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Sportsman Northwest
Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource
Volume 7 • ISSUE 6 PUBLISHER
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ARIMA 16 CHASER
Local kokanee killer Mandy Watson shows off a nice landlocked sockeye that she caught last spring at Lake Chelan. (DON TALBOT) INSET: Brett Carlile and Orlin Sorenson bagged these gobblers in Northeast Washington, two of four they took on 2013’s opening weekend. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST) ISSUE MOTTO
Stuff to do the first 25 days of April! DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
An incorrect MSRP was given in last issue’s On Target column (p. 171) for the Franchi Affinity. It runs $849 to $949, not $640 to $720. Our apologies for the error.
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8 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
APRIL 2014
Northwest Sportsman 9
CONTENTS
VOLUME 4 • ISSUE 6
VOLUME 7 • ISSUE 6
COLUMNS
GREAT GUNNING FOR GOBBLERS!
145
It looks like a good spring’s ahead for turkey hunters, with solid prospects in the corner pockets of far Eastern Washington (p. 145) and across Oregon, including in the Ochoco Mountains (p. 149) and especially so in the northeast – MAPPED on p. 154. Plus, Randy serves up a recipe (p. 163) for pterodactyl-sized wings! (TROY RODAKOWSKI)
DEPARTMENTS 15 16 25
The Editor’s Note: Trout opener Big Pic: Why stocker trout rule People: Pat and Dean Hendricks, Florence luremakers, philanthropists 29 Reader photos from the field 30 Wright McGill/Eagle Claw, Browning Photo Contest winners 33 Dishonor Roll; Jackass of The Month 35 In Their Own Words: Tri-Cities’ John Grubenhoff on his new Wash. 20.32-pound record walleye 43 News: Importance of ocean baitfish 49 Lake Sammamish’s native kokanee are slowly recovering 53 Outdoor Calendar 65 Rig of the Month: Trout-slaying wet-fly trolling rig 109 Jig of the Month: ‘Schlappabou’ Style
FEATURES 55 67 70 81 84 95 99 123 129 145 154
Lakes Chelan, Stevens kokanee – MAPPED! Coffeepot Lake, Wash., trout Salt Creek, Ore., trout Prepping your boat for spring fishing seasons Special Advertorial Section: Spring Boat Showcase Willamette River spring Chinook Drano Lake spring Chinook Westport jetty lings, perch, bass Long Beach razor clam digging and family fun Far Eastern Washington turkey Oregon statewide turkey preview – Northeast MAPPED!
45
INLAND NORTHWEST If there’s one person who we trust to write a compelling article on lamprey – yes, those squirmy Columbia River natives that used to provide protection for salmonid smolts – it would be Ralph.
73
BUZZ RAMSEY Biggest kid on the lake come the end of April? Just might be Buzz , who this issue features some of his ol’ reliable bait setups.
75
WESTSIDER Terry Wiest on top tactics for trout.
79
STUMPTOWN What’s more fun than teaching a kid to fish? Teaching a whole family to fish – TO outlines a dozen upcoming events around PDX.
111 THE KAYAK GUYS What in the world do Japanese workplace management philosophy and spring Chinook fishing have in common? Our sensei Mark has the fish-catching details. 115 NORTH SOUND Doug’s got one rod in the salt, one in local lakes – best last-gasp blackmouth bets and top trout tarns. 137 BASIN BEACON Transplanted Minnesotan Leroy likes this season’s prospects for walleye on the Columbia Basin’s big three irrigation reservoirs. 149 CENTRAL OREGON Scott preps us for spring turkey season in the Grizzly, Ochoco and Maury Units. 163 CHEF IN THE WILD Randy “wings” it this issue with a recipe for the meat on a tom turkey’s big flappers. 173 ON TARGET Our resident reloader dives into updated manuals from Hodgdon and Lyman.
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 mailing offices. (USPS 025-251) POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Northwest Sportsman, PO Box 24365, Seattle, WA 98124. Annual subscriptions are $29.95 (12 issues), 2-year subscription are $39.95 (24 issues). Send check or money order to Media Index Publishing Group, or call (206) 382-9220 with VISA or M/C. Back issues are available at Media Index Publishing Group offices at the cost of $5 plus tax. 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 © 2014 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. 10 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
12 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
THEEDITOR’SNOTE Before cancer claimed him this winter, Scott was able to enjoy one last trout opener with his son, Chance. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST
F
rom the beautiful highland waters of Okanogan County to the lowland streams of the Willamette Valley, the volcanic lakes of Oregon’s Cascades to the packed ponds of Pugetropolis and beyond, late April marks the widespread opening of trout season in our region. Whether you are going to troll the fishy twin Conconully reservoirs or wade down the Little Luckiamute, stocker and native rainbows and cutthroat and browns and brookies and lakers and tigers (and kokanee and bass too!) await your dough baits and salmon eggs, trolling gangs and spinners, Woolly Buggers and mini-jigs on this month’s fourth Saturday. Great resources to plan your trip start with this issue and our blog, nwsportsmanmag.com, of course, and also include the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s trout release schedules, “Spring Fishing Guide” and Google-based maps at dfw.state.or.us and the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s “Fish Washington” and “Great Getaways” pages and its statewide stocking plan, all found at wdfw.wa.gov (Idaho’s big opener is next month). All in all, it should make for some fantastic fishing and provide important contributions to local economies, tackle makers and fish management coffers, as our Jeff Holmes details in The Big Pic. THE SOCIAL ASPECTS are just as valuable too, he notes. The opener is a moment to get off our devices, to breathe deeply spring’s special smells, and share a boat or shore with family and friends. That last one was brought home, again, to me by the above photo. It was emailed by R. Krause of the fish-rich Columbia Gorge, and shows his friend Scott and Scott’s son Chance with one of the Rowland Lake, Wash., rainbows they caught on last year’s opener. Mr. Krause writes: “My friend Scott was diagnosed with cancer four months before this picture was taken and I am very sure that on this day in his life he was not thinking of what he was about to go through. On January 30 he lost his battle. I am 46 years old, and have been fishing for 43 of those years. Scott was 43. “As we get closer to the opener of lowland lakes this year I’m going to remember the times that Grandpa took me, the crowds (and how that did not seem to matter at my age of 3, 4, 5, 6 years old), and that first-most-and-biggest competition. Most of all, I’m going to recognize the amount of fun that is generated for families in that one day. “After 43 years of chasing monster fish I now realize that fishing means so much more than catching fish.” Truth. –Andy Walgamott
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APRIL 2014
Northwest Sportsman 13
BIG PICTURE
Why Stocker Trout Rule
THE
Fisheries manager also speaks to myth that state doesn’t like warmwater species. By Jeff Holmes
T
he last Saturday in April in Washington – the 26th this year – may be the most important day in fishing in the entire West. Of the approximately 2.14 million angler trips made in the state every year for trout, a huge percentage come on that Saturday and Sunday of Opening Weekend of trout season. Many of those participants are kids, and their successes during the frenetic fishing of the opener and the weeks that follow can leave a lasting impact that retains new anglers, young and old alike. One thing’s for sure: Washington’s hatchery trout fishery provides our state’s single biggest point of engagement for the sport of fishing. We are the second most populous state west of the Mississippi with an abundance of lakes and reservoirs suited for producing high-quality trout for the state’s approximately 1 million anglers, three quarters of whom fish for trout. Unfortunately, unlike some entities in government and within the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife Mothership in Olympia, WDFW’s hatchery trout stocking program is highly efficient, self-sustaining, profitable, and clearly achieving the agency’s dual mandate of conserving fish and wildlife foremost while also ensuring opportunities for harvest. Inland Fish Program Manager Chris Donley has appeared often in my articles as a former Eastern Washington district fish bio and currently as the state’s lead inland guy and 16 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
trout guru. While I challenge Donley in conversation on a variety of subjects on a regular basis, I respect his knowledge as a senior biologist and master-class angler above all other WDFW folk I’ve known. Donley possesses an impressive character and knowledge of fisheries and fishing, but since I’m still stung from his jokes from earlier today about wanting to photograph me in a form-fitting cross-country ski outfit, let me point out that it’s not so impressive that he needs a fourwheeler to hunt whitetails. As a guy who empathizes and identifies with both the warmwater and coldwater fishing communities, I’ve had ample opportunity to question Donley over the years about the role that trout play in our fisheries and our ,state’s economy. This year as you inadvertently consume trout bait by eating Frito Lay products or candy with filthy hands on the drive home from the lake with a cooler of limits, you too can think a little more about what Washington’s Opening Day of trout season means. From the opener to ice-up in Eastern Washington, hatchery trout are critical to our economy, our culture, and the future of fishing in the Evergreen State.
Jeff Holmes From an economic standpoint, can you speak briefly about the impacts of the state’s hatchery trout fisheries on WDFW’s operations? Chris Donley Trout are a major source of revenue for the department. I don’t have specific evidence for exactly how many licenses trout
sell for us, but I can say that based on the 2013 angler-preference survey, 77 percent of all anglers fish for trout. That makes trout the far-and-away most popular gamefish in Washington. That large of a proportion of anglers would indicate trout contribute significantly to the revenue the department generates to achieve its mission.
JH How does the whole of WDFW and the nonfishing public – including people with seemingly no skin in the game – benefit from revenue generated by the hatchery trout fishery? On the furthest end of the spectrum, does someone who disdains fishing but who cares about fish and wildlife still reap benefits from the success of the trout fishery? CD Revenue from fishing licenses is not all earmarked to be spent only on fishing or fish production. License sales revenue is applied to accomplish the overall conservation mission of the department. First and foremost this means conservation of all fish and wildlife species – not just the harvestable fish and game species. Whether you’re a wildlife watcher, wolf advocate, elk hunter or trout fisherman, license sales of all types support the conservation ethic of all residents of the state of Washington and the conservation mission of the department. Trout happen to contribute very significantly to the overall pool of license revenue. JH Can you talk about the economic data you guys use from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to illustrate the impacts of fishing on Washington’s economy? CD Measuring the statewide economic impact of sport fishing and the relative contri-
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Six-year-old Bailey Jones is the only kid I know with a mom cool enough to take her trout fishing and to let her pick out all of her own clothes. Here she’s dancing the Rainbow Shake after hauling in a fat trout at Curlew Lake last year. The image says, “along with all the other stuff Bailey Jones does, she fishes too, and she started catching trout with family and dancing about it in cool outfits when she was a kid.” We need more cool kids in the Northwest dancing around holding trout, creating memories in the outdoors that inform their choices as adults. (JONES FAMILY)
APRIL 2014
Northwest Sportsman 17
MIXED BAG bution of independent fish species is challenging, not to mention expensive. Depending on the study you consult there are varying estimates of revenue from sport fishing in Washington that can be used. I have seen figures as high as $3 billion annually to what I will use today at about $1 billion annually. The best numbers I have at my fingertips come from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife Associated Recreation. This survey indicates that total expenditures on sportfishing in Washington are about $1 billion. Of the $1 billion in expenditures, $215 million is spent directly on angling trips. An angling trip is defined as just the cost to fish for a day, excluding gear and other sundry costs that anglers are all too familiar with. The defined per-day fishing trip cost from the 2011 study is $32/angling day. Trout fishing in Washington accounted for approximately 2.136 million angler trips, which equates to $70 million in revenue spent or 32.5 percent of the total angling trip expenditures in Washington. In a state where salmon and steelhead are iconic, to consider that over 30 percent of the revenue generated from angling trips is from trout fishing points at the relative value of these species to WDFW. I’m not sure how many jobs trout fishing creates, how many resorts they support, or how many gear and boat manufacturers benefit, but the evidence would indicate that trout are very important not only to sportsman but to businesses and the state’s economy.
JH What social benefits do you see stemming from Washington’s hatchery trout fisheries? CD The single biggest social benefit that trout bring is getting outdoor-starved kids outside. I see families and kids by themselves recreating daily on trout waters across the state in a day and age where kids aren’t very engaged in the outdoors. In a world that demands all of a child’s time with electronics, friends and schoolwork, there is only a limited amount of time to connect kids with the outdoors. Whether they are recruited as avid anglers or only casual anglers, we create an outdoor connection that will resonate with that child as they mature and become a productive tax-paying and voting citizen. Awareness of 18 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
S E SCENE H T D N I BEH
our environment and the impacts we have on it is critical to the long-term persistence of our fish and wildlife resources and the sport we love so much.
JH Here’s a broad question, Chris, but I think in 1948 and chery opened brown trout. at H p lu al uy an The P w and Germ raises rainbo
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Corralled in a “grow out” pond by Hue and tech Jesse Carlson, trout are lifted to a tanker truck.
Volunteer D trout into thave Kawolik releases a scoo e stocker truc (ANDY WALGA k’s holding ta p of MOTT, ALL) nk.
you are the guy to answer it: How do trout impact the overall angling landscape in Washington? What does trout fishing mean to our state? CD In my family and in many Northwest families, trout means family time, friendship, picnics, warm spring evenings, cool fall mornings, the call of a redwing black bird, the smell of cottonwoods, nature lessons, hikes, junk food, smiles, fun and togetherness. The 2013 angler survey indicates that 77 percent of all licensed anglers in the state fish for trout. In a state where salmon and steelhead are king, this data indicates that even the hardcore salmon and steelhead anglers are out fishing trout every year. The best thing about trout is that they are team players. They will take one for the team every time we offer a fishery for them. What I mean is that catch rates on trout are strictly driven by stocking density. The more there are, the more trout people catch. Certainly water conditions, weather, angler pressure and a host of other variables plays a role in angler success, but we know that if they are stocked adequately in a lake regardless of geography (east vs. west), they will provide a good fishery that is attractive to most anglers. Given this “team player” trait, they really are the gateway to hooking anglers on fishing. There have been more avid anglers created from catching trout than any other species in the state. They are ideal fish for newcomers to the sport because they are accessible by shore anglers and boaters alike. They are native to the Northwest and are better suited biologically to our waters than other fish. They are also low tech to catch, easy to find, and good to eat. What more could one ask for?
JH A couple years ago you recommended an old fisheries biology text book to me – The Coming of the Pond Fishes – that explains the historical introduction of warmwater fish into the Northwest. Its author, Ben Hur Lampman, looks from a macro level at the proliferation of spinyrays and their impacts on North-
MIXED BAG west fisheries. I am a fan of warmwater fish, but I love native species and respect fisheries science, and that old book was a real eye-opener and made me realize how little I knew and how little most of my warmwater angling brethren know about the biology and history of our inland fisheries in Washington. In the Spokane region, you’ve developed an unfair reputation amongst a small minority of spinyray enthusiasts as being antiwarmwater-fish, because you’ve been involved in Washington trout fisheries for so long. I know that’s not the case personally, and I know even better that’s not the case in the Fish Program at WDFW. Nonetheless, please explain your take on the role of panfish in “hooking” new anglers? They reproduce on their own successfully and are easy to catch – part of the year anyway. As the Inland Fish Program manager for WDFW, can you talk about the role of panfish in managing our state’s fisheries? CD It might seem like we offer trout fishing kind of like Midwestern and Southern states offer crappie, bluegill and perch – like it’s merely a management choice – but it’s not. Our lakes are not nearly as productive as theirs, up and down the food chain. Part of that comes from a shorter growing season, which also creates an imbalance in our panfish populations by reducing the available window when predatory fish are active and consuming panfish. As a result, most of our panfish lakes overpopulate from lack of predation, and due to that which results in a lack of available food for panfish through competition with other panfish. In many lakes and reservoirs across the state conditions are such that panfish are stunted regardless of the management strategies that are employed. Non-native species do well in new ecosystems, but they typically overpopulate themselves. We have some really good panfish lakes in Washington, but only in specific parts of the state, in lakes and reservoirs with specific growing conditions conducive to growth. That said, even in some of our best waters – like Sprague Lake where we’re trying to build a quality crappie and bluegill fishery– establishing strong panfish populations is very difficult. 20 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
WHY TROUT ANGLERS MAKE BETTER FISHERMEN Trout were my main focus for years, and over the course of Chris Donley’s career, I’ve caught and released many thousands of trout he has had a hand in stocking: rainbows, brookies, browns, cutthroats, and tiger trout. I’m usually chasing springers or turkeys on opening day weekend these days – or trout fishing at a yearround lake like Rock or Roosevelt – but I still get very excited for the opener. I know what trout fishing means to the sport, what it means to future generations and their ability to identify in some tangible way with the natural world, and the cycle of life and death of which we are all a part. Donley highlights some important social and economic values of the state’s hatchery trout fishery in our interview, but it was afterwards that he and I discussed the value of trout fisheries as a training ground for trout and all of our Northwest game species. “Jeff, I always say, ‘If I just had a nickel for every trout I’ve caught … and trout I’ve stocked, I would be a wealthy man.’ I still love trout fishing and spend a lot of time doing it to this day. Catching and landing all of those fish undoubtedly contributed to whatever skills I might have as a salmon and steelhead angler.” Donley has serious chromer skills – like Kevin-Durant-between-the-legs-backstep-fallaway-three-pointer skills. OK, maybe not that good, but he’s one of the best in the Northwest. It pleased me immensely when I shared a recent observation of mine and got quick agreement
from him: There are many big-fish anglers who thumb their noses at trout and/or warmwater fish but who would be much better anglers if they landed a few hundred/thousand rainbows to learn how to handle a fishing rod and a fish. I believe landing fish on a fly rod is especially helpful for learning to use the trapped energy in the rod, and I cite thousands of fish caught on barbless hooks as one reason I do not struggle with barbless hooks on terminal steelhead and salmon gear. The second is that we Snake River anglers have been barbless for decades now. I fished with lots of new folks this past fall, some of who were far better steelhead catchers than me. I watched some of these good anglers struggle to make quick, accurate casts, to read water, and to use the leverage of their rods to control fish or mend line. Deploying rods out of a boat for salmon and steelhead really doesn’t require mechanical proficiency at many of the finer points of fishing. Boat fishing for big fish requires different skill and knowledge sets, but much of that time is spent watching rods in a rod holder. While I love big water fishing and am sorely addicted to salmon and steelhead, I know that when that rods buckles this April after a springer munches my herring for a couple seconds, I like my chances of landing that fish a heck of lot better with all that trout fishing behind me. Want to teach a kid to learn the muscle memory to actively fish? Take them trout fishing. Want to teach them to learn to kill time and maybe land fish? Park ’em on the big water in front of a rod holder. –JH
Once they’re established, however, they tend to persist pretty well. Across most of the state we have the numbers but not the quality. It’s not that some people don’t truly love panfishing in Washington – it can be a blast – but many people are not interested in catching or eating the type of small panfish most of our waters produce. So from a biological, social, and economic standpoint, panfish just can’t come close to replacing trout, but they both play an important role in our
state’s fisheries. That we prioritize trout doesn’t mean that we don’t value panfish or refuse to embrace their recreational value as a way to recruit and retain anglers. But we value maximizing recreation in a uniquely Northwestern way with the most publicly desirable species of fish that is most biologically successful in our waters. Trout are an iconic and superpopular fish that help make Washington State a wonderful place to live and out-
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APRIL 2014
Northwest Sportsman 21
MIXED BAG door recreate – for everybody.
JH For families looking forward to trout season 2014, what’s the broad prognosis throughout the season – from the April 26th opener through fall? CD We’re looking forward to another excellent spring trout fishery across Washington for 2014. Anglers can expect good to excellent fishing for large catchable rainbows averaging 10 to 12 inches with many stretching much longer. Our continued innovations with our hatchery operations and stocking strategies allow us to review and refine our practices to maximize efficiency. What does all that mean to the angler? More and bigger trout in the creel, including major improvements in our Western Washington lakes near major population centers. For the opener and at least into early June, Washington’s trout anglers should be pretty happy with what they
WDFW’s Doreen Merrill navigates the stocker truck down a driveway to Federal Way’s Steele Lake boat launch, and then with a kick of her boot, opens the spigot and thousands of trout rush out for opening-day anglers. (ANDY WALGAMOTT, BOTH)
Continued on 174
22 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
DREAM PROPERTIES • Real Estate Showcase
APRIL 2014
Northwest Sportsman 23
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For The Love Of Fishing Memories of the outdoors drives Oregon Coast lure makers, philanthropists. By Chris Cocoles FLORENCE—They own a successful company that makes fishing lures, but Pat and Dean Hendricks don’t aspire to be this coastal town’s version of Bass Pro Shops. North Country Lures takes whatever profit it reels in (pun intended) and spreads it around to local fishing organizations throughout the Northwest, their home state of California and as far away as Texas. That’s the way the Hendricks prefer it. Retired teachers, they simply loved that fishing has defined their lives. They are the quintessential Main Street operation, working on their baits at a small shop attached to their home. They don’t have a staff – they are the staff – and don’t see dollar signs but smiles in those their lure sales help most. “When I see kids catch their first fish, this is our future generations,” Dean says. “And if they can learn to both respect and have love of the outdoors, they will have a very fulfilling life and a wonderful hobby to be able to enjoy.” They were never in this for a get-richquick scheme. Pat jokes a night out on the town in Florence is a meal at the local Dairy Queen or a Pizza Hut $10 special. They may as well help some local kid get a chance to experience fishing, which was such a major part in their own upbringings. “The greatest gift her father and my fa-
Dean and Pat Hendricks love traveling to outdoors shows throughout the Northwest to show their products, and, more importantly to them, interacting with fishing fans. (NORTH COUNTRY LURES)
ther and grandfather gave us is the love of the outdoors and the respect of it,” Dean says. “I’ve been fishing since I was 3, and Pat was fishing before I was born.” And through years of fishing, guiding, lure making and giving, Dean has bought into the motto “keep it simple.” INDEED, THE SIMPLE joys of fishing was part of the program growing up for these two. Pat is from Berkeley; Dean is a Sacramento native. They both fished the various waters around their hometowns and in the Sierras for salmon, steelhead and trout. Creek fishing holds a particular fondness in Dean’s memory. “It was called Soda Creek, and we’d hike up there and throw Mepps and Panther Martins, which was a new lure at the time,” he says, emphasizing that fish limits were at 20 back in the day. “Now we make lures very much like those now that. Ours is called the Bobcat. We would catch all these fish and I look back now and think, ‘Gosh, that was the limit.’” Pat can probably outfish the guys. When she was young, her family would fish from a 12-foot rowboat with a modest motor concocted by her father. “One time we went and a big storm
came through. All I can remember was my father yelling at me to ‘Bail! Bail! Bail!’ with a 2-pound coffee can. How we got back I have no idea,” she says. That was part of what attracted Dean and Pat to each other: the fishing stories. They met as teachers in a tiny town 9 miles east of Redding. Pat taught math for seventh and eighth graders, and Dean was hired as a physical education and science teacher who “coached pretty much everything throughout the years.” They eventually made a whirlwind trip to Reno to get married, just three months after meeting. Dean spent years running North Country Guide Service, taking clients on NorCal’s iconic rivers – the Sacramento, Klamath, Trinity and Smith. When they retired after three decades, they headed north and settled in Florence. It was there where Pat remembers the first couple lures she ever made and which became the building blocks of what their passion has evolved into. “The Yum-Yum Egg Cluster is a lure that I made and thought, ‘I’m going to make a really ugly color. I’m going to make it all black.’ And I did, because who wants black?” Pat recalls. They tested it at Munsel Lake, just outAPRIL 2014
Northwest Sportsman 25
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side Florence. “I pitched it out and said, ‘I’m going to see if this can catch anything.’ Well, low and behold, I caught so many trout on that lure!” Pat says “And everyone asked ‘What did you catch all those fish on?’ This one guy came up to me and asked if he could buy it.” He offered $3, despite Pat’s caveat that it was a “used lure.” It’s ironic now considering they’ve since sold hundreds, if not thousands, of YumYums for just $2.50 a pop. The $3 purchase was made, “and basically the rest is history,” says Pat, who later made the No. 9 Indiana blade for salmon that worked its magic on a fishing trip near Reedsport and caught two fish weighing in at 24 and 28 pounds, respectively. “That’s it in a nutshell.”
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26 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
NORTH COUNTRY LURES doesn’t try to compete with commercial fly fishing anymore by tying their own flies, and also because of time conflicts compared to getting their other lures produced. So they focus most of their attention on spinners and crankbaits for salmon, trout, steelhead, kokanee and bass. They equate their making lures with their own design and twist with their long career as educators. “What’s gratifying is seeing people be successful,” Pat says. “When we taught school it was all about having people learn things, be happy doing it and be proud of what they accomplished.” Dean stays busy outside the shop too. “I wear two hats,” he says of being an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife fishing instructor. He helps coordinate free fishing days in the state, and is a big part of ODFW’s local chapter of the Salmon and Trout Enhancement Program, which raises wild coho salmon in a Florence hatchery, fin clipping the fish. They plant 10,000 to 12,000 at a time into Munsel Lake, with their ultimate destination the Siuslaw River where they can head to and from the Pacific. That’s one of the organizations that gets money earned from sales of North Country products like the Super Hoochie, the Sonic Bell, Strike Master, Flying Harley and Kokanee Katcher, all spinners. Dean is past vice president for the Florence STEP group, and the couple is heavily involved as members
Pat puts a lure together. North Country makes spinners, crankbaits, spreader bars and flashers. (NORTH COUNTRY LURES)
Dean with the results of a little R&D on an Oregon Coast lake. (NORTH COUNTRY LURES)
of the Siuslaw Watershed Progam. And the Hendricks take pride in that their products are American made. Such admirable endeavors surely made Dean’s father William proud. He lived 93 years, fishing with his son on a regular basis and helping Dean and Pat make lures until three days before his death in 2007. “He was always extended himself to others and it rubbed off on us,” Dean says. “He loved the great outdoors and taught us to take care of the great outdoors and each other.” There’s a world of good fishing lures out there, many made by Northwest companies, but when you choose one of the Hendricks’, you’re not just putting money into the pockets of the folks who made it. There’s a lot more to a transaction than dollars and cents. And that just makes sense. NS
Ask for it anywhere fine spirits are sold.
Making Spirits Rise Since 2012 Seattle, WA
28 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
MIXED BAG Austen Weichman and Conner Enquist hang loose after a good day of kokanee fishing last month at Lake Merwin, which we mapped in the March issue. They were “killing it with Sling Blade and corn,” says Austen’s pa, Dusten. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)
A great first buck for Ashton Spady! He killed this Yacolt Burn blacktail on the 11th day of last October’s general season with a 20-gauge. “That smile’s worth a thousand words,” says his dad Taylor. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)
“Fishing fanatic” Jacob Digiulio caught this smallmouth near Priest River, Idaho, last summer. The then-8-year-old from Sandpoint was fishing a rootbeer-colored crappie jig. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)
They might have fancied that those layout blinds they hid in were “forts” and the geese were bad piggies, but Brooke and Luke Seim enjoyed their first goose hunt near Ellensburg just before this past Christmas. “They were thrilled with the hunt and excited to get home and help me clean the geese,” says dad, Eric. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)
Eric Rogers put a little early-season salt in his diet, fishing out of Charleston aboard the Betty Kay and catching these lings off Bandon in mid-March. (WRIGHT
They keep getting bigger and bigger for Jayce Wilder! The Southwest Oregon lad shows off a South Fork Coquille winter-run caught this past winter. (WRIGHT &
& McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)
McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)
For your shot at winning Wright & McGill/ Eagle Claw and Browning products, send your photographs to andy@nwsportsman mag.com or Northwest Sportsman, 14240 Interurban Avenue South, Suite 190, Tukwilistan, WA 98168. By sending us photos, you affirm you have the right to distribute them for our print or Internet publications. APRIL 2014
Northwest Sportsman 29
PHOTO CONTEST
WINNERS!
A cold day in Northwest Montana this winter now pays off thrice as nicely for Amanda Bielby. This pic, forwarded by hubbie Mark Sommer, is our April issue’s Wright & McGill/Eagle Claw Photo Contest winner. It wins the Missoula anglers a package worth $50 of Lazer Sharp hooks, pliers and a Lazer Sharp hat!
Luke Miller’s pic of his son Josh and Josh’s Okanogan County mule deer is this issue’s Browning Photo Contest winner. Josh bagged the buck on a special permit. It scores the Bonney Lake, Washington-based hunters a Browning hat and puts Luke in the running for the grand prize, a Browning Buckmark pistol!
Northwest
Sportsman Your Hunting & Fishing Resource
For your shot at winning Wright & McGill/Eagle Claw and Browning products, send your photographs 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.
30 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
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APRIL 2014
Northwest Sportsman 31
32 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
MIXED BAG JACKASSES OF THE MONTH First they knowingly snuck into a no-anything zone, the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, then they illegally shot and killed three elk, left them to waste, and after things got hot, hid the largest bull’s rack. Daniel Charboneau, 29, and Brock Miller, 27, both of the TriCities, were fined $6,000 apiece for poaching the trophy animals on the site, but just so the odds that they ever pay that fine off by selling those antlers – estimated to be up around the 400 B&C mark – get even more remote, or they one day think they can pull it out of hiding and claim they’re Big (WDFW) Hunters, we’re going to highlight the episode here in Jackass of the Month. Take a good look at this rack at left. Note the broken tines, the missing eye-guard on the right beam, the spur on the other beam’s dagger. Know that that’s a tainted rack, that it was taken by cheaters, that there’s no honor whatsoever in them. “It was a huge elk,” Sgt. Brian Fulton of the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife told the Tri-Cities Herald. “(Charboneau) went out and killed a trophy elk in a place no one can legally hunt.” The poaching occurred in late October 2012 when the men boated into the reservation near the old Hanford town site on at least two occassions. The reservation’s perimeter is marked with signs, nobody is allowed onto the federal property with guns or without permission, and hunting is forbidden – something the duo would have known with their jobs as subcontracters there. According to the Herald’s account, officers got a tip that on Oct. 27, Charbonneau had poached the big bull at Hanford, and that another pair were illegally killed shortly afterwards. Confronted and without a valid rifle tag, he said his sister, who did have one, had killed the elk, the paper says. Further, Miller didn’t have a tag either, and according to Miguel Berry, 26, of Richland, Miller called Nov. 1, told him he’d shot two elk and asked him to buy a tag. At least five days after the first bull had been killed and three after the other pair, the three men went back to Hanford under the cover of darkness to get the elk, the Herald reported. Unsurprisingly, the meat was spoiled, but if horn porn is your thing, what’s that matter? Indeed, tips from a hunter who’d seen Miller’s racks at a local taxidermist helped in the case. Charbonneau pled guilty to hunting big game without a tag while Miller pled to unlawful hunting while trespassing, hunting without tags, and using someone else’s tag. Both were sentenced to jail, but the time was suspended. Berry’s and their hunting licenses were also suspended. As for that still-missing rack, it’s considered stolen property. “Whomever possesses them could be potentially in trouble for illegally holding them,” Fulton tells Northwest Sportsman. Anyone who has ideas on where these jackasses hid that cheaply gotten elk rack should call (877) 933-9847.
By Andy Walgamott
Turkey Poacher Tip Leads To Fugitive’s Capture
H
e was trying to live off the grid – and for good reason, what with all those warrants – but last month the fugitive from justice found that Johnny Law in Washington has a very long arm indeed. Game wardens caught up to the 51-year-old, identified in jail booking records and by the Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune as Scott Joseph Garrick Girard, after getting a tip that turkeys were being poached out of season near the remote town of Chesaw. A quick investigation found he allegedly used corn to bait in and kill seven turkeys, offering one to a neighbor to try and get his driveway plowed, while also operating a still and selling homebrew to locals. When confronted by officers, the suspect tried to give the name of his wife’s dead ex-husband, but couldn’t remember “his” birthday. Eventually he gave a real name, which the State Patrol’s master computer read as “Holy $#*%, arrest this bad guy right now!” Girard had warrants out for escaping from community custody, failing to register as a sex offender, and failure to appear for DUI, as well as a nocontact order with Brady Act provisions barring access to firearms. In his trailer, say officers, was a Remington 7mm, Marlin .22-caliber semi-auto , and two .44-caliber blackpowder pistols, say officers. He was booked into jail on dozens of hunting violations and failure to register as a sex offender.
Two Wolves Illegally Killed This past winter saw at least two wolves illegally shot and killed, one in Northeast Oregon, the other in Northeast Washington. The former was a male pup of the year found dead near Lincton Mountain above the South Fork Walla Walla River. The latter was a collared female that was recovered in northern Stevens County. The incidents occurred in federally delisted areas of both states, but the species remain protected by state laws. Game wardens were tight-lipped, but asking for help from the public (Oregon State Police: 800-452-7888; Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife: 877-933-9847; 509-892-1001). There’s a $22,500 reward for info on the Washington wolf, part of a pack that has been ridden hard but effectively by range riders the past two summers in an effort to prevent cattle depredations. APRIL 2014
Northwest Sportsman 33
20
MIXED BAG
Questions For A -Pounder Catcher
Grubenhoff on catching his state record walleye, why ‘Johnny Blade’ was fishing a plug that day, bowhunting and more.
D
ue largely to my enthusiasm for walleye and the influence of a good friend, I bought a walleye boat in 2011 – with GUEST COLUMN nowhere to store it. That BY MATTHEW good friend was 2011 NESBIT Columbia River Walleye Circuit co-angler of the year, Jesse Lamb. Also a colleague at work, Jesse happens to be the nephew of John Grubenhoff, and with no backup plan, I asked Grubenhoff if I could store my boat in the open bay in his shop. Before I had finished the question, he’d welcomed it – and me – into his family. My boat was there for six months, and over that time John gave me a crash course in walleye fishing. I will forever be indebted for the generosity that Johnny showed me then and the friendship we have shared since. It is my pleasure to interview my friend, mentor, and the only man in almost 30 years to catch a walleye topping 20 pounds. Giant walleye make us do crazy stuff, like spend all day in 20-degree temperatures with a wind chill of -10, vertically jigging until we can no longer feel our arms – all for a single bite that could be The One. Then again, have you ever met someone dumb enough to buy a walleye boat without even having a place to keep it? “That was you, wasn’t it?” Grubenhoff recalls. “Yeah I figured that a guy without much common sense could use a little guidance and advice, so I let you keep that boat of yours here for a while. Someone had to keep an eye on you.”
IN THEIR
OWN
WORDS
Matt Nesbitt I wish that I could’ve thanked
you for welcoming me into your shop and your house by catching that state record out from under your nose, but maybe you didn’t teach me everything you know in my time here studying Walleye 101, eh? We covered a lot of basics, and a lot of what not to do, but even though walleye are difficult to catch, there are really only a few basic techniques that are used to catch them, correct? John Grubenhoff Let’s see, we’ve got blading, jigging, plugs, stickbaits, worm harnesses with spinners, and Lindy rigging [straight worm]. There are different conditions under which certain techniques will John Grubenhoff and his 20.32-pound Washington state-record work better than others, walleye, caught on the last day of February in the McNary Pool but it’s better to master a after he got off work that afternoon. After landing it, his first thought actually was to put a rod back out. “There’s bigger ones few techniques rather down there and you ain’t gonna catch em if you’re line isn’t in than just try and do everythe water,” he tells protégé, Matt Nesbitt. (JOHN GRUBENHOFF) thing right off the get-go. Lots of guys use a worm harness, and lots of Columbia Basin; my buddies from Portland guys catch fish on them, especially in late call you “Johnny the Blade.” Either way you spring and early summer when these fish are slice it, people seem to know that you can in postspawn mode and actively feeding. work a blade bait. Is that your go-to technique? Do you catch fish on blades throughout the year? MN There’s a wily old timer who always tells me, “Do what you know.”Translated to fishinJG Oh yeah. A blade bait would always be my speak, that means if you’re really good at first choice. My second choice would be a something – jigging, plugging, worming, worm of some sort and, obviously, I like Rablading – that should be your go-to techpalas in the winter. If I had to choose one lure nique. They call you Johnny Blade here in the for all types of fish, it would be a blade bait. APRIL 2014
Northwest Sportsman 35
MIXED BAG I’ve caught lots of salmon and steelhead on blade baits throughout the years. It’s a reactionary bite that you’re trying to trigger with a blade bait. When the fish are biting, they’ll bite it, and sometimes even when they’re not biting, they’ll bite it. I like those odds.
everybody laughed at me about that big plug. They said, “You’ll never catch anything on that big plug.” I said [knocking his knuckles on the counter], “Big lure, big fish.” Tell you the truth, as far as color right now, I’m a little partial to silver and black [the color of Rapala he caught the record on].
Grubenhoff clowns around with the author. (MATT NESBIT)
MN If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my brief time as a walleye angler it’s that attention to detail is what separates the dominant walleye anglers from the Joe Schmoes of the world. For example: trolling a particular break line at a depth of 28 feet, not 32 feet, not 26 feet, but 28 feet! If you’re vertical jigging or blading, be vertical, lines going straight down! Those are just a few things I’ve noticed. What can you tell us about paying attention to details? JG Boat control. It’s all about boat control. You need to be able to stay on the fish once you find them. Whether the wind’s blowing, the current’s ripping, or whatever, you need to be making a quality presentation where the fish are holding. It sounds simple, but sometimes it’s not. One thing you learn when you start catching fish consistently is that there’s the spot, and then there’s the spot on the spot. If fish are holding at a certain depth range, you need to keep your boat in that range – always.
MNSo you’re making a good presentation in the right place, a place you know the fish are holding, and you’re still not catching anything. What gives? JG The fish have to do their part too. The most important part, especially in winter, is to be making a good presentation in a good spot when the fish decide to start biting. You have to work hard to give yourself a fighting chance. One word you’ll hear a lot that time of year is “persistence.” You have to stay focused because you never know when the bite might turn on, and that bite might be the next world-record walleye. MN Finish this sentence. You can use any color as long as it’s __________. JG Chartreuse. Honestly, I think color is not as important as presentation. If you’re gonna do something, do it right, get your top techniques mastered in all conditions and don’t be afraid to try different stuff. Just like me, 36 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
MN Let’s talk tournaments and trophies. There was never a day I entered your shop that I didn’t take a minute to look at your back wall and the first place, second place, and “Big Fish” awards issued to John Grubenhoff. Should we count em up? I counted. There are 58. Tell me about your tournament career. JG Fifty-eight? Wow. I guess even a blind monkey gets a banana now and then! I fished tournaments hard for 10 years probably, cashed a check here, a check there. Back then I was bass fishing too. I did a lot better bass fishing actually, but I lost interest, plus it spreads you out so much, having to run all over the water on multiple different fisheries. I just decided to focus on walleye fishing; I enjoy it because it’s more challenging. In bass tournaments you’ve got to catch a lot of fish and keep the biggest five for your official weight. In walleye tournaments a lot of teams don’t even catch their limit, but one or two of these big Columbia River walleye could put you in the money or even win you the tournament. MN How many Columbia River Walleye Circuit Angler of the Year awards do you have? JG Three of em. Three in a row – I don’t remember which years. I haven’t got one in five years … since I started archery hunting. MN You’ve been fishing tournaments less and less over the past few years. Why is that? JG Grandkids, archery, life. To do well in tournaments you have to prefish. You’ve got to take a few days before the tournament to find the fish. Then, when you’re in the tournament, you’ve got to stay on those fish for eight hours a day, hold a breakline, hover over an exact spot, you need to stay super focused. Recently I really got into archery hunting and I like to save my vacation time. Nowadays I fish for walleye on my terms. Without the pressure, it’s much more relaxing. Another thing about tournament fish-
ing is that even with walleye, you start fishing Banks [Lake] and Potholes [Reservoir] and just like with bass fishing you get spread too thin. I wanted to focus on these big fish locally. If I’m gonna fish tournaments, it’ll be the river tournaments. That’s where all my friends are. I helped John pack out his first archery elk, a spike, in 2009. He was happy about that accomplishment, but when we archery hunt together, it’s more about wandering the woods, sitting under a tree for hours, just taking in the beauty of the world around us. John has the maximum amount of points possible for a quality elk tag in Washington, and one of these years he will surely draw that coveted “big bull tag.”
JG Maximum points possible! [laughter] Surely draw … no doubt! Jacob [Grubenhoff’s son] is trying to convince me to put in for a rifle tag. He says it’ll be easier to get a big bull with a rifle. That’s the whole key right there, that’s why I archery hunt: it’s harder, more challenging. That’s also the reason I walleye fish. Sometimes the easy way isn’t the best way. It ain’t easy walleye fishing in this area all winter, but when it finally pays off, it could be the fish of a lifetime.
MN So, would you say you are really good at fishing the Tri-Cities area, or just really, really lucky to have caught the state record? [This question makes John uncomfortable because the last thing I’ve ever known him to
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MIXED BAG do is brag about himself, he’ll talk about how great the other fisherman are but never himself.] JG A little of both. Maybe I’m as good as the next guy – maybe. The only thing is that I might put more time into it during periods when fishing is real good.
MN You hurried home from work on Friday, Feb., 28th, hooked up the boat and headed for the river. You were trolling a silver-andblack Rapala J-13 minnow lure. That’s a large bait even in a trophy walleye fishery. Can you give me your thought process on that? JG Big lure, big fish. We’ve got cold water here in the winter, and these big females are very lethargic. I’ve watched them on camera. They’ve got their bellies flat on the bottom of the river. They look like they are sleeping. Many people target them by trolling worm harnesses s-l-o-w-l-y, keeping that presentation in their face for as long as possible. There’s no question that technique works. Blade baiting gets you that reactionary bite, combining vibration, flash, and a fast panicked action. With that big Rapala you’re really making it worth their while, you know what I mean? A small effort for a big meal. Also, I’m not for sure, but they say that when these big fish are staging to spawn, they’re not necessarily feeding, but they’ll bite at those little fish just to get ’em outta there, clear them out of the area where they’re spawning. MN We all know what it’s like to land a big fish when you’re with your buddies. Be it a 25pound spring Chinook or a 15-pound walleye, there’s hooting and hollering, high fives, etc. You were fishing by yourself. What is it like to land the catch of a lifetime when the only witnesses are you and the river? JG My net wasn’t big enough for starters. Her tail was sticking out about this much [a foot] and I didn’t really know how big she was until I went to lift her. I unhooked her and stuck her in the livewell right away. The lure was all tangled in the net so I just grabbed another rod, put it out there, and got it going …
MN Wait, wait, wait – you didn’t think to measure it? JG I was gonna do all that “pretty soon,” 38 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
A peak inside Grubenhoff’s shop, the walls of which are lined with tournament plaques, marking a very competitive period of his fishing career. Spending more time with grandkids and bowhunting, he remarks, “Nowadays I fish for walleye on my terms. Without the pressure, it’s much more relaxing.” (MATT NESBIT)
once I got another pole back in the water and started going again.
MN That’s a true addict. You’ve got a true problem. You catch the state record and you say “I gotta keep a hook wet.” JG You know what? There’s bigger ones down there and you ain’t gonna catch ’em if you’re line isn’t in the water. Anyway, I put that other rod out there and started trolling. But when I opened up that livewell and saw that fish I said, “Wow.” She was this wide [holds out his hands 10 inches]. Then I called my son and said, “I need some advice; I want to know if I should keep this fish or I should take a few pictures and put it back?” So Jacob came down with a scale and we put her on there and immediately it hit that 20-pound mark. Jacob said, “We gotta go.” We loaded up the boat and went looking for a certified scale. It was awesome. MN John, you caught the state-record walleye, the largest walleye caught anywhere in the world in 26 years, and you caught it on a Rapala. You recently told me that you were going to “order a bunch more Rapalas.” Has it occurred to you that Rapala may in fact want to give you one or two free lures? JG Fine with me! [laughs] You can never have too many. After a while they get holes in ’em [from walleye teeth]. Pulling Rapalas is a working system, there’s no doubt about it.
MN In late winter you told a blog writer from
In-Fisherman, “No offense, but around here 14- to 16-pound fish really aren’t that big of a deal.” He didn’t know how to take it, did he? What are your thoughts on this world-class walleye fishery we have in the Tri-Cities area? JG The thing about it is, I’m sure glad I live here, man, I’m sure glad I live here. Not only have we got the walleye, but look at all the other fish we have here. You can go and fish for a trophy fish of some kind any day of the year here and have a chance of catching it.
MN You can catch a 20-pound steelhead. A 50-pound chinook. A 14-foot sturgeon. JG And an 18-pound walleye, all in one day! You could do it all on one 10-mile stretch of river, right up there [motions towards the Hanford Reach, the stretch of the Columbia directly upstream of Tri-Cities].
MN You caught the fish of a hundred lifetimes. You’ve been interviewed by dozens of people from newspapers to blogs to magazines and now me. A very small percentage of people talk smack about you keeping the fish, ignorant of the fact that you’ve probably released 200 fish over 10 pounds in your career. Is it worth the harassment? JG Everybody has an opinion and I’m fine with that. I don’t keep big fish. I don’t keep that many fish, in general. That was the first fish I kept this year, except for a few small ones that I ate. MN When I got here you had 21 messages
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Home of Kokanee University
on your answering machine. Since I’ve been here that number has gone to 22 and 23 messages. And how many people have you already spoken to – 50? JG Probably, yeah. I’ll be glad when that part is over [laughs]. All I want to do is fish.
MN Last year the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife removed limits on walleye in what is the best walleye fishery in the world to “assist recovery efforts for salmon and steelhead.” What are your thoughts? JG Most walleye fishermen around here are salmon fishermen. There was a record return of salmon last year to the Hanford Reach and even more predicted to return this year, right? I really don’t know enough to make a judgment. All I can go on is my opinion, and my opinion is that walleye may eat some salmon and steelhead, but they also eat a lot of fish that eat salmon and steelhead. I believe management should be based on science, and follow the science. Walleye management now rests on the shoulders of walleye fishermen themselves, and I believe the fishermen understand that. MN Beside former-state-record-holder Mike Hepper, most of your friends and relatives, tournament fishermen from around the state, and me, can you think of anybody else who wants to catch the next Washington state-record walleye and take the crown away from you? JG Everyone out there wants to catch it. And you know the thing about it? Everyone who’s out there has got a shot at it too.
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MN But you’re gonna break it yourself, right? JG I’m gonna keep trying! This fish was awesome, but it was also a learning experience. We’re always learning; we learn as we go. NS Editor’s note: Debate continues about the weight of a walleye caught and released by Oregon guide Ed Iman in April 2007. The fish was weighed on a Rapala scale set to digital mode, according to the story by outdoor writer Terry Sheely who was fishing with Iman that day, and rang up 12-plus kilograms. Only afterwards did they realize it was set to metrics, they say.
MIXED BAG
Big Concerns About Little Fish Meeting in Vancouver this month will focus on what salmon, other species feed on in the ocean By Terry Otto
B
ig fish will be streaming up the Columbia River, but when federal, state and tribal fishery managers meet early this month in Vancouver, the topic will be little fish, those out in the ocean that springers and other stocks grow fat on. The Protection for Unfished Forage Fish Initiative is an effort to protect baitfish species. While many are commercially harvested and regulated, many others are not. It is the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s task to address the possible regulation of these unfished species and decide what, if any, rules should be applied to possible future fisheries. The council is looking for input during this process and the public is welcome to address the gathering with any concerns or ideas they may have about the initiative on April 10. These forage fish are an important mid-level step in the ocean’s food chain. They feed on plankton and other baselevel organisms, and then they become food themselves for important commercial and sportfishing species. The council is an advisory volunteer group that develops management measures that are then recommended to the National Marine Fisheries Service. If adopted, the measures are enforced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. THE CONFERENCE HAS a number of stages and is looking at a number of issues. Norm Ritchie of the Association of Northwest Steelheaders has been involved with the process for the last two years, and says there are many questions
to be resolved. “First, should we be managing species that are not fished?” he asks. “Should we hold off until someone turns to the species, or, should we get some data on them and regulate beforehand?” We all know that big fish eat little fish, and if there are no little fish, there will be no big fish. However, baitfish are important for offshore species in many other ways. According to Dwayne Meadows of Trout Unlimited, fishes such as sardines and herring collect at the mouth of the
important fish. For instance, one species of hookarm squid is a staple for Northwest steelhead. The fact is that so little is known about some of these species that just how important they may be to the food chain is unknown. One of the council’s goals is to find a way to collect more data on these obscure species. A list of the species under consideration include round and thread herrings, Pacific sandlance, Pacific saury, osmerid smelts, silversides and most pelagic squids, among others.
“We spend millions of dollars and volunteer hours on in-stream habitat, but maybe we need to do more offshore.” – Norm Ritchie, Northwest Steelheaders Columbia at a critical time – just as young salmon smolts are outmigrating. “These big balls of bait provide cover for the outgoing smolts,” says Meadows. He points out that birds, seals, and other predators target the bait balls, and that lets the smolts slip out undetected. “The more smolts that survive,” says Meadows, “the better the adult returns will be.” Ritchie points to some alarming trends where forage fish are concerned. “Have you had trouble finding bait herring lately?” he asks. “That’s not good.” Herring, smelt, and other baitfish are getting harder to buy, which means there are less of them in the ocean. Also, sardine numbers are crashing along parts of the coast. Ritchie says we can’t ignore what’s happening. “We spend millions of dollars and volunteer hours on in-stream habitat,” he says, “but maybe we need to do more offshore.” The panel is looking at 10 different noncommercial species because they want to take a broad look at the situation and not get too locked in to one or two species. All of these species are food for
Some are being harvested for cat food, farmed-fish food, and other uses. However, these fisheries are not as high quality as others. Ritchie points out that commercially harvested salmon is worth many dollars a pound while some baitfish draw as little as 14 cents per pound. “The forage fish have much less value,” he says. “It’s not just about ecology and conservation. It’s a social issue as well, and we’re trying to find the right balance.” Forage fish that are currently regulated and fished commercially are showing some signs of overfishing stress. As these species become depleted they may switch to other species. The PFMC wants to have management plans in place before that happens. Of the coastal states, Washington and California have forage-fish management plans in place, but Oregon does not. The states regulate the waters for 3 miles off their shoreline, while the feds regulate the waters to 200 miles out. If you’re interested in the Forage Fish Initiative, check the PFMC website at pcouncil.org/ecosystem-based-management/protection-for-unfished-foragefish-initiative. NS APRIL 2014
Northwest Sportsman 43
44 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
COLUMNS
Plight Of The Lamprey S
omewhere around the Great Lakes, an old lake trout fisherman is scratching his head. He or she has read about the passageINLAND NORTHWEST By Ralph Bartholdt ways being introduced at Columbia and Snake River dams in recent years to help lampreys more easily make their migration from the ocean to old spawning grounds in Central Idaho, way up past the fast-food joints and honky tonks that sparkle the streets of Lewiston and Clarkston on Saturday nights. Past the barren, sun-drenched chukar slopes and out back to the Selway-Bitterroots, where the trees tower and catch rain and shade pools with gravelly bottoms that flash with fools gold in the intermittent and seldom-seen sunlight. This is where traditionally lampreys were born. This is where the eyeless young squirmed and grew as they filter-fed in the stream strata for up to seven years before swimming to the Pacific. In these same streams, the Midwesterner notes, salmon smolts also squiggle from their egg sacks before journeying from the quiet flows of inland streams hundreds of miles to the ocean and back. For many from the country’s old Northwest, lampreys are predatory parasites that use a toothed, sucking mouth to attach to salmon. They suck out body fluids, eventually killing the fish and leaving its skin floating in the surf like parchment. Lampreys on the Atlantic seaboard have wreaked havoc in the inland oceans of the Great Lakes, threatening a fishery that anglers rely on. SO, WHAT GIVES? Says Scott Everett of the Nez Perce Tribe’s fishery department, one of several agencies working to ensure the survival of indigenous, anadromous Pacific lampreys here, those in the Great Lakes are considered an invasive species. They didn’t get much respect here either, at least at first.
In the Snake River subbasin, lampreys were ignored when the original fish ladders in Columbia and Snake River dams were built to accommodate salmonids. Because lampreys move mostly in the lower water table, they had difficulty navigating the ladders and returning to their native streams, Everett says. Lampreys did not evolve in the Great Lakes, Biologists believe that, historically, massive outmigrations of young so like many other intro- Pacific lamprey eels, like these collected from Northeast Oregon’s upper duced invasive species, Umatilla River, contributed to a higher survival rate for salmon smolts heading to the sea at the same time, while returning adults yielded a they have an advantage shot of marine nutrients to rivers. (USFWS) over native fisheries. Snake and Clearwater, and tributaries of the They’ve been blamed for the collapse of the Selway-Bitterroot. once-esteemed Mackinaw fishery in Lakes “Coming back from the ocean, they Huron and Superior, which topped 15 million brought those nutrients back up here, for all pounds before the introduction of lampreys. the species for the entire ecosystem,” Sween The harvest dropped to around 300,000 says. “Biologically, these waters relied heavily pounds after they showed up, according to on marine-derived nutrients. Lampreys prothe Great Lakes Fishery Commission. vided that.” Lampreys there are believed to kill 40 The eels were revered by the native peoor more pounds of fish before they spawn ple who named a stream for them. and die. Asotin Creek, across the Snake River from Tod Sween, one of the Nez Perce fishery Lewiston, is derived from the Nez Perce, biologists who is taking a closer look at Pa“Place of the eel,” he says. cific lampreys, says his fish are different. Conversely, the exotic Great Lakes lamThe Nez Perce called them eels, and as preys there have no natural predators and no the long, skinny swimmers swarmed up from history in the ecosystem. the ocean, they provided food to an other“There are no checks and balances,” wise low-nutrient river system. Sween says. “Here in the Snake subbasin, the A century ago, lampreys, whose fat conspecies came to coexist.” tent is as much as five times higher than That’s something a Midwestern Mack salmon, were a food source for animals such fisherman can understand. as bears and otters, birds like ospreys and eaI think we all can. NS gles, and many fish including sturgeon. “Basically, they were a long, swimming Editor’s note: According to a story in The Oresausage,” Sween says. gonianlast June, pressured by inland tribes, the This phenomenon has led biologists to Army Corps of Engineers is spending $50 milbelieve that, historically, a massive annual lion to help lamprey navigate its Columbia outmigration of lampreys contributed to a River dams. Adult eel run timing echoes shad. higher survival rate for salmon smolts headLast year, 24,000, were counted at Bonneville, ing to the sea at the same time. better than some recent years, but well below The upstream migration of adult lamruns of a decade ago. preys annually reinvigorated rivers like the APRIL 2014
Northwest Sportsman 45
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MIXED BAG
A Brighter Future For Sammamish Kokanee Habitat work, supplementation program helping bring back nearly wiped out stocks.
By Chris Gregersen ISSAQUAH, Wash.—Fighting through a tangle of willows during a spawning survey, I cautiously climbed my way up a small greenbelt through a swollen stream draining into Lake Sammamish. Though the water was seemingly void of life in the midst of winter, I dissected it slowly in hopes of seeing something. Finally, I caught a glimpse of a sweeping tail and a dash of crimson as a resting kokanee fled for deeper water. Though a mere shadow of their former selves, this and other survivors carry with them the legacy of a once-thriving population, and with the help of local jurisdictions, a renewed hope for their future. ONE OF ONLY two lakes in the Puget Sound
region that still have known populations of native kokanee, Lake Sammamish between Redmond and Issaquah has gone from runs numbering in the tens of thousands down to returns that have dipped below triple digits. The fish were common throughout the Lake Washington basin during the 1800s and 1900s and once served as an important food source for Native Americans. Historically comprised of three different runs – early, middle and late – the lates are the last remaining native run in the basin. Reports from the 1940s say they were widespread, and as a popular sport fish at the time, an egg-taking station was established in Bear Creek as both an egg source for the state and to supplement ongoing plants of Lake Whatcom kokanee into Lakes Washington and Sammamish, which are connected
It doesn’t look like much, but after a private citizen removed a culvert and opened up 2.5 times as much spawning stream as before, Lake Sammamish’s kokanee used Ebright Creek the next fall. It’s one of three streams with populations of the landlocked sockeye. (CHRIS GREGERSEN) by a slough. During this period, it was estimated that between 6,000 and 30,000 kokanee made their way up Bear each year. Scattered data track kokanee abundance through the ’50s and ’60s, and the first notes of a significant decline began to come in during the ’70s. That decade saw their apparent extinction in Bear, and a sharp downturn in Issaquah Creek early-run kokanee was underway. Continued declines through the ’80s and ’90s prompted the complete closure of the lake’s kokanee fishery, and by the late 1990s, only four of Sammamish’s tributaries supported spawning kokanee. With fewer than 20 early-runs coming back to Issaquah Creek between 1992 and 1998, local groups took action. Commissioned by the King Conservation District and the Sammamish Watershed Forum, the APRIL 2014
Northwest Sportsman 49
MIXED BAG Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife developed a supplementation plan in an attempt to save the run. Published in 2001, the plan identified methods to preserve the population – but by that time it was too late. Between 2000 and 2003 spawning surveys turned up only two live early-run kokanee, and in 2003, they were declared extinct. Following this loss, efforts turned towards saving the dwindling late run. In 2007, the Kokanee Work Group was formed from members of local, state, federal, and nonprofit groups, as well as elected officials and citizen stakeholders to guide kokanee recovery in Lake Sammamish. Their goal: to “prevent the extinction and improve the health of the native kokanee population such that it is viable and self-sustaining, and then supports fishery opportunities.” To that end, they’ve developed three main priorities: artificially propagate kokanee to prevent extinction; correct habitat conditions limiting kokanee; and, protect existing habitat. SINCE ITS CREATION, the KWG has put forth a limiting-factors report to address the reasons for the kokanee decline, as well as identified restoration projects based on these findings. They have also contributed funding and efforts towards a supplementation program and improved monitoring of the population. Their findings show that habitat and historic overfishing have likely had the greatest effect on kokanee; the former is no surprise considering how people have altered the basin heavily over the past century. Since 2009, KWG efforts have been underway to capture returning adult kokanee for artificial spawning at WDFW’s Issaquah Hatchery. This 12-year plan is aimed to augment and sustain the natural population by using a native broodstock from three local creeks, Ebright, Laughing Jacobs, and Lewis. Eggs are hatched and briefly reared at the facility before being released into their natal stream, while using water from their stream to ensure homing back to where they were from. And each year a portion of the fry are outplanted to Issaquah Creek in an attempt to reintroduce kokanee and utilize unused habitat. By artificially spawning, the survival from 50 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
Adult kokanee, like this pair in Ebright Creek above, are taken from their natal streams, spawned at Issaquah Hatchery, and their eggs are hatched and fry reared there before being put back into the creek. (ROGER TABOR, USFWS)
egg to fry is substantially increased, thereby increasing the number of young kokanee entering Lake Sammamish. Before release, these young are thermally marked so that in the future their otoliths can be distinguished from wild-produced fish, letting managers compare both groups over time. The idea behind the long-term plan is to allow the population to persist while the real issues limiting them can be worked on. The KWG is currently addressing these by focusing on improving in-stream and spawning habitat, removing barriers blocking adult passage, and restoring stream deltas into Lake Sammamish. Several projects have already been completed and more are underway. One such project that has shown immediate results was a culvert removal by a private citizen on Ebright Creek, which drains into Sammamish off the plateau northwest of Pine Lake. Though only a partial barrier, the $175,000 project opened up 2.5 times more habitat on the creek, and was used by spawning kokanee the very next fall. The year 2012 featured one of the largest kokanee returns in over 15 years, and while this is great news for managers and fishermen, the population is nowhere near recovery goals. It also the first year that the hatchery-produced fish returned, making up about 10 percent of the run – a good sign for the productivity of wild fish. This returning group of fish benefited from optimal condi-
tions in the stream, as well as in the lake, showing the potential the basin has to produce healthy returns of kokanee. Over the last decade, returns have ranged from a mere 38 to over 10,000 in 2012. While a run like the one two years ago might be able to support a fishery, the problem lies in the year-to-year variability of a depressed population such as this. Estimating the kokanee population in Lake Sammamish isn’t easy, and allowing a fishery on a small run by overestimating their abundance could be devastating to recovery. While a season won’t be happening any time soon, local efforts being put forth both people and kokanee alike show great promise for the future. NS Editor’s note: The author is a fisheries biologist with King County Water and Land Resources Division. To learn more about the project, visit kingcounty.gov and search for “Lake Sammamish kokanee.”
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52 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
Lots Of Fishing Events This Month
I
f you didn’t guess it by the length of Record Northwest Fish Caught This Month elsewhere on this page, the region’s fishing season really gets Volunteer fishing instructor Jack Morby (left) hands busy in April. So too the ed- out fishing gear to Michael Denton and his daughter, Elizabeth, 4, of Beaverton during a youth angling ucational aspect. event at St. Louis Ponds hosted by the Oregon DepartThe Oregon ment of Fish and Wildlife. (RICK SWART, ODFW) Department of Fish and Wildlife will hold no fewer than 10 Family Fishing Events across the Beaver State (info: Terry Otto’s Stumptown column on p. 79; dfw.state.or.us/education/index.asp) while the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife is holding a women’s lowlandlake fishing clinic for soldiers and airwomen at Joint Base Lewis-McHord. That latter is a new event, organized by the agency’s Bruce Bolding, and will feature a number of the Real Women of Northwest Fishing from our December issue. Held out of the base’s Northwest Adventure Center, it will focus on basic techniques for trout and panfish. Equipment will be available for practice. Seating, however, is limited to the first 20 gals who sign up for the April 19 clinic. Bolding hopes that is well attended and leads to more. There will also be a similar class for military families on April 5. On the derby front, April 12-13 will see the Something Catchy Kokanee Derby on Lake Chelan. Organizer Jason Williams says it is a fundraiser for Something Catchy, “a nonprofit teaching foster and displaced children how to fish, as well as CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), which trains foster parents and trains people how to work with children that are taken out of their homes due to many different and unsafe things.” For more, see facebook.com/somethingcatchy or call Williams at (509) 885-6920. That same weekend is the North Sound Chapter of Coastal Conservation Association annual auction banquet at the Bellingham Golf and Country Club. Tickets for the April 12 event are $75 for singles, which includes a one-year membership in CCA, admission and dinner, and $140 for couples. The organization invests proceeds from this event together with grants to fund ongoing project work to remove derelict nets from the Nooksack River, disperse hatchery salmon carcasses into streams and replant riparian and wetland areas in the upper Samish River basin. To contact the chapter for banquet tickets, volunteering for projects or recreational fishery advocacy, log onto ccawashington.org/NorthSound. –NWS
OUTDOOR
CALENDAR Sponsored by
APRIL April 1 Start of Washington
fishing and hunting license year; opening day for special-permit bear hunts in select Oregon and Washington units; day many Oregon coast creeks close to fishing April 1-3 Razor clam digs scheduled at Twin Harbors, Long Beach; see wdfw.wa.gov for specifics April 5 Annual ODFW-OHA Stocker trucks are on their way to lowland Turkey Clinic at White River lakes, mountain ponds and elsewhere Wildlife Area, Tygh Valley, for throughout the Northwest this month as trout youths 8-17; for more info, see season kicks off. (ANDY WALGAMOTT) dfw.state.or.us April 5-6 Washington youth turkey hunting weekend April 5-10 Final North of Falcon summer-salmon-season meetings, Hilton Vancouver April 7 Last scheduled day to fish for spring Chinook on the Columbia River below Bonneville Dam April 12-13 Oregon youth turkey hunting weekend April 14-20 Razor clam digs scheduled at various Washington beaches; see wdfw.wa.gov for specifics April 15 Opening day of general spring turkey hunt in Washington, Oregon and Idaho; opening day of Washington and many Oregon special-permit bear hunts; last day to steelhead on Washington and Oregon’s Grande Ronde River, and Oregon’s Imnaha, John Day, Umatilla, Walla Walla, Wallowa and Wenaha Rivers April 16 Opening day of lingcod fishing in Washington’s Marine Area 4 April 26 Opening day of fishing season on numerous Oregon lakes, rivers and creeks, lowland lakes in Washington April 30 Last day for steelheading on Idaho’s Clearwater system, lower and upper April 7 00:31 First Quarter Salmon, and Snake up to Hells Canyon Dam April 14 23:42 Full Moon April 21 23:52 Last quarter MAY April 28 22:14 New Moon May 1 Northern pikeminnow sport reward * Info courtesy NASA; time is fishery begins at all stations on Columbia and 24-hour, Pacific Standard Snake Rivers; info: pikeminnow.org
M
n Phases
Record Northwest Fish Caught This Month Date
Species
4-9-77 Largemouth 4-9-04 Northern pike 4-15-03 Chiselmouth 4-17-02 White catfish 4-22-89 White catfish 4-23-61 Bull trout 4-23-66 Smallmouth 4-24-04 Burbot 4-25-91 Green sunfish 4-30-70 Cutthroat 4-30-05 Largescale sucker
Pounds
Water
Angler
11.57 34.06 1.16 19.85 15.0 22.5 8.75 17.37 0-11 18-15 8-6.7
Banks L. (WA) Long L. (WA) Salmon R. (ID) Walla Walla R. (WA) Tualatin R. (OR) Tieton R. (WA) Columbia R. (WA) Bead Lake (WA) Umpqua River (OR) Bear Lake (ID) Lake Cascade (OR)
Carl Pruitt Bryan McMannis Justin Powell Donald Huffman Wayne Welch Louis Schott Ray Wonacott Mike Campbell John Baker Roger Grunig Patrick Perry
APRIL 2014
Northwest Sportsman 53
FISHING
Big Kokes Again Show At Chelan Lake Stevens also a good bet for Westsiders.
Early signs for a possible repeat of spring 2013’s good bite for large Lake Chelan kokanee, like this one caugth there last April by Scott Fletcher, are promising. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)
By Jason Brooks
L
ast month we got out our crystal ball, tarot cards and other tools of the dark arts, mixed them with the wisdom of a few biologists, guides and experts, and tried to forsooth which lakes would be kokanee crazy this season. Meanwhile, a couple local guides were cutting through the haze of our witch’s brew and catching the year’s first fat kokes. Shane Magnuson of Upper Columbia Guide Service 509-630-5433) limited his clients early one February day on steelhead down on the big river, so he took them up to Lake Chelan to test out the kokanee fishing and caught a lot of big fish on that snowy day. And Jeff Witkowski of Darrell & Dad’s Guide Service (509-687-0709) put a pair of nice ones on a stringer late in
the month. If their catches are an indication of what kind of landlocked sockeye angling there is to be had in the fjord, it will be another great year in Chelan. But Westsiders shouldn’t overlook the Highway 9 exit off of U.S. 2 in their rush to get over the Cascades. John Thomas of Rotten Chum Guide Service (425-280-5494) and Brianna Bruce of Livin’ Life Adventures (206-7152112) say anglers don’t want to pass up Lake Stevens, east of Everett. And Toni “Wannafish” Pollock-Bozarth (wannafishalure.com) will be out on Clear Lake in Pierce County when it opens later this month. So now that we know which lakes to hit and what biologists say makes the fish tick, it’s time to give up the details on how to catch them.
FOR LAKE CHELAN, where the increased
A good setup for kokanee trolling. (JASON BROOKS)
bag limit of 10 fish could yield as many pounds of fillets, Magnuson targets these smaller landlocked sockeye just like he does their bigger ocean-going cousins when he works the nearby Brewster Pool in July. First, he runs the red-colored Kokanee series rods from Lamiglas and Abu Garcia 5500LC linecounter reels spooled with 40-pound braid. At the end of the braid he uses a blood knot to join it with 40 to 60 feet of either APRIL 2014
Northwest Sportsman 55
FISHING 15- or 20-pound mono. The mono gives the line a little stretch which helps keep fish on and it stays in the downrigger clips better than the braid. The lake’s kokanee are very deep, so if you have a hard time cranking down on the rods to get the slack out of the line and keep popping the line off of the downrigger clip, Magnuson suggests putting the blood knot into the clip as this sticks a lot better. For terminal gear Magnuson starts with a 4-inch silver prism dodger with his second choice being silver with pink prism tape. Then he runs an 8- to 16inch leader of 12-pound-test monofilament to a squid bait that he makes himself. He starts with two size 2 hooks tied on close with no gap then puts on a few beads and slides a pink squid skirt over the beads. He suggests using the smallest squid you can find and even trimming the end a little so it doesn’t cover the hooks. Then he places a HeviBead in front of the squid to serve as a bearing; its ultraviolet coating adds appeal too. The weight of the bead also imparts action from the dodger as once it starts swinging back and forth, it carries the movement to the bait. Then Magnuson places the smallest Spin-NGlo he can find, a size 14, in pink with pink prism wings in front of the HeviBead. Tie the short leader to the dodger and tip the hooks with white shoepeg corn that has been soaking overnight in his Northwest Bait and Scent Kokanee brine, one of several scents made in this country. The guide then douses the entire outfit again in his Kokanee scent, and he adds that sometimes he puts on sand shrimp scent as well, making sure to wipe it on the dodger and into the inside of the squid where the scent will 56 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
leach out over time even if the corn comes off. Bob Loomis of Mack’s Lure (mackslure.com) likes the same set-up with one variance and that is a Smile Blade instead of a Spin-N-Glo. The blades also come in UV and glow which helps attract the light-sensitive fish.
CHELAN IS BIG and deep, and can be very intimidating, but the fishing can be fairly easy to figure out once you know you have the right gear. Magnuson starts off early and likes to use the dawn hours to locate kokanee. This early fishery is a deep-water show and he will normally fish around 80 feet down on the downriggers. He doesn’t pay too much attention to what the bottom depth is because kokanee are midwater fish. Typical places in early spring are out in front of Rocky Point, where a few years ago a cow fell over the cliff onto a car. It’s the narrow point along the highway that runs between Chelan and Manson. Fish along the shoreline and then zig zag out and away from shore until you find the fish. Once you find them make a figure-eights or circles through the area multiple times. If you run out of luck at Rocky
Point, head straight across the lake and look for some blue-roofed condos. This is known as Minneapolis Beach. Troll parallel towards shore but out a ways. This is a great troll towards the town of Chelan and Lakeside Park. The waters along Lakeside Park and a long, rocky area known as “the legend” for the highway sign describing the lake and its history were the traditional fishing grounds that Loomis, me and other locals fished years ago. We never realized that there was anywhere else to go for kokanee, plus this part of Chelan is usually calm and a great place for small boats, and the fishing is fairly shallow, over just 25 to 40 feet of water. This is also where the traditional Pop Gear, Ford Fenders or gang trolls with the classic Wedding Ring spinner baited with a nightcrawler and shoepeg corn still catches fish. However, I now use the Flash Lites by Mack’s Lure which uses Mylar blades instead of metal ones so there is little to no drag. At the end of the Flash Lites I make sure to use a rubber snubber and then I like the Double Whammy’s instead of the Wedding Ring as it uses a Smile Blade and dou-
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FISHING ble hooks to hold on the fish. Again I make sure I tip it with a piece of worm and corn. Since this is fairly shallow for Chelan standards, I’d suggest a ½-ounce banana weight or leadcore line, which allows you to know exactly how far back you are from your boat since it’s metered with different colors. However, the line does take a lot of the fight out of the fish. Heading in the opposite direction back towards Manson, kokanee are found in Mill Bay where there is a county park and four-lane boat launch. To find the fish here head straight out of the marina as if you were going to cross the lake. Once you get about even with the end of Wapato Point drop your gear into the water and start fishing.
TWO OTHER PLACES that were recently discovered are further uplake, around Wapato Point. Magnuson found the first one, just outside of Manson Bay, last
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summer while fishing over 200 feet of water. He dropped the dodger and squid down 80 feet and began catching kokanee. He was a bit surprised as this is not an area anybody really fishes. He found these fish were small compared to the mega silvers they wanted to catch, but they were plentiful, as is typical with kokanee: either a few big ones or a lot of small ones, butthe weight of the catch tends to even out. The other area to try is just outside of the Yacht Club on the south shore of Chelan. This area is known as the narrows and is normally protected from down-lake winds since it is just around the corner from the straits where summer breezes can cause whitecaps in minutes. While the secret of Chelan is out, Magnuson added a few more tidbits if you have never fished the lake. He uses fairly stout gear by kokanee standards, and that’s because the lake is known for its big lake trout which feed on the
sockeye. At any time you might hook into a midteen or even 20-pound Mackinaw so you need to be able to get that fish in. Plus Chelan has a few landlocked Chinook which compare to any spring Chinook on the dinner table. He also starts fishing anywhere from 50 to 90 feet down, stacking rods to try and figure out where fish are. “If the bite goes off, try a little deeper,” he stresses. “I have caught big kokanee as deep as 120 feet of cable on the downrigger.” He also suggested varying your speed. Most fishing is done slow, around 1 mph, but if kokes aren’t biting, trying speeding up a little. For more, call Hooked On Toys (509663-0740) in Wenatchee.
LAKE STEVENS IS a top pick and home waters for two guides who put hundreds of kokanee in the boat for their clients each spring. Brianna Bruce and John Thomas like the large Snohomish
FISHING County lake not only because it is close to home, but it is also a steady producer. Here water temperature is key to the fishery. Bruce likes to start out a little later in the day during the early parts of April. “I usually don’t start fishing until about 8 as I am not looking for the early-morning bite, but instead for the water to warm up a bit,” she says. Once the temperatures start to rise the fish begin to actively feed and the bite “goes on.” Thomas likes to fish once the water temperature reaches 50 degrees, around mid-April. Earlier in the month both guides target fish that are near the surface and will even look for “jumpers.” Unlike Chelan, Lake Stevens doesn’t have predatory Mackinaw feeding on the schooling kokanee, so these fish tend to stay up where the phytoplankton are while they feed. This is a good way to locate the fish and Bruce will start to do circles around areas she sees jumpers or marks on her sonar. Thomas doesn’t fish in water shallower than 40 feet and will run the 4inch dodger and squid bait like Magnuson does,
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but in pink spatterback or what he calls white clown, also called Wonder Bread for its white with polka dots. Bruce launches in the “cove” – the city of Lake Stevens’ ramp on the lake’s northeast corner – and will head straight to the 60-foot depth and start trolling.
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“It doesn’t matter where you go out of the cove as one day I will go to the right and another day I will go to the left,” as long as you fish along the 60foot contour of the lake’s bottom, you will find fish, she says. She likes to fish between the 60- and 80-foot lines and always has a rod with
no weight fishing just below the surface. The other rods she puts on the downriggers and will play with their depths until she finds the fish. But instead of the dodger and squid, Bruce will fish a 4-inch dodger and a Wedding Ring spinner between 10 and 13 inches back using 12-pound fluorocarbon line. She also likes to tie up her own Wedding Rings by getting the components or taking apart other Wedding Rings and retying them. This way she can vary the colors, and she also likes to use two size 4 Gamakatsu drop-shot hooks. “They are a really thin wire and super sharp,” she says. This helps with hooking the softmouthed salmon. Once again, both guides agree that the lures need to be tipped with bait – Gulp! maggots, real maggots or just a piece of corn – but not just any kernel off the cob. “It’s gotta be white shoepeg corn,” says Bruce. “I don’t know why, but that is the only corn that works.” Having tried other varieties I have to agree with her. Bruce and Thomas also like DNA Scents from local fishing tackle maker Dick Nite. Thomas starts off by using a St. Croix 7-foot-6 Kokanee series rod which is limber and light but also very strong. This allows him to reel way down on the downriggers and get as much of the slack line out as he can without worrying that he may break the rod. Once the fish is on the rod springs back and doesn’t allow the fish to get off. He then uses 30-pound braid and Scotty trout clips for his downriggers since this holds the braid well but also allows the sockeye to pull the line off of the clip. Both guides offer five-hour trips and they often limit out. As you have read, guides and tackle company reps use a lot of the same gear you do, and they don’t just work at these lakes. If you have a kokanee lake near you – easy to figure out on wdfw.wa.gov, just look for the Fish Washington logo – get out and try your hand at these tasty landlocked sockeye. You might just stumble onto the next hot kokanee lake. NS
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RIG MONTH
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OF THE
NOTES Put away the terminal tackle, ditch any preconceived notions about fly gear, and troll up absurd numbers of trout by letting out line. Match any of many entry-level rods ($50$140) with this very functional Redington Crosswater reel ($39.95). The specialized $79.95 Rio sinking fly line is the key to the rig due to its high sink rate, and will last you several seasons of hard use. Drab olive, brown, or black Woolly Buggers with Crystal Flash are staples, as is the trailing damselfly nymph, which is tied to the bugger’s shank on a short length of 3X tippet. Ryan at Avid Angler (avidangler.com) in Pugetropolis and Sean at Silver Bow Fly Shop (silverbowflyshop.com) in Spokanistan are pleasant and carry these products. This rig is lethal yearround, but if you deploy it on Opening Day, don’t be shocked if it comes back with two trout in tow. –Jeff Holmes
Trout-slaying wet-fly trolling rig 5- or 6-weight fly rod, stiff/fast action preferred
Rio INTOUCH Deep 7 WF6S7 super-fast-sinking fly line
Umpqua Crystal Flash Woolly Bugger, size 6, barbless
20-poundtest Dacron backing (loaded on reel)
Rio Powerflex Tippet, 3X
(AVID ANGLER, AVIDANGLER.COM)
Rio Powerflex Leader, 9-foot, 3X (optional; straight tippet works fine for trolling)
Umpqua Damselfly Nymph, size 14, barbless
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FISHING
No Java Stand, But Big ’Bows Perk Coffeepot Selective-gear lake in Eastern Washington outback. By Mike Wright
HARRINGTON, Wash.—For an individual unfamiliar with the northern Columbia Basin, it is difficult to believe this is one of the premier trout fishing destinations in the Northwest. The rain-shadow effect of the Cascades has rendered the region virtually devoid of trees. But at the end of the last Ice Age massive floods reshaped the landscape and a considerable number of lakes were formed in lower-lying depressions. In time these waters became very fertile with lush aquatic vegetation and excellent insect hatches, and when trout, bass, walleye and other species were introduced, growth rates were impressive. One prime example of the outstanding fishing opportunities available is Coffeepot Lake, located in a rather remote corner of the basin, 12 miles northeast of Odessa. Relatively narrow and covering over 300 acres, much of which lies in a canyon with high picturesque basalt cliffs towering over the water, the lake’s depths drop off rapidly from 5 or 6 feet to 20 or more feet in the middle. Two small feeder streams flow into the upper end of the impoundment and provide some natural reproduction for resident rainbows, but not
nearly enough to sustain a viable population. Trout numbers are augmented by the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife through an annual stocking of the coastal strain of rainbow which feed primarily on insects and are far less cannibalistic.
LIKE MANY BASIN lakes, Coffeepot’s predominate hatch early on is the midge, making a chironomid the fly of choice. A variety of colors can be
Ears, scuds and Prince Nymphs will all work well. Intermediate, type-2 fast-sink and various sink-tip lines are frequently used in the warming water. And with that warming comes a warning: Those slithery critters with the jingle-bell tails may try to hitch a ride on your sleigh. There is no shortage of rattlesnakes around the lake, and many anglers familiar with it prefer not to fish after April.
Considering the size of the fish it would be advisable to use 3X tippet. used, but red and black seem to be the most effective. Similar to Lake Lenore, the technique most often used is to fish the fly, or flies, under a strike indicator 4 to 6 feet under the surface. In late winter and early spring the trout usually cruise the warmer water closer to the shore. Considering the size of the fish it would be advisable to use 3X tippet and no less than a 4- or 5-weight rod. As season progresses and the water warms, damsel and callibaetis mayflies began to appear and trout will migrate into deeper water. Because of the rapid dropoffs it becomes increasingly difficult to fish from shore, making boats, canoes, float tubes and pontoon boats the preferred approach. During this period, leeches, Wooly Buggers, damsel patterns, tube flies, Pheasant Tails, gold-ribbed Hare’s
But if you don’t mind, fishing during the hot months shifts to crappie, bass and perch. Trolling with lures also becomes more popular using Rapalas, No. 2 gold Mepps, and Panther Martins along with various spinnerbaits (the lake falls under selective-gear rules). The daily limit is one trout, minimum size 18 inches (for this reason, 20-plus-inchers are fairly common), and 10 crappie with a minimum size of 9 inches. Other species fall under statewide regs. There is a Bureau of Land Management dock and campground on the lake’s north end, off the aptly named Coffeepot Road, which runs between Harrington and Highway 21. The campground is relatively small and is managed on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you plan to camp it would advisable to arrive early. NS APRIL 2014
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Trout Pepper Salt Middle Willamette tributary provides solitude, fishing for rainbows, cutts. By Carl Lewallen OAKRIDGE, Ore.—It’s that time of year again, time to start thinking about the April trout opener. There are many great rivers, lakes and ponds throughout Oregon and I’d like to share one of my all-time favorites. While this stream is paralleled by a highway, in 15 years of fishing it, I’ve only seen one other angler working it the way I do. Salt Creek is just east of Oakridge and runs along the Willamette High-
A pretty Salt Creek cutts. (CARL LEWALLEN)
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way. Fed by Gold Lake in the Cascades, it drops 286 feet at Salt Creek Falls, the second highest plunge in Oregon. From the parking area ($5) I’ve hiked to the bottom of the falls and fished the creek there and 20 of its 28 miles down to the confluence of the Middle Fork Willamette. Yes, there are plenty of places to pull off of Highway 58 and try your luck, but that’s what everyone else does. Where access is easy, the fishing is more difficult and the trout smaller than where I go. You’ll fare
better hiking away from those easy-to-get-to spots.
NO LONGER STOCKED, Salt has native rainbow, cutthroat and – if you’re very lucky – Dolly Varden. They measure from a few inches up to 16-plus. Formerly, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife released trout in its lower end, but that ended this year and those are now going into nearby Hills Creek Reservoir. The stream falls under catch-
FISHING and-release, selective-gear rules through April 25 and then opens the next day for retention (five trout a day, 8-inch minimum) and bait. Dollies, however, must be released. I typically pack for a full day, emergencies and expecting to get wet. One time I was a good 2 miles from the truck when I slipped and fell, breaking my rod. Luckily I had electrician’s tape and was able to shave the rod down, tape the halves together and fish the rest of the day. (I still have that setup too, and even use it from time to time.) My favorite gear for Salt includes 1 ⁄16-ounce pink Rooster Tails and gold 1⁄6-ounce Thomas Buoyants, a miscellaneous box of flies and, when all else fails, a jar of eggs or worms. Size 2 or 4 hooks and some
split shots, a lightweight rod and reel with 4- to 6-pound line or a fly rod complete the outfit. The fish see very little pressure and are very hungry come April. Pick apart the small pools and back eddies behind large boulders and cutbanks, and the slower ends of rapids. Drift your fly through each spot, either slowly retrieving it or have it on a tight line and skim it along the surface. With lures, I like to cast downstream and let the current do the work. With bait, I use no more than two eggs or just enough worm to cover my hook with a small tail hanging off and very little or no weight. I typically cast six or more times to likely spots, switching to something new if the bite’s slow. The creek is very clear and banks can be brushy, so
take caution not to spook the fish when approaching a spot. I like to park and hike, or get a ride upstream several miles from my truck. Hitting all the little pockets or holes that might hold fish in between typically makes for a full day. If you want to make a weekend of it, Blue Pool Campground is open from mid-May into September, and there are motels in Oakridge. Town is also where you’ll find the Local 180 Brew Pub, which features great food and handcrafted cask-style beer made on site. With this year’s snowpack, I think Salt Creek will be fishable by the end of the month, though the water will, of course, be colder. For local info, try the Middle Fork Ranger Station (541-782-2283). NS
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COLUMNS
Buzz’s Ol’ Reliables For Trout
I
caught my first trout on a worm, but learned the magic of lures after outfishing my uncle and his secret “red” worms by trolling a BUZZ RAMSEY “coach dog” colored FlatFish behind his boat. That was also the last time I remember fishing with him. Still, bait remains a standby for many anglers because it’s a consistent producer. In preparation for this article, I called several tackle shop reps. They informed me that PowerBait is their best-selling bait (because it’s made in a factory PowerBait is considered to be a prepared bait) with worms and other baits used for trout trailing behind in popularity. You can buy worms at the local fishing tackle store or gather them yourself. Finding your own can be fun (especially with kids) and may be as close as your lawn. No, you won’t need a shovel. You see, worms come out of their holes and bask in the night air, especially after a rain. That’s why they’re called “nightcrawlers.” All you need is a flashlight, a small container and a flexible back. Worms don’t leave their ground holes all the way – they stretch out, but hang on with their tails. When sensing danger they will quickly pull themselves back into the ground. Since they don’t have eyes, worms feel your approach through ground vibration, so walk softly. Don’t pull hard when you get hold of your worm, or he might break in two. Just apply steady pressure and he’ll tire and let go. Worms are normally used in combination with a single hook, which allows them
to be easily threaded up over your hook. There are worm threaders, which make it easy to place a whole worm up over the hook and onto your line.
leader (18 to 30 inches) complete with hook, to the free swivel end and add your bait.
LIKE WORMS, POWERBAIT is available at every store dealing in fishing tackle. PowerBait was developed by biologists who conducted tests on real fish, so it really does work. It comes in jars or reusable zip-top bags and is available in moldable dough, nugget, nibble, worm and salmonegg shapes. The dough is best used molded around a small 16 size treble hook. Although single hooks will work, small trebles are popular because their light weight allows your bait to float above bottom where cruising trout can quickly find it. Hooks like a small Owner treble or light-wire “mosquito” single are what I use. The majority of anglers rig worms and PowerBait in combination with a sinker and such that they will float above bottom where cruising trout can quickly find it. Dough bait will float above your sinker if enough is used in combination with a lightweight hook. To get your worm to float without it will require a boost with a worm blower. A worm blower will allow you to fill your worm with air so it will float off the bottom. Most anglers who still-fish bait off the bottom will employ an oval egg sinker for weight. Adding weight to your outfit (3⁄8 to ½ ounce) makes casting easy and pulls your bait down. Oval egg sinkers allow you to rig your bait free sliding so trout can swim off and swallow your bait without feeling line resistance. Rigging is easy: simply thread your line through the hole in your sinker, add a small plastic bead, and connect to a size 7 or 10 barrel swivel. Then attach your
NI GH T C R AW L E R S AND DOUGH can also be suspended under a float. Worms, when rigged on a single hook, will sink below your bobber. PowerBait is buoyant so you will need to weigh it down by employing a little larger hook than normal. You can use a plastic or cork float to suspend your bait from the surface. Start off with 3 to 4 feet of line from your float to bait. Crimp several split shot weights onto your line, starting 12 to 16 inches above your bait. You’ll want to add enough split shot to submerge your float enough (half to two-thirds of the way under) so the sometimes-wary trout can pull it under without feeling resistance. Using a float will require you to keep your eyes peeled for the bite at which time you will need to set the hook. If either bait isn’t working, should you try a lure? Sure, a lure (the right one, anyway) can outfish bait if employed correctly, and they are what most anglers use when trolling or using the cast-andretrieve method with a spinner or spoon. Once, an assembly-line employee at a lure factory asked me if fish would really eat the plugs she was rigging. Before I could answer, her co-worker said: “Listen, honey! If they’ll eat worms, they’ll eat anything.” NS Editor’s note: The author is a brand manager for Yakima Bait and a member of the management team. You can find Buzz on Facebook. APRIL 2014
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COLUMNS
Rainbow Trout: An April Ritual
A
h, the rainbow. There’s something about these lake-lurking trout that make them hard not to like to fish for. Their appetite, WIESTSIDER By Terry Wiest beauty, quantity available and increasing size up to around the footlong mark make these put-and-take fish one of the most popular gamesters for beginning and seasoned anglers alike. And April signifies the traditional “opening day” of trout season. Although many lakes and streams across Washington and Oregon are open year-round, it’s the spring
ritual that gets kids excited, beaming from ear to ear with their new rods and reels. We parents and grandparents also get just as excited, not only to see the kids as they scream with enjoyment when reeling in a slippery rainbow, but we too can relate back to those moments when we were kids and sharing them with our parents. Trout fishing is one of those things that should be a staple in the lives of those of us fortunate to be able to live in the Pacific Northwest. BOAT OR BANK-BOUND, there’s always a way to fish for trout. From the shore or from a dock, a couple different tactics are effective. The technique I use most often is just to cast out and let my bait sit. The one drawback to this tech-
nique is if the aquatic plants have already started to grow, your bait may go unnoticed. But early in the year you should be fine. I like to put a split shot or two on the main line, tie a swivel, and then 3- to 4-foot leader to my hook. On the hook I love the old tried-andtrue Pautzke’s Balls O’ Fire! This formula has been around since 1934 and is the foundation of the Ellensburg-based company. If it works, why change it? But because it’s sitting on the bottom we will need a little help to lift the eggs off the bottom so that only our weight is resting down there. Marshmallows are great for this. You can use either those designed for fishing or just pick up some mini-mallows at the store. If you have kids, the second option at least can be eaten between fish bites. More popular over the past 20 years or so
Between nibbles of his own, a Westside angler patiently awaits the first bite of the day at Green Lake. (ANDY WALGAMOTT) APRIL 2014
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Casey Kelly of Pautzke shows off is dough bait. I’d stick with a rainbow typical of many that the trout experts at Pautzke will be caught this month. on this technique and use (PAUTZKE BAIT COMPANY) their Fire Bait, which has the three necessary components that are needed for success – scent, color and buoyancy – elements you can also find in the ever-popular PowerBait from Berkley. Dough is ultrasimple to use: Just dig some out of the jar and mush it around your hook, something the kids really enjoy, but remind them that the pointy end can hurt. Using either of the two bait solutions above, cast out and let your weight hit the bottom before engaging the reel. After no more line is flowing out, reel in the slack to where the line is a little snug, without moving the weight. When a fish is on, it’s on – no need to set the hook. tie one 2 to 3 feet behind one of the WeThe hook will more than likely be swalnatchee company’s 4-inch Double D gold lowed, so a good hook remover, such as the dodger and you’re money! Because of the pistol type that extracts a hook from the action of the dodger and the weight of the throat, is advised. blade, this does take a little heavier rod, but Note that this is not a catch-and-release it’s ultraeffective. If the spinner itself isn’t protechnique; those fish fished hooked deep are ducing fish, don’t be afraid to add a live magintended to go home with you. got, worm, or even a couple salmon eggs for As the weeds begin to grow up from lake scent. I like to troll 30 to 50 feet behind the bottom the use of a bobber comes in very boat if possible. handy. You can use the same setups above, If the dodger proves to be too much drag although I’ll leave the marshmallow off with or you just want to go lighter, Mack’s also has the eggs. Using the dough, just remember it’s Flash Lite Trolls which use almost no drag. going to rise up so use a little extra weight These don’t quite provide the attraction, but and a longer leader between your bobber for shallow lakes will provide all you need. and the weight itself. Bobbers are great for You may need the addition of a little weight kids: They can watch as the bobber begins to to get your gear down lower when using move and then disappear. these. Trolling slower will also help get the presentation down a little deeper. When trolling you don’t need to go fast, FROM A BOAT, all of the above techniques the idea is to go just fast enough to keep the work as well – you’ll just have more options blade moving on the spinner itself. As with as to where to fish. But many anglers don’t many species, troll in a zigzag pattern or a like to just sit and relax while they fish, they figure-8. Both patterns continuously alter like to move, as in trolling. the speed and the depth of the lure, hopeAlthough there are many ways to troll fully prompting a strike. and so many different options as far as gear, There’s plenty of opportunity out there I like another tried-and-true technique – the there this month. Enjoy! NS Mack’s Lure Wedding Ring Spinner. Simply 76 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
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COLUMNS
Clinics For The Next Generation Of Catchers W
hat can be more fun than teaching a kid to fish? Teaching a whole family to fish! Do you know a STUMPTOWN youngster who wants By Terry Otto to learn to fish? Or do you know a family who would like to try their hand at it? If so, then you have plenty of opportunities this spring to take someone you know fishing. Between the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Forest Service and local nonprofits, there are no less than a dozen family and kids fishing events planned in the greater Portland area. With so many to choose from you can certainly find one that fits your schedule and is tailored to what you like to do. So pick one of these events and give the gift of fishing to someone this spring. TROUT ARE THE fish that these clinics focus on, and, according to ODFW’s Rick Swart, they are the most popular in the Beaver State. “We all think of the Northwest as being all about salmon and steelhead,”Swart says, “but the masses want to go trout fishing. It’s by far our most popular activity.” Salmon are difficult to catch and require heavier equipment. By contrast, trout are eager biters, can be caught with very light gear which a child can handle, and are just great fun to catch! Indeed, while providing a stepping stone to other species, it’s really all about the fun. “It’s great to see these kids and see how happy they are when they catch one,” says Swart. He attends as many of the events as he can, and says ODFW is offering four family fishing and two youth-only clinics this spring. At each of them volunteers and agency staff loan fishing gear, bait, and give to the newcomers. “We have all the gear you need,” says Swart. “We loan out rods and reels, bobbers,
bait, and spinners, and there is usually enough for everyone. However, it is first come, first served, and we occasionally run out. We always encourage people to bring their own gear if they have it.” If this is your first visit to the party, Swart has some suggestions as to which ones you might want to attend. The event at Trojan Pond on April 26 is often less crowded than the others, and the one at Sheridan Pond is at a very nice spot. It will be held on May 24. The newest venue is Shorty’s Pond, which will host a family fishing event on April 12. This pond is located in the town of Molalla across from the high school football field. The youth-only fishing clinics will be held at the Canby Pond in Canby on April 4 and at the Mt. Hood Pond on the campus of the Mount Hood Community College on May 31. Only kids 17 and under may fish at these two events. For more, call ODFW’s Jeff Fulop at (971) 673-6034, or visit dfw.state.or.us and look under the Fishing tab for “Angler education/events.” ACROSS THE COLUMBIA, two fishing clinics will be held at Klineline Pond in Vancouver this month. The first is on April 11, and is for special-needs kids. The following day is the clinic for everyone else. Once put on by the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, the clinics are now run by the non-profit “Klineline Kids Fishing.” Al Jaffe is the coordinator for this event, which he says is the largest in the state. “There are about 800 kids who come to the special-needs clinic alone,” says Jaffe. The lake is sectioned off with nets and over 14,000 rainbow trout are stocked beforehand. There are also 1,000 3- to 10-pound trout brought in. There are booths and activities for the whole family. For $5 kids get to fish for 45 minutes and keep two trout. They also receive free rods and reels, as well as other gear, and there are prizes for the first, second, and third largest
Amy Kobus and her son Andrew fish for trout at an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife family fishing event at St. Louis Ponds near Salem. (RICK SWART, ODFW)
trout. There is also a prize for the smallest trout. The fish are cleaned for the participants, and if someone does not want theirs, they are donated to a local food charity. Preregistration is encouraged, but for those who arrive the day of the event, every effort will be made to work them in, Jaffe says. For more, contact him at (360) 608-7973, or go to klineline-kf.org. BACK IN OREGON, the Mt. Hood National Forest holds four free fishing clinics in May and June, but the dates had not been set as of this writing. These are excellent events that are fun for everyone, and are held in some very scenic mountain locations. The Clackamas Ranger District (503-6306861) holds its event at Promontory Park along the Clackamas River in early June. The Zig Zag Ranger District (503-622-3191) holds its annual fishing clinic at scenic Trillium Lake, also in early June. The Middle Fork Irrigation Pond near Parkdale is the site of the Hood River District’s (541-352-6002) fishing clinic, and Barlow (541-467-2291) holds its at Camp Baldwin on Forest Road 44. Check with each ranger station to find out what dates the clinics are scheduled. NS APRIL 2014
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80 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
FISHING
Boat Ready For Season? Tips for dewinterizing your fishing craft, dealing with ethanol issues, trailer and safety.
Oh the humanity! Negligent displays oF ineptitude and ill-preparedness on the ramp and on the water will be the rule again this spring. Servicing, customizing, and testing your boat in advance is a really good idea. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)
By Jeff Holmes
T
hick plumes of smoke from abused outboards of various vintages will cover the water this spring as boaters reemerge on the region’s lakes and rivers. Many will launch and quickly retrailer boats when they realize they’re having engine problems. These spectacles will happen all over the Northwest, including at crowded ramps where conflicts can erupt all too easily. Some of these anglers will turn to electric motors or will row to salvage the trip, but once the fishing is over for the day, they’ll face costly repairs or even the deaths of their outboards. Everyone will eventually face engine trouble if they use their boats enough, but it’s easy to take the negligence out of the situation through two steps: performing preventative maintenance on engines, and taking a shakedown cruise prior to opening day of trout season or before launching on the Columbia during the peak of the springer bite. Since even small outboards are a major investment, it makes sense to take care of them on the advice of certified mechanics. “To get the best life out of your engine, all you need to do is have it serviced once a year, typically in the fall,” says Brandon Frederick of U.S. Marine Sales and Service in Olympia (usmarinesales.com). “That way you know everything is up to par and ready to go come this time of year. Those who don’t winterize and/or who don’t service their boats regularly could potentially be looking at an expensive bill.” Some of us run our boats yearround, so winterizing is less of a need
for us than is regular service and the use of good fuel. But even those who service their boats regularly may face bills like the three I’ve encountered over the past three years. My engine has been serviced regularly throughout its relatively young life, and it runs strong – until I put ethanol in it.
“ETHANOL CAN BE bad for any type of engine,” says Frederick. “Your lawn mower, weedwacker, generators, etc., can all suffer. It is highly corrosive and attracts moisture. When left untreated, it starts to collect moisture inside your tank, filters and lines. Some fuel stations are offering non-ethanol fuel, and I recommend this for any small engine. It does make a difference.” It sure does. Not only have I had engine problems resulting from ethanol gas, I’ve also had to replace three expensive fuel lines. These days, I do the research and make the drive to get boat gas at service stations that offer non-
ethanol fuel. The effort is worth it. I’ve rationalized running high-octane ethanol fuel on a few occasions while traveling and in need of gas to get on the water. During springer season, I’d pour anything in my tank to get me to the fish. Because I know this, I plan in advance and bring an extra can of gas. I’ve also had luck using this nonethanol station finder: pure-gas.org. “If you let ethanol fuel sit in your system for an extended amount of time it can cause plugged injectors, corrosion, plugged carburetors, rusting, varnishing, etc. It’s not a good thing, not to service your engine. It can get expensive fast,” says Frederick. “We didn’t see these issues in the past because we never had ethanol in the fuel.” So what if you put your boat to bed last season with an engine and fuel line full of ethanol fuel? The ethanol certainly did damage, but until you take the boat on the water or start it at home with a flushing device, you APRIL 2014
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FISHING won’t know how much. The boat might fire up and run like a champ, or it might lug and lurch all day, or it might not start at all. “Unfortunately you cannot just add fresh gas or a treatment to the fuel to make it OK; there is no easy fix. So you would need to pump your fuel tank, flush your fuel lines, replace fuel filters, and clean your carburetor or injectors. Some folks feel comfortable doing this work themselves, but most seek certified professionals, like the ones we staff here in Olympia.� Ethanol fuel makes plenty of money for engine-repair people, just like deer collisions and road salt benefit the autobody world. That’s not their fault, and a relationship with a trusted mechanic can be invaluable. A good shop will staff only certified mechanics, and it’s wise to seek one who specializes in your engine type. Frederick’s service guys are all certified and have credentials for a wide range of engine types.
Make sure the mechanic you choose is certified, well-reviewed, and solidly focused on prevention. Also make sure you get a contract with a stipulation of approximately how long the service or repairs will take. A good shop won’t tell you there’s a threeweek wait for work and then keep your boat for three months. Most good shops will have a wait, however, which is the price we pay for seeking mechanics with good reputations. That’s why a regular service appointment is a good idea every season during a lull in the action. For most that’s fall or winter, but for some of us finding that lull is tough. It’s worth it, though. “When we ‘winterize’ a motor, we are stabilizing your fuel in the fuel tank and fuel system so that the ethanol does not start to corrode or rust the insides of the fuel system,� says Frederick. “We change all fuel filters and perform a detailed list of diagnostics our techs go through to make sure the en-
gine is in good running shape.�
“AS FOR TRAILERS, during our winterizing of the boat we also inspect the trailer from tongue to tail lights. We look at the lights, oil in the hubs (or grease), brakes and the overall condition of the trailer. Come springtime, I would just check the lights with the vehicle you will be using to do the towing. Then about all you have to do is turn the key and enjoy your boat,� Frederick says. Indeed, trailer maintenance should not be overlooked. Boat trailers have been the scourge of my fishing existence for years. I had an axle snap on I90 towing my Clackacraft coming back from Idaho’s Clark Fork several years ago, and I’ve had two tire blow-outs, including one that sent up an arcing trail of sparks behind my vehicle and motor boat in the early morning dark near the top of the Lewiston Grade. I trailer my boat a lot, and I’ve learned a
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APRIL 2014
Northwest Sportsman 83
Northwest e s a c w o Boats Sh Part 1 of 3
Mike Boulton
Boulton Powerboats Northwest SportsmanWe all have interesting stories about how we got into our lines of work. What’s the Twitterverse/140-character version of yours? Mike Boulton I started in the family business at Alumaweld with my father. Moved on to start Jetcraft and finally to create Boulton Powerboats. Forty years of innovation in the aluminum boat industry and still going strong. NS What would you say is your company’s proudest accomplishment in hull engineering? MB Every custom built boat that leaves our shop. NS How many people do you employ? Have you been able to add staff since the recession? MB A crew of dedicated craftsman with over 160 years of combined experience. Yes, slowly. NSWhat are some of your new products or new features for 2014? MBFish Hawk: Our high-quality, value-priced fishing/family boating-style boat. Boss Explorer: Walk-through cabin for bigger waters. NS How is boat-manufacturing technology changing and where do you see it headed in the future? MB Efficiencies added with the use of computers in marketing, i.e. the World Wide Web. In the manufacturing process we choose to stay “old school,” as they say. We build one boat at a time, one customer at a time, with tried-and-true methods of boat-building craftsmen. The future holds a leveling in the industry that will leave the smaller, higher-quality man-
ufacturers standing and the lesser-quality, higher-volume boat manufactures with lots of inventory. NSWhat sets your craft apart from the competition? MBWe are one of the very few manufacturers in the Pacific Northwest that can engineer blueprints, and loft their boat designs into templates. The advantage to the customer is that the owner of the business is a hands-on part of the en-
tire process, from the sales consultation to the production training and quality control. Independent bottom-stringer hull construction, which provides the added benefits such as less vibration through the floor structure and better accessibility, allows for more owner options, and is also easier to repair – if ever needed! The longer transition in our bow designs allows the boat to run with less wetted bottom surface, which provides superior top speed, fuel economy, and turning and handling in choppy conditions. The engineered hull creates consistency in construction, meaning every hull will be the same, and allows every boat to be custom built to customer specifications. Boulton Powerboats hull designs incorporate smooth flowing lines in the appearance of their boats. NS What Northwest fishery are you most excited about this year? MB All of the Northwest fisheries should do well this year. NSWho is your company’s typical boat buyer? MB Previous owners of lesser quality boats. Mostly experienced boat owners who are ready to build a high-quality, handcrafted custom boat. Baby boomers who are building their dream boat of a lifetime. NS What’s the most notable catch out of one of your company’s boats? MB One of the sheriff rescue boats we built saved an injured bald eagle from drowning. NS Where can prospective buyers see your boats or learn more about them? MB Boultonpowerboats.com; Maxxum Marine (Eugene, Ore.); Y Marine (Coos Bay, Ore.); and at the factory (6241 Crater Lake Hwy, Central Point, OR 97502).
84 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
Spring has sprung and there’s no better time of year to think about buying a new boat, especially this year with what looks to be the mother of all fall Chinook runs headed back to the Columbia River. That’s on top of the great trout, kokanee and walleye fishing to be had on inland waters and halibut, tuna, coho and bottomfishing out on the ocean. Over this and coming issue’s we’re interviewing Northwest boat manufacturers on their companies, what sets their craft apart from the competition, new products and their proudest innovations, notable catches out of their boats, and more!
Vence Malernee
Wooldridge Boats Northwest Sportsman We all have interesting stories about how we got into our lines of work. What’s the Twitterverse/140-character version of yours? Vence Malernee Grandpa Glen Wooldridge built his first boat in 1915 and made a first-ever float from Grants Pass to Gold Beach on the Rogue River. That trip launched a decadesold guiding and boat building career. Now, this four-generation company prepares to celebrate its 100th anniversary.
NSHow is boat-manufacturing technology changing, and where do you see it headed in the future? VMThe Wooldridge focus for the future continues to be personal service and direct communication with the customer, to zero-in on specific wants and needs in boat design, power and options. NS What sets your craft apart from the competition? VM We are set apart from the 23-foot Super competition by our 100-year Sport Inboard history of successful boat building and generations of satisfied customers in the private and commercial sector. We constantly evolve our boats to 20-foot Alaskan XL accommodate customer wants and needs.
Bob, Glen and Grant Wooldridge (left to right). NS What would you say is your company’s proudest accomplishment in hull engineering? VM The Wooldridge outboard-jet tunnel, large two-piece walk-through windshield, and intense internal structure to increase strength and reduce weight. Glen engineered the tunnel for the ultimate in shallow-water performance: To protect the jet foot, enhance water flow to the jet and act as a skeg to dramatically enhance handling and reduce cavitation. The two-piece, walk-through windshield offers better visibility sitting and standing, and provides a large opening for easy access for coolers, equipment and large and small folks. The intense internal hull structure increases strength without heavier plate. That means less weight, less fuel consumption and increased performance. NS How many people do you employ? Have you been able to add staff since the recession? VMWe were blessed with good boat sales through the recession, and we continue to thrive with a full line of jet and prop boats from 17 to 29 feet.
NSWhat Northwest fishery are you most excited about this year? VM There’s lots for anglers to be excited about, but spring Chinook are the headliner. The huge anticipated return of these tasty broad-shouldered powerhouse salmon is incredible. Catch one, eat one, and you’re hooked.
NS What’s the most notable catch out of one of your company’s boats? VM We consider our most notable catch the lifelong friendships that have developed and customers and their families who come back as boating needs change. New friends and new relationships are ongoing and we cherish these.
24-foot SS Pilothouse
NSWhat are your main goals as a boat manufacturer for this coming year? VM Our focus on “new” for 2014 is to continue our emphasis on performance and customer-friendly features: easier access, better visibility, enhanced room and storage and more custom options to suit specific boater needs.
Wooldridge Boats are used worldwide, and most likely hunters and fishermen have caught or bagged it in a Wooldridge.
NSWho is your company’s typical boat buyer? VM Our typical boat buyer wants a nontypical product with something special or extra to enhance their success. That’s true of fishermen, hunters, and agencies that enforce, manage and rescue. Many times these are repeat customers or Brand X customers who are looking for a better way.
NSWhere can prospective buyers see your boats or learn more about them? VM Get to know Wooldridge boats on our website, wooldridgeboats.com, our factory at 1303 S. 96th in South Seattle (206722-8998) and on social media. The latter may be the most exciting because it offers immediate access to fun, facts, photos and on-the-water demonstrations. We have extensive and ever-growing participation on FacebookWooldridge Boats (official), Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. We’re present on all of them, constantly updating with stories and action video. APRIL 2014
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Northwest e s a c w o Boats Sh Part 1 of 3
Larry Averett
Umpqua Marine & Boats Northwest Sportsman We all have interesting stories about how we got into our lines of work. What’s the Twitterverse/140-character version of yours? Larry Averett History of our UM&B: The Angler Series is a boat first brought about by Roseburg, Ore., fishing guide Larry Averett’s desire to have an affordable fishing boat with versatility. Larry, who has over 28 years of guiding experience and is an Umpqua Fishing Derby four-time winner, used his love of fishing to develop a durable boat that can be used virtually anywhere, in any body of water. NSWhat would you say is your company’s proudest accomplishment in hull engineering? LA The open design with rigid gunnels and hardened
6061 chines creates a very durable and secure boat for rivers, bays and lakes. NS How many people do you employ? Have you been able to add staff since the recession? LA Four persons; we’re new.
ufacturing, pulse-mig welding helps with minimizing distortion of the aluminum during the welding process. Adding new and innovative options and accessories for aluminum welded boats. NS What sets your craft apart from the competition? LA The Angler Series Boat is built for fishermen by fishermen!
NS What are some of your new products or new features for 2014? LA Wrap-around diamond-plate reinforcing joining the sides and transom of the boats.
NS What Northwest fishery are you most excited about this year? LA Fall Chinook on the Southern Oregon Coast.
NS How is boat-manufacturing technology changing and where do you see it headed in the future? LA In aluminum boat man-
NS Who is your company’s typical boat buyer? LA Serious fishermen who want a fishing boat, not just a boat with unneeded accessories. NSWhat’s the most notable catch out of one of your company’s boats? LA Limits of big fall Chinook salmon. Thirty-eight pounds. We’re still a new company, but I’m sure in the near future, bigger and full limits of fish will be caught out of an Umpqua Marine boat. NS Where can prospective buyers see your boats or learn more about them? LA On our website, umpquamarineboats.com, or our manufacturing site near the North Umpqua River. Boat Specials 17’6”Angler / Boat, 90hp jet and aluminum trailer, $25,000 20’ Angler / Boat, 150hp jet and aluminum trailer, $33,000 Other motors available: Evinrude, Yamaha, Suzuki and Honda.
86 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
Phillip A. Cam
River Hawk Boats/ Ameriflex Northwest Sportsman: We all have interesting stories about how we got into our lines of work. What’s yours? Phillip Cam: I always loved boating and boats. In 2008, that passion led to the creation of Ameriflex Engineering LLC, which later bought the assets of River Hawk Boats, Inc. My brother Brian and I really like the extensive engineering that went into the building process to build an incredibly strong boating platform, not to mention that it’s a very attractive watercraft. With features and benefits that are very unique to other heavy-gauge, all-welded aluminum boats, Brian and I knew that River Hawk Boats had the ability to own a large market share of the Northwest boating business. We are happy to report that River Hawk Boats is the fastest-growing heavy-gauge manufacturer in the Northwest. NS What would you say is your company’s proudest accomplishment in hull engineering? PC By far, the full-length reverse chine that every River Hawk boat is built with. It is simply the best performing hull you can buy today!
Offshore
NSHow many people do you employ? Have you been able to add staff since the recession? PC We are a little less than 50 employees. And yes, we have grown. NSWhat are some of your new products or new features for 2014? PC The River Hawk 22 Cuddy Pro was introduced this year, and is a resounding hit with fishermen. Perfect for weekend adventures and boating enthusiasts, it has class-leading interior room, a very spacious feel
Pro-Cuddy
for a 22-foot boat. We call it “a room with a view.” NS How is boat-manufacturing technology changing, and where do you see it headed in the future? PC With River Hawk’s “stress tech” building process and River Hawk’s full-length chines, the future is now! NSWhat sets your craft apart from the competition? PC Always impeccable, fully painted hulls with singlestage and base-coat clear-coat automotive-quality PPG paint products, including the toughest, longest-lasting interior paint process. “AU 360” interior eurothane paint
will last several times longer than zolotone. Engineered to look sleeker and sexier with a hull design that runs circles around the competition, River Hawks just stand out! NS What Northwest fishery are you most excited about this year? PC Well, all of them, from trophy trout in high mountain lakes to the return of great salmon runs back to the Northwest. Crabbing has been tremendous too. But by a wide margin, it’s the Northwest Salmon Derbies of the last several years. River Hawk Boats, for the fourth year in a row, has been chosen as the giveaway boat for the 16-location tournament. NSWho is your company’s typical boat buyer? PC River Hawk’s boat model line is so vertical that we really don’t leave anyone without a boat to use. From 14 to 32 feet, River Hawk has a boat s SH Serie for you. NS Where can prospective buyers see your boats or learn more about them? PC Well, rhboats.com is a good place to start to find a dealer near you. We are very proud to say that River Hawk has some of the best dealer partners on the West Coast, Canada, and even Russia.
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Northwest Sportsman 87
FISHING few things that might be of use. Service your trailer often, or have someone do it for you. It’s the critical link between your garage and fishing water. Don’t underestimate how much abuse it takes and how much ongoing care is needed to stay legal and safe. Lights are a perpetual issue with boat trailers, and I switched both of mine to sealed LED lights and couldn’t be happier with their performance, especially after two decades of changing traditional bulbs in the dark. On one particular trip to hunt ducks in the Columbia Basin out of my Clackacraft two years ago, a friend and I were pulled over and let go three times on the 35-mile drive due to a light issue. LEDs have eliminated my problems – so far. If you keep your trailer lit, greased, and rolling on good tires, you’re doing a lot to decrease future headaches. The same can be said for staying legal on the water. “When you are getting ready for
spring boating, it’s a good idea to run through your safety check list (PFDs, fire extinguisher, throwable device, horn, flares, etc.),” says Frederick. “Be sure you have what you need to stay safe and legal.” I’ve had my boat boarded and inspected many times in the past, as well as recently. Last year at the mouth of the Lewis River during fall king season, Cowlitz County deputies performed a check, including of my Washington State Boater’s ID card. This was a first for me and was a great justification for having spent a couple hours online to earn it. Again, staying legal comes back to the theme of preventing, only here it’s tickets, hassles, and potentially unsafe situations. On that topic of safety, Frederick offers a final piece of advice for avoiding sinking your boat for the most pathetic of reasons: “Last but not least, check to make sure your drain plug is installed before launching.” NS
The Northwest’s busy trout lakes aren’t the only place where 8-foot twin-hulls, canoes, sleds, and offshore boats will fish together in a pond. This picture of Drano Lake doesn’t depict especially crowded conditions at the mid-Columbia backwater’s infamous Toilet Bowl, but it illustrates the need to be on one’s game. A reliably serviced boat and targeted customizations can reduce conflict and maximize fishing efficiency. (SPEROS DOULOS, USFWS)
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FISHING
WHILE DREAMING ‘NEW,’ THOUGHTS ON CUSTOMIZING THE BOAT YOU HAVE Most folks know or have seen people who own $1,500 cars decked out with $5,000 worth of custom-car crap and stereo equipment, and I have a confession: I’m that guy on the water, sans music. My drift boat is clean and pretty, but my 22-year-old, 15-foot Smokercraft Alaskan has been rode hard and put away soaked. Nonetheless, she’s decked out with a newer Mercury 25-horse motor, high-quality Humminbird GPS electronics, the industry-standard Minn Kota Terrova bow-mount trolling motor with auto-pilot and GPS, a transom-mount trolling motor for boat control, two top-of-the-line Scotty 1106 Electric Downriggers, and seven of the new Scotty 241L Locking Mounts for rod holders and accessories. Unlike the guy with the crappy Fast & Furious car with ground effects and customized doors like a DeLorean, I can make a very real case for how each one of these affordable add-ons has helped to maximize the utility of my boat, particularly the bow-mount Terrova. I liken fishing without that motor – even in windless conditions – to driving a two-wheel-drive truck on a snowy road. When I got the new Terrova last winter, it was like upgrading to a four-wheel drive with studs. The addition of a remote-control bowmount allows me to fish with my hands mostly free from steering, while pulling myself through the water instead of pushing. I had to get help from a friend cutting and welding a diamond-plate bow cap in order to mount the motor on my boat, but the result is the single most influential piece of boating technology I’ve ever owned. Similarly, although to a lesser extent, when I upgraded my electronics over a year ago and began relying on maps and GPS on my Humminbird, my ability to find and stay on fish of multiple species increased. I’ve always used a fish finder as indispensible equipment for seeing depth and bottom contours, but stepping up into a nicer model added much more utility and allowed me to see the bottom and fish exponentially more reliably. 92 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
This isn’t my pimped out jalopy of a boat, but it does belong to a friend who got a screaming deal on the old boat/mini-sled, powered by a newer 90 hp four-stroke Mercury. His first move was to scrape the “aster” off the side of the boat to take off the pressure of running a boat emblazoned with “Fish Master.” His next moves were to outfit it with a kicker, a bow-mount Minn Kota Terrova, a transom-mount Minn Kota, good electronics with GPS, Scotty downriggers, Scotty and Folbe accessories galore, and a cooler that now doubles as a seat after the addition of some track and a chair. He paid cash for a boat he could afford since he knew what he’d need to buy to fish effectively – and how much it would cost. This is the opposite approach from the guy with the new sled he can barely finance who can’t afford a kicker or electronics. (TEDDY SCHMITT) For years I used mini-downriggers on my small boats to fish for everything from crappie to Chinook, but last summer I stepped up to full-size electric Scotty’s. In order to accommodate big ’riggers with extendable booms from the middle bench seat, I used Scotty’s 12-inch pedestal mounts to get them above the level of the gunnel. One of three deepcycle batteries easily powers both the ’riggers and the Humminbird, and the other two stay in the bow unless I bring the transom mount to increase boat control to present lures over structure. Since we never fish more than four rods out of the boat at a time, usually one or two, there are always available mounts for accessories. In these, we put our Scotty cup holders and new bait tray, which is ideal for anyone doing bait in a small boat. It keeps the mess handy but out of the way and confined to the gunnel instead of in your lap. Before I got a boat with an anchor guide on the bow, I used Scotty’s anchor release, and my wife and I just bought two of their Trap-ease crab-trap rollers. The rollers make pulling up traps from a small boat much safer, and keeps the trap out away from the gunnel for easier deployment and retrieval. We figured they’re cheap and worth a try, and I have yet to buy a Scotty product that didn’t work. Nobody touches Scotty for downrigger reliability and servicing, but there are many excellent companies out there specializing in accessories of all kinds. Seat-
tle-based Folbe makes great products, and I use them all the time on friends’ and acquaintances’ boats, including plenty of guide boats. There are scores of Northwest boat-accessory companies out there to explore and support. For example, I’ve mounted Oregon-based Holdzit lubricated plier and knife sheaths in my boat for a few years, and I just added one of their scent-bottle holders yesterday to both my drift boat and my Alaskan. That’s the beauty of accessorizing any boat to improve function: Small purchases and customizations can greatly improve fishability to suit one’s tastes. I can’t stress enough how much I don’t hold my boat up as any kind of example to strive for. It is merely an example of how one angler made some small changes to be much happier with the boat he has for the time being. Better examples are afloat on waters around the Northwest, and one of the advantages of outdoor writing is getting to fish in a variety of boats that have been set up in creative ways that exceed my ingenuity. April is a fine time to make a few tweaks to your own fishing setup to get the most out of what you’ve got, and there are plenty of ideas in the pages of this month’s issue to get you started. How can you customize your fishing boat this spring to get the most out of your time on the water? –JH
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Northwest Sportsman 93
FISHING
Top Spots For Portland Springers
The author’s son, Ayden, with an Oregon City springer. (ANDY SCHNEIDER)
Where and how to fish the Willamette as 58,700 head up. By Andy Schneider
PORTLAND—Don’t let an “average” return of spring Chinook back to the Willamette lead you to believe that this season’s fishing will just be par. If you pay attention to water clarity, tides and run timing, you can have a great season on the river no matter the forecast. For the record, this year’s prediction is 58,700 of the spring salmon, a typical-sized run over the past 10 years, and one that will provide many fish for Portland and area anglers through June. Not only is the Willamette close to home for many, it also provides lots of water for dif-
ferent techniques. While river conditions can be temperamental at times, when it’s in shape, there may not be a better place in the entire Northwest to catch a springer.
SINCE THE RIVER drains the entire Willamette Valley, it has a tendency to rise quickly, turn a nice color of chocolate and stay that way for extended periods. Though it may only have a couple inches of visibility, Chinook will still enter and make their way upriver, so as soon as visibility improves, it’s time to hit the water. To monitor water conditions most anglers log onto the U.S. Geological Survey’s website and check the daily
turbidity of the river. A turbidity level of 30 on the FNU (Formazin Nephelometric Units) scale and above make for just an inch or two of visibility. Ideal conditions are when the turbidity of the river falls below 5 FNU, though fish are caught up to 10 FNU. By watching the trend you can easily estimate what day the river is going to drop into shape. With turbidity measured at the Morrison Bridge in downtown Portland, the river may fish a day sooner upriver in Oregon City and may remain murky another two days down in the Multnomah Channel. Also be aware of currents. With little gradient from the falls downstream, if the Columbia is running APRIL 2014
Northwest Sportsman 95
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high, it will back the Willamette up, eliminating most of the current. While this won’t have any major effect for fishing on the lower river, Oregon City anglers rely on current to back-troll bait and plugs or to plunk off the bank. Tide exchanges also seem to disappear in the lower Willamette when the Columbia backs the river up, and, by default, eliminate any “tide change bites” that usually occur.
OREGON CITY Diver and bait is one of the most popular techniques deployed in the Oregon City stretch of the Willamette. Sand shrimp, eggs or prawns are the most popular baits to deploy when back-trolling here. Start with a jumbo Jet Diver clipped to a weight slider on your mainline, tie a six-bead bead-chain swivel in between your mainline and leader. For leader, run 6 feet of 25-pound monofilament or fluorocarbon to a 3/0 hook. Run a Spin-N-Glo or winged Cheater above your hook to add some buoyancy. As water temperatures approach 50 degrees, usually late in April, springers here really start responding to eggs. But if they get fickle, add a sand shrimp, piece of sardine or chunk of prawn. Use just enough lead so you can move your bait 6 to 8 inches downriver with every bounce. Plugs work exceptionally well early in the season in OC; 4.5 Mag Lips and K14 or K15 Kwikfish are the most popular. While the Yakima Bait product doesn’t need a diver and can be flat-lined behind the boat, make sure to use a jumbo-sized diver to get your Luhr-Jensen plug to the bottom. Plunking from the bank here can be extremely productive. Meldrum Bar Park, Clackamette Park and the West Linn bank above I-205 are all productive. Spin-N-Glos and prawns are most popular; baits enhanced with a hoochie skirt tend to be slightly more productive when river turbidity is high.
WILLAMETTE PARK Launch here and you’ll have the “heart” of the lower Willamette at your rod tip. Venture upriver to troll the Sellwood Bridge or head downriver and make a pass at Ross Island or Portland Harbor. Cut-plug herring is the most popular bait this month, then transitions to a mix of prawns and herring. Around Sellwood, be aware that construction of the new bridge may effect where you troll, so have a backup plan. There is a small underwater “seamount” on the east side of the Willamette just upstream of the bridge. Slowly trolling upstream over it while keeping your lead dropper in constant contact with the bottom is most popular. As you slide off the mount, turn towards the west shore and continue downriver past the bridge before repeating. Trolling along Ross Island can be very productive, and so can the inside slough of the island itself, especially in higher water. Many anglers troll downriver along Ross to the bridge, then turn and troll upriver on the back side of the island. At Portland Harbor, make sure to pay attention to your fish finder to figure out where springers are suspending. They tend to run at the 24-foot depth, even in deeper water. Twentyeight feet on a line-counting reel (or 14 pulls) with 5 ounces of lead will put you close to that level, and is a good starting point if you’re not marking any fish on your sonar.
HEAD OF THE CHANNEL The top end of the Multnomah Channel produces all season long, but can be especially productive in April as lots of fresh fish make a push upstream. As springers come out of the channel and into the Willamette River they can be effectively ambushed, especially at first light. Tide changes are the second best bet. Keep your baits in contact with the bottom when trolling in less than 30 feet of water. In deeper water, suspend them 18 to 35 feet down. NS
APRIL 2014
Northwest Sportsman 97
FISHING
How To Kill It At Drano Forecast calls for double last year’s run back to Columbia Gorge trib. By Andy Schneider
HOOD RIVER, Ore.—The calender says spring has come to the Pacific
Northwest, but there is a place just outside of the Portland area that is not quite out of winter’s cold grasp: Drano Lake. Nestled – or more appropriately, frozen – in the middle of the Columbia Gorge, the Little White Salmon River enters into this 200-acre, manmade lagoon that serves as a staging place for spring Chinook before they enter the federal salmon hatchery just upstream. The first fish start to show up in Drano in early April, but the action usually doesn’t take off till late in the month, and then continues through May. Wa t c h ing Bonneville D a m
Rivers Northwest Guide Service owner Bob Barthlow shows off a Drano Lake spring Chinook. (RIVERSNW.COM)
fish counts (fpc.org) is the easiest way to determine when to don extra layers and head to Drano. “My first trip last year was April 7th,” says local guide Bob Barthlow (509-952-9694, riversnw.com), “and we had two bites and got two fish. I fished the next day and did the exact same: two bites and two fish. There were only a couple hundred fish over the dam at that time, and as the dam counts climbed, fishing continued to improve. I tell everyone to wait until there is at least a thousand fish over Bonneville, then give it two days before hitting Drano. But I’ve moved closer to this fishery and have been catching fish when there are only 50 fish going over the dam a day. As long as there are fish moving over the dam, Drano might just be worth your time. That said, I’m going to start my guided trips on April 15th, though I may sneak out earlier to scout it out.” And this season there’s good
The sun rises over wave-shaped Chemawa Hill, on Drano Lake’s east end. The early hours can be productive for trolling the main lake with plugs, but when that slows, anglers often head for the infamous Toilet Bowl. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)
APRIL 2014
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FISHING reason to keep an eye on the lake, thanks to a prediction of 13,100 kings. “It’s a decent forecast, that’s for sure; double from last year. While I didn’t do bad last year, there just wasn’t a lot of fish moving into the lake after the first run,” says Barthlow.
TECHNIQUES In 2002, a new boat ramp and docks were built at Drano Lake, replacing the old gravel parking lot and primitive ramp. With the new facilities, new anglers started showing up, and soon new techniques replaced the old ones, and success per angler has never been higher. Yes, trolling Magnum Wiggle Warts still produces Where once Mag Warts ruled, Mag Lips are the plug du jour. Drano anglers are also partial to other diving lures, as well as herring and prawn spinners. The last are especially effective at the mouth of the lake. (ANDY WALGAMOTT) fish today, but it definitely takes a backseat to the three current favorites. “constantly changing sardine wraps drag, which will kill some of the on my Mag Lips makes a huge diflure’s action. WHEN YAKIMA BAIT released a newly ference in catching fish.” Keep your wraps fresh: Forty-five designed FlatFish called the M2SP, Whether you wrap yours or not, minutes seems to be the rule for it wasn’t immediately accepted into run the plug 75 feet behind the boat most anglers who fish bait-wrapped the drawers of anglers’ tackle boxes. and get ready to catch a fish. plugs, but when the bite starts to But it slowly started getting attenIf you don’t want to experiment pick up in the first hour of light, tion with results in Columbia tribuwith any of the following techhaving the freshest bait will make a taries and coastal rivers. Anglers’ niques at Drano, simply trolling a difference. Either get to Drano extra first-hand experience was boosted Mag Lip should produce results. The early or tie up a bunch of plugs the when Buzz Ramsey joined the comreason for its success here may be night before, storing them in a bait pany and started a campaign for it. due to the lake’s relatively shallow cooler so they can be deployed as And if there is ever a fishery that depth and because the plug dives needed. has embraced the Mag Lip, it’s right to the depth springers tend to Watch your speed: Between 1.4 Drano. suspend at: approximately 17 to 18 and 1.6 mph is perfect for plugs. The plug now comes in three diffeet down. Drano averages around “Sea socks not only help slow ferent sizes: 3.5, 4.5 and 5.0. 25 feet, depending on the level of your troll when trolling with the “The 3.5s did well for me last the Bonneville Pool, so snagging the wind, they also help with boat conyear, I caught just as many fish on bottom is usually never a problem. trol in challenging conditions,” tips the 3.5s as on the 4.5s,” says There are more ways to make the Barthlow, who’s been in a gail or Barthlow. “The new 5.0 has the plug more productive, especially two here. same action as the 3.5s and should when angling pressure is high: Fluorocarbon: This line works at dive just as deep, if not deeper, as Don’t be a long-liner: Putting out times at Drano, especially since visthe 4.5s. It will be nice to have a difmore than 75 feet of line will lead ibility on the lake can get up to 8 ferent plug size to try to keep the to a bow in your line and the plug feet. If you use braid, tie 15 feet of fish on the bite longer.” will actually start to run shallower. 20-pound fluorocarbon line to an He adds that he’s found that It also starts to create “parasitic” Albright knot. 100 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
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FISHING Though fluoro can make a difference at times, Barthlow finds that more often than not, it’s not needed. “I run a 5-foot leader of 25pound Big Game for my leader. Most of the time those fish aren’t leader shy,” he says.
Come prepared with fluorocarbon, and make the switch if you are having trouble hooking fish. Other options: While it seems the 4.5 Mag Lip has stolen the show at Drano, the 3.5 is equally as effective, and Mag Warts, K11X and K13X Kwikfish and 31⁄8-inch Lindy
The bite can sometimes be twice as nice for those anglers who get back on top of a school of biters in the main lake or leave their spinner setups down for just a bit longer after one bites in the circle. (RIVERSNW.COM)
River Rockers all produce fish here, so bring all your favorites. Go siwash: “Since having to go barbless in Drano, I’ve switched all my plugs to siwash hooks. I like a 2/0 on the 3.5s and a 4/0 on the 4.5s, utilizing Mustad’s open-eye siwash,” says Barthlow. “You would think that those hooks would be too big for those plugs, but the plugs still work just as effectively, and having a larger hook helps dramatically in landing fish when using barbless.”
TROLLING HERRING IS ”extremely productive, especially at daylight,” says Barthlow. A plug-cut green- or red-label herring seems to be favored by the fish. Six feet of 20-pound leader with two fix-tied 4/0 barbless hooks and a 4- to 10-ounce weight is all that’s needed most days. Sometimes a flasher is necessary, but other times it can be a hinderance and fish
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FISHING may shy away from the combo. “Everyone wants to use a flasher with herring,” says Barthlow. “And that’s OK, because they work most of the time. But when you’re not seeing any action, pull them off. Oftentimes, I’ll pull my flashers off and not even make a half a lap and hook into a fish. It pays to fish things different from time to time.” Similar but not: Trolling herring here differs from how it’s done in the Columbia below Bonneville. Without current in the lake, you can troll west or east just as effectively. But since spring Chinook seem to suspend, you need to fish where the fish are schooled. Pay attention to your depth finder and match the depth to where you see fish. When in doubt, keep your bait at 18 feet. Just don’t drag bottom – the lake is still utilized as a mill pond and there is a lot of sunken timber that will snag your gear.
104 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
Don’t go too far! Once you hook a fish on herring, the wind can move you a considerable distance before you land it. As best you can, get right back to where you hooked up and start trolling again – and don’t be surprised to hook up again in the same spot. Sometimes springers stack up in certain places in the lake. Brine it: Sometimes brining your herring the night before will entice a bite over a fresh, unfrozen one. Use a cup of rock salt for a quart of water, and add Pautzke Fire Brine, Brine ’N Bright or Nate’s. “Since it’s tough to get quality herring in the Gorge, I end up brining almost all of mine,” says Barthlow.
PRAWN SPINNERS ARE a must-have if you plan on fishing Drano’s mouth. The area has a couple unflattering nicknames, the most tame being
“The Circle” and “The Toilet Bowl.” Come May, drivers on Highway 14 looking over the concrete guardrail will have the distinct pleasure of seeing 25 to 30 boats trolling bow to stern in a counterclockwise rotation. Ninety-eight percent of those anglers will be dragging prawn spinners, with the other 2 percent using herring or plugs on droppers. “I usually head into the Circle around 10:30 most days,” says Barthlow, “usually only because I have to when the bite dies in the main lake. If I can keep catching fish in the main lake, I’ll stay out there as long as I can.” His prawn spinner setup for Drano starts with a No. 4 or 5 Bob Toman spinner blade on a plastic clevis, seven 3mm beads and two 3/0 hooks on 4 feet of 25-pound leader. Use 4 to 6 ounces of weight to keep your prawns below the boat and suspended, with 15 to 25 feet of
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FISHING line out on a linecounter reel. You can fish your prawns rigged with a small piece of spinner wire to keep them straight, or you can run them with their natural curl. Don’t forget your flashers: Some days you absolutely need a flasher to catch a fish entering Drano; other days the Chinook are not so picky. Popular spinner-blade colors include green dot, red and white, brass with rainbow tip, and plain rainbow pattern. Double down: Once you hook a springer in the Toilet Bowl, don’t be too quick reeling in your other rods. Many times a double can happen within seconds of the first hook-up. Match the hatch: While there is nothing “hatching” at Drano this time of year, pay attention to what is working for anglers catching fish around you. Consider what depth they’re suspending their baits, what color spinner they’re using, whether they’re using a flasher, etc. Fishing the Toilet
Bowl puts you in close proximity to other anglers and it’s easy enough to see what they’re using to enjoy a little success yourself. Go with the flow: “Bring your patience when fishing Drano,” advises Barthlow. “Certain areas can get crowded, but remember, you are there to have fun, so just go with the flow.”
WIND AND SCENERY Located just a few miles west of the “Wind Surfing Capital of the World” – Hood River – Drano can sometimes be breezy. But that is not bad news: wind is definitely better than a calm day. As the old saying goes, the west wind is best, and is the most common, but a east wind is still better than no wind at all. For some strange reason, the calmer the day, the slower the fishing. To fish in the wind, you must have drift/sea socks. Deploy them from midship forward. This will help slow you down when trolling with the
wind, keep steerage when trolling into the wind, and help keep your speed down in crowded conditions, like the Toilet Bowl where boat control matters most. Even if this is something of a meat fishery, Drano is also in the middle of the scenic Columbia River Gorge. There may be few more picturesque places to fish for spring Chinook in the Lower 48. With Cook Hill on the western shore and Chemawa Hill on the eastern end, there are lots of opportunities for photos. Look for what’s left of the 9-mile-long Broughton Log Flume on Chemawa and imagine the work that went into building it on the side of those hills. Your friends and family will surely be impressed and appreciative as you show them the beauty and bounty that Drano Lake has to offer. They’ll appreciate it even more when a slab of spring Chinook hits their dinner plate. NS
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Northwest Sportsman 107
‘Schlappabou’ Style Article and images by Chris Gregersen
T
he Schlappen Jig – and similarly, the palmered marabou jig – are classic killers that should be in every jig box. These jigs have been around forever, and are great for both salmon and steelhead – especially where you have a shot at both (well, hello, springer!).
Simple to tie, these jigs give a rounded profile and possibly the most action underwater of any jig, and shine in nearly any river condition. Schlappen feathers are a wide and soft type of hackle, and though similar to marabou, their slightly stiffer fibers resist matting, therefore keeping a more robust profile underwater. Marabou on the other hand is more delicate, but in the right applications have more action. While often used separately, I like to go for the “Schlappabou” style, incorporating both types of feathers. Any color can be used, though I prefer more subdued ones like purple and black for low, clear water.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
Schlappen feathers, marabou, flashabou, leadhead jig head of choice.
1 A FLASHY FOUNDATION
Tie in a small bundle of flashabou fibers for the base, then wrap in a schlappen feather tip first for your base.
JIG OF THE MONTH
3 FANCY COLLAR
2 SCHLAPPEN THE BOD
Wrap the feather forward slowly, making sure not to catch any fibers underneath your wraps. Once you get towards the base of the feather, tie it down and trim the end off, then add another. Two schlappen feathers wrapped in a row will make a good body – just be sure to leave enough room for a marabou collar.
Tie in a marabou feather by the tip, and with the same method, wrap it up to the jighead. The marabou will give good action while the schlappen will make a better body. Tie, cement, and you’re done.
4 VARIATIONS
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Get crazy with your color combinations – peach marabou over flashabou. APRIL 2014
Northwest Sportsman 109
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Slay More Springers With 5S Approach
When it comes to the low-angle attack, our sensei Mark Veary advises sorting, streamlining, shining, standardizing and sustaining for better fishing performance. (MARK VEARY)
W
hen not chasing fish from my kayak or writing about chasing fish from my kayak I THE KAYAK GUYS can be found manBy Mark Veary aging an engineering group for an electronics manufacturer. As different as those two pursuits would appear, they actually have something in common. They both rely on correctly responding to variables that impact the utilization of available time in order to maximize productivity. So, not surprisingly, some of the tools used to optimize the performance of a factory can also be employed to increase your odds of putting some spring chrome in your kayak. Two such tools are the “5S’s” and “Best Practices.” ADAPTED FROM JAPANESE workplace organization philosophy, 5S translates handily to sort, streamline, shine, stan-
dardize and sustain. Sort (seiri): Identify all the gear you’ll need to have on hand for the area that you’ll be fishing, and get rid of anything that isn’t necessary. This activity happens long before you hit the water and is aided by the use of a checklist. Implemented properly, seiri ensures that once on the water, you have everything you’ll need to catch fish, and that you won’t be hindered by a bunch of useless junk. Straighten or Streamline (seiton): Arrange your kayak for success. This task consists of identifying a logical home for each piece of tooling and tackle. Logical is the key here. Some examples are: Pretied rigs should be stored in a way that allows you to find, identify and deploy them easily; Your net should be easy to draw while fighting a fish; Pliers need to be accessible, even with a 20-pound springer in your lap; And your game clip should already be
tied off with a length of rope to ensure the hard-won Chinook in your net actually comes home with you. Shine (seiso): This is the ongoing application of seiton. Keep your deck clean and put away tools or gear as soon as you’re done with them, so that you know exactly where to find them the next time they’re needed. This will keep changeover time to a minimum, thereby increasing the amount of time that you’re actually fishing. Seiso also ensures that leaders won’t get tangled, gear won’t be accidentally knocked overboard and unused hooks don’t snag you or other equipment. Standardize (seiketsu): Offline preparation and interchangeability are the keys here. Take a modular approach to your set-ups. Whenever possible, pretie leaders and flashers to known lengths, terminated with either bead-chains or heavy-duty snap swivels. Have a variety of dropper weights and lengths pretied and sorted for easy changeover. The object is to minimize downtime associated APRIL 2014
Northwest Sportsman 111
COLUMNS with changing any element in your terminal gear. Sustain (shitsuke): This is a commitment to discipline. It doesn’t take long for discipline to become simple habit, and trust me, nothing will solidify your commitment to the previous four standards more than repeatedly tagging out. BEST PRACTICES ARE guidelines used to identify the most efficient and effective way of completing a task using repeatable and proven procedures. To use best practices to their full potential, one must regularly review and analyze the performance (fishing success) of current procedures, and consider the inclusion of new methodologies and data from peers, forums and periodicals. In springer fishing, best practices help you identify when, where and how to fish. Often, we simply make a mental note of how to respond to given situations, but it’s extremely useful to keep physical records on conditions, water clarity, depths, tech-
112 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
niques used, success rate and observations of other people’s success. Following are some of the best practices I’ve come to rely on: Turbidity: When the USGS reports suspended particle levels greater than 15FNU, fishing is a no go. I’ve had much more success below 12FNU. The higher the turbidity, the more flash and scent you’ll need. When the water is running clear, ditch the flasher. Wind: Ten mph or greater in the area I’m fishing will make for a miserable day. Not necessarily unsuccessful, but definitely miserable. Water temp: Below 50 degrees, stick to herring. Over 55, spinners are better. High flows: Target shallow water, from 15 to 20 feet deep. Low flows: Fish the bottom in water 20 to 30 feet deep or fish at 12 to 20 pulls (depending on feedback from my fishfinder) for fish suspended in even deeper water. Tides: The hour before and the hour
after a tide change are your best bet for finding a biter. This is when the application of the 5S methodology provides the greatest return. Additionally, the incoming tide is good for trolling. The outgoing tide is usually better for anchoring and deploying quickfish or spinners. Herring: Plugcut your herring at home and keep them cold until you use them. If you plan to fish faster moving water or you’re not confident in your ability to achieve a good spin, use a Surespin cutplug helmet. While there are many more conditions in my best-practices decision tree, these seven guidelines have had the greatest impact on my success and make a good foundation on which to develop your own best practices. WHEN PUTTING THESE strategies to use, remember to fly a safety flag in hightraffic areas, employ clothing appropriate to the water temperature, and always wear a properly fitted PFD. NS
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COLUMNS
Last Gasps And First Casts A s April rolls in, the winter blackmouth By Doug Huddle season enters its final 30-day stanza while at the end of the month comes the trout opener – more on that later. Bellingham-based saltwater anglers experience the first of the exclusionary rules to help meet spring Chinook escapement goals, with imposition of the greater Bellingham Bay shutdown which takes effect April 1. They must now endure the 9-nautical-mile pounding across the southwesterly exposure when it’s bumpy without the option or consolation of heaving too and wetting a line somewhere short of the boundary lines such as along the Chuckanut shore or out around Eliza Island. But Blaine and Anacortes (Marine Area 7) Chinook fishers still have the luxury of dropping their downrigger balls just outside breakwater lights. So do anglers out of Everett, Kayak Point, La Conner, Oak Harbor and Cornet Bay trolling or mooching the aforementioned Area 7 nearshore waters as well as Port Susan (Marine Area 8-2) or Skagit Bay-Saratoga Passage (Marine Area 8-1).
NORTH SOUND
THE CLOSEST FISHERIES for Bellinghambased saltwater anglers are at the three main entries to the closed-waters zone. Those “door steps” are West Guemes Channel (south (Yellow Bluff)), Bellingham/Rosario Channels (middle (Carter Point)) and West Hale Passage (north (Point Migley)). Being on the wrong side the closure lines, the “inside” troll circuits at these landmarks are off-limits, but outside waters in each locale can be fished under a variety of current and wind conditions with the outgoing tides tending to be more productive. Of this trio, waters of two at either end of Lummi Island, Point Migley (Hale Pass at the north end) and Carter Point (at Lummi’s south or Rosario Strait end) have reputations for yielding kings most often. At Point Migley, the 5-fathom shelf can be trolled south toward Village Point. The further south you go on the troll, the more the bottom drops out
closer in to shore to a depth of 60 feet. When you get to Village Point do a tight ski-boat turn and steer back into the beach, veering slightly into each cove along the irregular shore to pass through tidal sheers. On the north-end turn, zero in on the small 11fathom pocket lying almost due north of Migley and swing around the outside of the red/green shoal marker buoy at the west end of Hale Pass. This pocket often holds fish on the flood. Though herring are inbound to Cherry Point along this Lummi shoreline, they tend to get swept out quickly, so rather than mooching, troll flashers and spoons or hoochies behind downriggers. At Carter Point, the April troll is on the point’s southwest side on a line heading up into Skunk Bay. Lummi’s exposed rocky bluffs here are an obvious clue to the abrupt off in depth, so you can get in quite close to shores, again with downrigger trolls trailing flasher/Coyote spoon combos at 90 to 120 feet. On the southeast turn at Carter, do watch as it is possible to slip into closed waters across the Carter-Vendovi Island leg of the deadline. Salmon will loiter along this outside shore on floods leaving when ebb currents flush Nooksack River water past the point. Once out of Bellingham Bay proper but before crossing the occasionally rolling stretches of Rosario Strait, there are other lucrative salmon waters in the Lummi/ Sinclair/Cypress Islands chain. These waters are often quiet, flat and therefore fishable when southeasterly or northwesterly gales make other areas untenable. Available here are outlying Lummi Rocks off the midwestside shore of Lummi, Viti Rocks, Buoy 16, Boulder Reef, Buckeye Shoal and Sinclair Island’s south shore, which is an excellent but undervisited area for blackmouth that will accommodate trollers on all but low slacks. Around Cypress there is fabled Eagle Bluff, a producer on both the flood and ebb, Tide Point, Strawberry Island (outside) and on the Bellingham Channel side,
There are blackmouth opportunities near and far from B’ham this month. Carol Holman shows off a nice hatchery Chinook caught a couple Aprils ago in the San Juans. (COURTESY KEVIN KLEIN)
Cypress Head, Eagle Harbor and Village Bay on Guemes Island. Out of Anacortes’ Cap Sante and Anacortes marinas a short cruise west in Guemes Channel blackmouth fishers can, without crossing the aforementioned broad and occasionally lumpy Rosario Channel, wet lines west of Shannon Point between Green Point and Fidalgo Head crowding the 4-fathom line in West Beach Cove. From here troll legs can be made around the corner into Burrow Pass toward Skyline Marina. Two other watery locales associated with Burrows Bay, Biz Point-Sares Head and Williamson Rocks-Dennis Shoal, are worth prospecting now. The Biz-Sares bluff-hugging troll was renown in the old days for its yields of huge Skagit-bound kings for old-fashioned plug pullers. The one cautionary here is not to motor north beyond Biz Point since Burrows Bay shoals abruptly from the 20-fathom line to 5 fathoms. The seamount sites of Williamson and Dennis should be fished on the sweep of flood tides on their northwest sides in the current shadows where baitfish schools take refuge. APRIL 2014
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COLUMNS Coming into north end of Marine Area 81 east of Deception Pass there is a troll circuit from Yokeko Point northeast into Dewey Beach and the classic loop around the shoal in Kiket Bay between the north side of Hope Island and the south side of Skagit Island. To the south, in the broader, open waters of Saratoga Passage between Whidbey and Camano Islands, for April anglers after feeder or mature kings, the search first focuses on locating bait. Find those schools of candlefish or herring, either inferred by the presence of feeding seabirds or with a good fish-finder, plumb the depths below and around the clouds of king food with a cripple-imitating herring strip or cutplug herring. To help narrow the search some, fish the so-called Saratoga “hump,” that reach of the Passage from Onamac Point south to Elger Bay (Camano side) and from Snatelum Point to East Point (Whidbey side), where the water mass of the passage splits on outgoing tides or clashes during floods (water coming in from both Deception Pass and Port Gardner Bay). This tends to be the focal point for bait-
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fish schools on the big water. Be advised that winds can whip these long-fetched waters up quickly and there are few leeward shelters along the shorelines in which to find cover. AS FOR TROUT, the opener will see eight Whatcom and Skagit County provide plenty of rainbows. Here’s a round-up to help you decide: Lake Padden: With the best access of any of the Whatcom waters and transit bus service, this well-stocked 152-acre lake along Samish Way seldom disappoints openingday visitors. And unlike other waters, because of its surrounding city park, shore fishing space abounds, plus there are two floating docks and a revetment for disabled fishers on the northwest side as well. No one, including bankies, is likely to leave Padden with an empty creel. During the first day free-for-all almost anything works, from bait floated off the bottom with marshmallows to trolling with any of a wide array of lures.
The catch is primarily hatchery rainbow trout and maybe a kokanee or the occasional cutthroat trout. The launch is suitable for cartoppers and carry-ins. Gas motors are not allowed Silver Lake: With an ample supply of trout and two public access points, including a fine Whatcom County park, this 173-acre lake is one of this county’s premier trout waters. The park’s opening-day celebration is a one-stop fishing experience with an early-morning trout derby, a pancake breakfast and row boats for rent, plus fishing supplies for sale for the unprepared. Sunlight takes a while peeking over Black Mountain Saturday morning to warm anglers, but fishing can be good very early. Silver is the biggest of the county’s hatchery-stocked lakes, but trollers should come prepared to plunk for a while in the morning, until the fleet thins out. The catch is mainly hatchery rainbows, cutthroat trout, bass, sunfish and maybe an occasional eastern brook trout There’s a state ramp at the north end,
which accommodates small, trailered boats, and Silver Lake County Park at the sound end has a ramp too. Motors are allowed. The lake is north of Maple Falls. Toad Lake: Long a stalwart opening-day producer, this 29-acre water usually treats well both its still- and troll-fishing faithful. Nestled in an out-of-the-way notch northeast of Bellingham, Toad gets less attention as an angling hotspot, which is just the way its angling fans like it. Its cozy confines easily accommodate 50 to 80 trolling boats, and dry-foot anglers will find another scarce commodity at Toad: public dock fishing space. Be aware that there is no public access on the southwest shore down Pebble Beach Road in Emerald Lake Estates. Trespassers there could be cited. The catch consists of rainbows with the occasional carryover and a few kokanee. WDFW’s graveled ramp at Toad’s west end is suitable for car-toppers and small, trailered craft. Gas motors aren’t allowed. Cain Lake: Another Whatcom “locals” lake, though historically a slow starter, 72-acre Cain has perked up in recent years on its
5 AM Hot Breakfast
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REBUILDING B’HAM SPRINGER STOCKS Creation of the Bellingham Bay safe haven incorporating Padilla and Samish Bays is, say fishery managers, necessary to protect the Nooksack’s two early-returning or socalled “spring” Chinook stocks, arguably the most vulnerable of all of Puget Sound’s federally protected king runs. Both the North and South Forks’ stocks, now supported by significant hatchery restoration programs that contribute the bulk of their returns, for 2014 are forecast to have the fewest wild or natural-origin returnees. According to salmon-run forecasts announced March 3, state and tribal biologists estimate that just 187 of the 2,226 returning North Fork Nooksack adult Chinook will be offspring of parents that spawned in the wild. The remaining 2,038 are likely to come from a combination of on- and off-station releases of juvenile springers produced at the state’s Kendall Creek Hatchery. The Nooksack’s early native Chinook bred in the South Fork potentially are facing an even slimmer return of just 48 wild or river-spawned adults and 46 adults that are the progeny of the fledgling South Fork Chinook captive-brood production program that is ramping up in an “all-in,” eleventh-hour effort to save the stock. In both supplementation programs annual broodstock (spawned) adult fish are vetted by mark examination and genetic analysis to ensure they are direct descendents of the each fork’s ancestral native stock. The goal of these programs is to keep stocks going until wild production increases. –DH opener. Besides the hatchery rainbows, a few naturally spawned kokanee have adapted to the lake and could end up on the end of troller lines. Perch and largemouth bass will start biting later this spring. Take the Alger Lake exit (240) off I-5 and head east. The gravel launch for small boats is in the lake’s southwest corner. Lake Erie: From its nutrient-laden, but shallow confines Fidalgo Island’s 111-acre Erie, in its history, has served up some beauAPRIL 2014
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COLUMNS tiful rainbow trout, remarkably a few to 9 pounds. These trout were once grown in the lake from fingerling size, but that less-expensive stocking strategy has been compromised by wintering cormorants as well as competition from an illegally introduced perch population. Get here early and, with the crowds, plan to still-fish for a while before there’s room to troll. Lake Erie Resort operates at the lake’s southeast shore, providing fishing tackle, ice and fee access to launch, but alas they don’t have boats anymore. In your catch will be rainbows and perch. The ramp off Rosario Road has limited maneuvering room, and parking is very tight, with much spill-over onto the adjacent county road. Heart Lake: Boat-for-boat and angler-forangler, 61-acre Heart can get just as crowded but will be no less rewarding on opening day than its neighbor Erie to the south. There’s excellent shore fishing at the ramp and along the road side of the lake in the City of Anacortes forestlands, and bank-borne
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fishers do almost as well as those in stationary boats since the crowds can all but rule out trolling. The main catch will be rainbows but don’t be surprised if a few tiny bluegill nibble at your bait; their illegal introduction prompted the ending of young rainbow fry plants. The launch off Heart Lake Road south of Anacortes will accommodate up small, trailered craft. Lake McMurray: Size-wise the biggest of the hatchery-rainbow-stocked lakes in Skagit County, 160-acre McMurray attracts a large, pretty cosmopolitan crowd of anglers from several counties on the opener. Trolling’s doable here in the lake’s deeper middle section or anglers can anchor at either end and still-fish to their heart’s content. The catch will be largely rainbows, with a few native cutthroat and perhaps a landlocked salmon or two. On the warmwater ledger, perch, black crappie and largemouth will awaken later in the spring. There are several expansive but private group access areas along the lake shore if you
are willing to join a fraternal or community club. The state ramp is at the south end, off Lake McMurray Lane, and can get crowded Lake Sixteen: One of Skagit County’s smaller “locals” lakes, 41-acre Sixteen always yields good crops of imported rainbows at season’s start. But discerning anglers will notice a few wild cutthroat turning up in their creels, usually the result of trolling in close to the weedy shoreline. Unfortunately, parking is limited, but under no circumstances should you park on the county road. The lake is east of Conway and north of Highway 534. IN MAY’S ISSUE, opening-day follow-up, May turkey options and lower Skagit May cutthroat trout. NS Editor’s note: Doug Huddle lives in Bellingham, is retired from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and has written about hunting and fishing in the Northwest for more than 30 years.
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FISHING
Easy Is The Word At Westport
Surfperch and greenling, like these held by the author, as well as lingcod and rock bass are available of our coastal jetties. (BARBARA OTTO)
Light-hearted saltwater fishing is what the Westport south jetty fishery is all about. By Terry Otto
WESTPORT—The access is easy, and the fishing is good. That’s what draws anglers to Westport’s south jetty, one of Washington’s best. This is low-energy fishing. It’s a great place to just walk out on the rocks and toss out a line, or to put your boat out and drift along with the tidal currents. Waiting in the rocks is a variety of hungry bottomfish just looking for a passing shrimp fly. The result can be fixin’s for a fish fry.
This is also the perfect time of year to do it. Winter weather has kept fishermen off the jetty for months, letting the numbers of fish build up. And lingcod just opened up in midMarch, and big ones may still be in the shallows spawning right now. Of course, lings are not the only fish to come to hand off the jetty’s rocks. “People come here to try to catch sea bass as well as the lingcod and greenling cod,” says Paul Foster at Englund Marine (360-268-9311) in Westport. “There is plenty of greenling too.” The jetty extends about a mile west from the tip of Point Chehalis at the mouth of Grays Harbor, in West-
haven State Park, and its sunken end extends beyond the point into deeper water. The rocks near the beach end are smaller and easier to get around on, but as you walk out further they get larger. The walk to the tip can be tough going near the end, but it can be worth it. Some of the best fishing is off that point. Still, Foster says there are fish all along the jetty. “You don’t have to go all the way to the end to the sunken part of the jetty to find fish,” he says.
BUT THE END of the jetty is what draws anglers when conditions allow. Fishermen with boats often target this area, jigging up the lings from the APRIL 2014
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FISHING rocks below. Rock bass will suspend above the rocks in schools, but the lings will be right down in the rocks themselves. Casting leadhead jig with soft plastic baits will catch both the rock bass and lingcod. According to Foster, boat anglers also drift along the sand line where the jetty rocks meet the sand bottom of the bar. They jig bait, swimbaits, and large jigs. As with jetty lings anywhere, anglers need to be quick when they get bit. The fish will grab the bait and duck right back into the rocks if you do not react quickly enough. Stout gear will help you muscle them out of the crannies and up to the boat. Back on the boulders, you’ll find excellent bank fishing, although there is rock hopping involved if you are going all the way to the end. In spite of the easy access, Foster says it’s rarely crowded. Fishing off any jetty can be dangerous, and this one is no different. It’s a good idea to check the weather, tides, and swell report before going fishing, and Foster says anglers can walk up on the dunes and see what the conditions are like on the rocks before setting out. April usually brings better weather, but ocean storms can still roll in with winterlike conditions, including high winds and dangerous waves, so always check the forecast, keep an eye on the ocean, and fish with a partner when you can. Anglers looking for greenling will find them hanging out near the smaller rocks near the beach end of the jetty. These bait-loving fish feed on small crustaceans and will gladly take shrimp or sand shrimp. The scrappy fighters are less likely to duck back into the rocks, so you can use lighter gear if you target them. Farther out are the black rock bass, which prefer baitfish over crustaceans, and an occasional cabezon. Lingcod can be found along the length of the jetty, but are concentrated nearer the point. 124 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
Learn this rig and technique, and you will catch more surfperch and kelp greenling from coastal jetties. (TERRY OTTO)
THE JETTY BUM RIG FOR PERCH, G-LING The little boy on the rocks was outfishing his parents big time. Although he couldn’t have been older than 8 or 9, he was catching three fish to their one. What was his trick? While the adults were throwing pyramid sinkers and double-hook bait lines off the jetty, he was using a small banana sinker, a single shrimp-baited hook, and light line. I watched him pull in a half dozen surfperch and a greenling in a half hour. After a slow spell he moved down the rocks closer to me, and I congratulated him on his fish. “Thanks,” he said. “I’m gonna catch some more right now!” He tossed his offering out and waited. That’s when I noticed that his parents were shouting at him. It was time to go home but he watched his line intently while trying to ignore their calls. Not until he had caught one last surf perch did he look up and signal that he was coming. The little guy had the right idea – no, not ignore your folks around the ocean – and his gear was a partial fit, but his short, 3-foot rod worked against him. Still, he had done better than the other fishermen who were all fishing with heavier gear. Pyramid sinkers and heavy rods can be a good setup on the jetties, especially when the target is lingcod. However, the most common fish caught off Washington and Oregon jetties are surfperch and kelp greenling, and if you want to catch these in good numbers, you will do better to size down. After quite a bit of experimenting I have come up with a very simple light-gear approach and bait rig that is
deadly on these two staple fishes of the jetties. And, in honor of those anglers who haunt the rocks, I dubbed it the Jetty Bum Rig. It’s simple and the technique is easy to pick up. It requires a long rod, fairly light line, a bit of pencil lead, some bait, and a jetty. With a little preparation, and some pretied leaders, this setup has the advantage of being quick to replace when you lose gear on the rocks – and you will. But once you’ve mastered it, you will find yourself snagging up much less often.
TIE A THREE-WAY swivel to your mainline with a 30- to 36-inch lead line off the bottom eye with just enough pencil lead to cast and control the line. Tie an egg-loop knot on a size 6 or 4 hook, with an 8- to 10-inch leader that ends in a loop. Slip the hook through the last eye in the swivel, then through the loop and pull it tight. If you pretie the leaders, when you break off, you can be fishing again in less than two minutes – important when you have a limited tide to fish. I like a medium spinning reel spooled with 10- or 12-pound test on a 10-foot steelhead rod. A longer rod gives you better clearance over the rocks, and more leverage to keep hooked fish out of them. If you were to cut one open, you would find their stomachs loaded with tiny crustaceans such as small crabs and shrimp, so it follows that the best baits are shellfish. Sand shrimp, raw bait prawns, and clam necks all work great. Even shell-on raw frozen shrimp from the grocery store will work, and it is sometimes less expensive. Also, your quarry have small mouths, so if
Largest Run of Salmon Since 1938! The Big Horn Sportsman Show Spokane, WA • March 20-23
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FISHING Fish can be caught on both sides of the jetty, but the north side generally has smaller waves and swells in spring, making it easier to fish. The best fishing takes place at the slack tides, and during a rising tide with a small exchange. With the bigger tides come brutal currents, and the fish hole up in the rocks to wait it out.
SLIP BOBBERS AND bait are what most bankees used to fish off the rocks with – just not the sort of bait you’d hang under a steelhead float. “They like to fish bait on a shrimp fly,” says Foster. “There are a lot of ‘pogies’ here” – small fish that steal bait. “If they do strip the bait off, you still have the shrimp fly to attract fish.” Fishermen use a wide variety of bait, including shrimp, sand shrimp, and clam necks while those looking for the larger lings often fish with herring, either whole or chunked. “The swells will put some action on the jigs,” says Foster, so just toss it out and let the tide carry your offering along the rocks. Start at 8 or 10
feet and continue to lower your bait until you get bit, and then fish at that depth. If you start to hang up, lift the bait another foot under the float. Another species to try for is surf perch, but few are caught along the jetty proper, says Foster. “You can get them off the beach near the finger jetties,” he says. These five jetties, just like those in Yaquina Bay, are located inside the mouth of Grays Harbor, along the beach just north of the charter fleet marina. When the tide is rising they attract a lot of redtail surf perch. Perch can be caught off the beach at Half Moon Bay too. The beach south of the jetty also produces redtails. Daily limits are 12 perch and 10 rockfish a day with no minimum size. Anglers can keep two cabezon, any size, and two lings over 22 inches. NS Editor’s note: Previously our resident rockhopper has written stories on Oregon’s Columbia River south jetty, the Barview jetty and Yaquina Bay’s finger jetties.
QUICK-FRIED SURFPERCH/GREENLING Although I must confess to a preference for greenlings, surfperch are also light fleshed and both are very tasty. However, they will turn to mush if cooked slowly. So I have developed a method that cooks the fish quickly, and the results are delicious. Ingredients 10 or 12 boneless fillets of surfperch or greenling 1½ cups flour 3 ⁄4 teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon white pepper ½ teaspoon garlic powder Pinch ground red pepper (to taste) 2 teaspoon corn starch Two eggs 1 ⁄3 cup beer Vegetable oil for frying
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Directions Whisk together corn starch and beer, add eggs and whisk again. Combine flour, salt, garlic powder, white and red pepper and mix well. Dredge fillets in flour, dip in egg mixture, and dredge in flour again, setting aside on wax paper. Heat ½ inch of vegetable oil in a fry pan and heat until the first whips of smoke start to rise from the oil. Add fillets carefully one at a time. If oil is hot enough, the first pieces dropped in should be starting to brown by the time the last fillet goes in. Fry for another minute or two, or until the fillets brown nicely on the first side. Flip fillets and fry for another two or three minutes, once again until the fillets brown nicely. Remove and drain on a cookie-cooling rack over paper towels. Serve hot with lemon wedges and tartar sauce, or if you prefer, cocktail or sweet chili sauce. –TO
you want to hook them regularly, you must use small baits and hooks. I cut my bait into ½- to 1-inch pieces, slightly larger if I’m catching sizable greenlings. As for line, that is to some extent a matter of preference. I enjoy the better fight light test affords, but beware you may hook a ling with this rig. The sensitivity of a good steelhead rod will help detect bites, but don’t set the hook until you feel a bite that holds on. These fish often take a swipe at the bait without engulfing it. Wait until you feel them bite and hold, and then set the hook with some emphasis. Their mouths are tough for crushing shellfish, so drive the hook home.
PERCH AND GREENLING are often found very shallow, especially when the swell is small. The key depth is often just 10 to 15 feet. Cast the bait slightly upcurrent and let it settle to the bottom, but keep the line tight at all times. You should be able to feel the lead drifting over the rocks with the current, occasionally coming to rest against a rock. If you don’t get bit within three or four minutes, lift the rod slightly and reel up a few feet to free the lead and let it drift some more. Work your way slowly up the rocks, keeping the line tight as you go. This allows you to cover more water and catch more. Perch and greenling tend to be along the shore end of a jetty and along bank-side riprap in bays. They concentrate near dips in the jetty where the rocks have partially collapsed, or where tide pools form behind the riprap where swells flush more food out. Also, try fishing near bends in the jetty or finger jetties. These tend to create soft currents and back eddies where the fish can escape strong tidal currents and feed. The best fishing is the rising tide and during either slack. Smaller tides also mean less current, and a better bite. Check the surf report before heading out: a high swell will make fishing more dangerous and the fish less enthusiastic. Again, keep an eye on the ocean and fish with a friend. The next time you feel an urge to do a little jetty fishing, leave your heavy rig at home and try this light, quick-change method. Your day on the rocks might be spent with less retying, and with more fish in the cooler on the way home. –TO
Experience Westport Fishing Surfing Fun at the Beach
Drano Lake Springers! Encouraging springer numbers are on the rise this spring and boaters from all over the Pacific Northwest are eagerly awaiting the first push of these ever-coveted spring-run kings! Forecasts call for 227,000 fish back to the Columbia. That’s an 85% upgrade from last year’s run! When it comes to quality Pacific Northwest table fare, these salmon have no equal. Drano Lake, a tributary of the Columbia River, is a great place to intercept some of these prized fish and mid-April is go time! Ryan McCaughan of Riverside Guide Service is a veteran guide who consistently puts limits of springers in the box. He suggests coming prepared as these 10- to 15-pound kings can really put the strain on your tackle. Ryan has landed fish up to 30 pounds!
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Kyle Pease of Riverside Guide Service with a nice brace of springers. Ryan says you need a rod with some backbone that can handle 40- to 50-pound braid. Place a slider with snap up the mainline with a 12- to 20-inch dropper ball of 2- to 6-ounce. Then slide a bead on the mainline before tying on a bead chain. Leaders should be 5 to 6 feet of fluorocarbon and feature tandem 1/0 octopus-style hooks. Ryan notes spring kings are extremely scent sensitive and places high importance on fresh plug-cut herring in the red-label size. Drop the lead to the bottom and give it a few cranks as this will put you right near the bottom where they live. Presentation should be a slow troll with just enough speed to give the herring a tight spin and you’re fishing like a pro! Look for consistent catch rates when 1,000 fish start passing over the dam each day. Daily limits usually consist of two hatchery springers, but always check current WDFW regulations for changes. Ryan McCaughan of Riverside Guide Service can be reached at (206) 533-4105 or go online to www.seattlefishingtrips.com. Ryan will be fishing out of his black 17’ Wooldridge Alaskan XL this season. Say hi if you see him out there!
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FISHING
'Long' On Sand, Ops, Fun
Even here at the southernmost extension of Long Beach on the opposite end of the peninsula from the best digging and biggest average clams, diggers find easy limits of good-sized razors. When the dig is over and the tide begins to come in, the redtail surfperch come in close to clean up the beach. The best bait for perch? The inedible tips of the razor clam siphons. They catch perch and stay on the hook like a champ. (JANELLE HUX)
Ladies Love Long Beach
10 Digs In April, Plus Surfperch
By Erika Holmes
By Jeff Holmes
J
T
eff and I enjoy discovering new places in the Northwest outdoors, but even after many trips to the Long Beach Peninsula, I’m always excited to return to its sandy beaches and fun, relaxing communities. We seem to discover more about the area on every trip, which has translated into progressively better vacations. Year-round, the peninsula offers a variety of activities appealing to couples and families with wide interests, but everyone should try razor clamming. We typically dig our limits easily on our choice of almost 28 miles of beach devoid of overcrowding or anxiety, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. After bagging limits of razors on morning digs, Jeff pursues surfperch as I practice yoga poses and watch
his April, when the lowest tides switch from evening to mornings, the Long Beach Peninsula will be dotted with happy diggers turning out for the super-popular morning clam digs, which are currently scheduled for April 1-3 and 14-20. More could be added if state shellfish managers decide there are sufficient numbers of healthy clams, but 10 days provides plenty of opportunity for gathering these big, bountiful bivalves. If digging reliable limits of razors on beautiful, dog-friendly, drivable beaches sounds good, add to it the prospect of Dungeness and nearby chromer salmon and steelhead throughout the entire digging season, including April with the influx of spring Chinook into the nearby Lower Columbia (Cathlamet is APRIL 2014
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the waves. Our two overzealous English setters love pounding wide-open stretches of beach, and I earn points with them by jogging while beachcombing, birdwatching, and scanning the horizon for bobbing seals and crab boats. For stocking up on essentials, the Dennis Company (denniscompany.com) in Long Beach is a quick, one-stop shop. During our last trip over New Year’s, Jeff interviewed the sporting-goods manager about river fishing, while I found a great sweater on sale that came in handy for the posh New Year’s buffet we enjoyed a little too much at the Shelburne Inn (theshelburneinn.com). The Dennis Company’s selection of travel cosmetics always comes in handy when I inevitably forget something I need. And for diggers and anglers, the store carries all the goods needed to fulfill vacation plans. Choosing a restaurant in Long Beach is only tough because so many offer delectable fare that doesn’t cost a fortune and is served by welcoming staff in comfortable, not overpretentious settings. We sometimes avoid going out to eat when back at home just so we can save up our disposable dining income for the amazing restaurants in Ilwaco, Seaside, Long Beach, Klipsan Beach and Ocean Park. And if you’re a gal looking to dress up a little after mucking around on the beach all day, you’ll get your chance. From fast food to laid-back gourmet restaurants with emphasis on local ingredients, Long Beach’s dining options are second to none. A dedicated following treks from around the Northwest and beyond to eat at
I weighed this 17.5-pound blinding-chrome coho on my Rapala digital scale for Sean Hansen of Camas, Wash. He had just arrived back to sportsmanfriendly Our Place at the Beach Motel (ourplacelongbeach.weebly.com) with family from a local river on Dec. 31, just as Erika and I returned soaking and sandy from digging. I met Hansen, shook hands, took several pictures, and then realized I was wearing camo long underwear once I got into the room and Erika pointed it out. Luckily the dress code is pretty relaxed on Long Beach, especially during digs. Some of Washington’s best salmon and steelheading exists near Long Beach and coincides with the entire digging season. (JEFF HOLMES)
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Crabbing near Long Beach is best from a boat, but hook-and-line methods pay dividends, especially from late summer through the end of the year. This grandfather/grandson team put these four crabs in the bucket within minutes of their and my arrival to the North Jetty to chuck crab snares. I lost five traps, 40 ounces of lead, and all of my broken razor clams for bait, and then decided on one more cast. The result was a shattered plunking rod and schrapnel in our faces. Grandpa took one look at my gear and shook his head. A fast-cranking reel and a stout rod are needed, not one’s mediumweight plunking rod, which works OK on the beach. (JEFF HOLMES)
just a short drive), and the reawakening of the redtail surfperch fishery. Add to that tons of affordable seaside lodging and camping and some of the Northwest’s best-reviewed restaurants, featuring the freshest Ilwaco and Willapa Bay seafood, and the Long Beach Razor Clam Festival (April 19 and 20). Ask your family or your girlfriend or your buddies or anyone cool you can get to go, and go experience the most fun beach the Northwest has to offer. My wife and I love all of Washington’s razor clam beaches and have now visited them all, but our favorite is Long Beach, and our favorite time of year is now. We’ve made it a priority destination over the last few years, and every time we’ve returned, we’ve gotten better at digging, seeing the sights, and finding new sporting opportunities literally every month of the year.
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FISHING places like Lost Roo (lostroo.com), Long Beach Thai (360-642-2557), Pelicano (pelicanorestaurant.com), Nancy and Jimella’s Market Café (jimellaandnancy.com), and our favorite restaurants on the planet, The Shelburne Inn and The Depot (depotrestaurantdining.com). Similarly, the right accommodations surely await you: from dog- and family-friendly beach condos and motels with full kitchens to more romantic, plush rooms with private Jacuzzi tubs. Many offer fully equipped clam- and fish-cleaning stations, cozy shelter to watch storms from, and easy access to the Discovery Trail. On our recent holiday vacation, the dogs, Jeff and I had the Discovery Trail to ourselves. Following an amazing dinner in Seaside and some couch therapy in our room at Our Place at the Beach, we walked behind the popular and clean “old beach motel” (ourplacelongbeach.weebly.com) to a dirt path that quickly connected to the paved 8.3-mile trail spanning from Long Beach to Ilwaco. After covering a few miles, we enjoyed some adult-beverage-fueled, offtrail, off-leash beach time before stumbling back to our room, sandy and ready for its warmth and fresh
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When digs cease for spring and the beaches go into their summer hiatus, the Port of Ilwaco turns on and stays hot through Buoy 10 and into fall river season. Many excellent salmon and winter steelhead rivers exist within an hour of Long Beach, and I know anglers who caught limits of chorme coho all the way into January and continued to land them well into February. Some of those same anglers and others had multiple double-digits steelhead days on a few of those different rivers within an hour of Long Beach this winter; that’s in a mediocre steelhead year. I visited those rivers for the first time in December to gather info, and then came back later in January and caught fish. I plan to hit it hard next winter and to write a feature in these pages exploring fall fishing based out of Long Beach, which is lucrative.
ONE OF FOUR of the Evergreen State’s carefully managed razor clam beaches, Long Beach is the furthest from most major population centers in Washington. While further from the 206 and 509, Long Beach offers the closest digging to Vancouver and Portland and does draw a dedicated following from both sides of the Lower Columbia. Oregonians visit Long Beach
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water. Kids won’t go bored at Long Beach either. We see many clamming very successfully – enough to make us jealous at times! Other activities include go-carts, a skate park, miles of beaches to explore, bicycling, museums, hiking, whale watching, kite flying, surfing, kayaking, and shopping. Jeff and I look forward to checking out the movie theater next time we’re in town. Long Beach also hosts community festivals and events that are fun for everyone throughout the year – something worth considering when planning a trip. The Long Beach Peninsula Visitor’s Bureau (funbeach.com) features comprehensive information to help you maximize your time on the Northwest’s most fun beach.
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for its larger, far more plentiful clams, close proximity, drivable beaches, dining options, and more. Washingtonians from around the state opt to come to Long Beach too, even though it’s a little further flung for most than Twin Harbors (Westport/Grayland), Copalis Beach (Ocean Shores), and Mocrocks (Moclips). Along with a huge diggable area and some of the coast’s largest razors, Long Beach’s sand is especially easy to dig into, and access is shockingly easy for people of all vehicle types and most mobility levels. Eye-popping numbers of razors exist in places here, especially on high mounds of beach closest to the surf. From near Beards Hollow on the southernmost portion of Long Beach to the peninsula’s northern tip, there are clams. You’ll notice far more people digging north of Ocean Park, where the clams are largest and densest, but Erika and I have dug limits in front of Long Beach and Ocean Park with a lot less competition. Of course, competition is a relative term here since there is no race, no territorialism present on the beaches. The incredible bounty of clams keeps everyone focused and smiling – usually. Rough seas and heavy precipitation can make seeing clam “shows” more difficult on rare occasions, but most digs result in happy limits for almost everyone. Online razor clam resources (“Shellfish” under the Fishing tab at wdfw.wa.gov) offer a comprehensive overview of all aspects of clam finding, digging, cleaning, and cooking. The recipes are mostly excellent, and “Rich’s Broiled Razor Clams” is a winner. NS APRIL 2014
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COLUMNS
Basin’s Big Three Primed to Kick Out Walleye P
redicting any upcoming game or fish season is a bit chancy, and walleye are among the toughest to forecast. Come armed with the best available informaBy Leroy Ledeboer tion, everything from the last three or four lake surveys and last year’s creel counts, to ongoing trends that guides and hard-core anglers have noted, and the bugeyes will either tank when you’re expecting great numbers or come on strong when you least expect it. Despite all that, I can’t help looking forward to spring here in the northern Columbia Basin, when after they’re spawned out, walleye should come swarming out of the feeder streams and into their traditional feeding grounds, super hungry, ready to chase down anything that even remotely simulates prey. No doubt some of our smaller waters, such as Scooteney Reservoir and Soda Lake, will again have their good days, but it’s the big three reservoirs, Banks, Moses and Potholes, that will draw hordes of anglers and kick out tons of walleye.
BASIN BEACON
LET’S START WITH Banks, where several teams of hard-core walleye guys told me they were getting their best basin walleye action a year ago. Yeah, it’s huge water, a bit harder to decipher and navigate than the other two, but the pay-off can be worth the effort. “What I saw last fall, both in our (fall walleye index) nets and my own outings, was lots and lots of 12- to 13-inch walleye,” says Electric City’s Aulin Smith, a Department of Fish & Wildlife fisheries tech who spends much of his free time targeting the 42-square-mile reservoir’s walleye, perch and bass. “So I’m guessing it could be midsummer before most of those fish hit that legal 16 inches. Before that we might once again be wading through lots of undersized walleye to get a
Banks Lake should see a very strong year class of walleye approaching keeper size this season, a good reason for the Williams – Dave, Dana, Amanda and Johnathan – and other families to hit the Eastern Washington reservoir this summer. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST) few keepers. “That’s what we saw much of last year – sometimes guys coming into our creel counts saying they’d had a 20-fish day but with only one or two legals in their livewell to show for it.” The result of a very successful spawn and early survival rate a couple years back, now this vast age group is making its way through the system, putting on inches every year. But this water does have decent numbers of older age classes too, so you don’t have to wait until midsummer to have productive outings on Banks. “Starting in March, we’re out on Barker Flats, off the points and ridges farther north, using blade baits and drop shots, doing pretty well,” Smith says. “Walleye can be pretty spread out that early, so we’ll drive over some likely spots and only start fishing when we spot a few. Some guys drag spinner-worm combos, and when they get a bite, turn around and hit that water with jigs or blade baits. Usually they’re fairly deep early on, 40 to 45 feet, but if it’s a really warm
March, that can change, pushing them up into the shallows.” If your angling time is limited or Banks is just too much of a drive to hit more than once or twice a season, think June, traditionally its best walleye month, when the spawn is history and young-of-the-year baitfish haven’t yet proliferated, creating a too-ample food source. “I tell anglers to come between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day,” Smith notes, “but last year it was July before things really opened up, with lots of fish along the weed lines, up in the flats, down at the south end, among all those underwater rocks. Trolling cranks – Shad Raps, Rapalas, Flicker Shads – was fantastic.” MOSES AND POTHOLES also saw big spawning and survival rates out of the 2011 year-class. “In our 2012 FWIN survey, 1-year-olds made up 80 percent of Banks Lake walleye, 68 percent of Moses Lake’s,” notes Marc Peterson, a state fisheries biologist in Ephrata. APRIL 2014
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“Those are huge age classes that are now making their way through the system, and anglers should start seriously harvesting.” Those stats pretty much jive with my own Moses Lake angling, where right through July and into August I had some excellent catch rates, but except for a few that sucked a hook in too deep, all those cigar-shaped 12-
to 13-inchers went back in the drink. With annual growth rates in the 3-plus-inch range this should be our year for numerous 15- to 17-inchers, still not monsters, just decent filleting and excellent eating fish. Why I don’t know, but this fishery that once turned on around mid-March now is roughly two months later. Except for spotty
Last year it took a lot of sorting to come up with a stringer like this out of Moses Lake, says the author, who hopes anglers see bigger fish this spring. (LEROY LEDEBOER) fishing up on those north-end shallows, it’s now mid-May before we see much action. But when it kicks in, everywhere from the shorelines and midlake flats just north of the Connelly Park Boat launch to those rock piles off the west-side horse farm on south along numerous little flats and coves all the way to the south end can be good. Two years ago my favorite go-to rig was a light bottom walker trailed by a Smile Blade, Slow Death hook and ’crawler set-up. To get the right worm spin on that hook, you have to troll a bit faster with this rig, up to 21⁄2 mph, but it can definitely pay off. Then, last year, walleye guide Shelby Ross (509-750-7763) got me started on small cranks, primarily No. 5 and 6 Shad Raps and a variety of Flicker Shads. He runs multiple rods, two off planer boards that not only give him the necessary spacing but let him cover much more water on each sweep, and he’ll only stick to Moses Lake as long as he’s convinced it’s the best bet. “With cranks and side-planers I can cover different depths in one sweep, running a shallow diver on that inside rod and a much deeper diver on the outside, in-betweeners on the rest,” Ross says. “At times we might get the best action right up against a shoreline, in 5 or 6 feet of water. “Moses Lake is usually best early on, primarily because of its stronger current flows as they open its outlets to fill the Potholes,” he explains, “so depending on weather I’ve been starting out around the islands near Cascade Park, the shorelines north of Blue Heron Park and the two south-end islands. “As soon as a crank bite comes on, I try not to use ’crawler rigs, primarily because so much of the area I fish on Moses is so rocky that spinners keep hanging up. I can 138 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
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troll the right size cranks and stay just above the rocks. “Moses is now more consistent than it was a few years back, primarily because it now has way more walleye food, everything from crawdads to incredible perch numbers, but once the Potholes has filled and they start running water out of its outlets, I’ll switch over because then it has the better flow rates.” THE POTHOLES’ CRAB Creek Channel weedlines can be tough to troll with cranks, so Ross goes to ’crawler harnesses, though with perch numbers off the charts, he loses a ton of bait to these little worm snatchers. Perhaps because both waters now have lots and lots of available food, he and I have been seeing another interesting phenomenon: suspended walleye. “When they had fewer options, walleye pretty much stuck to the bottom,” Ross surmises, “but now I find them in the strangest places, whacking an 8-foot diving crank that’s going over 25- to 30-foot depths. And it’s not only walleye. Bass and big perch also get up into those higher water columns. “In June and July I’ve gone back to Moses or even up to Banks if I’ve heard good reports, but around August 10th, when it hits that 15-foot drawdown, I stick with the Potholes exclusively because it’s nonstop fish, everywhere from the face of the dunes, in the Crab Creek channel and around Goose Island. “Not only are walleye more accessible, but that low water has forced the smallmouth and largemouth out of the dunes and into those same waters. Last year we had some 40-bass days, with smallmouth up to 6 pounds, and by then the perch that hit cranks are worth filleting, some 12- to 14-inchers. Ross agrees that both Moses Lake and Potholes could both see a bigger class of walleye this spring, again primarily because both waters held so many in that 11- to 13inch range a year ago. “With its 16-inch minimum, Banks is a different story, but down here, if you have to measure a walleye, it’s simply not worth keeping,” he adds. “But last year, when we did find bigger fish, a fair number were in that 20- to 21-inch range. Those fish will top that one-over-22-inch mark, so have that tape handy.” NS 140 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
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HUNTING
Solid Prospects, More Land For Eastside Turkey Hunters Consider hunting later, tips Northeast guide, while land manager points to 4-0 Ranch buy for birds. By Leroy Ledeboer
COLVILLE—Washington’s spring turkey season may not have the same buzz it did a decade or more ago, but it’s still a very viable option for sportsmen hungry to break out their calls, decoys and weapons and go hunting after a prolonged winter and without having to draw a special permit, as with bear. Whether they’re real die-hards, guys who now know the thrill of calling in a wary, long-bearded gobbler, members of a new generation who want in on this act, or somewhere in between, our best destinations will again see a fair number of hunters, and nowhere is this more true than up in the state’s Northeast corner, once literally overrun with turkeys and even now our top Merriam’s producer and always accounting for the highest overall harvest. Even if April 15 is the official opener (April 5-6 is the youth hunt weekend), about six years ago, biggame outfitter Dale Denney (208852-6494) in Colville told me that May was his favorite time to hunt turkeys, after the crowds had thinned and lots of toms were aggressively tuned up for the late breeding season. “We kill birds all season, almost on every one of our hunts,” Denney says of he and his fellow guides, “but in the last few years I’ve seen more and more hunters coming out late, so for the newcomer I’d say that first week is usually the best. But even during that early part of the season you have to
Northeast Washington, where Hunter Hughes went last season with his dad Dave, will again be a best bet this spring for gobblers. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)
know how to regulate your calling. Sometimes a tom will react to lots of calls; other times it’s better to call sparingly. Listen to your quarry, then call accordingly. If it sounds real aggressive, follow suit. If it’s a bit on the shy side, be a lot more subtle. But sometimes simply patterning their movements
works best. Turkeys wise up in a hurry once the shooting starts, so we spend lots of time just sitting quietly, watching a feeding area.” After back-to-back turkey-killing winters late last decade, Denney says birds here are slowly making a comeback, and although the best concenAPRIL 2014
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trations are in southern Stevens, southern Pend Oreille and northern Ferry Counties, you can find some flocks throughout that region. “They winter around feedlots and on lowland slopes with a southern exposure,” he says, “but as soon as the snows melt, they’re on the move, following the snowline right up to the higher elevations, and this puts a lot more of them on public ground. Depending on the weather in late March and early April, they could already be up in their more traditional nesting grounds.”
FORTUNATELY, RIO GRANDE turkeys in the more arid parts of the state’s other eastern corner pocket haven’t faced either devastating winters or any other major setbacks. In fact, right now they may be at an all-time high. Couple that with lots and lots of public lands where these big birds spend much of their breeding and polt-rearing time, lands that at least
146 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
traditionally attract fewer hunters than the northeast or spots such as eastern Kittitas County, which are much closer and easier to access for our metropolitan outdoorsmen, and this may be the best bet for beginning or even seasoned hunters without access to private property, particularly anyone who has the time for an extended campout and hunt. “They’re kind of everywhere,” says Bob Dice, the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife manager of the Chief Joseph and Asotin Creek Wildlife Areas and other state lands on the eastern side of the Blues. “Unfortunately, a lot of birds are now wintering around feedlots, so we are getting more depredation complaints than we had a few years ago, but they’re also in the real wilds. Along the Tucannon on the Wooten Wildlife Area, Joseph Creek on the Chief Joseph, Grouse Flats, and Cougar Creek off the Grande Ronde, where the department has just purchased 6,000 acres and should
soon close on an additional 3,000, there’s just about endless possibilities.” And because this is much more open country than most places holding Merriam’s, hunters can pattern feeding routes or opt for a superstealthy spot-and-stalk, particularly guys who have plenty of experience slipping up those super-wary whitetails or open-country muleys. “Yeah, I’m sure some guys take their turkeys that way,” Dice says, “but the vast majority I talk to still opt for their calls and decoys. Get in on a few days of early scouting and you should be able to hone in on excellent grounds on the thousands of acres WDFW either owns outright or manages. If I were going to hunt turkeys, I’d go to either Cougar Creek or our Grouse Flats Wildlife Area. They’re both really pretty places with plenty of birds, but again, you have lots of other good options around here, places that are both attractive and hold more than enough birds.” NS
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148 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
COLUMNS
Stick To Forest Edge For Ochoco Toms
I
set up against a big ponderosa pine at 6 a.m. and heard turkeys gobbling up on the ridge in front of me. I knew there were turkeys in the area CENTRAL OREGON By Scott Staats but hadn’t expected to hear them right away. I gave a few calls and they called back, and even seemed to be getting closer. The site I chose to hunker down was situated where the ponderosas met juniper and sage, with a small stock pond nearby. I figured the turkeys would roost farther up the ridge in the larger pines and come down for a drink in the morning. I guessed right. I used a combination of calls, including the Smokin’ Gun Box Call and the Squealing Hen Call, both from Hunter’s Specialties and available at Sportsman’s Warehouse. Both of these calls had great success as I could hear two separate gobblers making their way closer. When I spotted the first one he was running at top speed, weaving his way through some small sagebrush, and for a second I thought I may have to resort to self-defense. But at 25 yards off, he stopped behind a pine; when he stepped out I pulled the trigger and was home before 7:30 with my bird. FOR MANY PEOPLE April 15 means tax day, but to hunters around the Northwest it means the opening day of turkey season. Even though the opener is still a little ways off, it’s never too early to get out your old gear, or get some new gear, and practice
Troy Rodakowski shows off an Eastern Oregon gobbler. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)
with your calls. Even if you’re not an expert caller, the first of the above devices, among many others, can make you sound like one. The box call is a handmade custom hybrid boat paddle-style call that’s constructed of walnut and completely waterproof. It can easily produce all the sounds in the turkey vocabulary including gobbler yelps. It comes with an attached elastic strap to quiet the call during transport. The diaphragm call is designed with three
reeds and has a middle cut for higher pitch. It features the most durable and consistent latex available for diaphragm calls. The call also uses water-resistant tape, so hunters can get at least a full season of use out of each one. The calls retail for $34.99. The Squealing Hen is irresistible to gobblers. It’s fairly easy to use and reproduces the sound a hen turkey makes during breeding. The sound triggers a response from gobblers and has them seeking out the source of the sound. No other call makes APRIL 2014
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this particular sound. To use the call you simply blow into the mouthpiece while depressing the lever. This puts pressure on the internal reed and produces the sound of a high-pitched breeding hen. The call is touted to work great in areas that have seen a lot of hunting pressure and have made birds wary or conditioned to conventional calls. The Squealing Hen Call retails for $15.99. An instructional DVD is included. THE LATEST RELEASES of wild turkeys into the Ochoco Mountains brings the total count to around 1,300 birds that have been transplanted into the Grizzly, Ochoco and Maury Units since 1929. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife believes that the transplanted turkeys are at a point where they are developing self-sustaining populations. The birds are repopulating but not yet growing exponentially. The state only transplants turkeys to areas where they want to augment existing populations – no new areas are being stocked, nor any areas near homes. Three subspecies of turkeys have been released in the Ochocos and surrounding area. In 1929, 12 Eastern turkeys were the first to arrive (and did not take hold). In 1975 and 1976, 13 Merriam’s were let go. In 1984 another 20 Merriam’s were set free. Thirty-two Rio Grande turkeys arrived in 1985, and since then only Rios have been released. Most of the transplants come from Douglas County, where they’ve become a nuisance to some homeowners. At first people enjoyed having turkeys around and started feeding them, then they eventually wanted the birds off their land since they dig up gardens, scratch cars and leave other unpleasantries behind. ODFW doesn’t want to create a situation like it has in Southwest Oregon, so all turkeys are released far from any private land. The Ochocos have some of the best turkey habitat in all of Central Oregon. The birds prefer an open pine forest with juniper on the fringes where they spend the winter. Turkeys rely on their excellent eyesight to locate predators, which, in the spring, includes hunters. The state is considering bringing in more Merriam’s turkeys, which are better adapted to pine forests. A CHALLENGING HUNT, these birds will 150 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
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take you up and down mountains and into canyons. They have the eyesight of a hawk, hearing of a deer and track speed of a dog. For a big bird, they can also fly pretty good too. In the Grizzly Unit, hunters should target the northern boundary of the Ochoco National Forest. Birds have been released across that boundary and are scattered. For the Ochoco Unit, the bottom half of unit from the Ochoco Ranger Station to the South Fork John Day River provides best habitat for turkeys. For the Maury Unit, it’s best if hunters stick to the southern, eastern and northern fringe of Forest Service land. Another option for turkey hunters is Green Ridge on the Deschutes National Forest, north of Black Butte. There are fewer turkeys and the habitat is not as good as that in the Ochocos, but hunters should find birds anywhere along the ridge. The Green Ridge birds seem to travel more than other birds in Central Oregon. Harvest numbers are not substantially increasing, even though turkeys are released most years. In the Ochocos, hunters take somewhere between 50 and 100 birds each year. The average success rate has been 10 to 12 percent since the mid-1990s when most of the birds were transplanted. Last year, hunters had a little better success. In 2013, 274 took 46 turkeys in the Ochoco, for a 17 percent success rate. For Grizzly, 128 hunters took 37 birds for a 28 percent success rate. And for Maury, 119 hunters took 18 birds for a success rate of 15 percent. Hunters spent about three days in the field on average in those units. Statewide, a little more than 13,000 hunters took about 3,800 birds for a 28 percent success rate. The top five hunting units last year for turkey harvest were the Melrose, White River, Rogue, Willamette and Evans Creek. In Oregon, turkey hunting has grown more than ten-fold since a statewide spring season opened in 1987. The current statewide wild turkey population estimate is between 25,000 and 30,000 birds. Oregon’s six-week spring turkey season is among the most liberal in the country. The longer season gives hunters more opportunity to hunt turkeys with fewer of the competitive pressures imposed by a shorter season, and the opportunity to take two birds. NS 152 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
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Time To Trick A Tom Prospects for Oregon gobbler gunners look good, again. By Troy Rodakowski ENTERPRISE—I’m going to go out on the limb of a roosting tree here: The 2014 Oregon spring turkey season will be fantastic. Yes, it’s a pretty stout branch. There are many reasons to believe the hunt will be good, starting with last year’s dry spring and mild winter which made for a great hatch and good poult survival. Secondly, we had a fairly mild winter with less snowpack in many portions of our state equating to less winter die-off of birds. Yes, some of the late cold, snowy weather undoubtedly took its toll on some flocks, but for the most part they are doing better than ever. Finally, lower harvest in many units last season made for higher than usual escapement. Talking with several biologists throughout the state they agree the general hunt, which kicks off April 15, should be a good one. THE TOP FIVE units in Western Oregon in 2013 were Melrose, Rogue, Willamette, Evans Creek and Applegate, not surprising seeing as how many call Douglas County the “turkey capital” of the state. All saw harvests above 120 birds, and the highest tallies came from Melrose with 439 and Rogue with 219 followed by Evans Creek and Willamette both with 174. Many of these birds congregate on private lands or borders of private timber and BLM tracts. A unit to keep an eye on for this year will be the Siuslaw, especially in the southeast portions near Drain and
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Creswell. The McKenzie, Alsea, Chetco and Keno Units have seen increasing numbers of birds on private lands near the foothills. Knocking on doors is always a hunter’s best bet here as over 90 percent of the birds will be found on private holdings. Hunting from a ground blind is one of the most popular methods in Western Oregon since birds are concentrated on smaller parcels of private land. Hanging trail cameras isn’t just for deer and elk hunting and also works great for turkeys and is a great way to find a place to construct a blind. Central Oregon continues to grow in popularity as turkeys are doing surprisingly well in this portion of the state. Decreased harvest last season, mainly due to the scattering of birds into the higher forests, is one key sign about the potential for some great hunting in 2014. Top units here include White River, Fossil, Northside, Metolius, Maury, Ochoco and Grizzly. Bird populations here have been stable with increased nesting success over the past few springs. White River was second in the state with a harvest of 429 birds last spring, but also recorded the most hunting pressure with 1,708 hunters combing the woods for a combined 6,002 days. One unit you may want to look at is Upper Deschutes southwest of Bend. Birds here have been increasing with some good flocks near the town of Tumalo on both private and public tracts. Also, keep a close eye on the John Day unit as birds here are doing quite well. Finally, more and more birds are being found in the Malheur River Unit,
which recorded a nice harvest of 46 birds last year. Preseason scouting is a necessity here to either obtain permission or find those hidden pockets of birds scattered throughout the forests. Northeast Oregon is a hotbed for wild turkey and consistently produces some of the best opportunities of in the state. Indeed, I have made several hunting trips to the LaGrande, Enterprise, Elgin and Wallowa areas all the way from my home in the southern Willamette Valley. Sled Springs, Sumpter, Wenaha, Pine Creek and Keating Units had the highest harvests in 2013 with 91 birds harvested in Sled Springs and 82 birds recorded by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s harvest reporting system in the others. Further west, the Heppner Unit has also provided hunters with some great hunting and proved it by showing a harvest of 73 birds last season. Catherine Creek, Desolation and Starkey are all viable options for hunters adventurous enough to scout the wooded pines and ridgelines found here. These three units reported a double nickel’s worth of birds this past spring. Often times, I like to drive or hike old logging roads early in the mornings while stopping to throw out some locator calls from time to time. This is a great way to cover large expanses of terrain. TO FIND YOUR gobbler this spring again
consider where the snowline is. Lack of snow pack can allow birds to disperse quicker into the high country. Late winter’s big storms could keep them pinned
HUNTING Decoy in the back pocket of his vest, the author examines Western Oregon countryside in hopes of spotting a turkey or good spot to set up. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)
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in valleys. Bottom line, where you found birds last year may not be where they are this year. Turkey are drawn to food around small creeks with fresh vegetation, newly hatched insects, snails and small amphibians which are all irresistible to them. If you walk ridges above draws with creek bottoms that have freshly sprouted with plant life you should eventually run into turkeys. In these instances using locator calls or yelps will oftentimes induce a gobbler to sound off and give away his location. Later in the season, birds will be a bit more spread out as breeding diminishes. Toms will be wandering and looking for the last few receptive hens and rebreeding the first unsuccessful nesters. On the Eastside gobblers will be heard less frequently and will frequently approach silently. The best chance to hear a gobble will be early 156 Northwest Sportsman APRIL 2014
in the mornings on the roost. Position yourself as close to that tree as possible prior to sunrise for some of the best opportunities. On the Westside, birds will be concentrated on private pastures and hill lands. Those that were on public lands to start the season will have been pushed off from the pressure. Patience will be the main ingredient for late-season success, as birds will move through meadows and openings primarily later in the mornings. They will do so once the dew has evaporated off of the high grass. Gobblers will be less receptive to calls and will many times ignore hen yelps and clucks. Ambushing turkeys along travel routes will be a great way to harvest that stubborn last-minute bird. Another trick is to save a wing or wings from an early-season kill or
from a friend. These can be used to resemble turkeys flying down or fighting, greatly arousing gobblers’ curiosity and which can pay dividends late in the season. NS
SEASON DATES Oregon’s spring season kicks off with the youth hunt on April 1213, open to kids age 17 or younger accompanied by an adult 21 years or older who may not hunt. Unfilled tags may be used during the general spring season, which runs April 15 through May 31. Hunters may obtain two general tags and one additional “bonus” tag good for specific units throughout Western Oregon. Bag limits for all hunts is one turkey with a visible beard. Please see the regs for specifics in your unit. –TR
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Wing It With This Turkey Recipe I
was supposed to be speaking at a chef conference at the Coeur d’Alene resort. That was what the boss wanted. Unfortunately, my IN THE WILD speech was schedBy Randy King uled for the opening day of turkey season, at 11 a.m. In North Idaho during the spring that is plenty of turkey hunting time. Using the power of social media I found that one of my wife’s friends grew up in Post Falls, a 15-minute drive from my hotel. With a little encouragement I got her father’s phone number and he pointed me toward a BLM access point that led to a strange mix of old growth, prickpole pine, clearcut and old logging roads – good turkey habitat.
CHEF
ON THE 14TH, one day before the opener, I took my compact rental car to my hunting grounds. Hiking in about a mile I let out a few clucks on my box call; an immediate response came from up the draw. In full strut I could see the tom in a clearcut about 400 yards away. He was alone as far as I could tell. I clucked a few more times and watched him gobble through my binoculars and then make a line right for me. I backed out slowly and hoped to find him in the morning. The next morning at 4:45 a.m. Jason Jones, my chef buddy from Bella Aquila in Eagle, Idaho, and I rolled into our spot. Surprisingly, it was getting daylight; it should never be daylight before 5 a.m. – just sayin’. We hiked to my last known sighting of the gobbler and made a few calls. Nada. We kept moving, in about 400-yard increments up and around a large pole-pine knob without a gobble. Then I remembered a little about turkey biology: they like large trees to roost and bare hills to feed. Jason and I promptly stopped climbing and took
Our waste-not-want-not, selfie-snapping chef has designs on cooking his bird’s wings, saying they make “an impressive party snack, like pterodactyl wings with BBQ sauce.” (RANDY KING) the first logging road downhill, toward the old growth and near a clearcut. As it so happens, it was also the edge of some BLM property. In the distance we could hear cars zoom by and truck motors start up, and smell smoke from wood-burning stoves. It was hunting in plain sight. As we dropped lower into the gully I let out a call. A gobble came back quickly, and from not far away. We dropped our packs, set out the decoy and found the only cover around – a kelly hump, one of those bumps put in logging roads to keep ATV riders from going too fast and to try and prevent it from turning into a creek. We set the decoys up in the road and took our places laying down on the other side of the humps. The gobbler came in solo but I could
hear other hens clucking behind him. I upped the game and started calling over the hens, calling right when they did. This turned the gobbler into a runner. I could see his red head first, peering over the buck brush, looking at his new hens. Then he started his strut on the road, the slow amble of courtship – the provocative turns, the gobbles, the puffy chest, the plume of feathers behind him. He was about 30 yards away, standing on the top of the next kelly hump down the road when I shot. It was my biggest gobbler to date – one with a 9-inch beard and 11⁄4-inch spurs. I couldn’t get a weight on him, but it was a lot. It was 9 a.m., Jason and I still had time to catch breakfast at the convention APRIL 2014
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Sticky Turkey Wings If you are like me, a turkey is a big prize, so I like to make the most of the meat when I get it. Frequently, recipes for wild birds are all about the breast. Sure, that’s the bulk of the meat, but other bits can be even more showstopping, and should be eaten – think wings, drumsticks, liver and heart. Unfortunately, the wings often get trimmed off at the shoulder and tossed. This is a shame, especially if you can collect a few. They make an impressive party snack, like pterodactyl wings with BBQ sauce. Sticky Sauce ½ cup green onions ¼ cup honey
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2 tablespoons soy sauce 2 tablespoons black bean paste 2 tablespoons siracha 1 tablespoon fresh ginger
Sticky turkey wings. (RANDY KING)
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Reserve. Wings 2 each turkey wings, cut at the elbow joint Sticky sauce 2 cups water, or more Toss the wings in the sauce and add them to a crockpot. Pour on remaining sauce. Add enough water to almost cover the wings. In my crockpot this is about 2 cups – yours might be different. Turn crock onto “low” and cover. Let cook for about six to eight hours. I did mine overnight, getting up to check on them at about 3 a.m. Depending on your crockpot your water level will need adjusted. Also, the black beans will make the reduced sauce look burned. It
is not, usually. When the wings are fall-off-the-bone tender turn off the heat, let cool for an hour and then refigerate overnight if you can. This extra time allows the flavors to more fully develop in the wings. Reheat tightly covered in the microwave and make sure to use the sauce that is left in the pan. Garnish with green onions and enjoy! For more recipes, see chefrandyking.com.
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FAST FORWARD 10 hours and I found myself driving in the pitch dark to Kooskia, southeast of Lewiston. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, heading on another turkey hunt. But I was a tired wreck when I pulled into my cousin’s house at 2 a.m. At 4 a.m. I was awoken with a cup of coffee and the prospect of another bird. Off we went, round two. Wally, my cousin-in-law, was set up to call on this hunt. He is an experienced hunter and owner of Ida-Glow Antlers in town. We set up on the edge of a timber patch glassing a herd of elk when I first heard the gobbles. It was several birds actually, all gobbling at the same time. One would start, and it sounded like the reverb on an old guitar amplifier. I watched them come in from about 200 yards. All four had gone suspiciously quiet when they came into view. Wally and I sat in the open, our backs against old pines, nothing but camo concealing us. On the birds came, until I could not resist. As slowly as I could manage I pulled my binoculars to my face. As I did they snagged
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on something. I stuck the Burris binos to my left eye and watched the turkeys amble toward us. All four in the group were jakes, beards sticking straight out of their chests, not even long enough to fall forward yet. Positive they were all shooters I slowly lowered my binocs. Tired of getting their butts kicked by older toms, yearling jakes can flock up just like hens in the spring. They leave the main group and meander around the wilderness. Multiple times I have called foursomes of jakes in at the same time, and this is what was coming to Wally’s clucks and purrs. Wally and I had set up an agreement: He would shoot the bird on the right, I would shoot the left. (He was already working on his second tag as well, harvesting a jake the afternoon before with my cousin.) Slowly the birds made it to shooting distance; they were all shooters. I watched as the first bird rounded a corner out of view, then the second, the third … Wally had not yet shot. As the fourth bird rounded the bend I let fly with my lead, dropping the bird in its tracks. With my bird down I went over to inspect. Sure enough, he was a yearling jake just trying to get lucky. He had 3 inches of beard (being generous), but who’s counting? Wally had been convinced the group was hens, until I shot and the remaining three jakes gobbled at the noise in protest. Stupidly they even hung around for a few moments not knowing what the hell just happened to their buddy. It has always struck me as strange to hunt jake turkeys with hen calls; I almost feel bad. To kill a guy right before he thinks he is going to get lucky – probably for the first time – how messed up is that? That said, I feel that shooting him is better than letting him have to explain his first poor performance, buy flowers, remember anniversaries, pick the hatchlings up from day care and trade his bachelor roost in for a bigger one. Maybe this is why we should all shoot more jakes, and why we should not feel bad about it. Tagged out in two days of the season in Idaho I moved on to my next big project: getting a gobbler down with my oldest son. Oh, and now I get to eat turkey for the rest of the year. NS
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Reading & Reloading
L
yman this year has introduced a reloading guide for fans of the AR platform, but it’s not just devoted to the 5.56mmNATO/.223 RemingBy Dave Workman ton, and it just might qualify as required reading for anyone getting into modern sport-utility rifles. Having never been keen enough on the AR platform to actually own one – they’re fun to shoot and over the years I’ve had the opportunity to test fire a few that were breathtakingly accurate – as a devoted handloader, I strongly recommend laying hands on Lyman’s AR Reloading Handbook (lymanproducts.com). The ARs that have interested me include a couple from Olympic Arms, located down on the Nisqually Flats, that were chambered for two of Winchester’s short/fat magnums, the Ruger SR762 that I recently put through its paces that was chambered for the .308 Winchester, and a Colt belonging to Washington state Sen. Pam Roach that I zeroed for her at the recent Legislative Shoot-out at a gun range south of Olympia. Roach’s rifle is a beauty, with a 20-inch stainless-steel barrel that has a recessed target crown, and is topped with a 16X scope. Chambered for the .223 Remington, I had it shooting thumbnail-sized groups on the 25-yard target that was used during the shooting event, and my guess is that at 200 to 300 yards, there would not be a coyote safe from that rifle. My son put an AR together as a project a couple of years ago, and it’s a real shooter. The AR also happens to be the most popular rifle in the country. But to get the most out of it, a lot of people have taken up reloading. I have friends who own more than one AR, in different calibers, and I’m going to recommend this new Lyman book to them be-
ON TARGET
It’s not his favorite platform, but the author has managed to press triggers on a fair number of ARs over the years, including this Ruger SR762 in .308 Winchester, and this year, Lyman has introduced a reloading guide for fans of ARs. (DAVE WORKMAN)
cause these guys brew their own ammunition. Lyman includes data for the .223, the increasingly popular 6.8 Remington, and the .300 AAC, along with data for the .450 Bushmaster and .50 Beowulf. Of all these rounds, the .300 AAC and 6.8 Remington strike me as having potential for both urban defense and game in the deer and antelope category. My guess is that with the right propellants, bullet weights, barrel length and rifling twist, a careful handloader could cook up remarkably accurate and energetic ammunition that could keep the larder stocked with fresh meat. ANOTHER RELOADING GUIDE I strongly recommend is Hodgdon’s Annual Manual (hodgdon.com). April is a good time for reloading because the days are getting longer, temperatures are mild, you have a chance to run down the range to try your loads, and it’s time to get outside again. I have a bunch of brass in the tumbler right now, plus powder, bullets and primers ready to go. By fall, I’m going to be punching tight little groups. There is some good reading in the Annual Manual, and thousands of load suggestions for hundreds of popular and not-so-popular rounds. This year’s edition includes data for the new CFE handgun cartridge powder. CFE Pistol Powder is a spherical propellant, available in one- and eight-pound containers. It is
Hodgdon’s 2014 edition of the Annual Manual is available and it really belongs on your loading bench. (DAVE WORKMAN) formulated to reduce copper fouling. Hodgdon has 103 different loads spread over 15 different calibers with data for 37 different bullet weights in the Annual Manual. The data includes loads for 9mm, .38 Super, .40 S&W and 45 ACP. I keep a copy of the Annual Manual above my loading bench. NS Editor’s note: Last month the gremlins went to work and this column erroneously printed the wrong MSRP for the Franchi Affinity, which is a terrific semi-auto shotgun. It actually starts at $849 for the basic black model and $949 for the guns wearing a camo finish. Our humble apologies for the error. APRIL 2014
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MIXED BAG Continued from 22 find tugging on lines in lakes statewide. I expect fishing to slow during the heat of summer at our shallower, warmer lakes, and to accelerate again in fall. Beginning in October, we’ll do our third-annual “Fall into Fishing” promotion to encourage anglers to take advantage of additional stocking and the already wonderful fall angling at many of our lakes. While most lakes slow for trout fishing during the hottest part of summer, we still have plenty of statewide summertime opportunities for good trout and kokanee fishing in Eastern and Western Washington’s coolest, deepest lakes. Great Washington Getaways is WDFW’s free, online (wdfw.wa.gov) vacation guide for you and your family to plan and share a summertime camping and fishing adventure. I wrote the publication for Donley and WDFW’s Fish Program, and in it we highlight some excellent summertime trout opportu-
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Opening Day is customarily a time to fish the lakes that are, well, opening, but in recent years I’ve had amazing fishing at year-round waters like Lake Roosevelt and Coffeepot and Rock Lakes. Outdoor writer Rob Phillips caught this monster Lake Roosevelt rainbow in March trolling for kokanee and trout with a Yakima Bait Trout Dodger and a Silver Magic spinner. No lake in Washington is likely to fish any better than Roosevelt will on Opening Day in 2014. (JEFF HOLMES) nities. Complete with advice about angling, camping, and other recreation opportunities nearby, Great Washington Getaways is
an easy and informative resource. Catch up with me on Facebook if you have questions or would like more trip suggestions. NS