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Sportsman Northwest
Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource
Volume 11 • Issue 11
Your Complete Hunting, Boating, Fishing and Repair Destination Since 1948.
PUBLISHER James R. Baker EDITOR Andy Walgamott THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS Randall Bonner, Douglas Boze, Jason Brooks, Scott Haugen, MD Johnson, Randy King, Rob Lyon, Jim Pex, Buzz Ramsey, Dave Workman, Mike Wright, Mark Yuasa EDITORIAL FIELD SUPPORT Jason Brooks GENERAL MANAGER John Rusnak SALES MANAGER Katie Higgins ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Mamie Griffin, Mike Smith, Paul Yarnold DESIGNERS Celina Martin, Jake Weipert
Party on Pontoons August Specials!
PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS Kelly Baker, McKenna Boulet OFFICE MANAGER Katie Aumann INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGER Lois Sanborn WEBMASTER/DIGITAL STRATEGIST Jon Hines ADVERTISING INQUIRIES ads@nwsportsmanmag.com CORRESPONDENCE Email letters, articles/queries, photos, etc., to awalgamott@media-inc.com, or to the mailing address below.
Party on Pontoons August Specials!
ON THE COVER Coho are in the spotlight this summer as the region’s best salmon fishery, particularly at Buoy 10, the Lower Columbia and southern Puget Sound. Chad Smith caught this brace last year near Everett. (YO-ZURI PHOTO CONTEST )
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CONTENTS
VOLUME 11 • ISSUE 11
71 PUGET
SOUND PINKS
Never fear, the odd-years are (still) here! While Puget Sound’s pinks are at a low ebb in their up-and-down cycle, hundreds of thousands of the little scrappers are returning to the region. Mark Yuasa details where and how to catch them from the Straits to the streams of the inland sea.
FEATURES 81
NEW SERIES! ROUGH SEAS: HIGH PRESSURE AT THE HIGH SPOT Fishing one of Southern Oregon’s best halibut holes, the Bandon High Spot, in an open-bow boat nearly turned disastrous for three men. Jim Pex, who was on the water that day, shares their tale in this new series.
93
DOWN THE JOHN DAY Winding for over 280 miles through Central Oregon, the wild and scenic John Day is a fave of bass anglers like Rob Lyon. He also likes to come back in autumn for its upland bird hunting and wild steelhead fishing. Hop aboard with Rob and scout the river as he and his pals run it from the newer Thirtymile Creek access down to Cottonwood.
111 SET YOUR SIGHTS ON SELKIRK TROUT Solitude, scenery and scrappy fish are the rewards for getting up into this North Idaho mountain range this time of year. Mike Wright meets us at the trailhead for an alpine adventure to 10 glacially sculpted gems.
(BRIAN LULL)
119 HUNTING FALL BEARS Fall bears are a secondary thought for many big game hunters chasing deer and elk, but for Douglas Boze they’re a passion that takes him to the highest heights and widest appreciations for the bounty the Northwest offers. He shares thoughts on hunting mountain bruins. 127 THE EARLY BIRDS OF LATE SUMMER Summer’s final weeks mark the start of bird hunting season in these here parts, and perhaps nobody knows that better than MD Johnson. He has tips for forest grouse, mourning doves and pulls aside Bill Saunders for advice on September geese.
145 MENTORING WATERFOWLERS, PART II: HITTING THE FIELD Following on his call to action last issue, longtime duck and goose hunter MD Johnson lays out how to be a good instructor for newbies. You’ll want to brush up on your gun safety, waterfowl identification and ethics – not to mention prepare for about a bazillion and one questions as you embark on this noble quest to keep our waterfowling alive.
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 © 2019 Media Index Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher. Printed in U.S.A.
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51
BUZZ RAMSEY:
Give 600,000 Coho A Chance Coho fishing opportunities at Buoy 10 and the Lower Columbia should last well into September as a solid run of late-returning silvers will follow on half a million early-timed fish. Buzz breaks down how to catch your share of one of our region’s fall salmon highlights this season.
(BUZZ RAMSEY)
COLUMNS 57
THE KAYAK GUYS: Parting The Fog For Columbia Estuary Coho No doubt about it, with weather pushing in right off the ocean, heavy boat traffic and big tidal swings and currents, Buoy 10 can be a hairy place to fish out of a little kayak. Safety-conscious Scott B. details how to predict when the fog will burn off, as well as shares tips for catching hatchery silvers in the riplines.
61
SOUTH SOUND: Salmon To Catch, Bears To Match Wits With Chinook, coho and pinks are on the mind of South Sounders as good numbers of salmon return to the region’s rivers, including 100,000-plus to the Puyallup, where the state’s first boat slide is also coming online. But Jason also draws our eyes to the woods, where black bears will be on the prowl and this year’s South Cascades hunt opens earlier than past seasons.
103 CHEF IN THE WILD: How To Take The ‘Muddy’ Taste Out Of Catfish For some, catfish just don’t taste good, but they make a great meal when filleted right. Chef Randy sharpens his knife for a tutorial on shaving meat off whiskerfish. 141 GUN DOG: Looking To Join The Kennel Club? “When it comes to choosing a dog kennel, don’t let price be a factor, as your four-footed hunting partner’s safety and comfort are the top priorities.” So writes Scott H., who also shares why you’ll find two companies’ models in the back of his rig as he and his gun dogs head for the marshes and fields. 159 ON TARGET: 6 Things You Need To Know About Grouse (And A Few On Mourning Doves) With ruffies and gray rockets opening Sept. 1 in Oregon and Washington, Dave has a primer for getting back on target with these sometimes foolish, sometimes very fast birds, plus he has news on a new .22 cartridge from CCI and I-1639 blowback.
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(RANDALL BONNER)
THE BIG PIC:
INVADERS, HOT AND TASTY RIGHT HERE!
It might not dent growing populations of nonnative species in the Northwest, but an annual cook-off near Corvallis helps raise awareness. Randall Bonner gives the food fest – as well as his prize-winning weedy fish tacos – a stir in this issue’s Big Pic.
DEPARTMENTS
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19
THE EDITOR’S NOTE Groups mentor young steelheaders
29
READER PHOTOS FROM THE FIELD Shad, Chinook, shrimp and more!
33
PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS Yo-Zuri, Hunting monthly prizes
35
THE DISHONOR ROLL Egregious Sekiu salmon poacher fined; La Grande son, dad sentenced for killing Mt. Emily trophy bull; Kudos; Jackass Of The Month
39
DERBY WATCH Upcoming derbies; Recent results
41
OUTDOOR CALENDAR Openers, events, workshops, deadlines, outdoor shows, more
THEEDITOR’SNOTE
Happy anglers – including Ava Kinder, left – mentors, and a young participant enjoyed Kids Steelhead Days on Washington’s Skykomish River at Reiter Ponds. (MATTHEW ALEXANDER, LEFT, MIDDLE; ANDY WALGAMOTT, RIGHT)
W
olves, seals, anti-hatchery zealots and smolt losses were all driving me crazy when I sat down to write this Editor’s Note, so I decided to focus on something positive instead here. At a time when our salmon and steelhead runs aren’t as big as we’d like, when everything fish and wildlife related feels overwhelmingly negative, I want to give props to two tiny organizations that are Doing Something Good.
I SPEAK OF the Snohomish Sportsmen’s Club and Sky Valley Anglers, which teamed up to pull off three Kids Steelhead Days during the summer run up Western Washington’s famed Skykomish River, as well as provided loaner gear, lunch, parent seminars and more. Mark Spada, president of the venerable club, had an inkling that the events held at the state’s Reiter rearing ponds might turn into something special. “I had this idea to try and foster a new generation of steelhead fishermen. I never see any kids fishing steelhead any more, and not really any good places to take a kid to catch his first steelhead,” explained Spada. “I’m hoping this program will encourage young anglers to engage in this iconic fishery.” And engage they did, and perhaps none more so than young Ava Kinder! She not only caught the only steelhead at June’s event but followed up her success with another at July’s! Let’s just say that she totally outfished the Brothers Walgamott, who could only claim to have caught a leaf, two hot dogs and a pair of plates to put them on, and drinks after attending the inaugural kids day and listening to their father’s advice about how to fish (I’m, uhhhh, more comfortable just downstream at Cable Hole … ?). “One the coolest parts of the day, besides the kids catching a few more and the hookups,” Matthew Kennedy of Sky Valley Anglers told me after the second event, “was that with a little bit smaller of a crowd we were able to work more one on one with the kids and actually spend time teaching them and engaging in conversation with them while teaching.” Organizers also added a trout pond, which proved to be a hit the whole way around. “Nothing but happy kids and parents and lots of smiles and good memories for the kids,” Kennedy reported. THERE’S A LOT of impetus out there to just give up, to quit buying fishing and hunting licenses, to sell the boat, unload all our gear, post angry or maniacally laughing ha-ha faces on everything fish, fur and DFW related. But some folks are staying involved. Kudos to the club and the valley’s anglers – and everyone else in the Northwest doing similar – for not giving up on our way of life. Thank you. –Andy Walgamott
nwsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2019
Northwest Sportsman 19
Invaders, Hot And (Mostly) Tasty! It might not dent populations of nonnative species in the Northwest, but an annual cook-off held near Corvallis helps raise awareness about them. By Randall Bonner
N
ear the end of summer, the Institute for Applied Ecology in Corvallis holds a peculiar culinary fundraiser event in Willamette Valley wine country. Typically, when you think of the kind of pairings you might see on the menu at vineyards in the area, cheese and crackers come to mind. However, at the IAE’s Invasive Species Cook-off, area conservationists gather to share their dishes of bullfrog legs, red swamp crawfish, starlings, Eurasian collared doves and nutria. For those who can’t stomach eating the flesh of such critters, there’s vegetarian options that include things like dandelion greens and purslane. For those with a sweet tooth, the plethora of possibility with blackberries is almost infinite.
Wash it all down with one of the amazing invasive potions on tap, such as Matt Bahm’s Purple Varnish Clam Stout or Mousa Diabat’s French-style Queen Anne’s Lace Saison. If you’re not ready (or of age) to get off the wagon, then there’s a nonalcoholic category of entries like Joel Rea’s blackberry soda and Rodrigo Valle’s strawberry mint kombucha. Indeed, there’s a little something for everyone.
I.A.E. WAS FOUNDED in 1999, so this year will be a 20th anniversary celebration for the organization. Melanie Gisler, an ecologist there, spawned the concept for the cook-off eight years ago, and is now the director of an expanded Southwestern office in Santa Fe, New Mexico, that opened in 2015. The crew has grown to include a diverse group of over 30 staff members with expertise in habitat management, experimental design, restoration, education and planning. Their mission is to “conserve native 22 Northwest Sportsman
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species and habitats through restoration, research, and education,” and they explain that their vision is “a world where all people and wildlands are healthy and interact positively, biological diversity flourishes, and environmental challenges are met with a social commitment to solving problems with scientific principles.” The IAE has received several awards for their accomplishments from various organizations. “We recognize that eating invasives is unlikely to make a dent in largescale infestations,” says IAE fundraising coordinator Michel Wiman, “but we still want to make people aware of the threats invasive species pose to native plants and wildlife. Invasive species are estimated to cost the US an estimated $120 billion in damages annually.”
LAST YEAR WAS my first time attending and participating in the event, held at Harris Bridge Vineyards in Wren, west of
Author Randy Bonner prepares his walleye tacos during 2018’s Invasive Species Cook-off, held by the Institute for Applied Ecology of Corvallis to raise awareness about the threats posed by nonnative species to our region’s fish, wildlife and plants. (RANDY BONNER)
PICTURE
nwsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2019
Northwest Sportsman 23
PICTURE Corvallis and just off Highway 20. I called ahead in advance to ask what dishes had received honors in the past, not only to know what not to copy, but what kind of themes captured the attention of the judges. I wanted to go for broke and see how many invasive species I could fit into a bite. I chose to go with a taco as my vessel, because who doesn’t love tacos? They’re also gluten free and I’m not much of a baker. The focus of my invasive species was walleye. The species was first discovered in Banks Lake in 1960, and has since spread and been spread throughout the Columbia and its tributaries as far as Dexter Reservoir southeast of Eugene. In 2015, regulations on warmwater species like walleye and bass in the big river
They might not be the kind of folks some Northwest sportsmen would otherwise rub elbows with, but the goal should resonate with us. “Teamwork is essential to maintain functional watersheds and ecosystems, specifically to enhance pollinator populations, improve chances for at-risk species, and manage for resilient habitats that can resist invasive species,” says IAE’s Michel Wiman. (RANDY BONNER) were amended to remove slot and bag limits among controversy from anglers who target them, and those who target the salmon and steelhead that are at risk of being consumed by these species as
smolts. However, as Wiman mentioned in regards to consuming invasives and our role in removing them, it’s debatable whether or not those regulations actually have any impact on either population. At the event, I battered my filets in Zatarain’s fish fry, dropped them in the grease, fried them and then put the cooked fish on paper towels to dry. Placing a corn tortilla in the skillet, I covered it with shredded cheese, and then my slaw made with cabbage, red onion, lime juice, and invasive dandelion greens. Once the cheese melted and slaw began to wilt, I placed a piece of fried walleye in the taco, topped it with a blackberry jalapeño salsa, and garnished with sauteed purslane.
AS I WATCHED others bring in casserole
Caitlin Tartak samples “nutria verde,” the winning dish at least year’s cookoff. Other outside species on the menu included bullfrogs, red swamp crawfish, starlings and Eurasian collared doves, along with vegetarian options as well as adult and kids beverages. (RANDY BONNER)
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dishes covered in aluminum foil and unplugged crockpots, I realized that maybe I had gone a little overkill by cooking everything on site. Who likes a cold taco, though? Either way, I had a friend carry over a plate with a taco to each of the judges as I continued to cook more for the guests until the food was all gone. As the dishes were being judged, I did a lap around the table and decided to try a few items myself. The red swamp crawfish mac and cheese was a unique dish that stood out to my Southern roots, a fusion of two comfort foods I had never actually combined myself. There were actually two nutria dishes on the table as well. One was the kind of swamp rat/nightmarish-rodent-of-
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PICTURE
Bonner used meat from walleye he caught on the Columbia River, along with dandelion greens, blackberry jalapeño salsa and sauteed purslane for his second-place fish tacos. (RANDY BONNER, ALL)
unusual-size that you might picture when thinking of the semi-aquatic herbivore originally from South America but imported for fur markets. The whole carcass looked like it had gone a little too hot and too long in the smoker and turned to jerky on the bone. I may have been the only person there to try it, and it definitely tasted like rat jerky (sorry if the person who cooked it is reading this, but ew, gross). Then there was the Crock-Pot of a green stew that was mostly made of tomatillos, onions and green chilis. The protein in this dish was also nutria, only it was slow cooked, and added to the stew like pulled pork. I would compare it to a very lean pork, maybe even more similar to a wild boar than domestic swine. The dish was modeled after a traditional pork chili verde, only with the meat from a nutria cooked low and slow. I don’t know the other details of the recipe, but I knew after taking the 26 Northwest Sportsman
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first bite that it was the dish to beat.
AS IT CAME time to announce the winners, I was confident from the satisfaction on the faces of the guests who had tried my tacos that I was shoe-in for first place. When they announced me as the first runnerup, I tried to hide my disappointment and humbly accept the honor of second place. The words of Ricky Bobby’s father in Talledega Nights rang through my head as I watched victory slip from my grasp and into the green abyss of that nutria verde. Oh, well. Proceeds from the event go towards habitat restoration, raising native species for restoration, providing handson outdoor education for K-12 students, and conducting/sharing research with partner agencies. IAE’s current fundraising goal is to support its internship program, providing training and field experience for early career ecologists, building a
foundation in science and conservation. “We feel very fortunate to live in a community surrounded by natural areas, and to get to collaborate with an outstanding group of local partners in habitat restoration and conservation,” says Wiman. “Teamwork is essential to maintain functional watersheds and ecosystems, specifically to enhance pollinator populations, improve chances for at-risk species, and manage for resilient habitats that can resist invasive species.” Last year, the event sold out all 225 seats, the largest turnout in its history. Forty different businesses took on sponsorships, and over $6,000 was raised to support restoration of habitat for pollinators and wildlife. This year’s familyfriendly event takes place Aug. 3 at Tyee Wine Cellars, just south of Corvallis on Greenberry Road, with live bluegrass provided by the Rusty Hinges. NS
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READER PHOTOS Nathan and Deborah Sylvester caught their first walleye way up in North Idaho, where bottom bouncing on Lake Pend Oreille paid off on a mid-June day. State fishery managers implanted 50 walleye there with special tags that are worth $1,000 if turned in for a study. (YO-ZURI PHOTO CONTEST)
The Neah Bay Chinook quota was here and gone before you knew it, but not before Annika Miller caught hers! She was fishing at Swiftsure Bank with Chad Huffman in early July. (YO-ZURI PHOTO CONTEST) This year saw a new record shad run up the Columbia, with better than 7.4 million counted at Bonneville Dam at press deadline. Renee Mortimer and her dad Paul got in on the action further upstream, running a silver Dick Nite behind a Jet Diver until dam operators stopped spilling water over McNary, leading them to switch to walleye. (YO-ZURI PHOTO CONTEST)
Hunter Higginbotham went over the pass from his Yakimaarea home to have a blast catching landlocked coho at Western Washington’s Riffe Lake in early summer. “The gear of choice was the 000 Fast Limit Dodger in the Glo/Pl color tag teamed with a Tight Lines Kokanee Rig in glitter pink, tipped with a salad shrimp colored up with Pro-Cure’s Badazz Pink Dye and Bloody Tuna Oil. Speeds were from 1.2 to 1.5 mph and fish came between 40 to 80 feet,” reports his father, Jarod, who gave a special hat tip to Bill Herzog for the inside info. (YO-ZURI PHOTO CONTEST) For your shot at winning great fishing and hunting products from Yo-Zuri, Ontario Knife Co. and Northwest Sportsman, send your full-resolution, original images with all the pertinent details – who’s in the pic and their hometown; when and where they were; what they caught their fish on/weapon they used to bag the game; and any other details you’d like to reveal (the more, the merrier!) – to awalgamott@media-inc.com or Northwest Sportsman, 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 | AUGUST 2019
Northwest Sportsman 29
READER PHOTOS With her sea legs firmly under her again, Trishana Israel shows off a very nice lingcod she caught this season. “The smile on my face is not about the size, it’s about not holding my cane and balancing myself in the deep sea while battling this beast,” she writes. (YO-ZURI PHOTO CONTEST)
San Juan Islands spot shrimp shine bright orange on a sunny spring day for Wyatt Lundquist. (YO-ZURI PHOTO CONTEST)
Northwest kokanee anglers enjoyed good fishing this spring, including Rhonna Schnell, here with a nice Father’s Day limit from a famous Central Oregon lake. (YO-ZURI PHOTO CONTEST)
The Smith boys enjoyed a couple firsts this spring, including Logan hooking and reeling in his own trout and younger brother Zack going fishing. (YO-ZURI PHOTO CONTEST)
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A Dad’s Day outing on the salt yielded a first Chinook for young Grahm Corcoran and his father Mike, who also landed one. They were running a Mack’s Lure Wiggle Hoochie with chartreuse tape from Hyper-Vis+. (YO-ZURI PHOTO CONTEST)
In early June Roger Davis set a new Washington personal best with this 11.28-pound largemouth. It just topped one he caught “nearly 13 years to the day” before, and bit a Sly Guy 5.9” Redear, which he wrote about in his May prespawn article in these pages. (YO-ZURI PHOTO CONTEST)
PHOTO
CONTEST
WINNERS!
Olivia Boulet is the winner of our monthly YoZuri Photo Contest, thanks to this great shot of her and her Lake Tapps, Washington, smallmouth. It wins her gear from the company that makes some of the world’s best fishing lures and lines!
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For your shot at winning hunting knives and Yo-Zuri fishing products, send your photos and pertinent (who, what, when, where) details to awalgamott@media-inc.com or Northwest Sportsman, PO Box 24365, Seattle, WA 98124-0365. By sending us photos, you affirm you have the right to distribute them for our print or Internet publications.
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Northwest Sportsman 33
MIXED BAG
Egregious Sekiu Salmon Poacher Fined
A
n angler who egregiously violated Washington’s salmon regulations last summer was sentenced to pay more than $3,200 in fines, and he also forfeited his boat. Mark Heinemann, 75, of Bainbridge Island was caught fishing alone off Sekiu with six lines out – all baited with lures with barbed hooks – off two downriggers, claimed he had only caught one fish but was eventually found to be way over his limit with 10 – half of which were also illegal to retain wild salmon – and hadn’t marked anything down on his punch card. WDFW Region 6 Capt. Dan Chadwick said Heinemann’s fishing setups looked like what you might find on a commercial boat, though added there wasn’t any evidence he was selling his catch. In February, Heineman was convicted of 10 counts in Clallam County District Court, including criminal charges for possessing four wild coho and a king during a closed season, exceeding the bag limit on hatchery coho by three fish, and failing to record any of his catch. Another 10 charges were dropped, Chadwick said. Heinemann’s 23-foot Maxum Cabin Cruiser, worth approximately $5,000, was initially seized at the dock and he later did not contest its forfeiture to the state, according to WDFW. While there are some Washington waters that an angler can run two lines for salmon with the second rod endorsement, Sekiu is not one of them because it’s a mixed-stock fishery.
WDFW Officer Bryan Davidson poses with the boat, trailer, downriggers, fishing rod and flasher-lure combos seized following an at-sea inspection of Mark Heinemann’s boat last August that turned up egregious fishing rules violations. (WDFW) Barbless hooks are also required on all of the state’s marine waters for salmon. Neither wild Chinook nor wild coho were open at the time as well. Heinemann’s fines included civil penalties of up to $500 for each unclipped salmon he kept.
HEINEMANN AND HIS boat were spotted on Tuesday, Aug. 28, during a joint Clallam County Sheriff’s Office-WDFW patrol of the western Strait of Juan de Fuca. Officers noticed that he had two downriggers deployed, the second without an accompanying rod or another angler. When they asked Heinemann to reel up his gear for inspection, he brought in the line of the rod attached to one downrigger, but left the ball down. So they asked him to bring it up, and
JACKASS OF THE MONTH
J
OTM stays in Colorado this issue with news that a man who has had his license privileges suspended twice before has now had them revoked for life throughout nearly the entire United States. Jeff Bodnar, 46, was stripped of his fishing, hunting and trapping rights in late
June by the state’s wildlife commission after pleading guilty to unlawfully possessing a pair of bears and a cougar, as well as being a felon with a gun. Previously they’d been suspended for a 2008 case involving Bodnar trying to sell poached bobcats out of state, a Lacey Act violation for which he received more than two years in a federal prison (and which landed July’s JOTM in hot water too). Even as his privileges were still under suspension, he began hunting and
By Andy Walgamott he began to but stopped part way, so they had to ask again, after which he complied “reluctantly,” according to WDFW. As it came up, Heinemann unclipped a leader from the cable and officers saw it had a bungee attached to a flasher and lure, as did a second that came up. On the rodless downrigger were three more bungee-flasher-lure rigs off the cable. “I’ve been on the marine unit since 2007. I’ve done thousands of boardings in that time. I’ve never seen somebody run that kind of gear off of a recreational boat,” Clallam County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Eric Munger told the Peninsula Daily News. Heinemann volunteered that he had kept one hatchery coho, which he showed to the officers, though he hadn’t put it on his catch card. Between the good bite in the Straits at the time, all the gear he had down and his claim to have only one fish, the officers were a bit suspicious. WDFW Officer Bryan Davidson asked him again if he had any more salmon to show, and after Heinemann denied it, Davidson advised him that he thought there were in fact more on the boat. From the cabin Heinemann brought out two garbage bags containing nine more salmon, most of which had been cleaned. Game wardens have suggested this probably wasn’t Heinemann’s first try at running all the lines, but what led him to decide to break the rules so spectacularly that day isn’t clear. He didn’t respond to multiple efforts to contact him. trapping again, according to state officials. “Mr. Bodnar appears to possess a complete disregard for Colorado’s hunting laws and a total indifference for wildlife,” said game warden Ian Petkash. “We take these investigations seriously because of the toll someone like this can take on local wildlife populations.” If Bodnar violates his ban – effective in all 48 states of the Interstate Violator Compact – he faces fines up to $10,000 and as much as three more months in jail. Just doesn’t seem worth it, but jackasses will be jackasses.
nwsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2019
Northwest Sportsman 35
MIXED BAG
By Andy Walgamott
KUDOS
T
roopers patrolling Oregon Coast saltwaters were chosen as the state police Fish and Wildlife Division’s work unit of the year. The Marine Fisheries Team, with troopers stationed from Astoria south to Gold Beach, were lauded for their “exceptional work … teamwork, mentorship, professionalism and thinking outside the box to address issues.” With wholesalers struggling to correctly submit fish tickets, MFT troopers organized a series of training sessions with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife staffers and held them in four major coastal ports to help educate commercial dealers and sellers. This year the squad also received recognition from ODFW’s Marine Resources Program. “Thanks to all of you for your ongoing commitment to MRP management, regulations, enforcement and to the industries and resources we both serve,” MRP manager Dr. Caren Braby said in awarding the team his bureau’s annual partnership award.
(OSP)
Sentenced La Grande Son, Dad Convicted of O Killing Mt. Emily Bull
H
unters have to wait up to a decade and a half to draw a coveted Mt. Emily bull elk permit, but two La Grande men decided to short circuit that and kill one last fall on a general tag. Kyle Bowen and his father Richard Bowen both pled guilty in June to hunting violations in the Northeast Oregon unit and along with both needing to pay $7,500 in restitution to the Department of Fish and Wildlife, as part of their sentence they won’t Richard and Kyle Bowen stand next to the trophy be chasing anything afield bull elk killed by Kyle on a general season tag when a unit-specific one was required. (OSP) for the next three years. According to the Oregon State Police, Kyle killed the trophy elk on a general tag, but needed to have a controlled permit, while Richard assisted him. Not only was the six-point’s rack and meat seized, but the Bowens are now out a significant investment in gear because it was used during the incident, including “Mathews bow, Zeiss binoculars, Garmin GPS, Rokman frame pack, Badlands backpack, Sitka clothing, cellphone, trail cameras, elk calls and other archery equipment,” OSP reports. Kyle and Richard were also given 10 and eight days of jail or work crew, respectively.
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AUGUST 2019 | nwsportsmanmag.com
regon State Police report that Edward B. Topor, Jr., 58, of Portland, Cody Veelle, 25, of Molalla, and Melanie R. Stutes, 24, also of Molalla were recently sentenced for their links to illegal bear baiting on Weyerhaeuser’s Molalla Tree Farm. The case began in spring 2018 with the discovery of several bait stations across the company’s timberlands southeast of Portland, as well as two trail cameras. At least two bears were shot, with one left entirely to waste and the other partially wasted, according to OSP, which reported the subjects also tried to kill more over bait that fall. After pleading guilty to one count each of baiting and wastage, Toper had his hunting license suspended for half a decade, was ordered to pay $1,200 in fines and pony up $2,500 for the Oregon Hunters Associations poacher fund, and was placed on a year’s probation. Velle, who pled guilty to a count of aiding in a wildlife violation, also received 12 months probation, won’t be hunting for the next three years and was ordered to pay $460 in fines. Stutes was sentenced to pay $750 after pleading guilty to one count of baiting.
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Heart Of Derby Season Here
I
f July marked the start of peak fishing derby season in the Northwest, August represents its Hood, its Rainier, the very pinnacle, what with events from inside Puget Sound to the coasts of both states. But September’s no slouch either, as two Oregon Labor Day weekend shindigs wrap up and a pair of big silver derbies take place, one of which also sees the awarding of a boat package worth a whopping $75,000! Let’s break them down here.
raffle and more at derby headquarters, the Clatsop County Fairgrounds, a short 5 miles from the East Mooring Basin ramp. “No one leaves empty-handed from an NSIA derby,” organizers boast. “Stick around for the fantastic door prize giveaway at the end of the evening!” For more, see nsiafishing.org.
IN EARLY AUGUST come a pair of Puget Sound Anglers derbies, both held in the southern half of the inland sea. First up is the South King County Chapter’s event on Saturday, the 3rd. Now in its 18th year, it offers a $3,500 top prize and it usually takes a Chinook approaching or just over the 20-pound mark to win it. While Marine Areas 10, 11 and 13 are all fair game, it can be hard to beat the waters just off derby headquarters, Point Defiance Marina. Last year saw spoons dominate over hoochies. For more, see pugetsoundanglers.net The marina is also home to the Gig Harbor Chapter’s derby the following Saturday, Aug. 10, which features a $2,500 grand prize and raffle for a Lowrance fishfinder. Now in its 24th year, open waters are Areas 11 and 13. Last year’s winner was a 15.63-pound king. For more, see gigharborpsa.org.
2019 NORTHWEST SALMON DERBY SERIES Aug. 3: South King County PSA
Salmon Derby Aug. 10: Gig Harbor PSA Salmon Derby Aug. 17-18: Vancouver (BC) Chinook Classic Aug. 31: Columbia River Fall Salmon Derby – cancelled Sept. 7: Edmonds Coho Derby Sept. 21-22: Everett Coho Derby Nov. 2-3: Everett Blackmouth Salmon Derby For more details, see nwsalmonderbyseries.com.
By Andy Walgamott
Whether you’re fishing a derby on Puget Sound, at Buoy 10 or along Oregon’s South Coast in late summer, you’ll likely need a Chinook as big as Paul Whitson’s 2018 South King County Puget Sound Anglers Derby winner to place in the money. His 19.45-pound Chinook was worth $3,500. (PSA)
LAST ISSUE WE drew attention to the kickoff of the Oregon Tuna Classic, which culminates in late August in Garibaldi, and also highlighted midmonth’s 2nd Annual Lipstick Salmon Slayers Tournament at the, er, mouth of the Columbia (for more, see oregontunaclassic.org and lipsticksalmonslayer.com). This issue we want to spotlight the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association’s 20th Annual Buoy 10 Salmon Challenge, top prize $1,000 for largest fish. The big fundraiser is slated for Friday, Aug. 16, and includes a day’s worth of angling for Chinook and coho as the meat of this year’s million-plus salmon run comes across the bar. There’s a captain’s meeting the evening before, and after the fishing comes a barbecue, silent auction,
WE WOULD BE remiss if we didn’t note the return of the Slam’n Salmon Derby to Brookings. After a two-year hiatus, it returns for the long holiday weekend at the end of summer. It features a grand prize of up to $5,000 for the largest king caught on the ocean during the threeday event. Check out wcadventure.com for details. Also held that weekend on Oregon’s South Coast, the 26th Annual Fall Salmon Derby out of Winchester Bay on the lower Umpqua River. It’s sponsored by the Gardiner-Reedsport-Winchester Bay Salmon Trout Enhancement Program. Contact Rick Rockholt at (541) 613-0589 or umpqua.rock@charter.net. And hard on their heels comes the Edmonds Coho Derby, while its cousin just to the north, the Everett Coho Derby and its Northwest Salmon Derby Series boat giveaway, falls on the third weekend in September. For more info on both events, see edmondscohoderby.com and everettcohoderby.com.
RECENT RESULTS Bellingham Salmon Derby, Marine Area 7, July 12-14: First place: Tom Hartley, 21.9-pound Chinook ($7,500); Second: Chris Wilson, 21.6-pound Chinook ($2,500); Third: Adam Beardsley, 20.62-pound Chinook ($1,000)
MORE ONGOING/UPCOMING EVENTS Now through the end of season: Westport Charterboat Association Weekly Lingcod, Halibut, Chinook, Coho, Albacore Derbies; charterwestport.com
Now through Oct. 31: 2019 WDFW Statewide Trout Derby; fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov For more Washington contests, see wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/contests.
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Northwest Sportsman 39
CONGRATULATIONS BOATERS! CALENDAR Brought to you by:
OUTDOOR
AUGUST 1 Opening of salmon fishing at Buoy 10; Steelhead restrictions begin on the Columbia, lower sections of select tribs; Coho opener in Marine Areas 8-1, 12 north of Ayock; Fall bear season begins across Oregon, Washington; Steelhead retention opener in lower ½ mile of Idaho’s Clearwater 2-3 Oregon Central Coast summer all-depth halibut opener (open every other Fri.Sat. if quota available) 3 Kids Steelhead Day on the Skykomish River at Reiter Ponds, daybreak to noon; Washington Waterfowl Calling Championships, Sumner Sportsman’s Club 10 Opening day of numerous Oregon controlled pronghorn hunts; Basic Shotgun Skills Clinic at Mid Valley Clays near Gervais ($) – info: odfwcalendar.com 15 Washington Marine Area 7 North (Boundary Bay, Georgia Strait) crab opener 17-18 Oregon Free Fishing Weekend 18 Basic Shotgun Skills Clinic at EE Wilson Wildlife Area ($) – info: see above 20 Last scheduled day of Chinook retention at Buoy 10, Columbia to Puget Island 24 Opening day of bowhunting season for deer and elk in Oregon 27 Last scheduled day of Chinook retention on the Columbia from Puget Island up to Warrior Rock 30 Opening day of bowhunting season for deer and elk in numerous Idaho units 30-Sept. 1 Oregon Central Coast nonselective coho opener (open following FridaySundays through Sept. 30 or until 9,000-fish quota filled) 31 CAST for Kids event on Clear Lake (Spokane) – info: castforkids.org; Last scheduled day of Chinook retention on the Columbia from Warrior Rock to Bonneville Dam
You’ve diverted nearly 11 million gallons of sewage from Washington’s coastal and inland waters by pumping out your holding tank at boat waste pumpout stations. Keep up the good work! Find a pumpout station or portable toilet dump station near you: pumpoutwashington.org Pumpout Washington is a project of Washington Sea Grant in partnership with the Washington State Parks Clean Vessel sh Restoration shing equipment and motorboat fuels.
SEPTEMBER 1 Washington statewide cougar, deer (bow), dove, grouse and various small game openers; Northeast and Southeast Washington fall turkey openers; Oregon statewide grouse, dove openers; Oregon California and mountain quail opener in portions of state; Northeast Oregon steelhead opener 7 Washington bow elk hunt opens; Washington September early goose hunt opens; CAST for Kids event at Gene Coulon Park, Lake Washington – info: see above; Pheasant Hunting Workshop at Sauvie Island Wildlife Area near Portland ($) – info: see above 7-8 Youth Pheasant Hunt at Fern Ridge Wildlife Area near Eugene (free) – info: see above 8 CAST for Kids event at Hagg Lake near Forest Grove – info: see above; Pheasant Hunting Workshop at Sauvie Island Wildlife Area ($) – info: see above 9 Opening of four-week-long fee pheasant hunt at Fern Ridge Wildlife Area 12-15 2019 Seattle Boats Afloat Show, S. Lake Union – info: boatsafloatshow.com; 36th Annual Portland Fall RV & Van Show, Expo Center – info: otshows.com 14-15 Pheasant Hunting Workshop at EE Wilson Wildlife Area ($) – info: see above 14-15 Youth Pheasant Hunts in the John Day Valley, at Denman, Klamath, Ladd Marsh, Sauvie Island, White River Wildlife Areas (free) – info: see above 15-23 Bandtail pigeon season in Oregon, Washington 15-25 High Buck Hunt in several Washington North, Central Cascades and Olympics wilderness areas, Lake Chelan National Recreation Area 16 Opening of fee pheasant hunts at Denman (19 days), Sauvie Island (14 days) Wildlife Areas 21 (22) Various Washington youth bird hunting opportunities – info: see pamphlet 21-22 Youth Pheasant Hunts at EE Wilson, Irrigon Wildlife Areas (free) – info: see above 23-27 Washington statewide senior, disabled hunter pheasant hunting week 28 Oregon Coast, Cascade and most controlled rifle buck openers; Washington statewide muzzleloader deer opener; Take a Warrior Fishing event on Lake Washington at Renton – info: castforkids.org 28 (29) Various Washington youth bird hunting opportunities – info: see pamphlet nwsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2019
Northwest Sportsman 41
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Give 600,000 Coho A Chance W
hen I think about underutilized salmon runs, it’s the coho fishery at the mouth of the CoBUZZ lumbia that comes RAMSEY to mind most often. Given the season restrictions that will follow Chinook as they migrate to and above Buoy 10 this year, anglers should give these fish a chance. After all, with 611,000 entering the river, I’m thinking anglers should vacate their trout, kokanee and walleye hot spots and chase coho salmon this fall. Columbia coho are divided into two distinct groups, “early” and “late” stocks. Early-returning coho, which forage in the ocean off the Oregon and south Washington Coasts, return to the river from the first week of August through September. The late fish come back from mid-September through December, with peak migration occurring during the mid-October timeframe. In case you don’t know, late coho tend to migrate north from the Columbia, spending their saltwater time foraging off Washington and southern British Columbia. The ocean abundance estimate for both stocks was 900,000 adults, with half a million of those early coho and roughly 350,000 late silvers. Of course that figure was for before ocean fisheries had been executed, which will reduce the number returning to the Columbia to 600,000 coho, but it’s still quite a bit higher than 2018, when only 286,000 actually came back. According to Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife fish manager Tucker Jones, the restricted Chinook fishery has been modeled to allow for a full coho season, not only at Buoy 10 but throughout the Columbia system. So even though we will see in-season closures for Chinook,
Coho fishing opportunities at Buoy 10 and the Lower Columbia should last well into September as a solid run of late-returning silvers will follow on half a million early-timed fish. (BUZZ RAMSEY)
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Northwest Sportsman 51
COLUMN the river will remain open for coho until the end of 2019. And while a limit of two hatchery fin-clipped coho is currently in effect, that could be increased to three if all goes as predicted, so keep an eye out for rule changes that might allow a more generous bag.
JUST AS WITH chasing Chinook, you will need to pay attention to ocean tides when planning a trip to Buoy 10 for coho. Not wanting to work any harder than necessary, coho will accumulate low in the estuary when the tide is out and allow the flooding ocean (incoming tide) to push them upriver. The bigger the tide, the farther it will push fish into the estuary, all the way to or past the Astoria-Megler Bridge. This means you should plan to be fishing low in the bay, perhaps even near the red navigation marker with the number 10 stenciled on it, at low tide or just after, and move near or above the bridge at the top of the tide (high tide). With this many coho returning fishing should be good almost no matter what you do, but if all else fails the best bite of the day will likely be during the last half of the flood and first half of the outgoing tide near or above the bridge. As the flood tide begins to ebb, the fish will all face into the current and you will encounter more by trolling into
them, that is, downstream, the opposite way they are facing. Although coho can be found at all depths, they will often accumulate in shallow water, less than 25 feet deep. And while many fish will hug the bottom in 20 or 25 feet of water, especially when currents are strong, there are times when they will suspend at various depths above bottom. Don’t be afraid to try your luck trolling on or near Desdemona Sands, the big island in the middle of the river that extends above and below the bridge and separates the north (false) and south (shipping) channels. I’ve even caught coho trolling up on the sands in 8 to 12 feet of water during high tide and through the first few hours of the outgoing.
SILVERS ARE AGGRESSIVE biters, making them fairly easy to catch compared to kings. For this reason spinners are popular when trolling and might put more fish in the box than bait. Don’t misunderstand, there is no doubt that bait will yield more bites but when it comes to actually landing fish, spinners might get the job done a lot quicker than bait. And while many anglers will drop down to medium-sized trolling spinners, like a size 5 Toman or 5 1/2 Mulkey when targeting coho, most guides and anglers would It’s all yet to be determined, but there’s a chance that the bag limit on hatchery coho could be boosted from two to three a day if enough of the feisty, tasty salmon actually return. (BILL MONROE OUTDOORS)
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Spinners might be the best bet for coho at the mouth of the big river, as author Buzz Ramsey says they result in more landed fish, but running an anchovy isn’t a bad idea either. Just make sure to give them a curve; guide Bill Monroe runs an extra-long toothpick through the bait’s body and rigs it whole on a mooching setup, leaving the trailing hook dangling. (BILL MONROE OUTDOORS) agree that for targeting larger ones, the standard 6 1/2 spinner sizes work just fine. Just about any spinner color will work at times, but coho have a fondness for pink. Some of my favorite spinner colors include candy wrapper, pearl/red dot, chartreuse/green dot, Mexican flag, and red and white. I rig mine in combination with a pink squid. After all, coho love pink. If you are stuck on using bait, there is nothing better than an anchovy caught fresh from the estuary. What many anglers do is jig their own using a Sabiki rig, which is a multihooked string of small jigging hooks that look like small fish or shrimp. Pretied rigs can be purchased at specialty tackle stores. All you need do is attach the end of your fishing line to the Sabiki
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Northwest Sportsman 53
and add a 3- or 4-ounce sinker to the end. Then find a school of anchovy, which might give their location away by boiling the surface or appear as a large mass on your fish finder. Drop your rig into the school and hold on. In just a few minutes you can catch enough bait to last all day. Most rig a fresh, whole anchovy on a mooching leader whole (the bait is mostly too soft and flimsy to plug cut). Guide Bill Monroe Jr. (facebook.com/billmonroeoutdoors) arches the back of his anchovies and runs an extra-long toothpick lengthwise through the body to hold the arch and then runs his hook up through the bait’s chin and into the forehead, leaving the trailing hook dangling. If you insist on using herring, try adding a scent-filled pink worm (like a 4-inch PowerBait worm) to the top hook of your mooching leader – just let the worm hang straight back alongside your herring. Coho really go for bait rigged in combination with a pink worm. Most anglers at Buoy 10 rig a flasher (Fish Flash) directly to a diver or to the end of a Free Sliding Spreader with a salmon spinner or bait (herring or anchovy) trailing 50 to 60 inches behind. To get down, you may use a diver (Deep Six or Delta) or cannonball-style sinker attached to an 18-inch dropper line, which might consist of one of the new .051-inch-diameter Rigging Wires offered by Yakima Bait. To help eliminate line twist, it’s a good idea to place a swivel half way down your leader. Remember, the western fishing deadline at Buoy 10 is a north/south line extending through the famous navigation marker. As a reference, it is located midchannel west of the entrance to the Ilwaco channel. Also, coho must be of hatchery origin to keep, and can be identified by their missing adipose fin. This is the small fin located on their back between the dorsal and tail fin. Especially this year, it would be wise to check myodfw.com and wdfw.wa.gov for rule updates. Given the huge run, it’s possible the states could liberalize the limit. NS Editor’s note: The author is a brand manager and part of the management team at Yakima Bait. Like Buzz on Facebook. 54 Northwest Sportsman
AUGUST 2019 | nwsportsmanmag.com
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56 Northwest Sportsman
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COLUMN A brace of Buoy 10 hatchery coho grace the kayak of author Scott Brenneman, caught after the sun burned off fog at the mouth of the Columbia. (SCOTT BRENNEMAN)
Parting The Fog For Columbia Estuary Coho A
s the thick blanket of fog begins to break up, the silhouettes of the boats in the distance THE KAYAK GUYS come into my view. By Scott Brenneman My peaceful paddle in the gray misty calm towards Buoy 22 is abruptly interrupted by the berating screeches of a distressed soul. I turn to the left to see what’s going on. It turns out that it is I who is in obvious
danger, according to the elderly lady. I am being admonished for my poor judgment. From her viewpoint on a well-equipped and much larger fiberglass fishing boat, I am at risk and it is her obligation to enlighten me on the subject of proper decision-making skills. I acknowledge her passion, take note of her advice, and wish her well. The optics of a guy in a kayak trolling in thick fog close to shipping lanes and among other boat traffic doesn’t look good. However, in this
case perceptions can be deceiving.
UP TO THIS point of the day visibility on the big estuary of the Columbia was nil due to heavy fog. Maybe this person had been trolling around all morning in the soup and was just projecting her anxieties of colliding with an inbound ship towards me. I like to check the visibility and winds before hopping in the truck and driving to the launch site, and this morning was no different. When fog is present, I key in
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Northwest Sportsman 57
COLUMN on the temperature/dew point spread. If there is a nearby airport with weather reporting information, it is easy to get an idea of when the fog is about to break up. For the Buoy 10 fishery, data from the Astoria airport is a valuable tool for figuring that out. At first light, I check the weather at the regional landing strip. It indicates that the fog is thick this morning, with visibility of less than an eighth of a mile. The temperature is 13 degrees Celsius (55 degrees Fahrenheit) and the dew point is the same. I reset the alarm for two hours later and go back to sleep. Checking the weather again, the temperature is still 13 degrees but the dew point is now 12, though visibility is still an eighth of a mile. I keep checking the “minute weather” for the airport (it updates every minute) until the temperature/dew point spread finally increases to 2 degrees Celsius. Even though the fog is still thick, I start driving towards Fort Stevens. With the temperature now 14 degrees and the dew point reading 12 degrees, it won’t be long before the fog and visibility clear up enough to see and be seen on the water. The dew point tells us how saturated the air is with moisture. When it equals the ambient temperature, fog will be present. When the spread increases by 2 degrees Celsius, or 5 degrees Fahrenheit, fog will dissipate as ambient air temps continue to warm. Even though fog is still present, visibility has increased to a quarter of a mile. I launch into the fog with confidence
that it will soon be clear.
AFTER MY SCOLDING, the visibility does quickly increase to a mile and the fog lifts to a 300-foot ceiling of broken clouds. After missing the first-light tide change, I hop on the incoming conveyer belt at Buoy 20. But the hunt for a Chinook between Buoy 22 and 20 off Trestle Bay does not go well, and I don’t see any of the many boats that surround me having any luck either. I switch out my gear to target coho. I trade out a 16-ounce cannonball sinker for a size 001 Luhr Jensen Deep Six diver. Bait is scarce in the river today, so I remove the flasher and herring and switch to a red and white spinner behind the diver. The broken layer of clouds has now dissipated as I troll with the incoming tide along the green can line. By noon the sun predominates, with the exception of a mix of a few low-level cumulus and some scattered wispy cirrus clouds high above. I have not touched a fish and the incoming current has picked up, pushing me further upriver and well east of the Skippanon. With clearer skies it is only a matter of time before the afternoon winds will start to pick up. The wind waves can get really large in front of Youngs Bay, so I decide to change course and troll into the current. It takes an hour of hard paddling to get clear of the area where large rollers will soon be forming. I see glistening ripples in the distance up ahead by Buoy 29. As I make my way to it, debris mixed with grass mark a rip current that has formed. I quickly reel in my gear and cross over
the debris to its north side and then feed out 25 feet of line. The drag is set as loose as possible and the diver is adjusted to trip at the slightest bump. Paddling into the current I make little forward progress, prolonging my presentation at the seam of this rip.
IT’S NOT LONG before line starts peeling off my reel. The expected rise of the line is followed be an acrobatic show from a well-fed late August coho. After promptly landing and securing the fish and then filling out the paperwork, I propel my plastic vessel full steam ahead to stay clear of the sea grass assembling parallel to the rip zone. Again my reel’s drag is loosely set. Line slips off with every paddle stroke as I try to make headway into the opposing current and wind. A second thick hatchery coho attacks my spinner. Coho are the trickster of the salmon world with their ability to pull off twirling headshakes while peeling out line, a tactic that has left many anglers frustrated with their disappearing act. I am spared from the magic show. I cautiously play the fish, waiting for my opening. The net is thrust forward and my second dinner guest is now safely tangled in the webbing. With my limit secured, 20-mile-perhour westerlies and 2- to 4-foot wind waves confront me as I prepare to head in. I hastily stow my gear and start paddling. The afternoon breeze more than doubles the time it takes me to cover the 2 miles back to the launch area, but with two coho packed in a kill bag, it is worth it. NS
No doubt about it, with weather pushing in right off the ocean, heavy boat traffic and big tidal swings and currents, the big river’s estuary can be hairy to fish out of a kayak, but a little knowledge about how fog burns off made it a safer one for Brenneman that day. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)
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COLUMN
Chinook, coho and pinks will be on the mind of South Sound anglers as good numbers return to the region’s rivers. They’re catchable using a wide variety of tactics. (JASON BROOKS)
Salmon To Catch, Bears To Match Wits With T
his is one of the most outdoor opportunity-rich times of the year in the South Sound. On tap is a coho run predicted SOUTH SOUND to be larger than the By Jason Brooks odd-year pink salmon return, while bear season also opens. Both bank-bound anglers and boat captains will be busy on Puget Sound and the rivers for the fish. Meanwhile, cooler temperatures in late spring and early sum-
mer meant great growing conditions for wild huckleberries, blackberries, salmonberries and other fruits black bears will be gorging on to put on winter weight, and this year’s season in the South Cascades starts two weeks earlier than in the past. Ahhh, yes, August is my favorite month of the year when it comes to South Sound fishing and hunting.
COHO WILL DOMINATE this fall and before they get to the rivers the silver-sided rockets will be passing through Puget Sound.
With 670,200 predicted to return the spotlight will be on the Puyallup River, where 41,569 are heading. To put the size of the coho run in perspective, the pink salmon return is expected to be 608,400 for all Puget Sound rivers, with 47,905 coming to the Puyallup system. This means you are just as likely to catch a coho as you are a pink in salt- or freshwater. With a lot of fish returning to the South Sound and restrictions in the North Sound due to low runs, anglers should look to Ta-
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COLUMN With a conga line of anglers behind him, author Jason Brooks’ youngest son Ryan ties on a leader to fish for Puyallup salmon. The overall forecast calls for 104,000 kings, humpies and silvers back this year. (JASON BROOKS)
coma-area waters for action this season. Redondo is a good starting point at the north end of Marine Area 11. With ample beach access in the form of a few fishing piers and parks, the beach angler has a few places to cast a line. Pinks use this shoreline to guide them toward the Puyallup and Nisqually Rivers. The top producing technique is pitching out pink Buzz Bombs and twitching them back. All three salmon species cruising the shoreline – Chinook, coho and pinks – will attack the lures, which is why they are so popular. If you can find a stretch of beach with more solitude, floating a red-label herring on a slip float will catch fish. Boat anglers often troll out in front of Redondo Beach. A Mack’s Lure Double D dodger followed by a Coho Killer in the herring aide pattern should be on at least one rod at all times. A Mack’s Lure Sling Blade dodger with a short leader to a mini Bechhold and Son’s anchovy hood with a herring strip is also becoming a very popular bait in the Puget Sound for coho. Last summer anglers who kept their boats at the famed Point Defiance Boat House would run up to Redondo and catch their limit of returning coho before their coffee could get cold. When the locals head to one location you should take note and give it a try. With the amount of coho expected back, Redondo should again be a top producer. Another lure to try is a Brad’s Super Bait (remember to use a single-point, barbless Siwash hook) with a 2- or 3-ounce banana weight 2 feet in front of it. Stuff it with canned tuna fish that has been soaking in Pro-Cure Bloody Tuna Super Gel or Anchovy Super Gel. The best lure colors are pink, Seahawk and black jack, as they mimic baitfish as well as shrimp, and the Super Bait has a “wounded” action to it that feeding salmon can’t resist.
SOUTH OF REDONDO you come to Dash Point State Park, where once again the bank angler will do well. Here fly rod-toting anglers wade into the salt to catch pinks as well as some catch-and-release sea-run cutthroat. A size 4 or 6 pink shrimp pattern is a good combo fly as it can get bit by either species on any given cast. The 62 Northwest Sportsman
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COLUMN fishing pier here gets very crowded, so expect combat fishing and very little parking spaces. You can carry down and launch kayaks at the park too, a good way to get away from others. Just south of Dash Point is Browns Point. It has a lot of bank access, but like Dash very little parking and the park is situated in a residential neighborhood. A good idea would be to arrange to be dropped off and picked up later by a friend, loved one or even an Uber or Lyft. The one thing that Browns offers is good bank fishing for pinks throughout the entire month of August. This is because it is a breakwater for fish returning to the Puyallup. On the incoming tide the fish will rest in the back currents and breaks to the south; on the outgoing, walk over to the north side of the point and catch the same fish using the point to churn the waters as they flush out. Commencement Bay opens in early August and is a top producer for intercepting fish that are staging to go up the Puyallup.
Be aware of tides as there is a large mud flat and boats are known to get stuck and have to wait out the low tide while others troll by further out and get a good laugh. The water here looks muddy and off color but that is just the glacial silt floating on top of the saltwater. Down where your gear is it is clear, but using extra scent is a good idea to entice a bite in the brackish water.
OTHER TACOMA-AREA SPOTS include the Slag Pile, Owens Beach and Clay Banks. Trolling here at first light is a mainstay for South Sound anglers and you can catch pinks and coho near the surface. Drop the downriggers to the bottom half of the water column and you will be targeting mostly kings with a few coho mixed in. An 11-inch Hot Spot Flasher with a 4-inch hoochie in army truck on a 25- to 30-inch leader is very popular here for good reason: It seems that that combo catches a lot of Chinook. But don’t overlook cut-plug herring or helmeted herring that have been brined overnight in Brine-
n-Bite. In the past few years I have been running an inline flasher off of my downrigger ball with the release 36 to 60 inches (depending on which release I use) behind the flasher. I then run either style of herring bare, hooked into the clip, behind it all about 5 feet. The best part of this setup is that when I hook a fish there is no flasher on the line to pull against me and I get to fight just the salmon. My hookup-to-landed ratio has also gone up. If you don’t have downriggers or divers, you can find a good place to mooch just off of the Clay Banks near the rip from Point Defiance. Another top mooching area is Point Evans on the incoming tide; drift towards the bridges. Further south in Marine Area 13 you can mooch near Gibson Point on the southeastern end of Fox Island, as well as the famed Green Can off the Nisqually Delta. To get away from the crowds, head to the southwest end of Vashon Island to Point Dalco. This is a Chinook area where you need to be ready for the bite. It’s either hot or cold; it seems some days you catch a
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COLUMN
While Oregon has a number of boat slides, Washington’s first opened this summer on the Puyallup and is expected to be fully functional by mid-August. It opens up access to a good stretch of the salmon-rich Pierce County river. Key players getting the project done included David Patrick (third from left), Pierce County Councilwoman Pam Roach and designer and angler Ted Schuman (far right). (DAVID PATRICK)
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fish right away, while on others it’s a grind. Watch the bottom contours as you make your way to the middle, as it gets very deep. This area is fairly small compared to other troll fisheries in the South Sound. Diagonal from Dalco is Gig Harbor. It seems like every summer I see a yacht trolling along the shoreline just north of the harbor entrance hook up with a feisty Chinook. It makes no sense to me but it happens, and fairly frequently too. No kicker motor or sonar, just a couple of guys trolling along with a Dipsy Diver to a flasher and cut-plug herring and then the net flies. I caught my very first Puget Sound Chinook near the entrance of Gig Harbor almost 20 years ago, so each year I spend a few evenings here. Back then we were cruising along and my friend saw a large bait ball on his sonar. We dropped the gear and on the first pass I hooked a 10-pound hatchery fish. I thought this was how it always was, but soon found out that Puget Sound can fool you into its bounty. Still, mid- to late summer should present good opportunties.
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COLUMN
Black bears will be on the prowl for blueberries and more as summer wears on. Seek out southfacing mountainsides for the first ripe fruit, north sides later. (DEVIN SCHILDT, ANDY WALGAMOTT)
RIVER ANGLERS HAVE already been fishing the Nisqually for a month now, but come mid-August when the Puyallup opens up, most will make the shift to the shores of this well-known fishery. Lower parts of the river are tidally influenced and it is best to fish the few hours after high as fish are flushed in. Solitude is hard to find on the Puyallup, but if you have a drift boat or pontoon there is some good news for you this season. A boat slide – the first ever in the entire state of Washington – was recently installed near Sumner. This is the take-out, with a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife gravel bar access site near McMillan being the put-in. What this really does is open up river stretches that only have private bank access, as well as places where trees and other obstacles hinder bank anglers from accessing near-shore holes. Put in the drift boat, float down to an exposed gravel bar or drop an anchor and fish a section with nobody around. With nearly 104,000 Chinook, coho and pink salmon coming back to the Puyallup, the new boat slide will provide some great access to some good fishing. 68 Northwest Sportsman
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BEAR SEASON’S UPON us and though WDFW biologists agree that most bruins are taken incidentally while deer and elk hunting, there are good opportunities to focus on them in August. Look to ripening berry patches, which will first occur on south-facing slopes. Once those berries get picked over, switch to north-facing slopes, which take a bit longer for the fruit to ripen due to the shade and cooler temperatures. Black bears don’t wander too far this time of year, so if you see sign of their presence be patient and keep watching the area. It might take a few days but eventually you will find one. Unlike hunting deer and elk, when you want to be at a vantage point before sunrise, bears will be out feeding throughout the day. Back when we could use bait we killed most bears in the evening and rarely had one come in before noon. This makes for a great hunt as you can head out in the morning to a trailhead and hike up into the alpine berry patches and watch them during a midafternoon break. If hiking into the heights doesn’t sound too appealing, drive logging roads and glass clearcuts instead. This is because bears will cruise along and eat wild strawberries, huckleberries and blackberries
that tend to grow in the forest openings, which today are primarily at lower and midelevations than back in the 1970s and ’80s. In creek drainages bears will forage on fiddlehead ferns, devil’s club, stinging nettles and mountain ash, along with other foods, as well as use them for thermal relief from late summer’s heat. Of note, with a rule change approved by the Fish and Widlife Commission earlier this year (see sidebar, page 122) and meant to standardize units across the state, the start date for hunting season in the South Cascades Bear Management Zone was moved up from Aug. 15 to Aug. 1. It affects Game Management Units 466, 485, 503, 505, 510520, 524, 550-574, 653 and 654.
THERE’S PLENTY FOR South Sound sportsmen to do as August blends into September. And before we know it the bulk of hunting seasons will be upon us, so spending a day at the range sighting in rifles, shooting some clays, or stacking arrows is another way to spend a few summer afternoons. Between that, chasing salmon on the salt or from the river bank, or picking berries while glassing for bears, it’s time to get outside. NS
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FISHING Despite a low return, there are still opportunities this season to retain pink salmon in Puget Sound and some of the region’s rivers. Andrew Soper and Mark Schildt show off a pair they doubled up on during 2015’s return. (YO-ZURI PHOTO CONTEST)
Never Fear, The Odd-years Are (Still) Here!
While Puget Sound’s pinks are at a low ebb in their up-and-down cycle, hundreds of thousands of the little scrappers are returning to the region’s rivers. By Mark Yuasa
T
he pink salmon is considered an odd ball in the salmon species realm. If Rodney Dangerfield had been into fishing he would have said, “Anglers just don’t give them the respect they deserve.” That respect for pinks – a salmon
returning mainly during oddnumbered years and often referred to as “humpies” for the distinct bump that grows on the backs of males near spawning time – began to change around the start of the 21st century, 2001 to be exact. That’s when runs suddenly skyrocketed to well above 3 million every other year.
Anglers soon found that pinks were relatively easy to catch. This boon created bonus daily limits, and some show-stopping late summer and early fall moments for both boat and shore-bound anglers from the Strait of Juan de Fuca clear up into Puget Sound’s rivers. During that time the largest return nwsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2019
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FISHING occurred in 2009 when it peaked at more than 10 million, then hit 6-plus million in 2011, rose to more than 8 million in 2013 and then dipped to 4 million in 2015. In the summer of 2015, the sky fell out for pinks as they returned during an extreme drought coupled with bathtub-like water temperatures in rivers. This was soon followed by four big fall floods that swamped A wide variety of gear will get pinks to bite, but two of the best saltwater setups are a pink Buzz Bomb and squid (top) for casting off the beach or into schools from a boat, and the “humpy special,” a pink squid behind a dodger for trolling off a downrigger or with a banana weight. (ANDY WALGAMOTT, TERRY WIEST)
the redds of the fish that had made it to the spawning grounds. The hits didn’t stop there as the fry migrated out to an ocean that hadn’t shaken off the effects of The Blob yet. It was no blushing matter in 2017 as the Puget Sound pink forecast tanked and was less than 82 percent of the historical 10-year average. Around 1.1 million were predicted but the actual return was only around 511,000.
That relatively low abundance is expected to continue in 2019 as the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has forecast another tough year for pinks, with 608,388 entering Puget Sound streams. This could be among the lowest runs on record dating back to 1959. “We’re still digging out of a pretty big hole,” says Aaron Dufault, a WDFW pink salmon stock analyst. “It is a boom-or-bust situation for pinks, and we’ve had those busts in the past couple of odd-numbered years.” Pink returns are based off of each river’s fry production, and a breakdown of this year’s forecasts looks like this: Nooksack: 24,476; Skagit: 114,769; Stillaguamish: 47,919; Snohomish: 128,362; Green-Duwamish: 141,130; Puyallup: 47,905; Nisqually: 25,380; miscellaneous South Puget Sound streams: 143; Hood Canal: 70,675; and Strait of Juan de Fuca: 7,629. By contrast, the Fraser River pink return in 2019 is expected to be 5,018,600. However, British Columbia fishery managers have wildly missed the mark with recent predictions.
PINKS ARE MUCH more prolific than their Chinook and coho cousins and are known to recover faster and easily adapt to different spawning locations. For a few decades not many pinks were found in rivers like the Green and Nisqually. Then in 2001 they unexplainably increased exponentially, and by 2009 more than 3.3 million returned to the former. “If everything aligns in the proper order, their survival can go much higher,” Dufault says. “They do tend to make a fast recovery.”
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Anglers on usually productive North Sound rivers will have to release all their pinks, like Eric Bell prepared to do with this Snohomish buck during 2015’s fishery. (GREG OLENIK)
Pinks are the most abundant salmon and due to their unique twoyear life cycle, returns are much larger in odd-numbered years. Pink fry will migrate to estuarial and marine areas once they’re born. They spend about 1½ years in the ocean and feed heavily and grow at a fast rate before returning to spawn as 2-year-old fish. They’re the smallest of the salmon species found along the West Coast, weighing between 3 to 6 pounds and an average length of 20 to 25 inches. The official state record for a pink in saltwater was caught by Jeff Bergman at Possession Bar on Aug. 25, 2001 and weighed 11.56 pounds. The largest in freshwater was caught by Adam Stewart in the Stillaguamish River on Oct. 11, 2007 and weighed 15.40 pounds. These salmon can be distinguished by the large, dark oval spots on their back and tail fin. In freshwater the males develop a hump on their back, which is why they’re known as “humpies.” 74 Northwest Sportsman
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Despite what is termed a poor return this summer, anything that tops 600,000 fish or more should offer some good opportunities.
FOR INTERIOR SOUND waters the pink run peaks in mid-August, and in the South Sound the last week of August and early September are best. Pinks tend to hug the shorelines to avoid strong currents, making them easily accessible to bank anglers, especially during the hour before and right after a flood tide. Slack tide can be another good time to catch pinks. They’re considered the best bet for a novice angler looking to take in the thrill of hooking a salmon. Often anglers will watch for fish jumping or finning on the surface, or take notice of other anglers reeling them in nearby, before putting their gear out. Many also watch WDFW’s creel checks (wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/ reports/creel) to see where and when catches ramp up. As odd as it may sound pinks
really do prefer pink, which means that whatever you throw in front of their face – lure, spoon, jig or fly – be sure it’s that hue. The color actually mimics the food they eat at sea, plankton, squid and krill. The most effective lures are smaller hot pink mini squids or small spoons tied 13 to 16 inches behind a whitecolored dodger or silver flasher. Many prefer the smaller 8-inch Pro-Troll flasher with a slightly longer leader of 15 to 20 inches. A standard small “firecracker-size” cut-plug herring will also catch its fair share of pinks. Whatever method you choose be sure to add scent like Smelly Jelly in shrimp or herring flavor. Option two is casting out a Buzz Bomb or Point Wilson-type jig and letting it sink, which it will do at a rate of about a foot per second, depending on how heavy the lure is. Once you feel the jig go slack reel up (just don’t set the jig hard because pinks tend to have soft jawlines) until you feel the rod pull down.
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FISHING
Dick Nites are a favorite for river fishers, but so too are pink jigs. This custom one made by a GreenDuwamish River angler looks not unlike the salmon species’ prey at sea, squid. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)
Others have found that the lure of choice is a pink Rotator trailed by a small pink plastic squid. Let it flutter down into the water and then slowly
retrieve it back to shore or the boat. By far the most popular way to catch the salmon in the river is casting and retrieving a Dick Nite hot
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pink spoon or a Silver Horde Number 2 Kingfisher spoon. But a small 1/8or 1/4-ounce pink jig, either fished under a float or cast and retrieved, is a favorite as well. Another favored river method is trolling small hot pink Hot Shots or Wiggle Warts with no weight on your line about 35 to 40 feet behind your boat. Fly anglers will toss a size 4 pink Flashabou Comet or just about any other pink-colored fly. You don’t need an expensive rod and reel for pinks. Many anglers will use a stout 8- to 9-foot salmon or trout rod and a good levelwind or spinning reel strung with 8- to 12-pound-test line. A 6-weight fly rod will get the job done for those who prefer to cast flies. In a boat on the salt, downriggers are the most effective way to fish since you can dial in the precise depth where the fish are located. If you don’t have downriggers, simply attach a 6- to 8-ounce banana-shaped lead weight a few feet ahead of a dodger or flasher and run it out no more than 30 to 50 feet behind the boat. Whatever you choose, be sure to have lots of gear in the water because double or triple-header hook-ups aren’t uncommon. Once you hook a fish, circle around to stay on top of the school.
AS FOR SPOTS, the choices for boat anglers are far and wide. Pinks can be found from the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca clear into streams in deepest south Puget Sound. Just be sure to check the regulation pamphlet for what marine waterways or rivers are open or closed to retention this year due to the lower forecast. “If folks are looking for an opportunity to catch pinks, much of that will occur in the marine areas that are open for salmon fishing,” says WDFW’s Dufault. “There will also be some opportunities for pinks in a few rivers like the Green, Puyallup and Nisqually. Places you can’t keep them since we aren’t expecting to meet
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escapement goals are the Nooksack, Skagit, Stillaguamish and Snohomish.” Prime saltwater shoreline locations for pinks include: Port Townsend: Point Wilson and Marrowstone Island’s eastern shoreline; Whidbey Island: North Beach, West Beach, Fort Casey, Keystone, Bush Point, Lagoon Point and Possession Point Bait House; Kitsap Peninsula: Point No Point; Edmonds-Mukilteo: Picnic Point, Mukilteo Lighthouse shoreline and nearby pier and the Edmonds Pier; Seattle area: Lincoln Park, Carkeek Park, Alki Point, Golden Gardens near Shilshole Bay and Redondo Beach; Tacoma area: Dash Point State Park pier and shoreline, Browns Point Lighthouse Park and Point Defiance Park.
TAKING CARE OF your catch is important and can result in a very good eating salmon, especially when smoked or grilled. As pinks are mostly caught at the height of summer, when temperatures are very warm, those that aren’t properly handled quickly can become soft, mushy and lose their flavor. Once you land a pink be sure to bleed it out by cutting the gills and then clean and gut your catch. Then get them on ice quickly in a cooler or KoldZone- or KatchKooler-type bag. The best fishing for pinks occurs in the early morning and later in the evening just before sunset, but they will hit all day long. Most pinks can be found from just below the surface to as deep as 80 to 125 feet, and they will go deeper especially on sunny days. The top tip when fishing from a boat is to troll very slow! You can catch them at any speed, but those who plan to target them should ramp down the speed. Lastly, don’t be surprised if you hook a Chinook or coho while fishing for pinks and just remember to check the rules on whether you can keep them or not. NS 78 Northwest Sportsman
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nwsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2019
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The weather can turn fast on the Oregon Coast, hitting harder and with more intensity than forecasters sometimes predict. (JIM PEX)
ROUGH DAYS AT SEA
High Pressure At The High Spot A run out to the South Coast halibut grounds in an open-bow boat nearly turns disastrous. By Jim Pex
G
oing out on the ocean in a small boat is not much different than hiking into a wilderness area. You never know what you might see or what unique experiences await you. Like the wilderness, one does not go to sea unprepared, nor does one venture forth without a guide or some personal experience. When things go wrong and you’re not ready for them, it can be lonely out there, putting
your life and those with you in danger. Ancient mariners were well aware of the dangers and risked their lives based on their personal skills. The ocean is mysterious in that conditions change from day to day, sometimes from moment to moment. There is a thrill in going out there and dealing with the unknowns that come your way. But beware, your primary resource, the weatherman, may not be your friend. About 10 years back, I had a friend named Jim who was running a guide
service on the ocean. It usually was for rockfish and he only ran out a few miles from the safety of the bar and the inner bay. He had a 22-foot aluminum boat with an open bow that was not built for rough ocean conditions, but on a good day was certainly adequate. The boat had a large motor as the main and a smaller one for trolling or just backup. My friend had taken the Coast Guard classes and had what we call a six-pack license to take up to six people fishing. Getting the license nwsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2019
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ROUGH DAYS AT SEA
requires passing an exam, so the expectation is that the licensed captain knows what he or she is doing. Jim had been out on the pond on a number of occasions, so we thought he was capable. In talking to him, you could tell he was confident of his skills out there.
JIM GOT A call from a client who wanted to catch a halibut. The best place to do so in our area is called the Bandon High Spot. This is an underwater plateau located between Bandon and Port Orford and about 15 miles west from shore. The bottom rises from 700 to 800 feet deep to 400 to 500 feet deep. It is a hangout for large halibut and a great spot to fish, if you can get there. The downside is that it is distant from any support such as the Coast Guard or a safe harbor. Unlike on land, there are no roads, no tow trucks and no immediate help if things go wrong at sea. If you capsize out there, it is unlikely anyone is going to find you until much later. The front of the high spot from the Coos Bay bar is south, 27 miles distant. It is 15 miles south of Bandon and about the same distance from Port Orford. Bandon is not much of a refuge if things go wrong since it is difficult to get across the bar most of the time. Port Orford is OK but there is no trailer boat launch; you need to have your boat lifted on and off the water with a large crane, provided you have the appropriate straps.
CHECKING THE WEATHER, it looked to be sunny with a light wind out of the north when Jim started for the Bandon High Spot. Waves were forecast to be 3 to 4 feet, not a bad day to go fishing. Actually, it was about as good as it ever gets out there. Another friend named Leonard was also on 82 Northwest Sportsman
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The Bandon High Spot can be reached from Coos Bay, Bandon and Port Orford, two of which are subject to summer afternoon northwesterlies. (NOAA)
board for this trip as a deckhand. The rest of this story is based on what Leonard told me weeks later. Jim left the Charleston harbor at daylight and made the 27-mile run downwind to the High Spot. Since he was running with the wind and waves, the trip was comfortable and made at good speed. They arrived about an hour and a half later and there were a few other boats around. It is good to have a little company when you are this far from home. Fishing 500 feet down with a hand-crank reel is a test of one’s endurance. To get to the bottom requires 2 pounds of weight off the end of a stiff rod. Herring is usually the bait of choice. Leonard said fishing was slow that day but they managed to get their limit of three halibut over several hours. By that time the other boats were gone. As Jim, Leonard and their client had fished, the wind had increased and the waves doubled in size. In nautical slang, “The sheep was on the water” by the time they wanted to leave. This means there
were whitecaps on the waves from the wind. In this case, the wind was straight out of the north, the waves from the northwest. Getting back to Charleston meant heading north into the seas and wind. Jim finally shipped the rods and tackle and told the others to sit tight for the trip back home. He said it looked like it might be lumpy and slow; four to five hours of running was a possibility. He turned the boat into the seas, pushed the throttle but could make very little headway at displacement speed without shipping water over the bow. Keep in mind this boat had an open bow that was very slow to drain when taking water. It seems they never make the bow scuppers large enough in these boats; I think they were designed for rain, not waves.
GETTING ON PLANE did not seem like a possibility and a long trip home was becoming more realistic. However, there is a technique in which one can put the power to the throttle and get up on top of the waves and
ROUGH DAYS AT SEA
A storm lashes the Pacific off the Cape Arago Lighthouse near Charleston. (JIM PEX)
basically run from wave top to wave top, but the conditions must be just right. Jim knew this and decided to give it more gas. He hit the throttle and got on top of the first wave – and immediately launched the boat into the air like a water skier flying off a jump. The boat came down hard, knocking the other two to the floor. Undaunted, he kept on and plowed the center of the next wave instead of going over it. That wave came over the bow and filled the open bow with water, making the boat front heavy. Jim apparently panicked and pushed the throttle harder and took another wave head on. This wave was higher than the windshield and passed over the heavy bow. It struck the windshield with such force that it knocked the glass out of the frames. Then as the green water passed through, water and windshield took out all of his dash electronics. Finally, as the moving wall of water passed along the boat, it struck the three people on board. Jim was hit first, by the glass and water, and was momentarily dazed. He had a hold of the steering wheel but the other two were less prepared 86 Northwest Sportsman
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and were carried by the water. The client nearly went over the side but managed to grasp a seat back with one hand while balancing on the gunnel. He hung on well enough to get back in the boat. Leonard was carried by the wave to the rear engines and did a face plant into the main motor. He was momentarily knocked senseless and the engine was all that kept him in the boat. He said he probably had “130” imprinted on his forehead from the emblem on the motor. All three were now soaked and frightened. None had experienced anything like this. Jim backed off on the throttle as the wave passed through. Now they were at idle with a load of water sloshing back and forth inside the boat. Everything was floating and other waves were lapping at the sides as they tried to regroup. On the boat, the distance between the waves and the top of the boat sides is called the freeboard. Freeboard went from a couple feet to just inches with all that water on board. Fortunately, a few buckets were floating around and so they started to bail. The boat was now sideways to the oncoming waves and rocking violently as the crew gathered
themselves. The vessel did have a bilge pump, but this was way beyond what the small unit could handle. Since there were no longer any other boats in the vicinity, Jim quickly grabbed the VHF mic and tried to hail the Coast Guard, shouting “Mayday, mayday!” But there was no response as the radio was dead and the antenna was gone. Their cell phones were also wet, and out of range anyway. Using buckets, the client and Leonard bailed water as Jim turned the boat south for a slight reprieve from the rising seas. They were alone, sea conditions were worsening, they had no radio to obtain help and their navigation instruments were dead also. There was not so much as a hand-held compass on board for guidance. If they took on any more water, they could capsize. And with land at least 15 miles away, no one would consider them missing for several hours. A life jacket was of little value when hypothermia in these cold waters was the Devil. Imminent death by drowning was racing through their minds. Was this it? Were they going to die? In this moment of terror, there was an
August Saltwater Silvers
The hottest month of the year is not just for sun seekers! Pacific Northwest anglers look forward to beautiful warm weather, oceanscape scenery and if they are lucky, blindingly bright scales littering the air and deck when a platinumbright silver salmon thrashes in the net. This is the time of year we all dream about while enduring the other nine damp months.
“A happy angler embraces a healthy saltwater silver on an early summer morning!�
Projected forecasts have been encouraging for Pacific coho stocks this year. At the time of this writing, anglers are experiencing early and stronger than expected catches in open areas. While old school mooching and even jigging can be popular, hands down the most popular way to catch these fish is trolling with downriggers at depths of 40 to 75 feet and speeds of 2.5 to 3.5 mph. Running flasher/ hoochie or flasher-spoon combos is especially productive and will usually get the job done. With hoochies, you want to use heavier 40-pound-test leader in lengths of 32- to 36-inches in conjunction with dual 2/0 to 4/0 barbless hooks in order to impart maximum action. Flashers in the 11-inch range in cop car and spatterback colors are effective, and matching hoochie colors to flasher colors can be a wise choice as well. Popular spoons are 3- to 4-inch Luhr Jensen Coyotes in cop car, army truck, nickel/neon green and metallic tape colors. Just make sure to lengthen your leader a bit more with spoons. Lengths of 40 to 48 are about right. Again, matching flasher and spoon colors is important. Daily limits and specific rules change from location to location so be sure and check your perspective area before heading out. Know the difference between wild and hatchery salmon and be sure to treat our resources with respect. Have fun and most importantly, be safe out there! This monthly fisheries message brought to you by the sports fishermen of Wooldridge Boats.
nwsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2019
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ROUGH DAYS AT SEA
The sight of the rocky islands off Port Orford and Cape Blanco, and the author’s boat fishing a nearby reef were godsends for the men. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)
upside: the engine was still running, and they were still afloat.
TO MAKE MATTERS worse, though, the fog was beginning to set in up north, so the decision was made to run for Port Orford. They could see Humbug Mountain and Orford Rocks to the east Port Orford is the one harbor on the Oregon Coast where boats have to be lifted in and out of the water. When the crew arrived there, it was a “kiss the dock moment,” the author writes. They’d lost their halibut, were soaked and shivering, but the skipper had brought them in alive. (RAY GILDEN, PFMC)
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and knew Port Orford was over there somewhere. Jim had never been there from the seaward side, so he pointed the boat in that direction, thus making some headway in the wind while the waves lapped at the boat’s port side. At least they were underway despite not knowing for sure where they were
going or if conditions might change before they got there. As Jim steered, the other two continued to bail water. They were all cold, wet and fearful as the seas continued to whitecap. Yet their situation slowly improved as they continued to bail water. The trip in seemed impossibly slow. When they got closer to shore, the sea conditions improved, and they recognized what they though must be Orford Rocks and knew the port was somewhere around there. Everyone got excited when they spotted a boat fishing the reef near the rocks. They approached while making the emergency signal, raising both hands above their head and crossing them back and forth. I was in that boat fishing the reef. I saw the signal and recognized their boat. “This is weird,” I thought. “Where did they come from?” I hadn’t seen their rig at the dock when we’d launched. Jim came close enough to me that I could shout directions for getting to Port Orford. I also made eye contact with Leonard. I would bet that if he thought there was any way he could have gotten off that boat and onto mine, he would have jumped. I did not know the client but he looked like he had literally escaped death. His clothes were soaked and disheveled, his hat was gone and his expression was grim. Jim and his crew made it to the port. It was what we seafarers call a “kiss the dock moment.” They had
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Northwest Sportsman 89
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to tie up until they could reach Jim’s wife, who retrieved the truck and trailer in Charleston and brought it the 50 miles down to Port Orford. Again, the port doesn’t have a regular boat launch. Vessels have to be lifted in and out with a crane. By the time Jim’s wife arrived, it was dark and someone lent them some straps to get their boat out of the water. For all the effort and terrifying moments at sea, they were no longer in possession of the halibut, as the ice chest with the fish had gone overboard when the wave had passed through the boat.
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on a good day. But conditions can change in a hurry. It is up to the captain to recognize the changes and respond based on the kind of boat and his boating skills. Despite the conditions, Jim was successful in getting himself, his crew and his boat to safety. He eventually got his boat fixed and had enough wisdom to never go back to the Bandon High Spot again with it. One thing is for certain: If you survive these kinds of wilderness experiences, it makes you a whole bunch smarter. The upside from the events of this trip was that it caused the rest of us to put together ditch bags that included portable communications, compass, GPS and flares. You never wish for a day like Jim had, but if it comes someday, we hope to be better prepared. Then, one day the ocean turned on me, as it can happen with very little notice. That’s another story to be told. NS Editor’s note: Jim Pex is an avid angler based out of Coos Bay and enjoys fishing for albacore, salmon and rockfish. He is retired and was previously CEO of International Forensic Experts LLC and a lieutenant with the Oregon State Police at its crime laboratory. Pex is the author of CSI: Moments from a Career in Forensic Science, available through Amazon.
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AUGUST 2019 | nwsportsmanmag.com
FISHING
Down The John Day Floating the iconic Central Oregon river puts you into plentiful smallies now, plus upland birds and steelhead in fall. By Rob Lyon
I
was on the phone with Linda Tagg at Service Creek confirming last-minute details on our shuttles from Thirtymile Creek to Cottonwood when we discovered that we’d missed the turn out of Condon, Oregon, and had to backtrack a good 10 miles. The newly pushed-in grade paralleling Thirtymile was strewn with sharp basalt rock and we slowed to a crawl. After half an hour of tortuously slow progress, windows down and no AC, we could see the boat launch ahead
and the rest of our crew repairing a flat in 100-degree heat. We put things right finally and loaded up the big 18-foot cataraft and prepped the two fishing kayaks. These were the nifty Wilderness System Radar models with the pedaldrive option, providing a warp-speed booster for the slow, pokey stretches of the John Day. It was fry-pan hot and there were a good number of other anglers already on the water, judging by how many rigs were in
the lot. The river was schlepping along at a good clip of about 1,000 cubic feet per second and was the color of dirty dishwater. Part of what brought us here earlier this summer was that the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife introduced 80 mature smallmouth and a number of fry into the river in 1971 to augment what was only a native steelhead fishery at the time. Nowadays bass are ubiquitous and the river is considered to be the best
Winding for over 280 miles through Central Oregon – this is Horseshoe Bend below the newer Thirtymile Creek access – the wild and scenic John Day River is a favorite for anglers. (BOB WICK, BLM) nwsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2019
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FISHING Smallmouth are a prime target from the prespawn into early fall. Author Rob Lyon watches his line while drifting a lure below a basalt wall. (ROBYN MINKLER)
smallie fishing venue in the West. If you’re a numbers guy, you can have 100-fish days here. Smallmouth thrive in this freestone, mineral-rich water, much like redband rainbows do in the Deschutes to the west, and there’s a fish behind nearly every rock, or so it seems. While they do tend to put the small in smallmouth, there are plenty in the 13- to 17inch range. Anglers targeting trophy bass will want to come in the early season, when the water temperature is below 52 degrees and you can find the bigger spawn and prespawn bass up and about while the little ones are in the den watching cartoons.
WE’D BROUGHT ALONG a good stash of Zman baits in all manner of shapes and colors. These things are tough but flexible and they float. The bass had eyes only for the more realistic colors this trip. Those would be the smelt and mud minnow baits in the Finesse TRD line and we had the most luck with their Slim SwimZ baits that look like trout fry. JD smallies are notoriously fickle about color and you had better bring a spectrum of options if you want to 94 Northwest Sportsman
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ensure success. Spinners, spoons and flies all caught their share of fish, but what worked best were these lifelike plastic baits with small lead heads. Zman has a line of proprietary Ned rig and NedlockZ jigheads that we used in the swifter flows in 1/5 and 1/6 ounce and down to 1/10 ounce in slower water, quartering casts upriver and bouncing them back down over the rocks, but we caught most of our fish on the swing. The sexy tail action of these things was too hard for fish to resist. Interestingly, our biggest fish on this river have come while fishing topwater steelhead, and again, always on the swing. We had success fishing tight against the edge of the cottonwood shoots that lined the riverbank with the high but dropping water level of late June. They provided excellent cover for bass and a break from the current. The sheer basalt walls that rise vertically in places along the river were popular with the drift boat guides and the back eddies have their share of opportunistic fish waiting for food to slip into orbit. The John Day is full of crayfish. If you’ve got a trap or two, you might
want to bring them along. We had pan-fried bass for dinner several times and all of the fish had been eating crawdads. Next time around I know what we’re having for an appetizer.
I HOOKED THE biggest fish of the trip on a crayfish bait. I was on dinner duty that night and with smallies on the menu and none in the box, planning
With the possibility of big-number days on bass, it’s easy to catch dinner. The river is full of smallies and removing some won’t hurt the population. (STEVE THOMSEN)
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FISHING the water. It was either a state-record fish (make that national), or more likely a rodent of some kind smelling bait on the line and gnawing it in two. We caught our share of bass in June, but if we have to do it again (which we surely will), we’d look for less heat, fewer fishermen, and along with that package, lower water. A fall float, in other words.
Besides smallies, the John Day is best known for its wild summer-run steelhead that return in fall, but there are also channel catfish and even carp to battle. (STEVE THOMSEN)
a fresh catch of the day. I could see a decent rapid ahead but figured I had a good three minutes to drift a crawfish imitation along the reeds that had produced so well for us in camp. Something heavy picked up my Zman crayfish pattern on the first hop. After repeated pressure to get the fish to the surface to identify I had to loosen the drag, stick the butt of the rod in the scupper of the kayak and run the whitewater with fish in tow. All good in the end, at least, as I’d radioed my buddy to be on the lookout and he was waiting just below to take a pic as I finally horsed a golden, armor-plated brute to hand. Until I had a visual I’d been hoping it was a channel cat. There is a healthy population of them in the John Day, or so I am told as we have yet to hook one. Channel cats are more of a midwater-column fish than their bottom-feeding brethren and so will, in theory at least, be caught incidentally while bass fishing. On several trips to the JD we have put out a line overnight, which offers the best chance of a catch. The closest we came to success, though, was when we baited a big 2/0 Siwash and tossed it in a big eddy. We had a 5-ounce weight on the end and a spool of 96 Northwest Sportsman
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100-pound-test line. When we checked it in the morning we found the line busted, cut or snapped right where it entered
FOR MY MONEY, that is the best time to float the JD. Commercial outfitters consider some of the best fishing on this river to be had in early autumn. As water temps begin to drop fish become more active, and the river has more definition. Pools, eddies, riffles and tailouts are clearly defined. The water is a crystalline emerald green that sings to the soul. There are also birds to hunt – dove in September and October and chukar and quail from October into winter. And there is a world-class run of wild steelies, as well. The
The river is one of the most scenic in the West, curving beneath brightly colored hillsides and towering basalt bluffs that speak to a geological past as interesting as its recent history. Almost all of its lower half is designated wild and scenic, with access at Thirtymile Creek secured through the purchase of the Rattray Ranch and its transfer to the BLM. (STEVE THOMSEN)
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FISHING
Recreational opportunities on the John Day expand in fall as upland bird seasons open. The author and his pals use the river to chase pheasants, chukar and quail when not fly fishing for wild steelhead. (STEVE THOMSEN)
oppressive heat over the Columbia Plateau will have begun to moderate; it should be nearly 10 degrees cooler in the day and quite nearly that again at night. Hot still, but the edge is off. Evenings are bliss and nights are relaxed and contemplative with a hint of the season to come. And as for the rest of the residents of Dodge, I don’t know where they
are but they sure as hell aren’t there. Reason being, the water level. By September the river will have dropped significantly from the 1,200 cfs or so of early summer to perhaps 300 or 200 cfs or less. Kayaks and canoes are the best choice then, perhaps with a small to midsized cat in support with a couple of hombres aboard to assist when she bottoms
out and to pole the boat off the rocks that it will inevitably hang up on. For some of us this is a deal breaker; for others it’s the price of getting the adventure we want. We saw plenty of dove on the wing in June, so hunting them and chasing bass would make for a great combo float this season. While September is a little early for steelhead, they are not far down the road, with the first runs arriving in October. By then irrigation will have stopped and water drawn off into the hay and alfalfa fields will raise the river to a more comfortable level for boaters, and along with that and the steelies, will come another wave of fishermen.
THE JOHN DAY is 284 miles of freeflowing river, sans dams, the second longest such in the continental states. Nearly half is designated Wild & Scenic. And more far-thinking people and agencies are hard at work now to ensure a quality experience for generations to come. The Western
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FISHING Rivers Conservancy bought the Rattray Ranch that had owned Thirtymile Creek and is now working to restore steelhead spawning habitat in the important coolwater trib. While an experience here can seem idyllically remote and untouched, there are strong players at work behind the scenes to ensure it remains so. There are several options for a float trip on this part of the river, and you will need a permit from the Bureau of Land Management. Floats are from Clarno to Cottonwood at 70-odd miles, Thirtymile Creek to Cottonwood at 40-something and Cottonwood to McDonald Ferry at 20. Toward planning your itinerary, consider that the river runs roughly at 1 mph for every 1,000 cfs. Then if you’re rowing or paddling bump it up to 2 mph. Doing the math before your trip means you won’t have to spend all your time humping on the oars and can instead spend more time fishing.
Excepting the rapids between Clarno and Cottonwood, the JD is rated boater friendly. Once summer kicks in it is a great kayak fishing river because it moves slow enough to keep up the dog and pony show that is fishing and maneuvering a kayaking at the same time. By September the best approach is often
simply to pull the boat up on a gravel bar and get out to do your business. Again, the biggest issue of concern is extreme low water and the hassle of repeatedly bottoming out in shallow water and hanging up on rocks. But if you’re at all like me and my friends, the experience is worth a lot more than the trouble it is. NS
RESOURCES
Raft/kayak rentals/shuttles/lodging on the river: Service Creek Resort, servicecreek.com. These guys will drop off and pick up your boats at launch and takeout. We have worked with them for many years and they are friendly, knowledgeable and reliable. Navigation: John Day River Recreation Guide (covering Kimberly to Tumwater Falls) and an excellent John Day River map available from the Bureau of Land Management in Prineville, blm.gov/office/prineville-district-office. Permit: You’ll need a float permit from the BLM, blm.gov/or/permit/info/overview. Fishing kayaks: We ran pedal-drive Wilderness System Radar kayaks, which allowed us to move pretty quickly downstream when need be. For more, see wildernesssystems.com/us/kayaks/radar-135. Tackle: A wide variety of baits will work, but we had good success with products from Zman, zmanfishing.com/cms/elaztech-plastics. Logistical resources: TravelOregon.com. –RL
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Northwest Sportsman 101
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COLUMN
Catfish make a great meal when filleted correctly. Author and chef Randy King shines a light on how to do so. (RANDY KING)
How To Take The ‘Muddy’ Taste Out Of Catfish I
t was a hot summer evening and the setting sun gave off hues of gold and purple CHEF IN THE WILD as it faded. A By Randy King slight breeze was whitecapping Lake Lowell at Idaho’s Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge. Created for farming, the lake allows for agriculture in what would otherwise be a sagebrush plain. I grew up around here; this is as close to home waters as I have.
My brother, father and I had our backcountry camping packs full of gear and were on a practice hike when we noticed a young angler with a tight line standing on the lakeside rocks. His head was cocked to one side for some reason and he looked like he was genuinely struggling. We stopped and watched. It turned out the young man was on the phone trying to get his father, who was somewhere down by the dam, to show up with the net. He was trying to call him instead of just yelling.
I had a “kids these days” moment. But he fought the fish well and after about five minutes he landed a 10-pound catfish. We all cheered for him as he banked the fish, sans net. I took his phone and snapped a pic for him. He was clearly a little dumbfounded by the catch, still a bit shaky after the fight. Then he let the catfish go. I asked if he ever ate them. “Yeah, we took one home last week, but it tasted like mud,” the angler replied. A common refrain. I know how to fix
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Step 1: Lay the cooled catfish on its side. Find the beginning of the fillet where the skull ends. Plunge your knife in at the base of the skull and make an inch-or-so-long incision. Then mark a line from one end of the cut to the anus. Slice just through the skin to the anus, avoiding the gut cavity. (LEVI SIM)
SHAVING MEAT OFF A WHISKERFISH
C
atfish are often maligned because they can have a “muddy” taste to them. Sure, a catfish is not a halibut, but they are not a poor eating fish. I think of them as the lingcod of the river, if they are treated and cooked correctly. The key is to remove everything that is not white flesh from the fillet. Why? The brown line on the skin side of the fillet holds the most “off” flavor. It is even
Step 2: From the skull cut make a cut line down the spine, on the top side of the dorsal fin. Cut down until you feel the rib bones. Do not cut all the way to the tail like this. (LEVI SIM)
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referred to as the “mud” line on the fish. Removing this (see pics) will make the dish much better. Also remove the yellow flesh from the fish. This is fat. Most rivers in the Northwest that hold catfish are “working” systems, meaning that agricultural byproducts get into them all the time. Regardless of whether it’s a catfish, bass, salmon or albacore, most of the bad things that can
Step 3: Next make a “plunge” cut at the end of the dorsal fin. Drive your knife down through the fillet and out the anus from the top of the spine. (LEVI SIM)
make a fish inedible accumulate in the fat. As most fish get bigger, they start to eat other fish and this only makes the problem worse, concentrating toxins. Removing the fat – all of it – gets rid of most bad things in the meat. And when you remove everything from a catfish fillet that is not white, you solve two problems at once. Next, soak your fish. At a bare minimum I rinse my fish off until the water that they
Step 4: Slide your knife along the spine, toward the tail of the fish, making small sawing motions to remove the fillet from the bones. Free your fillet the rest of the way; if it does not come free at this point, you might need to do some more cutting along the ribs. (LEVI SIM)
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Step 5: Lay the freed fillet on the cutting board. Using a fork or your fingers hold the tail end of the fillet down and begin slicing the meat free of the skin. Small sawlike motions often help this process. Toss the skin. (LEVI SIM, ALL) are in stops being “cloudy” and runs clear. Then I soak the fillet in milk (this can add fat back in, I believe).
After the soak, my go-to recipe is cornmeal-dusted fried catfish. It’s the most Southern thing I can think of and it
is delicious. See my book Chef in the Wild for the recipe. And for more wild game preparations, see chefrandyking.com. –RK
Step. 6: You are close now. Look for and remove all bones by feeling with your fingers and/or looking at the locations of the fins. They often stay attached and need to be removed. Next remove all the fat and yellow flesh. Lastly, cut out the mud line by V-cutting the skin side of the fillet. Now you have a cleaned catfish fillet. (LEVI SIM, ALL)
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that, but not the trick to catching catfish. We looked at his setup. Small bass rod, a single size 1 hook, no weight on the line, chicken liver. The young man just grinned as we all stared at his rig, our confusion clearly evident. “Yeah, I know, right,” he said. “You wouldn’t think it. Super simple – just cast right into those reeds, or onto the sides of the marsh patties. Only cast like 15 to 20 feet out. Let the liver just naturally sink. Then hold on. Works really well.” I think the young man was in a joyfilled stupor when he told us how to catch catfish. I took note, however. Then we shared a laugh and hiked off, our bulging backpacks seemingly lighter after enjoying the success of the fisherman. But I also had a plan and a mission. With the lake only 5 miles from my house, I was going to learn this fishing technique, and quickly. Then I was going to make a catfish dinner from a hunk of public land not 10 minutes from home. The perfect kind of locavore food, if you ask me. NS
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FISHING
Set Your Sights On Selkirk Trout Way up in this North Idaho mountain range are a string of stocked lakes that provide good late summer fishing. By Mike Wright
A
s summer’s heat descends on the lakes of Eastern Washington and North Idaho, fishing prospects in these areas becomes severely limited. With the warmer water, trout feeding habits change rather dramatically. Just a few weeks earlier the fish were aggressively feeding on adult insects floating in the surface film or coming completely out of the water to take flying damsels and callibaetis mayflies. By August, trout generally head
for the deepest and coolest parts of lakes, as well as become far more selective in their feeding habits. The warmer weather also spurs a rapid acceleration of weed growth in lower elevation lakes, often making it quite difficult to get your gear down to the levels where the fish are holding without getting tangled up. Many also suffer from widespread algae growth, which can negatively affect a fish’s appetite and their ability to spot your lure or fly. And the number of fish available is yet another problem. Since the
survival rate on hatchery trout is not good during the warmest months of summer, fisheries biologists don’t generally stock lower lakes in late July or during the month of August. With many of the fish released in the spring and early summer having ended up on anglers’ dinner tables and no replacements sent to the lakes, the number of fish available later in the season is reduced. For the hardcore stillwater trout fisherman, all these facts paint a very gloomy picture about this time of year. However, there is a pleasant
Solitude, scenery and scrappy fish are the rewards for getting up into the mountains for alpine trout this time of year. North Idaho’s Selkirk Mountains offer a number of glacially sculpted waters, like Harrison Lake, that are stocked to provide fishing opportunity. (USFS)
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FISHING
Many backcountry anglers prefer to catch and release, given the small numbers of fish that occupy high lakes, but harvesting a few for dinner is allowed. Mostly you’ll find rainbows, cutthroat and brook trout in mountain waters. (GARN KENNEDY)
alternative to the frustration: Simply head for the hills, or in this case, the mountains.
FOR THOSE OF us lucky enough to live in close proximity to the mountains, there is a very good chance there are some scenic high lakes nearby where the trout are plentiful and hungry. The fact that temperatures are cooler in the heights makes for a much more enjoyable fishing experience as well. There are considerations to make before planning a mountain fishing excursion. First, many of these high lakes are not blessed with a great deal of feed and thus the averagesize fish will undoubtedly be smaller than those found in lower waters. Your chances of setting a new lineclass record is, to say the least, rather remote. On the other hand, the trout in these lakes are almost always 112 Northwest Sportsman
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hungry and will generally take almost anything that resembles prey. Indeed, although they may be lacking in size, they will often more than make up for that, er, shortcoming in quantity. In Idaho, a study by Jim Fredericks of the Department of Fish and Game determined that the lack of size was more a factor of slower growth rates than high angler exploitation. Afterwards a policy was put in place to reduce stocking densities in the highest elevation lakes in order to maximize growth potential. There are indications that that has had some positive results, especially with cutthroat. Since little natural reproduction occurs in most alpine lakes, stocking is required. For this reason it is important to know the fish release cycle, plus the number and species that each lake receives. In addition, there are some lakes
that are simply not stocked for various reasons. For example, a number contain eastern brook trout, which reproduce quite well because they do not need feeder streams in order to spawn, and may not show up in a stocking report. It would be advisable to check with your state’s fisheries agency (see sidebar) to check on the stocking status of the particular high lake you are considering. Keep in mind some lakes do not contain fish at all, so to avoid feeling like the village idiot who has spent the day fishing for something that doesn’t exist, check before making the trip. Another factor to consider is the location of the lake. Some require only a short hike or, in some cases, almost no walk at all to reach the promised land (or in this case, the promised waters), while others can make you feel a little like Sir Edmund
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FISHING Hillary scaling Mount Everest. Just a word to the wise for those semicouch potato types among us (of which I include myself): Don’t bite off more than you can chew. For those who enjoy long hikes, the scenery can oftentimes be as rewarding as the fishing. Just be sure to bring a sleeping bag and a supply of Bengay.
Oregon high lakes managers use a helicopter to stock many of their waters. (ODFW)
HIGH LAKES INFO While Mike Wright’s article focuses on the offerings of a half dozen or so alpine waters in far northern Idaho, the Northwest absolutely glistens with summer mountain troutin’ ops. That’s thanks in equal parts to glaciers that sculpted high basins over the eons, and the more recent sweaty efforts of backcountry anglers and horsemen who toted fingerlings up to stock the waters. These days, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife uses helicopters outfitted with special trays to efficiently release 3-inch ’bows, cutts and brookies at hundreds of lakes throughout the state every other year to provide a beloved “wilderness fishing experience.” If ODFW touts that it has the most “robust” high lakes program, which releases fish everywhere from boggy 2,874-foot-low Andrea Lake near Oakridge to lunar Legore Lake at 8,957 feet up in the Wallowas, all three states in the region have pretty hearty web pages detailing the opportunities. They provide everything from GPS coordinates to the latest releases to how-tos and histories. For more, see: Idaho: idfg.idaho.gov/fish/stocking Oregon: myodfw.com/articles/ stocking-oregons-hike-lakes Washington: wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/ locations/high-lakes –NWS
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HIGH LAKES TROUT don’t usually require you to make long casts, since the fish tend to be close to shore. However, packing in a float tube may be beneficial since some of the banks may be brushy or lined with trees. Since these trout are not picky eaters, nearly any fly resembling food will quickly be consumed. For the fly fisherman, small nymphs, such as a beadhead Princes, Pheasant Tails, San Juan Worms, Hare’s Ears, soft hackle Peacocks, Zug Bugs and chironomids will all work well. There are occasions when the fish will be feeding on the surface, and for those times dry flies such as Griffith’s Gnats, various Adams patterns, ’hoppers, Elk Hair Caddis and Renegades should prove very reliable. For the lure fisherman, gold or silver Mepps and Panther Martins are hard to beat. For those using bait, worms, PowerBait, corn or marshmallows are always a safe bet. On many of these high lakes the water is extremely clear, and while the fish are very seldom leader shy, just to be safe, fluorocarbon leader and tippet in 4X might be advisable. THE SELKIRK MOUNTAINS between Priest Lake and Bonners Ferry are a prime example of an area that is well suited for late summer fishing excursions. For us slightly lazy, nonadventurous types, East Roman Nose Lake fits our desires and needs quite well. It is reached by way of Riverside Road just south of the Kootenai River Bridge in Bonners Ferry. Continue through the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge, then take the West
Side Road, then Forest Service Road 402, Snow Creek Road, then onto Road 2667 until it intersects with Road 294 and eventually to a parking lot for the Roman Nose Lakes. It’s only 150 yards to East Roman, or Lake No. 3, as IDFG calls it. There is a well-maintained boardwalk to the lake, with even a fishing platform suitable for handicapped fishermen to cast from. The bottom lake has an interesting stocking history, as do the other two lakes in the chain, dating back to 1968. Rainbows were the first strain introduced into the lake, followed by cutthroat in 1996, followed shortly after that by brook trout. Stocking was done on an annual basis from 1985 through 2000, and then changed to a two-year cycle. In Lakes No. 1 and No. 2 bull trout were stocked, but the program did not last long, though it created a good deal of interest while it lasted. Three thousand to 3,500 cutthroat fingerlings were also planted in the upper lakes in 1996 followed by brook trout stockings. Since then there has been no stocking in the upper lakes. Rainbows were reintroduced to Lake 3 and are currently thriving, with 10- to 12-inch fish being quite common. Westslope cutthroat are also present in the lake. The trails into the other two lakes are not overly strenuous, so no doctor’s note should be required for the day after you come out of the hills.
FOR MORE ADVENTUROUS and physically fit types, T.J. Ross, fisheries biologist for IDFG’s Panhandle Region, suggests a series of lakes that are relatively close by. A trailhead to this series of lakes can be found off Forest Service Road 634, known locally as the Trout Creek Road. The trailhead provides access to Pyramid, Upper Ball, Lower Ball, Trout, Big Fisher, Long Mountain and Parker Lakes. All sit from 6,000 feet to slightly over 6,700 feet. Parker has a great deal more brush and aquatic vegetation
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FISHING
With their typically brushy shores, high lakes are often easier to fish out of a float tube or small pontoon – though getting a watercraft there is another matter! (MIKE WRIGHT)
than the other lakes and is by far the easiest to access. It contains small rainbows and has been rumored to hold brook trout. Pyramid, Upper and Lower Ball, Trout and Big Fisher all contain westslope cutthroat, while Long Mountain has golden trout and grayling. All of the higher lakes in this chain have common characteristics. Each features sections of shoreline with large boulders and slick, very rocky terrain, which can make shore fishing somewhat problematic. Several also have very brushy
stretches, presenting problems for casting. Because of that, it might be advantageous to include a float tube with your other fishing gear. Another hazard in fishing these lakes would be the presence of a large number of submerged logs and other snags that can act as magnets for your flies or lures. Since there is not a great deal of surface action, sink tip or uniform sinking line should be used, which in turn makes getting hung up in the snags much more likely. Although some of the high lakes require relative lengthy hikes to
reach, most of the trails are well maintained, with a large number of camping areas available. On many if not most occasions you will have the lake entirely to yourself, at least on the higher, more remote waters. Good fishing for several different species, scenic areas, cooler temps and solitude – it’s hard to imagine a more inviting setting, but if you make a trip to these waters at the right time, you may also have huckleberries to snack on. All things considered, not a bad way to spend a warm summer day. NS
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Northwest Sportsman 117
HUNTING Fall bears are a secondary thought for many big game hunters chasing deer and elk, but for some like author Douglas Boze they’re a passion that takes them to the highest heights and widest appreciations for the bounty the Northwest offers. (JAMES SYLVESTER)
Hunting Fall Bears
With expanded opportunities in one Northwest state, this year might be the one to try your hand at bagging a bruin. By Douglas Boze
T
here is something magical that happens to my soul when it comes to bear hunting. The allure is hard to describe to those who have not experienced it. The sensation seems to carry over regardless of whether I pull the trigger (or release the arrow) or someone else does. As long as I am there, I have it. If you have never experienced bear hunting, well, let me fill you in a little bit. There is a silent anticipation and excitement that comes with trying to spot one of these creatures. Once spotted, there remains an almost giddy joy at watching them focus on whatever food source they are devouring at the time, as their coat glistens in the daylight. Watching
bears allows me to share for a brief moment a part of their story of life and get a glimpse of an animal that deserves our respect and admiration.
BLACK BEARS INHABIT some truly amazing country in Western Washington, where I live, and across the rest of the Northwest. The fall hunting season also occurs during a time of year when berries are ripe for the picking, the days are long, the weather is generally too hot rather than too cold, and adventure is always right around the corner. It’s also different from deer or elk season. Bears can hunt you, though they’re generally reclusive and shy, and they’re not a pack or herd animal. They can be found anywhere, from the low foothills just outside of town
As it is with salmon and baitfish, if you can find the forage, it’s pretty likely you’ll find bears. This time of year it’s ripening berries, and a bowl full of them in the high country led to the discovery of a hungry bruin for Boze and his brother John. (DOUGLAS BOZE)
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HUNTING
Mountain goats aren’t the only game denizen of the alpine; bruins haunt these often mistshrouded but also brilliantly colored slopes, particular as they hurry to pack on the pounds before denning. (DOUGLAS BOZE)
to the high alpine lonesomes of windswept mountain peaks. They can be everywhere and nowhere at the same time, it seems. They are savage and yet bashful, inquisitive and seclusive. To put it simply, I think they are one of the most underappreciated game animals in North America, but not by me. The first rule you want to follow when bear hunting, especially if you are just starting out, is find the food
source for the specific time of year you’re afield. That’s because bear forage changes throughout the year, from grass, tree cambium, fawns and calves in late spring after they emerge from their den, to berries, mast, ants and more through summer and fall. Focusing on ripe berries and other fruits is key this time of year. They’re a high-calorie food source that doesn’t require the bear to chase it down and
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are usually abundant. The second rule is to find fresh sign. Usually, if you have followed rule number one, rule number two comes with the territory – but not always. If you are working a berry patch that is ripe and are not finding sign such as scat or prints in mud puddles or creek edges, move along. You’ll find that bear like to keep cool in the late summer heat, so creek bottoms, shaded draws and anywhere else they can escape the heat are good places to look too.
I REMEMBER A September hunt when my brothers and I were tagging along with our father, who’d drawn a oncein-a-lifetime mountain goat tag. I’d brought a pistol for protection but not a rifle, as my father’s success was the focus of the hunt. John, one of my younger brothers, had brought his rifle, however, and in the late afternoon on a rocky crag while he and I were glassing for goat we spotted a bear probably 800 yards down into a bowl. The bear was blissfully unaware of our presence as it munched through a blueberry patch that crawled up the bowl’s edge and receded like a hairline at the crown of the stone hogsback. The bowl was covered in reds and yellows and greens from the ever-changing colors of the season. I’ve often wondered how long it has been since the blueberry plants first took hold in that bowl. A hundred years? Three hundred? Likely longer – something to contemplate and appreciate, and part of the allure of hunting bruins. We glassed the bear for a while, trying to decide if my brother should go for it or not. It seemed like a good bear, but from that distance it was difficult to tell for sure. It was hard to see if it had a large blocky head or muscle crease down the center of its skull, both of which are telltale signs of a mature animal. Most of the time its face was buried in the blueberries as it ate with the fever pitch brought on by an internal clock warning of the coming, unstoppable winter.
Since 1929
HUNTING WASHINGTON BEAR REGS TWEAKED
E
vergreen State fall bear hunters can head afield earlier in a number of units as well as take a second bruin in Eastern Washington, thanks to changes approved in June by the Fish and Wildlife Commission. Part rule simplification, part providing more days afield, the season now opens statewide on Aug. 1, adding two- to four-plus weeks in the Okanogan, and the northeastern and southeastern corners of the Eastside, respectively. Those three zones and the rest of state east of the Cascades had also long been under a one-fallbear-only regulation. Most people queried by the Department of Fish and Wildlife were in favor of the change, commenting that it could help out ungulate populations, make the regs easier to understand, and provide more opportunity. Bear hunter and harvest numbers have been dropping over the past decade, from 26,347 and 2,115 in 2008 to 21,065 and 1,389 in 2018. Responding to concerns about potential impacts to Eastside populations, Anis Aoude, WDFW’s big game manager, said that only 400 of last year’s hunters purchased a second tag, and out of those, only 31 filled it. “I feel very comfortable with our proposal that it’s not going to be a conservation issue as far as bear populations are concerned,” he assured commissioners, and also vowed to closely monitor coming years’harvests. Last year, the East Cascades zone was tops with 271 fall bears taken, followed by the Northeast with 246, but hot on the latter’s heels was the Coastal region with 245. While harvests can be impacted by conditions that make bears have to travel more widely for food, putting them potentially in front of more hunters, days-per-kill stats can help narrow down where to look. In 2018, the game management units with larger harvests and lower time requirements included: Dickey, 18 bears, 30 days/kill; Manson, 27, 38; Blue Creek, 44, 42; Entiat, 24, 48; Sinlahekin, 31, 49; Chiwawa, 31, 51; Mission, 29, 52; Nooksack, 63, 67; and Okanogan East, 42, 84. –NWS
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As clouds rolled by and the sun lowered towards the horizon behind us, it was decided John would go for it and sneak closer for a shot. Since I love to predator call for bears, I thought I would try from this distance and see what happened. As I squalled on the call as loud as I could, it took a few seconds for the sound to reach the bear, and it reacted oddly to it. It became aware of the noise but ran in circles for a few rotations and then just went back to feeding, no longer caring about the obnoxious noise I was spewing out. I watched as my brother cut to my right and worked his way down the rocky maze of boulders and scree before finding his way to the bottom of the brush-filled bowl that had a small creek bumbling down its center. It was fun to watch it unfold, the bear distracted by all the food and John making his way into position. By the time he was in range of the bear, it had worked its way further up into the brush but was still visible. John rested his rifle on a boulder placed there long ago by a receding glacier and I saw the muzzle jump well before I heard the shot. I quickly cut over and watched the bear’s reaction as it spun and bit. Another shot or two and it fell, coming to rest in the prettiest of settings. I followed the action as my brother approached the bear and after a short time, I decided
to make my way down there to help out. Dusk was fast approaching and it would soon get cold (it was well below freezing at night).
AFTER HIKING DOWN to John and his bear, I could see why the bruin had enjoyed the area. Lush berries covered the ground, the creek was gorgeous, and a protective rim of rock stopped much of the wind. I met my brother with a wide smile and hearty congratulations hug and we worked on the bear together. It turned out to be a sow, and a smaller one at that. But the teeth told a different story. You can tell a lot about the age of a bear by the teeth and this one was older, for sure. Its lower canines were all but worn down, especially on the right side. The tips of the teeth were blunt from years of use. Yellow plaque covered them all and decay and cracking was apparent. However small, this was still a mature bear and a good representative of what Washington has to offer. Its coat was long and full, primed and ready to insulate the sow from the several dozen feet of snow the area receives annually. As we finished up, dusk was well upon us. We had to put on our headlamps as we loaded up our packs with meat and hide. I took the hide in my pack, John all the meat in his, and we began our ascent back to camp. We took a more direct approach, A bear’s mouth helps tell the story of its age; the one the author’s brother shot was an older bruin, judging by its worn-down teeth. (DOUGLAS BOZE)
which turned out to be steep and a bit harrowing in spots. We literally climbed some short, near-vertical slopes and used what little brush there was on the edges for handholds. But after some sweat and drinking from small streams that trickled down the dark moonlit slope, we found our way back to the hogsback that led to camp. We laid out the hide and hung the meat in a small pine that was struggling to make a living on the lonely hillside, and that night it froze and froze hard. We awoke to see the bear hide covered in frost, making it look much like an old gray-hair, which was pretty cool to see. The sun rose over the peaks and we continued to goat hunt for another day before my brother and I had to leave for work engagements. We kept the meat cool and dry, which is first and foremost your main concern. My father ended up being successful in his goat hunt, but that is another story all together. We had several miles to pack out our gear and bear, but the weather held for the journey and we were able to do some game meat diplomacy with some bear summer sausage from a previous kill of mine that I’d brought along. We shared it with several hikers who were as surprised to learn that bears lived up there as they were about how delicious bear meat is.
THIS IS A very fond hunting memory of mine and I am glad to share it. The joys of family fellowship, the views that I do not get to enjoy often enough, the honor of watching bears and goats almost constantly and the misery and comfort that you can only find sleeping in the backcountry will forever be seared in my recollections of life. It is my hope that you too have such times. Happy hunting. NS Editor’s note: Douglas Boze is the author of The Ultimate Guide To Black Bear Hunting, creator of the Ultimate Predator Calls app for iOS and Android and can be followed on Instagram as @bozeandbears. 124 Northwest Sportsman
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HUNTING
The Early Birds Of Late Summer The opening of grouse, doves and September geese give wingshooters ‘a fresh start, new day, new season’ to pursue their favorite quarry. By M.D. Johnson
T
he five big Canadas don’t hesitate a lick, making me feel like a combination of Bill Saunders and the late Tim Grounds. OK, maybe not that capable, but pretty damn good. Regardless, the quintet doesn’t fiddle around, coming in on the proverbial string. Big black feet drop as the group begins backpedaling in unison. As they break 20 steps, I sit up, shoulder the Remington, and slap the trigger – and watch in delight as not one but two big birds crumple. Chaos ensues, but I swap targets and pound the trigger a second time. Three down. Another swing, and … Well, where the final shot went, I don’t know, but let’s just say for the record there were two honkers that made good their getaway. The scene changes. A quiet waterbarred road above the Elochoman Valley in Southwest Washington. I’m not paying attention when the flush comes; nothing new, I reckon, but Sadie Mae, the black dog, doesn’t take too kindly to what I’m sure she views as nonparticipation. I don’t so much as get an apology out to my canine assistant when a second grouse explodes from a short alder
Summer’s final weeks mark the start of bird hunting season in the Northwest, with grouse among the best opportunities. You’ll find ruffies down low along drainages, and blues – now known as sooties west of the Cascades and duskies east of the crest – higher up. (JULIA JOHNSON)
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September Canada geese aren’t as dumb as they’re made out to be. Expert Bill Saunders advises decoying them with smaller family groups, and setting your blind up with the knowledge that incoming birds will not want to land amidst strangers like winter honkers will. (JULIA JOHNSON)
not 10 yards to our 11 o’clock. This time, I don’t disappoint the dog and do my part, albeit not without the obligatory right barrel miss. The port side of the Model 24, however, is spot on, and the bird – September’s first – falls among the dandelions and blackberries at the edge of the old road. “Sadie,” I tell her, but the words are unnecessary, as the Labrador pro makes short work of the retrieve. Act III. A laidback kind of afternoon. There’s three of us – me, my wife, and her brother. Four if you count the black dog, which you definitely should, as she plays perhaps the most significant role in the drama unfolding. Seats in the shade; a cooler of ice, water, and Gatorade. Oh, it’s hunting all right, but it’s as informal and relaxing and social as hunting can be. That is, until the first dove screams in from right to left, intent, it would appear, on landing in the snag to our 12 o’clock. The brother-in-law stands, mounts the light over-and-under, swings, and promptly misses. Twice. We poke fun as he takes his seat; 128 Northwest Sportsman
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it’s what we do. But Karma isn’t a nice person, and I whiff on not the next one or two, but the next three in-your-face opportunities. I hear chuckling down the row. A grown man, I think to myself. Giggling. “Let me show you it’s done,” Julie announces, and then proceeds to grab three-for-three with her shortened M11-87. Sadie Mae scoops up each, bringing them directly to her mistress. Not her master, the guy who feeds and waters and shovels. Oh, no. “This is pretty simple,” my wife says, snagging the only – only – cold Pepsi from out of the cooler. “You two wanna step it up a bit.”
YEAH. I KNOW. September in the Northwest means a lot of different things to a lot of different outdoorsmen and -women. Archery deer. Archery elk. Bear. Cougar. You drew a mountain goat tag? Your season kicks off midmonth. Bighorn sheep tag? Same-same. Then there’s fall turkey, cottontails, and snowshoe hares. And
HUNTING let’s not even get into salmon fishing, which is just now picking up a good head o’ steam. To the wingshooter, though – waterfowler, upland bird hunter – September is all about opportunity. A fresh start. A new day. A new season. A chance to shake off the cobwebs that formed during the long period of downtime, otherwise known as summer. And we all know they do indeed form. This month, Northwest Sportsman takes a look at a quartet of feathered offerings that come available during September across our region. So dust off that O/U. Find your waders. Hose the mud off the decoys. And for the love of Pete, quit feeding that dog doughnuts! You best lay off ’em, too, cause it’s time. It’s here. It’s Opening Day. It’s hard to beat hunting in a T-shirt, but that’s what the early bird seasons offer. (JULIA JOHNSON)
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EARLY GEESE The major misconception about September Canadas, henceforth known as early geese, is that they’re dumb. Really dumb. Which they can be, but then again, I’ve seen bruiser whitetails back in Iowa pull some real head-scratchers. However, early and dumb are not synonymous terms when it comes to Canadas. “A lot of these early geese,” says Bill Saunders, “are still being led around by Mom and Dad during September.” A legend among the waterfowling tribe, not only in the Northwest but throughout the whole of the nation, Saunders was, for whatever reason, not walleye fishing on the Columbia when I called, so he had a couple minutes for my questions. “Oh, I’ve seen them be stupid, but
I’ve also seen the juvies lock up, only to get called off by Mom and Dad before they have a chance to decoy,” says the Tri-Cities-based call maker. According to Saunders, decoying early geese is one of the toughest challenges about the September gig. “Often,” he says, “they come off the roost early, even in the dark. And then they don’t want to land with one another. The adults will actually try to keep their broods away from the other birds in the field.” To combat this, Saunders suggests two things. “First, I run a lot smaller spreads early than I do in, say, November. Maybe 12 to 18 decoys; just a little family unit. And then I set the blinds knowing that the birds are going to want to land 15 to 20 yards away
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HUNTING daylight. And even if they grab just a nibble here or there; doesn’t matter. Eventually, midmorning, they’ll find their way to a favorite loafing spot, where they’ll spend the day sleeping. Yeah, generally sleeping. Nice thing about loafs is the birds typically don’t arrive en masse; rather, small family groups often trickle in throughout the morning, providing semi-steady shooting opportunities up until it’s time to go pound those doughnuts and a bologna sandwich back at the rig.
DOVES
It might take most of a box of shells to bag a few, but mourning doves are on the table in September too. Best bets include Washington’s southern and Oregon’s northern Columbia Basin counties, northern Malheur County, and Southwest Idaho. (JULIA JOHNSON)
from the decoys,” he says. I agree. Often, I’ll downwind myself slightly; that is, set the blinds downwind of the spread. And I’ll always, early or later, quarter my blind(s) to the spread, opting to shoot left-to-right or right-to-left, depending on where I expect the birds to come from. Something else I’ll do with early 132 Northwest Sportsman
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geese is to forget the feed. September here means mild weather, and the birds are living large. No need – not now – for high caloric intake on their part, so instead of focusing on food sources, I’m scouting loafing areas, e.g. quiet ponds or backwaters, tidal flats, sand beaches, or mowed pastures adjacent to water of some sort. Even if the birds leave the roost before
I love dove hunting. I love the social aspect. The cool mornings. The hot mornings. The humid mornings. I love how the birds can make even the most competent wingshooter look, well, incompetent. Dove hunting is a fantastic way to train that new pup, or give an older hound a refresher prior to the waterfowl opener. Mourners take me to great places with great people, and have a way, I’ll admit, of reminding me I’m no Tom Roster or Kim Rhode when it comes to handling a shotgun. Quite humbling, they are. Quite humbling. Oh, and did I mention incredible on the grill when done up as poppers, complete with half a jalapeño and wrapped in fat bacon? Oh, yeah! Where to go? Don’t get me wrong. I love it here on the Lower Columbia, but this isn’t where I’d hunt doves. A small group of Eurasian collared doves, maybe. And bandtail pigeons, open for nine mid-September days, definitely. But mourning doves? Sure, you can occasionally find a handful here and there. Sometimes, more. But if it’s a barrel-burner of a dove hunt you’re looking for, I’d suggest Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon. Where the weather’s warm, there’s a bit of water, some good Russian olive roost trees, and spilled grain, e.g wheat, winter wheat, and the like. Smaller cereal grains. Put ’em all together, and you have the makings of a top-notch dove shoot.
HUNTING
WHY I WENT NONTOXIC FOR ALL BIRD HUNTING
Nontoxic shot has been required for waterfowl since 1991, but author MD Johnson says he long ago made the switch to shells sans lead for all birds that he hunts. (JULIA JOHNSON)
S
o where do I stand on the subject of nontoxic (nonlead) shotshells for the hunting of both migratory and nonmigratory birds? With a broad brush, it’s like this. Ducks and geese require nontoxics nationwide. Doves? Depends on where you hunt. Some state wildlife areas and many, if not all, federal refuges and waterfowl production areas require nontoxic ammunition for both migratory fowl and upland bird hunting. Grouse? Not so much. I’m sure there are some places in the nation where grouse hunters must comply; however, and here we’re talking forest grouse, I can’t think of any restrictions on ammo for them. That all said, I made the switch to nontoxics across the board years ago. If what I’m hunting has feathers, I’m using a nontoxic. Do you have to? In some cases, yes; some cases, no. Am I looking for a pat on the back? No, but I do know this. One, nontoxics are undeniably less harmful than is lead when it comes to pellets being ingested either by primary feeding, e.g ducks, or secondary feeding, as in the case of an eagle that eats a dove, pigeon or grouse containing lead pellets. And two, modern nontoxics offer excellent on-target performance and, in many instances, don’t cost an arm and a leg. Yes, some do, but many don’t cost any more than does a lead equivalent. So without further ado, here’s a brief review of 2019’s nontoxic options for migratory fowl, doves, and grouse.
WATERFOWL: Each year, another handful of manufacturers enter the fray in terms of nontoxic waterfowl ammunition, and 2019 is no different. Migra (migraammunitions .com) is a new one on me, offering duplex loads of stacked – not mixed – steel or steel/tungsten blends. New, too, to the arena is Boss Shotshells (bossshotshells .com), with their proprietary copper-plated bismuth. Hevi-Shot (hevishot.com) comes out with a novel Longer Range bismuth/ steel mix, while Kent’s (kentgamebore.com) popular Fasteel has been updated with the
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introduction of a zinc-plated 2.0 version. Federal’s Black Cloud Flex, Winchester Xpert, and Browning’s BXD, which, by the way, is now available in 16-gauge, are all back on the shelves for ’19. The nice thing? The price. Oh, yeah, you can pay $4 to $6 per shell for some of the fancier stuff, especially when you start thinking 3.5-inch 12-gauge, but – and regain your composure here – there’s some really good, really affordable duck and goose ammunition out there now. Remington reintroduces their blue hulls in a high velocity 12-gauge steel format for $14 a box (25 rounds). Winchester Xpert is under $20/box, and if you look around, you can find it for $10 to 12 a box. Kent’s Fasteel falls in that same range. Hevi-Shot’s HeviMetal, which I dearly love, and Hevi-Steel – same story. It’s good, and it’s affordable. Not cheap, but affordable.
DOVES, PIGEONS AND FOREST GROUSE: Steel size 7s. One-and-an-eighth-ounce Winchester Xpert steel size 7s. It’s all I’ve used for years now for doves, pigeons, snipe, rails, grouse and early teal, if it’s a sure bet that teal will be my only customers. It’s deadly effective, patterns tremendously well, carries a high pellet count and, typically, high pattern density, thanks to roughly 470 pellets per ounce, and functions reliably, or at least that’s been my experience, in most semiautomatics. And it always works in the Mossberg Silver Reserve O/U I pack into the dove field. And the clincher? Winchester Xpert
steel 7s can be had for from $75 to $85 a case. That’s 250 rounds, or, for me, a good afternoon in the dove field. This price is usually within $5 to $8 either way of comparable lead loads, but what seals the deal for me is the performance of the steel #7s. True, there are other nontoxic alternatives suitable for doves, pigeons and forest grouse. Hevi-Shot offers their Hevi-Shot Pheasant and Hevi-Teal (steel), both in size 6 shot. The company’s new bismuth shotshells can be had in a size 6 format, too. Likewise, Kent Cartridge sports a size 6 option in their new Bismuth Upland loads. The common denominator with these, however, is cost, which is considerably more than the $7.50 to $8 per box for the Xpert steel. And because dove hunting is often – hopefully – a high-volume type of shooting experience, the Benjamins can pile up rather quickly. That said, and perhaps conversely, grouse hunting typically isn’t a highvolume shooting activity. That, and more than a handful of grouse hunters, myself very much included, are prone to carrying older guns, vintage pieces like my Old Man’s 1952 Winchester Model 24 16-gauge or my Uncle Neal’s Fox 20. I’m not inclined to shoot steel, even modern steel, out of a 67-year-old SxS. So for grouse, I do turn to a bismuth or a Hevi-Shot Classic Doubles; something that performs well, which both do, yet is nice to the older metal in these fixed-choke shotguns. –MDJ
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HUNTING
Jake the Lab beams over a limit of Colville-area grouse. Logging roads, ridgelines and moist ravines are good areas to check for birds. (ONTARIO KNIFE CO. PHOTO CONTEST)
A couple things about hunting doves “over there.” One, snakes. Poisonous snakes. It might not be a bad idea to have a snakebite kit in your daypack, know how to use it, and then keep an eye on yourself and your dog. Two, dehydration. It’s usually plenty warm east of the Cascades in September, and it’s easy not to consume enough liquids. Heat stroke and exhaustion, two very different conditions, aren’t good, and either or both can end a hunt real quick. Or worse. Stay hydrated, and be aware of the signs and symptoms, for both yourself and your hunting companions, including – again – the dog. And three. Give those poppers I mentioned earlier a try, if you haven’t already. Simply breast out the birds, leaving the bone in, and rinse well. Slap half a jalapeño on the inside 136 Northwest Sportsman
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(concave bone-in side), and wrap the entire thing in an “X” pattern with fat bacon. Use a toothpick to fasten it all together. A little salt, pepper and garlic, and onto a smokin’ hot grill they go, bone side down. Three/ four minutes, flip, another 60 to 90 seconds, and they’re done.
GROUSE I grew up in the East – Ohio to be exact – and most grouse hunters would rather date their sister than shoot a bird on the ground. Or out of a tree. Anything short of on the wing. Well, I’m not most grouse hunters. I understand unwritten ethics. Fish in a barrel. Sitting ducks. Yada, yada, yada. But I like to eat grouse, and therefore shot them – or shot at them – as they presented themselves. Some flying. Some standing. Some perched.
Wrapped in foil and camped in coals, they all became one and the same. I say this because when I moved to Washington in 1993, my wife introduced me to road hunting grouse, otherwise known as driving the Gifford Pinchot, picking some huckleberries, looking for chantrelles, catching an Eastern brook trout, scouting for blacktails, marveling at this new Northwest I’d found, and, as often happened, swatting a ruff or blue out of a logging roadside alder. Not a confession. Don’t get me wrong. Just the way it was. And is to this day to a large extent. I will, I’ll have you know, scoop up the black dog and a light double every now and again, and go for a more traditional walk in the woods, the purpose being – basically – to fire my ’fowling piece ineffectively at birds
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careening through the alders. My father referred to it as helping put the shotshell manufacturers’ kids through college. I concur, Pop. I concur. As many of you know, the Northwest is home to three species of forest grouse. There are ruffed – note: not ruffled – blue (dusky and sooty) and spruce. Of the three, it’s ruffs and blues that hunters most often encounter, with the ruffs normally being low, and the blues at higher elevations. Seasons and bag limits on both sides of the Columbia and into Idaho are liberal, with Sept. 1 or thereabouts opening day and an end-of-the-year closure. Oregon, however, continues through January 31, 2020, which is a nice way to finish up the season. Washington’s limit is four in the aggregate (but no more than three of any one species); in the Beaver State, it’s three. In Idaho, grouse season begins on Aug. 30, and closes either in December or January, depending on the region, with a generous daily bag of four.
IT’S QUITE NICE, I must say, to start bird hunting in September here in the Northwest. The weather’s generally pleasant, the woods are quiet, and the only contact you might have with another human – grouse hunting, that is – may be with the occasional bowhunter. Or mushroomer. Early geese, doves and grouse are also an excellent way to introduce young or new hunters to the field. Geese and doves often provide plenty of shooting opportunities throughout the morning, an element essential to keeping nimrods interested. Grouse? Perhaps not so much in the way of shooting; however, a trip into the hills with a new hunter can be a fantastic all-around learning experience for them, what with the chance to do a little fishing, berry picking, ’shrooming, salamander hunting, tree identification, and on and on and on. After all, it’s the outdoors. There’s a lot to be learned, even for us old dogs. NS
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COLUMN When it comes to choosing a dog kennel, don’t let price be a factor, as your four-footed hunting partner’s safety and comfort are the top priorities. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
Looking To Join The Kennel Club? W
hat’s in a kennel? Your dog is in a kennel. Your most prized hunting tool, one of your best hunting companions, GUN DOGGIN’ 101 and for some hunters, By Scott Haugen our best friend; that’s what’s in the kennel. When it comes to selecting a kennel for your hunting dog there are a lot of options. Price points vary, design and structure are vast, and functionality covers a wide range. For instance, the kennels our two hunting dogs stay in at home are different from the kennels they ride in when on the road, and those are different than those they occupy when flying on airplanes. While home kennels are safe havens
for your dog to spend comfortable time in, selecting one of these comes down to personal preference. When flying to a hunting destination with your dog, airline standards determine what, er, flies. But when it comes to driving to hunting destinations, choosing the right kennel is your choice, and an important one. For most bird hunters, driving is how we get to where we’re going. It may take us two days to reach the hunting grounds, and that’s a lot of kennel time for your dog. Or you may spend two months on the road, traveling state to state, hunting as you go. On road trips, many hunters simply have their dog ride in the cab with them, either in the back seat or the passenger’s seat. Others keep their dogs in the back of the truck inside a kennel. Recently, there’s been an increased awareness of the value of kennels that are
safe for your dog to travel in. These models have undergone extensive crash tests and have a high likelihood of saving your dog’s life should you get in an accident.
OVER THE PAST several months I’ve used two kennels that have impressed me: a Gunner Kennel and a Primos KennelUP. Let’s take a look at each. When it comes to safety for your dog, no kennel on the market offers what a Gunner Kennel does. These are the only dog kennels that have passed and dominated the many intensive and comprehensive crash tests they’ve been put through, earning these travel crates the first five-star crash-test rating from the Center For Pet Safety. Gunner Kennels (gunnerkennels.com) are the only double-wall, rotomolded model on the market. They’ve been tested nwsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2019
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Lightweight, easy to handle, secure, with builtin drains and adjustable vents that ensure a clean, comfy ride – that’s what the new Primos KennelUp Dog Kennel has to offer. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
to withstand over 4,000 pounds of force, a blast from a 12-gauge shotgun at close range, an impact of over 600 pounds dropped on them, and they’ve been tossed off 200-foot cliffs and made it. But some of the most impressive testimonials of Gunner Kennels come from hunters who’ve survived crashes, as have their dogs. To hear some of these stories gives you chills, but to see pictures capturing the severity of the wrecks, and how the dog and kennel survived, leaves any serious hunter who travels a lot with their dog realizing what their
The G1 large Gunner Kennel weighs in at 72 pounds, the right size for the author’s 70-pound pudelpointer Kona. This double-walled kennel has the highest tested crash rating of any kennel in the world. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
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next kennel purchase should be. Gunner Kennels come with a plug and specially designed floor for draining, aftermarket accessories, and a lifetime warranty.
I’VE BEEN FORTUNATE to live in the country, where right out my door I’ve had access to hundreds of miles of logging roads in Oregon’s Cascades. It’s here that I do a lot of upland bird hunting and shed antler hunting with my dogs; we also spend a lot of time training and just going on hikes in this area. This situation is a great fit for a comfortable kennel the dogs will be
getting in and out of all day long. From the early-season heat of September to snow-packed conditions in winter, my dogs were very comfortable with the new Primos KennelUp Dog Kennel (primos.com). Weighing just 37 pounds, this kennel is easy to move and manage, thanks to its heavy-duty handles. The single-walled, one-piece rotomolded kennel features a sleek, practical design. Its rubber feet and integrated aluminum tiedowns ensure it stays secure in the truck, meaning it’s a safe, comfortable ride on those bumpy gravel roads. The built-in drains of the KennelUp are great during waterfowl season, and the adjustable vents are perfect on hot days. The vents can also be closed to hold in heat on chilly outings.
THERE ARE MANY kennels on the market, and I’ve tried a number of them and seen many more in use by fellow hunters. When it comes to picking one, only you know what’s best for your dog. A hunting dog is a valuable, irreplaceable companion, so carefully weigh all the options when it comes to picking a kennel for your hunting partner, and don’t cut any corners. NS Editor’s note: To see some of Scott Haugen’s puppy training video tips, visit scotthaugen. com. Follow Scott on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
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HUNTING
It may not be easy to mentor a new hunter, but it will be worth it. “…(E)very person you get involved in waterfowl hunting and, by default, waterfowl conservation is a tremendous step in the right direction, that step being the continuation of what we ’fowlers hold most dear,” writes author MD Johnson. (TRAVIS SMITH, INSTAGRAM: @WICKED_WINGZ)
Mentoring Waterfowlers, Part II Following on his call to action last issue, a longtime duck and goose hunter lays out how to be a good instructor for newbies. By MD Johnson
L
ast month in the front half of this two-part feature on mentoring new waterfowl hunters, we discussed money, paperwork and gear acquisition. This month, we’re going to assume you’ve located a source of said money, purchased the necessary paperwork and stockpiled the required gear, which consists
primarily of clothing and waders, along with an appropriate firearm and ammunition. Decoys and all the amenities – you’ve got those covered. So we’ll begin with your role as mentor versus as hunter.
A VERY SHORT story to begin with, one involving a land-bound bird, but work with me for a moment. Believe it or not, I wasn’t always
a great turkey hunter. In fact, I was pretty inept. I moved too fast. Got too close. Called too much. Didn’t know what I was listening for. Or why I was listening at all. I learned, sure enough, but my education was a slow, painful process. Once I had enough gobblers under my belt, though, and I felt comfortable setting my shotgun aside to work with other folks, then I truly began to learn nwsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2019
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HUNTING about turkeys and turkey hunting. I could watch and actually process the information I was being presented with, without the bothersome worry of having to figure out exactly what to do with my shotgun. It’s been that way for the past 20 years or so, I reckon, and believe me, it’s been a tremendous experience. Oh, I drop the hammer on a longbeard every now and again, but truthfully? I’d much rather watch you, Dear Reader, shoot a big fat Merriam’s or Rio Grande than see him over my gun barrel. My point with the story above is this: It’s usually easiest, if not best, to be a mentor first and a shooter second. If it’s possible, set the shotgun aside and concentrate solely on the task at hand, which is teaching this new waterfowl hunter everything there is to know about waterfowl
hunting. Can you carry a shotgun into the field and use it judiciously for – what my biology teacher Jeff Rooklidge called – a teachable moment? Absolutely; however, and trust me here, you’re going to pay more attention to your mentee if you’re not worrying about shooting this greenhead or that drake pintail.
INDEED, FIREARM SAFETY is priority one. As a hunting mentor in situations involving firearms, your primary objective is safe gun handling. Period. Always. That’s why it’s often easier to be a teacher-slash-observer as opposed to a hunter-teacher. As the former, you should be – and more easily can be, I believe – focusing 100 percent of your attention on that new ’fowler and his/her gun handling practices. Like the TSA folks at the airports say, if you see something,
The singlemost important thing you can teach a new waterfowler has nothing to do with decoy placement, calling or telling the difference between drakes and hens. “As a hunting mentor in situations involving firearms, your primary objective is safe gun handling. Period. Always,” says Johnson. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)
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say something. Don’t be shy about stopping the process in midstream, even unloading and taking the firearm, if necessary, and having another teachable moment about whatever the case may be. Muzzle control. The safety being pushed into the off position too soon, or not being automatically/instinctually returned to the on position after each shooting opportunity. Does your mentee stand, shoulder his/her shotgun, safety off, and then sit back down having never fired the piece? New ’fowlers can be indecisive – Is it in range? What type of duck is it? Am I going to make a fool of myself? What if I miss? Is he/she (the mentor) watching? Well, of course we’re watching; it’s precisely what we’re supposed to be doing. I see this jack-in-the-box situation
HUNTING
Don’t like questions? Mentoring might not be for you, because there will – and should – be a ton from your charge, from the time you head afield until you pick up the dekes, and beyond, and that’s a good thing and opportunity for you to explain why we do what we do. (JULIA JOHNSON)
quite often with new hunters, and it’s OK. In fact, it’s quite preferable to having your charge go to the plug, turn around, and ask, “What was that?” Or worse, turn around after having fired two of three rounds, point the gun in your chest, and say, “Dude! How did I miss!!??” It all goes back to basic firearm safety, coupled with you taking the time to dissect thoroughly each and every shoot/don’t shoot situation. No, it doesn’t have to be boring. You 148 Northwest Sportsman
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don’t have to come across as The Bad Guy or a horse’s ass. But you need to be firm and complete in your explanation of each instance.
DON’T LIKE QUESTIONS? You might not be a good mentor, because you’re going to face a barrage of them. If you don’t get them, something’s wrong. Maybe a young person is too shy to ask. Or doesn’t know what to ask. Or maybe, with an adult, it’s a pride issue. “I don’t wanna look like
an idiot,” they’re thinking. Well, another of your roles as mentor is to squash those bugs immediately. Encourage questions. Ask open-ended questions of your mentee, those that can’t simply be answered with a “yes” or a “no.” Make these new folks feel comfortable asking this or that. If you have to use the old cliché – there are no dumb questions – then use it. The only way they’re going to learn is to ask. And to have them do it. It’s important to remember that your role as teacher involves teaching, and not simply doing everything because the pace isn’t what you think it should be. There was a time, and not too long ago, when I didn’t possess the patience I have now. Yes, and for those who know me, I’m sure that’s tough to believe, but it’s true. So, and as a man o’ little patience, I often found it quicker just to do things, e.g. set a decoy spread, position the boat, stubble the blinds, build a blind, pluck a duck, and so on, as opposed to 1) teaching the art, and 2) watching someone struggle with something it’s taken me 40 years to do correctly at least 50 percent of the time. So either learn to have patience, or build in a little bit of extra time when you’re afield. Or better yet, do both. Whichever you choose, explain the process, perhaps with the disclaimer, “There are many ways of doing this; however, this is the way I do it in this particular situation,” and explain it well. Then answer the questions. As ’fowling veterans, it’s easy for you and I to take things for granted, to assume that people, especially adults, understand what we’re doing and why we’re doing it that way.
HERE’S A FOR-INSTANCE, and a teaching tactic I used recently. During the 2018-19 goose season, I began taking a young man – one of my sophomores at a Lower Columbia high school – goose hunting. Ashden had a bit of self-taught duck hunting experience, but because his people were big game
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HUNTING hunters and not prone to things with feathers, that experience was limited. Two things immediately pleased me about the young man. One, he had been taught firearm safety early and well, and, while I did keep a close eye on him, he demonstrated these lessons and this knowledge continually. And second, he wasn’t afraid to ask questions. Lots of questions. And they were good questions; inquiries that made me think, Why am I doing this this way? Could this fill-in-the-blank be done more efficiently and effectively? Throughout the latter part of the season, Ashden did well, killing some geese, missing others, and, perhaps most of all, learning. One morning as we readied the blind, I told him that today, his role would be that of pit boss. He would, I explained, adjust the blind and touch it up, if necessary. He would be responsible for the decoys, e.g. what subspecies went where, and how that spread would be set given the wind, the roost, and any other factors to be considered. He
There will be highs and there will be lows, but when it all comes together, Johnson says you’ll feel a special pride in having helped a newbie on the path to success. (JULIA JOHNSON)
would be expected to tell me why he was setting the spread in the manner in which he decided, and he would move the spread; again, if necessary. Other responsibilities for the morning would be determining and relaying legal shooting time, a reminder involving bag limits,
“Waterfowl ID isn’t an overnight thing. Getting good at it takes time, and you have to make the time to get good at it,” notes the author, who says that it should include being able to identify nontarget species too. (CHAD ZOLLER)
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ammunition choices, flag/no flag, and, finally, calling the shot. I made but one concession for the boy at his request. I would do the calling, as – he told me – I’d proved myself more than capable of frightening geese away via an aural barrage of unnatural squeaks and squeals. After reminding him that I was in charge of distributing Julie’s homemade pumpkin bread and how thin the ice was upon which he trod, he edited his comments. Long story short, Ashden did a tremendous job on this, his “’fowl final,” even including a sidenote regarding the fact that while shooting hours for ducks began 30 minutes prior to sunrise, geese in Southwest Washington only became legal fodder at straight-up sunrise. I was impressed, though not surprised. The boy was a sponge, as passionate a student as I’ve ever had. He took our hunts seriously, and soaked up what I had to tell him and show him. The half dozen birds we killed that morning he identified prior to calling the shot, and then, per my request, explained some of the structural differences between the cacklers, lessers, and Westerns we bagged. Most notably, he exhibited a deepseated genuine respect for the wild lives he had taken, laying each bird
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HUNTING out individually. Smoothing shotrumpled feathers. Admiring them time and again. Feeling it – I mean really feeling it. He had advanced along the path, and I was proud to have been a part of it. Of special note, five rounds into a two-man, six-shot volley in which nothing – absolutely nothing – was killed, Ashden looked at me alongside the rib of his Weatherby Centurion and asked, matter of factly and out of the proverbial blue, “How are we not killing anything?” Ah, to be young and capable of multitasking again!
“WATERFOWL IDENTIFICATION” IS a key thing for beginning duck and goose hunters to learn, but it’s also something of a misnomer as it should also include local history, and all-around info. Here, we go back to your title, your role as teacher, and not merely an identifier of waterfowl, though that is understandably important. What do the various species look like? What do they look like in silhouette? Where do they live? What do they eat? How fast do they fly? What is that? What is that? What is that, you’ll ask your
Doug Hawkins takes a moment to adjust a strap holding his wife Jennifer’s first-ever duck harvest, taken last November at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge during the inaugural Veterans Day Waterfowl Hunt. One of the toughest things a mentor will teach is the ethics of the hunt, but respecting the quarry is one of the most valuable lessons. (BRENT LAWRENCE, USFWS)
mentee, and not only of ducks and geese, but of swans and cormorants, kingfishers and great egrets, not to be confused with the great blue
There won’t be another generation of waterfowlers unless we take action and spend the time to bring new hunters along. (TRAVIS SMITH, INSTAGRAM: @WICKED_WINGZ)
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heron. Everything. I believe it’s very important to not only look at the world around you, but to see it as well. Point out a mink. An osprey. Talk about native plants, as well as marsh invaders like yellow flag iris, purple loosestrife and milfoil. How they got there. Where they’re going. But we won’t forget waterfowl identification. Are we starting from scratch with this individual? If so, maybe a copy of Ducks At A Distance from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service might be in order. Or images on the Internet, courtesy of Google. Perhaps a trip to a local refuge or wildlife management area, where you can sit and point and discuss the differences between mallards and mergansers on several levels. Or ask questions like “Which is the only North American puddle duck with a white speculum?” Waterfowl ID isn’t an overnight thing. Getting good at it takes time, and you have to make the time to get good at it.
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THERE’S A LOT to this mentoring thing – a lot more than we have space here. Calling skills. Shooting skills. Blind placement. Camouflage. Safety. Retrievers. Decoy selection. That’s just ducks; then there are the geese. Also, boats. Cleaning. Cooking. It will all come in time, if your mentee wants it bad enough. Good days. Not-so-good days. Rain. Cold. Wind. Early mornings. Late nights. High water. No water. Sweat lines. Crowded public puddles. Skybusters. Heathens. Discourteous individuals disguised as waterfowl hunters. Sooner or later, you’ll run into it, and so will your new hunter. And this is where your experience comes into play. Your patience. Your maturity. Your rise above the rest. Ethics, those qualities you display when no one, absolutely no one else, is looking. How you conduct yourself afield is how this new hunter is going to conduct himself or herself, possibly throughout the whole of their career as a waterfowler. As an outdoor enthusiast. And as a future mentor. You owe it to them, as well as to Mother Nature, to be responsible. To show respect. To speak your mind while knowing when to bite your tongue. To be humble. To be firm. You want pressure? I’ll give you pressure. As a mentor, there’s a lot riding on you. A whole lot. According to the Delta Waterfowl article mentioned in Part I of this diatribe, there were only 998,000 active waterfowlers in the United States in 2015. An active waterfowler, if you’re curious, is defined by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife as a duck/goose hunter who went hunting once that season. Uh-huh, I said once. By now, four years later, I’m sure that number is lower. How much lower? I can’t say, nor can Ms. Google. What I can say, undeniably, is that every person you get involved in waterfowl hunting and, by default, waterfowl conservation is a tremendous step in the right direction, that step being the continuation of what we ’fowlers hold most dear. NS 154 Northwest Sportsman
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6 Things You Need To Know About Grouse (And A Few On Dove) S
potted my first grouse of the year on a wood-cutting trek up the Snoqualmie River’s Middle Fork ON TARGET in mid-May, and By Dave Workman the experience reminded me just how this bird got the nickname “fool hen.” I drove up to it, passed it and proceeded about 50 yards and slowed to a stop. That knucklehead of a bird just kept wandering along the road shoulder, pecking at pea gravel or maybe picking up a bug here and there, pretending to be oblivious to my presence. Finally, my attention to him probably convinced that boomer to trot off into the roadside brush, but this is what has landed many grouse into empty skillets or pots. The season opens Sept. 1 in Washington and Oregon, as does mourning dove hunting. We’ll begin with some tips for the former species.
IN HIGHER ELEVATIONS, you will find the larger specimens generically called blue grouse. However, they are actually either “dusky” or “sooty” grouse, and they have much the same habits. They eat seeds, insects, berries; I’ve opened them up to see what they’ve consumed and typically find a salad with pieces of leaf, huckleberries and bugs. In the winter they are needle eaters, so the later in the season you get one, the quicker you should dress the bird to avoid fouling the meat with digestive juices.
Author Dave Workman shows off a “fool hen,” in this case a blue, or dusky, grouse taken with a 20-gauge in the East-central Cascades of Washington. Sept. 1 marks the start of season. (DAVE WORKMAN)
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Workman is pretty handy with a pistol, and he uses this Ruger MK IV for an occasional head shot when the opportunity presents itself. (DAVE WORKMAN)
Take a good look. Under Washington law, this Ruger 10/22 is now a “semiautomatic assault rifle.” (DAVE WORKMAN)
WASHINGTON GUN LAW UPDATE For those of you in Washington who slept through the past couple of months, your Ruger 10/22, Marlin Model 60, Remington Nylon 66 and other popular semiautos are now “semiautomatic assault rifles.” That’s because they all fall within the definition of this otherwise nonexistent firearm, courtesy the language of Initiative 1639, the onerous gun control measure passed by nearly 60 percent of the people who voted last November. You can’t buy any of these smallbore rifles if you are under age 21. There’s a 10day waiting period. You pay a paperwork fee. Go through an “enhanced” background check, which includes a waiver to allow law enforcement to look at your health records. You can’t buy one of these rifles unless you can prove you’ve taken a safety course within the past five years. If you hunt with someone who voted for that measure, you might want to find a different hunting partner. –DW 160 Northwest Sportsman
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They are short-distance fliers. I’ve shot grouse out of tree limbs after they explode out of cover and go maybe 15 to 25 yards and just sit there to determine whether they’re being followed. This is where a good .22-caliber rifle with a scope comes in handy. They don’t wander far. Last season, I’m pretty certain I encountered the same grouse at least three times, on three different days, in almost the same spot in an old clearcut. Never did get the bugger, and by the third visit, it was getting personal! For the bigger blues I like a 2¾-inch high-base shell in 12- or 20-gauge with a payload of No. 6, while the smaller ruffed (forest) grouse can be conked rather decidedly with 7½ shot. If using a 28-gauge or .410 (and don’t forget the sweet 16), stick with the same formula and go with 3-inch shells for the .410. They have a bit more distance and more shot in each payload. If you hunt with a single barrel gun, opt for a modified choke. I hunt with a double barrel, with an improved cylinder choke for the first shot and modified in case of a necessary follow-up. That is, unless I’m using my .410, in which case I’ve got a pair of fixed full-choke barrels. Ruffed grouse also like seeds, berries, insects and crabapples, as well as all kinds of stuff that includes buds later in the season. You’ll find them in mixed stands of alder, maple, hemlock and fir. Grouse are cyclic, with population highs and lows, and so far this year, people I’ve heard from are spotting good numbers of birds. The hatch appears to have come off well with warmer weather mixed with good moisture, so there was ample food available, including good bug hatches. It’s legal to shoot grouse with rifle or pistol. A few years ago I acquired a Ruger MK IV semiauto in .22 Long Rifle. Even when I don’t have a shotgun handy, that pistol is on my belt and it’s got a bull barrel with adjustable sights. I practice with it faithfully during the preseason, shooting at small targets, including empty shotgun shell hulls, golf balls,
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NEW .22 AMMO Call it good timing for the upcoming hunting season, because CCI recently announced the Quiet-22 Semi-Auto cartridge, and even though it is supposed to be a target round, I’ve never seen a grouse or rabbit that could take a head shot from a rimfire and walk away. It features a 45-grain lead roundnose bullet that clocks a reported 835 feet per second from the muzzle, which is plenty of horsepower to terminate small game. It’s supposed to be much less noisy as a standard .22-caliber rimfire round, and it should work well in any semiauto rimfire. The CCI Quiet-22 comes in boxes of 50. They’re available now in gun shops and sporting goods stores. –DW
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AUGUST 2019 | nwsportsmanmag.com
Quiet-22 cartridge box. (CCI)
WITH MOURNING DOVE season also coming up, it’s time to break out your camo or khaki clothing and wash it up – fluorescent hunter orange not so much. While it’s drying, get down to the gun shop or sporting goods store and stock up on No. 7½ or 8 shotshells, and make sure your gun is fitted with an improved cylinder or modified choke. Remember, if you hunt in steel shot zones for mourning doves, you need to use steel. Head to the range and practice leading the targets, maybe up to several feet. Doves are fast, and they’re hard to hit. There’s a marvelous guide to hunting doves published online by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. It notes, for example, that cool, damp days are “generally poor for dove hunting.”
Wireless Turning Target System Components /// Wireless Control Unit /// • Wireless design for safety and convenience • Intuitive oversized push-button interface • Protected by a rugged ergonomic silicone case • Select your own target and timing options, or use pre-programmed modes, including Random • Custom programming available • Requires 4 AA batteries
Receiver ///
Compact & Cross Bases ///
• Standard range 600 yards; can be increased • Operates on any of 101 radio frequencies • Commercial steel receiver box; NEMA 6p • Connects to mains power or 12V battery
• Powder-coated steel of average 0.10” thickness • Industrial nylon bearings need no lubrication • Tool-free replacement of filled-nylon frames and pneumatic air modules
SPTargets • 18525 NW St. Helens Rd. Portland, OR 97231 (503) 621-3017 • www.sptargets.com nwsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2019
Northwest Sportsman 163
This self-sealing rubber crow target makes for excellent practice for conking grouse in the head with a .22-caliber rifle or pistol. (DAVE WORKMAN) Translation: Watch the weather reports and pick warm, dry days. Once the weather turns foul, doves will depart almost overnight. Find areas of water near agricultural lands where grains are the crops. They like fencerows, areas around cattle tanks, and watch for them to be perched along powerlines or in trees with bare limbs. I’ve shot at doves. Buy more shells than you think you’ll need. You will also want to have plenty of water. Hunting doves can get to be a thirsty affair, and out in the Columbia Basin or in the croplands of Eastern Oregon, it gets dry out in late summer and one can dehydrate pretty fast without noticing. NS 164 Northwest Sportsman
AUGUST 2019 | nwsportsmanmag.com
nwsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2019
Northwest Sportsman 165