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FISHING • HUNTING • NEWS NWSPORTSMANMAG.COM

SPRING KINGS!

Best Bets For April

COWLITZ RUN

MAPPED!

14 GREAT

TROUT TRIPS

Rowland, Sprague, Yak, North Sound, Mirror Lake, & More!

ALSO INSIDE

Coastal BOTTOMFISH RAZOR CLAMS Lake Chelan KOKANEE

Tons of Toms!

T Top Spots, S Tips Ti & Recipes

Eastside MORELS

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Sportsman Northwest

Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource

Volume 10 • ISSUE 7 PUBLISHER James R. Baker

Your Complete Hunting, Boating, Fishing and Repair Destination Since 1948 1948. Fi hi dR i D i i Si

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Dick Openshaw EDITOR Andy Walgamott LEAD WRITERS Jeff Holmes, Andy Schneider THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS Jason Brooks, Brinton Cary, Dennis Dauble, Doug Huddle, Randy King, Buzz Ramsey, Brian Robertson, Troy Rodakowski, Al Schultz, Todd Switzer, Don Talbot Randy Wells, Terry Wiest, Dave Workman, Mike Wright EDITORIAL FIELD SUPPORT Jason Brooks, Jeff Holmes GENERAL MANAGER John Rusnak SALES MANAGER Katie Higgins ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Mamie Grifﬁn, Steve Joseph, Garn Kennedy, Mike Smith, Paul Yarnold

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ADVERTISING INQUIRIES ads@nwsportsmanmag.com CORRESPONDENCE Email letters, articles/queries, photos, etc., to awalgamott@media-inc.com, or to the address below. ON THE COVER Guide Chris Sessions shows off a nice Columbia River spring Chinook, caught in the west end of the gorge during the 2013 season on a herring behind a Fish Flash. (BUZZ RAMSEY) INSET: Ray Johnson, then 11, bagged this Northeast Washington gobbler during the youth hunt several seasons ago. He used a 20-gauge shotgun. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST) DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and get daily updates at nwsportsmanmag.com.

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Northwest Sportsman 9

CONTENTS

VOLUME 10 • ISSUE 7

FEATURES

145 PROSPECTS WORTH GOBBLING ABOUT! Biologists around the Northwest are stoked about this season’s turkey hunt – thanks to easy winters and great hatches in recent springs, it could among the best in a decade for hunters like Danika Campos, who bagged this tom near Ellensburg.

5 BEST APRIL SPRINGER FISHERIES As the season hits high gear, here are the best waters and tactics to nail your limit of Chinook!

COWLITZ SPRINGERS AND STEELHEAD  MAPPED! With its huge Chinook forecast and great ﬁshing for winter steelhead, this river’s a must-ﬁsh this month.

WASHINGTON COAST BOTTOMFISH April kicks off the season for tasty rockfish and lingcod up and down the Evergreen State’s left side – here’s how to get your share of fish ’n chips!

KEEP DIGGIN’! After a slow start, razor clam season should stretch deep into spring, yielding lots of chowder ﬁxin’s for Northwest diggers.

120 TROPHY TROUT, THIS EXIT Where does a Tacoma angler with a three-day hall pass head? East on I-90 to sample these three outstanding ﬁsheries! 127 NO LAHARS, JUST LUNKERS Host to Hollywood’s Dante’s Peak, Mirror Lake is among the fairest of North Idaho’s small trout waters. 133 THE MOREL OF THE STORY With millions of acres burned around the Northwest in 2015 and the past few years, this season could provide a bumper crop of mushrooms. Lace ’em up and let’s go hunt morels! 155 STAYING MOBILE FOR TOMS No need to wait for turkeys to come to you – here’s how to hunt them while on the move. 161 GOBBLER RULES OF ENGAGEMENT How to avoid ﬁve common mistakes hunters make on opening day of the spring season.

DEPARTMENTS 17 19 20

(BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

The Editor’s Note Correspondence The Big Pic: Bob Rees – salmon guide, conservationist, fisheries advocate 27 Derby Watch: NSIA’s Spring Fishing Classic, Molson Ice Fishing Festival, upcoming events 29 Outdoor Calendar 29 Record Northwest Trout: Record rainbows, cutts and more 31 Dishonor Roll: Charter biz guilty, filmers fined, Jackass 33 Reader Photos From The Field 37 Photo Contest Winners 49 Rig of the Month, Vault Edition: The Toilet Bowl Special 174 The Back Page: On boy and girl fish

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

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CONTENTS

COLUMNS

95 BASIN BEACON Wanna catch big Lake Chelan kokanee or your limit – or both? Don has the strategies dialed in!

SOUTH COAST Randy gets us grounded on the ins and outs of catching rockﬁsh and lings oﬀ Brookings and elsewhere.

THE KAYAK GUYS Todd didn’t use to like ﬁshing for kokanee, until he stumbled into how to catch ’em from a kayak – he shares his tips!

103 BUZZ RAMSEY As trout season nears, Buzz recalls fond memories with the fam down at Rowland Lake, where what worked back then still catches ’em today! 109 WESTSIDER Years ago, Terry stepped away from rainbows for their larger ocean-going cousins, but new trout and kokanee gear has him eager to get back into the spring tradition. 115 NORTH SOUND As our eyes turn towards lowland lakes, Doug reveals a littleknown river trout ﬁshery to check out before the big day! 165 CHEF IN THE WILD In honor of spring and the return of greens, Randy serves up three salads made with shredded turkey breast meat.

(DON TALBOT)

169 ON TARGET There’s a lot of turkey talk this issue, and Dave weighs in with some thoughts on what shotguns work best for downing your tom, and reminds us of spring’s other rite – reloading.

We Have What You Need For Your Next Hunting, Fishing Or Camping Adventure!

ARCHERY: Mathews, Bowtech, Hoyt Bows GUNS: Sig, Kimber, Ruger, Remington, Smith & Wesson, Weatherby, Glock, Fierce Firearms FISHING: Lamiglas, Daiwa, Okuma, Shimano, Berkley, Yakima Bait GEAR: Vortex Optics, Swarovski Optics, Stika clothing

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THEEDITOR’SNOTE

hank goodness for April. That’s what I sometimes find myself muttering as winter drags on – and not just because my Vitamin D reserves are running very low! Sure, there are plenty of fishing and hunting opportunities for me and the boys to write about in the December, January, February and March issues, but they really, er, blossom this month.

APRIL’S BEST KNOWN in these here parts for the trout opener in the back half of the month, and new this season, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has cooked up something that is pretty cool: a statewide fishing derby with $20,000 in prizes. “For us, it’s the biggest derby we’ve ever had,” Larry Phillips, the agency’s Inland Trout Program manager, told me. Based on an idea from the previous WDFW trout manager, Chris Donley, when the event kicks off on the month’s fourth Saturday, the 23rd this year, we’ll all be trying to catch 800 catchable-sized rainbow trout sporting special orange noodle-style tags and stocked in select lakes. The tags will feature a number that will correspond to prizes claimable at 140 sporting goods outlets around Washington. Phillips says the loot ranges in value from a minimum of $20 up to $100, and that WDFW is putting tagged fish in lakes near the stores they’re redeemable at so that a winner in, say, Spokane doesn’t have to drive to Shelton to collect their prize. Sadly for traditionalists, as part of last year’s simplification of the fishing pamphlet, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has done away with the late April trout opener starting this season. But on the flip side, those waters are now fishable yearround (be aware some still retain a bait opener on the 22nd of this month), and ODFW is expanding its Trophy Trout Program this spring to help out regions of the Beaver State that rely on dollars from traveling anglers. Beginning last month, the first of 10,500 1- to 3-pound trout were released into Garrison Lake in Port Orford, with more scheduled there this month, as well as at Trojan Pond near Rainier and Willow Creek Reservoir by Heppner. In May, Timothy Lake and Phillips Reservoir get hit, and in 2017, ODFW will let loose 25,000 of those nice-sized trout in even more lakes.

BUT SPRING’S FIRST full month is not just a rainbow show. No, sir. As pages 1 to 176 of this issue attest, for the front half of the month we’ve got great bottomfishing and razor clamming opportunities up and down the coast, and salmon will be biting from the Cowlitz to the Willamette to Drano to Lake Chelan. Washington’s young gobbler gunners will be the first ones to find that the woods are once again full of toms, followed by their cousins in Idaho and Oregon, and then everyone gets a crack at plentiful turkeys come midmonth. And finally, April kicks off mushroom-gathering season, and with recent years’ fires, prospects look as good for mycologists as they do for lingcod lovers, salmon slayers, turkey talkers and trout tacklers. Indeed, the moral of this month’s Editor’s Note? After a long, rainy winter and with gas cheapish again, there’s plenty for Northwest sportsmen to fish, hunt and gather over the coming weeks. Go on, get out there – and good luck! –Andy Walgamott

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CORRESPONDENCE WILL SOUND STEELHEAD SMOLTS GET OUT OF DODGE?! This month could see the resumption of releases of early-timed hatchery winter steelhead smolts in ﬁve Puget Sound rivers. In March, the National Marine Fisheries Service put out a ﬁnal environmental impact statement that would allow just over 530,000 to be let go, providing continuity on the Skykomish and Wallace, and restarting Wild Fish Conservancy-lawsuit-halted releases on the Nooksack, Stillaguamish and Dungeness, pending one last 30-day review that wraps up April 11. Anglers were buoyed. “Awesome news,” posted Blake Wintch on our Facebook page. “I was just at the hatchery on the North Fork of the Stilly, staring into pens full of winter steelhead waiting to be released!” Fingers crossed!

FREELANCE FIN-CLIPPING NOT COOL An outbreak of freelance fin-clipping on the Umpqua River that ODFW posted on Facebook about and that we shared saw a couple of strong reactions. “I know a few ‘old school steelheaders’ and heard this was a common practice in the past, way before our times,” noted John Brace. “The thought process of some fishermen is shockingly ignorant!” stated Bruce Larsen. “Who in the H3!! needs to kill a steelhead that bad!!!?? Sad.” ODFW said that it’s “highly unlikely” the illicitly clipped fish would spawn, go back to the sea and return to be retainable, and that it was more likely that infection and death from the cut would occur. What a waste.

NORTH OF FALCON FUN This year’s very bad Washington coho forecasts had the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission trying to head off the possibility of recreational fisheries before North of Falcon even began. WDFW acknowledged poor runs, but used different terms than closure, indicating that the annual salmon-season-setting negotiations could be a rough one. Reacting to the lead of our blog predicting a doozy of a month and a half of arm-wrestling over scarce silvers, Rory O’Conner said, “NOF is gonna be a bloodbath. I’m hopeful that the ocean conditions have changed for the better and more salmon will return than forecasted.” Don’t we all.

MOST LIKED READER PIC WE HUNG UP ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE DURING THIS ISSUE’S PRODUCTION CYCLE The calendar hadn’t even made the third page before Tommy McCabe pulled off a pretty impressive feat, catching this 36-inch tiger musky out of Lake Tapps near Tacoma on Feb. 28. He was casting a 3-inch Mighty Mite swimbait strung on a 30-pound wire leader and Power Pro braid, off a 6-foot-6 Abu Garcia and Mega Cast reel. Way to go! (DAIWA PHOTO CONTEST)

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GURUS:

BOB REES Bob Rees, here with “Salmon” Sue Cody of The Daily Astorian and a Buoy 10 Chinook, says ﬁsh advocacy has been “the exclamation point on my career.” (ANDY WALGAMOTT)

Guide, conservationist, ﬁsheries advocate – there are many pieces to the subject of this month’s feature in our continuing series on all-around Northwest anglers. By Andy Schneider

od, no, I’ve never looked back!” So exclaims Bob Rees, the executive director of the Association of Northwest Steelheaders, Northwest Oregon and Columbia River guide, and fish and fisheries advocate.

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“Besides my gray hair, I’ve got no regrets,” he says. “I owe my entire life to salmon. The best lesson my dad ever taught me was to get a job you love. It’s been a wonderful journey, meeting some incredible people and having some incredible opportunities.”

IT’S THE LAUGHTER coming from Bob Rees’s boat that usually

MIXED BAG gets your attention. Rees has a way of trolling right up behind you without attracting much attention – that is, until the laughter breaks out. You glance back and see Rees standing at the tiller making minor adjustments to the motor, while leaning in and telling his clients something that sets them off laughing again. As you think to yourself that it’s good his clients are having so much fun but they must not be taking the fishing too seriously, someone hooks one almost on cue to a punchline of a joke just out of earshot and the entire boat erupts in uncontrollable laughter again. Fish around Rees enough and you begin to see the pattern: This guy is having a good time, and it’s infectious to his clients. At first encounter with Rees, you wonder if it’s just a show that he puts on to be a good businessman; no one could be that easygoing, quick-witted and fun all the time, could they? Well, I hate to break it to you, but yes, Rees is the real deal. He truly loves what he’s doing and is glad to share his good fortune with pretty much everyone. “People come out fishing to have a good time,” explains Rees. “And I can easily accommodate a group of folks looking to have an enjoyable time on the water. It actually makes my job pretty easy. Sure, I’ve been stuck on a sandbar or two – or three – but those are usually the highlights of the trip!”

GROWING UP, REES was lucky that a friend of his father’s was a good fisherman and willing to share his knowledge. “No one in my family really fished, so when my dad’s friend Gerry Lake took me salmon fishing for the first time, I was pretty ecstatic. It was early September and I had just started eighth grade when Gerry took my dad and I fishing out of Astoria. It was one of those flat-calm days on the ocean and when the rod started bouncing up and down, Gerry told me to just keep my hands off it. It didn’t take long before that rod started bucking and I thought for sure it was going to break in half. But with Gerry’s advice I was able to land my very first salmon. We only caught three that day, but I couldn’t keep the lid on the fish box – I just wanted to look at them all day.” With the flame kindled, Lake fanned Rees’s fishing passion by taking him down to Diamond Lake fishing many times. “He was my hero. Gerry was my gateway to sport fishing in Oregon, there’s no doubt about that. I now take his four daughters fishing on a regular basis; they participate in the Buoy 10 Challenge every year. Even though Gerry has passed away, it’s evident that he made a strong connection to fishing with his daughters and me.” Rees believes that it’s extremely important to pass on your knowledge and passion for fishing to the next generation, whether you have children or not. “If parents don’t support that passion, that energy is going to go somewhere else, and not necessarily good,” he says. When we talked in late February, Rees had just wrapped up a new two-day event put on by the Steelheaders. Called Family Fish Camp, it was held near Rockaway Beach for families wanting to find out more about the sport, or if they’re already anglers, how to

refine their skills. “We had over 100 anglers and 30 volunteers in attendance – not too bad for our first year,” says Rees. “Saturday was some classes and then fishing for trout. Sunday was trout fishing, breakfast and then more trout fishing. Everyone really liked being able to go out and catch some fish.”

Rees credits Gerry Lake, a friend of his father’s, for getting him into ﬁshing when he was in eighth grade and fueling his passion for the sport. (BOB REES) “One of the great moments of the camp for me was watching a 12-year-old, who incidentally has caught way more steelhead than me this season – way more. Anyway, he really wanted to help other kids catch fish. It was pretty neat watching this young angler in action and already passing on his knowledge.” By building the next generation of anglers, Rees believes you also recruit the advocates who are going to fight for the future of our fish. “We didn’t know where to start, so Family Fish Camp was a start,” he says. “And it turned out great – the thirst is definitely there. Sometimes parents just don’t have the time to invest in learning a new hobby. We hope we can jumpstart everyone’s passion and create future foot solders for salmon advocacy.”

REES’S INTEREST IN fish increased in high school, when he contemplated running a guide business from shore. But he really got serious when he entered college and got his fisheries degree.

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MIXED BAG Shortly after graduating he got a job as an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife fish checker in Astoria. “I started meeting guides and talking with them and realized that was the direction I wanted to go. I never thought I was going to be rich enough to be able to buy a boat – thank goodness for credit!” “I’ve since graduated towards fish advocacy and it’s been the exclamation point on my career. Working for the Northwest Steelheaders (nwsteelheaders.org) has been great and I’ve got a very understanding board of directors that still allows me to guide (northwestguides.com). I wake up pretty excited everyday to go to work and get a chance to work on some challenging issues. Northwest Steelheaders is 56 years old and stronger than ever before. I’m really excited about the direction we are heading.” His career so far has provided some very rewarding moments. “The most memorable fishing trip was when I took Governor Kitzhaber fishing in Tillamook Bay, October 23rd, 2002. The governor was considering closing salmon hatcheries due to budget cuts and deferred maintenance costs. That day the governor got his limit of salmon, one even being a hatchery fish. The day perfectly demonstrated how much local communities depend on commerce that comes from having salmon to catch in our oceans, bays and rivers.”

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“Oh, and it was my very first freshwater double on salmon – that made it pretty memorable too.” But even more important than standout days is the graduation of fishermen Rees has seen over the years. “Anglers who I took out fishing for the first time caught the bug, then started buying their own boats and now show up at meetings fighting for salmon restoration. Looking back, you see this change in folks from not just being a consumer of the resource, but a steward. That is one of the most rewarding things to have seen in my career.” Still, there’s work to do, and Rees is willing to do it. “As humans, we truly don’t know what is possible. We thought that a human couldn’t run a 4-minute mile, but we are doing it. We never thought we would see salmon runs top 1 million fish, but we’re doing it. How many fish is our ecosystem currently capable of holding? Can we have 2 million fish this next fall? I think our next big step will be seeing a 12-month consumptive Chinook fishery on the Columbia – is it possible? I landed my first triple just this last fall. With good fishing like we’ve had, it feels like we are making progress. Oh, and let me tell ya’, a triple sure helps get a six-fish limit in a hurry!” As much as he enjoys battling for the resource for all of us, fighting fish is just as important to Rees.

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MIXED BAG

Rees is very active in fish and conservation issues, not only as the executive director of the Association of Northwest Steelheaders and holding a Family Fish Camp this past winter, but helping out at the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association’s annual Buoy 10 derby, which raises funds to advocate for fish and fisheries. (BRIAN LULL) “I’m heading to the Wilson tomorrow to see if I can enjoy some of the great run we’ve been having. Work has been busy this winter and I haven’t been too disappointed missing the steelhead season

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so far, but I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.” We all should be with angler-conservationists like Bob Rees working for the fish and fishing opportunities. NS

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By Andy Walgamott

NSIA’s Spring Fishing Classic Set For April 9

Hardy Gather For Molson Ice Derby

chance to catch the tastiest species around while helping defend and improve regional fisheries– those are the twin goals of the 24th Annual Spring Fishing Classic this month. Put on by the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, the April 9 derby targets spring Chinook returning to the Columbia system and raises money to fight lawsuits against hatcheries. Last year’s big fish was a 22.65-pounder caught by Toby Mix, good for $500, while Alex Brauer and crew landed 48.65 pounds worth of springers to win rods, Daiwa linecounter reels and more. This year’s weigh-in is at Camp Withycomb, which is in Clackamas east of I-205, and afterwards there’s dinner and raffles, including a chance to win a drift boat package valued at $8,000. Tickets are $85 per person, $255 for a crew of three, and there are more purchasing options. For more, see nsiafishing.org.

2016 NORTHWEST SALMON DERBY SERIES July 8-10: Bellingham Salmon Derby, San Juan Islands; bellinghampsa.com/wp/derby July 27-31: The Big One Salmon Derby, Lake Coeur d’Alene; lcaaidaho.com (note: awards ceremony Aug. 6) Aug. 6: South King County PSA Salmon Derby, Areas 10, 11, 13; pugetsoundanglers.net/skc-puget-sound-anglers-derby-page Aug. 12: Gig Harbor PSA Salmon Derby, Areas 11, 13; gigharborpsa.org Aug. 20: Columbia River Fall Salmon Derby, Lower Columbia; swwa.org Sept. 3: Willapa Bay Salmon Derby, Willapa Bay; dfdbones@aol.com Sept. 10: Edmonds Coho Derby, Areas 8, 9, 10; fisharc.com/ groups/2-PSA_Sno_King/derbies Sept. 24-25: Everett Coho Derby, Central Sound salt- and freshwaters; everettcohoderby.com Nov. 5-6: 25th Annual Bayside Marine Salmon Derby, Central Sound; baysidemarine.com Dec. 1-3: 2nd Annual Friday Harbor Salmon Classic, San Juan Islands; fridayharborsalmonclassic.com Dec. 2-3: 7th Annual Resurrection Derby, San Juan Islands; resurrectionderby.com For more info, see northwestsalmonderbyseries.com

winter storm warning may have deterred some anglers from attending the 12th Annual Northwest Ice Fishing Festival in northeast Okanogan County, but it didn’t phase one derby goer. While many of the 63 who gathered to fish Molson and Sidley Lakes brought ice huts, one who didn’t was approached by local rancher Robin Stice to make sure he was staying warm. “(She) was told the weather was balmy for him as he was from North Dakota,” organizers reported, “and that in such pleasant conditions, an ice hut was unnecessary.” When the Jan. 16 event wrapped up, Tim Roberts of Molson walked away with the grand prize, $500, thanks to his two trout that weighed 44 ounces. Mark Webster took first in the adult division for a 33.8-ounce fish, good for $100 and other prizes, while the largest fish caught by a youth was Darrell Nampuya’s 29.3-ouncer, which scored him $75 and more. The festival also featured a new ice-hut contest, an arts and crafts show at the Molson Grange, pine car derby, breakfast, bingo and food. It is sponsored by the Oroville Chamber of Commerce.

SPONSORED BY:

RIG MONTH OF THE

12-pound-test Ultragreen

ROTM Vault Edition: The Toilet Bowl Special NOTES Trolling a prawn spinner is a sure way to catch spring Chinook just entering Drano Lake. Use a Yakima Bait Fish Flash in green, red or chartreuse 5 feet above your prawn. Run a short 12-inch leader from your spreader (or bead-chain swivel and plastic weight slider) to the flasher and keep your lead dropper short at 12 inches. Use 4 to 6 ounces of lead to suspend your prawn directly underneath the boat, setting your depth to where you’re marking fish on your fishfinder. Just don’t let your prawn drag bottom or you will snag up and cause a traffic jam in the cramped quarters of the infamous Toilet Bowl. If you do snag up, break off and pull off to the side to rerig. Add scent frequently and change your prawn out at least every half hour. –Andy Schneider

Plastic spinner clevis

Cured prawn, trimmed

Dental rubber bands

Six or more midsized red beads

20-pound p ﬂ ﬂuorocarbon leader

g g g spinner wire Light-gauge (to hold prawn straight)

Two 2/0 ﬁx-tied barbless hooks

No. 4 Bear Valley Blade

(ANDY SCHNEIDER)

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FISHING

Cowlitz Will Shine This Spring Huge Chinook forecast, plus great steelheading makes the river an April must-ﬁsh. By Jason Brooks

he Cowlitz is known for putting out good numbers of winter and summer steelhead, and it can be an outstanding fall coho river as well. But come April most Northwest sportsmen are fixated on the spring Chinook making their way up the Columbia to terminal fisheries. Before venturing too far up the big river in pursuit of the year’s first salmon, though, remember that the Cowlitz too has a good run of springers. And this year’s forecast of 25,100 not only follows on a stellar season in 2015, it is one of the largest predicted returns over the last 30 years. But wait, there’s more! One thing the famed Southwest Washington river offers that most other springer fisheries don’t is the chance to double up on winter steelhead that arrive in February and are caught all the way into June, when the summer steelies show up. The Cowlitz also offers a variety of water conditions and access for all anglers.

WHILE 2016’S FIRST Cowlitz springer was caught out of the lower river in early February, the ﬁshery really doesn’t get going strong until mid-April as the salmon make their way up to the Barrier Dam and Tacoma Power’s salmon hatchery. Thanks to 2010’s rebuild and changing release strategies at that facility, the numbers of smolts being released there has increased 70 percent, rising from around a million to 1.7 million. Early this month boat anglers have the advantage because they can best ﬁsh the bigger water from Toledo down. The I-5 launch (which is underneath the interstate off Mandy Road, which peels off the Jackson Highway) is a starting point. Keep in mind that salmon and

Thanks to a big jump in smolt releases, spring Chinook fishing on the Cowlitz looks bright. Last year saw a return of 23,000, and this year’s is forecast to top that. George Schroeder caught this nice one on the lower river in mid-April a few seasons ago, fishing herring behind a diver in soft water near shore due to higher flows. (DAIWA PHOTO CONTEST) nwsportsmanmag.com | APRIL 2016

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FISHING steelhead in this section probably won’t be too close to each other, so targeting springers will yield very few steelhead. Plus the techniques in the bigger water are more geared to salmon anyway – back-trolling plugs, such as the Brad’s Killer Fish, Yakima Bait’s Mag Lip 4.5 or even the newer 5.0, and Luhr Jensen’s Kwikfish, all wrapped with either a fillet of herring, sardine or a piece of tuna belly. As the regulations don’t allow the use of a barbed hook until June from Lexington Bridge up, switch out the trebles to a single barbless siwash on a barrel swivel or bead chain and pinch the barb down. Another favorite is a plug-cut herring with a Brad’s Diver 48 inches in front, with a four-bead chain swivel halfway down the 25-pound leader. One of the more popular areas is the mouth of the Toutle River. Here, bank anglers who find their way to the large gravel bar find a place to plunk Spin-N-Glos with a chunk of sardine or a gob of eggs, and some

even put both on the hook. A 5- to 8-ounce pyramid weight is needed this time of year as river flows can vary, even with the river being controlled by a series of dams. The Toutle is not controlled and has a lot of sediment, making the water below the confluence very dirty, but plunking is an intercepting technique, so don’t let the offcolored water discourage you too much. Boat anglers will often fish here as well, again pulling big plugs and fishing the off-color and clearwater separation line.

UPRIVER IN TOLEDO is a two-lane boat ramp that provides access to slightly smaller water. Boaters will again back down the deep slots, which are easier to ﬁnd in this section of the Cowlitz, back-trolling wrapped plugs or diverand-herring combos. I’ve ﬁshed this stretch with guide Bruce Warren of Fishing For Fun Guide Service (253-208-7433) and he knows this part of the river

The Cowlitz’s 50 miles below Mayﬁeld Dam are best ﬁshed from a boat, but many stretches are productive from the bank too, notably the mouth of the Toutle, Blue Creek and Barrier Dam. (JASON BROOKS) 52 Northwest Sportsman

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is your real first chance to double up on steelhead and Chinook. He will have a few side-drifting rods rigged up to target current seams or large boulders. He likes to throw the standard boon-dogging rig for steelhead that are holding or traveling upriver but still trying to stay out of the springers’ way. The salmon tend to hold in the deep holes and runs, with the steelhead hugging the bank and seams or resting behind those boulders. By targeting the different waters, you have a good chance of hooking either species. Next up is the Mission or Massey Bar launch, a bit upriver from Toledo on the north bank off Buckley Road. As the river starts to tighten, this is where you can start to find good numbers of steelhead and springers holding in the same types of water. Though the fish won’t be bunched together, the way you fish for them here on upriver means there is no way to predict what is on the end of your line until you get that first glimpse of the fish. The deep slots

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FISHING 12 G

Ethel

12 G

G 5

** Blue Creek

* * ** * * ** Mission (Massey) Bar ** ** * * * * ** ** * **** * * **

Vader *

* *

** * *

Mossyrock

** * Barrier Dam *

Toledo

5 G

COWLITZ RIVER SPRINGERS & STEELHEAD

* * *

Boat Launch

* * *

Bank Fishing Back-troll Wrapped Plugs/Diver & Bait Boon-dogging/Bobber-dogging

Castle Rock

are much narrower and the soft edges are travel lanes for both species. With boulders sticking out of the water and the points off of the end of midriver gravel bars holding fish, it can be a guessing game which one you’re fighting to the net. Side-drifting and boon-dogging (side-drifting while continually floating downriver) are the top-producing tactics for all anglers. However, a technique that is quickly catching on is a variation of boondogging called bobber-dogging. Basically it’s dragging your weight, preferably a slinky as they tend to not grab onto rocks like pencil lead does, while using an adjustable float to help it along as well as watch for the bite instead of feeling for it. Use a leader of 12- or 54 Northwest Sportsman

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Steelhead add to the allure of the Cowlitz in spring – Bruce Warren holds a nice winter-run. While the lower river is more of a spring Chinook ﬁshery, doubling up on steelhead is most likely from I-5 to Blue Creek. (JASON BROOKS)

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COWLITZ COCKTAILS April flows on the Cowlitz can fluctuate depending on rain and snowmelt from Mt. Rainier, but normally run between 5,500 and 6,000 cubic feet per second out of Mayfield Dam. Below the Toutle the river is affected by runoff from Mt. St. Helens and is often very dirty. This is where your bait choice can make a difference. A gob of cured salmon eggs is most popular, but don’t overlook a cocktail. With their heavy oil content, a chunk of sardine or herring is always a good bet, as is a piece of tuna belly. If you know anyone who has albacore from last summer in the freezer, maybe trade them a fillet of springer, and then hack up the tuna for more bait and more spring salmon. I like to add scents throughout the day, and the best way to do this is by using bait oil or super gels. –JB

15-pound clear Izorline Platinum and two size 1 or 1/0 barbless hooks with a Cheater or Corky between them, and a larger cluster of eggs for bait. This time of year I switch up my cured eggs from the standard steelhead orange or natural to the deep-red-stained eggs and add Pro-Cure’s Bloody Tuna bait oil right into the jar to soak. Sand shrimp are still a favorite but to really double up on springers, adding a few other traditional salmon scents like Pro-Cure’s herring or sardine oils can lead to more salmon in the box. Then switch back over to krill or anise for steelhead.

BLUE CREEK, THE famed state access and steelhead hatchery, is both a bank angler and boat fisherman’s choke point for doubling up on steelhead and spring Chinook. With plenty of bank access from just below the hatchery outlet at the boat ramp all the way down to the Clay Banks area, shore fishermen can wade out as far as they can, depending on river flows, and drift fish the edge of the main current seam. You will also find anglers fishing eggs under a float here. 56 Northwest Sportsman

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Above the boat ramp there are a few spots to wade out, but be very aware of the ledges and runs that are right at the bank edge. However, there is ample bank access, and this water is primarily a bobber-and-egg fishery. If you do find a stretch where you won’t interfere with other fishermen, try throwing Blue Fox Vibrax spinners in size 3 and 4 and let them swing across the wide flats. Boat anglers in this stretch work the opposite side of the river, right along the rock retaining wall across from the launch. There is about a mile of water where you can motor up to the first set of rapids and then slowly back your way to the tailout just above the natural chute that leads down to the corner below. If you decide to run downriver, be aware that this chute can become a hazard. Boaters coming up can’t see around the corner, and once committed to coming upriver, they need to stay on plane or else risk hitting a boulder that is right in the middle of the rapids. Four big bends upstream of Blue Creek is Barrier Dam and its boat launch. Those who fish it do well out in the middle of the river, but be aware of the fishing deadline – don’t cross it or you will get a ticket. Bank anglers here do even better and this is your best spot to catch a springer from shore. Steelhead do venture up this way, but this is really a salmon show, and the favorite technique is float fishing eggs. Even with good access, it’s very competitive to get a spot. Standing on rocks and casting out in sequence with other anglers that are within a rod length of you is the name of the game, so don’t expect solitude or try other techniques that will interrupt the flow of bobbers drifting by. The Cowlitz is one fishy river, producing summer steelhead, fall kings and coho and winter steelies, but don’t overlook the opportunity to double up in spring on Chinook and metalheads. Loads of returning fish and a river basically designed for sport anglers make it a top choice this April. NS

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Now Serving Fish ’N Chips

FISHING

Washington state’s bountiful ocean coast offers a mix of tasty bottomﬁsh in spring. By Jeff Holmes

ext week when a good friend and his lovely, playerhater wife co-celebrate their birthdays with a big dance party in their new shop, I’m frying, grilling and baking 30 pounds of halibut, lingcod and rockfish left over from an especially productive 2015 season. Without trying, I’ll probably make a lot of friends at the party while clearing freezer room for 2016’s ocean bounty. Like most of you, I love eating white-fleshed ocean fish, and I could make you a long Bubba-Gump list of dishes. For modest prices often cheaper than sled or drift boat seats, bottomfish charters offer safe and fun fishing yielding big bags of snow-white fillets. For us Northwesterners, the Pacific can be a U-pick fish market

By midmonth, lingcod will be fair game up and down Washington’s coast. Some pretty big specimens are out there, with a 48-pounder the largest weighed during 2015’s seasonlong derby in Westport. Wyatt Lundquist slammed his hook home on this nice one while ﬁshing aboard the Slammer, skippered by Rhett Webber, last year. (DAIWA PHOTO CONTEST)

Fine fixin’s for fish and chips – saltwater anglers and Capt. Kerry Allen heft a mix of black rockfish and lingcod hooked off the Evergreen State’s rockier northern coast. (DAIWA PHOTO CONTEST) nwsportsmanmag.com | APRIL 2016

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FISHING

The eagerly awaited halibut season won’t open off the coast until next month, but it should yield good catches, as this nice haul from an All Rivers and Saltwater Charters’ express boat exempliﬁes. (ALLRIVERSGUIDESERVICE.COM)

where the freshest fish and greatest thrills and memories can be had. Charter prices are often eclipsed by the value of fish taken home when considering retail prices. Pike Place Market brings up the distant rear for quality of Northwest seafood experiences, and charter fishing with fish and chips on the brain is easily on the list of quintessential, must-do Northwest outdoor experiences. April marks the beginning of bottomfishing opportunities in Washington with the opening of deep-water lingcod fishing for the 62 Northwest Sportsman

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month’s last two weeks. Typically the only limiting factor to catching big lings out of Washington ports during April is weather, and not too many operators bother. But some do, and private boats also get in on the action closer to shore by fishing jetties and nearshore reefs that have repopulated with bottomfish through the winter months. A friend of mine and his buddies and family make an annual trek to Neah Bay in April to fish the protected waters all the way out to Tatoosh Island, and they do very

well fishing over reefs that have seen no pressure in six months. April may not be prime-time ocean fishing season yet, but it is a clear wake-up call with some advantages and excellent payoffs in fillets.

FROM ILWACO AT the mouth of the Columbia River, north to Neah Bay and beautiful Tatoosh Island, Washington’s coastline offers four ocean ports from which to pursue bottomﬁsh. Early-season ocean angling often goes overlooked, what with spring Chinook mania,

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Capt. Mark Coleman calls new sonar that shows bottom composition “a real game changer, because when locating good bottomfishing zones offshore from Westport, your spot is as much about what the bottom is made of as it is finding a significant rocky feature.” For more on that, see Randy Well’s South Coast column elsewhere this issue. (ALLRIVERSGUIDESERVICE.COM)

trout season, and the reawakening of warmwater ﬁsh. A sometimes cantankerous ocean also limits popularity, but getting ahead of the game for early bottomﬁsh means 64 Northwest Sportsman

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scores of clean, firm fillets. Much of my annual bounty every year comes from British Columbia’s Vancouver Island, but a significant portion comes off the coasts of

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FISHING Washington, sometimes Oregon. One could easily collect all the fish he or she might ever want or need without visiting our friends to the north, and this is especially true of black rockfish and lingcod. Stocks of both tasty species are robust in both Northwest states, especially so in Washington. There, fishery managers allow a daily limit of 10 black rockfish and two lingcod. The poundage adds up fast after a few trips, and whacking limits of these tasty fish on light gear is a lot of fun and sometimes results in incidental catches of salmon and halibut, retention opportunities for which typically commence in May. I make a point to fish the early season every year, even if it means the loss of a spring Chinook or morel mushroom weekend. Ilwaco, Westport, La Push and Neah Bay offer excellent fishing, and I have fished them all and I

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recommend them all. My usual choice is Westport because of the ease of getting there and because I really like All Rivers and Saltwater Charters’ guiding program (allriversguideservice.com). But when I fish in April, it’s usually for big lingcod, and always with one of the skippers who licks his chops for a chance at big deepwater lings: Mike Jamboretz of Jambo’s Sportfishing (jambossportfishing. com). His immaculate 37-foot boat, the Malia Kai, is good in big water, making him a great bet for early in the year when the ocean is still sometimes sporty. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife allows Jamboretz and other earlyseason enthusiasts the last two weekends of April and a little over a week in May to chase lings in waters deeper than 20 fathoms (120 feet). He is an extremely good lingcod skipper, with high-end specialized tackle and the most advanced bank

of electronics I’ve seen in a sport boat. He’s a bottomfishing specialist with a two-year-plus wait to fish halibut during Washington’s short season. Similarly, his deepwater lingcod trips fill quickly, but it’s definitely worth calling him. After almost three years of waiting, I got out for halibut last year with him, followed by a stop at the deepwater ling reefs, which are fair game later in May on halibut days. I went home with a nice halibut and two lings over 20. Every time I’ve booked with him in April for lings, we’ve laid out a very nice class of fish on the deck by day’s end, along with limits of extra-tasty yellowtail rockfish, a species that suspends in deep water near the ling haunts. Neah Bay is worth the trip, and services are available at Big Salmon Resort (bigsalmonresort.net). Westport, which is the most popular port on Washington coast, has the most operators and the

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Northwest Sportsman 67

FISHING big salmon, halibut and tuna. widest range of services. Westport’s boat basin is home to several excellent operations such as Deep Sea Charters (deepseacharters.net), which has been running trips here for nearly six and a half decades, Westport Charters (westportcharters .com), which operates a fleet of eight boats from 40 to 55 feet in length, Ocean Sportfishing Charters (oceansportfishing.com), home of the Ranger and Capt. Don Davenport, and Capt. Dave McGowan of the Ms. Magoo (msmagoocharters). Offshore Northwest (offshorenorthwest.com) and Capt. Kerry Allen, and Tailwalker Charters (tailwalkerfishing.com) and Capt. Patrick Walker are here as well for part of the season, and there are many other options, so see charterwestport.com for more. And while you’re there, check out the annual fishing derbies, which began with lingcod in mid-March and pay out thousands of dollars in prizes for

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MY FAVORITE WAY to fish on the ocean is in fast boats with sporty gear. Lots of awesome Westport skippers will take you to the action and show you an amazing day of fishing and service in some badass boats. My personal choice for speed, versatility, kindness and dry sense of humor is All Rivers and Saltwater Charters’ Mark Coleman and his four express tuna boats. “Our bottomfishing trip is especially cool because of our custom-built Defiance boats and the fact that we handle just six anglers,” says Coleman. “Once aboard we travel very quickly to the best fishing zones and get right to fishing.” Coleman and his skippers are able to rocket around, seeking out the best bite possible on the best class of fish, which often results in an extra-large class of black rockfish and very nice lings.

“We keep an eye on the inshore halibut season too,” says Coleman. “It’s open seven days a week until the quota is met, and we do catch a few each spring while targeting lings and rockﬁsh.” Although contrary to tradition, Coleman takes an ultralight approach with his gear. Because of the versatility of only ﬁshing six anglers and being able to move fast from spot to spot, his clients can take the extra time to land the occasional nearshore halibut or very large lingcod or salmon on sporty gear. “We recommend using the lightest tackle you can get away with to feel every bite and have the most fun at the rail,” says Coleman. “For us that usually means 7-foot Okuma spinning rods with Okuma RTX reels loaded with 50-pound TUF-Line braid. From the mainline we attach a 5-foot double-dropper-loop leader, loop

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Northwest Sportsman 69

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on a couple shrimp flies, and a little lead. We have clients let out slowly to convince the rockfish to suspend higher and higher off the bottom and eventually under the boat for wide-open action. Clients tend to love this, and so do I.” I’m a big fan of top-rated Raymarine electronics and learned about them by fishing with Coleman. Sitting in his pilothouse and reading the displays is almost like watching video of the bottom, even running at 30 knots. “We rely exclusively on FLIR’s Raymarine electronics to guide us below the water line each day. Our team found that the new CHIRP sonar with DownVision by Raymarine not only improved our vision below the water, but now shows us bottom composition as well. That’s been a real game changer, because when locating good bottomfishing zones offshore from Westport, your spot is as much about what the bottom is made of as it is finding a significant rocky feature.” All of the operators in Westport have excellent electronics and will get you on bottomfish, and there are lots of cool boats of varying designs. No matter what reputable operator you fish with, I highly recommend a trip to Westport – and Neah Bay, La Push and Ilwaco. All ports offer their own charm and advantages. Look to local chambers of commerce (westportgrayland-chamber.org; ilwacowashington.com; forkswa. com; neahbaywa.com) for lodging, dining and tourist activities. If you’re an Oregonian reading this and don’t already know, your coastline is also an excellent place to catch bottomfish and take home a fat sack of fillets. Look to Astoria/ Warrenton, Garibaldi, Depoe Bay, Newport, and more, and see the pages of this issue for charter choices to include Yaquina Bay Charters (yaquinabaycharters.com), Captain’s Reel Deep Sea Fishing (captainsreel .com) and Dockside Charters (docksidedepoebay.com). NS

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FISHING

Keep Diggin’! After a slow start, razor clam season should stretch deep into spring, yielding lots of chowder ﬁxin’s for Northwest diggers. By Brian Robertson

he Paciﬁc Northwest offers a true bounty for the hunterﬁsher-gatherer. Big game, small game, birds, mushrooms, berries – the list is endless. But some of the pursuits are pretty specialized – think steelheading in the middle of winter – and not for the faint of heart. Razor clams, on the other hand, are for everyone. Nothing beats a few hours or a long weekend down at the beach with the family digging clams. And despite a slow start to the annual harvest, it’s likely the season will stretch through April and into May in Washington, and even longer in Oregon.

IF YOU’RE LOOKING for a family-oriented road trip vacation this spring, razor clams ﬁt the bill. The bivalves are plentiful in the sands between Kalaloch, Wash., and Seaside, Ore., and last year’s high toxin levels are going away, allowing state managers to open more beaches. Copalis Beach in Washington and Oregon beaches north of Tillamook Head, where domoic acid was ﬁrst to clear, were opened over the Christmas holiday, while Long Beach has enjoyed the longest continuous Washington dig since 1993, opening in early February, with digging probable into next month. Mocrocks has also opened. On Feb. 20, a gorgeous winter Saturday, a whopping 30,000 diggers were counted on the Evergreen State beaches, including 17,000 at Copalis alone. One downer has been that at popular Twin Harbor, the clams are taking longer to cleanse themselves

A razor clammer reaches for his prize on a Washington beach earlier this season. (BRIAN ROBERTSON) nwsportsmanmag.com | APRIL 2016

Northwest Sportsman 73

FISHING of the toxins. The best way to keep up with season openings is to check the Washington and Oregon Departments of Fish and Wildlife websites (wdfw. wa.gov, dfw.state.or.us). With a generous limit of 15 clams per person in either state, a family of four can net 60 clams in a couple of hours. Just be aware that the ﬁrst 15 you dig are your limit. Whether you crush your clam with the shovel or clam gun or dig up a 1-inch baby razor, it counts. New this year in Oregon, all clammers 12 years old or older, and 15 years old or older in Washington, must have a current shellﬁsh/ seaweed license while harvesting clams. Kids can dig their own clams or have assistance from an adult,

but they must actively be helping dig and need to pick up their own clams. All clam limits must be kept separate. The rules are pretty clear, but it never hurts to contact your local game warden if you want clariﬁcation.

AS FOR WHERE to ﬁnd razor clams, they live in the intertidal zone, in sand

from the +3-foot level to the –2-foot tide level. The best digging is always at low tide, and the lower the better. The species has shorter siphons and burrows to just below the sand surface to feed. When the tide goes out, they burrow into deeper sand. The foot of a razor is larger and stronger than other clams, and to burrow, it forces its foot

A pair of diggers keep their eyes peeled for “dimples,” “keyholes” and “doughnuts,” telltale signs that a razor clam lurks just underneath the sand. (BRIAN ROBERTSON)

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FISHING deep down into the sand, expanding the foot, anchoring itself and pulling its body down. One of the best diggers out there, razor clams are very sensitive to vibration and dig deeper when threatened. When I say dig, I mean dig! These tasty little bivalves can really move, outpacing slowpoke clammers. Their best defense, however, is their downfall. As they dig, they disturb the sand on the surface, creating a “clam show.” There are three types of shows: dimples, keyholes and doughnuts. The dimple is exactly what it sounds like: a very distinct, dime-sized depression. The keyhole is much like the dimple, but much deeper. The doughnut features a raised perimeter with a dimple or keyhole in the center. When it comes to the digging, using a clam shovel is an acquired skill. The trick is to start your hole 10 inches or so

CLAM CHOWDER Razor clams are very tasty critters, and it’s hard to beat a hearty chowder made from them. There are as many recipes as there are clams on the beach, but this is one of my favorites. 1 pound of cut-up, thick-cut bacon 2 pounds of diced potatoes 1 onion, minced 2 cloves of minced garlic 2 tablespoons of regular flour 1 12-ounce can of evaporated milk 1 cup of heavy cream 1 pound of razor clams, with liquid reserved 1 bay leaf Led by their “razor clam master” grandfather, Wally Sande Cook the bacon in a large pot until (left), Corbin, Lexi and Austin Han, their parents Jerry and browned, and then place on a paper Britt, along with Wally’s wife Carol, enjoyed a great dig a towel to wick away excess grease. couple Aprils ago near Westport, limiting in just half an hour or so. Afterwards, Jerry also enjoyed catching redtail In the pot with the rest of the bacon surfperch on clam necks. (DAIWA PHOTO CONTEST) grease, cook the potatoes, onion and garlic, stirring them until the onions are translucent. Next, stir flour into the vegetables, and after a minute, add the three liquids and bay leaf, and continue to stir. Bring the pot to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium, cooking until the potatoes are soft. Add the clams and cook them until they’re hot – approximately five minutes. Finally, sprinkle the bacon bits into the soup, season it with salt and black pepper, and serve. –BR

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FISHING to the ocean side of the clam show and dig straight down. Once you believe you have reached the depth of the clam – usually 12 to 18 inches – reach into the hole and grab the clam on the beach-side wall of your excavation. For the beginner I suggest the clam gun. The operation is much easier than the shovel. Simply place the clam gun over the clam show and angle it slightly toward the ocean and shimmy it into sand. Plug the vent hole and pull the entire sand plug up. The trick is not to cut the clam in half; if you feel the gun hit something hard, readjust the angle to avoid making clam chowder too early. For more tips and tricks, check out WDFW’s new video on its YouTube channel. Also be aware that snowy plovers and horned larks like to nest in the sand dunes near the beach this time of year.

Angling his shovel straight down, a young clammer digs on the ocean side of his quarry. When he’s removed a foot to a foot and a half of sand or feels he’s reached the depth of the razor clam, he’ll feel around in the hole for the shellﬁsh. (BRIAN ROBERTSON)

Leadbetter Point and Twin Harbors are known nesting areas, so access the beaches at designated entries only. And as ever while at the ocean, keep one eye on the surf for sneaker waves. Cleaning your clams can take longer than harvesting them. We drop the whole clam into boiling water until the shell pops open (usually less than 10 seconds), then immediately drop them into ice water to stop the cooking process. The clam will easily pull from the shell at this point. The rest is done with scissors, snipping open the two siphons and the stomach and cleaning out anything that doesn’t look like clam meat. Razor clam digging is truly a sport for all ages and is a great way to enjoy the beach and the harvest with friends and family. Take in the fresh salt air and gather one of the Northwest’s truly tasty bounties this spring. NS

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COLUMN

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pringâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flat seas mean lings and big rockfish to anglers in Brookings and other coastal communities. Although I spend my springs and summers in Seward, Alaska, chasing saltwater fish in the gulf, I know a thing or two about catching these same species off SOUTH COAST Oregon, and what I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know, I ask longtime By Randy Wells resident and charter captain Sean Clemens (clemensfishing.com; 541-661-1377). Brookings has a perfect coast for chasing bottomfish. What makes it so perfect is the bottom structure. Just to the north are some amazing rock formations that stick out of the sea in a manner that screams â&#x20AC;&#x153;Fish here!â&#x20AC;? Some great target areas just north of the Brookings Harbor are Mack Arch, Leaning Rock, Whalehead and House Rock. The further north you go, the less fishing pressure there will be; on a flat day I recommend exploring areas north from the harbor. But not just any old sunken rockpile will fish ...

IN MARCH 2004, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildllife did an extensive marine habitat survey. The goal was to determine the effects to the near-coastal reefs that were heavily targeted by sport and commercial fishing. The report is extensive and educational. Part of the project was to scan reefs that were popular fishing grounds. ODFW used structure scan and video to record reefsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; configuration and video to document fish species that lived in and around different areas of those reefs. This document can be viewed by visiting dfw.state.or.us/MRP/publications/docs/ habitat_2004a.pdf One of the major things I took away from the report was information regarding what species lived where within the reefs. This info will help guide any angler to a fuller fish box. For example, on p. 33 you will find â&#x20AC;&#x153;fish habitat analysis,â&#x20AC;? which analyzed four cluster groups of habitat and documented what species were found in which cluster. This info can help you find new fishing grounds or assist you Daniel Lawson holds a limit of lingcod caught off Brookings while out with Oregon Fishing Adventure. (OREGON FISHING ADVENTURE)

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COLUMN AS A CHARTER captain who loves catching and talking about in better targeting your current waters. For example, if you are lingcod, I am often asked if lings are indeed cod. The answer is no; in a new area and catching juvenile rockfish, it could be because lingcod are in the greenling family. In my opinion, lingcod are a you’re fishing “edge-rock” because juvenile rockfish are known to prize and cod are just that, cod. congregate in high numbers on edge-rock formations. Adult black I’ve had best luck rockfish, on the other hand, tend to congregate on solid targeting lingcod on rock rock, or boulders. Moreover piles and flats between if you keep hooking canary rock piles. Lingcod are rockfish, odds are you’re nonmigratory, but starting fishing “edge-settlement.” in October, they move to As with any type of fishing, their nearshore spawning success depends on grounds. Males migrate knowing where fish live, first to establish a nest in what they eat and what their strong current areas inside lifecycle is. In addition to rock crevices and ledges. rockfish, the report included Spawning happens between areas where lingcod tend to December and March. congregate – all in all, pretty Once the females spawn, A 2004 survey of Oregon reefs showed what sort of bottom structure is tasty information. they leave the nest almost preferred by different species and ages of groundﬁsh. (ODFW) Once you have located immediately and the males the rock formation you want to fish, put your boat directly above it stay to guard it until the eggs hatch between March and late April. and test your drift to learn how fast and what direction the current Lingcod are extremely aggressive by nature, but during and after is going. This test will guide you to the type of tackle you will need. the spawn, some extra mean comes out, so keep your line tight and your tip up, you’re in for a fight. With a slow drift and minimal swell, you can use lighter tackle; with a Lings are predators; they eat whatever they can get into their larger swell and fast drift, use heavier weight.

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COLUMN mouth. If you can use live nongame fish as bait, do so! If live bait is not an option, I have great luck with the Kalin’s 10-inch Big-NGrub baits and lead jigs. I cover all my grubs and jigs with Pro-Cure Gel; I have best luck with shrimp or squid gel. Another killer set-up is a drift rig with a whole black- or purplelabel herring; whole squid and octopus are also killer baits. When I fish bait, I inject my baits with the Pro-Cure shrimp or squid oil. As lingcod are the king of the nearshore jungle, fish big baits, use lots of action and fish near the bottom, and you will get a bent rod followed by a full fish box.

ROCKFISH, WITH THEIR bigger limits and ease of catching, should not be passed up. Shrimp flies, lead jigs and even topwater baits can produce these spiny fish. When the water is flat and you see schools of rockfish boiling on the surface, try casting spinners. Last year, I caught countless rockfish in Alaska casting the Yakima Bait Musky Spinner. Limits vary depending on the species, and four kinds must all be turned back. With over 25 types of rockfish off Oregon’s Coast, be sure to check the regulations and get an identification card from ODFW. That will help you figure out which ones you can keep. As for the ones that must go back, use a descending device to combat barotrauma. An interesting fact about black rockfish, the most-caught species by far, is that the females internally fertilize their eggs.

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A READER ASKED if keeping big female lingcod was hurting Oregon’s ocean fishery overall. I contacted ODFW to get a clear answer and spoke with Lynn Mattes, the agency’s project leader for recreational groundfish and halibut. Asked about the health of the lingcod fishery, her response was simple: “It’s great!” Mattes says that lingcod is one of the healthiest fish stocks in Oregon, and is in the best shape it has ever been in. She also said that in the early 2000s, ODFW felt that lingcod were being overfished and implemented restrictions to try and bring the fishery back, and it worked. Since 2004 the lingcod fishery has been on the incline and the total annual catch limit, or ACL, is less than 15 percent. That means of all the lingcod harvested by sport anglers and commercial anglers, only 15 percent of the total allocation is being harvested. So there is no need to feel like you are harming the fishery by keeping big lings. Whether they or nest-guarding males are your target this month, I highly recommend never leaving the harbor without a current navigation chart, compass and a quality GPS. The bar in Brookings, among others, can be rough, so be sure to check current and projected weather, and keep your VHF on Channel 16. NS Editor’s note: Author Randy Wells is a full-time fishing guide on the Chetco River in Oregon and in Seward, Alaska. His website is oregonfishingadventure.com.

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COLUMN Author Todd Switzer wasn’t a huge fan of kokanee ﬁshing until a camping trip in the Okanogan Valley provided a strong catch. He’s since dialed in his tactics for the species, in particular varying his trolling path and speed. (TODD SWITZER)

Kaya-konee THE KAYAK GUYS

ruth be told, I wasn’t always a fan of kokanee. They seemed to be pesky little fish that hit too hard for their Kayak Guys By Todd Switzer size and often spit the hook before I got them to the net. They made great table fare, but their diminutive size and the fact that I rarely caught more than one or two at a time meant there was never enough to make a full meal. Then one bright morning my opinion of kokanee changed forever. It was Memorial Day Weekend and I was camping in the upper Okanogan Valley with family. I brought the kayak along with the thought of sneaking out at first light and fishing for a couple of hours before the rest of the camp got up

and going. I was hoping to find a couple of trout to cook up with breakfast, but minutes after getting the gear in the water I hooked into a fat, feisty kokanee that was airborne before I could get the rod out of the holder. Minutes after putting the gear back out my rod was doubled over again. This pattern repeated until the sun broke over the ridge and the day began to warm. By the time I got back to camp for breakfast I had my limit of some of the largest kokanee I’d ever seen and we had plenty of them for several meals. Since that day I’ve been a big fan of kokanee fishing.

KOKANEE ARE LANDLOCKED sockeye salmon that live entirely off the zooplankton found in Northwest lakes. Their growth is limited by the availability of this food source and

lakes with large reserves have the potential to hold more and larger kokanee. Their diet is comprised mostly of copepods that resemble small shrimp that are often too small to see without the aid of a microscope. Plankton is the tiny plant-based organism that gets the whole cycle going. If the lake doesn’t have good production of plankton, then the animal-based zooplankton will not have a rich food source to grow on, and ultimately the growth of kokanee suffers. Of course, there are other factors to consider – predation, water temperatures, oxygen levels, population density – but in general, when searching for a good kokanee lake, considering a water’s plankton production is a good place to start. And another good places is the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Fish Washington page (wdfw.

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COLUMN

Some of the landlocked salmon swimming in Northwest lakes these days are pretty meaty. (TODD SWITZER)

wa.gov/fishing/washington); it details 60plus waters with the species. Early springs have been the norm in the Northwest for the past couple of years, and with warmer temperatures coinciding with peak spring rainfall and early snowmelt, plankton growth in many lakes east of the Cascade Mountains have had excellent growing conditions. That’s translated up and down the food chain and produced some outstanding kokanee fishing. One lake that has benefited greatly from this perfect storm of environmental conditions is Lake Roosevelt. In addition to receiving a rich influx of nutrients from spring rainfall, it gets the runoff from the fertile valleys upstream in southern British Columbia. When nutrient-rich waters combine with clear sunny days, the stage is set for some great kokanee fishing. Fishermen from around the entire region are savvy to the fact that there are some trophy kokanee to be caught on Roosevelt, and they have been pulling out limits of large healthy fish since last December.

Water temperature is another big factor in kokanee fishing. These fish have a preferred temperature range that is limited to the cool waters of spring; once surface water temps reach the upper 50s, they’re seldom found feeding high in the water column. As in most fishing timing is everything, and the time to strike is early before the days grow longer and the water temperature begins to rise. Water clarity can be thought of as the third leg of the stool supporting kokanee

growth. In lakes with exceptionally clear water, such as Lake Chelan, the productive plankton growth extends deeper into the water column and kokanee are often caught deeper than 100 feet. Kayak anglers searching for the perfect lake to target kokanee should consider plankton productivity combined with water temperature and clarity.

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feet or deeper for any length of time is a very rare individual. I am not one who likes to mess with pulling a downrigger behind my kayak, and I like to do things the easy way, so I prefer to fish for kokanee when they are at or near the surface. Call me lazy if you want, but I save my energy for fighting fish. Now that you know what water to look for, the next thing to consider is terminal tackle. If you’ve searched through the bait shelf at your local tackle store recently, you already know that zooplankton and copepods aren’t for sale among the nightcrawlers and sand shrimp. And even if you could buy those microscopic little shrimp, where would you find a hook small enough to put them on? The next best thing to baiting up with the prime food source of the kokanee is to entice them to strike out of irritation. Fortunately, fishermen have been developing kokanee tackle for years, and the typical gear is a small dodger followed closely by a small pink hoochie over a pair of small hooks that are tipped with corn or maggots. Variations include adding beads, spinner

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blades, Smile Blades and scent. I won’t go into details on what combination works best as there is already a huge amount of information out there, and some very avid kokanee fishermen can argue the finer points of bead combinations and leader lengths much better than I (for more, see Don Talbot’s Basin Beacon column this issue). However, I love to break the rules – seldom do I fish with the standard kokanee set-up. Maybe it’s the rebel fisherman in me, or maybe it’s a justification for the vast quantity of tackle that I’ve purchased over the years, but I love to try out new gear when kokanee fishing. I’ve caught the fish on almost every type of tackle in my arsenal. I’ve caught them without the use of dodgers, I’ve caught them on small spoons, Apex lures, and I’ve had success with some very goofy-looking homemade spinners. It’s important to remember that when the bite turns off and the fish are still showing up on the fish finder, it’s time to switch it up. Ultimately, the best thing an angler can fish with is confidence, so

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KING!

if you’re beginning to doubt a particular piece of gear, it’s time to tie on a new presentation.

TROLLING SPEED FOR these fish is generally slower than 2 mph, which is perfect for kayak fishing. Other techniques that have increased the strike rates from kokanee include varying your speed and trolling in an irregular path. For most kayak anglers it is difficult to maintain a uniform trolling speed, as the speed of the kayak varies with a variety of factors – wind, current and even the amount of constant energy one puts in. For example, when I put my paddle down to grab a quick bite or stop peddling to stretch, there is an immediate speed change to my small craft. Powerboats don’t always experience this same effect; larger and heavier boats are reluctant, per se, to slow down quickly due to the inertia carried by their size and weight. So when trolling for kokanee, don’t hesitate to reach for that sandwich or take a short break for a few seconds; the change in speed might be just what it takes to trigger the next strike. The other thing that a kayak angler should do when trolling for kokanee is to take the scenic route around the lake. By this I mean, don’t be in a hurry to take a straight-line path to any place in particular, and the more turns you can put into the route the better. During a turn your presentation is either slowing down or speeding up, depending on whether it is entering or exiting the turn. Often times these fish will strike immediately after your lure changes direction. I believe this is due to the fact that the presentation slows down for just a moment as the turn begins and then accelerates and changes direction as it enters the apex of the turn. There is certainly a ton of information available on kokanee fishing in the Northwest, and you could spend days searching through it to learn the ropes in this fishery before wetting a line. But I believe that experience is the best teacher and for kokanee fishing in a kayak, the best learning method is to spend time as much time on the water as possible. So get your gear together and pick out a suitable lake. As soon as you start catching them, you’re certain to become a huge fan of kokanee fishing too. NS

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COLUMN

6 Mistakes Chelan Kokanee Rookies Make L BASIN BEACON By Don Talbot

ake Chelan has turned into a world-class kokanee fishery in the past decade. Growing up, I spent my summers on the freshwater fjord at the yacht club, right in the middle of the place known as The Narrows. The bag limit back then was 25 kokanee per person per day. The only problem was, each fish weighed only a fifth of a pound.

Fast forward several decades and the average-sized kokanee in the lake today is 1.5 pounds. The biggest I caught 40 years ago was a skinny 17-incher that weighed in at 1 pound. Nowadays, one of the same length is fat and over 2 pounds on the scale. Kokanee season used to start in May in Chelanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lower basin, working uplake through the summer until the fishery ended in August. However, anglers have found that the landlocked salmon are fishable year-round from the 60-foot depths in front of the Lake Chelan City Park

Conventional wisdom about Lake Chelan kokanee has been upended in recent years, with anglers like Scott Fletcher now ďŹ nding landlocked sockeye year-round. But there are a few tricks to catching the bigger ones. (DON TALBOT)

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COLUMN just below Pat & Mike’s gas-and-food stop to the head of the lake. Guides targeted and caught kokanee all winter long just above The Narrows.

WITH THE THIRD annual Something Catchy Kokanee Derby coming to the lake April 16-17 (somethingcatchy.org), this is a great time to learn Chelan’s primary kokanee hot spots, as well as six errors that rookies make, limiting their overall results. We’ll start there. 1) Rookies hang out in the same part of the lake all day. They can’t figure out how experienced kokanee fishermen are coming in with their limits; 2) Rookies fish too shallow during the middle of the day; 3) Rookies don’t turn around after going over a school of kokanee on the sonar; 4) Rookies watch other boats pound fish without questioning the depth or lure presentation being used; 5) Rookies don’t make “S” turns, which slow down and speed up their presentations; 6) And rookies don’t network with fellow kokanee anglers elsewhere on the lake. A good koke fisherman is in communication with others willing to share information throughout the day. Indeed, if there’s one thing I want you to get out of this article, it’s that if you want to consistently catch Lake Chelan kokanee, you had better be able to network with other serious kokanee anglers out on the water throughout the day. Cell service extends from the town of Chelan and Manson up to The Narrows, and is why I hang out most of the time above the yacht club during the middle of the day. Sorry, but this is my big fish hangout! HERE’S A GREAT strategy to catching more kokanee consistently on Chelan in spring. If I don’t care about fish size and just want a limit, I will troll in shallow water in the middle of the lake about 40 to 60 feet down in a spot called The Nursery. It is located below the blue-roofed condos, where the water depth in the middle of the lake is under 100 feet deep. It is very easy to catch lots of 12- to 14-inch fish in this location. Many boats will start here because the action is steady until about 9 a.m. I will use a different lure combination for shallow-water fish. Mack’s Wedding Ring-style lures work excellent on smaller kokanee in this region of the lake. A small squid of 1.5 inches or less also works well. The small Shasta Tackle Sling Blade dodger is extremely popular in this area of the lake, and so is the 50/50 silver/gold hammered mini Gold Star dodger from Silver Horde. I only use a 12- to 15-inch leader here, and troll about 1.2 to 1.4 mph. THE STRATEGY FOR tournament anglers is to fish elsewhere than The Nursery, except at the very end of the day to limit. So where are the big kokanee at Chelan? I actually ask a different question: Where are the majority of the lake’s landlocked Chinook located? I have found that big kokanee hang out with big Chinook most of the time. Last year’s kokanee derby was won above the yacht club, in a region that produced more kings than any other place on the lake that time of the year. You will also find Chinook at The 96 Northwest Sportsman

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Mack’s Lure’s Smile Blades are a favorite of Chelan kokanee ﬁends, but the more oblong MoneyMaker Shaker Wings like this one are getting noticed by anglers and ﬁsh alike. Both products provide extra action to the terminal presentation at the slow speeds the kokanee like. (DON TALBOT)

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COLUMN Narrows, Monument, Party Point, below Wapato Point, at Rocky Point and out from Pat & Mike’s across from Rocky Point in 120 to 250 feet of water throughout the day. Here is a really good strategy for catching larger-than-average kokanee. I troll faster than most people do so that I have a chance at bigger fish more often. I will troll between 1.6 and 2 mph to locate a small school of big fish in water between 120 and 200 feet deep. I have four downriggers and use two of the ’riggers on the outside to run my deep presentations. I get a big kick out of using a pink Brad’s mini Super Bait Cut Plug for bigger kokanee. I learned this secret from Scott “Hollywood” Fletcher about five years ago. The funny thing is that while it doesn’t make any sense to use this size of a lure on kokanee, it just flat-out works. We will run a 30- to 36-inch leader behind a 2/0 Les Davisstyle dodger or the “new” MoneyMaker Leo flasher in the action slot, just to see which flasher/dodger the fish want. I always have a treble stinger on the back hook to prevent the kokanee from stealing all the bait. I will load up the treble with one piece of shoe peg corn on each hook and a bunch of marinated shoe peg corn in the middle of the lure. I like to dip the entire lure in my favorite Super Dipping Sauce. Other scents work well out on the water, but the wide mouth of the Super Dipping Sauce container allows you to soak your bait in the scent to absorb more smell. I actually built a scent tray on both sides of my boat to prevent scent from dripping into the boat.

I do not run the Brad’s Mini Cut Plug any shallower than 80 feet down. I use other presentations for my middle rods and shallow rods. Frank’s Fly Box on Facebook has a “new” and very interesting kokanee fly with a MoneyMaker Shaker Wing to give the lure extra action. I will use this combo on my middle rods at depths of 70 to 100 feet down during the day, along with all my squid combinations. Mack’s Lure Smile Blades are used by the majority of kokanee anglers at this time to put more action into their squid presentations, but the Wenatchee company now has competition from the “new” patent-pending Shaker Wings hitting the market. Off the shallow rods, set at 40 to 60 feet, I will run a simple lure like a Yakima Bait Needlefish with only one piece of corn, or a simple bead pattern with a small Smile Blade or 1-inch Shaker Wing in silver, pink or even orange. I use a 4/0 dodger with a 14inch leader spacing. The middle rod needs more action, so I will bend a Sling Blade to swing all the hoochie/fly patterns more, and go with a slightly longer leader of about 16 inches or so.

I DO A ton of “S” curves out kokanee fishing, so many in fact that I was turned in for not holding a constant course in The Narrows one year. The angler was really upset about how much I turned and complained to Hooked On Toys (509-663-0740) in Wenatchee. They were tired of watching our boat catch all the fish and failed to ask questions. I turn all over the place and get all kinds of slowing-down/speeding-up action out of the lures at all depths. The rods are different for my deep and shallow presentations.

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COLUMN I like to use a firmer 9½-foot TICA 6-15-pound-rated baitcasting steelhead rod for my deep rods due to the larger size lure and dodger combinations. I use TICA Kokanee Rods for my middle and shallow presentations. The reels are loaded with 20- to 40-pound braid with a different setback for the deep rods. I will run the deep rods with a 20- to 40-foot setback of 20-pound fluorocarbon. I will run the Kokanee Rods with a 50-foot setback of 15-pound fluorocarbon. Kokanee are not nearly as line-shy at over 100 feet in depth. I use a heavier clip as needed to keep the deep rods from releasing at faster speeds. I will go into baiting secrets in greater depth in a later article, but suffice it to say, dye the corn from time to time to see if it makes a difference. A bunch of shoe peg corn-marinating secrets are floating around and all I know is that anise is a good start to any marinade. Have fun coming up with the secret formula. Enjoy the world-class kokanee fishing on Lake Chelan. If you have any additional questions about this subject, contact me at Don Talbot’s Fishing (509-679 8641; donsfishingguideservice.com). If you know that I am on the water, give me a call (just remember, cell service dies above the yacht club). I will network with you as the day goes on. NS It’s hard to argue with results! Author Don Talbot says that while it doesn’t make any sense to use a lure the size of a pink Brad’s mini Super Bait Cut Plug on kokanee, it just ﬂat-out works. (DON TALBOT)

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COLUMN Even now that they’re all grown up, Blake and Wade Ramsey and their mom and dad, Maggie and Buzz, love to get out on Rowland Lake for the trout opener, a family tradition across the Northwest. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

Trout Fishing Is A Family Affair A

lthough our sons are now in their 20s, they still like to chase hungry trout with their “Dad,” and so every year about this time, I start assembling our gear for the upcoming opener. On the small lake near our home in South-central Washington, that occurs BUZZ RAMSEY on the fourth Saturday in April. While filling reels with fresh line and rigging the terminal end of each rod, I find myself thinking about the first few fishing trips with Maggie and my then-young sons Blake and Wade.

ACTUALLY, OUR FIRST few fishing trips with Blake, when he was just two, didn’t turn out so well. You see, Blake seemed more interested

Joining the Ramseys on this early 1990s trip was Chaz Wolfe, left. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

in flailing the water with his rod tip than paying attention to what might be happening on the end of his line. This wasn’t all bad; it kept him busy – until he started forgetting to hang on. Let me tell you, those little push-button rod-and-reel outfits sank like rocks, and Dad got tired of replacing them. The next year, when Blake was three, was when he started getting the hang of casting, watching his back cast and paying attention to what was happening on the end of his line. Wow, did he get excited landing those fat trout. When his younger brother, Wade, started going along, I decided we should switch to trolling methods, since Wade was a wild caster too. To outfit our boys for trolling, I stepped them up from the closed-faced push-button reels they’d started with, to 5-foot spinning rods and reels filled with 6-pound-test line. Since

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COLUMN open-face spinning reels can be more prone to tangles, I was careful not to overfill them, leaving an eighth of an inch of space between the line and rim of the reel spool.

THE SECRET TO keeping the boys interested while on the water, I knew, was to keep the trips short, fun and productive. Taking plenty of food and warm clothes along were good ideas too. To ensure fishing success, we planned our first trip on the opening day of trout season. This is when limits are easy, because most lakes have been freshly stocked with hatchery fish. To get the straight scoop, I checked out the department’s website. Now everything was in place – new fishing outfits, two eager boys and a lake full of hungry trout. Trolling is one of the easiest techniques to master, unless you have two boys who cannot keep their lines apart. They had somehow tangled their lines before we even lost sight of the boat ramp. Steering the boat while at the same time trying to untangle their lines was almost more than I could handle. I kept my cool, though, and the throttle low, remembering how much better trout like a lure trolled slowly. It’s a good thing trolling in a zigzag works best, because I could not hold a straight course while dealing with their second big line tangle of the day. Didn’t I just do this a few minutes ago? Not wanting to discourage them, I reminded both how well they were doing, while wishing I’d brought some Excedrin for my head.

Fat trout were rolling everywhere on the lake’s slick surface, which excited the boys, who started pointing the way. Their lines had no more than straightened out behind the boat from the second tangle when the first trout pulled Blake’s rod down sharply. I’m not sure the hook got set; because he was reeling so fast, it pulled out before we saw the fish. I reminded Blake how smart trout were, and that he might try reeling a little slower the next time. My fish finder showed almost no fish deep. However, the sidefinding transducer (it shoots a fish-finding beam out to the side) was marking plenty of scattered fish near the surface. Since most fish were running shallow, we ran every lure “clean,” without additional weight. After about half an hour, each boy had landed a couple trout and lost several others. Still the bite seemed slow, considering the number of hatchery trout dimpling the water’s surface. We tried several different lures; all seemed to produce if given enough time. We finally hit on the hot lure of the day: a silver F-5 FlatFish with the hook tipped with half a white PowerBait grub (the gold-colored version of the plug worked too). As important as using the right lure color was trolling at the correct speed. One half mile an hour was just about perfect; any faster and the bite seemed to slow. I remember trying to convince the boys to quit petting their already-caught fish long enough to set the hook when the next one bit! NS Editor’s note: The author is a brand manager and part of the management team at Yakima Bait. Like Buzz on Facebook.

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COLUMN

Starting Over With Trout

Trout are the species that most if not all of us start out ﬁshing for. Even if we move on to other, larger ﬁsh, they’ll always remain near and dear. Ava Bray caught this one last spring on a private pond. (COREY BRAY)

pril is the traditional trout opener in Washington, something that, honestly, I haven’t looked forward to in many years, probably dating back to when I stopped going to Lake Desire in King County, or Bay Lake in Pierce County. In my WIESTSIDER youth, I couldn’t wait. The anticipation of By Terry Wiest finally getting out and fishing with Dad was the best. But as we grow up, some of us lose that ambition for trout as we turn to other things. My time was mainly taken up by college, girls and other activities that just didn’t involve sitting in a boat waiting for a little trout to bite. The “fishing” bug didn’t leave me, though. In fact, it probably got worse. But it was more for steelhead and salmon – you know, the bigger fish. Now, many years later, I look back and relish those old times on the lakes. Dad is gone. The simple times, gone.

THE OTHER DAY I was driving with my wife and noticed something that has never left my mind. Passing a lake on the side of the road I could see myself in a boat relaxing and fishing for trout. I always find myself looking at rivers along the road, thinking how I’d fish it. But now, I was actually thinking of trout fishing again! Now, it’s not that I haven’t fished for trout since I was a youth. It’s now I want to really go for it, to get out and actually target

trout again. So many things are still the same from before. Pautzke’s Balls O’ Fire are still around, and marshmallows and worms never crawled out of the scene. But now that I’m looking at the opener, I’m looking at what’s new in the trout world. First up, in my truck, I now carry a new 65-quart Pelican Cooler in the back. Man, this thing is freakin’ awesome! I load up with ice and everything that needs to be cold for a week. When I get back home, it’s still cold, and still has ice! I also carry a 35-quart Pelican cooler for the boat. Perfect for bait and the daily beverages. Oh, and I only have to put ice in it once as well, as it too will keep everything cold for the entire trip. This cooler also doubles as a chair with the padded seat I have on top. Also from Pelican I have a new flashlight. I can’t believe how bright these new models are. The 3310PL LED is light, bright, waterproof – and it glows in the dark to make it easy to find. It’s perfect for that o’dark thirty launch at the lake. Now for a new rod and reel. As a kid it seemed I’d get a new setup almost every year, until I fell in love with a particular combination and it was super “lucky.” I did so well with that combo that I kept it all these years. A few weeks ago I went over to Mom’s house and it was still out in the shed. It doesn’t look anything like I remembered, except for the color. I found myself wondering what was so good about it. That’s an easy one to answer: It was all the memories that were created with that simple rod and reel. Yep, I’ll retire that combo. It served its purpose.

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COLUMN To get a new setup, though, I’m looking for something that will last me through my retirement. I have a connection with G.Loomis and Shimano and have been able to see the future of trout rods, the new E6X Trout and Kokanee Series rods due out about the time of this article. Hold onto your hats, folks, these things are about to blow you away! As with all my rods and reels, I like to have multiple setups for multiple techniques – why would it be any different with trout? Exactly, it shouldn’t. So for my spinning outfit, I’ve got to go with the traditional TRS 690-1. A 5-foot-9 one-piece rod rated for 1-4-pound test, this moderate-fast-action ultralight will give me some super-fun action with all sizes of trout. There are two 690 models to choose from, the “fiber blend” model, which is $230, and the GLX version, which is $365. They are both superior trout rods that will get the job done and let you have fun doing it. But what about the new E6X? Oh, I haven’t forgotten. My new trout/kokanee rod has arrived – yes! Approved by the kokanee general himself, Bill Herzog, the new 932C TKR has landed in my garage. We got to “test” these rods as part of a G.Loomis Skeleton Crew Challenge, and I must say these are the finest kokanee rods I have ever felt. If you fish for trout, super good rod. If you fish for kokanee, you simply must have one. They will blow you away. OK, so that’s half of the business end. I’ll couple them up with two reels from my friends at Shimano. The Symetre SY500FL is so much fun! An ultralight reel with a smooth-as-butter drag, I use

it for pinks, and since the 500 is a notch down in size, it will be a perfect match for my ultralight setup. For my kokanee rod, I’ll couple it with a Calcutta CT100B. I love the Calcutta lineup and there’s no reason to change up since they offer one in a smaller size for kokanee. Done deal. Most of you know I’m a PowerPro fan, but for trout we’re going back to mono. Not only the same mono I used back as a kid, but the best mono there is now, Maxima Ultragreen. The only thing I’ll change between then and now is the line strength. I used to use 6-pound test for both mainline and leader, but I’ll be stepping down to 4- and 3-pound test, repectively. OK, so now comes the last but not least part. What the heck am I going to use to entice these little buggers? As I mentioned above, my ol’ standby is Balls O’ Fire, and I’ll be packing some, but just as more rod, reel and line options have come out over the years, Pautzke too is introducing new eggs – Pink Shrimp, Chartreuse Garlic and Natural Deluxe. Mmmmm, they all look yummy, but I think I’ll let the fish try them. This month marks the start of a new era for me. Not only am I going to start trout fishing again, but fly fishing as well! Stay tuned to see how that goes. NS Editor’s note: Terry J. Wiest is the author of Steelhead University: Your Guide to Salmon & Steelhead Success, Float Fishing for Salmon and Steelhead, and is the owner of Steelhead University, SteelheadU.com.

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COLUMN

Get Bullish On Trout T

he lower Skagit River downstream of Mount Vernon remains one of three greater Puget Sound basin streams still open in the early spring for By Doug Huddle sport angling. The short reach of the Stillaguamish below Marine Drive and – if you’re willing to call it a stream – the Lake Washington Ship Canal are the two others. Steelhead and salmon are off limits, the former year-round, the latter during spring and summer. However, anglers are free to target the Skagit’s native char (bull trout and Dolly Varden), though they’re otherwise federally protected in other streams, and trout, chiefly cutthroat longer than 14 inches or rainbows between 14 and 20 inches, also may be kept. Sturgeon are fair-game too – that is, you can rig up to go after

NORTH SOUND

quite effectively in the North Fork below the Fir Island Road bridge and in the narrow channels of several North Fork distributaries that course through the marshes west of Craft Island. The latter are best fished through the high slack. Even with the ban on natural baits there are an assortment of artificial substitutes such as Silver Horde plugs, Rapala Magnum or ExtremeLure Paddle Tail Swim Baits that can imitate the downstream-migrating salmon and steelhead smolts. The breadth of fly patterns often used in the limited-visibility water runs the gamut from smaller streamers to wet emergers to dry terrestrial imitations. Among the more unusual tie-ups occasionally used are San Juan worms. Dry flies often are presented under overhanging trees or undergrowth and dead-drifted successfully. The streamer It might be a few more weeks before it gets that warm in the North Sound, but Danica Denham and Josh Etringer show off a nice bull trout caught trolling the Skagit last May. Bait’s prohibited in the ﬁshery on the lower river, but ﬂy patterns, stickbaits, swimbaits and spinners all work on the char and sea-run cutthroat swimming in the forks and sloughs. Both species are open for retention this time of year, but the minimum size varies between them. (DAIWA PHOTO CONTEST)

them (under a special gear allowance) – but none may be retained. Mostly these flowing waters are renown in the spring for their lively and entertaining cutthroat trout action on light spinning gear or a fly rod. Many fall short of the minimum keeper size. More difficult to fish for under the bait prohibition, bull trout are nonetheless a treat. The tactic for them, now banned, was back-trolling a 6- to 7-inch whole or plug-cut herring. The smolthunting bull trout readily strike those baits. That approach worked

technique, depending on the pattern, may be presented in a downstream-oriented retrieve simulating outmigrating pink and chum fry. Though requiring a veteran’s finesse to fish successfully without losing terminal offerings, the waters in around and amid large woody debris are favorite stalking grounds of feeding immature cutts or kelts, which are spawned-out adults. If you work lures such as small Dick Nites, Rooster Tails or

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COLUMN Miracle Lures, present or drift them downstream, then retrieve into the current at a very slow cranking speed, letting the current impart both loft and action to the offering. If you choose to work faster water, use a drop sinker off a three-way swivel. While bank approaches are limited here, access for jet sleds is convenient, thanks to six well-spaced ramps spread throughout the delta on the Skagit’s two major forks. Those are: Edgewater Park at Mount Vernon and Spudhouse, both on the mainstem; Conway Bridge (South Fork), Milltown (South Fork, Tom Moore Slough); Skagit Wildlife Area Headquarters (South Fork, Freshwater Slough); and Blake’s (private resort, North Fork). Anglers with oar/paddle/current-powered craft can also easily work lengthy reaches by putting in and drifting from, say, the Spudhouse down to Blake’s, or from Conway to Headquarters. Those who drift down and paddle back can take advantage of tidal changes in the lower reaches to counteract river currents.

RAINBOW RENDEZVOUS Even with so many lakes now in the legal-to-fish-year-round column, the late April lowland opener remains one of the most anticipated and well-attended single-day angling events on Washington’s outdoors calendar. In Whatcom and Skagit Counties, eight easily accessible “seasonal” lakes are the focus of this spring rite of fishing. Each is well fortified with rainbow trout reared at several local state hatcheries that are the envy of the system. With its constanttemperature well-water, Kendall Creek Hatchery on the North Fork of the Nooksack – in particular, during the cold winter months – packs exceptional growth on its annual cultured trout contingent, readily producing robust pound-apiece rainbows. Angling remains excellent for these trout until water temperatures in the lakes climb in June. To latch into some of these feisty fish, look to the lakes in this line-up: Lake Padden: With its unrivaled shore access and transit bus service, this 152-acre suburban fishing spot never lets its hookand-line visitors down. For opening day, Padden gets 20,500 1-pound rainbows, plus 656 2-pound triploids. Fully surrounded by a city park, bank fishing space abounds, and there are two floating docks and a revetment for disabled fishers on the northwest side. 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. Launching and rules: The Bellingham Parks Department’s single concrete puncheon ramp is suitable for short trailers, cartoppers and carry-ins. By city ordinance gas motors not allowed. Getting there: Drive about 2 miles south on Samish Way, Exit 252 off Interstate 5. Silver Lake: Featuring two main accesses, including a fine Whatcom County park, this 173-acre foothills angler haunt is a one-stop fishing experience with its early-morning trout derby, a pancake breakfast, rowboats for rent, plus fishing supplies for sale. Silver is the biggest of the county’s hatchery-stocked lakes, 116 Northwest Sportsman

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but with its crowds of faithful, plunking is preferable in the early morning, until the fleet thins out for trollers. It’s getting 16,000 of the pounder rainbows, and produces some cutthroat from fry plants, as well as small bass, sunfish and brookies of natural origin. Launching and rules: WDFW’s ramp is at the north end and accommodates small, trailered boats. At the south end, the Silver Lake County Park ramp also is small-trailer capable. Motors are allowed, all hours. For the whole lake, an idle/no-wake rule applies from opening day to May 20. Getting there: Drive east on State Route 542 to Maple Falls, then north on Silver Lake Road about 4 miles. Toad Lake: For those without a lakeshore home or friend with one, there’s just one way in to this 29-acre, out-of-the-way “locals” lake hidden in the heights northeast of Bellingham. Between 50 to 80 boats easily fit into Toad’s cozy confines and the relatively scarce angling amenity also present: a public fishing dock. Don’t try to get to the lake by reading a map. The Pebble Beach Road in Emerald Lake Estates goes to private property where touchy owners call the sheriff on trespassers. Toad is getting 5,000 of the chunky Kendall rainbows, and 246 triploids also are destined for release here. Launching and rules: The WDFW ramp is graveled and suitable for cartoppers and small, trailered craft. There is limited maneuvering room here. By county ordinance, gas motors and wakes are not allowed. Getting there: Toad’s sole public access is at the end of Toad Lake Road, up from Academy Street off North Shore Drive in Bellingham’s northeast Silver Beach neighborhood. Parking is limited. Cain Lake: Transformed from a slow starter into a hot openingday spot by a change in the stocking regime, this 72-acre rural lake is now a hit with locals. Besides some of the 9,500 hefty hatchery rainbows, anglers might reel in one or two “silvers” from naturally spawned kokanee that have adapted to the lake. Perch and largemouth bass start biting later. There is no public shore-fishing space and the south end public entry is small. Launching and rules: WDFW’s ramp is graveled and accommodates small, trailered boats. By county ordinance, gas motors are not allowed, nor are wakes. Getting there: Drive east on Lake Whatcom Boulevard from Bellingham through Sudden Valley, or drive south on I-5 to Alger, then go east on Cain Lake Road until it curves back into Whatcom County. Turn left on Camp 2 Road and drive about .2 mile to the access at the outlet. Lake Erie: Rich in nutrients though lacking in depth, this 111acre Fidalgo Island lake in western Skagit County had a reputation for raising from fingerling size and serving up some beautiful rainbow trout. To perpetuate that in the face of wintering cormorants and illegally introduced perch, a change in stocking strategies had to be made. Erie gets 13,000 rainbows between a half and 1 pound each, together with 533 triploids for 2016. Plan to still-fish for a while before there’s room to troll. There’s no public shore space for fishing. Launching and rules: The small WDFW access has a graveled

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COLUMN ramp with a shallow drop-off for small trailered craft and has limited maneuvering room and off-road parking. Getting there: Drive west on State Route 20 from I-5 at Burlington through Sharpes Corner. Take Lake Campbell Road west from Highway 20 about 2 miles. Heart Lake: Close to half the size of Erie to the south, this 61acre lake still hosts close to the same number of boats and fishes well on the opener. Unlike its neighbor, Heart is surrounded by City of Anacortes forestlands, so there’s plenty of space for bank-borne anglers who do almost as well as those in stationary boats. Heart gets 8,000 of the near-pound-sized rainbows, and a dose of 369 triploids for the opener. Launching and rules: The city’s concrete puncheon ramp has a shallow drop for up to small trailered craft. By city ordinance, wakes are disallowed with the 5 mph speed limit. Getting there: Take Heart Lake Road north from Lake Erie Road, or drive south on Heart Lake Road from 11th Avenue in Anacortes. There’s some off-road parking, with spillover onto a county road. Lake McMurray: Often attracting anglers from three counties to its expanses, this 160-acre southwest Skagit County lake can accommodate both trolling in the lake’s deeper middle section and anchored still-fishing at either end. It’s well-stocked with 13,000 Marblemount Hatchery rainbows about a half of a pound each, together with a few native cutthroat and perhaps a landlocked salmon or two. There are also perch,

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black crappie and largemouth. Several large but private access areas are found on McMurray’s shore if you are willing to join a fraternal or community club. Launching and rules: WDFW’s ramp is graveled, handles small trailered craft but can be crowded. Boats are limited to 5 mph. Getting there: Take State Route 534 east about 5 miles from Conway. The public access is on the lake’s south end. Parking spills over onto a narrow access road to the highway. Lake Sixteen: The smallest of Skagit’s “lowland” stocked waters, this 41-acre is favored by locals and usually yields good catches from the 6,000 rainbows normally stocked. Discerning anglers may also notice a few wild cutthroat in their creels, usually the result of trolling in close to the weedy shoreline. Launching and rules: WDFW’s ramp is graveled and handles small, trailered craft. By county ordinance gas-powered motors are banned. Parking is tight, but under no circumstances should you leave a vehicle on the county road. Getting there: Take State Route 534 1.9 miles east from I-5 at Conway, then turn left on Lake 16 Road.

NEXT ISSUE Lingcod, halibut and shrimp, hike-in foothills waters and topwater bassing. 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 33 years.

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Between Seattle and Spokane, I-90 provides access to a number of great trout ďŹ sheries, and none may be more productive than Sprague Lake, where author Al Schultz caught this nice rainbow on a Rapala. (AL SCHULTZ)

ROAD TRIP! A weekend hall pass and I-90 lead to three trophy trout waters for Tacoma anglers.

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FISHING Floating the Yakima, Leo Pierson casts a dry ﬂy during an afternoon hatch.

By Al Schultz

arly in April of last year, I got three days off in a row and I knew just how I wanted to spend them: fishing my way across Eastern Washington. I didn’t want any wasted time. I wanted the trip to be productive, with plenty of time for fishing, catching quality trout and enjoying time with a friend. In January at the Western Washington Sportsman’s Show I’d obtained a “show special for two” flyer from the good folks at the Ellensburg Angler Guide Service (ellensburgangler.com), so I called them up and asked if the flyer was still good. They said it was, so I booked a trip for two floating the Yakima River. Day one was planned! I contacted my friend, Leo Pierson, and advised him he was being included in another one of my harebrained outdoor adventure schemes. “Oh, by the way,” I added, “don’t forget to load up your camper.” Leo is a retired meat cutter and butcher who worked for over 30 years at the old Hi-Grade Meat Packing Plant that used to exist in Tacoma before it closed down and headed south. At 80 years old he still gets around well and is the best company and my first choice for a partner on any trip. My “plan” called for his camper with my boat towed behind. We would fish for trophy trout on three distinctly different waters open to the public year-round without having to spend more than two and a half hours on I-90 between fishing destinations, except on our way back. I had to work right up until an hour before we were scheduled to leave, so I told Leo to meet me at 7 a.m. at my house. We’d hitch my boat to his truck and head straight away east to Ellensburg, where we were scheduled to meet our guide at 10 a.m.

ZERO HOUR ARRIVED, and three hours later Leo and I found Stefan

(AL SCHULTZ)

Woodruff patiently waiting for us. We parked, grabbed some coffee, our fly rods and vests, and jumped in his rig and headed to the launch where he readied his drift boat. One thing that jumped out in my mind about the guide service is how thorough, organized and, above all, competent they were. In no time at all we were loaded up in Woodruff’s boat and drifting the Yakima. Our guide had a plan: Due to the cooler temps and overcast sky, he opted for us to fish nymphs beneath a float, which he deftly and expertly rigged up and attached to our fly rods. Then in true guide fashion, he headed right for some holes he knew to be choice lurks for lunker rainbows. Remember how I didn’t want any wasted time on this trip? The folks at Ellensburg Angler, especially Woodruff, got it. We were on the water promptly, drifting and fishing one productive hole after another, no wasted time. “Fish on!” I nearly shouted, despite the fact that the only people around were in the same boat as I. I was amazed at the solitude. It was hard to believe a trophy trout stream so close to Puget Sound would be so devoid of people. The fish I’d hooked had shoulders and used the current to its

advantage, bowing my 6-weight fly rod nearly double, stripping line off the reel and causing my drag to whir. I had heard of the quality of fish on the Yak, but to actually experience the wildness and tenacity of the trout that inhabit this beautiful river was something else! While I played the fish, a beautiful, brilliantly colored 16- or 17-inch rainbow, Woodruff landed our drift boat on a gravel bar. And when I brought the fish to hand, he quickly stepped out, expertly netted the fish, then gently and reverently removed the fish so I could take a quick photo prior to releasing it. As I watched him carefully handle the fish I was struck by how truly special this fishery was to him, and it was apparent how much he loved it and felt responsible to be a good steward of it. I have fished a lot of places all over the world and have never seen anyone exemplify stewardship the way Woodruff did throughout the day, beginning with this first fish. As we drifted there were certain shallow gravel-bottomed pools that Woodruff stated he would rather not fish because the trout were spawning and had made redds there. He didn’t want to drag an anchor or anything through those areas and possibly nwsportsmanmag.com | APRIL 2016

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FISHING LEAVING ELLENSBURG, WE headed towards destroy or disturb the redds. We continued drifting and catching ﬁsh and soon it was lunchtime. The folks at Ellensburg Angler offer hot shoreline lunches and Woodruff turned out to be a grill master! As I cast from shore, Leo settled in to enjoy some fruit and a beverage, while our guide began grilling steaks and preparing a salad. Before long we were all enjoying a delicious shoreline lunch. Afterwards, we helped pack everything back aboard the drifter and resumed our journey

Day 2’s destination: Ephrata for dinner and camping along Rocky Ford Creek. Rocky Ford is a shoreline fishery only – no floating or wading. Bank access was good, but, as ever in the Columbia Basin, the wind and brush can wreak havoc on novice fly anglers’ casts. As daylight broke the horizon, we rigged our rods with Czech nymphs (scuds) and plied the spring creek’s warm waters for huge rainbows. Rocky Ford is known far and wide as a trophy catch-and-release fishery, and fish 24 inches or larger are not Next stop, Rocky Ford, where a young angler brings one of the creek’s rainbows to the net. (AL SCHULTZ)

downstream in pursuit of more trout. Sometime in the early afternoon the sun broke through the clouds and almost instantly the air seemed to still and warm. Then, one of those magical moments happened: Mayflies began to emerge and in some of the stillwater eddies, trout began to rise. We quickly switched our rigs to dry flies, and while Woodruff worked the oars to keep us in the pocket, Leo and I had a ball catching fish on dries. After a while we resumed our drift and lucked into a few more grand fish before we reached the take-out. We had a terrific time and I learned a lot about the fishery and fishing, and how to be a good steward of the river, all simply by watching and listening to Woodruff, a man half my age. Our Eastside fishing trip was already awesome and it was only day 1! 122 Northwest Sportsman

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uncommon. But hear ye, hear ye, lest ye think that it is like shooting fish in a barrel, understand that these trout have been caught and released who knows how many times and they have the scarred noses and lips to prove it. They know every fly by its catalog number and they’ve seen every presentation, good and bad. They are not easily fooled. To catch one of these behemoths is not only a reward but a validation of one’s competency with a switch and string! Leo and I wandered our separate ways in pursuit of our own dreams (and validation!), and later in the afternoon we returned to the camper where we had a late lunch and shared respective stories of monsters lost and minnows landed. As an update, more water is flowing in Rocky Ford this spring, so

places we were able to stand on shore last April may be flooded now. With increased current, anglers are also reporting a need to use more weight, per se, in the form of a beaded fly and dropper setup to get their offerings down to the level of the fish.

WE PACKED UP in late afternoon and motored to our next destination, Four Seasons Campground and Resort (fourseasonscampground. com) along the west end of Sprague Lake. We checked in with our hosts Scott and Jane Haugen and hastily set up camp to get a little fishing in before dark. The resort has wonderful campsites and a good launch, as well as ample dock space for bank anglers. Fishing here has benefited from the lawsuit settlement between the Wild Fish Conservancy and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. As it prohibited releasing most of the 2014 crop of early-timed winter steelhead smolts into Puget Sound rivers, 369,000 of the young fish went into Sprague, which has no access to the sea. After just a year in the rich lake, many of those steelhead were over 2 pounds and 16 or 17 inches in length, and they’ll be even bigger this spring. Leo and I fully intended to capitalize. The evening of Day 2 found us trolling Rapala Minnows, and within 30 minutes of launching I had landed a 4½-pound rainbow that I promptly released after taking a quick picture. That night we had moose steaks for dinner and the conversation was filled with excitement and anticipation about the fishing we would find in the morning. We were both pretty excited after catching such a nice rainbow after trolling for only half an hour. Day 3 found us on the water after a delicious breakfast of ham and eggs. I frequently marked fish on the Hummingbird Fish Finder and we regularly caught cookiecutter steelies in the 15- to 17-inch range. Actually, we landed so many that I got a little bored and began

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FISHING pursuing other fish that inhabit the 1,800-acre lake, like largemouth. Running a deep-diving crankbait over a submerged boulder field, I managed to hook a nice 4-pound bucketmouth. After releasing the bass, I took a moment to look around and absorb the sun’s rays. I couldn’t believe there were only four other boats in view on the lake. Amazing! We resumed fishing, but as it

turned to afternoon, my hall pass was about to expire, so we motored back to the launch. There we met three amigos also wrapping up their day after limiting on nice steelhead and rainbows off Four Seasons’ dock. As I spoke to them, a family arrived to take their kids ﬁshing on the dock. It was wonderful seeing everyone enjoying this remarkable ﬁshery. When Leo and I got ready to leave, I noticed the wiring harness

pins on my boat trailer were broken and my trailer didn’t have working lights. Haugen went into his shop, found a replacement plug and all the necessary tools to make the ﬁx, and assisted as I spliced the wiring and replaced the plug. He and his wife deﬁne hospitality for sure! Once the repair was made, we thanked our hosts for another tremendous time and made for home. It had been an amazing 72 hours! NS

Sprague Lake anglers like Cye Logsdon and friends not only beneﬁted from the release of nearly 370,000 steelhead smolts into the landlocked Channeled Scablands water, but from the 2007 rotenone and restocking of rainbows and largemouth bass. (AL SCHULTZ)

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Northwest Sportsman 125

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FISHING

NO LAHARS, JUST LUNKERS

Sandpoint’s quiet Mirror Lake, the site where a volcano movie was filmed, holds nice ’bows and brookies, as well as kokanee. Even though Idaho fishery managers quit stocking brook trout at Mirror Lake way back in 1997, the year the locally filmed movie Dante’s Peak hit theaters, each year colorful specimens between 2 and 3 pounds and larger are caught there, author and local flyrodder Mike Wright reports. (MIKE WRIGHT)

By Mike Wright

n 1996 Hollywood paid a visit to North Idaho. Pierce Brosnan, fellow actors, producers, gaffers, wardrobe specialists and others came to shoot the movie Dante’s Peak, the story of a long-dormant volcano suddenly coming to life. Much of the ﬁlm was shot at Mirror Lake, an 80-acre body of water only a short distance out of Sandpoint and nestled in a small, narrow valley surrounded by heavily timbered mountains. Unfortunately for the ﬁlmmakers, there is not really an abundance of volcanic mountains in the Panhandle

or Idaho, so cinematographers simply superimposed a tall, majestic volcano to the south of the lake. The tranquil blue waters of Mirror Lake, dark green mountains, the rustic resort and the addition of the foreboding peak made for a very beautiful, scenic setting for the ﬁlm. As the movie was very popular in North Idaho and Eastern Washington, it sparked a great deal of interest in the lake. Fortunately for anglers, the eruption of Dante’s Peak that turned the lake into an acid bath, killing all the ﬁsh and Granny, was entirely made up, and Mirror remains as productive as it is picturesque.

THE LAKE’S BLESSED with an abundance of lush aquatic vegetation, which provides a home for a wide variety of insect life. There are prolific hatches of midges, damselflies, dragonflies, various mayflies and water boatmen, as well as large number of leeches and tadpoles. Mirror also attracts spruce moths and a number of different terrestrials, including grasshoppers, ants and beetles. The ample forage and favorable water conditions provide for a moderately fast growth rate and very healthy, hard-fighting fish. Idaho Fish and Game stocks 5,000 triploid rainbows annually throughout the year, and 14- to nwsportsmanmag.com | APRIL 2016

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FISHING 16-inchers are about average, with 18- to 20-inchers fairly common. At one time the lake contained German browns, and they often reached well over 20 inches. Nowadays, it is debatable whether there are any of these tackle-busters still available. What is not debatable is the fact that Mirror contains some very respectable brook trout. Even though IDFG quit stocking brookies in 1997, each year colorful specimens between 2 and 3 pounds and larger are caught. The lake is considered by many to be the best place in North Idaho to go for trophy brookies. And since 2009, the state has been adding kokanee fingerlings to the fishery. The rainbows and brookies readily feed on the newcomers, but the carryover fish grow fast and are excellent fighters. Access to Mirror is via easement across private land on the north end. This section of the lake is very shallow and weedy, with cattails completely lining the shore, making bank fishing virtually impossible. The shallow water and aquatic weeds stretch 200

campground. Boat rentals are also available. To fish the north end, a boat, float tube or pontoon boat is required. Soft mud makes it all but impossible to wade fish here. The mud and shallow water also makes it very difficult to launch nearly any floatation device, especially during periods of low water. Fishing off the docks is prohibited, and boats are restricted to electric motors or oars, adding to the tranquility of the lake.

With how productive its waters are, rainbows as big as this one posted at the resort are possible at Mirror, but 14- to 16-inch trout THE BEST STRATEGY for ﬂy are the average with 18- to 20-inchers fairly common. (MIKE WRIGHT)

ﬁshermen is to stay close to the drop-off into deeper water, cast into the edge of the weeds and use a slow to moderate retrieve. Since the weeds are so close to the surface, ﬂoating line is required. Past the drop-off, sink-tip or uniform intermediate sinking line is viable. Early in the year the midge hatch starts to appear, making chironomids

Surrounded almost entirely by national forest, Mirror’s access and boat ramp are on the north end, through a private resort. (MIKE WRIGHT)

to 300 feet into the lake. A private dock is located on the property, along with rustic resort buildings in which bait and other supplies may be purchased, and there’s a spacious 128 Northwest Sportsman

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the ﬂies of choice, usually in red or black. Various leeches and Woolly Buggers in brown or black are also highly effective throughout the season. Grifﬁth’s Gnats and

Renegades work well when fish start coming up for the adult midges. The callibaetis mayflies start to appear sometime in April, making goldribbed Hare’s Ears, Pheasant Tails and Soft Hackle Peacocks the preferred nymph choices, with Adams patterns being the most effective dry flies. Damsel- and dragonflies start to show up in late April and May. Damsel patterns such as green Kauffman Mini Leeches, Sheep Creeks, Six Packs and Carey Specials become more effective at this time of the year. While a blue damsel dry can produce fish, it is not nearly as effective as it is in some other lakes. Unlike many of North Idaho’s lower elevation lakes, Mirror remains productive throughout the warmer summer months. At this time the deeper, cooler water is more productive for fishing. By late summer and fall terrestrial patterns become more common. Hoppers, beetles, ants and spruce moths began to appear, along with tadpoles. Peeka-boo Nymphs, black Woolly Buggers and black and green Mini Leeches become the flies of choice – black Buggers with red tails seem to work especially well. Joe’s Hoppers, red and black ants, black beetles and an Elk Hair Caddis for the spruce moth

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FISHING will all produce ﬁsh. For those using lures and trolling, the best area is along the middle section of the west side. This area has fast drop-offs into deeper, cooler water. Since the water is deeper in this section, it might be advisable to add weight or slow down in order to ensure the lure works deeper. Panther Martins, gold Mepps and Rooster Tails are the most popular for trout. For the kokanee, Wedding Rings coupled with a worm or maggots seems to be the most widely used. Speaking of maggots, looking ahead to next winter, ice ﬁshing is allowed on Mirror and they are the preferred bait.

A PEACEFUL, PLEASANT spot to spend some time, Mirror is not without controversy. As mentioned above, IDFG has held an easement granting access to the lake for over 60 years, but the landowner charges a

“facilities fee” to visitors to use the lake. A group of anglers recently petitioned the state, contending that the lease does not enable the landowner to charge a fee. IDFG Director Virgil Moore concurred that access to the lake appears to be free of charge, according to Keith Kinnaid of the Bonner County Daily Bee. The fee issue was turned over for review by a deputy attorney general, but apparently no decision has been made or the decision was in favor of the landowner. In any case, the fee remains in place. In 1994, the landowner proposed a plan to sell a third of an acre easement to IDFG for $50,000 to cover future income. The proposal was never acted upon. Even though Dante’s Peak generated a great deal of interest in Mirror Lake (fun fact: two years later it served as a backdrop for Everyone Loves Mel, the story of two boys, their gramps, played by Ernest Borgnine, and a giant turtle), anglers will

probably not feel crowded. It is a beautiful place to spend some time ﬁshing and sightseeing. With larger rainbows being stocked, good ﬁshing for naturally reproducing brook trout and the addition of kokanee, angling opportunities are increasing, which may mean more pressure in the future. But for now, Mirror Lake is still somewhat undiscovered. To get here from Coeur d’Alene, take Highway 95 north for 35 miles and turn east by mile marker 456 onto Dufort Road. Travel 4 miles to Talache Road, and turn right onto it. Drive about three-quarters of a mile and turn left at the sign. Whatever you do, you won’t look back on going here as a mistake. NS

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HUNTING

A pair of morel mushrooms grow beneath a burned log in the northern Cascades. The fungi are found throughout the Northwest, and though mainly associated with recent wildﬁres, can pop up elsewhere. True morels are honeycombed on the outside, hollow inside. (PFLY, FLICKR)

Spring’s Other Hunt With millions of acres burned around the Northwest in 2015 and the past few years, this season could provide a bumper crop of morel mushrooms. By Jeff Holmes

pring comes more quickly to Southcentral and Southeast Washington than to the rest of the Inland Northwest, and most of the Northwest for that matter. Longer days, more sunshine and higher nighttime temperatures warm the earth and water and awaken the land. Sporting opportunities compound as the weeks progress through April and further into spring, creating a welcome conﬂict: What to do?

As April begins, water temps awaken species like walleye and bass; catﬁsh and sturgeon respond too. On trout lakes the longer days and warmer water mean hatches of increasing intensity and correspondingly intense feeding behavior. As the month moves along, eyes turn to dam counts as upriver-bound spring Chinook move through the Columbia Gorge and eventually into four distinct zones on the lower Snake: Ice Harbor, Little Goose, Lower Granite and Clarkston.

On the 15th, thousands also take to the hills for the general turkey hunting opener, where they might stumble across some early morel mushrooms emerging amid a chorus of gobblers, pileated woodpeckers, ravens and wild canids. As the month moves toward its final week, the symphony of opportunity reaches a near crescendo. Spring Chinook fever afflicts an army of anglers everywhere there is a legitimate retention opportunity. Meanwhile bass and trout fishing get even better, crappie move shallow, and turkeys strut near almost every fishery. Millions and millions of dollars worth of morels erupt on timbered and burned-forested hillsides throughout the region’s mountains. The final week of the month is one of my favorite nwsportsmanmag.com | APRIL 2016

Northwest Sportsman 133

HUNTING times of year. While I don’t often take part in the trout opener anymore, it once was the biggest event on my angling calendar, and it’s surely the single biggest event in all of Northwest angling. Hundreds of thousands of kids catch trout, many for the ﬁrst time, on the fourth weekend of April: It’s a big deal! There are too many options to engage in everything, and it’s also easy to spread one’s focus too thin; it’s my specialty, in fact. Nonetheless, I just can’t be the guy who locks in on one way to enjoy the outdoors when so many special things are happening. My burning passion during the last week of April will be to catch and eat spring Chinook, I know that going in, so I’ll make sure to already have a few from the Lower Columbia and Willamette in the freezer. That’ll help clear the way for me to do some cool stuff this late April into early May without getting the shakes from springer withdrawal.

Those activities will include some trout fishing with a friend near Cheney and float trips down the Walla Walla and Yakima Rivers for smallmouth bass and channel catfish, but what I’m most looking forward to is combing the woods for delicious and valuable morel mushrooms.

WITHOUT A DOUBT, this is an

you head afield, be sure to check how many mushrooms you can underappreciated activity, Before gather. The limit varies by jurisdiction, so call local national forest, although plenty of people state forest or other government offices to find out. (JEFF HOLMES) pick for themselves, like burns. Use websites such as inciweb me, or commercially. Still, I’m amazed .nwcg.gov and geomac.gov to view at how little competition I find in the past fire perimeters. Generally, morels Blue Mountains for morels, and I’m become steadily less abundant as years pleasantly surprised when I enjoy pass after the couple/few-year boom picking more every year. Morels can right after a fire. I’ve enjoyed very be found just about everywhere there good picking in unburned landscapes are mountains east of the Cascade too. Scouting for mushrooms is the Crest. The fire-ravaged landscapes key until you find good numbers that from the last couple years should are in good shape. They come on later produce great picking, as should older

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HUNTING MOST OF MY life I fished trout hardcore at higher elevations, so starting low and working high to find them is a preferred technique for pickers. Fishing and hunting are my passions, but so is morel picking these days. Walking out of the woods with several pounds makes me very happy. I dry morels, freeze morels, fry them fresh, make soup, and sautee and blend them with butter for freezer storage as “morel butter.” This substance is dangerous because it’s been known to make me sick from overconsumption. Mashed potatoes made with morel butter can’t be beat, nor can morel butter in air-popped popcorn or on rice. Along with being some of the best eats on the landscape, morels inspire the act of slowly searching the Earth at a slow, micro level. It lends a different perspective and is a great opportunity to bring along field guides for wildflowers and other plants. If you haven’t picked before, my story may illustrate how easy it is to start.

every spring, and I spent little time in the woods in April and May. That changed when I took up turkey hunting years ago, and while chasing gobblers I found my ﬁrst few morel mushrooms on Mica Peak near Spokane and in Ferry County north of Republic. They were delicious, and I made a mental note to one day go on a dedicated morel hunt. Well, several Aprils ago during the peak of springer ﬁshing on the Snake, two friends and I drove to Little Goose Dam towing my 15-foot boat despite a less-thannice forecast. As we neared the river, paralleling it near Texas Rapids, we watched the wind pick up river water and spiral it in great water spouts, high in the air. For that to happen it has to be blowing over 40 miles an hour, so we took it as an omen to look for a back-up option. There’s probably not a better place to see turkeys in Southeast Washington than in the open country near the Tucannon River and in the

foothills of the Blue Mountains to the south, but we didn’t have shotguns or calls with us and were towing a boat. Nowhere fun to fish exists when it’s blowing 40 and gusting higher, but the woods are always fun, and morels sprung to mind. It had been several years since the School House and Columbia Complex fires of the mid2000s charred many tens of thousands of acres of timber and timbered foothills on and above the Tucannon. Morel spores are of course activated by the fire cycle, and I’d heard rumors of good picking somewhere in the vastness of one of the Blues’ largest watersheds, but where to start? A boat would be a hindrance to our search, so we grabbed all of the beer and food out of it, along with two backpacks and some plastic bags, and we left it in Starbuck, at Darver Tackle. Giant salmonflies exploded on my windshield as we drove through the Tucannon River farmland into the green, flowering foothills and pines of

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Northwest Sportsman 137

HUNTING the Wooten Wildlife Area, home to the Tucannon Lakes. This little collection of stocked impoundments was created as mitigation for the loss of sporting opportunity from the damming of the nearby Snake and offers fair to excellent fishing for rainbow trout, including some nice holdovers. The lakes are designed to be fished from shore, and there’s ample room and an ideal setting for kids or people with mobility issues. We drove past the many dispersed campsites, near the lakes and almost hit a whitetail doe eating regenerating browse from the fires. Unsure where to start looking, we started low on the valley floor near some old-growth cottonwoods mixed with firs. I’d heard morels grow near cottonwoods, and I’ve since found that to be true sometimes, but not this time. The ground seemed dry, and the mushrooms we saw were dried out and definitely not morels. So we jumped in the rig and gained elevation

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and made a few more forays into the woods on foot, slowly scanning the forest floor, checking different forest types and slopes of southern and northern exposure, and in between. We climbed still higher into the mountains with melting snow in sight several hundred feet of elevation above us. My friends and I decided to do a long, boom-or-bust hike, so we loaded all our beer, food and water into backpacks and set off uphill on a partially burned hillside with some big pines and firs. I spotted one right away, and a friend spotted one, and another friend spotted one. We kept finding singles as we worked our way up and along a hillside, and then my addiction started. Inside of a hole from a burnedout root ball was a cluster of 11 morels! Soon we were on our hands and knees filling up bags with the precious little honeycomb-capped beauties; they were everywhere! Morels are worth a lot of money, sometimes as much as $30 to $50 a pound, much more for

Author Jeff Holmes has many uses for morels – drying or freezing for later use, frying them fresh, in soup, and sauteing and blending them with butter to make “morel butter.” (JEFF HOLMES)

dried mushrooms. We grew drunk on the wealth this beautiful hillside was providing and ran smack into a cow moose with two large calves. Moose are relative newcomers to the Blues, but they are expanding their numbers rapidly. This big cow bristled her mane

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HUNTING at us, and we detoured well around her with dogs on leashes. I’d end up seeing the cow in almost exactly the same spot for four more years, with seven different calves! One of those sightings was disturbingly close and frightening, my closest call with a big herbivore. I had my English setters at heel because there were morels everywhere in the moss under some degenerating firs. I was on hands and knees and had stopped paying attention to my surroundings until my female dog growled low. The hair went up on my neck. I looked up and saw that big cow inside of 50 feet with her neck flat and ears pinned, staring at me. I firmly whispered, “Heel!” with urgency my dogs felt, and we backed out of there for a long time. You likely won’t have moose trouble, but carrying bear spray is wise, especially if you bring dogs that could bring a rampaging critter back your way. Don’t forget that dogs also often

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snap off morels you could have picked. Mine are trained to stay somewhat calmly at heel when commanded. I let them run most of the time and share IPA drinks with my female dog, Alice.

THE BIGGEST SAFETY concern, other than getting drunk enough in the woods to drink beer with a dog, is obviously relative to mushroom identification. Definitely eat mushrooms at your own risk, and do your research first! Thankfully the morel is very distinctive with its honeycombed cap, both blonde and brown phases. Its mildly poisonous cousin, the false morel, looks quite a bit different and could really only be confused with an inky, expired morel rather than anything that should be picked and eaten. Getting a book and doing some Internet research is advisable but not always necessary. Here’s a handful of lessons that have served me, and I recommend them to anyone just getting started morel picking:

Don’t look for a long time in one place if you’re not finding morels; Start lower in elevation and work your way up to where they are fresh and to your liking; Pay attention to where you’re finding them and try to replicate your success – location matters; Look for places with filtered light and shade, like forest edges; When you find one morel, stop and look around it in widening circles – always assume there are more; Big grand firs very often hide morels in their shade; Leave the really decomposed ones behind to spread spores, and place the ones you keep in a mesh bag to distribute spores as you walk and pick; Take good care of your mushrooms and get them home and sort into classes by freshness and size. I take many of the oldest morels I pick and combine them with primo fresh morels to make morel butter. The pretty morels meet a variety of culinary fates. NS

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HUNTING

PROSPECTS WORTH

GOBBLING ABOUT

Good numbers of turkeys across the Northwest means hunters should ﬁnd plenty of toms.

Spring turkey prospects around the Northwest look twice as nice as just a few seasons ago. Brett Carlile and Orlin Sorenson bagged this pair and two more on a 2014 hunt in Northeast Washington, home to some of 2016’s best opportunities. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

By Andy Walgamott

orthwest wildlife biologists are pretty stoked about how this spring’s gobbler season is shaping up, with most saying hunters should ﬁnd plenty of birds. From the Rogue Valley to the Clearwater, Umpqua to the Colville Valley, turkeys have had it pretty easy weather-wise the past few years, and the result is perhaps the best prospects in over half a decade. Oregon biologists are particularly

excited about the numbers, and while several in Washington noted a sharp uptick in damage complaints last winter, as the snows melted those birds have fanned out, moving out of the valleys into private timberlands and public lands at lower elevations where hunters can get at them. “I am encouraged by this season’s prospects,” says Mikal Moore, regional biologist for the National Wild Turkey Federation. “Our ﬂocks are stable to expanding in most areas. I think

hunters will ﬁnd plenty of opportunity. Flocks are on the rebound from ﬁve to seven years ago, so hopefully hunters will start encountering older ageclasses of toms.” While most hunters hope to bag a long-bearded gobbler, last year’s great hatch means a lot of goateed jakes will be available as well. In particular, Moore likes prospects north of Spokane. “This is the year to return to Northeast Washington and experience nwsportsmanmag.com | APRIL 2016

Northwest Sportsman 145

HUNTING some of the best turkey hunting in the West,” she says. “Hunting Merriam’s turkeys in open pine stands with the Selkirk Mountains in the background is an opportunity not to be missed.” With a warm end to winter, snow was coming off those and other ranges in Washington, Oregon and Idaho fast, and that should help hunters access the state, national forest and BLM lands so many of us rely on for our outings. Here’s a state-by-state breakdown on the prospects:

OREGON When I contacted the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Dave Budeau in late February, he reported that toms were already strutting, especially in Southern Oregon. Budeau, ODFW’s upland game bird coordinator in Salem, also said that flocks that had declined since peaking in the latter part of last decade are rebuilding and in good shape. That was echoed by ODFW field biologists. Tod Lum in Roseburg: “It should be really good, should be really good.” Mark Vargas in Medford: “We’re expecting there to be quite a bit of turkeys because of the great weather last spring.” Hans Hayden in La Grande: “I don’t think people are going to have any trouble finding turkeys.” We’ll start in Northeast Oregon, where Hayden says that birds that had pulled back to core areas should fill habitat voids they haven’t been seen in since peak populations around 2008. He says it’s a worthwhile risk to go almost anywhere in Union County, but specifically notes that there are a “ton” of turkeys in the north end of the Grande Ronde Valley. From Palmer Junction and Lookingglass Hatchery to Troy via Forest Road 62, it is all good country for turkey (as well as spring bear), Hayden says. “Two weeks ago, I would have said access would be a problem in Wenaha, Mount Emily, Sled Springs due to snow, but right now,” he said March 4, “it looks really good.” 146 Northwest Sportsman

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The latter two units were among Oregon’s 10 best in 2014, the last year statistics were available, but together they only yielded roughly half of the Rogue Unit’s production. Stretching from the California border to the north end of Crater Lake, it features national forest up high, BLM in the middle elevations and the Jackson Travel Management Area in the hills above Shady Cove and north of Lost Lake Reservoir. ODFW’s Vargas says he’d focus on the BLM land versus the federal forest. In Jackson County, he points towards Prospect, Wasson Canyon, Southern Oregon, where gobbler gunner Devan Nasby’s from, will be another good bet this season. She killed this bird in 2014. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

Salt Creek and the Medco areas; in Josephine County, try by Sam Brown Campground and Cave Junction. And while the Rogue Unit and White River at the other end of Oregon’s Cascades have been really productive the last decade, the Melrose Unit is the state’s boss gobbler in terms of harvest. Bisected by the South Umpqua and I-5 between Canyonville and Curtin, unfortunately there’s not as much public land as those other two units, but if you ﬁre up ODFW’s oregonhuntingmap.com, you should be able to sleuth out locations of the many scattered BLM patches. Biologist Tod Lum says the birds really key in on the mixed oak-pine landscapes, and you’ll ﬁnd that in the valleys of both forks of the Umpqua.

He advises knocking on doors and being willing to hunt later in the season, after landowners have given family and friends first whack at lowland gobblers – there should be more than enough for all this season. “There are plenty of turkeys and over the last couple of years, reproduction has been pretty good,” he says. And as hens nest up but the toms are still randy, that makes them pretty vulnerable to calls, Lum says. One idea is the BLM’s walk-in North Bank Habitat Management Unit, set aside for Columbian whitetail deer but also host to turkeys. Elsewhere in Western and Central Oregon there are lesser but not-to-beoverlooked opportunities. “Lane County is experiencing an expanding population of wild turkeys,” notes NWTF’s Moore. “Hunters may find welcoming landowners on the outskirts of Eugene/Springfield, especially for a youth or archery hunt. Turkeys are also expanding into new territory across Sherman and Gilliam Counties, following riparian corridors deep into wheat country. Grant County in Central Oregon also has expanding wild turkey flocks. Try the Phillip W. Schneider Wildlife Area near Dayville, south and east through the Malheur National Forest for some great public land hunting.” Ryan Torland, ODFW wildlife biologist in John Day, echoes her advice, and also suggests checking out the Middle Fork John Day. “God, anymore we’ve got turkeys just about everywhere, so it’s hard to go wrong,” he adds. Torland does advise scouters that the birds they see in the river valleys before season won’t necessarily be there come April 15. Instead, move uphill to locations you’ve found them in past years.

IDAHO As elsewhere, thanks to a warm, dry spring last year, and milder conditions this past winter, Panhandle turkey managers say the plentiful birds

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HUNTING should provide a great follow-up to a “very good” 2015 hunt. Idaho Fish and Game’s Wayne Wakkinen says you should find good opportunities on public ground near private lands, “especially in Units 1, 2, 3 and 5.” The bulk of that can be found in the first three units, but there are isolated sections of land in all four. To the south in the Clearwater, IDFG’s Dave Koehler says you’ll find turkeys throughout the region’s forests, particularly in the eponymous river basin up to the Lochsa-Selway confluence and all around Dworshak Reservoir. For the adventurous, Hells Canyon up to the Salmon and the Salmon below Whitebird also have high densities of birds. “Good opportunities for turkey hunting are found on Fish and Game’s Craig Mountain Wildlife Management Area, as well as state and federal land, private agriculture lands and corporate timber lands,” Koehler adds.

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North of Weiser closer to Boise, area wildlife managers Craig White and Regan Berkley draw attention to growing populations in Units 22 and 31, between the Snake River and Highway 95, and while that area is dominated by private lands in the valley, there’s plenty of forest up high. They also point towards Units 32 and 32A west of Cascade Lake – the former is more open, but features lots of BLM ground, while the latter is pretty treed and largely national forest. Units 33 and 39 north and east of Boise have plenty of public land, with some at lower elevations, but White and Berkley say bird numbers are actually down here. Further aﬁeld, Moore notes that IDFG expanded general-season ops south of Pocatello and says that the best bets are those public-land margins. Near Twin Falls, ﬂocks are growing in the South Hills, but it’s still a controlled hunt with youth tags. See Fish and Game’s Hunt Planner

(ﬁshandgame.idaho.gov); its maps show public-private land ownership.

WASHINGTON Dana Base likens the spring turkey prospects in his part of the state to a certain fall salmon he likes to sneak over and fish for on the other side of the Cascades every other year. “This is a year not to miss,” says the Department of Fish and Wildlife game biologist in Colville. “This is like a humpy year – not 2015, but 2013.” Though there aren’t as many turkeys as the peak years around 2005, Base believes there are more than there have been since the backto-back hard winters. And with gas below two bucks a gallon, even if you don’t have an in with a local farmer or can’t secure permission from one to hunt their land, you should be able to find turkeys on the various public lands just up off the valley floors. The Colville Chamber of Commerce posted a link to a very helpful map

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Northwest Sportsman 149

HUNTING on their website (colville.com) under the “Visiting and Event Planning” tab (it’s also hosted on mapmet.com). It shows Colville National Forest, BLM, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, state Department of Natural Resources and WDFW lands in Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille Counties. “I think even on the public lands, we have so many birds, they’ll spread there,” Base says. He points towards DNR’s Haller Block on the west side of the Colville Valley and the Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge on the east side. To the north, try Kelly Hill. But don’t overlook knocking on doors of smaller landholders, Base tips. While they might not give you the goahead to hunt deer in fall, they may feel differently about the big birds that mooched food and left lots of presents behind this past winter. Indeed, that was a big problem on a ranch north of Cusick, where a ﬂock

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of 500 to 600 left turkey doots all over the hay, and fellow biologist Michael Atamian in Spokane notes that this past winter was marked by a high number of damage complaints. But where that suggests a good general season in Base’s district, it doesn’t so much in his, which stretches south to the Snake and has little public land. Still, he suggests it’s worth putting in the time talking with landowners, particularly in northern Spokane and Lincoln Counties, where the highest concentrations of birds are. Moore says populations are also taking hold in the Cheney area, which is largely private land and the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge has yet to open hunting for the species. Six toms also proved to be pests down in Kahlotus. Just as ODFW’s Vargas reported strutting toms, Atamian was also seeing signs of gobblers ready to go early last month. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the hunt and breeding season will misalign. He says the hens are

Keith Moen made it two birds in three springs with this Eastern Washington turkey. He was hunting last year’s opening morning. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

hardwired through evolution to wait for better weather to nest up. While turkey numbers decrease as you head south out of Spokane to the Snake, they increase markedly on the other side of the river. Mark Vekasy, assistant wildlife biologist for the Blues, says early info shows the

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HUNTING harvest dropped off last year, but this winter saw “unprecedented numbers of turkey damage complaints from Asotin to Walla Walla. I think this is one indication that our private land turkey numbers are fairly robust, but the harvest points to lower numbers available on public lands.” He’s forecasting “fair to good” prospects on those state and federal lands, which can be found in a narrow strip along the Snake and then in bulk in the mountains. You might also investigate the various Hunt By Written Permission, Feel Free To Hunt and other private-lands options. In Eastern Washington’s other corner pocket, Scott Fitkin feels that last winter was relatively tough on the birds, which aren’t really adapted to the bigger snows seen in the Okanogan. The county was also torched by ﬁres last year, and Fitkin says he saw more turkeys in areas outside the boundaries of those blazes than in

recent years. But NWTF’s Moore tips that birds will move back into burned areas come spring greenup, “so don’t overlook these areas.” “One of the great things about hunting over a new burn is that you can see a lot more turkey sign that might usually be covered up by foliage,” she says. “Look for drag marks from the tom’s primaries that indicate where he has been displaying and you’ll know you’re on the right track. If it looks like the birds have deserted a burned-over area, look next door to where the birds were displaced.” The Pogue Unit was hit hardest, so check out the state lands in the Chiliwist and Sinlahekin Units. Jeff Bernatowicz suspects that last spring’s dry conditions probably helped hatches in his South-central Washington district, but winter’s crusted snow wasn’t kind to birds. The lack of turkey damage complaints surprised him and suggests a down year, but if you go, stick north of I-90

between Ellensburg and Cle Elum. On the south side of Satus Pass, David Anderson reports large flocks in their wintering areas around the White Salmon and Klickitat Rivers. “I think this spring season should be normal for the number of available in the population for harvest,” he says. Best bet is the popular Klickitat Wildlife Area, but Anderson also suggests private timberlands owned by SDS and Hancock. “Western Pacific Timberlands west of Highway 97 are open to the public for hunting access and turkeys can be found throughout this area,” he adds. Moore says birds are expanding towards Goldendale, and notes there still are some easterns in Southwest Washington for those seeking their Washington Slam pin. Overall, this looks like a great year to get your gobbler. Grab your calls, camo and shotgun – whether you’re hunting out of Chewelah, Kooskia or Central Point, you should find birds. NS

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15 1 154 54 Nor 54 NNorthwest North No orthw tthhw hwest esst Sp SSportsman poort r sman

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HUNTING

Hunting Turkeys On The Move Don’t wait for toms to come to you – stay mobile, with decoys in hand.

By Brinton Cary

h, springtime in the Northwest, the part of the year that every sportsman yearns for while patiently allowing winter to have its moment. The time where the sights, sounds and smells of scattered rain and new growth in our valleys and

arrive, there are a myriad of situations that can keep you from ﬁlling your tag. The birds may move through too quickly, movement may alert and spook them, or perhaps simple breeding activity will cause the hen to run off with the tom in tow before an ethical shot is presented. For a hunter in a blind, odds are that

toms away from the ﬂock. My favorite part of remaining mobile, using a decoy, is that I can adapt to any turkey hunting situation and implement them immediately, if needed. When still-hunting, you may suddenly happen upon a silent lone tom or even an entire ﬂock, requiring you to react quickly. This

more hours will be spent watching decoys and less on live birds. I often hunt from a blind, though I prefer to stay active throughout the day with decoys either ready under my arm or folded in my vest and easily accessible. This tactic can be utilized on both public and private land and, when the decoy is spotted, can prove vital in pulling those single, call-shy

is an opportunity to get that decoy positioned and ﬁnd a good spot to shoot from, as the action may heat up fast if your birds are noticed. When a roost is located, you will likely maneuver within 100 yards before sunrise and attempt to be near their ﬂy-down zone. I have done this several times only to have the birds hit the ground and seemingly

Author Brinton Cary sits between his decoys to capitalize on an unexpected shot. Staying mobile while hunting private land with a faux tom and hen led to the opportunity, but the positioning here shouldn’t be tried on public land or where there are other hunters. (STANDING BUCK PRODUCTIONS, LLC)

hills causes us to stir in anticipation as we prepare to go aﬁeld in pursuit of turkeys. Many of us will grab our gear and hurry out to sit inside a ground blind. This can be effective; however, success hinges on that tom putting himself within range. Generally, a decoy is employed to assist in encouraging him. Should the stars align and turkeys

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HUNTING disappear in the opposite direction. As hunters, we have to play off of the behaviors of the animals. Grab your decoy, follow them and try again. In this scenario, the birds will be feeding after first light, so figure out where they are milling around and hustle to get in the general direction they are headed. Again, set the decoy out and find a good shooting spot. Be patient, allowing time for things to play out. This ambush technique is equally appropriate when you have a flock patterned. Once toms decide to hen up, they are difficult to persuade. If you cannot convince a hen to bring him to you, keep moving. The purpose of a decoy is to fool a turkey into believing they see another turkey, hopefully prompting an investigation. By staying active and putting your decoy(s) to work, you will increase your opportunities, as well as the odds that a tom will see

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it, eventually capturing his attention long enough to ﬁll a tag. working a nightshift and arriving at my hunting spot an hour after daylight, I used decoys to anchor an opening day tom. My brother and I had patterned some good birds in the days leading up to the season, which provided me a good starting point. A few minutes into the hunt, several toms responded to my calls and I hurried to slip into position. Gun over my shoulder, I grabbed a hen and a three-quarter full-strut tom decoy and headed to a patch of timber that stood between me and where I had heard the last gobbles. The Northwest plays host to an array of turkey habitat, ranging from grasslands and oak savannas to high desert plateaus. This day, I was hunting not far from home in the Willamette Valley outside of Eugene. Pockets of timber blanketed the

LAST SPRING, AFTER

landscape, surrounded by expansive open pastures. As I was working down the tree line, the birds came faster than expected. I was essentially pinned down, as I could no longer advance my position. Out of options, I decided to become a part of my “ﬂock.” I staked the hen decoy to my right and the tom to my left, then I settled into the shotgun in a seated position. (Note: This is not recommended on public land where the number of other hunters is unknown.) Mere seconds passed before birds emerged from the end of the timber patch, working into an open hillside just 60 yards away. With my decoys within their view, I watched a strutting tom display for several hens out of range, as a few more toms began to show. A few subtle hen yelps from my diaphragm call got their attention, causing one tom to commit. Watching the decoys, he approached cautiously, yet

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HUNTING curious. At 25 yards, I called again and my shot connected as he raised his head. Had I not kept mobile to get ahead of the ﬂock’s travel lane and get my decoys out, I am conﬁdent that I

would not have bagged this gobbler. Based on the birds’ course prior to my shot, remaining uphill would not have yielded an opportunity.

TURKEYS ARE UNPREDICTABLE, so be persistent and prepare to adapt to Cary poses with one of his 2015 gobblers. Decoys helped fool this tom’s senses and pulled him into range. (STANDING BUCK PRODUCTIONS, LLC)

changes. Once in close proximity, these wily birds have a way of staying just out of range. It can take time to create the right setup. Hunt hard during the morning and midday to be most effective. Evenings can produce with decoys, if you are positioned in the right area. I’ve found that birds headed to roost couldn’t care less about calls or other “birds” and usually do not deviate from their route. Often there is not enough time before dark to get into a better position. Turkey hunting can provide exhilarating memories in our great outdoors. Maximize your chances at seeing more birds and ﬁlling tags by staying mobile and use those decoys to help make that extra effort worthwhile. NS Editor’s note: Author Brinton Cary is an outdoor writer living in Springﬁeld. He can be found on Instagram @brintoncary, or subscribe to his blog at Hunt-Blog.com.

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HUNTING

The Rules Of Engagement Avoid these 5 common mistakes turkey hunters make on opening day. By Troy Rodakowski dmission: Over the years I have made plenty of mistakes while hunting turkeys. And from them, I have learned some valuable lessons. If you’re new to the sport of hunting spring gobblers, here are a few tips on what to do and not to do on this month’s opener.

to going to a job interview without a resume. Locating a prospective spot but not taking the time to scout it and hoping for positive results just does not work. Lack of time spent in the woods prior to season, then hurrying out on opening day often leads to disappointment. The lesson here is to get out before season – you’ve got two weeks before the 15th. Use it to scout and you’ll be rewarded with more birds for the freezer.

1. HERE YESTERDAY DOESN’T MEAN HERE TODAY

2. SPEAK THE RIGHT LANGUAGE

First of all, don’t expect to pull into a place where you saw turkeys last month, last fall, last season, and expect to ﬁnd them there. This has happened to me several times and I liken it

If you hear a gobble, don’t get excited and overcall. Remember that it is natural for a hen to seek out a tom. We as hunters are trying to convince these birds the opposite of what comes naturally to them. When first encountering a bird I like to gently test him with just some light yelps and purring. If he doesn’t respond, I hit him with a couple cutts and cackles to see if he will shock gobble. A gobbler that has hens around is sometimes even more difficult, but establishing a dialogue with one of his ladies oftentimes will cause him to make a mistake and follow her to your location. I like to mimic what a hen is saying. If she yelps at you, yelp right back with the same tone and cadence. If she cackles and cutts, make sure to do it right back at her – make her mad; you are there to steal that gobbler from her. More often than not, the tom will follow the fired-up hen right into your lap.

Paying close attention to how turkeys are communicating can help establish your game plan and calling sequence. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)

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HUNTING 3. DON’T GIVE UP EARLY After a long morning, I like to find a tree to take a short nap and get a bite to eat, drink some water and relax. While many hunters get frustrated and call it a day after hiking a few miles without hearing any gobbles or even seeing a bird, I have harvested countless turkeys in the afternoon and just prior to sunset. Most of the breeding does occur in the morning within the first few hours of fly-down. Gobblers’ urge to breed and their potency is higher then and they will usually try to locate a receptive hen immediately after leaving the roost. But afternoon hunts are great because many hens will return to their established nesting sites to lay and incubate eggs. This leaves Mr. Tom lonely and in search of any hens that are still wandering about and feeding. This is your chance to make things happen, so don’t throw the towel in too early. Pack a lunch and snacks and be prepared to spend the entire day afield.

4. WEAR YOUR HIKING BOOTS Also be ready to cover lots of ground. Nesting hens usually stay within a radius of 1 mile, spending the day feeding, laying and sitting on eggs. Gobblers, on the other hand, can cover ground, oftentimes wandering up to 2 miles from their roosting site in search of receptive hens.

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But realize that the gobble you heard over a ridge doesn’t mean you will ﬁnd that bird where he sounded off from. I remember one year I contacted a bird and ended up killing him 3 miles from where I had ﬁrst heard him. Wear good base-layer clothing and plan on sweating.

5. CHECK THE BIOLOGICAL CLOCK When hunting from a blind make sure to know what stage of the breeding cycle the birds are in. Don’t overdo your decoy spread and, again, make sure not to overcall. Larger breeding groups of turkeys and birds at ﬂy-down are very vocal, but solo gobblers are not always keen to radical calling techniques. Infrequent calling and silence can be exactly what a bird is looking for, as it stirs their curiosity and seems more natural, especially later in the day when birds are somewhat less vocal.

REGARDLESS OF HOW you plan to spend opening day, keeping these simple things in mind will surely help in notching your tag this spring. Over many seasons I have found myself coming back to these basic rules of turkey engagement and learned a lot more along the way. NS Editor’s note: The author lives in Junction City, Ore., and hunts the Willamette Valley.

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Salad Days D

rew and I plodded on in search of his first turkey, headlamps lighting the trail through the darkness. The land we were hiking toward was public, but entirely surrounded by private property. CHEF To circumvent any trespassing violations By Randy King we had to stay below the high-water mark of the river. A boot-width-wide trail was our route. Over scrub, under trees and through soft dirt that threatened to give way and drop us into the river below, we hiked on on opening morning of turkey season. As the skyline started to turn blue we began to see shadows up in the trees across the river. The black forms of roosted turkeys, not yet stirring, became clearer as dawn neared. “Watch this,” I whispered to Drew as I took cover behind sage. I got out my trusted box call and gave a few halfhearted clucks. A gobbler sounded off across the river, then another, and another. Through our binoculars we watched four toms puff up and sound off, using the thick tree limbs as de facto dancing poles. It is this call-and-response that hooks so many turkey hunters, me included. One cluck was all I had to let out to get the gobblers talking and strutting at some unknown hen in the distance. But between us was a river. We watched, hopeful that a gobbler would cross over it when they left the roost Unfortunately, our wait was to no avail. When the turkeys left the roost tree, they stayed on the unhuntable private property.

WE CONTINUED DOWNRIVER, eventually coming to happy hunting grounds in the form of Bureau of Land Management property that featured low-country river bottom and sage in the surrounding hills with a few scattered areas of timber along the edge of the stream. The birds roost in the timber patches night after night and feed in the green hills during the day. Keeping hidden was me and Drew’s biggest issue; the lack of thick cover meant stillness and camouflage were imperatives. In the distance – and most importantly, on our side of the river – Drew heard a faint gobble. We advanced a few hundred yards, almost to the first patch of timber. I stuck a hen decoy in the trail and started calling. Soon we heard the sound-off of an eager tom. Then another. There would be two birds if we were lucky – one for each of us. We tucked ourselves next to a cliff, behind a wall of sagebrush and waited. Unfortunately, it was a blind corner and the birds would not commit. They were more than willing to talk, but they pulled the classic turkey “hang-up” move. Luckily, the terrain was in our favor. Drew and I backed out and climbed up the dirt embankment onto a plateau of sage behind us. Using the terrain to our advantage and crawling a lot we circled around the backside of the birds,

COLUMN

finding an open area in the sage to place the decoy. We again tucked in behind brush and called. The response was instant – birds, and not far off. Annoyingly, the gobblers were basically in the position we had just left. I have a hard time waiting on hung-up birds, so I tend to move more than I should. My lack of patience in the turkey woods has gotten the best of me several times; I often find myself calling to birds that are probably standing on my last hiding place. Or the birds will bust me as I move from one location to another. Patience is not my virtue.

FROM OUR LOCATION, I could see the head of a tom rise over the ridgeline at about 50 yards. Bright red and walking quickly, he let out a gobble. Then he caught sight of my decoy and almost instantly became a puff ball of feathers. Up went his fan and out went his feathers as he did the cha-cha Tired but satisﬁed from the pursuit, an Idaho turkey hunter heads for the rig with closer and closer to our his gobbler. (RANDY KING) decoy. As he closed in, I would calmly purr and he would send off a thunderous gobble. At 30 yards I whispered to Drew, “Shoot him.” After a long pause Drew whispered back, “I can’t see him.” With a quick dart of my eyes – I dared not move my head – I caught sight of Drew in his cover. It was so thick that it formed a wall around us. I had set myself up to have a view of the decoy, but in his haste to get in position, Drew set up behind way too much cover to get a shot off. The turkey was oblivious and closing in fast. At 20 yards it stopped and strutted. “Shoot,” I whispered. Waiting for the bird to turn a circle I raised my gun. At 10 yards I could see the bird blink. “Shoot him!” I mouthed. My heart was making so much noise I was fairly certain it was going to give away our location. If the tom came much closer, I was going to shoot. Nine yards, I started to control my breathing. Eight yards, I took the safety off my gun. Finally, the bird walked into a window for Drew – only to stand directly behind my decoy. “I don’t want to shoot your decoy,” Drew said. “I don’t care!” I shot back. Resolve, that unmistakable steely gaze hunters get right

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COLUMN before they shoot, came across Drew’s face. At 7 yards the bird turned, giving us a rear-end view of his fan, and Drew raised his gun. Then he leaned toward me and placed the butt of the gun in the crook of his elbow. The bird turned to From left to right, wild turkey Waldorf, Asian and curry salads. (RANDY KING)

face us, its feathers fell and it cocked its head looking at the both of us in the cover. Drew fired. Back at the truck we celebrated with cold pizza and warm beer. Our feet hurt, the inside of Drew’s elbow was turning purple from a bruise, but the tom in the bed of his rig made it all worthwhile. NS 1 clove garlic, minced ¼ cup soy sauce 1 tablespoon honey ¼ sesame oil ¼ cup peanut butter 2 tablespoons sriracha In a large bowl combine the turkey, radishes, cucumber, red pepper, red onion, green onion and garlic. In a medium bowl whisk together the soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, peanut butter and sriracha. Next add the “dressing” to the turkey and vegetables. Toss lightly to combine. This recipe is best if it sits for a few hours.

SPRING TURKEY SALAD RECIPES Spring is often the start of “salad” season. My garden is light and green this time of year and I often find myself foraging greens or eating fresh spring flavors. Below is a trio of easy spring salads that you can make with your turkey. The first part of all three recipes is the same: cook a turkey breast and shred it. That done, the variations are endless, everything from Asian to Scandinavian dishes. As with most wild meats, however, wild turkey is incredibly lean. That is why in all the recipes below I add a “fat” of some type. It can be mayonnaise or sesame oil, it does not matter – what matters is a moist and delicious salad. Cooked Turkey Breast 1 wild turkey breast, skinless Salt and pepper 2 tablespoon canola oil Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Season wild turkey breast with salt and pepper. Heat medium-sized skillet on high for four minutes, add oil. Carefully add the turkey breast and sear until golden brown on one side. Flip and place in oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until cooked completely through. Remove turkey breast from oven. Let turkey cool completely. When turkey is cool, use a knife and fork to “shred” the breast meat. With wild turkey, the thinner the slices/ shreds the better. Asian-style Shredded Wild Turkey Salad 1 shredded wild turkey breast (see above) 4 breakfast radishes, sliced into rounds 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and sliced into half moons 1 red pepper, sliced into matchsticks ½ red onion, sliced into matchsticks 1 stalk green onion, sliced 166 Northwest Sportsman

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Turkey Curry Salad ½ cup mayonnaise 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice and zest 2 tablespoons honey 2 teaspoons curry powder (red curry paste is better, but not necessary) Salt and pepper 1 shredded wild turkey breast 1 cup red seedless grapes, halved 2 stalks celery, diced ½ small red onion, diced ¼ cup cashew pieces In large mixing bowl add the mayonnaise, lime juice, lime zest, curry powder, salt and pepper. Whisk to combine. Next add the turkey breast meat, grapes, celery, red onion and cashew pieces. Stir to combine. Serve with pitas. Wild Turkey Waldorf Salad 1 shredded wild turkey breast 2 stalks celery, sliced 1 green apple, cored and chopped 1 cup red seedless grapes, halved ½ cup pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped ½ cup mayonnaise ½ cup crumbled blue cheese 1 teaspoon honey Salt and pepper For this recipe, which was inspired by food.com, in a large bowl add the turkey, celery, apple, grapes, and pecans. In a small bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, blue cheese and honey. Pour the mayonnaise mix on top of the turkey and vegetables. Gently mix to incorporate. Taste and then season with salt and pepper as desired. For more recipes, see chefrandyking.com. -RK

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COLUMN

Time To Talk Turkey, Reloading, Grips With gobblers strutting their stuff early, the youth hunt across the Northwest offers young hunters an excellent chance to bag their ﬁrst birds. Austin Baalman, then 10, harvested this pair in Washington’s Klickitat County early last April. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

ashington’s, Oregon’s and Idaho’s spring wild turkey seasons open concurrently on April 15 and run into late May, so if you haven’t already done some scouting, patterned new loads for your shotgun, washed your camo and hung it ON TARGET outside, and practiced with your calls, you’re By Dave Workman probably behind the flock. Years ago, a biologist with the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, Dan Blatt, championed the turkey program for Evergreen State hunters. He knew that different species of wild turkeys would take hold in Washington, thanks to its varying habitat, and over the years I’ve watched the fruits of his labors appear in places like Chewelah, Liberty, Easton, South Cle Elum Ridge, Grays Harbor County and other places I’ve forgotten. Turkeys arrived in the Beaver and Gem States in 1961, a year after they did in Washington, and hunters have plenty of opportunities there as well. And all three states host youth hunts before the general season. In Washington, those dates are April

2-3; in Idaho, it’s April 8-14; and in Oregon, it’s April 9-10.

TO HUNT TURKEYS this month, you need – at the very least – a shotgun, so let’s start there. People I know seem to favor the 12-gauge over all others. Some hunt with 3½-inch loads and others are just fine with 3-inch magnums. The choice of shot sizes is sometimes debated by people with nothing better to do, but anybody loading up with No. 2, 4, 5 or even 6 shot probably knows what they’re doing, and it’s not worth arguing about. My pal, Sue Tabor, a turkey hunting fanatic back in Michigan, hunts with Winchester high-velocity No. 6s. She patterns her Benelli M1 Super 90 every year, and she says that the gun still patterns consistently. Who makes the best turkey loads? The best load is the one that works best in your gun, no matter whose brand name is on the hull. Remington (remington.com), Federal (federalpremium. com), Kent (kentgamebore.com) and Winchester (winchester. com) all offer reliable turkey loads, so there is no way in hell I’m going to recommend one over the other. It goes right back to nwsportsmanmag.com | APRIL 2016

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patterning your gun, and shotguns do not all perform the same with the same chokes and loads. Tabor hunts Eastern turkeys, and she’s gone after Merriam’s in Montana. With quite a few longbeards under her belt, whatever she says about turkey loads, guns and chokes is as good as gold in my book. The extra-full choke produces a nice, tight pattern, and this is where it is important to pattern your gun. There are a couple of good targets for this, from Birchwood Casey, Champion and other sources. See where your gun patterns at 20, 30 and 40 yards, which is considered by most folks to be the maximum distance anyone wants to try a shot at a gobbler. It’s essential that you can place several pellets into a turkey’s neck and head, lest the bird take off and be lost. I’ve encountered flocks of turkeys outside the season that are simply dumber than rocks. For some reason, during the season, they get kind of cagey and elusive. So, it’s important to cover with camo and learn to sit still. A lot of people will mix their camo patterns to really disappear. There are many good ones out there, from Realtree, Mossy Oak and others. Blend in, disappear into the background and with patience, one can make those birds come in. As I was preparing this column, I happened to read on one of the forums about guys who get birds to within 10 yards. That takes skill and no small amount of luck. On a related front, the National Shooting Sports Foundation

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recently cheered the U.S. House’s passage of the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement, or SHARE, Act, a piece of legislation that protects the use of traditional ammunition for hunting and shooting. Antihunters don’t like this bill, which makes it just fine in my book. According to an NSSF news release, this legislation “provides greater flexibility for states to utilize Pittman-Robertson funds to create and enhance public shooting ranges and facilitate greater access to Federal lands and waters for hunting, recreational fishing and shooting.” Antihunters have tried all kinds of schemes, including attempts to outlaw lead ammunition, to discourage outdoorsmen and -women.

SWITCHING GEARS TO another favorite spring topic, by the time you read this, I’ll have been rather busy at the loading bench. That’s because I’ve managed to pile up a fair amount of brass since last fall. One thing I’ve spent a lot of time doing is working up reliable loads for my most recent acquisition, a vintage Model 57 Smith & Wesson in .41 Magnum. This one has a 4-inch barrel and I’ve put together a couple of accurate loads, one using a 210-grain Nosler JHP powered by 19.9 grains of H110, and the other pushing a 220-grain Speer half-jacket bullet with a semi-wadcutter profile ahead of 19.0 grains of H110. Both of these loads use magnum primers. If one goes with Alliant 2400, which is another excellent

powder for magnum handgun loads, use standard primers. I mention the S&W because I recently slapped on a set of genuine elk antler grip panels from Eagle Custom Grips. Owned and operated by my longtime pal Raj Singh, Eagle Custom has some of the classiest aftermarket handgun grips on the landscape. Having acquired this particular handgun back in July of last year – I’ve owned a 6-inch model for 30-some years – and I initially slapped on a pair of old Altamont faux ivory grips. The genuine elk panels are smaller, and it’s important for any handgun shooter to select a gun that fits comfortably and that one can hang onto during recoil. In wet weather, I’ll go with Pachmayr grips made from a special blend of rubber material that soaks up recoil and doesn’t slip around because it allows a strong hold. I’ve also got a bunch of .30-06 and .308 Winchester brass that needs polishing and resizing.

SPRING’S A GOOD time of year for all of this stuff. One can spend the mornings hunting turkeys, some lazy afternoons at the bench and then head for the range on the weekends. And my first reminder of this election year: If you’re not registered to vote, get that done. Start paying attention to what the candidates are saying. There’s nothing on the line this fall besides the Supreme Court, the Second Amendment, the economy and a few other things. NS

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BUT WHERE’RE THEIR ANTLERS?!? By Dennis Dauble

y enlightenment on the vernacular of salmon gender, or what you might regard as the G-rated term for sex, can be traced back to when Bob bragged about a fishing trip he took on the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River. “Caught a big ol’ red-sided buck yesterday,” he told me. “How big was it?” I asked. “A teener. Maybe 15 pounds.” When I first started to catch the occasional salmon, I referred to their gender as either male or female. Little did I suspect that that conversation would get more complicated, that my piscatorial vocabulary would need to expand if I wanted to keep up with my fishing buddies around the water cooler. Teener buck, huh? I knew mature Chinook salmon developed large, sharp jaw teeth during breeding. One purpose is display when fighting with other salmon over territory. I also knew that males’ upper jaw enlarged as they approached spawning time, eventually extending downward to form a hooked snout. These things I had seen first hand. But having been raised a Podunk trout fisherman in the hinterlands of Northeast Oregon, that day was the first I had heard someone call male salmon a “buck.” Upon further scrutiny, it turned out the term had merit. The Latin name for salmon’s genus, Oncorhynchus, is derived from two Greek words that loosely translate to mean “hooked snout.” As a consequence, the oddly shaped head and jaw of mature males lends some credence to the angler moniker of buck. There’s more. It wasn’t a week before my friend Geoff showed up with a fishing story of similar pedigree. “I caught a 20-pound hen yesterday evening,” he bragged. “I knew it was a girly girl as soon as I felt it pecking on my Kwikfish.” “Hen? Girly girl? Huh? So how did you know it was a hen?” I asked, feigning knowledge of the gender connection while trying to get a handle on angler lingo. “Bucks rarely peck at a lure,” he explained. Obviously I had more to learn about the nature of a strike. The challenge remained, however, to sort out the confusing vernacular associated with fish gender. For example, since male salmon are called bucks, you would think that the females would be called “does.” After all, it works that way for deer. That much this Podunk trout angler knew. To confound matters, the word

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doe is used in the aquaculture industry to describe the female of a species and occasionally pops up in vintage sporting magazines such as Outdoorsman and National Sportsman. If only to reassure, I searched for the word “hen” in my deskside library. And no, we’re not talking Wikipedia-level research

Coho boys and girls, er, bucks and hens, swim together in an Oregon stream. (RICK SWART, ODFW)

here, kids. While nowhere to be found in the iconic reference, Henderson’s Dictionary of Biological Terms, Grandpa Harry’s well-worn copy of Webster’s New International Dictionary (the 3,000-plus-page, 10-pound, India-paper edition) did not fail. It seems that back in 1913, Noah Webster defined hen as both a “female bird” and “females of various aquatic animals,” including lobsters or fish. If you think about it, the only thing these creatures have in common is that they all lay eggs. Accordingly, and given the general lack of logic with angler rhetoric, you might call a male salmon a rooster (or a cock, for those of you from the United Kingdom). Just don’t expect Webster to back you up. To summarize this linguistic confusion for discriminate anglers and scholars of woodland lore (and at the risk of beating the topic to death), buck is indeed the appropriate masculine version of deer and fish. It follows that hen describes the feminine side of birds, fishes and lobsters. The terms rooster and doe are best reserved for specific genders of game birds and cud-chewing mammals, respectively. However you choose to embellish your fishing yarns with “teener” and “girly girl” is entirely up to you. NS

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