Andy “lot of fancy words to say not much productive” Walgamott
THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS
Eric Braaten, Scott Haugen, Jeff Holmes, David Johnson, MD Johnson, Randy King, John Kruse, Sara Potter, Buzz Ramsey, Bob Rees, Troy Rodakowski, Tom Schnell, Dave Workman, Mike Wright, Mark Yuasa
GENERAL MANAGER
John Rusnak
SALES MANAGER
Paul Yarnold
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES
Janene Mukai, Tom St. Clair
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PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Emily Baker
OFFICE MANAGER/COPY EDITOR
Katie Aumann
INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGER
Lois Sanborn
WEBMASTER/DIGITAL STRATEGIST
Jon Hines
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CORRESPONDENCE
Email letters, articles/queries, photos, etc., to awalgamott@media-inc.com.
ON THE COVER
Reese Rodakowski, the daughter of Willamette Valley outdoors writer Troy Rodakowski, shows off a nice rainbow trout from last spring. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)
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With a lifetime of experience sampling Western Oregon’s rainbow fisheries (and playing with the bait as a kid), Troy Rodakowski shares some of his top recommendations for Willamette Valley and Coastal trout hounds!
49 WASHINGTON’S ‘BIGGEST TROUT DERBY YET’ SET TO BEGIN ON LOWLAND LAKES OPENER
Evergreen State anglers have extra incentive to hit the water on April’s fourth Saturday – it marks the statewide trout fishing derby’s 10th anniversary, featuring more prize value than ever before! Mark Yuasa previews the seasonlong event, as well as stocking stats, great setups, and more!
63 CAST FOR POTHOLES RESERVOIR TRIFECTA
If you like a mixed bag, Potholes Reservoir is up your alley this time of year. With trout, walleye and bass fishing heating up, local angler John Kruse lines out how to fish the famed impoundment. And fly guy Mike Wright talks Basin cutts and ’bows!
71 SPRINGASBORD! 12 GREAT ALTERNATIVES TO STOCKERS ’BOWS
No doubt there’s a lot of history and tradition around Washington’s trout opener, but what if it just ain’t your thing? Jeff Holmes has you covered with April’s awesome alternatives –smallies, largies, kokes, panfish, catfish, bottomfish, you name it, he hotspots it!
119 2025 NORTHWEST SPRING GOBBLER FORECAST
Our MD Johnson previews top turkey hunting prospects in both Washington and Oregon with a pair of experts.
91 APRIL SHOWERS CHINOOK OPS
Between the Lower Columbia, Willamette and Rogue, there are some pretty good opportunities to fish for spring Chinook in April, but salmon aren’t the only species biting in Oregon. Guide Bob Rees shares his monthly Beaver State angling prospectus!
129 TURKEY STRATEGIES: CALL AND RESPONSE
Hunting forecasts (see main feature above) are all well and good, but longbeard chasers also need to know how to bring in the big birds. Enter David Johnson, who has the downlow on the right calling strategies and setups for tagging a tom or two (or three) this spring season!
85
BUZZ RAMSEY
Get After Willamette Springers
It was exactly 59 Aprils ago that Buzz began his career catching Willamette system spring Chinook, so, naturally, we turned to him and his decades of knowledge for advice on fishing the lower mainstem and Multnomah Channel. If the forecast holds, those waters could be this year’s best bet for dragging naked green-label herring or running 3.5s and 360s for the tastiest of all salmon!
COLUMNS
57 CHEF IN THE WILD ’Bows, For When You Just Want To Catch A Damn Fish Or 5 For Dinner
Easy to catch. Don’t need a bunch of fancy gear. Widespread. Stocked in big numbers. Zero regrets when filling a stringer. Indeed, there’s a lot to be said about the simplicity of rainbow trout fishing and bonking a few for supper. Chef Randy shares his local honey hole and the two secret ingredients that make his pan-fried fish dish delish!
99 FOR THE LOVE OF THE TUG Outdoor School, Oregon Style
The kids at Glide Elementary on the North Umpqua are lucky. The school district wants them to get outside, they have a pair of excellent outdoor educators and, oh, yeah, there’s this one mom who knows her way around fishing rods and local waters! Teacher Sara’s downriver and upriver angling classes are in session!
135 OUTDOOR MD Talkin’ Turkeys With The NWTF
They say retired guys get busier than they ever were in their working lives, and that just might be the case with Richard Mann, who after wrapping up his state career as a regional game warden captain now heads up the Washington State Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation. He talks about rebuilding the organization’s base and more with MD Johnson.
141
ON TARGET On Toms, Benches And Ranges
With one eye on new turkey hunting gear unveiled at SHOT Show and the other on Washington’s top gobbler grounds, Dave W. sets you up for success this season, as well as looks forward to spring’s other shooting sports – reloading and plinking!
147 GUN DOG Don’t Wait To Get Back Into Training
Know why Scott’s quick brown pudelpointer was able to jump over the lazy gun dog? Because unlike some owners who after waterfowl season is over give their dogs too much time off, he and his pups plow straight back into training and exercise. Scott shares the healthy benefits of year-round activity.
20 THE BIG
PIC:
LAST SEASON FOR DETROIT KOKANEE?
With a super-deep drawdown to aid young outmigrating spring Chinook and winter steelhead on the table, Detroit Lake’s productive 65-year-old koke fishery could be wiped out. Tom Schnell shares his fears for a favorite fish and lake in a strident op-ed.
‘Without regard for the law or other people’ – the story of an Oregon poacher who does not care about consequences; Shellfish swine sentenced; Jackass Of The Month
Upcoming fishing and hunting openers, events, deadlines, more
THE EDITOR’SNOTE
The rain pounds down this morning at my absolute deadline for the April issue, making me wonder if I’ve woken up in “fourth November” or the start of “the pollening.” Either way, the dark green band of precipitation on the radar that arcs all the way out to Newport guarantees that the back 40 will fill for the umpteenth time since last fall.
I’m still coming to grips with the various seasons – official and otherwise – of Oregon after moving to the northeast corner of the Willamette Valley three years ago. A recent catch didn’t help much in deciphering where we’re at either. The chrome-bright scales on that nightmare-jig-biting lower Clackamas River hen steelhead suggested warmer, brighter days; how well developed her eggs were spoke to a fish of colder, darker times.
(One thing is for sure: Marinating some of her meat in various oils, sauces and spices and then frying it quickly and serving it over a bed of rice with avocados, green onions, mayo-sriracha sauce and sesame seeds had me eating lunch like a king this week.)
BUT THE SIGNS kinda do point to spring’s arrival here. The male robins are shouting out their territorial and lustful ambitions from our oaks and ashes and firs this morning, more and more of my asparagus is poking up, and, checking out the window just now, the resurgent wetland we share with neighbors has pulled in a pair of mallards to feed, groom and loaf for the day, just like it has for three springs in a row now.
Of course, our April issue and its features on Washington’s beloved lowland lakes opener, alternatives to stocker rainbows, Oregon spring Chinook fisheries, our annual Northwest turkey hunting forecast, and more also signal the inevitability of the calendar’s march, and I hope you take advantage of as many of the wonderful opportunities that abound in our region as possible this time of year. But what do you say we hold off on summer’s whole “Hell’s front porch” season this go around the sun? –Andy Walgamott
Where winter meets spring, hope rises anew, and taste buds and Northwest sportsmen rejoice. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)
Last Season For Detroit Kokanee?
With a super-deep drawdown to aid outmigrating salmonids on the table, Oregon reservoir’s 65-year-old koke fishery could be wiped out.
Kokanee anglers troll Detroit Lake east of Salem. As a result of a long-running court case, what is essentially the only kokanee fishery left in the Willamette Valley is threatened by an extreme drawdown meant to aid downstream passage of federally listed spring Chinook and winter steelhead smolts. While the parents of those fish were trucked around Detroit Dam to upstream spawning grounds, there's no other way for the young fish to get past the dam except through its low-level output tunnels. (BRAD HALLECK)
Op-ed by Tom Schnell
Are we about to witness another great Northwest kokanee lake go down the drain, literally? After witnessing the decimation of Oregon’s Green Peter Reservoir fishery via a court-ordered drawdown that saw possibly over a million kokanee flushed out of the impoundment in fall 2023, there are concerns that a similar fate awaits Detroit Lake’s landlocked sockeye.
The intention behind the Army Corps of Engineers’ drawdown of Green Peter was to improve flows in the Santiam and Willamette Rivers to help young outmigrating spring Chinook and winter steelhead, along with providing safe passage for the smolts through the lake. But it led to many unforeseen and disastrous outcomes. One of those was to all but wipe out the reservoir’s once-flourishing kokanee fishery. The rapid release of water out of Green Peter caused many of the fish to go with the flow and meet an untimely death due to several factors. The drawdown left warmer, oxygen-depleted water for the kokanee to contend with. Another was barotrauma from going through the dam’s deep-level, low-water output tunnels and then coming out at the surface. This is like the bends divers get.
The idea behind the drawdown was to get the water level down to those low-level output tunnels so that the young ocean-going salmonids, which tend to swim on the surface, could go through them and down the river. But kokanee, being a deepwater fish, were sucked through them too, and what we witnessed in the aftermath was dead fish floating for miles and a once-thriving sport fishery destroyed.
NOW THE SAME fate could occur with the lone kokanee fishery left in the Willamette Valley proper, Detroit Lake. It’s a result of a series of lawsuits, court decisions, biological opinions and subsequent plans.
The “2021 Interim Measure Implementation Plan, Detroit and Big Cliff Dams Expert Panel in response to Interim Injunction Doc 212 Case 3:18-CV-00437-HZ” report discusses a controlled drawdown of the reservoir to assist with outmigrating salmon and steelhead. It focuses more on water temperature control and a managed drawdown. In early January of this year, the Corps, which manages Detroit, announced that the reservoir would become the fifth in the Willamette
River system to undergo a full drawdown. That came after a December 26, 2024, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration biological opinion titled “Endangered Species Act Section 7(a)(2) Biological Opinion and Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Essential Fish Habitat Response for the Continued Operation and Maintenance of the Willamette Valley System” that requires drawdowns begin at Detroit this fall to protect Endangered Species Act-listed salmon and steelhead populations in the Willamette watershed.
That in turn follows a March 2018
complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon by Northwest Environmental Defense Center, WildEarth Guardians and Native Fish Society against the Corps and National Marine Fisheries Service alleging ongoing ESA Sections 7 and 9 violations due to the Corps’ failure to comply with NMFS’s “reasonable and prudent alternatives,” or RPA, to address fish passage and water conditions identified back in 2008. The plaintiffs alleged that by not addressing the RPA, the Corps’ Willamette Valley system jeopardized the basin’s listed spring Chinook and winter steelhead, and asked that that be remedied.
The Corps states that it plans to leave the dams in place for flood control and for summer water recreationists, depending on the amount of water available when filling up the reservoir. What this means is that during the drought years that we experience from time to time in Oregon, reservoirs may not fill and thus most likely would not be usable, or may only be usable for a month or two out of the year. It also means that the town of Detroit, which depends on tourism and is still recovering from the devastating Beachie Creek and Lionshead Fires of 2020, will be dealt yet another economic blow. Downstream, the cities of Salem and Stayton are warning about a nightmare scenario this fall where they may not be able to provide safe drinking water to 200,000 customers if the deep drawdown occurs, according to the Salem Statesman Journal
For their part, Corps’ operations manager Erik Peterson last month told the newspaper that the agency was “uncertain” if the drawdown will occur in 2025 or be pushed back to 2026, but vowed to communicate its plans to the public.
REGARDLESS OF WHEN, dropping Detroit to a level not seen since the dam and lake were created would wipe out a onceflourishing kokanee fishery. Over the past decade, organizations like Kokanee Power of Oregon (kokaneepoweroregon.com) have invested a lot of resources building up the fishery. Detroit is one of the top waters in the state in terms of fishery quality and as a destination. Other than potentially Odell, no other lake in Oregon sees the number of kokanee anglers that Detroit does.
“There are many boats fishing kokanee right now,” stated Brad Halleck, KPO board member, earlier this year. “The drawdown will take away the winter fishery. By March, there are as many as 100 boats on the lake fishing kokanee.”
Halleck reported that KPO holds their largest derby of the year at Detroit and that it is one of the organization’s biggest revenue generators for supporting kokanee fishing across the state. He also pointed out the economic vitality the fishery brings to not only the town of Detroit, but to other small communities downriver from there.
Guide Kevin Anderson, who owns and operates Next Level Guide Service, makes
The fall 2023 drawdown at Green Peter Reservoir led to the loss of untold numbers of kokanee due to barotrauma and other causes, as well as the veritable end of its koke fishery. (CITY OF SWEET HOME)
his living off of Detroit Lake. He typically fishes it over 60 times a year, taking out over 200 people a season.
“My family has been fishing and camping in the Detroit Lake area since I was a young child. Some of my first experiences of fishing occurred at Detroit Lake,” Anderson shared. “After 30-plus years of providing public service at Albany Fire Department, it was time to live my dream of being a fishing guide. Not just a fishing guide, but a kokanee fishing guide who educated others on what an amazing fishery we have in Oregon.”
Small businesses like Anderson’s and many others in small towns like Detroit, Mill City, Stayton and elsewhere will be negatively impacted, possibly even forced to shut down, because of what is being planned for Detroit Lake.
THERE ARE IRONIES in all of this. In an effort to relieve some of the pressure on salmon by giving anglers other fisheries to focus on, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife turned their attention to kokanee. Over the past five to six years, kokanee fishing has exploded across the Northwest, creating many koke addicts and, in turn, an economically viable industry. Anderson says the fishery is a self-sustaining one with little human input. (The state also stocks lakes.) The irony is that in trying to save salmon, a fishery that helps take some of the pressure off them is now being destroyed in the name of helping save salmon.
It is also questionable how “endangered” the salmon really are. Let me explain. Yes, we are told the Willamette’s spring Chinook and winter steelhead are endangered and most likely will go extinct by 2040. Yes, certain forestry and agricultural practices have had a negative impact on salmonids. So has the explosion of seals and sea lions. And the growing population of the Northwest has undoubtedly impacted them as well. Introduction of nonnative species such as walleye, perch, bass and even shad have further impacted salmon. Add technical advancements that allow for more efficient targeting and harvesting
of the fish, and suddenly the plight of the salmon in the Northwest becomes clearer. And when you include dams built without downstream fish passage and barriers like poorly designed culverts, it is a wonder that salmon have even survived to this point.
But here is where it becomes interesting. For those of us who lived in Oregon in the 1980s, if we think back, we can remember when the whole West Coast was shut down to salmon fishing and the salmon fishing industry was heading for extinction. But something happened. It didn’t.
I got to looking into how salmon runs are actually doing. We are told by some
that the salmon fishery is in a crisis, that salmon are going extinct, that if we do not do something immediately, the fish and fishery will be lost. All is doom and gloom. So I decided to look up annual fish passage over both Bonneville Dam and Willamette Falls to see how returns are actually faring compared to days gone by.
What I saw did not prove my hypothesis of a steady decline in either the Chinook, coho or steelhead runs. What I did see was an ebb and flow, which is a natural occurrence in any species. Bonneville has recorded runs back to 1938. My expectation was that in those early years the runs would
Detroit Lake is a prolific producer of these landlocked sockeye salmon and is a fishery that guide Kevin Anderson has built his business around. (FACEBOOK.COM/NEXTLEVELGUIDESERVICE)
have been robust and then we would see a slow deterioration until our current time. But the data did not support this; instead, it shows that the runs we are experiencing today, even with the onslaught of the many challenges that the mighty migrating Oncorhynchus face, are still relatively stable.
Do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that we should forsake habitat improvement and restoration, or that we should not continue to focus on the many other influences that impact the mighty Pacific salmon and steelhead that ply the rivers of Oregon and Washington. This includes the runs on the Willamette that have been negatively impacted. But to think that drawing down a reservoir and flushing salmon smolts out to sea is somehow going to remedy the salmon “crisis” is not logical thinking.
The experiment called Green Peter showed us just the opposite. It destroyed a once robust kokanee fishery (and, hey, kokanee are salmon!) and did millions in damage to the towns of Sweet Home and Lebanon’s water systems and economies. The drawdown filled downstream waters with silt and sediment, destroying unknown numbers of salmon redds, along with potentially even killing the very salmon it was supposed to help. It also put more pressure on Detroit as a kokanee fishery.
One year does not make a trend, but a
Corps biologist admitted to the Statesman Journal that the number of wild spring Chinook smolts that went downstream in 2023’s Green Peter drawdown was “a lot smaller than we were hoping for,” a few thousand instead of 10,000-plus fish they’d hoped for.
And a drawdown at another Willamette Valley reservoir provides an example of additional unintended consequences. Illegally stocked walleye were flushed out of the lake, filling the Willamette River with more smolt-eating predators, further complicating the native species’ journey to the Columbia and Pacific.
BACK AT DETROIT Lake, the Corps’ plan is to lower the reservoir to just below 1,400 feet above sea level, or about 55 feet below its normal low-water pool. To put this in perspective, that is 30 feet lower than Detroit has ever been dropped to. Again, the goal is to allow baby salmon to migrate down through the reservoir and out to sea.
We are being told this is to stave off the inevitable extinction of both salmon and steelhead on the Willamette River system. Yet, what is really going on here? If such was the case, why did we just witness a record – yes, record – coho run on the Willamette in 2024? OK, so perhaps that salmon species just doesn’t use the river’s dammed tributaries on the Cascade side
of the watershed to the degree of others, but looking over the data on the runs, one thing does reveal itself. Fish runs are cyclical, being impacted more by environmental conditions than any other factor. Hot, dry summers and winter snow droughts can have a negative impact on both fry and spawning salmon. Think back to 2015 when there was a large die-off of sockeye on the Columbia due to extreme water temperatures and low flows resulting from the snow drought that year.
Conservation efforts can and have had an impact as well and should not be discouraged or forgotten. In some cases, dam removal can make sense, as in the Klamath Basin, where it appears to be having a positive impact on the ecosystem. But not all dam removals will have the same outcome. In the case of the Klamath, the dams blocked over 400 miles of upstream habitat and the reservoirs behind the dams slowed the water flow, causing it to stagnate and warm up. This created conditions for toxic algal blooms and poor water quality downstream affecting salmon health and contributed to die-offs, particularly during droughts. This is not the case with Detroit. Detroit Dam was completed in 1953 to provide, per the previously mentioned NOAA report, flood control, irrigation, navigation, hydropower, fish and wildlife, water quality, recreation and water supply.
Quite the list. Per ODFW records, Detroit Lake was first stocked with kokanee in 1959. That’s right, Detroit Lake has provided various forms of recreation for over 70 years and kokanee fishing for over 65 years. During that time salmon and steelhead continued to exist in the river system.
To suddenly think that drawing down the levels at Detroit Lake will solve the problems facing the salmon and steelhead runs is unrealistic. As mentioned earlier, most of the fluctuations in salmon and steelhead populations are due to variations in climate, in both freshwater and ocean environments. As with the Klamath dam removals, I think the ultimate goal here is to basically remove the dams on the Willamette River watershed. Certain organizations want to return to the good old glory days, but they forget that times have changed. They are willing to use the legal system to force on others their dreams
Kokanee Power of Oregon board member Brad Halleck reports that the organization’s annual derby at Detroit Lake is its largest and generates substantial revenue that is used to support the fishery across the state. The list of Beaver State kokanee waters is on the shorter side, but also includes Billy Chinook, East, Odell, Paulina and Wallowa Lakes, and Crane Prairie and Haystack Reservoirs. (BRAD HALLECK)
of returning the salmon to “original levels.”
The problem is that that is a one-pronged approach to a multifaceted problem. Until the other issues are addressed, salmon runs are more likely to remain where they are.
WHAT THEY AREN'T addressing are the disasters the drawdowns have caused. They have caused millions of dollars in damage to communities, and in their desire to “improve” the salmon runs on the Willamette River, they are willing to sacrifice and destroy another prolific fishery, the last of its kind in the Willamette Valley, and that is Detroit Lake kokanee. The results of the drawdown on salmon runs is questionable, with biologists taking a wait-and-see attitude, because there is uncertainty in doing the drawdowns.
But what we have seen from Green Peter was devastating. It was an ecological disaster. It was an environmental disaster. It was a socioeconomic disaster. They want us to believe that Detroit will be different. What can be certain is it will devastate, and possibly even destroy, one of the best
kokanee fisheries in Oregon.
There are ways to resolve salmon passage through Detroit Lake that are being successfully used in other kokanee waters. Lakes Merwin and Yale in Southwest Washington and even Lake Billy Chinook in Oregon have faced the same downstream salmonid passage issues as Detroit Lake,
yet dam operators did not resort to drawing down the lakes and destroying the fisheries. Instead, they built floating surface collectors. The latest NOAA opinion letter shows that the Corps has chosen the route of drawing down Detroit Lake and are not willing to listen to other options that are available to them. Their sole focus dismisses other intended uses of the reservoir, including fish, wildlife and recreation.
BEFORE ALLOWING ANOTHER experiment that will most certainly destroy yet another kokanee fishery, it is time to take action. I am not advocating for not finding solutions that will help salmon and steelhead. I am advocating for ones that will not cause the same unintended and disastrous results we have seen with Green Peter and other reservoirs that have been drawn down. I am advocating for saving the kokanee fishery at Detroit Lake while protecting the salmon and steelhead runs on the Willamette River. Connect with groups such as Kokanee Power of Oregon and Conserve Detroit Lake (detroitlakefoundation.org) that want to keep a top Oregon kokanee fishery alive. The time to act is now. Find ways to become involved because once it is gone, it may be too late. NS
Editor’s note: Tom Schnell is an avid outdoorsman who lives with his wife Rhonna in Central Oregon. He is a past board member of Kokanee Power of Oregon and a past local Ducks Unlimited and Oregon Hunters Association president.
GET ’EM BEFORE THEY’RE GONE
Unless some legal proceeding stops this fall’s scheduled deep drawdown or the Army Corps of Engineers puts it off a year, this most likely will be the last season you will be able to fish iconic Detroit Lake for trophy kokanee. If you have never fished the reservoir and would like to do so, there are several ways to go about it.
If you have a boat and are willing to fish it on your own, join Kokanee Power of Oregon’s Facebook page, as there is a lot of information on the page about Detroit. It is also a great place to ask questions about how and where to fish the lake, as well as represents a chance to connect with fellow kokanee anglers.
If you are not up to learning a new body of water but would still like to get out and fish the reservoir, try a guided trip with Kevin Anderson (541-974-1135) during probably the last year he will be able to guide there. Fish it while you can before the Corps flushes all the kokanee down the drain and ruins another fishery in Oregon. –TS
Pictures and happy memories are pretty much all that Oregon kokanee anglers have left from the Green Peter Reservoir fishery. Will it be the same for Detroit Lake? (TOM SCHNELL)
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‘Without Regard For The Law Or Other People’
It’s a situation where the justice system is clearly not working to change the behavior of a hardcore poacher.
True, Travis Alexander Palmer, 34, of Mount Vernon, Oregon, was sentenced to spend 55 days in jail after pleading guilty to two felony hunting and six misdemeanor fishing violations in late February, but to think that the lifetime hunting ban that he was also handed means anything to him is laughable at best.
That’s because this is the third time Palmer’s hunting privileges have been revoked for life. As a teen, he also lost them for two- and three-year periods.
“Surprise: Banning someone from buying a hunting license doesn’t work if they never cared about one in the first place,” opined Outdoor Life in reporting on Palmer’s extensive run-ins with the law.
According to the Blue Mountain Eagle, Palmer’s latest revocation came in late February, when Circuit Court Judge Rob Raschio also fined him $22,500 and ordered
him to surrender a rifle, bow and arrows and a spotlight. During his 18-month supervised probation, Palmer is also barred from possessing guns or other weapons.
Palmer had been accused of the alleged poaching of a trophy bull elk and a trophy buck (in Oregon, elk and deer with more than six or four points on one side, respectively, qualify as a trophy) during bow season with a rifle and spotlight at night and without a license for either, as well as 31 alleged fishing violations.
Previously, Palmer was banned from hunting for life in 2023 and 2015 for wildlife offense convictions, and in 2008, when he was 17, he lost his hunting privileges for two years, followed by a three-year revocation in 2010 for another violation.
Palmer also has an offensive littering arrest in his past for a large pile of trash found dumped along a Forest Service road in Grant County in 2018, as well as for driving while his license was suspended or revoked, driving uninsured and failure to
By Andy Walgamott
register a vehicle in 2022. And he will soon go on trial for felony third-degree assault of a man he allegedly hit with a stick.
In the wake of Palmer’s latest lifetime hunting revocation, you can sense Grant County District Attorney Jim Carpenter’s frustration. “Palmer is a habitual offender who does not care what restrictions are placed on him. He is going to trophy hunt or fish as he wishes without regard for the law or other people,” he told Eagle reporter Bennett Hall. “Palmer’s behaviors make it harder for the law-abiding hunter and wildlife enthusiast in the pursuit of their activities, be it putting food on the table for their families or recreational enjoyment of spotting wildlife in their natural habitat.”
One nuance to Palmer’s latest sentencing is that Judge Raschio also ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation and to follow those recommendations, per the Eagle. Perhaps it will help Palmer with his issues. Perhaps he will just end up shooting for the grand slam – a fourth lifetime ban.
SHELLFISH SWINE SENTENCED
AHood Canal man was sentenced to 30 days of electronic home detention last month after being found guilty of possessing twice the legal limit of spot shrimp following a two-day trial before a Jefferson County jury.
Curtis Scott Grout of Brinnon and two pals were found motoring to shore with a basket of 680 shrimp during an on-the-water stop last May by game wardens after witnesses reported the crew had already gone back in once that day without counting their catch. The daily limit of spot shrimp is 80 per person and they must be kept in separate baskets. Any over the limit must be returned to the water immediately.
JACKASS OF THE MONTH
If you were hunting waterfowl at Fern Ridge Wildlife Area in January and unable to use one of the Honey Buckets there because it was, well, a little on the destroyed side, here’s the story.
While making the rounds of the Willamette Valley refuge, a state fish and wildlife trooper spotted the porta-potty
on fire and was able to extinguish it. The trooper also found some napkins on the ground, and about a mile away, he came across a woman walking along.
Suspecting she might have had something to do with the fire, the trooper spoke to her and soon smelled smoke and the scent of melted plastic emanating from her clothes. Upon detaining her, the trooper also found three lighters in her pocket.
Initially, the woman denied that she had started any fire, but while being transported to county jail, she allegedly admitted she’d lit up the loo “because she was cold.”
Asked why she’d chosen to burn the Honey Bucket instead of sticks and natural debris on the ground, she told the trooper it was because the plastic outhouse was just “easier to ignite.”
Seems about right these days.
OUTDOOR CALENDAR
1 Start of new WA fishing and hunting license year; Opening day of spring bear hunts in select ID and OR units; Spring Chinook opener on Columbia Gorge pools
1-3 Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select WA Coast beaches, dependent on marine toxin levels – info: wdfw.wa.gov
1-7 Youth spring turkey hunting week in WA
2 Blackmouth opener on WA Marine Areas 10-11 (open Wednesdays-Saturdays only)
3 Halibut opener on Areas 5-10 (open daily)
5 ODFW Northwest Oregon and Central and Eastern Oregon Turkey Hunting Workshops ($40, registration), ODFW Salem, Bend Trap Club – info: myodfw .com/workshops-and-events; ODFW Youth Turkey Hunting Clinics ($10, registration), White River, Denman Wildlife Areas – info above; ODFW Spring Chinook Plunking Workshop ($70, registration), Sauvie Island – info above
6 Last scheduled day of Lower Columbia spring Chinook season (may close earlier or be extended based on catches and quota); ODFW Northwest Oregon Turkey Hunting Workshop ($40, registration), ODFW Salem – info above
8-14 Youth spring turkey hunting week in ID
10-15 Pacific Fishery Management Council West Coast salmon-season-setting meetings, San Jose, CA – info: pcouncil.org/council-meetings/upcoming-meeting 11-12 Klineline Kids Fishing Derby ($5 per child, registration), Vancouver – info: klineline-kf.org
11-13 48th Annual Oregon Knife Show, Lane Events Center, Eugene – info: oregonknifecollectors.com
12 Youth Bass Team Fishing Tournament, Lake Tapps ($20, registration, open to youths ages 6 to 17) – info: dayatthelake2024@gmail.com; Youth Outdoors Unlimited Western Washington fundraiser and auction, Emerald Queen Casino Conference Center, Fife – info: youthoutdoorsu.org; Inland Northwest Wildlife Council ADA Open House, Spokane – info: inwc.org/disabled-access-team
12-13 Youth spring turkey hunting weekend in OR; ODFW Southern Oregon Turkey Hunting Workshops ($40, registration), ODFW Roseburg – info above
12-18Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select WA Coast beaches – info above
14 Northern Pikeminnow Sport-Reward Program fishery opener at The Dalles station – info: pikeminnow.org; Blackmouth opener on Area 5 (open daily)
15 General spring turkey season opener in ID, OR and WA; Opening day of black bear hunts in most remaining ID units; Last day of catch-and-release fishing for wild steelhead on portions of WA’s Skagit and Sauk Rivers
17 ODFW Introduction to Hunting in Oregon Workshop ($10, registration), Tualatin Cabela’s – info above
21 Northern Pikeminnow Sport-Reward Program fishery opener at Columbia Point and Umatilla stations – info above
22 Fishing or bait opener on select OR waters
25-27 Fishing Derby Sportsman Show, Mineral Schoolhouse, Mineral, WA –info: mineralschoolhouse.com; Victoria Outdoor Adventure Show, Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre, Victoria, BC – info: victoriaoutdoorshow.com
26 Opening day of lowland lake fishing season in WA; Start of Washington Trout Derby at select lakes – info: wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/contests/trout-derby; Kid’s Fish In ($10 per child, registration), Lake Sacajawea, Longview – info: facebook .com/LongviewRecreation; Last scheduled day of Columbia Gorge spring Chinook season (may close earlier or be extended based on catches and quota); ODFW Southern Oregon Turkey Hunting Workshop ($40, registration), ODFW Roseburg – info above
26-27 Long Beach Razor Clam Festival – info: longbeachmerchants.com
26-May 3 Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select WA Coast beaches –info above
27 Fly Casting & Tying Fair, Pickering Barn Park, Issaquah – info: wscffi.org
OTTER GUIDE SERVICE
DESTINATION BIG SKY MONTANA
•
Top Options fOR Trout
Plenty of rainbows await in Willamette, Coast waters.
By Troy Rodakowski
Iremember growing up eagerly awaiting the trout opener here in Western Oregon. Usually, we would load up the truck with a couple coolers, several rods, tackle and worm boxes. It was fun going out the night before with Dad to pick fresh worms for our coming adventures.
Of course, like any kid, I enjoyed playing with the dough bait and eggs, sometimes making a mess of things and myself before my fun was halted. We would also inflate a small two-man Sevylor raft and paddle around the small ponds, sloughs and creeks catching stringers of bass, crappie and bluegill.
As time went on, I grew to enjoy fly fishing, but I still like to drown a worm now and then. My daughter Reese is the one who now likes to get the eggs and glittery smelly dough baits out to play with. It makes me chuckle to know exactly how my father felt when I used to do it. Reese has been whispering in my ear the past several weeks asking when we are going fishing. She’s on the countdown awaiting our first trip of the spring.
Like father, like daughter! As a youngster, author Troy Rodakowski (right, camo hat) played with the baits his dad brought for their Willamette Valley fishing trips, something his daughter Reese has also taken to – as well as catching rainbows and more! (TROY RODAKOWSKI)
FISHING
A FEW OF my favorite stops during the spring fishing season have, of course, changed over the years, but many still produce some nice fish and great fun.
Trout season brings a lot of focus on lakes, ponds and reservoirs, but don’t overlook flowing waters such as the lower McKenzie and even the mainstem Willamette. Take care when wading and fishing in fast-moving streams. (TROY
Having grown up in the southern Willamette Valley, we always plan a trip to the McKenzie River, which always produces some great fishing for both native and hatchery trout. This river has become a famous destination for anglers across the country. The great thing is that there are many options for good fishing from both the bank and boat. Having the right dry fly such as a March brown or caddis will go a long way on this river. Spinners and bait always work, but check the regulations depending on the section of river you plan to fish. Several guides run float trips and even cook your fish for lunch on the bank. Helfrich River Outfitter (helfrichoutfitter.com) is very well known for these trips, and I highly recommend them.
Leaburg Lake above the dam is a great place to take kids and provides some great fishing from the bank and you can even put in a raft or drift boat.
We have caught several limits of trout over the years from this area. The Eugene Water & Electric Board park and picnic area provides some great places to find additional bank access and have lunch.
I fondly remember my last fishing trip with my grandpa before he passed away in 1992. We had been talking about going for several weeks and were waiting for just the right day to load the boat and gear. I remember him telling me one spring afternoon that we’d be going in the morning. “Be here at 5 a.m. sharp, kid,” he said. I don’t think I slept a wink that night getting my gear ready in anticipation for a great day in the boat.
We headed out bright and early for Triangle Lake. This body of water has bass, perch, bluegill, trout and even kokanee. We were after trout and kokes that day and were lucky to bring home a cooler of nice-sized trout. I remember trolling flashers with worms and casting spinners for most of our fish. The most important thing is to fish there early in the season
before the water skiers and jet skis take to the lake. Several years after that trip with my grandpa, I fished from a float tube and caught a few perch near the main dock area using a weighted minnow jig.
SOME OF THE first trout I caught with my young daughter were at several of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife-stocked waters throughout the Willamette Valley. Most of these places provide some excellent early-season fishing, so watching the stocking schedule (myodfw.com/fishing/species/trout/ stocking-schedule) most definitely pays off this time of year. Reese’s eyes got really big after reeling in her first trout. She was so excited and shaking, wanting to hold the slippery flip-flopper.
I highly recommend Blue River (stocked both the weeks of March 31-April 4 and April 21-25 with 1,200 legal-size trout), Hills Creek (stocked both March 31-April 4 and April 28May 2 with 3,000 legals) and Cottage
RODAKOWSKI)
FISHING
Grove Reservoirs (stocked March 31-April 4 with 2,000 legals and April 14-18 with 3,750 trophy-size trout).
And just over the Coast Range are four more I endorse – Cape Meares (stocked April 14-18 with 3,000 legals and April 28-May 2 with 2,250 legals), Cleawox (stocked with over 7,250 legals and nearly 600 trophies in April), Woahink (stocked April 7-11 with 1,332 legals) and Siltcoos (stocked April 14-18 with 1,332 legals).
All of these are great places with both good bank and watercraft access. In addition to trout, most of them have good numbers of bass and other panfish. When I was young it was an annual tradition to hit many of the above locations and camp for a few days while catching some nice fish. Sometimes we’d bring a smoker or build one at camp and enjoy the tasty morsels of freshly smoked fish.
AND DON’T OVERLOOK the Willamette River. There are great places to fish and picnic up and down its many miles. I like to target rainbows and cutthroat with my fly rod in late spring. Hungry trout are very active, especially when the barometer is falling. Caddisfly imitations, Copper Johns and Prince Nymphs have produced some great fish for me over the years.
Most parks and boat launches have decent bank access for those looking to fish from shore. Numerous sections allow artificial lures, with some also open to bait fishing. Additionally, many of the sloughs, adjacent ponds and canals also have excellent bass and bluegill fishing.
Several waters also provide disabled and handicap access. To find options nearest you, go to myodfw.com/ articles/disabled-angler-access-map.
Spring is a great time of year to get out and enjoy the warmer weather, spend time with friends and family and hopefully hook into a few hungry fish. Wherever you go in Western Oregon, be sure to check the regulations for daily bag limits, bait restrictions or any other guidelines for the specific lake, river or stream you’ll be fishing. NS
Baits are great, but there’s something about pulling an old handmade lure out of the tackle box for a few casts. Trout season’s all about tradition, and reflecting on the past is part of it. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)
Best advice is to keep an eye on the stocking schedule. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife releases tens of thousands of legal-, trophy- and broodstock-size fish a month this time of year, making for great action at local waters for those who hit them at the right time. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)
Millions of trout have been or will be stocked across Washington for the opening day of lowland lakes fishing season, always on the fourth Saturday of April. (WDFW)
FISHING ‘Biggest Derby Yet’ Begins On Lowland Opener
Washington anglers have extra incentive to hit the water April 26, when the statewide fishing derby marks its 10th anniversary.
By Mark Yuasa
Spring is a joyous time to be on the water and it’s a signal to make sure the fishing gear is properly working when Washington’s statewide lowland lakes trout opener kicks off on April 26-27.
This much celebrated fishing occasion is when thousands of anglers will converge to hundreds of seasonal lakes stocked with more than 14.5 million trout throughout 2025, and many of those will be around to catch for the opener.
To sweeten the deal, this season also marks the 10th anniversary of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Trout Derby, which begins on April 26 and runs through October 31 at over 100 stocked statewide lakes.
“This is our biggest trout derby yet with over a thousand prizes for those who catch a tagged fish, and we plan
to plant most of the same lakes as we have in the past,” said Steve Caromile, WDFW Inland Fish Program manager.
“It has been very popular. The generosity of our vendors has made the trout derby a great success, and something that many anglers look forward to.”
More than 100 statewide businesses are offering an estimated 1,091 prizes valued around $54,858 and worth about $50.28 per prize, which is up considerably from previous years dating back to 2016. The success of the trout derby would only be possible through WDFW’s ongoing partnerships with business dealers/ vendors throughout the state.
Here’s a year-to-year comparison of WDFW trout derby prizes:
• 2016: 711 total prizes; $19,462 prize value; $27.37 average prize value; 355 prizes caught; and 50
percent catch percentage.
• 2017: 993; $28,606; $28.81; 426; and 43 percent.
• 2018: 1,046; $38,809; $37.10; 596; and 57 percent.
• 2019: 1,119; $39,091; $34.93; 639; and 57 percent.
• 2020: 1,007; $39,178; $38.90; 571; and 57 percent.
• 2021: 1,127; $40,160; $35.63; 620; and 55 percent.
• 2022: 846; $37,107; $43.86; 414; and 49 percent.
• 2023: 872; $41,565; $47.67; 449; and 51 percent.
• 2024: 848; $41,744; $49.22; 470; and 53 percent.
Prizes include gift cards; fishing gear and tackle; annual magazine subscriptions; Seattle Mariners game tickets; hooded jackets; books; rounds of golf at multiple golf courses; admission to a local
FISHING
aquarium; car detailing bucket; and kayak rentals. Higher-value prizes include a kayak; guided lake fishing trip for two; handheld GPS units; lifetime memberships for a streaming app to locate trout streams in Washington; stays at local resorts and campgrounds; backpack; and beverage refrigerator.
This season, each of the prizewinning trout can be identified by an orange tag inserted near the dorsal fin.
Anglers can participate in the WDFW photo contest during the first week of the trout derby on Instagram by using the hashtag #watroutderby.
You can also join WDFW staff for
the WDFW Trout Derby Kickoff Party hosted by Filson on April 19 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Filson Seattle Flagship store, 1741 1st Avenue South, in Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood. Get trout derby information, watch a flytying demo, learn from local fishing experts and eat some incredible trout served by a local chef.
The derby is open to anyone with a valid 2025-26 fishing license, though temporary licenses are not valid for game fish species from April 26 through May 3. There is no entry fee or registration required. Children under age 15 fish for free. WDFW’s Washington Trout Derby website
(wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/contests/ trout-derby) will be updated soon so you can see what statewide lakes contain tagged trout and learn more about how the derby works.
TROUT PLANTS IN STATEWIDE LAKES
The mild weather and longer days that began midway through last month are a sure sign spring is shifting into full bloom, and that means WDFW hatchery staff will be busy in the weeks ahead shuttling millions of trout to roughly 500 lakes and ponds across the state.
“Opening day is one of our biggest and most important days for anglers that provides fishing opportunities at lakes throughout the state, for people of all ages and backgrounds,” Caromile said. “Our spring weather can be difficult to predict, but the opener still draws plenty of interest and brings families and people together, and it’s always a great day whether it is raining or the sun is out.”
WDFW boasts one of the largest hatchery systems in the world, and hatchery personnel will be busy trucking – visualize a fleet of Amazon delivery vehicles – millions of catchable-size trout into hundreds of selected lakes.
“Our fish and hatchery staff work tirelessly throughout the year to offer accessible fishing in diverse settings across Washington,” Caromile said.
The standard catchable-size trout is 11 to 13 inches long and averages 2.5 fish per pound compared to 8 to 10 inches in previous seasons, and anglers should find about 2.14 million of them swimming in lowland lakes, plus more than 150,000 “jumbo” trout measuring 14 inches or longer. Most of the jumbos will be planted in March and April, while others will be saved for fall planting. Some lucky anglers will even have a chance to catch a bigger “carryover” rainbow trout that survived over the past year.
Ramping it up, almost 1.6 million trout categorized as “put, grow and take” – reared in hatcheries and released at 2.6 to 10 fish per pound in
The Washington Trout Derby features specially marked trout – look for the spaghetti tag, like the one on the back of this rainbow held by state fisheries biologist Randy Osborne – that correspond to great prizes from many local businesses. Over the derby’s nine years, an average of 52.4 percent of tagged fish have been turned in. (WDFW)
FISHING
size – that were stocked in 2024 should now be in the 8- to 12-inch range.
On top of that, more than 10.6plus million fingerling and fry trout and kokanee planted two years ago will recruit into 2025 fisheries. The majority of those go into Eastern Washington opening day lakes, which are managed to create decent fry survival.
In the Puget Sound region – Island, King, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish, and Whatcom Counties – the projected plant is 428,800 catchable-size trout, and they should have anglers reeling in lots of fun during the 2025 season. The additional icing on the cake is 25,000 jumbo-sized trout and 30,000 put, grow and take trout.
“Our allotment of trout for opening day is pretty much the same as 2024 with some minor adjustments to the number of fish planted in lakes around the Puget Sound region,” said Justin Spinelli, a WDFW Puget Sound regional biologist. “Our fisheries don’t harvest more than half the trout that are stocked in the spring and anglers in the summer and fall should have plenty of fish to catch. We also have
more trout derby tags going into our region’s lakes compared to last year.”
You can find the 2025 statewide hatchery trout and kokanee stocking plan by referring to the WDFW fish stocking webpage (wdfw.wa.gov/ fishing/reports/stocking).
OPENING DAY TIPS AND TACTICS
You don’t need to burn a hole in your wallet or max out your credit card when it comes to trout fishing gear.
A trout rod and reel combo usually goes for $50 to $90, and an expensive set will set you back around $120 to $200. The fishing pole length should be 6 to 7 feet, and keep it relatively light and limber, in the 4-10-pound range. Stick with a medium-sized spinning reel that can hold more than 100 yards of 6- to 8-pound-test fishing line.
For plunking bait, on the main line attach one or two size 9 egg sinkers with a rubber bumper to a small barrel swivel. The length of your leader is the most important factor – for this particular style of fishing, avoid the store-bought pretied 12-inch leaders, which are way too short. Leaders should be 3- to 8-pound test and 18 to 30 inches long. For hooks, think small and use an egg or worm hook in a size 8
or 10 or try a size 14 or 16 treble hook.
One thing many anglers tend to overthink is what to put on the end of your hook. While the top oldschool baits of choice are worms, maggots, salmon eggs or scented marshmallows, there’s been a switch to the softer dough bait like Berkley PowerBaits. Dough baits come in all sorts of colors and varieties of shapes, including mimicking a salmon egg, maggot and worm, just to name a few. You can also mold the jarred kind into round balls of various sizes, or squares or triangles or whatever else that comes to mind.
Various fly patterns also work well, and many prefer a black or black-andolive-colored Woolly Bugger in a size 8 or 10 attached to a 5- or 6-foot leader and trolled weightless close to the surface.
Also from a boat, troll a gang flasher with a worm, maggot or salmon egg laced with a tiny piece of scented dough bait or a small spoon like a Dick Nite, Yakima Bait Triple Teazer or Luhr Jensen Super Duper.
Besides plunking, bank anglers often cast out a bobber with their presentation sitting just below the surface in 3 to 6 feet of water. Others
Thanks to plentiful access to hundreds of Evergreen State lakes, bank and boat anglers alike have a good chance at catching stocked trout. (WDFW)
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FISHING
hang their presentation a few feet off the bottom where the bigger fish tend to lurk.
Keep in mind, most recently stocked trout tend to school near the surface, and many will hang right where the hatchery truck placed them in the lake, usually within yards of the shoreline, boat ramps and docks. Planted fish will remain high in the water column before they acclimate to their new surroundings and eventually spread out and move to deeper areas of the lake.
When heading out to lakes in the coming weeks and months, please be respectful of fellow anglers and other recreationists, obey posted signage at all water access areas and follow parking regulations, and have a backup plan in case your preferred destination is overcrowded. NS
Editor’s note: Mark Yuasa is a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife communications manager and longtime local fishing and outdoor writer.
MORE INFO ON TROUT
Get a jump on season: You can avoid opening day’s madness and head out now to year-round Westside lakes stocked with trout between March and May. Other lakes also receive bonus plants in autumn/winter, and don’t forget that thousands of trout averaging 1 to 1.5 pounds apiece went into some Puget Sound region lakes for the Black Friday fishing event in late November. For the statewide stocking schedule, go to the WDFW fishing and stocking reports webpage (wdfw. wa.gov/fishing/reports/stocking).
High catch rates: While success varies widely from year to year, on 2024’s opening day WDFW creel checkers surveyed 73 statewide lakes with roughly 147,000 anglers out on the water. While that’s down from 160,000 anglers in 2023, last April saw a higher catch with around 537,000 trout caught and 373,000 kept (444,000 and 305,000 in 2023). The 2024 statewide opening day catch rate was 3.4 per angler
and the fish kept rate was 2.1 per angler. In 2023, it was 2.9 and 1.8, respectively.
Bazillion waters: There are thousands of lakes, ponds and reservoirs across Washington, and hundreds of WDFWmanaged water-access areas, including some with areas accessible for people with disabilities. Details on water-access areas can be found on WDFW ’s website (wdfw. wa.gov/places-to-go/water-access-sites).
License up: A 2025-26 fishing license is required (youth under age 15 fish for free) and are available from hundreds of license vendors across the state. The 2024-25 licenses expired on March 31. For details, go to WDFW’s licensing webpage (wdfw.wa.gov/licenses/fishing).
Parking pass: Anglers parking at WDFW vehicle water-access areas are required to display the WDFW Vehicle Access Pass – provided when you buy eligible annual fishing licenses – or a Discover Pass. Anglers visiting Washington State Parks
or Department of Natural Resources lands need a Discover Pass. Information on parking passes can be found at WDFW’s parking and access passes webpage (wdfw.wa.gov/ licenses/parking).
Check the regs: Before heading out, anglers should check WDFW’s fishing regulations webpage (wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/ regulations) for permanent regulations and emergency rules webpage (wdfw. wa.gov/fishing/regulations) for rule updates affecting fisheries.
More info: An excellent fishing resource can be found by going to the WDFW “Places to go fishing” webpage (wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/locations). There are also statewide kids fishing events held throughout the year and you can find more information by going to the WDFW “youth fishing events” webpage (wdfw. wa.gov/fishing/contests/youth), as well as by checking the Outdoor Calendar in this magazine (see page 33). –MY
A young angler shows off her first rainbow, caught on 2022’s opening day. The trout opener is one of Washington’s greatest traditions, a cherished moment shared on the state’s waters each spring. (WDFW)
Easy to catch. Don’t need a bunch of fancy gear. Widespread. Stocked in big numbers. Zero regrets when filling a stringer. There’s a lot to be said about the simplicity of rainbow trout fishing and serving a spring catch up for supper.
COLUMN
’Bows, For When You Just Want To Catch A Damn Fish Or 5 For Dinner
CHEF IN THE WILD
By Randy King
Wilson Creek is not a glamorous fishing destination. It’s a little waterway that flows in front of a Walmart and a Panda Express and through some middle-class neighborhoods in Nampa, Idaho. Every now and then you’ll see a tire or the frame of an old car sticking out of the bank. But overall, the water is clear
and spring-fed.
I absolutely love fishing in that creek. Why? It is half a mile away from home, and it has trout in it. It is also the spillway from a local fish hatchery, and that certainly helps the fish population. Mostly I love the creek because I can get away from the house, the bills, the laptop and the stress, and be fishing in mere moments.
But Wilson Creek is not some isolated affair. Most towns, most cities have somewhere that you can fish in a suburban or even urban setting. These
places are often overlooked too.
Often, fishing gets put on a pedestal. Was that bass a personal best? How long was that brown trout on that catchand-release, dry-fly, barbless, hookless stream in Oregon? How far out were you trolling for tuna?
It goes on and on.
Sometimes I just need to scratch the itch, land a trout or two, and then fry them up at home. No big adventure. No big story. A meat run. An hour-long brain vacation that results in dinner. NS
(BUZZ RAMSEY)
MUSTARD & WORCESTERSHIRE
When I do catch a trout in Wilson Creek – and most times I do – they tend to be cooked simply. A quick wet rub on the skin, a few onions in the belly, and some time in the pan. Nothing fancy, but still delicious.
The beauty of fresh trout is that you don’t need to overcomplicate things. Catch, clean, cook.
That said, two “secrets” exist in this month’s recipe. Secret 1: Worcestershire/ mustard combo. Trout is not a steak, but this coating is still good on just about everything.
Secret 2: scoring the fish – that is, slicing diagonal slits into it (see photo above). For many years I did not do this with trout. I’m not sure why. But now that I do, it is a winner. More exposed surface area means more crispness, and that is a good thing.
A QUICK HISTORY OF MUSTARD
Mustard is the OG of condiments – we’re talking ancient civilization-ancient. The Romans were grinding mustard seeds and mixing them with unfermented grape juice (called “must”) back when togas were an actual thing and not just frat party costumes at UO, UW, UETC. The Latinspeaking Romans called it mustum ardens,
which literally means “burning must,” aka “must-ard.”
Pretty metal name for a condiment, if you ask me.
By the Middle Ages, French monks had taken mustard cultivation to an art form.
The town of – wait for it – Dijon became the epicenter of mustard culture around the 13th century when the monks perfected the smooth, pungent style we associate with fancy hot dogs today. These monks were grinding seeds and revolutionizing sandwiches centuries in the future. I think they even invented the term “pardon me …” specifically to pass the mustard.
Mustard made its way to America with the early colonists, who quickly realized it grew like a weed in the New World. While Thomas Jefferson was busy writing declarations and introducing mac and cheese to high society (see my February column), mustard was quietly establishing itself as the condiment of the people.
Mustard is also one of the first forageable “weeds” you can find each spring. Look for yellow flowering fields in Idaho if you want to know what a mustard plant looks like.
The bright yellow stuff we squirt on ballpark franks? That’s a relatively recent American innovation, circa 1904, when
the R.T. French Company added turmeric to their recipe, giving it that eye-catching color. The French, naturally, consider this an abomination, much like putting ketchup on a fine steak. But the French are often wrong.
A QUICK HISTORY OF WORCESTERSHIRE
Worcestershire sauce – that impossibleto-pronounce-or-spell, impossible-to-livewithout fermented flavor bomb – has a story that sounds like it was made up.
In the 1830s, Lord Marcus Sandys, a former governor of Bengal, India, returned to England with a taste for the spicy, fermented condiments of the East. He commissioned chemists John Lea and William Perrins of Worcester to recreate his favorite sauce. The duo mixed up a batch, found it revolting, and stashed the barrel in their cellar, presumably to deal with later.
Fast forward a few years (procrastination is timeless) and the two men rediscovered their forgotten experiment. Either out of curiosity or extreme frugality, they decided to taste it again. This makes me speculate how blue cheese must have been invented: two young guys (you just know it was dudes) daring each other to eat the bluelooking hunk of cheddar they found in the barn, then liking it! Sacre bleu!
Pan-fried trout with Worcestershire sauce and mustard rub, two “secret” ingredients that Chef Randy King likes to use when cooking rainbows and their relatives. (RANDY KING)
COLUMN
The time and the fermentation process had transformed the chemists’ nasty concoction into something magical. The sauce had mellowed, deepened and developed complex umami notes that made their taste buds do a happy dance.
Lea and Perrins began bottling their accident in 1838, and it quickly became a sensation. The recipe remains a closely guarded secret, but we know it contains anchovies, tamarind, molasses, vinegar and a blend of spices. It’s basically what happens when fish sauce and vinegar have a fermented baby, and that baby is delicious.
The sauce’s popularity exploded worldwide, becoming an essential ingredient in everything from Bloody Marys to Caesar salad. It’s the secret weapon in countless recipes, adding that “what is that?!?” depth.
So, when you combine mustard and Worcestershire sauce, you are left with deliciousness. And in this case, trout, being as mild as they are, benefit from the intense flavors.
SKILLET-FRIED WHOLE TROUT
This recipe takes those beautiful whole fish you caught wherever and gives them a crispy exterior while keeping the flesh moist and flavorful. It is inspired by my friend Kelly Brink and by chef Karla Vasquez.
4 whole stocker trout (gutted; head on or off optional), scored on both sides
2 tablespoons coarse-grained sea salt
¼ cup yellow mustard
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
1 cup red onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons butter
Lime slices
Rub about a quarter of the salt over both the skin side and the gut cavity of each trout. (Adjust above ingredient amounts if cooking more or fewer than four standardsize keeper rainbows.)
Mix the mustard and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl. This humble mixture brings surprising depth to the fish. As
with the salt, spread the wet rub over the skin and inside of each fish – don’t be shy; get in there with your hands and make sure every bit gets coated.
Next, stuff the insides of each fish with red onion slices. These will steam and flavor the fish from the inside out, kind of like nature’s own onion aromatherapy system.
Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan to medium-high, then place two fish at a time in the pan and cook till the skin is brown and crispy. The sizzle is the sound of good things happening! This step should take about four minutes.
Flip and cook for two to three more minutes, or until the flesh is light pink (if a holdover or wild-caught trout) or white (a recent hatchery release) throughout. Don’t overcook it – trout goes from perfect to bad faster than the Seahawks.
Serve these beauts with lime wedges, rice and salad. The acid from the lime brightens everything up and cuts through the richness perfectly. –RK
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Cast For Potholes Spring Trifecta
Trout, walleye and bass fishing begins to heat up at famed Columbia Basin reservoir.
By John Kruse
Can’t make up your mind about what kind of fish you want to target on your next fishing trip? No worries, simply plan a trip to Potholes Reservoir in Eastern Washington. The 27,800acre irrigation impoundment is at full pool this time of year, allowing boat anglers many opportunities to fish the northern reaches of the reservoir that are often cut off later in the year due to dropping water levels.
Potholes has a variety of fish to catch in the springtime to include quality rainbow trout, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and walleye. In the summer, the bite for crappie, bluegill, perch, bullhead and channel catfish heats up. Since we are focusing on spring fishing, let’s talk about catching the first three species we mentioned.
RAINBOW TROUT
The rainbow trout fishery at Potholes Reservoir is a littleknown gem. Solid rainbow trout of 2 to 3 pounds are common and they will get as big as 5 pounds in this lake. Spring is prime time to target these fish, as the cool, clear waters make their meat taste great!
Boat anglers troll for trout at 2 to 3 miles per hour near the mouth of Frenchman Hills Wasteway
Ryan Bratton caught these big rainbows fishing at Potholes Reservoir last spring. While the Central Washington irrigation impoundment is famed for spinyray species, it’s also a destination for trout anglers. (MARDON RESORT)
FISHING
(on the southwest side of the lake) or in front of Medicare Beach (on the east side of the reservoir). Popular offerings include size 7 Berkley Flicker Shads, Needlefish spoons, or Mack’s Wedding Ring spinners tipped with worms.
If you do not have a boat, you can fish from shore at Medicare Beach by plunking PowerBait or in the lower portion of Frenchman Hills Wasteway at Potholes State Park. Plunking nightcrawlers can result in not only trout, but also walleye, bass or carp. Spinners and 1/8-ounce curl-tailed grubs also work for trout here. When it comes to the spinners, one of my favorites is a 1/8- or ¼-ounce Rooster Tail with a gold blade and brown body.
WALLEYE
Potholes Reservoir is known as one of the premier walleye destinations in the Pacific Northwest. Unlike
the Columbia River (where there is no minimum size and no limit on the number of fish you can catch), Potholes is managed as a sustainable walleye fishery with several age classes of fish present. The daily limit is eight. They must be at least 12 inches long and only one walleye over 24 inches in length can be retained. You’ll find a very healthy number of 12- to 16-inch fish and good numbers of 18- to 22-inch walleye here, along with a few fish that will weigh 7 pounds or better.
Where to find walleye and how to catch them changes as spring progresses. In March, most of the walleye are deep (between 25 and 40 feet). Productive places to find them include off the mouth of Crab Creek and on the humps in and around Goose Island. Vertical jigging metal baits like blades or a Mack’s Sonic Baitfish works well when the water is cold.
Potholes is well known for its walleye – Rusty Johnston, author John Kruse’s fishing partner, shows off a quality specimen. The fish can be caught jigging with blade baits or by trolling, while bank fishermen can also get in on the bite in spring where Crab Creek dumps into the reservoir immediately below Moses Lake. (JOHN KRUSE)
As the water begins to warm up towards the 50-degree mark, the walleye move to a series of submerged humps in front of the sand dunes area of the main reservoir. You can also find them near Perch Point. Try trolling a Slow Death rig tipped with a nightcrawler behind a bottom bouncer weight. Speed is the key to success here. A common mistake many walleye anglers make at this time of year is trolling too fast. You need to troll slow, as in .8 to 1 mph slow.
At the end of April, the walleye will move to their spawning areas. One place they congregate in big numbers is just below the spillway separating Moses Lake from Crab Creek. If you don’t have a boat, this is the place to be. If you do have a boat, look for walleye in the main channels of the lake, like the Winchester Arm at the northwest end of the reservoir or up Crab Creek. With water temps
FISHING
warmer than 50 degrees, you’ll find walleye at depths of 6 to 15 feet and you can increase your trolling speed up to 1.2 mph.
bass are more common. As for the smallmouth, there are lots of 1- and 2-pound fish, but they can reach up to 5-plus pounds in size.
BASS
Bassmaster Magazine named Potholes Reservoir as the ninth best bass fishery in the Western United States in 2024. Potholes holds lots of largemouth and smallmouth. The largemouth can tip the scale at over 7 pounds, though 2- to 3-pound
In the spring, the largemouth move into the sand dunes area in the north end of the reservoir. This area, which is only 15 feet deep in places, warms up faster than the main lake. Early on, ¼- to ½-ounce weedless jigs fished into cover such as submerged willows or beaver huts is the way to go. A popular setup at Potholes this time of year is a black and blue jig with a crawfish trailer.
As the water warms into the upper 50s towards 60 degrees, the largemouth will move into their spawning areas and can be caught in depths of 2 to 6 feet. There is a good amount of partially submerged trees this time of year at the north end of the lake and these are good areas to look for bass. From late April through May the go-to lure is a weightless Senko soft plastic bait. Green pumpkin is a favorite color and anglers fish this offering both Texasstyle through the nose or wacky rigged with the hook going right through the center of the worm. The slow descent of the worm near bass in shallow water triggers more strikes than anything else this time of year. Having said that, don’t overlook lipless crankbaits like a Berkley War Pig or topwater frogs, which also catch plenty of largemouth. Smallmouth are also found in the sand dunes, though generally not as deep as the largemouth are. Other places to fish for smallmouth in the spring include Goose Island or near O’Sullivan Dam at the south end of the lake.
Ned rigs work very well in the spring, as do drop-shot rigs, weedless jigs and, at times, tube baits and Carolina-rigged plastic worms. The smallmouth fishing can be hit or miss in the spring, but if you get into a good school, you can catch these bass at a rapid-fire pace.
WHERE TO LAUNCH, STAY AND EAT
There are five boat ramps at the south end of Potholes Reservoir. They include Potholes State Park
Rated as the ninth best bass fishery in the Western US, the reservoir is a solid springtime largemouth spot. Focus on the dunes during the prespawn and spawning period. (MARDON RESORT)
FISHING
(fee required), Blythe Point, MarDon Resort (fee required, except for hosted tournament fishing), Glen Williams just east of O’Sullivan Dam, and Lind Coulee. At the north end, there is also a rough boat launch on Crab Creek, easily recognizable by the powerlines that pass over it.
A narrow gravel road off of South Frontage Road leads to the put-in.
As for where to stay, there’s a plethora of hotels in Moses Lake that are close to I-90. If you want to stay where the launches are, Potholes State Park and MarDon Resort (mardonresort.com) are both great options. As for eating, the Potholes
General Store, the Potholes Bar and Grill, and the Beach House at MarDon Resort all offer tasty food. NS
Editor’s note: Author John Kruse is the host of America Outdoors Radio (americaoutdoorsradio.com) as well as Northwestern Outdoors Radio (northwesternoutdoors.com).
The warmth of spring kickstarts two migrations in the Columbia Basin – Lahontan cutthroat to the shallows as they stage to try and spawn, and fly anglers who are eager to hook these nice-sized trout at waters such as
FOUR FOR FLY GUYS
For most Washington lake anglers, the two most important dates on the calendar are March 1 and the fourth Saturday of April. Those are the select and general lowland fishing openers for numerous stillwaters across the state. Many of the lakes that open March 1 are in the Columbia Basin, and given their warming waters over the past month, it might be best to concentrate your efforts on this area while awaiting the big day, April 26.
This time of year is also when Lahontan cutthroat begin to school up for the spring spawning run, making it advisable to fish lakes like Lenore in lower Grand Coulee and Omak on the Colville Reservation.
Midge hatches begin to show up en masse during March and continue through April. The most effective strategy to use during this period of time is to suspend a black chironomid below a strike indicator so it is just off the bottom and use a very slow retrieve. There is some surface action, but a dry fly is not all that effective. As the season progresses, callibaetis, mayfly, damselfly and caddis hatches begin to appear, making Prince Nymphs and Pheasant Tails more effective. Woolly Buggers and leech patterns in brown, black or olive are also very effective.
On Omak, it might be advisable to bring something to climb up on so as to gain some elevation to spot cruising fish close to shore. The water in Omak is generally very clear and schools can be easily spotted. Damsel and Sheep Creek patterns are more effective earlier here than at many other lakes in the area. Note that Omak is catch-and-release only in all of April and May. See cct-fnw.com/regulations-permits for nontribal member fishing rules.
Grant County’s Lenice and Dry Falls Lakes do not contain Lahontans, so sinking or sink-tip lines would be more effective, along with a broader variety of nymph patterns. It might also be advisable to use a dropper, such as a Prince Nymph or a Pheasant Tail, with a leech or a Woolly Bugger as the lead fly.
The lakes in the Columbia Basin tend to be very fertile and the fish grow rapidly and are hard fighters. It might be advisable to use a 5-weight rod and 4X tippet rather than risk losing a Kodak-moment trout. Indeed, the trout in the basin grow to very impressive lengths. I would always take my dog on my fishing trips, and one time I parked my pickup and we walked down to the lake just after dawn. As we got to the bank, a school of fish spooked, leaving a very large wake behind. My dog looked at the size of the wake and decided he was going to stay on shore. While Lenore and Omak can be good when fished from shore, Lenice and Dry Falls will require a float tube or pontoon boat (note that there’s a short hike into Lenice). The most productive area on either lake is around the dropoff between the shallows and the deeper water. –Mike Wright
Lake Lenore. (DENNIS WERLAU)
More Than Just Stockers On Tap
From smallmouth to kokanee, bottomfish to catfish, there’s a springasbord of species to get after this month!
Story
and
captions by Jeff Holmes
As a kid I’d wait all April to harvest limits and drink in the sights and sounds and smells of opening day of trout season. The smells of freshly opened cans of corn and cheese mallows resonate in my brain, as does the taste of Snickers bars, grape soda, and my own fingers, caked in bait residue and the seasoning powder from sour cream and onion chips. These memories exist against a soundtrack of old outboards, creaking oarlocks, trilling red-winged blackbirds and excited anglers shouting about their catches.
Waiting for the last Saturday in April for scores of freshly stocked lakes to open up is definitely still a huge thing and the biggest single angling event in the state, but the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has learned to spread the love and opportunity over the years. There is fantastic trout fishing almost year-round except for the hottest summer months, and even then night fishing, fishing deep or heading for the mountains can still yield great trout fishing.
The April trout opener will always be special to me, but there are sooo many things to do in the outdoors during the month of April. Spring is just, well, springing across much of the state, but every day of warm weather hastens us toward the heart of spring and brings us new opportunities as waters warm. I recommend not waiting until the end of the month to start enjoying spring fishing. Indeed, you can still enjoy opening day on the fourth Saturday of April after fishing all month for trout, kokanee, bass, panfish and walleye; digging razor clams and hauling in bottomfish; and chasing the Northwest’s most valuable and elusive gamefish, the spring Chinook. Here are some reminders of cool April opportunities some of you may have lost sight of while other readers may have not yet engaged in.
In my opinion, we have more smallmouth bass in the Northwest than we need despite the joy I find in catching them. Whereas largemouth breed and grow much more slowly and are not culprits in the war against salmon and steelhead smolts, smallmouth are prolific and destructive wherever they have access to smolts. Maybe that’s why I relish the sound of air escaping their swim bladders and the sight of their bloody gills after some tactical filet knife work. Ahem, whether you choose to eat them or release them unharmed, April is an amazing month for big smallmouth all across the Northwest, from Lake Washington to the Yakima River. Whether you have a bass boat, any other floating craft, or a pair of shoes and a cheap spinning rod and some jigs and plastics, these bass are easy to access and plentiful. Here, my friend Travis Mattix of Clarkston hoists a nice Walla Walla River smallmouth caught aboard my raft. It died a merciful death and was laid to rest in cornmeal and hot grease by my neighbor. (JEFF HOLMES)
FISHING
With a decent snowpack in the mountains this year, Lake Roosevelt has been drawn down significantly to accommodate runoff, which usually comes in late spring. During drawdown conditions, which we are likely to see this April, the trout are concentrated near shorelines, practically begging to be caught. April is also a perfect time to take kids to play and fish on the giant reservoir’s beaches, and the trout are huge this year. Ten-pound triploid rainbows have been landed, and the average fish in April will tape out to 18 or 19 inches! Focus on the lower lake in April: Fort Spokane, Seven Bays, Lincoln, Jones Bay, Hanson Harbor, Keller, Spring Canyon, Crescent Beach. Fish any proven trout plunking rig and bait, but I greatly prefer a Carolina rig with 2 to 3 feet of 6-pound leader, a size 14 to 18 treble, and a small ball of corn-flavored Power Bait. Other flavors work, worms and mallows work, but mark my words about the corn-flavored stuff. (CHRIS DONLEY)
LAKES ROOSEVELT AND CHELAN
I write about Lake Roosevelt all the time because it is the best trout fishery we have, and it is easy as pie to be successful from the shore. The plankton-eating rainbows are deliciously red-fleshed and packed with Omega-3s and make great feedstock for the smoker or the grill.
All of the beaches from Grand Coulee Dam to Fort Spokane will kick out these excellent rainbows throughout April, with limits
of five fish very possible. If you want to increase your chances of a limit or at least better catching, get a physical or digital copy of the December issue of this magazine (nwsportsmanmag.com) if you don’t already have one. We mapped the beaches and I included a diagram of a lethal plunking rig I also describe in the above photo caption. But even without my or anyone’s advice, anyone who knows how to plunk for trout can show up to a Lake
Roosevelt beach and potentially land a big, old trout.
Meanwhile, if you have a boat and some know-how or want to hire a guide, the lake is also home to some very large kokanee. They are not numerous, but they are large and very special and delicious. Some are as large and larger than Brewster sockeye salmon.
If you’re looking for more kokanee action on very numerous but somewhat smaller kokanee that
FISHING
Lake Chelan is again packed with kokanee in 2025, along with some tasty landlocked kings, lots of stocked cutthroat and a robust Mackinaw population. The lake will shine this April, and there are lots of excellent guides who can show you and your family a great day on the water while collecting a couple smoker loads of tasty kokes. Additionally, there are lots of other attractions that make Chelan and nearby Wenatchee a great destination for a family trip. I recommend Brad Wagner and Kurt Middleton of Bobber Down Guide Service. (FISHWENATCHEE.COM)
are just as delicious, Lake Chelan is a great April opportunity. Along with a robust kokanee population and a bag limit of 10 a day, you can also fish for lake trout, stocked cutthroat trout and the occasional landlocked Chinook. Getting a guide here is wise unless you have a stout boat with downriggers and some research about how to catch Chelan’s salmonids under your belt.
LARGEMOUTH AND SMALLMOUTH
April is prime time for bass fishing. Reprogram your thinking if you do not already know this and engage earlier than most casual bassers do. The result could be the biggest bass of
your life for both species.
Largemouth seek shallow water that warms the fastest. They recharge their metabolism after months of being mostly sedentary in the cold of winter, looking for big, easy meals. I like to fish swimbaits that imitate small stocker trout and large white, chartreuse, or white and chartreuse spinnerbaits with a big willow-leaf blade in either gold or silver, with a preference for gold.
Finding warm water and making lots of casts to pattern fish is essential to catching lots of fish, and often early-season bass fishing doesn’t mean catching 20 or 30 fish but maybe just a handful of very large fish. The big
females are the first to seek the warm of the shallows, and they are interested in some lucrative prespawn meals.
Early-season largemouth fishing is a blast, and the same is true for smallmouth. The largest smallies in the world are being caught right now in Idaho’s Dworshak Reservoir, where booking a trip with a guide (reeltimefishing.com) is a wise idea for learning the ropes on this huge reservoir and for increasing your chances of landing a true giant in the 6- to 9-pound range.
One need not book a guided trip nor travel to Dworshak to find smallmouth success, however. They are everywhere in the Columbia, Snake, lower Yakima, lower Walla Walla and lower Okanogan Rivers, among others. They are also present in many stillwaters. April smallmouth ops can be searched easily on WDFW’s Fish Washington app (wdfw.wa.gov/ fishing/regulations/app).
Early-season smallies seem to focus mostly eating on crayfish in April before transitioning to minnows and smolts as spring advances. Still, it’s wise to have imitations of both.
WALLEYE
It’s tough to generalize about walleye in the Northwest because timing can be a little different from fishery to fishery, so I’ll focus on Snake and mid-Columbia fish, which are on essentially the same timeline. Depending on the progression of spring and water temperatures, these walleye – some of the world’s largest – spawn during March and early April. When the spawn ends, they may take a very brief break from feeding before completely pigging out to recondition following the spawn.
Big catches are possible below McNary Dam at the Umatilla, Irrigon, Patterson Point, Boardman and Crow Butte fisheries. Above McNary in the Burbank and Tri-Cities fisheries, angling for eater walleye can be excellent as well. Both above and below McNary, it’s often the case
Smokercraft Sunchaser Pontoon
Smokercraft Sunchaser Pontoon
Alumaweld Stryker
FISHING
that smallmouth and walleye can be caught simultaneously in April.
Meanwhile, up the Snake, fishing is getting to be excellent below all four dams, but the Little Goose/ Lyons Ferry fishery is especially popular and known for big catches, including some very large fish. I have not fished it for walleye, but reports of excellent fishing below Lower Granite Dam have come in over the past two years, and walleye have now been documented all the way to Riggins, Idaho, on the Salmon River.
In addition, April walleye fishing can be good in the Columbia River pools as well as on Banks Lake and Lake Roosevelt.
CRAPPIE AND OTHER PANFISH
Panfish represent some of the most accessible and entertaining angling targets in the Northwest, especially the omnipresent yellow perch, which exist in big numbers in most lakes and are extremely delicious and easy to catch. Almost equally present in our lakes is the tiny pumpkinseed sunfish, its larger cousin the bluegill, and the king and most elusive of panfish – black and white crappie.
April is a great month to chase crappie, perch and bluegill, although tactics can be necessarily different than during warm-water weather. You have to find the fish, and depending on water temps during April, they could still be a little deeper than they will be in late spring and early summer when you can reliably take kids out with red and white bobbers and chunks of worm. The key is experimenting with depths, recognizing that most panfish will be close to the bottom during April. WDFW’s Fish Washington app offers lots of information about where to find different species of panfish, crappie especially.
Many associate the heat of summer with the best largemouth bass fishing, but for me the best time of year to pursue them in the shallows is springtime. They are hungry and laden with eggs as they wait for the backwaters where they spawn to reach 60 to 62 degrees. April largemouth can be very aggressive, and they are ready to eat big, gaudy baits any time of the day after a winter of lethargy. This average-sized largie bit a ½-ounce willow leaf spinnerbait with a white skirt fished in a Columbia River slough. Largemouth live in most bodies of water in the Northwest and require no stocking, although they are greedy to eat stocker trout. One-half- and ¾-ounce spinnerbaits in white, chartreuse, and white and chartreuse are confidence baits for me and often result in incidental catches of smallmouth, walleye, pike and tiger musky. (JEFF HOLMES)
Crappie anglers are notoriously tight-lipped about good crappie spots. For me and for many Northwest anglers, crappie are a special fish that can be hard to come by and have declined in abundance
FISHING
Some walleye are just finishing off their spawn in April, while others have already spawned. Like some humans, as soon as they finish the act, they doze off briefly and then raid the metaphorical refrigerator. The fishing can be awesome on the Columbia and Snake Rivers, Banks Lake, Lake Roosevelt and other, less notable walleye fisheries. This 22-inch walleye ate a big spinnerbait in 2 feet of water while we were prospecting for trophy largemouth in the backwaters behind Patterson Point on the midColumbia near Patterson. More typically in April you’ll find walleye in 18 to 25 feet of water, but this is a month when you can fish for them very shallow as they gobble baitfish. If you’re looking for a guide and a place to fish, look no further than the mid-Columbia and the Tri-Cities areas. I recommend Flatout Fishing (flatoutfishing.net), Hester’s Sportfishing (hesterssportfishing.com), Miller Time Fishing (fishmillertime.com) and O’Doherty Outfitters (odohertyoutfitters.com).
(JEFF HOLMES)
and accessibility over the past few decades. For a brief window during spring, usually late April and May, crappie come shallow to stage and feed before spawning. After their spawn, they then gorge themselves on minnows before heading for great depths for the summer, with a brief return visit to the shallows in the fall to feed before going deep again until next spring. Crappie school tightly and are beautiful, tasty and fun to find.
THE PACIFIC OCEAN
As I wrote about in the March issue, April is an ideal month for seafood combo trips on ocean beaches and charter boats out of Westport and Ilwaco. Razor clam digs switched to morning low tides from evening ones in late March, surfperch become active cleaning the beaches as the tide comes in after digs, and the ocean starts to lie down and become more accessible throughout the month of April.
WDFW’s website (wdfw.wa.gov) offers comprehensive razor clam info for starters, and I offered advice in the March issue. It’s easy to outfit your whole family for razor clamming and almost as easy to be successful.
For those looking to leave dry land and head offshore, All Rivers and Saltwater Charters (allriversguideservice.com) runs early-season bottomfishing trips out of Westport, and Pacific Salmon Charters (pacificsalmoncharters .com) starts early down in Ilwaco. A few other operators start early too, and calling around will certainly yield seats. April is one of the very best months to enjoy the beach before hordes of tourists show up in June, and the potential exists to make a huge haul of rockfish, lingcod, surfperch and ultra-delicious razor clams. Despite the national embarrassment the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission has become, the department’s fisheries managers do great work when not encumbered by absurd politics. They have done a great job managing our clam and
Channel catfish stage to spawn in April and can be found in large concentrations, resulting in big catches. They’ve been a fixture in the Columbia and Snake Rivers for years, and probably Washington’s most famous channel cat fishery is the mouth of the Palouse, but this picture may show the second most popular and lucrative spot: the mouth of the Walla Walla near Wallula Gap. Thousands of cats this size and much larger charge up the Walla Walla to spawn each spring. This fish ate Mila George’s scented nightcrawler while we sat on Spot-Lock in the current just off the Columbia. Mila’s mom almost backed my Tundra into the Walla Walla River while helping me trailer the boat on this day, but, to her credit, she did not. Barely. I was credited by her for being kind about it, but I am now ruining it in this photo caption. (JEFF HOLMES)
FISHING
April is a fantastic, uncrowded month to bottomfish out of Westport and Ilwaco for rockfish and lingcod. With a limit of seven rockfish and two lings per angler, you can stack some snow-white early-season filets over a few days at the beach. Time it right and you can take home limits of razor clams and surfperch on the same trip. Here an angler hoists a couple of fat yellowtail rockfish caught aboard F/V Bone with Captain Mitch Coleman of Anglers Edge Sportfishing (anglersedgesportfishing.com). Yellowtails and black rockfish are delicious and make up the majority of the rockfish catch out of both ports. Lingcod are many anglers’ favorite fish to eat and arguably make the best fish and chips in the North Pacific. (ANGLERSEDGESPORTFISHING.COM)
bottomfish stocks, and the ocean’s bounty is there for the taking in April.
SPRING CHINOOK
For many springer addicts, April and spring Chinook go together like jazz and heroin, but for those who have not chased these most prized of all Northwest game fish, they offer a great April opportunity to try something new. Yes, you can do a little research and figure them out on your own as I did, but I engaged 15 years ago on some biggg runs.
I love crappie fishing and have always been fascinated by these tasty minnoweating fish that spend much of the year in water far deeper than other panfish, often suspending. In April and May, they come shallow to feed, spawn and then feed again. In the May issue I’ll write about crappie in Washington, comparing our fishery and tactics to those in the South, where crappie are king. This gentleman, Brad Newman of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, owns a lure and apparel brand called The Crappie Life, and his lifelike minnow imitations are total fire on Northwest gamefish. I met Brad unintentionally through a Northwest crappie enthusiast and have learned a lot about the species and about helping people from him. (JEFF HOLMES)
For this year’s modest but still very fishable run, booking a trip with a guide is an awesome idea to decrease the learning curve and greatly increase the chances of taking one of these oily, chrome Chinook.
Springers show up in freshwater during March, April and May and charge far inland to spend the summer living on their ample fat reserves before an early fall spawn. In the first week of April, good guided fishing opportunities exist on the Lower Columbia above the
Longview-Rainier bridge.
Then, as conditions and season reopeners allow, other opportunities can emerge on the Lower Columbia, but you can count on Willamette River opportunities and those above Bonneville at the Wind River and Drano Lake terminal fishing zones to be on. There are too many guides out there pursuing springers to keep them all straight, but I will make one recommendation – Flatout Fishing (flatoutfishing.net), in either Jerry’s or Ivan’s boat. NS
Get After Willamette Springers
I’ll never forget the day (April 16, 1966) that I caught my first spring Chinook. My stepfather didn’t fish, so it was up to my mom to get me headed in the right direction. Since she knew little about where I might catch one from shore, she decided we needed some professional advice.
GI Joe’s was the closest sporting goods store from our Portland home. It was there that we prospected for information. The
store manager’s name was Bob and he was more than helpful in sharing information about where to go. A year later, Bob would give me my first job, selling fishing and hunting gear at the store where he worked.
And while this wasn’t the first salmon I’d caught, this spring Chinook was, by far, the best eating. I guess I didn’t fully appreciate the eating quality of a spring Chinook compared to other stocks until we had one for dinner. Eating fresh spring Chinook, especially the first one of the season, is celebrated by many (including me) as a special day. Their eating quality is
COLUMN
what inspires many anglers to participate in this fishery.
SPRINGER SEASON GETS going on the Columbia River in March, but not many are caught before fishing on the lower river closes, usually during the first week of April. It’s from that time forward, in April and May, that many anglers seek success while trolling the Willamette River and its slough, also known as the Multnomah Channel. The slough breaks away from the Willamette downstream from St. Johns and forms Sauvie Island before meeting back up with the Columbia at St. Helens.
State fish biologists have predicted a run of 51,200 Willamette River-bound spring Chinook will enter the Columbia this season. Roughly 36,000 of those will be hatchery fish, having had their adipose fin removed. In case you don’t know, the adipose fin is the small appendage (fin) located between the dorsal and tail fin. If that fin is missing, you have just caught a salmon you can keep.
The fishery on the lower Willamette and its slough, from their mouths up to the falls at Oregon City, likely represents your best chance at capturing one of these delicious-tasting salmon. Of course there are other places where you might capture a springer. As the run progresses during late April and May, you might also try your fishing luck on the Cowlitz, Kalama, Lewis or Wind Rivers and at Drano Lake.
SINCE THE WILLAMETTE runs through the heart of downtown Portland, it’s often referred to as a “metro fishery,” or should I say, “The Metro Fishery.” The best of it happens from now through May; given a cool spring, it could last into June or July. And although April and May are considered the peak months by many, the Willamette and Multnomah Channel can produce action into summer. The fish average 9 to 15 pounds. A few 5-year-old salmon might tip the scale at up to 30 pounds.
Ocean tides affect the Willamette all the way to the falls at Oregon City and can influence when and where the salmon might bite best. For example, a large flood tide can slow, stop or sometimes reverse
Lance Maxfield and fishing guide David Johnson show off a spring Chinook taken from the Willamette River near Oregon City. (BUZZ RAMSEY)
COLUMN
the current of the lower Willamette and especially the slough.
Willamette spring Chinook respond positively to tide changes in the same way as ocean salmon, with the best bite often occurring before and after each tide change. Forward trolling, especially in a zigzag pattern, is often best when tides are flat or flooding. By trolling in an irregular pattern your lure or bait will change direction and action. This can trigger strikes from following salmon that may lose interest when lures, unlike free-swimming baitfish, don’t respond to their approach.
If you have a small boat, you may have the advantage here, since bigger/ longer boats don’t turn as sharply as short ones. Be aware, though, that trolling in a zigzag pattern is a no-no when the river is crowded with other boats.
Depth is one of the most important factors to consider when forward trolling, and water depths vary a lot in
the Willamette. The general rule is, if the water is 25 feet deep or less, position your outfit just above bottom, since salmon will usually be found holding there.
But if the water is deeper, or when tides are flooding, fish can suspend at middepth. This is especially true in the deeply dredged channel of the main Willamette from the Ross Island Bridge to its confluence with the Columbia and below Willamette Falls. Most anglers find success in deep water (over 25 feet) by trolling their outfits suspended 10 to 20 feet below the surface.
There are exceptions to this, of course. For example, in early morning or when the river is turbid, fish can be found closer to the surface, say, 6 to 10 feet down. Given clear water conditions combined with a bright sun, you may find salmon deeper in the water column.
IT’S ALL DIFFERENT in the Willamette Slough, where the water is mostly
shallower than the Portland Harbor. Given that the slough is more riverlike, springers will hug bottom or hit the edges when the tide is outgoing; this is especially true when big tide exchanges are in play. In addition, you might find fish holding a little higher in the water column in deepwater sections when the tide is flooding.
Given that the slough’s channel is somewhat narrow, ocean tides affect when and where there will be current a lot more than in Portland’s harbor. And the timing of the tides and how big of an exchange there is can make a big difference in which technique you choose.
For example, a flooding tide and the beginning of the outgo will likely represent the best time to troll, while an outgoing tide, especially a strong one, will be the best time to anchor and still fish stationary lures that need current to perform.
A herring trolled in combination with a Fish Flash is the outfit most anglers rely on
Green-label herring are the most popular size for spring Chinook. They’re most productive early in the season before the water warms too much. (BUZZ RAMSEY)
COLUMN
for success, especially early in the season when the water temperatures are cool. During the latter portion of the season, as water temperatures warm, a small spinner trolled in combination with a rotating flasher (like a Pro-Troll) often has the edge over herring.
Other lures and baits work in combination with rotating flashers, too, of course, like a SpinFish or Yakima Bait’s new Cut Plug version, as do Brad’s Super Baits.
What many guides and anglers do is run triangular flashers during the early portion of the season and a combination of triangular (on the front rods) and rotating flashers (on back rods) during the later portion of the season.
A downstream troll produces best when tides are ebbing, especially when the water first starts to run from an outgoing tide. Many regard the first half of the ebb as the best time to be fishing and
Small 3.5-size spinner blades, sometimes with a squid and/or a shrimp added, trolled in combination with an 11-inch rotating flasher like a Pro-Troll are also effective for these salmon. Leader lengths ranging from 28 to 34 inches are what most
break.
ANOTHER DOWNSTREAM TROLLING method that is popular with some anglers is to trail a deep-diving plug, like a Mag Lip, out beyond your other lines. Salmon – all fish, for that matter – that did not bite when you trolled the main portion of your gear through them might feel like they missed out and will strike a straggler, which in this case is your trailing Mag Lip.
I’ll often trail a size 3.5, 4.0 or 4.5 Mag Lip 40 to 60 feet or so behind my boat. Keep in mind that diving plugs dive deeper than normal when trolling downstream due to the current pushing the belly out of your line. This method works best in clear water. If the water depth is 25 feet or less, the ideal plug size combined with the amount of letout should be such that your plug will trip/hit the bottom every few yards. And while having your plug
occasionally trip bottom will likely produce more strikes than if not, you also don’t want it grinding into the bottom too hard, as it may snag or pick up freshwater clam shells.
The action of your rod tip should reveal whether or not your plug is hitting bottom and how hard. Strikes are hard, so set the hook without delay, as there is no waiting for a spring Chinook to munch down your bait like when trolling a herring. NS
Editor’s note: Buzz is regarded as a sportfishing authority (as related to trout, steelhead and salmon), outdoor writer and proficient lure and fishing rod designer. Buzz built a successful 45-year career promoting gear related to Northwest and Great Lake fisheries during his tenure with Luhr Jensen, Pure Fishing and Yakima Bait. Now retired, he writes for Northwest Sportsman and The Guide’s Forecast.
anglers rely on. (BUZZ RAMSEY)
not chasing lunch or a potty
Outdoor writer Terry Otto shows off a springer he caught from the Willamette Slough a mile upstream from where it joins the Columbia. Otto was trolling a herring in combination with a flasher when the salmon hit. (BUZZ RAMSEY)
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April Showers Chinook Ops
Your monthly Oregon fishing outlook provided by The Guide’s Forecast.
By Bob Rees
April is upon us and everyone knows that means spring Chinook for Oregon’s anglers. There are lots of options to choose from, but the mainstem Columbia and Willamette will become front and center, with a Rogue River option available as well. Tillamook and Umpqua spring Chinook return later in May and June, as adults can’t afford to spend as much time in freshwater due to the rapidly rising river temperatures we now experience in those watersheds.
Starting with the Lower Columbia,
anglers have until April 6 to harvest an upper Columbia-bound spring Chinook (largely destined for Idaho hatcheries), commonly known as “dark chins.” Of course, that date is dynamic, based on water conditions and catch rates. Anglers above Bonneville Dam have until April 26 to catch one of those dark-chinned Chinook in the mainstem gorge pools.
Willamette River anglers will be catching the “snow-bellies” that typically peak the third week of April. Trollers working the lower Multnomah Channel and the Portland Harbor
tend to post the best catch rates, but there will be sporadic flurries in the Oregon City area, now largely devoid of salmon-snatching sea lions that plagued the area just a few years ago.
Herring is the go-to for Willamette River trollers, then small spinners and 360-degree flashers when temperatures warm by late May. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of quality bank fishing for spring Chinook on the Willamette, but Meldrum Bar in Gladstone will produce kings and summer steelhead catches in higher flows. Plunkers
Spring Chinook anglers troll just below the Arch Bridge in Oregon City on a murky morning during a recent season. The Willamette looks like it could be one of the better bets for the first salmon of the year in Oregon. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)
FISHING
use Spin-N-Glos with coon shrimp to target both species. There was a good return of summer steelhead to the Willamette last year, and anglers are hoping for a repeat performance.
Catch-and-release sturgeon fishing in the lower Willamette is a productive alternative during the slow spring Chinook periods. Using smelt for bait is the best option; hopefully, you got some of this quality bait when the dip-net fishery was open last month.
Columbia springer anglers often anchor fish with plugs on the outgoing tide, and troll on the incoming. Fortunately, there is a good set of tides for the last days of the season in early April. The best fishing is likely to be downstream of the Longview Bridge to Tenasillahe Island near Westport, on the Oregon side.
Wrapping up spring Chinook, the Rogue River fishery has produced good results in recent years. Anchored
anglers fish the inside bends of the river’s many turns, using anchovies and spinners in the bucking current. There can be some sizeable fish taken in this fishery.
The ocean from Cape Falcon to Humbug Mountain is also open for Chinook salmon. Fishing is sporadic, with southern ports often producing the best catches. California stocks largely fuel this fishery, and while they are down again this year, they should provide some opportunity.
ANGLERS OFTEN OVERLOOK
an April winter steelhead opportunity on the coast, but it exists. It’s clear this year, however, that steelhead numbers are down again, which often dictates how early April will fish for these late returners.
They seem to come in more territorial, making them more responsive to plugs. Rivers can drop to be low and clear, so be prepared
to work more subtle offerings if you choose to participate in this fishery.
Despite our bias toward salmon and steelhead opportunities, trout fishing remains the top ticket target for Oregon anglers. Lakes and reservoirs will be amply stocked with mostly rainbow trout, driving bank and boat anglers to this wonderful opportunity. Check the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s trout stocking schedule (myodfw. com/fishing/species/trout/stockingschedule) – it’s research that will pay dividends.
And speaking of inland fisheries, kokanee fishing also kicks off this month. Some of the better populations are found in higherelevation lakes, so effort is often dictated by ice-out. That’s always a wild card in Oregon. NS
Editor’s note: For more information, visit TheGuidesForecast.com.
Outdoor School, Oregon Style
FOR THE LOVE OF TUG
By Sara Potter
When you have a passion and you devotedly pursue it, you may eventually take parts of it for granted. Not intentionally; I think it just happens. I realize there are beautiful ways for us to hold our passions close to our hearts and keep them present in our daily lives by simply sharing them. There are many outlets we can embrace when giving passion away, but nothing grips onto my heart quite like sharing it with our children.
Glide Elementary is a special school. It’s a special place and is blessed with an administration that knows the importance of helping our children embrace our big backyard. They have on staff a couple of amazing teachers who actually execute it! Throughout the years I have been fortunate enough to share pieces of my heart with our youth through the school. Last spring was by far the most fulfilling for me, though. I got the chance to go with Mr. Brown and Mrs. Dyer to Camp Myrtlewood over by the coast with the entire sixth-grade class. It was a weeklong adventure embracing outdoor school in a truly beautiful setting. Tucked back away from it all on a fork of my favorite coastal river, it was truly a treat for me and for the children. Some of them may not have realized it then, but the day will come when they do.
Adlee Skinner waits for a fish to bite at a stocked lake deep in Oregon’s Southern Cascades during one of two sixth-grade field trips last school year in which author Sara Potter taught fishing skills to the kids in her daughter Ava’s class. (SARA POTTER)
weeklong class
I’m so thankful I grew up when I did. It was so much easier to develop a personal relationship with nature. There were zero electronic stimulation options and nature was pretty much the best bet for us. I was fortunate and had all the room to frolic and explore I could have ever wanted. Even those who may not have grown up on an old ranch like I did embraced the outdoors for all that it was. Nowadays, we live in such a different place. Children have so many entertainment options that a lot of today’s youth don’t have a deep connection with nature like we did. It’s not our fault, but if we get the opportunity to help foster that beautiful connection between our children and nature, we should dive in.
IT TAKES A special person to teach sixth grade. To truly keep your cool when you
are teaching the coolest kids in school takes total self control. Mr. Brown and Mrs. Dyer not only keep their cool; they guide and lead the children with grace and charisma, keeping their wits about them always. After all, Mr. Brown was my sixth-grade teacher 30 some years ago, so he has had time to master his craft, as has Mrs. Dyer.
One thing about this week of school in the forest was that the children were away from their parents for days. It was a big step in their youth, I realized quite quickly. Though many of them have been away from their parents, they hadn’t ever been away from them without their phones. Emotions did run high, higher for some than others. Some truly missed their parents and some truly missed their phones, but regardless, I saw so clearly that we live in a different era nowadays.
It’s never been so important to help our youth disconnect in order to truly connect with the outdoors. Every aspect of Camp Myrtlewood provided an incredible space to do so.
Of course, I was excited to be a part of my daughter Ava’s sixth-grade class’s grand adventure. It is right up my alley. I truly love the children and nature. Count me in! But I was pleasantly surprised when Mr. Brown and Mrs. Dyer asked me if I would want to lead a camp activity revolving around fishing. Well, of course I did!
Once I got the logistics, I began to envision what I would share with these young minds and souls. I was told we would not actually fish, so I decided to share the passion of salmon and steelhead. I wanted them to know that our home river houses all of our big game fish. There’s a fish species for each season. I wanted to share what is unique about each run and how incredible it is that we can not only pursue them on foot as fishermen, but we can simply
A
trip last April to Camp Myrtlewood in Oregon’s Coast Range was a chance for Carter and Kolton to learn about trapping and how to build a shelter in the woods. (SARA POTTER)
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COLUMN
While Potter was able to talk salmon and steelhead as well as hold a casting contest at Camp Myrtlewood, it wasn’t until she talked the school district into taking a field trip to Lake in the Woods that she could actually teach the kiddos how to fish. While some sixth-graders like Skinner already knew how, for Sabrina, it was a chance to catch her first trout. (SARA POTTER)
observe them as well. There are many ways one can connect with these fish, and I wanted them to learn enough about these majestic creatures that it might open up some intrigue, some curiosity.
Not wanting it to feel too much like school, I also taught each of them how to rig a BnR soft bead. They did great and they thoroughly enjoyed the beads. I gave each of them the bead of their choice to place with their pinned beads they had been earning at camp throughout the week.
We finished my fishing lesson with casting practice. A few hula hoops, a giant field, a couple of trout rods and some lead –it was fun! I think most of them had a good time playing the game, and I had a boy and girl winner from each group. Giving someone props for their ability is fun; you just might help them ignite a passion inside by acknowledging their strengths.
As a mentor and lover of tugs, I would have liked to have actually fished with the children, but the week as a whole was beautiful. I have to say the fire pit and outdoor amphitheater were amazing. The setting was so fitting as the children sang their songs and acted out their skits, taking me back decades to the deserts of Camp Hancock and my outdoor school with Mr. Brown. Most of the children were able to let go of being too cool for school and have some fun around the fire. A few of them were truly gifted up there, and I know their feet will step on many a stage in their lives to come. I just hope they remember that amphitheater in the woods that Glide Elementary provided for them.
QUITE A FEW of the children came up to me to say how much they wanted to fish with me. Honestly, I felt exactly the same way, and so I decided I would talk to Mrs. Dyer. She was receptive to the idea I tossed her way and ultimately she bit! The three of us had a little chat about the possibility of a last-week-ofschool field trip up to my favorite little lake in the woods in our big backyard.
The fact that the school was willing to go 28 miles up Little River, dirt road and all, says a lot about this little place we call home. Nestled at the edge of the forest and with the North Umpqua weaving its way aside our tiny town, nature is among us. To share it and allow our children to find joy
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and eventually comfort in it is so important.
With the work of the teachers and cooperation of our bus barn, we got the sixth-graders into the woods again. Along with activities besides fishing, the children were going to get a taste of why I have taken my kids here each Mother’s Day for most of their little lives. Huge timbers, wild flowers, birds, birds of prey, foraging galore, three waterfalls, a fishy little lake – this place has so much to offer. And to my surprise, not too many of them had been there before.
I’m not going to lie, the fishing itself was mildly chaotic! I swear, fishing six little 3- to 5-year-old children is easier than fishing a herd of 12-year-olds by a mile. Had Nate, my boy, not been there to help me, I might have bitten off more than I could chew. However, I knew I needed him, and together we made quite the crew.
There was quite the ruckus at the edge of the pond as the fish began to bite and fight. There were some boys and a little lady or two who were confident in their approach. It warmed my heart to see them; this sport needs them. Our fish need them. On the other hand, there were some who, aside from casting in that camp field, hadn’t fished before or done much of it. They had a sparkle of intrigue, though, and I couldn’t wait to fish with them. They knew not what a bite felt like, nor the adrenaline of the fight, so I was beyond excited to share these fantastic firsts with them.
Sabrina’s eyes shine brighter than the blue sky of spring. I have always remembered her throughout the years of volunteering for Ava’s class. The first time I ever shared any river passion with her she was in Joy School, the year before kindergarten. I’m not sure if she remembers the day I joined them on the rainbow rug to talk about the fish, but I do. And I could never forget those sparkly blues. To help enhance such sparkle warms my heart, as I was able to give her the guidance she needed to set out to catch her very first fish.
After a mighty cast, her split shot and worm settled to the bottom and I guided her on removing all the slack so the line was relatively tight to her rigging. She listened so well, leaving her rigging on the bottom, and patiently waited. Some just want to reel in no sooner than their setup hits the bottom. In all honesty, they would be better off with a spinner.
But not Sabrina; she fished that bait, she waited, and before she knew it, there it was! As she felt the bite, she turned to me and declared that she could feel the fish! That little trout bit like he meant it and Sabrina had herself a fish on. Her eruption of laughter and smiles as she fought and landed her first fish are what it’s all about!
That moment to some might just be a trout, but I see so much more than that. I loved helping Sabrina step outside her comfort zone and succeed! That is where growth happens. I will never forget it; I hope she doesn’t either.
I’M SO GRATEFUL the school has allowed me to share pieces of my love for our home with the children throughout the years. It’s hard to believe Glide Elementary is behind us as a family. As a mother, my babes have grown far faster than I ever imagined, but my hope is that I am still able to find windows of opportunity to join in on Glide Elementary’s beautiful approach in helping our children embrace the outdoors. This is the type of giving that makes us richer, even though there is no dollar to be made. My heart is on the river and I couldn’t change it, even if I tried. NS
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HUNTING
2025 Spring Gobbler Forecast
Two experts’ takes on this spring’s prospects in Washington and Oregon.
By MD Johnson
As a kid – hell, as an adultkid – there was Christmas. Actually, there was Christmas Eve. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town.” Setting out milk and cookies for old Saint Nick. No sleep. Ah, yes, the no-sleep part. Insomnia due to an anticipation overload. No, I didn’t have a monopoly on Christmas Eve and the no-sleep thing. It was, I’m certain, shared by millions, big and small.
But then over the years, the feeling faded. Not entirely, no, but I could sleep and sleep well the night of December 24. However, that’s not to say the insomnia wasn’t replaced by something else. Another block on the calendar. What, pray tell? Here in the Northwest, that would be the night of April 14, otherwise known as “The Night Before Turkey Season.” Now there, my friends, is a reason to resist the Sandman.
And so we sit on the edge – the coming day – of Turkey Season 2025. Already, for I’m writing this on March 16, yet again fueling the editor’s deadline angst, I’ve gone through my vest. And gone through my vest. And gone through my vest again. Not that anything had changed between May 31, 2024, and today, but just to, well, see it all. The gloves. My go-to glass pot from the now sadly MIA Backwoods Game Calls. The Purple Heart striker
’Twas
and the three, also now defunct, Winchester 20-gauge Xtended Range No. 5 tungsten shotshells. The headnets are musty; the seat cushion still coated with eastern Iowa farm dirt. It’s getting close, folks. April 15. Opening day.
As is tradition here at Northwest Sportsman, or at least it’s tradition for me, this month we’ll take a look at what turkey hunting fanatics might see and hear when they first wander, beguiling in their seasonal cloak of camouflage invisibility, afield. Will it be good? Unquestionably good,
the night before gobbler season ... (ERIC BRAATEN)
... and all through the hunting cabin ... (ERIC BRAATEN)
HUNTING
even should the turkey population in any particular neck of the woods be down a skosh, which, damn near across the board in both Washington and Oregon, it isn’t. A slam dunk, it won’t be – turkeys never are – but it’s shaping up to be another great spring on both sides of the Columbia and far beyond. And with that, this year’s crystal ball predictions.
WASHINGTON
If you read my Outdoors MD column this month, then you’re already
familiar with Mr. Richard Mann. Now living in Selah, Mann has a tremendous education, not to mention a lifelong professional background and career in wildlife management and wildlife law enforcement. Retired since 2016, Mann took the position of Washington State Chapter president for the National Wild Turkey Federation in 2024. Today, the Evergreen State native packs some 42 years of turkey hunting experience, along with not just a little turkey hunting frustration, which is par for the course for diehard turkey hunters, in his vest. Here, he gives insight as to how this season might unfold on both sides of the Cascades.
Northwest Sportsman It covers a big area, sir, but Washington’s Eastside and her birds?
Richard Mann For the most part, our Eastern Washington birds, and that’s our Merriam’s (for the most part), are doing well. I’d say in the past five years and even where I live in the Yakima area, you’ve seen an expansion of the smaller populations we’ve had. Right now, I get reports from people saying they saw turkeys here and there and there and there. They’ve really come on (locally); I think they’ve finally hit that “tipping point,” as I call it, where the population is finally not only sustaining itself, but it’s growing. So, the east slope of the Cascades – the Yakima area, the wooded foothills along the Yakima River down to (behind) Sunnyside and toward the Tri-Cities – there are bird populations most people don’t know about, and you have to find them
NWS Northeast Washington has for some time been a hotbed of turkey activity, with strong populations and ample public opportunities. Status quo?
RM Northeast Washington remains strong. There are birds on private land. There are birds on public land. All you have to do is put in the time and effort, and you can find them.
Author’s note: Here, Mann relates a story in which he directs an “Eastern state” friend looking for turkey information to the Chewelah area. The first morning his friend hunted, Mann told me, he killed a big tom. The following day, he tagged a second big tom. Two days. Two longbeards. “He was a turkey hunter and knew what he was doing,” Mann said, “but the key was, he got off the roads.”
NWS The Blue Mountains, sir? That southeastern corner of Washington and her Rio Grandes?
RM The Rios in Southeast Washington are doing fine. I won’t say that they’ve blown up any more than what they were, say, 10 years ago, but there are healthy populations. There’s public land to hunt. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has got a lot of “Hunt by written permission only” ground down there that’s available; you just have to do
... Not a creature was stirring, not even a decoy ... (ERIC BRAATEN)
The gear was hung by the door with care, in the hopes that the opener soon would be there ... (ERIC BRAATEN)
HUNTING
the (homework) and knock on the doors. I did a mentored hunt with some WDFW employees this past fall, and we saw birds and everyone got some experience.
NWS And last, but not least, the eastern subspecies on Washington’s Westside?
RM (There are) still pockets of easterns, now probably back onto the private timber company lands where you have to, unfortunately, pay to play. And the hunters who are successful year after year after year have figured out where those little pockets are. And it doesn’t do any good asking on the internet if anyone knows where to hunt easterns in Washington ’cause you will not get any information.
Author’s note: Can you say crickets? But we do have a handful of hunters, every year, who manage to harvest an eastern between Olympia and Kalama, mostly on the east side of I-5, with the Winston Unit seeing the largest take.
OREGON
Next, let’s jump across the Big River to Salem and the office of Mikal Cline, upland game bird coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Cline’s responsibilities are many; however, in regards to Oregon’s thriving wild turkey population, her role includes “setting the (turkey) hunting regulations, surveys, research, habitat projects, and then the nuisance/ damage part of things that seems to come hand-in-hand with wild turkeys. And that,” she continues, “involves putting people in place to talk to the public, trap and transplant programs, and talking to landowners.”
When asked to look into her desktop crystal ball, Cline had this to say about what Beaver State turkey hunters can expect in spring 2025:
NWS Oregon’s turkey hatch in 2024, Mikal. Good? Poor? Average? Mikal Cline Here, I’m thinking about the winter (of 2023). We were above average snowpack for a lot of the basins, so it was a nice wet year. No concerns
with that weather impacting nesting or brood rearing (in the spring of 2024). Where things got concerning was with Oregon’s (2024) wildfire season. We lost, I believe it was, 1.9 million acres. Some of that was rangeland, but some was in the foothills and forested areas. And I’m definitely hearing the forage quality out there is starting to impact populations like mule deer, and that indicates poor cover in those burned-over areas.
We don’t have a handle on how these fires might have impacted (turkey) age ratios or the overall population. We do know there were plenty of turkeys that came down to winter in the John Day Valley. There could be some long-term impacts, but the turkeys could actually benefit in this long-term.
NWS Turkey harvest for spring 2024, Mikal. Right in the ballpark?
MC Spring harvest 2024 was right on par, maybe a little better than 2023, with an approximate spring harvest of 5,900 birds. That was better than 2022 and 2023 by a couple hundred birds, but not as good as 2020 and 2021, where we had a lot of hunters on the landscape those years. Covidrelated, and people had a little more time on their hands. If we look at our hunter success rate, I think that can be a little more indicative of how our turkeys are doing on the landscape. And that success rate was 41 percent, which is actually the highest it’s ever been. So maybe our turkey hunters
When out in the woods there arose such a clatter ... (ERIC BRAATEN)
... I strained my eyes to see what was the matter ... (ERIC BRAATEN)
The sun on the new-sprouted green gave a midmorning luster to objects outside ... (ERIC BRAATEN)
HUNTING
are getting better, or it was a target-rich environment.
NWS While I hate to spotlight a particular wildlife management unit, Mikal, the White River WMU is no secret. With its proximity to the Portland metropolitan area, it sees a lot of turkey hunting pressure every spring. That said, how are the birds on the White River doing?
MC Let’s take a look. So, yes, far and away, (White River) sees the most hunters, with an estimated 1,300 hunters on that unit (in 2024) totaling an estimated 5,400 hunter-days. That is by far the most heavily hunted unit. Birds per hunter (on White River) was 0.23, which is below average, with the statewide average being 0.44 birds per hunter. But we still (harvested) 300 birds out of that unit, which is the fourth highest in the state. There are still definitely turkeys out there. It’s perfect habitat. So, yeah, those birds are doing fine, but they do get a lot of pressure.
Author’s note: Cline added that there is no fall season on the White River Unit “due to the pressure,” and therefore no hen harvest.
NWS North. South. East. West, Mikal. Best bets?
MC It’s a tradeoff in Oregon. Our
As she drew a bead and he turned around, down the barrel Rayne Sharp sent her .410 round ... (ERIC BRAATEN)
When what to my wondering eyes should appear but a strutting tom turkey and eight randy hens ... (ERIC BRAATEN)
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HUNTING
most populous turkey flocks are in the vicinity of private lands in the (Willamette) Valley. So there’s tons of turkeys in the Willamette Valley, which is 95 percent private land. Access is just a problem there.
The further south you go, the better (access) gets. The Roseburg area,
you’re still dealing with private land, but if you can get on the fringes like where the Umpqua National Forest meets the private land, you can have some good success there. Or in that Toketee area, where they’ve been moving turkeys for years. Further south to Medford and the Rogue, it
does get hunted pretty hard, but that’s because they have better public access. You have a lot of BLM and USFS land, along with the Jackson Access & Cooperative Travel Management lands. The Applegate (Unit) is great and maybe gets overlooked just a little bit. That’s core turkey country.
On the Eastside, we did lose a lot of habitat. We had a big burn on the Ochoco, which had been a really good unit, but man, they had a huge fire this past year, so we just don’t know (the situation) yet.
Author’s note: The Crazy Creek Fire in July and August 2024 burned 86,928 acres within the national forest boundaries.
But people have been seeing turkeys (in the Ochoco).
The same on the Malheur; they lost a lot of forest. It’s just a big question mark on the Eastside as to what you’re going to see and what your access is going to be. But there’s still lots and lots of turkeys. You’re just going to have to pick and choose a little bit more where you hunt. NS
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... And filled all their turkey tags before it got too late ... (ERIC BRAATEN)
HUNTING Call And Response
Working out the right calling strategies and setups for gobblers leads to tagging more toms.
n 20 years, it’s likely that hunters will think of today as the beginning of the golden age of turkey hunting in the Northwest. In many places, introduced turkey populations have increased and spread to new areas.
For hunters, that means two things. First, if you’ve never hunted turkeys, you should start. Spring turkey hunting is the upland bird version of big game hunting. General seasons in Oregon, Washington and Idaho all begin on April 15, and there are youth seasons immediately preceding the midmonth opener in all three states too. Second, many flocks in the Northwest have not been hunted hard. This increases your chance of tagging birds, giving new hunters a chance to learn the tricks of the trade, and making more experienced hunters feel a lot smarter than they
Turkeys are vulnerable in the spring because it’s breeding season. If all goes well, you call and a gobbler responds, thinking you’re a hen. Normally, the hens come to a gobbling tom. But if you call back to his gobble, he might well be desperate enough
To make this happen, start by considering why turkeys make any noise at all. There’s a
Steve Johnson took this Rio Grande turkey in Oregon. Rios are the most common subspecies across Oregon. In Eastern Washington and Idaho, Merriam’s subspecies predominate, while Southwest Washington has some eastern turkeys.
HUNTING
definite drawback for them: Sounds they make let every predator in earshot know where they are. But turkeys are flock animals, and their calls communicate crucial information to other turkeys.
First, gobblers gobble to let hens know where they are, and they try to sound loud so other gobblers will think they are dominant.
Both hens and toms will make soft contented feeding noises during breaks in breeding, which helps keep the
flock together and lets each bird know where good food is.
Hens will make loud, frantic noises under two conditions: when they are sorting out a pecking order amongst themselves and when they are actually being bred by toms.
And hens are apt to make a series of almost questioning clucks if the flock is broken up or if they are looking for a flock to join.
When you build a call routine, your calls should basically fit into one of
the last three categories. The best call routine depends, first, on the situation, then what the turkeys tell you after you call. Your calls should sound like the call a real turkey would make – a hen turkey that wants to be bred.
SITUATION ONE: A TOM GOBBLES AT DAWN
In a perfect hunt, around dawn you are close enough to a group of roosting turkeys that you can hear them start their day. The first thing an adult gobbler does is gobble, which he will do upon flying down from the roost.
He does this to let any nearby hens know where he is. His goal is to breed early. My first choice is to call hard to this gobbler, making a sound like a hen who is excited about being bred. If you are calling to a boss gobbler that imagines that some jake is trying to breed one of “his” hens, he’ll immediately gobble in response. If he gobbles a second time, cut him off with more frantic, loud “I’m being bred” calls. He’s excited; hit him hard.
Usually, one of three things happens at this point. The gobbler might go completely silent. If so, put your call down and get your gun up. Turkeys can’t gobble while they’re running, and there’s a decent chance he’s running right at you. When he bursts through the brush close enough to see the “hen” he’s heard, he’ll be looking right at you and you don’t want to have to move much to make a shot. Being ready can result in filling your tag 20 minutes into the season.
A second possibility is that the gobbler moves toward you, but gobbles about every three steps. He’s willing to come to you, but would prefer the hen comes to him. Call to keep him interested, but not more than you have to. And get ready: He’s a killable bird, and he’s coming to you.
The third situation is far less promising – the gobbler responds to your calls, but eventually starts drifting away from you. It’s likely that you have convinced him you are a hen, but the hens he’s with are trying to lead him away from you because they don’t want competition. He’s gobbling to try
The spur on this turkey indicates it’s a young adult tom just turning 2 years old. These birds often come to a hunter’s calls silently. (DAVID JOHNSON)
HUNTING
to get you to come join his harem since he can’t come to you without leaving the hens he’s with.
You have almost no chance of killing that tom right away. When the gobbler steadily retreats but continues to gobble, stop calling. The tom and his hens are convinced you are a real hen, and they know where you are. Further calling will not make you more real.
But sit tight. The hunt isn’t a bust yet, because that tom is probably not the only male bird in the area. Some of them are newly minted 2-year-old adults.
These young adult birds may come in silently because they are balancing two conflicting desires. First, they want to get to you before any other tom does. But second, they are cautious because older toms can beat them up. So they might come in quietly to look things over – close enough to pick up the hen they’re hoping for, but quietly enough that if there is a big older gobbler around, they won’t get thrashed.
Try holding still for half an hour or so. Before you get up to leave, call again – there may be a new bird in hearing range, or a bird that has come in silently and is close and he might respond.
IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED …
If no bird comes, you’ll want to move, ideally farther than turkeys could hear your first set of calls, so you’ll come in range of “new” toms.
One strategy, often called “run and gun,” is to do this repeatedly, moving fairly quickly until you come across an active “hot” gobbler that responds to you. A responsive gobbler keen to breed is the tom you have the best chance to tag.
If your scouting has shown you where specific gangs of turkeys are, you can also head to one of those groups to try to target it. After the initial breeding period, at some point in midmorning groups of birds will often head for openings that provide
In country with thick Douglas fir forests, unused logging roads like this one in the Coast Range can be excellent places to set up to call in gobblers. The birds use the road for ease of travel and to find other turkeys. (DAVID JOHNSON)
HUNTING
feed for the hens. Also, these areas provide lots of visibility, and the gobbler will want to strut – even after breeding his hens, as he’s hoping an unattached hen will see or hear him and come to him.
CALLING BLIND
If I’m calling to find a tom – when I don’t already know where the bird is – I generally start off softly, making contented feeding calls. While it’s fine to start with vigorous breeding calls, I start soft because if there happens to be a tom just on the other side of the nearest cover, he’ll hear me. If no nearby tom responds, I ramp up the volume with a sequence that sounds like a hen being pursued and bred by a gobbler. The end of the sequence can be loud and frantic.
If you have a hunting partner who can call, the two of you can try imitating hens fighting each other. When a flock is moving to feeding grounds, a boss hen is generally in charge. But she will occasionally be challenged by other hens. This calling sequence can cause gobblers to respond because they think you are a large group of hens.
Finally, if you are hunting with
a partner and one of you kills a bird out of a flock with multiple toms, rather than jumping up right away, try holding very still and making soft “where are you?” calls imitating a hen looking for the rest of the flock. At the shot the group might scatter, but they want to rejoin each other. A tom within hearing might come right back to you, giving the second hunter a shot.
SETTING UP
Hunters, especially when moving and calling, sometimes make a critical mistake: They don’t think about what would happen if a nearby gobbler immediately shows up.
Are you in a good position to ambush him, or are you out in the open where he can see you before he comes into gun range? If he can tell from 100 yards away that there are no hens at the source of your call, he’s apt to turn around and leave, especially if he’s been hunted before.
There are some classic places to set up to call for toms. Closed or unused dirt roads make for excellent sites in heavily forested areas, like the Coast Range or parts of Northeast Washington and the Idaho Panhandle. Find a bend in the road. Pick a spot with cover on the side of
the road on one of the “legs” of the bend, but within gun range of the bend. The idea is that you are calling a tom that will either come down the road or will run into the road on his way to you.
When he sees no hen in the road, he’s apt to make his way to the bend to get a look “around the corner” at the rest of the road. When he does, he’s in gun range and you can take your shot.
In more open country common with ponderosa forests, terrain features such as the breaks of a ravine or hillside can also work well. Set up on top of the hill within gun range of the slope (your call will go farther if you’re at a higher elevation). If a turkey comes up the hill looking for hens on the flat at the top of the hill, when he gets to the top you can shoot him.
This is not foolproof; pressured gobblers will peek over the hill and if they don’t see a hen, will run away. If you are hunting with a partner, the calling partner can set up well back from the hillside. The shooting partner sets up so he’s concealed but can see down the slope. If the tom comes close enough to see the hen, he’ll be in gun range. NS
TOP NORTHWEST AREAS FOR GOBBLERS
The most important thing to keep in mind about turkey hunting is that all success really requires is one gang of turkeys with a gobbler in their midst. There is some very fine turkey hunting in units that are not among the statistical harvest leaders.
That said, success rates generally correlate with turkey population density across a sizable area.
In Idaho, for example, turkey populations are highest in the Panhandle and ranging down the west side of the state as far as just north of Boise. Another strong population is in a corridor in the southeast part of the state, roughly between Pocatello and Bear Lake. In many of these areas, Idaho turkeys follow river systems.
Turkeys are focused on habitat rather than state lines, of course. Hence, the strong turkey population in Bonner County is matched by strong numbers in Pend Oreille, Stevens and Ferry Counties across the state line in Washington. In fact, in Eastern Washington, good turkey hunting extends into Okanogan County. These counties all have substantial public lands.
The same is true for the corner of Southeast Washington, Northeast Oregon and in Idaho across the Snake from Oregon’s Imnaha River. The highest success rate for Eastern Oregon hunters is in the Walla Walla Unit at 0.69 birds per hunter; it and the Westside’s Melrose Unit (0.64 birds/hunter) have the highest harvest rates per hunter in the state.
There’s an important element to these stats, however: The harvest on both these units is more than 80 percent on private land. Public-land hunters in Northeastern Oregon might try the Wenaha Unit (0.50 birds/hunter), where 57 percent is public land, or the Snake River Unit (0.51 birds/hunter, 58 percent public land). In Western Oregon, the Rogue Unit is popular among hunters looking for public-land hunts.
Another factor for some hunters is how close the hunting is to where they live. If you live around Portland, the White River Unit just over the Cascades has a fair amount of public land, and though the success rate is a bit lower, its popularity produces the highest total harvest in the state.
Finally, hunters in Western Washington have a decent turkey population from Olympia south, though it is primarily on private land. Oregon’s Willamette Valley offers the same situation – nearly the whole unit is private. However, hunters who get permission from landowners have an excellent chance of taking a bird. –DJ
Talkin’ Turkeys With The NWTF
Every now and again, I have the opportunity to talk to someone I refer to as a “lasting individual.” That is, someone who, when the conversation is over and done with, leaves a lasting impression. Something they’ve said. A principle they uphold. A stance. A viewpoint. An objective. Perhaps even, for lack of a more precise term, a mantra. Or maybe it’s their history. Dedication. Something.
OUTDOORS MD
By MD Johnson
In Richard Mann’s case, it’s the man, along with the conservation organization he represents in Washington. We’ll get to Mann shortly; first, the conservation organization, that being the National Wild Turkey Federation. And since April is indeed turkey time here in the Pacific Northwest, it only seems fitting that spring, the NWTF, Mann and anyone who gets all giggly, myself very much included, upon hearing the gobble of the wild turkey, be profiled here in this month’s Outdoors MD.
HEADQUARTERED
BACK EAST in Edgefield, South Carolina, the NWTF is not unlike many of the conservation organizations with which hunters and anglers are familiar, e.g., Ducks Unlimited, Quail Unlimited, Trout Unlimited and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Structurally, the NWTF chain of command is the same, with a national headquarters staffed by full-time officials, biologists, notetakers, communications personnel and accounting experts. Below the national level are the 50 state chapters – yes, including the Alaska State Chapter – each of these staffed by a like chain of command (president, vice, secretary, treasurer, banquet chairperson, and so forth). However, the activities of these chapters are orchestrated wholly by volunteers who conduct the day-to-day and month-to-month business dealings within their respective state.
Each state, then, will have one or more local chapters, e.g., Alaska has a single chapter, that being the state chapter, whereas a turkey-rich state such as Iowa might have several dozen. Iowa, if you’re
Richard Mann, Washington State Chapter president of the National Wild Turkey Federation, hopes to rebuild the organization’s base in the Evergreen State and says a resurgence among younger gobbler hunters is being seen. (RICHARD MANN)
curious, currently has 38 chapters; in the Northwest, Oregon has six chapters and a state chapter, Washington, seven and one, Idaho, nine and one. All in all, the NWTF boasts of “more than 1,000 local chapters across the country,” all with the same goal in mind.
WHAT GOAL IS that? The mission statement of the NWTF, as posted on their website (nwtf.org), is “the conservation of the wild turkey and the preservation of our hunting heritage.” But, as is the case with DU and the RMEF, it’s more than just conservation and preservation of a single species or a single tradition, i.e., hunting. Through the efforts of NWTF volunteers, nonhunters – particularly young people – are introduced to the great outdoors in a variety of different ways, including mentoring programs, field days and outdoor workshops. NWTF members pride themselves on being educators, lobbyists, protectors, advocates, managers, researchers, activists, and more. So yes, and while the wild turkey holds the spotlight for the whole of the NWTF, the organization and its more than 10,000 volunteers, who collectively donate over 100,000 service hours annually, work 24/7/365 for all game and non-game wildlife species and the folks who enjoy them.
My wife Julie and I were active members of the NWTF for more than 20 years, beginning here in Southwest Washington in the early 1990s with the now (sadly) disbanded Lower Columbia River Chapter. Chapters, like the volunteers who serve them, often come and go over the years. Some enjoy incredible longevity; however, many experience change, with some of those changes (again, sadly) being fading away. When we moved to Iowa in 1997, we helped form and played principal roles in both the Jones County chapter, as well as a neighboring one headquartered in nearby Cedar Rapids, then home to a familiar name in the outdoor industry, David and Carman Forbes’ Hunters Specialties. Our time with the NWTF was a wonderful experience highlighted by youth turkey hunts, outdoor education events, and, of course, the annual fundraising banquets which, while a tremendous amount of work, truly were enjoyable. I do have to admit that since returning to Washington
A retired Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife regional captain, Mann was named NWTF’s Wildlife Officer of the Year for 2001, and in 2021 he was recognized as the national Mentor of the Year. (RICHARD MANN)
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A good example of NWTF being about more than just hunting turkeys is the national Conservation Field Day Award that the South Sound Strutters Chapter was honored with earlier this year. Chapter members, including Michelle and Russ McDonald (center), have participated in the annual Cedar River Cleanup Event outside Seattle along with The Young Guides Podcast to “foster collaboration between hunters and anglers, enhancing urban fisheries in the area.” (NWTF)
in 2015, we’ve fallen away from the organization due to any number of reasons, e.g., new home, new jobs, world affairs. However, we plan to once again throw ourselves into the NWTF, as we both believe in the federation’s mission statement and their undeniable grassroots approach to conservation.
NOW, RICHARD MANN. I was actually introduced, per se, to Mann by one Russ McDonald, a gentleman whom I’ve interviewed a time or two, and who himself has stood in Mann’s shoes as – spoiler alert! – the NWTF Washington State Chapter president. Born in Seattle, Mann, now 66 and currently living in Selah, was raised “mainly on the Westside” and graduated from Washington State University with a degree in wildlife habitat and range management in 1980.
“My work history,” Mann told me, “has always been fish and wildlife. I was lucky enough to get a summer job at the old South Tacoma Game Farm outside of Lakewood in ’75, where I raised upland game birds and released them on (hunting) sites. And pretending I was a game warden.”
In ’82, Mann took a job as a wildlife
conservation officer with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, but returned to the Evergreen State three years later working for what was then the Washington Department of Game as a wildlife officer.
Back home, Mann worked in the field as an agent for several years before “going
into headquarters,” where he served as a training officer until relocating to the Yakima area to take a captain’s position in the agency’s Region 3. Formal retirement for Mann came in 2016.
Mann’s turkey hunting career kicked off around about 1983 while serving as a CO in Utah.
“I worked out of southeast Utah just east of Lake Powell,” he said, “and we got a call (from headquarters) saying, ‘Hey, we’re sending you down some turkeys. You need to go release them.’ And that was really my first exposure to wild turkeys.”
Mann hunted in the Beehive State for a couple years, learning about turkeys and turkey hunting largely, as he put it, by trial and error. Two years into his homecoming in Washington (1987), Mann began working with WDFW releasing the eastern subspecies of wild turkey into Western Washington, birds purchased from the Midwest.
“So,” Mann told me, “I was involved with the trap and transplant program here, working with the birds coming in from out of state, from ’87 to the mid-’90s. I went to Texas to trap Rio Grandes and brought them back around 1990.”
As far as the NWTF is concerned, Mann’s clock began ticking in 1994 with the conception of an Olympia-based chapter. “I knew everyone who was involved on the
Members of NWTF’s Washington state board pose at last May’s third annual Turkey Camp, put on in conjunction with WDFW and the First Hunt Foundation. Held in Northeast Washington, the camp combines in-class instruction and field mentoring. This year’s will be held May 2-4 near Newport; see facebook.com/ WashingtonNWTF/events for more. (NWTF)
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(banquet) committee,” he said. “That’s where I got my foot in the door with the NWTF.”
Since then, Mann joined the state board of directors in 2000 and has served there “in one capacity or another” for the past quarter century, becoming the state chapter president last summer. While serving as a volunteer with the NWTF, Mann was honored with the distinction of Wildlife Officer of the Year (2001), and in 2021 he was recognized as the organization’s national Mentor of the Year.
DURING OUR CONVERSATION, I had the chance to ask Mann about what I called his “first priority” as the NWTF Washington State Chapter president.
“Historically,” he began, “Washington really ‘blew up’ during the 1990s and into the early 2000s in terms of state (NWTF) chapters. That was back when the state was moving birds around (internally) and there was a lot of hands-on stuff to do. The volunteers loved that sort of thing.”
“But when those relocation efforts died off and the state stopped moving birds
and planting birds, interest waned and we went from almost 24 chapters to a slow downhill slide,” he stated.
As Mann explained, it was a combination of repaying the debt owed for the eastern wild turkeys purchased at $600 apiece, along with the cessation of the WDFW’s trap and transfer program, that contributed to this waning interest.
“People just simply age out,” he said, “and a lot of the younger folks haven’t come along. Or they haven’t been brought along. But we’re starting to see a resurgence here in Washington among the younger people who hunt, a renewed interest in the NWTF and the work we’re trying to do.”
A busy man despite being retired (I’ve never met a man who wasn’t busier after retirement than he was prior to. Perhaps that’s just how that works?), I had a final question for Mann before he was off and running. If someone were on the fence in terms of joining the NWTF and becoming a volunteer, not only in Washington but anywhere throughout the Northwest, what reason(s) might he give for putting one’s
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name on the proverbial list of members?
“While the NWTF is focused on turkeys,” he said, “the work we do – and I always tell people this – benefits a whole lot of other species, as well. Honestly, the other conservation organizations are like that, too. You’re doing habitat work that benefits more than just the single species, e.g., turkeys, you’re dealing with. Our efforts are not only to improve habitat, but to pass the tradition (of hunting) along and make sure that folks have something to hunt into the future. That our hunting heritage remains intact.”
A tip of the ol’ outdoor cap to all those fine folks involved in conservation organizations, be it NWTF, RMEF, DU, TU, or whatever the abbreviation might be. The work you do and the sweat equity and time you invest goes a long, long way to ensuring that everyone – and perhaps most importantly, future generations –have the opportunity to enjoy what I’ve enjoyed every single year since 1972, and for many others, long before that. Thank you, and be safe out there this spring. NS
On Toms, Benches And Ranges
ON TARGET
By Dave Workman
Whoever called spring the “offseason” is woefully ill-informed, because this is the time of year when devoted wild turkey hunters get busy, reloaders can recharge brass empties that have gathered dust all winter, and guys like me can return to the range in mild weather.
Last month, this column offered details on new turkey guns and gear introduced at the January SHOT Show. Since then, Apex Ammunition has announced a new .410-bore load in the Mossy Oak Greenleaf Turkey TSS line. This 3-inch shotshell holds a 7/8-ounce payload of No. 9 and 10 tungsten super shot with the following breakdown: 395 ultra-dense 18.1 g/cc pellets comprised of 110 No. 9 shot and 285 No. 10 shot.
I realize most people will consider the .410 to be “not enough gun” for the longbeards, but I’ve got a .410 double gun and within reasonable ranges, that little smoothbore can deliver the goods.
Apex also advised this column that TSS turkey loads are available in
Are you ready for spring turkey hunting? If not, author Dave Workman has advice on gobbler getters, new gear and top spots to check out. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)
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New for this season, Apex Ammunition has come out with a .410-bore load in the Mossy Oak Greenleaf Turkey TSS line, while Stoeger’s M3000 12-gauge semiauto is swaddled in Mossy Oak Bottomland camo. (APEX; STOEGER)
10-, 12-, 16-, 20- and 28-gauge offerings. Remington, Federal and Winchester also produce turkey loads, so if you haven’t already been shopping, get cracking!
In Washington, I can point to a lot of places where I’ve seen wild turkeys by the bunches or have gotten reports of traditionally decent hunting odds. Look along the Teanaway River valley northeast from Cle Elum, and along the top of South Cle Elum Ridge in Kittitas County. I’ve spent lots of time in these two areas over the years, and it seems I always encounter wandering turkeys on every visit, sometimes in small groups and other times in small flocks! Likewise, the hills around the tiny community of Liberty just east of Highway 97 might be a good bet. Just make sure you’re not on someone’s property.
Over in Stevens County and north Spokane County one will find wild turkeys, sometimes in abundance. I always
mention the area around Chewelah because the times I have been there I’ve run into hordes of birds. I also recommend the country around the Little Pend Oreille game range and up towards the Little Pend Oreille lakes chain east of Colville.
Southeast Washington’s Asotin, Garfield and Columbia Counties host Rio Grande turkeys. The W.T. Wooten Wildlife Area along the Tucannon River might be a good starting point.
Meanwhile the east slope of the Cascades from northern Yakima to Okanogan Counties hosts Merriam’s turkeys. The south side of upper Bethel Ridge north of the White Pass highway has always shown me birds whenever I’m down there.
Down in Klickitat County, there are Merriam’s turkeys pretty much throughout, but finding a place to hunt might be the biggest challenge.
HS Strut’s Double Deuce call mimics the sounds of two different hens, while the Care Taker blind from Ameristep allows turkey hunters to hide their movements from these sharp-eyed birds. (HS STRUT; AMERISTEP)
GEAR? LOTS OF STUFF
Just about everybody in the gun industry who offers shotguns has at least one model for turkey hunters, and Stoeger’s M3000 semiauto turkey gun epitomizes what such a gun looks like.
It’s got a 22-inch vent rib barrel, a cutout on top for an optic sight, fiber optic front sight, and full camo finish. It comes with an extra-full extended choke tube.
I’ve got a Mossberg 935 semiauto, also with a full camo finish and a 3½-inch chamber, although I’d never use more than a 3-inch magnum for a gobbler, with shot choices either No. 4, 5 or 6. I also have a Model 500 Mossberg pump in basic black, but I can easily wrap it in camouflage cloth and it’s ready to rock. The pumpgun has a 20-inch vent rib barrel and some years back I mounted a fiber optic front sight. Stoked with 2¾- or 3-inch magnums, it
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would also be a good choice.
HS Strut has a selection of box calls, and I was pointed to the Double Deuce model as an example. Made with a walnut lid, it has a double trough design to mimic the sounds of two different hens, according to HS Strut literature. The trick is to get birds in close for a shot, and such box calls can be effectively used for this.
Incidentally, HS Strut also offers a special shotgun choke tube for gobbler gunning. It’s called the Undertaker, designed to produce a tight, dense pattern.
Another investment might be the Care Taker wide-bottom blind from Ameristep. It’s a camouflage blind measuring 69 by 69 by 78 inches. Weighing 13.9 pounds, it has nine window openings. It is made from Durashell Plus 150D material with a matte finish. It sets up with a Spider Hub frame, and it has a V-shaped zippered door. It also has mesh storage pockets inside.
And Walker’s offers the Ultimate Alpha Muff. It boasts two high-gain omnidirectional microphones capable of picking up sounds from all directions. It also dampens the sound of a shotgun blast for hearing protection.
RANGES AND RELOADING
Aside from laying in my firewood for next winter during April and May, I find this time of year to be good for cleaning up my reloading bench, tumbling and resizing brass, and loading up fresh ammunition. Doing so now will come in handy over the summer when I do a fair amount of shooting – rifles and handguns – in a perennial effort to keep my trigger finger busy.
Somewhere on my bench are empties in .30-06, .308 Winchester, some .300 Savage and empties for my .257 Roberts, along with about 100 new .41 Magnum cases from Starline, which will be loaded up as I prep for the annual Elmer Keith Long Range Memorial handgun shoot. It’s an invitational event that brings together some of the best long-range handgunners in the Northwest, and they tackle targets which may range from 100 to 500-plus yards.
For those who don’t know, Elmer Keith is considered to be a pioneer of long-range handgunning. He grew up in Montana and Idaho, and was a cowboy, packer, guide and gunwriter. He authored several books, hunted all over North America and did a
couple of safaris in Africa.
Keith is credited for being a driving force in the development of the .44 and .41 Magnums, and even the .357 Magnum. He is also known for having fatally shot a wounded mule deer buck with a .44 Magnum at a distance estimated at approximately 600 yards.
My preferred iron for this event is a Model 57 Smith & Wesson in .41 Magnum, and as you read this I’m already burning powder practicing for the early June match. I’ve killed or finished off three deer with .41 Magnum revolvers, so this match prep has a far more important purpose than punching holes in paper or hitting steel targets at several hundred yards.
Mild spring and warm summer months provide ample opportunity for checking your rifle’s zero, perhaps mounting a new scope or making “off-season” repairs including stock refinishing, giving your rifle and/or shotgun a serious cleaning inside and out, or mounting a new recoil pad.
Don’t wait until the night before the opener to do this stuff. The time is now, so you will be ready for fall. NS
Workman spends time at the loading bench this time of year, reloading brass in preparation for summer practice and October hunting. (DAVE WORKMAN)
Don’t Wait To Get Back Into Training
Resist the urge to give your four-legged hunting companion months off following the end of waterfowl seasons. Spring fields with standing water make excellent training opportunities to work your dog and keep them in shape. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
By Scott Haugen
“He’s had a good run, but it looks like this will be his last season,” stated the man as his overweight black Lab struggled to retrieve a juvenile white-fronted goose in a dry field.
“How old is he?” I asked.
“He just turned seven,” the man replied.
My jaw dropped. The man saw my reaction.
“How old did you think he was?” he asked.
“I have no idea, but if he loses 12 to 15 pounds, that dog will hunt four or five more years,” I came back.
I’d never met the man. We were sharing a hunt together with mutual friends.
At first, the man was stricken by my remark. Then he started making excuses for why his Lab was so fat. I cut him off and said those are his issues, not the dog’s. I kept talking and eventually he listened. Bottom line, a healthy diet and daily exercise would help his dog live a longer, healthier life.
We were on a late-season goose hunt, almost six weeks after duck season had closed. The man made a statement that hit home, one I hear from so many gun dog owners: “With our main season over, I figured I’d give my dog time to recover and start exercising him again this summer,” he said. Hunting dogs can recover from a hard hunt, even a hard season, in a matter
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of days. Split pads, open cuts and strained muscles and joints are one thing, but just because a dog hunts hard doesn’t mean it needs three months of rest. In fact, a long offseason with no physical conditioning is one of the worst things a gun dog owner can do for their canine companion.
WHEN IT COMES to keeping your dog in shape, it’s a year-round commitment that lasts the dog’s entire life. And I’m not just talking about tossing a bumper in the field a few times. Your dog needs extended runs, so hop on a mountain bike and get them running. Running them in the hills also keeps them in shape and builds much-needed muscle strength. As rivers
and lakes start to warm up, swimming is one of the best, low-impact exercises you can do for your dog. Swim a dog two to three times a week and you’ll see an amazing difference in their physique, health and performance.
As for food, don’t feed them garbage. Table scraps with too much processed food and salt are terrible for a dog. If you’re going to feed table scraps, steam vegetables for them and trim off raw meat to feed them before it’s cooked. And invest in the best dog food possible. Read labels and make a healthy choice. Visit a local feed store authority on this topic – not a big box store or a vet; you’ll be surprised. A good rule of thumb to gauge your
pup’s weight is their ribs. Ribs should be showing slightly. If you can’t see any ribs, your dog is overweight. Make a fist. Look closely at how much the knuckles on the back of your hand are protruding. That’s how much of your dog’s ribs should be showing. If your dog has a thick hide or long hair, you should be able to feel the ribs sticking out, just like the knuckles on the back of your hand.
IF IN DOUBT about weight, see your vet and get a specific measure of what would be best for your dog. I recently took Echo, my 11-year-old pudelpointer, to the vet. I dropped her weight by a pound from last year’s checkup because she’s aging. She
Protruding ribs are a good indicator of your dog’s weight. If you can’t see them (or easily feel them on a long-haired dog), your four-legged hunting partner is overweight. Fat dogs don’t live as long as in-shape ones do, making for a poorer return on the investment in a gun dog than you can otherwise accrue by keeping it fit over its life.
(SCOTT HAUGEN)
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still went on over 60 hunts last season, and outperformed many dogs half her age that we hunted with. The vet told me that by dropping just that one extra pound, I likely increased her lifespan by a whole year. Barring injury or any other health issues, he figured Echo had another two or three years of hunting seasons in her future.
With spring here, keep your dog in shape. High-end dogs with a good bloodline need no offseason. In fact, by taking time off and letting them get overweight and out of shape, it’s harder on their body than continual workouts that keep them in prime condition. Dedicate time and effort to managing your dog’s health. It’s the least you can do for the best hunting companion you’ll ever know. NS
Editor’s note: Scott Haugen is a full-time writer. See his puppy training videos and learn more about his many books at scotthaugen.com and follow him on Instagram and Facebook.
Kona, author Scott Haugen’s 7½-year-old pudelpointer, went on over 100 hunts last season, for waterfowl, upland birds, fall turkey, squirrels and shed antlers. Two days after his last goose hunt, Kona was running hills to stay in shape. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
