-quart soup pot add the diced bacon and cook until crispy. Next add the garlic and cook until fragrant on medium heat. Then add the onion and celery. Cook until the onion turns translucent. Next add the pancake mix and stir it around until it forms an onion and bacon paste. Then add the potatoes, celery slices, clam juice, chicken stock and cream. Reduce heat to low and let simmer until the potatoes are cooked through. Season with salt and pepper. At this point you have a decent potato chowder on your hands. Next add the clams and the lingcod to the simmering soup base. Stir them in and let the soup return to a simmer. Turn off soup and let sit for five minutes for the fish to finish cooking. Serve in a bowl with a large hunk of Northwest-made sourdough bread and butter. Enjoy. For more wild fish and game recipes, see chefrandyking.com. –RK
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COLUMN insurance money. Buy the insurance, people. So we decided that when things became safer, we would take a road trip. We gathered several other seniors from my son’s class (one had a trip to Japan cancelled, another a trip to Europe scrubbed) and headed off to the coast. I wish I had had a prescription for Xanax for the drive, but we made it to the Pacific. Some of the boys had never caught a fish, so of course we had to hit the rockfish
The trip to Newport, Depoe Bay and Waldport might not have been as grand as overseas vacations and other plans busted by coronavirus, but it will be one the boys will never forget. (RANDY KING) 136 Northwest Sportsman
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charters that dot the Central Coast. This is a tale of two charters, one in Newport and the other in Depoe Bay, both doing a fantastic job in their respective areas and in these unusual times.
UNFORTUNATELY, AS WE arrived in town, a Covid-19 outbreak in Newport hit the news. Our plan had been to fish with the charter service based in the building next door to the shrimp factory with the biggest outbreak in Oregon. Roughly 130
out of the 330 people at the plant tested positive for coronavirus. So I called Newport Tradewinds and cancelled our charter. Given the very short notice, when I called I was expecting a plea to go out anyway, an argument or at least some sort of pushback. Instead I heard, “We understand, thanks for letting us know. We hope you come back when this all clears up.” No drama, no pleading, nothing but understanding and professionalism. I will
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COLUMN
A unique mask hides author Randy King’s smile, but rest assured he was happy with his lingcod and the rockfish he and his crew brought back to shore. (RANDY KING)
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fish with them when this clears up. Instead we took the boys on a highwind/rough-sea day out of Depoe Bay. Oof, bad idea. Every person in my group got sick. Five out of six of us chummed the fishes. But we left with our limits of rockfish and a single lingcod. As for Covid-19 precautions, the charter was explicit – wear masks while on the ship. Make sure you wash your hands. Keep only the pole we assign you. Don’t be an idiot, respect what is happening around you. They did a great job of keeping us safe. Back at the harbor five hours later a gaggle of seasick kids and I departed the boat, happy to be on land again, not really caring about the haul of meat we had taken. I didn’t feel like cleaning fish, so I paid the man at the dock to cut up mine. It was $1 each, well worth the money. After the fishing, a nap and some pizza I got a second wind. I needed to feel normal again. I grabbed my knife, a potato and started chopping food up. NS
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COLUMN
The .410-bore Is Anything But Boring N
or thwest Sportsman editor Andy Walgamott must be psychic, and he’s partly to blame for ON TARGET this month’s subject By Dave Workman matter because as this column was “going into production,” he forwarded a news release regarding a couple of new shotguns in a really old chambering that has haunted me since my early teens. I was planning a short treatise on the .410-bore, as it dates back more than 150 years and still has what it takes for small game and upland birds, but the material he sent compelled me to expand.
BORN IN ENGLAND, the .410 is a terrific quail gun, and I suspect someone with fast reflexes could do quite well against mourning doves. When I was a school kid well into the last century, one of my best pals was a guy who had a .410 double-barrel side-by-side that may have been a Stevens, with which he was rather proficient. Over the years, I wanted one, but could never find a used specimen that was both affordable and in reasonably good condition. Then along came a S/S double from Stoeger called the Uplander, with double triggers. I procured one from the manufacturer, wrote a review in one of the gun periodicals and mailed a check. Nowadays there are some new singleshot models with familiar brand names, and they deserve a close-up look. First up is the Ranger series from Dickinson Arms. If you like single-shot smoothbores, one of these ought to be love at first sight. While Ranger models are also available in 12-, 20- and 28-gauge
Author Dave Workman traces his admiration for the .410 back to a school chum who “was rather proficient” with the light shotgun that has origins in England and a practical use in his beloved grouse woods. Fun fact: “It’s not a ‘gauge’ like other shotguns, but a true .410-caliber firearm,” Workman notes. (DAVE WORKMAN, BOTH) nwsportsmanmag.com | JULY 2020
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Dickinson’s recently introduced Ranger family of shotguns includes Adult, Youth and Survival models, multiple gauges, features like ventilated rib barrels and – as shown here – Turkish walnut and synthetic stock options. (DICKINSON ARMS)
chamberings, the .410 caught my eye. This shotgun has a satin silver receiver, 28-inch blued vent-rib barrel (in all chamberings), exposed hammer and checkered Turkish walnut stock and forearm. Another version has a black synthetic stock and forearm with a Schnabel-type shape, but otherwise is the same gun, complete with sling swivels fore and aft. Dickinson Arms offers a Youth model in all four chamberings, with a 24-inch barrel with walnut stock and forearm. A third version is called the Ranger Survival model with a black synthetic stock and 18.5-inch barrel, again in all four chamberings. “This is an excellent first shotgun for those getting into the sport, as well as for more experienced shooters looking to add something new and unique to their collections,” said Tim Bailey of Dickinson Arms in a news release. “In the Dickinson tradition, this new Ranger Series has a look and feel of quality, despite the fact that it is so affordable. It may be somebody’s first shotgun, but they will own it and treasure it for years to come, because it is built to last and it’s fun and easy to shoot.” For more, log onto dickinsonarms.com.
SAVAGE ARMS IS a brand name that’s been around for generations, and this year is marketing the Stevens 301 series, which includes a Turkey model. Yep, it’s a .410 with a 3-inch chamber, break action, and it comes with a 26-inch barrel and removable one-piece rail for mounting an optional red dot or other optic. The barrel comes with a bead front sight compatible with the TruGlo sight system, and it is fitted with an extra-full choke. Camo finishes include Mossy Oak Bottomland or Mossy Oak Obsession. The stock and forearm are both synthetic, and one model even has a thumbhole stock. All stocks are fitted with QD sling swivel studs. Also featuring an exposed manual hammer, the Savage has a manual hammer block safety. “We built the 301 Turkey guns around Federal’s Heavyweight TSS turkey loads,” Jessica Treglia, senior brand manager at Savage Arms, said. “These shotguns are light, which makes them easy to hold still while you’re calling in birds. The 26-inch barrel produces a tight pattern, which allows hunters to take ethical shots at longer ranges. If you’re up to the challenge of hunting with a .410, you’ll love the 301 Turkey models.”
SO WHAT’S UP with the .410? It’s a shotgun that has earned its place on any gun rack. I’ve hunted rabbits, shot ruffed grouse, and even the larger blues. It’s a great starter gun for new shooters, with very little recoil. While others consider it stylish to hunt with a 28-gauge, the .410-bore (it’s not a “gauge” like other shotguns, but a true .410-caliber firearm) is in a class by itself. I hunt with 3-inch shells, although 2½-inchers are available. Loaded with No. 6 or 7½, you’ve got an excellent bunny banger, and if you can teach a kid to shoot clay targets with a .410, they will have no trouble smashing clays with bigger bores. You can shoot slugs through a .410 and they’ve got enough horsepower to knock down a deer at close range. The .410 has also been adapted to the self-defense market with the introduction of revolvers by Taurus and Smith & Wesson that also fire the .45 Colt. Steel loads are available and I’ve hunted with them, and every major ammunition manufacturer produces .410 loads. As mentioned earlier, the .410 has been around actually since the late 1850s, according to one online history. Modern
Savage’s Stevens 301 series now includes a Turkey Model in .410 and is chambered for 3-inch shells. (SAVAGE)
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COLUMN
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Among the most notable .410s was the Depression-era H&R Handy-Gun, a single-shot pistol with an 8- or 12.25inch barrel. It was “a dandy little grouse killer for families that needed meat for the dinner table,” according to Workman family lore. (WIKIPEDIA)
centerfire shells came along in 1874 or thereabouts, and by 1900, this smallbore shotshell round was getting very popular. One of the great historical travesties came in 1934 when the National Firearms Act classified the H&R Handy-Gun, a singleshot .410 pistol available with either an 8- or 12.25-inch barrel, as an “Any Other Weapon” requiring special registration.
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That was stupid. During the early 1900s, this remarkable pistol was, according to my grandfather, a dandy little grouse killer for families that needed meat for the table. It had a deep blue finish on the barrel and the receiver may have been color case hardened. The pistol grip was checkered, it had an exposed hammer, a rather nondescript forend, bead front sight and
there was a holster. The closest thing to the Handy-Gun these days is the old Snake Charmer, but it had a barrel measuring just over 18 inches and that’s not the same thing as the Handy-Gun. One might also find some satisfaction with the Thompson/Center Contender with the .45 Colt/.410 barrel (not sold in California). NS
COLUMN RELOADING CORNER: ON THE .224 VALKYRIE
A
rguably the hottest thing to come along since the 6.5 anything is the .224 Valkyrie. I recently had the opportunity to test a bolt-action Savage rifle chambered for this little sizzler. Ballistically, the cartridge is awesome, capable of launching a 50-grain bullet at more than 3,500 feet per second with the right propellant. A prairie dog or coyote on the receiving end is in terminal trouble, and with the right bullet, a dog town could be turned into a mess. Now, what’s a handloader supposed to do? Celebrate, perhaps. I consulted the 2020 edition of Hodgdon’s Annual Manual, which contains recommended loads for seven different bullet weights and types. More than 80 suggested loads are offered using different Hodgdon propellants, listed on pages 78 and 79 of the Annual Manual. All tested loads were fired from a 24-inch barrel cut with a 1:7-inch rifling twist, which seems to be the favored twist rate. The .224 Valkyrie is easily a 500-yard cartridge. It’s a flat-shooting little devil based on the 6.8 SPC, and with the right combination of rifle and scope, a shooter with steady hands and a good rest can really reach out and touch something. Could someone conk a Wyoming pronghorn with this round? You betcha. A skilled rifle shooter could deck a deer with a neck shot any day of the week. It uses a small rifle primer, the case trims to 1.590 inches and overall cartridge length is 2.26 inches. The heavier the bullet, the slower it’s going to travel. –DW
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The latest hot round, the .224 Valkyrie (left, next to a .223 Remington) recently impressed the author while test-firing a Savage bolt-action. He terms it “easily a 500-yard cartridge.” (DAVE WORKMAN)
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COLUMN
Just Say ‘Whoa’
Routinely teaching your dog to “whoa” during everyday life will pay off come time for the hunt. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
A
s a kid I grew up watching the cartoons of the late 1960s and ’70s. I loved Bugs Bunny, and a favorite character from those Looney Tunes shows GUN DOGGIN’ 101 was Yosemite Sam, the By Scott Haugen ruff, gruff, outdoorsy fellow who was always on a mission. And no matter what animal he was riding – horse, mule, camel, elephant – he could never control them. Sam would belligerently shout to get the critters moving, but could never stop
them on command. “Whoa!” he’d start. Quickly the number of whoas increased, as did their intensity. Eventually, Sam relied on force to get the animal to obey, followed by an uncontrollable shout of, “When I say whoa, I mean whoa!”
AS I WRITE this, we’re in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. Like you, I’ve spent a great deal of time with my dogs the past two months – 24 hours a day, to be exact. While working with Kona, my 4-yearold pudelpointer, a few days ago, I caught myself channeling my inner Yosemite Sam, saying, “When I say whoa, I mean whoa!” I laughed out loud, then looked around
to make sure no one saw me. I turned red, broke out in a sweat and couldn’t believe I had resorted to that childhood expression. It was the biggest slap in the face a dog trainer could receive, and nonetheless it was self-inflicted. Teaching your dog to “whoa” is one of the most important commands it will ever learn. A firm whoa is a command that allows us to redirect our dog’s attention and results in the dog becoming instantaneously steady. It’s a tool we use to influence, control and protect our dogs. If you’ve been cooped up with your dog at home, you’ve likely noticed it follows you everywhere. It won’t take its
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COLUMN eyes off you. It wants to know what you’re doing, where you’re going and what it can do to please you. It’s almost a nervous nature that consumes the dog, and this is a perfect time to instill the whoa command.
The whoa command should stop a dog on the spot and overpower any urge it has to continue creeping forward, no matter how enticing its target. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
WHAT I’VE LEARNED through living in isolation with my dogs is that every moment is a teachable one. A dog’s learning should not be relegated to a set place at a certain time each day. When it comes to teaching dogs, every moment is valuable, especially when it comes to whoa. If the dog tries busting through the door when you get home, whoa it, and that will allow you to lead the way. If it jumps into or out of the truck before you command it to, whoa it. If it jumps on guests or others, noses up to the dinner table, gets too close to food while you’re cooking in the kitchen, chases birds at the window, struggles when putting on its collar or digs into its food bowl sooner than you’d like, whoa it. If a dog’s not taught what to do, or what not to do, it’ll never learn.
WITH KONA’S RECENT uncharacteristic breaking of whoas while in the field, it didn’t take long to discover what was happening. You see, we’d been living in remote Alaska for around nine months, in the tiny town of Hyder, which has a population of less than 50. We weren’t restricted to being indoors, but this past winter we received over 25 feet of snow, and as a result, it was the least amount of hunting my dogs have experienced in their lives. As the snow slowly melted and training could resume outdoors, the biggest migration of birds I’ve ever seen started moving through the region. I’m talking thousands of birds. These birds became a distraction during outside training times, so I failed to gain control of Kona when it started. As a result of my negligence, it took some time and effort to reteach Kona how to whoa when his adrenaline was flowing. Fortunately, the dog quickly caught on. Teaching your dog to whoa can be done many times a day, in many places. If you’re around traffic, teach your dog to whoa and heel when walking. Never let your dog bust out of the truck the moment 154 Northwest Sportsman
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you open the door, for they could burst into traffic or jump right into a dogfight if there are other canines around. When going up and down the stairs, don’t let your dog pick up speed and rush ahead of you. Instead, control it with a whoa and you keep the lead. Anytime your pup gets excited, whoa it.
When someone knocks at the door, when you’re vacuuming the floor, when a cat runs by, when squirrels and birds are on the bird feeder; these are all opportune times to use the whoa command.
TEACHING YOUR DOG to whoa does not have to be limited to formal training
COLUMN Safety is a primary reason to teach your dog to whoa. When around traffic, other dogs or in snake country, you want your dog to immediately freeze when it hears you give the whoa command. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
sessions either; many times a day it can be achieved spontaneously. The key to successfully teaching your dog to whoa is you getting the results you want. Is a two-step whoa OK with you? Is a creeping whoa acceptable? Ideally, for me the whoa command should result in an instantaneous stop on the spot. No creeping, no false steps, no putting the ears down and trying to get away with something they know they shouldn’t. I want my dogs to stop on a dime – period – no matter what they’re doing. Teaching your dog to whoa will pay big dividends when on the hunt. It’ll keep it from chasing big game or getting tangled with skunks, porcupines or snakes, and it will result in a well-behaved dog, wherever you go. When it comes to teaching your dog to whoa, consistency is key, and the time to start is now. NS Editor’s note: To watch Scott Haugen’s series of puppy training videos, visit scotthaugen .com. Follow Scott on Instagram and Facebook.
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