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O UTDOORS
The Othello Outlook – Thursday, July 9, 2009
www.OthelloOutlook.com
Catfish — a ‘keep without guilt’ fish By Jim Pearson
I’m not a dedicated catch and release fi sherman. Maybe it’s all that hunter-gatherer instinct genes I’ve got floating around inside somewhere.
I’ve mentioned that already in an earlier column. Oh, I release a fish occasionally, but I don’t fish in catch-and-releaseonly waters because I want the option of taking one home and having him for dinner.
Photo by Rollie Heiser
Catfish and smallmouth bass — the makings of a first-class fish fry.
And who wants to take home a recently-planted trout whose flesh is white instead of pink — a fish that has no bottom to his tail because he’s worn it off on the concrete bottom of a fish hatchery? I demand the option of taking home a fish or two for the table and I can do that regularly in this state without feeling a twinge of guilt. Shad are examples of “no guilt” keepers and so are smallmouth bass. I’ve told you about them already, but we have another “no guilt” fish in this state — catfish — several kinds. When I was a kid growing up in Okanogan County, we used to catch a big bullhead — yellow bellied catfish — up in Spectacle Lake. When we did, we saved it for Granddad because he thought that was the best-eating fish available. He wasn’t totally wrong, either. Years ago, my brother and I went perch fishing in Long Lake (an impoundment of the Spokane River) near where he lived at that time. We didn’t catch many perch, but we did
sack up on brown bullheads about a foot long. We took them home, cleaned them and had a first-class fish fry that night. But we also have channel cats in this state and that’s what we caught earlier this week when three of us drifted the lower end of the Yakima River. We caught six of them up to about five pounds and we could legally have taken more because there is no season and no limit in this state. We have taken them from that stretch of river up to 17 pounds, but when I catch one much bigger than seven or eight pounds, I practice catch and release because they often have a strong flavor. We also caught about that many smallmouths and they’re one of Judy’s favorite fish, so I kept three of them while my companions took the cats. And get this — Rollie took one of the catfish on a Mepps Anglia spinner with a number four blade. Behind the blade was a series of three large orange and brown beads and trailing that was a treble hook with
squirrel tail tied around it. While that’s not exactly my idea of catfish bait, I wasn’t surprised because this sort of thing has happened before. Don’t ever mistake the channel catfish for a wimpy bottom feeder waiting until something dead floats by. The channel cat is not a finny counterpart of a buzzard. A long time ago, a friend, who was my fishing guru, told me bass often get blamed for predation perpetrated by a catfish. Baby ducks and other birds, salamanders, mice — they often attack anything alive they’re capable of catching and that cat thought Rollie’s spinner was something alive. So, where does a guy go to catch a catfish? I’ve already told you a couple of places, but here’s more. How about the Columbia River? I saw three guys cleaning catfish one morning at Maryhill Park. They had a pile of fillets 10 inches high and they weren’t done cleaning yet. I’ve caught them in Potholes (O’Sullivan) Reservoir and Soda Lake directly below the reser-
voir. I’ve probably caught them in several other Seep Lakes, but I don’t remember specifically. The point is, they’re prett y well distributed throughout warm waters in this state. Bait? Nightcrawlers work fine. So does stew meat and it certainly stays on the hook well. I buy small packages of beef cut into slender strips people like to use for wok cooking. Fresh sucker meat is one of our all time favorites and I caught one in the Walla Walla using a chunk of northern pikeminnow (formerly called squawfish). A knowledgeable old catfisherman once told me cut bait from a predator fish wouldn’t work well for catfish, but the pikeminnow is a predator. So much for that old wives’ tale. All manner of commercial stink baits are available and I suppose they will work, although I’ve never tried them. I do know the other baits I’ve recommended work and I’ve always found fresh bait works best, even for catfish — a “keep without guilt” fish here in Washington.
Fresh fish report direct from the MarDon Resort By Mike and Annie Meseberg
July signals the beginning of a fun-fi lled summer of walleye and bass fishing. The water level on Potholes Reservoir is dropping rapidly. And as our water lowers, the beauty of the sand dunes with lush vegetation provides improved fish catching. Primary channels soon will be identified. Also, with lower water, new fish will migrate out of the dunes to the deepest water of the main reservoir. This lake transition marks good walleye action at Perch
Island on the west side of the Sand Dunes just past Potholes State Park. The face of the Sand Dunes east of Crab Creek is another fine walleye area. Surface water temperatures in the dunes have been reported to 78 degrees. That means it’s time to fish Buzz Baits for top water bass action (my favorite way to bass fish). For the water sports groups, the sand beaches are more numerous and will provide a great base for a fun campout or day on the lake.
Photos by Mike Meseberg
Willy and Zee Walker used powerbait at Blythe Lake for their 3-pound, 8 ounce rainbow.
Brian Strickland fished on the MarDon dock for his smallmouth and rainbow.
Roy Frasier and Clint Higginbothom with two jumbo Sand Dune walleye.
State Parks recruiting for winter recreation advisory committees The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission invites the public to nominate winter sports enthusiasts for the agency’s snowmobile and nonmotorized advisory committees. Th ree positions are available statewide to snowmobilers and three are available statewide to individuals involved in non-motorized winter
sports. Nominations must be received by July 24. New appointments begin Oct. 1. Both committees are comprised of a combination of snowmobilers and individuals involved in non-motorized winter sports. The Washington Department of Natural Resources, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Wash-
ington Association of Counties each have one representative who serves on both committees, which also include an ex-officio member from the Washington Department of Licensing. The committees meet separately at least two weekends each year. Members may serve up to two three-year terms. The Winter Recreation Ad-
visory Committee is seeking non-motorized winter sports candidates from Area 1, which represents Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, King, San Juan Island, Clallam, Jefferson and Kitsap counties, and Area 5, which represents Kitt itas, Yakima, Klickitat and Benton counties. The committee also seeks an at-large candidate to
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