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Sportsman Northwest

Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource

Volume 8 • ISSUE 5 PUBLISHER James R. Baker

SMOKERCRAFT PHANTOM OFFSHORE

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Dick Openshaw EDITOR Andy Walgamott LEAD WRITERS

Jeff Holmes, Andy Schneider CONTRIBUTORS

Ralph Bartholdt, Jason Brooks, Tim Bush, Zac Holmes, Doug Huddle, Randy King, Leroy Ledeboer, Terry Otto, Buzz Ramsey, Troy Rodakowski, Scott Staats, Todd Switzer, Dave Workman, Mike Wright SALES MANAGER Brian Lull

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ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Becca Ellingsworth, Mamie Griffin, Steve Joseph, Sherrie Miller, Mike Smith, Heidi Witt, Paul Yarnold DESIGNERS Dawn Carlson, Beth Harrison, Sonjia Kells, Liz Weickum PRODUCTION MANAGER John Rusnak PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Kelly Baker OFFICE MANAGER/ACCOUNTING Audra Higgins ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Katie Sauro INFORMATION SERVICES MANAGER Lois Sanborn WEBMASTER/INBOUND MARKETING Jon Hines

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ON THE COVER

Jeff Anderson shows off a nice spring Chinook he caught right in Portland on the Willamette River last season. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

SUN CHASER PONTOON

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

Due to a production error, 140 words were cut out of last issue’s story (p. 55) on disabled hunters enjoying success afield, thanks to Northeast Oregon’s Creating Memories. The full story can be found on our blog, at nwsportsmanmag.com/headlines/ creating-special-memories-disabled-kids. We regret the error and apologize to the organization.

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MEDIA INDEX PUBLISHING GROUP WASHINGTON OFFICE P.O. Box 24365 • Seattle, WA 98124-0365 14240 Interurban Ave. S., Suite 190 Tukwila, WA 98168 OREGON OFFICE 8116 SW Durham Rd • Tigard, OR 97224 (206) 382-9220 • (800) 332-1736 • Fax (206) 382-9437 media@media-inc.com; mediaindexpublishing.com

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CONTENTS

VOLUME 8 • ISSUE 5

39 TROPHY TIME Whether you’re out to catch a new personal best, scout out new waters, or get tips from experts, we’ve got you covered with our trophy winter steelhead special!

FEATURES 35 39 49 59 77 95 105 111 121 151

DEPARTMENTS 13 15 16 23 25

(FISHINGADDICTSNORTHWEST.COM)

26 28 32 32 35 85

COLUMNS 67

71

87

BUZZ RAMSEY Who would have ever guessed that the most well-known steelheader on the planet started out as a mere plunker?! Buzz combines a trip back to yore with decades on the shore for a bank-fishing tutorial!

101 WESTSIDER Tim takes us out to Ilwaco and Westport for 2015’s first shot at the sea’s most scrumptious fish – lings.

129 CENTRAL OREGON It’s well known for fly fishing, but did you know the mid-Deschutes’ big browns and many rainbows also bite hardware? Scott shares.

Cook Creek, Wash., steelhead Olympic Peninsula trophy steelies Grays Harbor winter-runs Oregon Coast broodstock, natives Columbia River spring Chinook Depoe Bay lingcod, rockfish Banks Lake, Potholes Res. walleye Yakima River, Western Montana trout 3 top Columbia Basin trout waters Spring gobbler prep tips

Editor’s Note Correspondence The Big Pic: Dogs, Gone Dishonor Roll; Jackass of the Month Derby Watch: Roche Harbor Salmon Classic, Molson Ice Fishing Festival results Outdoor Calendar Reader Photos From The Field Wright & McGill/Eagle Claw Photo Contest winners Browning Photo Contest winners Real Women of Northwest Fishing: Tribal fishing guide Ashley Lewis Rig of the Month: Spring Chinook

159 INLAND NORTHWEST How do you prepare for a job like heading up a Northwest fish and wildlife agency? Well, getting danced on by a raging six-point bull elk isn’t a bad way to start.

Ralph reports on Dr. James Unsworth’s long, interesting path to becoming WDFW’s new director.

THE KAYAK GUYS Springers, beware: Those guys in the unassuming, low-slung, boats are eager to catch you this month!

Todd gets the hows from Portland sharpie Jeff Anderson.

135 CHEF IN THE WILD Teaming up with fellow wild game cook and James Beard Award winner Hank Shaw, Chef Randy serves up a lip-smackin’ smoked Mack recipe!

167 BASIN BEACON With increasing numbers of wolves around the rim of Washington’s Columbia Basin, Leroy looks into what’s being done to study their impacts on deer, elk and moose.

STUMPTOWN There are so many salmon heading Portcouvervanlandia’s way that local anglers will literally be oozing omega-3 by the end of 2015 – Terry has the cheery forecasts!

143 NORTH SOUND If April belongs to rainbow warriors, March is for cutthroat crusaders.

Doug outlines the surprising number of opportunities for the slash-jawed trout this month!

173 ON TARGET Reporting back from the annual SHOT Show in Las Vegas, Dave says that Browning, Savage and Winchester have some “dead bang winners” in their new rifle lineups.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Go to nwsportsmanmag.com for details.

NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN is published monthly by Media Index Publishing Group, 14240 Interurban Avenue South, Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. Periodical Postage Paid at Bakersfield, CA 93380 and at additional mail offices. (USPS 025-251) POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Northwest Sportsman, 14240 Interurban Ave South, Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. Annual subscriptions are $29.95 (12 issues), 2-year subscription are $39.95 (24 issues). Send check or money order to Media Index Publishing Group, or call (206) 382-9220 with VISA or M/C. Back issues may be ordered at Media Index Publishing Group offices at the cost of $5 plus shipping. Display Advertising.

Call Media Index Publishing Group for a current rate card. Discounts for frequency advertising. All submitted materials become the property of Media Index Publishing Group and will not be returned. Copyright © 2015 Media Index Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher. Printed in U.S.A.

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NOVEMBER 2014

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THEEDITOR’SNOTE he Skykomish was on the way back down from a late-January rainstorm and still just a wee bit higher than I would’ve liked when I fished it on the final (USGS) day the lower and middle river was open for steelheading. The water had great color, but running at over 3,000 cubic feet per second, the side channels I waded had a stouter push and deeper depth than I’d anticipated.

No, I didn’t hook any early wild winter-runs, nor dawdling hatcheries, but I’m not here to write about my usual bad luck, rather the relationship between the fish and rivers themselves. While we depend on frequent rains to raise water levels and lure our quarry upstream, two researchers believe flooding has increased over the past six decades – to the potential detriment of some salmon stocks.

T

A PAPER PUBLISHED by Eric Ward, a Northwest Fisheries Science Center ecologist, and Joseph Anderson, a Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife fisheries biologist, says that 80 percent of Pugetropolis streams surveyed have seen increased fall and winter flow fluctuations since 1950. On the Sky and 10 other rivers, it’s amounted to “statistically significant increases of about 35 percent.”

Here’s the rub: Those rises are hitting when Chinook eggs and young fish are most vulnerable. And weighing a range of freshwater and oceanic variables, the two researchers found that “variation in winter river flows had the strongest influence on salmon populations, reducing their growth rate,” according to a National Marine Fisheries Service press release. (Pink salmon, which are doing great here, don’t spend the time in streams other species do.)

Salmonids, of course, are inherently plastic. They have had to be to have colonized streams from Central California to Kamchatka to Kooskia since the last Ice Age. But while flow pulses do help salmon by reconnecting rearing habitat and bringing down trees for allimportant woody debris – not to mention deepening those darned channels one must wade to get to fishy stretches of the mainstem!

– over time, there are grim implications for “depleted” stocks.

“The point here is that as strong variability becomes more common, it eventually begins to have a negative influence on populations,” said Anderson.

The abstract of he and Ward’s study makes it even more clear: “Climate change models predict that this region will experience warmer winters and more variable flows, which may limit the ability of these populations to recover.”

We generally focus on the here and now – this weird weather, perhaps best exemplified by the huge expanse of bare ground on Hurricane Ridge a mile up in the Olympics as I write this on Feb. 9, has me worried about summer stream flows for fish. But this research reminds us we need to be aware there are long-term, cumulative changes affecting our fish. –Andy Walgamott

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CORRESPONDENCE LAWMAKERS ARE LIONS (EXCEPT WHEN THEY’RE LAMEOIDS) Our blog on the sportfishing-priority bill introduced in Washington’s state Senate last month got a lot of shares on Facebook, and drew this cap tip from reader Ron Sharp: “Thank you, senators, for recognizing the value of the sportfishing industry and its economic value to Washington, and to the fishery itself. Now if we can address the destructive behavior of the sea lions that have been taking excessive numbers of sturgeon and salmon in the Lower Columbia …”

Speaking of, a bill on just that was dropped in the other Washington by Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Southwest Washington Republican, and Rep. Kurt Schrader, a Northwest Oregon Democrat. Our blog and Facebook post on it drew numerous comments, including from a smarty pants going by the moniker Sea Lion. The pretend pinniped pointed to a litany of manmade tweaks and problems in the Columbia system, and said, “Blaming sea lions just shows how out of touch these people are with the realities of the ecosystem.”

Anthony Gilbert had another take: “Folks, this is a manmade issue; when man builds a dam, the migration of fish is interrupted. Now man must equalize the problem. Either issue tags or tear down the dam. I don’t see the dam going anywhere.”

WOLVES (ALWAYS WITH THE WOLVES) Wary about the increasing co-opting of the term “conservation” from its traditional meaning, our editor got into it with some folks after he reported that British Columbia wildlife managers would remove up to 24 wolves preying on the super-rare, transnational South Selkirk caribou herd. Wrote someone going by the name Pro-wildlife Conservationist, “Hunters are not conservationists. Wildlife watchers who shoot wildlife with their cameras are the conservationists.” That drew a derisive snort from Walgamott, who replied, “Curious, are any taxes collected on that camera gear to go back to wildlife management? On the other hand, I guess it’s a good thing that excise taxes weren’t put on canisters of slide and print film and Polaroids, seeing as how those revenue streams would have dried up by now, leaving wildlife hanging – unlike the taxes on rifles, shotguns and ammunition that hunters have been paying for decades.”

MOST LIKED PHOTOGRAPH WE HUNG UP ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE DURING THIS ISSUE’S PRODUCTION CYCLE Little girls rule the world, we’re just living in it! Madison Bauman was a big star on our Facebook page after we posted this pic of her first fish ever, a 17-inch Lake Roosevelt rainbow that bit dough bait in January.

(WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

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A mule deer’s hoofprints seem to pay tribute to the grave of what is probably an old duck dog, buried in the sand dunes near Washington’s waterfowl mecca, Potholes Reservoir. (BRIAN LULL)

Grousing, Gun Dogs And Good-byes An homage to hunting hounds.

By Ralph Bartholdt

HELLS GULCH, Idaho—The shorthairs were two. A mother and son, and they lay on their bed in the front room of the Tower News, a weekly tattler in a town somewhere north of the Laurentian Divide, but not so far that you would mush to get there.

They belonged to my Uncle Jim who, when he wasn’t peering through inkdusted glasses at kerning, or font, or the inevitable upside down of the linotype, took advantage of the place he was raised and the proclivity for guns and gun dogs that he inherited, along with the dairy farm-like workmanship of the newspaper.

He would hunt.

His dogs, the big-bodied shorthairs, ashen ticks and saddles and their claws click-clicking on the wooden floor of the newspaper’s front room, were what we now, in some circles, refer to as versatile hunting dogs.

He never uttered the phrase – not once, as far as I know.

He called them by their given names and if there was a man from whom one could learn patience, Jim was it. At least when it came to his dogs.

They were used mostly on the grouse and pheasants that he would travel, as time and the newspaper allowed, sometimes west to Dakota and Montana, to hunt.

I WANTED AN Irish setter as a kid, but when my friend’s setter, named Red, probably as a tribute to the Jim Kjelgaard series of books that Disney popularized, slid off the doghouse roof on the short side of the rope, my pal’s dad retorted “Fool dog,” and buried it in the backyard.

We believed him, my pal, Honer, and I. So, Red was replaced with an American water spaniel, another in the stable of what some call versatile dogs, and we lived fine, hunting Sundays after church until dark. We ranged wide and far, but were always home with supper: teal, maybe a Canada goose, squirrel, rabbit, ruffed grouse, burrs in our socks and in

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MIXED BAG the dog’s wash-n-wear fur.

Anyone with a propensity for the uplands and marshes has been around their share of dogs.

Some of them, like Jim’s dogs, are a pleasure. Honer’s dog, Mick, was pretty fair, and a dog I raised for birds as a kid – a redbone retriever mix that ranged and was hard mouthed, but was always there with its nose and persistence – is memorable too.

A biology teacher I had in high school taught a Brittany spaniel to work so briskly for grouse without a word, just a whistle, that days were spent hammering through aspen groves with nary a yell, just the whir of wings and gunshots.

“Good girl” and “drop” were the only words spoken.

A Southeast Alaska log truck driver with a biology degree had the first pair of Deutsch drahthaars I ever saw.

They hunted geese in the salt flats near Admiralty Island, cripples mostly.

The author’s Vizsla, Matti. (RALPH BARTHOLDT)

“They make a run around the marsh and drag the birds back that others didn’t get,” the owner said.

Their audacious and selfless retrieving sometimes filled his limit without cocking back the hammers of a long-barreled

fowling gun. He used the drahts to track blacktail too, and ptarmigan in the uplands, and the blue grouse he shot when they sailed downhill out of trees.

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MIXED BAG to a dog. The Brittany he named Kelly hunted and retrieved – you couldn’t be sure as Charley’s writing was always selfdeprecating – 21 species of upland game birds in the U.S. and Canada. I remember the black-and-white pictures of Charley hunting chukars at 60 in the sharp rock and scrub inclines above the Snake River with his Brittany loping, ears back, and him slowly at chase.

I BURIED MY dog last week.

I laid Matti down on a bed of tamarack needles on some land I own, where she was raised and chased birds, chickens and cats.

I didn’t know much about Vizslas when I got her over a decade ago, just that her coat was red like the dog I had as a kid. She was a pointer, and from Hungary where game wardens used her breed hearkening back into the volumes of history so far you needed a loupe to read the big print.

I had grown up with dogs that didn’t seek attention, just a pat when they

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brought back a bird, but this one was different. She was the infant with colic, the 24/7 cockatiel that wouldn’t leave your shoulder, the howling and whining neurotic who mistook a dog bed by the door as purgatory and a dog bed in the garage as banishment. She sneaked to the couch and wanted the bedroom, played with the kid’s chickens nicely, until you turned your back then she quietly snapped their necks and buried them in the flowerbed.

She gave up the birds I shot, only reluctantly, because she craved the afterretrieve kudos. She pointed when I was in sight, but would rather flush when I wasn’t and chase birds over the mountain.

Our hunts in the later years ended in resentment. I was angry and she asked to crawl into my lap with her head to my heart to make up.

When she died at 14, I missed her immediately. Maybe for the places we saw together, the high trails and deep

woods all over North Idaho, or the more than a decade of life that passed under our paws.

When we hunted she blended so well into the osiers and orange hues of fall that I collared her with a bell, but her location was best charted by birds flying away.

She died and I laid her slim body in a grove of tamaracks, one that we crossed a lot and not far from a drumming log of one particular grouse we never got. I turned to look back, but she was gone, her fur the supple and perfect mirror of the surroundings.

I worked in western Alaska years ago, where my boss, a man I surreptitiously called uncle, said there isn’t a day you can’t learn something from the lowliest truck driver.

He said this over beers in a bar in Nome and I remember it still. We learn from dogs that way, all of them. Each have their own makings and marks.

They ask us to be versatile too. NS

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22 Northwest Sportsman

FEBRUARY 2015

MIXED BAG

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H

e ran off to Hawaii to avoid the law, but Washington oyster and clam poacher-trafficker nonpareil Rodney A. Clark will spend the next five and a half years in far grayer confines.

Early last month in a King County courtroom, Clark, the former owner of G&R Quality Seafoods, was sentenced after pleading guilty to 17 counts of illegal trafficking in shellfish as well as one count of reckless endangerment for selling uncertified product to the public.

According to the King County Prosecutor’s Office, the 50-year-old as well as several employees stole more than $700,000 worth of shellfish at night from state and private beaches in Jefferson and Kitsap Counties – the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife pegs that figure at up to $2 million. They then sold the products to restaurants and markets

JACKASS OF THE MONTH

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tealing at least $700,000 worth of shellfish from public and private beaches ranks right up there in terms of jerky things to do, so it’s no surprise that Rodney Allan Clark – see main story this page – is our Jackass of the Month.

After having to be tracked down as a fugitive from justice, Clark at least had the dignity to plead guilty and not end up stealing more public resources in the form of an expensive jury trial. Here’s hoping that once he gets out of the slammer, he spends some time reseeding the shellfish beds he stole from.

By Andy Walgamott in Seattle and elsewhere on the Westside, all while concealing their activities from the state Department of Health, which requires shellfish sales be certified and documented to eliminate health risks.

Indeed, it was sickness that tipped off state fish and wildlife officers that something hinky might be going on with the company, according to WDFW Deputy Chief Mike Cenci.

Nighttime surveillance led to a bust at the Hood Canal operation in March 2010.

“Conservatively, we’re talking about at least 300,000 oysters and 1,000 pounds of hardshell clams,” WDFW wildlife detective Paul Buerger told a Seattle Times reporter.

“It could be a lot more.”

Clark was arrested during the raid, but he subsequently fled the state, leading WDFW to put out an APB on social media to locate him and bring him to justice.

With help from a wide range of federal,

state and county agencies, Clark was extradited from Hawaii last September and held in King County Jail on a $250,000 bail as trials against others involved in the case went forward.

Eight co-defendants have also pled guilty to misdemeanor fishing violations and received their sentences. Prosecutors says charges were dismissed against two others while one defendant remains on warrant status.

“We’re really glad they took it on,” said Cenci of King County prosecutors. “To get that kind of focus on natural resources crime is great. That office gets it.”

He also had high praise for the work that WDFW investigators Paul Buerger and Brad Rhoden put into the case, including sifting through bank and harvest records, “incredibly boring but incredibly important” work.

“It was a pretty nice piece of work by the detectives,” Cenci said.

Shellfish are managed for recreational, tribal and commercial harvest. In addition to shellfish farmed for market, WDFW seeds beds with oyster and clams for sport collection.

KUDOS A

tipster will be rewarded for information that they forwarded to Washington fish and wildlife officers in the case of a moose poached in April 2012 on Beacon Hill in Spokane Valley.

According to the Humane Society of the United States and the Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust, it led to the arrest and conviction of Donald S. Gilbrech. He copped to possessing a moose as well as a deer during a closed season, got a day in jail plus a fine of over $4,300, and lost his vehicle due to forfeiture laws, according to HSUS. “This case illustrates the significant role the community plays in reducing poaching in Washington. The anonymous tip supplied us with the tools necessary to prosecute Mr. Gilbrech,” said WDFW Sgt. Paul Mossman in an HSUS press release. “We are grateful for the information and encourage others to reach out to us in the future if they come across information regarding a poaching incident.”

The tipster will be paid $2,500 – thank you for standing up for wildlife!

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Finally, Fish!

T

he streak is broken!

After three years with zero fish weighed in, this winter’s Molson Ice Fishing Festival yielded 19 trout, including two that in total weighed just under 6 pounds for grand prize winner Mark Webster, who took home $500.

Held at Molson Lake, in historic and beautiful northeast Okanogan County, this year’s edition was moved a full month forward on the calendar “to avoid the shrimp hatch,” according to organizers.

The festival is a lot of fun anyway, Rainbows to as much as 3 pounds were what with an arts and crafts fair, landed during the Molson Ice Fishing raffles, bingo, several meals served Festival, held in mid-January at the through the day, and more, but the historic mining town in the Okanogan Highlands. (EDENVALLEYRANCH.NET) move seems to have paid off.

Robin Stice of nearby Eden Valley Ranch reported trout biting pretty much from the get-go on Jan. 17. Other high finishers included Ben Cross with 34.2 ounces, good for second and $100; Jill Mathews and Kim Marshall with 34.1 and 33.9 ounces, which won them both $75; and Mike Sheldon with 33.6 ounces, good for $50.

ANACORTES SALMON DERBY CANCELLED Late March won’t see the ninth annual edition of a popular North Sound derby that benefits local fisheries students.

With Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife managers scrambling to keep blackmouth season in the San Juan Islands open by first dropping the limit to one then chopping open dates to Friday-Sunday only, organizers of late March’s Anacortes Salmon Derby decided there was just too much uncertainty, so they called it off.

“Going forward, the prospects of abbreviated, uncertain seasons could negatively affect the long-term viability of the Anacortes Salmon Derby,” chairman Jay Field said in a press release. “The board of directors have decided to take the hatchet to the derby this year. An uncertain season, now and in the future, just might have struck a death knell for this classic event.”

The problem wasn’t a lack of fish. It’s that anglers have been so successful catching them this winter season. In announcing their decision, WDFW managers said that around half of the allowable 31,813 Chinook encountered in Puget Sound outside of Hood Canal and Tacoma-area waters, whether kept or released, had occurred as of Jan. 25.

The real loss appears to be local students, who benefit from scholarships and grants raised through the derby. Over $250,000 has been awarded to kids studying fisheries since 2007, according to organizers.

Reep Takes The Rewards

D

erby insurers may have been breathing a sigh of relief, but Dave Reep still sailed home from the San Juans with a handsome check.

The Mount Vernon angler won last month’s Dave Reep took first at the Roche Harbor Salmon Classic with this Roche Harbor Salmon 22-plus-pound blackmouth.

Classic with a 22-pound, (NORTHWEST MARINE TRADE ASSOCIATION) 3-ounce Chinook, good for the top prize of $10,000.

A bonus prize of $30,000 had been on offer for anyone able to tow a 30-pound hatchery king back to derby headquarters at Roche Harbor Marina. In January a local sharpie told Derby Watch it wasn’t out of the realm, but it was not to be for any of the 338 anglers fishing aboard the 99 boats in the islands.

They did, however, enjoy pretty good fishing, keeping 147.

Capt. Larry Surdyk’s boat yarded in the most fish, 64 pounds, 3 ounces worth of salmon, good for $2,000.

According to the San Juan Islander newspaper, during Reep’s 25-minute fight with the derby winner, his three boatmates were chanting “no fin, no fin, no fin.” The quartet – friends since grade school – have placed in the top three of the classic twice before.

Eric Reynolds of Snohomish took second place and $5,000 with a blackmouth that was just 6 ounces lighter than Reep’s, while third went to fellow Panthertowner Michael Surdyk for his 19-pound, 6-ouncer, worth $3,000.

The derby is the third event on the year-long Northwest Salmon Derby Series, and it was a close call that it wasn’t cancelled. With strong fishing through the first part of winter, state managers had wanted to shut down the season. A fix in the form of a Friday-Sunday fishery allowed it to occur.

ONGOING AND UPCOMING EVENTS * Boggan’s Oasis Spring Steelhead Derby, through March 22; Grande Ronde River in Washington above Highway 129; info: boggans.com, February issue’s Derby Watch * Westport Charterboat Association Weekly Lingcod Derby, March 14-end of season; info: charterwestport.com * 9th Annual Everett Blackmouth Derby, March 14; Marine Areas 8-1, 8-2 and 9; info: everettblackmouthderby.com * 23rd Annual Spring Fishing Classic, April 4; Columbia and Willamette Rivers; info: nsiafishing.org * Black Lake (Ilwaco) Fishing Derby, April 25; Black Lake, kids only; info: ilwaco-wa.gov Editor’s note: To have your derby listed or results posted here, email awalgamott@media-inc.com.

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Northwest Sportsman 25

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Feb. 27-March 1 Great Rockies Sport Show, Lewis & Clark County Fairgrounds, Helena; greatrockiesshow.com Feb. 28-March 1 Saltwater Sportsmen’s Show, Oregon State Fairgrounds, Salem; saltwatersportsmensshow.com Feb. 28-March 1 Willamette Sportsmen’s Show, Linn County Expo Center, Albany; willamettesportsmanshow.com March 5-8 Central Oregon Sportsmen’s Show, Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center, Redmond; otshows.com March 5-8 Idaho Sportsmen’s Show, Expo Idaho, Boise; idahosportsmanshow.com March 6-8 BC Boat & Sportsmen’s Show, and BC Hunting Show, TRADEX, Abbotsford, B.C.; squarefeetevents.ca March 13-14 Northwest Fly Tyer and Fly Fishing Expo, Linn County Expo Center, Albany; nwflytyerexpo.com March 19-22 Big Horn Outdoor Adventure Show, Interstate Fairgrounds, Spokane; wildlifecouncil.com/bighornsubsite/index.html March 21-22 Great Rockies Sport Show, Adams Center, Missoula; greatrockiesshow.com March 27-29 Great Rockies Sport Show, Brick Breeden Fieldhouse, Bozeman; greatrockiesshow.com

RECORD NW GAME FISH CAUGHT IN 2014 With the book now officially closed on 2014, we thought we’d take a look back at some of the new state-record fish caught in Washington, Oregon and Idaho last year.

• Line-X (JOHN GRUBENHOFF)

• Snug Top Canopies

Date

2-28

www.superhawkcanopies.com 8016 State Avenue • Marysville, WA 98270 360-653-1401 1595 Burlington Blvd. • Burlington, WA 98233 360-757-1881 26 Northwest Sportsman

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Species

Pds. (-Oz.)

Walleye* Yellow perch 7-1 Prickly sculpin 7-26 Tiger musky 8-3 Pacific staghorn sculpin 9-28 Bluefin tuna 11-8 Coho (sea-run) 12-10 Hybrid white bass

20.32 2-11.68 .45 37.88 .76 39.2 11-12.8 19-12

Water

Angler

McNary Pl. (WA) John Grubenhoff L. Cascade (ID) Tia Marie Wiese Columbia R. (WA) Shaylynn Sullivan L. Curlew (WA) David Hickman Tramp Hbr. (WA) Josiah Brenner Westport (WA) Sam Ellinger Clearwater R. (ID) Steven Micek Ana Res. (OR) Chad Meadows * Image

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New Year’s 2015 was especially notable for Melissa Little.

That’s the day she harvested her first elk. Melissa was hunting on the Zumwalt Prairie Preserve of Northeast Oregon, under the tutelage of her brother, Matt Little. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

The 13th application was the lucky one for Barrett Prock, who made good on his once-in-a-lifetime mountain goat tag in part of the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

Hunting with his dad and friends, and packed in 8 miles by local outfitter Mark Moncrief, Prock made a 300yard heart shot to harvest this billy.

Prock also took a pronghorn, blacktail and several species of waterfowl last season. (BROWNING

Kaycee Skelton gets an A-plus for her first steelhead, this Clearwater River B-run!

The 10-year-old from Coeur d’Alene hooked it on a green Hot Shot.

(WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

PHOTO CONTEST)

Let’s just say that Brian McCord caught this winterrun steelhead somewhere on the western side of our solar system, which is to say it came out of a small river he’d like to keep quiet.

(WRIGHT & McGILL/ EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

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Dan Richardson’s North Sound state-lands buck features a 4-inch droptine. “I have always dreamed of taking a trophy blackie and was very pleased with this one,” he said of his late October deer. Richardson was using a Tikka T3 .300 Win Mag. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

READER PHOTOS LaDonna Stearns was among several folks enjoying good fishing for very late Wilson River fall Chinook. She was fishing a Dinger jig under a bobber on the upper river. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

Despite a warm winter, there was still ice fishing to be had in Eastern Washington. Dave Getzin and friend Don Talbot of Wenatchee did well on rainbows and yellow perch at Patterson Lake, near Sun Mountain Lodge in the upper Methow Valley. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST) For your shot at winning great fishing and hunting products, send your photos to awalgamott@media-inc. com or Northwest Sportsman, PO Box 24365, Seattle, WA, 98124-0365. By sending us photos, you affirm you have the right to distribute them for use in our print and Internet publications.

Quite the bag for her first time out duck hunting! Danica Denham poses with Teal the German wirehair after a successful day on the Skagit delta. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

Hunting with his uncle Gary Hoch, Brycen Reeves, 17, of Port Orchard, Wash., harvested his first deer this past November while bowhunting in the state’s upper righthand corner.

(BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

Patrick Gottsch of Columbia River Knife & Tool in Tualatin says the phrase “blood lines to blood trails” was fitting for his hunt in Oregon’s Fossil Unit. After celebrating his eldest daughter’s 21st the night before, he harvested this three-point the next day.

As for the blood trail, it took four hours of searching for the downed buck “only to find him literally 40 yards from where I shot. It was a great story.” Kudos to the tenacity. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

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PHOTO CONTEST

WINNERS!

Jeremy Murphy is this issue’s Wright & McGill/ Eagle Claw Photo Contest winner, thanks to this photo of Jackson Carvo and his kype-jawed Rock Lake, Wash., German brown trout. It wins him a package worth $50 of fishing tackle!

Our monthly Browning Photo Contest winner is Keith Ashley, who sent this pic of his son, Darren, and his Ochoco Unit bull elk. It scores him a Browning hat!

Sportsman Northwest

Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource

For your shot at winning Wright & McGill/Eagle Claw and Browning products, send your photos to andy@ nwsportsmanmag.com or Northwest Sportsman, PO Box 24365, Seattle, WA 98124-0365. By sending us photos, you affirm you have the right to distribute them for our print or Internet publications.

32 Northwest Sportsman

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MIXED BAG

A Cut Above Tribal fishing guide Ashley Nicole Lewis proves ‘girlyness and bad-ass angling skills are not mutually exclusive.’

Combine tribal heritage, fish-catching skills and a 4.0 gradepoint average at beauty school and what do you get? Ashley Nicole Lewis, here holding a nice Cook Creek steelhead while friend Darren Hoberg looks on. (JEFF HOLMES)

By Jeff Holmes

L

ast December’s annual Real Women of Northwest Fishing feature motivated me to do a better job in my own writing of shining the spotlight on the growing numbers of women who love to fish and who find joy plying waters across the Northwest, whether it be on an Eastern Washington brook trout lake, an Oregon Coast creek, an Idaho pike and bass lake, or Buoy 10. From occasional weekend anglers, to diehard female fishing guides, to women who tie their own “everything” and love all things fishing, there’s a wide spectrum of female anglers who deserve more attention – and the right kind.

In an age of paid Facebook campaigns featuring cute girls who are not authentic, self-supporting anglers but who are on

pro staffs, I’ll try to feature interesting and skilled female anglers exclusively, starting with a young tribal guide on the Quinault Indian Nation’s Salmon River and Cook Creek, Ashley Nicole Lewis. Ashley’s from Elma but lives in Tacoma and is one of the Northwest’s up-and-coming cosmetologists while succumbing to none of the stereotypes. She handles fish, bait, rowdy hole crashers, and the world of beauty with ease.

Some of the Northwest’s earliest returning winter steelhead come back to Cook Creek every year, which is a lower Quinault River tributary. The creek is off-limits to nontribal members unless accompanied by one of many walk-in guides who regularly or occasionally hike clients to both Cook and the Salmon, a tributary of the Queets. Ashley and her

manfriend, Darren Hoberg, scored some of the earliest chrome planks of winter steelhead to flash across Facebook in late November. I noticed her posts were authentic and smart and didn’t sell out rivers, and I also noticed that she was a 4.0 cosmetology student at Clover Park Technical College. I began to hatch a slowly evolving plan for a really weird sporting feature. I was going to gain access to Cook Creek, meet some highly recommended anglers and people, and profile a megacool female angler.

All while getting my wife, Erika, a streamside haircut.

WE MET ASHLEY and Darren at the Quinault National Fish Hatchery in late January, in a driving coastal mist. A tribal law enforcement officer came down to chat

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MIXED BAG Just a little off the back, please! The author’s wife, Erika, enjoys a streamside haircut from Ashley, who has a salon and spa near Tacoma.

(JEFF HOLMES)

The trend of big steelhead, like this one caught

by Lewis, will continue at Cook Creek. Though the base stock used is a smaller strain, Quinault River winter-runs have contributed their genes, resulting in larger fish returning to the facility, which, due to harmful past logging, produces salmonids for tribal fisheries. (JEFF HOLMES) with Ashley just as Erika and I introduced ourselves. He was looking for snaggers.

Fortunately we’d left our cannonballs and trebles at home. Seriously, who’s a big enough bozo to snag winter steelhead?

Uh, lots of people from all walks of life, although we’d witness no such activity that day.

We donned waders and rain gear, and Erika pulled unidentified white bits out of her wading boot during a gravel check. We thought it was paper, until I smelled it. Deer fat. Mice had penetrated our shop and used Erika’s boot as a cache for perhaps 8 to 10 ounces of fat bits. She wasn’t thrilled since it was technically my fault I’d left boots in the shop and let mice get in there, and for long enough to stash enough calories for a generation of mice. She laughed it off and forged ahead through the hatchery toward a series of several downstream holes and runs.

The impressive hatchery facility produces coho, chum and steelhead in great abundance and for the sole purpose of providing tribal fishing opportunities.

The fish reared here are not clipped, and an electric cable across the stream above the hatchery intake shocks fish back downstream to keep them from moving above the freshwater intake to prevent spread of disease to the hatchery. That cable is reportedly dangerous enough to 36 Northwest Sportsman

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have electrocuted a bear two years ago.

It’s being replaced soon. The Cook Creek facility produces Hoh River steelhead stock, which average 4 to 7 pounds.

That stock hasn’t changed in size, but the average size of Cook Creek hatchery steelhead has, thanks to stray influence from the largest genetic stock of hatchery fish in the Northwest: Lake Quinault hatchery broodstock fish regularly top 20 pounds. In recent years, however, due mostly to increased summer water temperatures, pathogen levels in the lake have been too high to raise fish reliably, so those fish are still collected at the lake but now spend a large portion of their early life cycle at Cook Creek. They are trucked back to the lake for release as smolts. Most of those fish are returning to the lake, but good numbers showed up at the hatchery as strays, thanks to their time there before release.

ANOTHER GUIDE HAD clients in Cook Creek’s famed first hole. He and Ashley coolly greeted each other as we filed past. The visibility looked good at 3 feet, but the water was high and just starting to drop. We waded through flooded trails downstream to the next two holes and found the second empty. Fish were stacked in like cordwood in soft water along a bank, and Ashley quickly hooked

up, followed by Darren, followed by Erika.

When those fish wouldn’t eat my crappy, leathery eggs, I kept fishing them while taking breaks to photograph their fish.

Whereas I expected to see little onesalt steelhead like those that had been in the creek from late November through mid-January, we hooked 30-plus-inchers fish after fish, led by Darren who landed a colored-up buck a hair short of 40 inches, along with several fish over 34. Most of these fish were booting up, but every once in a while a giant chromer would bite us and turn and run downstream. There were several break-offs even with 12-pound Ultragreen. Ashley also hooked a number of brutes, mostly on single beads fished below a float. The rain poured down as we caught and released brutes and occasional small chromers, and lots of cutthroat trout.

On a day filled with laughs and steelhead galore, we finished off our time at the creek with a haircut for Erika and a happy walk back to dryness at our trucks.

ASHLEY’S NOT ONLY a skilled angler who can get you access to robust hatchery runs and three-fish limits, she will also cut hair streamside with some serious skills. She’s an award-winning student who regularly volunteers her time for her college, sometimes giving free cosmetology services to elders from the Puyallup Tribe.

She has big plans to build her business, but also values giving back to the community and shows genuine appreciation to her tribe for providing a scholarship to make her career dreams possible. Erika not only loved her haircut and the experience, she wants to go back next year and is now planning to drive from Tri-Cities to Tacoma for haircuts. If you’re looking for Cook Creek access with someone who’s dialed in, I’d highly recommend a walk-in trip with her. If you want to become a client of an up-andcoming and highly skilled cosmetologist who can talk everything from elk hunting to Gelish nails while backing it up, she’s a great person to connect with on Facebook, at (360) 915-3667 or at her salon, at (253) 845-9744. Ashley is living evidence that girlyness and bad-ass angling skills are not mutually exclusive. NS

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FISHING Can’t back-troll plugs out of a raft? No one told Mike Z, or the steelhead. Once the author saw this, it was bye-bye to his drift boat after a decade, and hello, raft! (JEFF HOLMES)

Where Real Monsters Lurk Forks is the adopted home of vampire fans, but it will always be the land of trophy steelhead.

By Jeff Holmes

FORKS—If I could have only one doover in my fishing life, I would have started visiting Forks and fishing its rivers and the port of La Push much sooner. If there’s a dedicated salt- and freshwater fishing outpost in the Northwest that better fits the sensibilities of the angling recluse, I don’t know what it would be.

Tillamook comes close and perhaps betters Forks for services and sheer number of steelhead, but catching and releasing monster steelhead isn’t possible anywhere but the Olympic Peninsula. Making a couple of winter treks to the West End is now at the top of my annual fishing calendar, and I wanted to share the experience this winter with my wife, both for her enjoyment and to explain why I make 400-mile drives when

steelhead live a mere 300 yards from our house. Erika is used to being tortured in a freezing drift boat all winter in Eastern Washington, often camping out of it to maximize fishing time at unpressured holes. The easy pace and warmer temperatures of a typical Forks fishing day would agree with her sensibilities, I thought. So would a proper lumberjack breakfast at Forks Café and a raft trip with the OP’s most respected rower and angler, Mike Zavadlov of Mike Z’s Guide Service (mikezsguideservice. com).

The Fetha Styx pro-staffer is arguably the most versatile and respected nonmotorized steelheading guide in operation today, leading fly fishing, center-pinning and standard gear trips that rely on a variety of different techniques and offerings. His reputation as an angler is matched by

his rowing prowess. Zavadlov is prostaff for the Pro-Loks rowing system, which he has installed on both his fiberglass drifter and his Aire raft with NRS fishing frame. I asked Zavadlov to please fish out of his raft on the Calawah River for our trip because I wouldn’t trust myself – even as an experienced rower – to best its many Class III rapids in my drift boat. I often will not mention a river name if doing so will send throngs of people somewhere that can’t support the pressure. The Calawah certainly can’t support too much fishing traffic, but its dangerous rapids also protect its fish. No one should ever consider this float – not even an expert – without first going with an experienced guide. Little did I know that one day rafting with Mike Z would lead me to sell my Clackacraft and get me into a new fishing raft a few weeks later.

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FISHING

This 11-foot-diameter Sitka spruce near Forks is off the beaten path and almost challenges the specimen at Lake Quinault for world’s largest.

(JEFF HOLMES)

ERIKA AND I rolled into Forks early on a Saturday evening and quickly checked into our room at the Miller Tree Bed and Breakfast (millertreeinn.com), which offers Forks’ best-reviewed lodging. Lots of Zavadlov’s clients stay here, and the owners are used to catering to the needs of anglers, including offering special early-morning breakfasts.

Like most Forks accommodations, the Miller Tree offers Twilightthemed rooms for that dying craze, and one need not be a fan of sexy 20-somethings morphing into vampires and werewolves to enjoy such digs. Erika and I had a hoot reading guest book comments from people who are, well, a little too into Bella and Edward. We’re more into drinking beer after twilight and making fun of the film and its fans.

After a quick trip to Forks Outfitters (forksoutfitters.com) for groceries and some new braided line from their wide tackle selection, we parked the truck, guzzled some IPAs, and walked around town to find dinner. The challenge of finding dinner in Forks has decreased with the emergence of a Mexican taqueria 40 Northwest Sportsman

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good enough for us to break our pledge not to eat Mexican food in Western Washington. If you’re eating in Forks, you’d be unwise not to try El Pescador Loco: great food and salsa bar, friendly service, and cheap beer on tap and in bottles.

I bored Erika with stories of what I thought the Calawah would look like and God knows what else as we finished our tortas and tacos, and we headed to the Miller Tree and hit the sack for our 6:15 breakfast meet-up with Zavadlov.

As with other floatable Forks rivers – the Sol Duc, Bogachiel, and Hoh – the Calawah has genetically large wild fish that are intensively gillnetted and also caught and released at high rates with plenty of documented mortality, especially from extended handling times during fish-porn shoots. Often the worst offenders at mishandling fish are some of the youngest, most active anglers, those who flash fish across Facebook with mundane regularity. Sure, most of the pictures show fish being carefully handled, but if you speak to many of these guys’ friends and clients, details

emerge about multiple photos, long handling times, and lots of talk about how strong a released fish swam away. What they don’t see is that many strong-swimming fish succumb to death hours later.

Zavadlov and many other OP guides and private anglers take great care to keep wild fish wet and supported while snapping occasional quick photos before a swift release.

Although retention opportunities exist for wild fish, many of these guides and anglers enforce a strict no-kill policy for wild steelhead.

They see the writing on the wall, which reads as a warning about the future of operating sport fisheries unless private citizens take action.

My preferred guides in Forks will not allow clients to kill wild fish, including Zavadlov and my friend and former student, Greg Springer of Springer’s Sportfishing (springersportfishing. com). Many guides have taken the oath, as have many anglers, including Erika and me.

AFTER A TYPICALLY wonderful bacon breakfast at Forks Café, we were launched and floating within minutes of paying our check, floating down the wildest river in the area with its best guide. My teeth were chattering with excitement as Zavadlov trained us to read water and to present our Cleardrift floats with home-tied jigs and WFO worms in advance of likely fish holds. Within a short time, his instruction paid dividends and Erika hooked up and landed a beautiful chrome hen of about 6 pounds.

With water high and clear and just beginning to drop, fish could see our presentations well but were still off the bite from a sharp spike in flow from a couple inches of rain. I marveled as Zavadlov trained Erika to better mend line and focus with a degree of intensity I’d never seen from her. As usual, she’d outfish me on this day, along with the rest of the river. The two guide boats behind us would come up blank, we’d learn, while Mike Z earned us seven bites

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FISHING and five steelhead landed.

I’ve floated with a lot of rowers, but nobody touches Zavadlov for ease behind the sticks. He steered us through rapid after rapid, held us in heavy water repeatedly, and slipped into fishy slot after slot, dropping anchor and showing us where fish hold. We missed one clear takedown on one of his new, thinner-diameter Cleardrift floats, but fishing early in the float was a little slow. Zavadlov changed up the program by extracting plug rods and new Mag Lip 3.0 plugs. Upon my request, he was going to show us how to plug effectively from a raft, something I didn’t know was possible and that had kept me from buying a raft for years. Using our butts as rod holders,

New, narrower Cleardrift floats are the best Zavadlov has ever seen for moving jigs and other baits slowly downstream through current layers of multiple speeds.

Erika’s Cleardrift shot away and underwater in a hurry when this big hen bit her prawn-tipped “Mike Z Special” jig.

(JEFF HOLMES)

we positioned rod tips where he could see the wiggle of the little Mag Lips, and he began backing down into fishy water begging for plugs.

Two drive-bys in quick succession

LIGHTWEIGHT OAR SYSTEM DRAWS PRAISE Many of our lives are awash in outdoor Mike Z and most serious rowers are switching to gear, little of which we can say is truly Pro-Loks specialized oar locks, as well revolutionary and completely stand- as the lightest, strongest, most efficient oar shafts and apart from competitors’ products. That blades ever designed. said, for rowers, Pro-Loks are the greatest (JEFF HOLMES) boating invention since drift boats and welded-seam frame rafts. Among the many professional and recreational rowers I know who have used the ProLoks (pro-loks.com) rowing system and accompanying Edge oar shafts, each raves, including Mike Zavadlov and guides across the Northwest.

Pro-Loks’ specialized oar locks reduce rowing fatigue to a great degree. I suffered for years from wrist pain after days of rowing, and that pain completely disappeared as soon as I switched. Zavadlov agrees, and he rows daily on deadly rivers.

“Pro-Loks are so smooth that fatigue in your wrists is not even a concern, unlike with the old rope design, which wears out and is very stiff when sculling,” he says.

Pro-Loks offer easy sculling while keeping the blade in a fixed position for most rowing situations. Another great aspect of the revolutionary oar locks is the Pro-Rite, a design feature that rudders your boat when on anchor.

Edge oar shafts weigh barely over a pound and are constructed of the highest quality graphite. Feather-light, they are also extremely powerful. Pro-Loks blades are similarly excellent and different from competitors’ products. They are made from high-quality carbon fiber and are designed with a specially designed tip for stroking shallow water.

They’re also equipped with a wider midsection for big power strokes. The Pro-Loks blades float like a cork for safety and convenience and further allow for ruddering on anchor. The shaft and blade are under 3 pounds for the complete oar; light shafts and floating blades greatly reduce risk of sticking an oar.

Pro-Loks are available in a model to fit most oars, including wood shafts, and the blades are interchangeable with most oar shafts on the market. I give all of these products a perfect rating, and so do most guides I know who row for a living. Ask around. –JH 42 Northwest Sportsman

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got our attention, and a third takedown stuck. I fought a nice hen until she was close to the net, and she popped off. Not only could Zavadlov fish plugs from his raft, he can row the craft better than most drift boaters. We nonetheless retired the plugs for the day and resumed our float. The bite improved, and Erika and I landed twin 13- to 14-pound hens, the biggest hens either of us had ever landed, along with a couple of smaller steelhead and some nice trout. Even in tough conditions and early in the wild fish season, Erika and I were impressed by the day we spent with a master.

FORKS IS STILL a winter steelheading wonderland, despite drastic threats to the fishery from commercial tribal gillnetting, intensive sportfishing, and habitat conditions. Unlike Puget Sound rivers, however, which face far more dire across-the-board challenges, all of the Forks rivers have plenty of intact spawning and rearing habitat. The problems on the OP are largely political and are compounded by everyone’s greed for a piece of the steelhead pie. There’s no ignoring the doomsday netting practices of several tribes, especially since there is no other wild steelhead commercial fishery anywhere in the world. But often sport anglers overfocus on tribal threats and ignore the profound impacts of a huge and loosely regulated guide community

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FISHING and legions of skilled steelheaders catching and releasing unhealthy proportions of the total number of wild fish returning to rivers. The future of Forks steelheading is far from secure, one reason the Olympic Peninsula Guides’ Association (OPGA) is the driving force behind sportfishing reform on the OP. The group of guides is led by Zavadlov’s friend and former partner, Bob Kratzer (facebook.com/robert. kratzer.754), and has broken new ground recently by collaborating with the Quileute Nation on fisheries issues and by petitioning the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife to replace the Snider Creek broodstock program on the Sol Duc, which the department axed in 2011.

That successful program ended after 25 years of operation when the Sol Duc was designated a wild steelhead gene bank. This season, the last of those Snider Creek fish are returning

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The death of the Snider Creek broodstock program in 2011 has spawned a new Bogachiel River program, spearheaded by Bob Kratzer and the rest of the Olympic Peninsula Guides Association. (PAUL ISHII)

as retainable, fin-clipped bruisers in the high teens. Meanwhile, Kratzer, Zavadlov and other guides have scored an initial win by convincing WDFW to begin a new broodstock program on the Bogachiel. Guides are busy collecting the seven hens and seven bucks WDFW allows and are raising those fish in spring ponds at Sol Duc Salmon hatchery for eventual spawning and then

release as smolts from the Bogachiel hatchery. Zavadlov, Erika, and I tried hard on our float to score a fish for the program, but the big hens we landed were too far from the holding tank to risk transporting them. We settled for a few quick pictures and the knowledge that in a few years we will return for a shot at some big, beautiful, ethically retainable chromers. NS

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FISHING

Harbor Ardor You’ve gotta love Grays Harbor’s myriad late winter steelheading ops!

By Jason Brooks

I

was quickly reminded why one should not take lightweight, super-sensitive steelhead rods for a day of late-winter steelheading. A large fish had just taken the 6-inch pink worm, turned into the fast water and headed for a downstream logjam. Tightening the drag and pulling back hard on the limber rod the line came to its maximum breaking point just as the hook came free from the big fish.

The 3-plus-foot flash of a deep red side was all I would catch for the memory banks, but it would also serve as a reminder why it is so important to change out the lighter gear that works well for early hatchery brats, to stout rods and line for oversized late-winter fish.

FOR ME, BIG steelhead means fishing rivers and streams that quickly dump into the ocean, ones where silverstreaked, dark-backed fish flecked with sea lice slid in during the last high tide to slowly make their way upriver until their sides turn red and dark spots freckle their tails.

Within just a couple hours’ drive of Seattle you come into the land of mega steelhead – the southern end of the Olympic Mountains and the heart of Grays Harbor. Friends of mine, JR Hall of JR’s Steelhead Adventures (steelheadnwynoochee.com) and Ted Schuman of Winter Run Guide Service (winterrunguideservice. com), have been fishing these river systems for the past few months.

The rivers of Grays Harbor are known for producing large specimens of both wild and hatchery stocks. Barry Dubnow caught this 22.6-pound, 21-inch-around, 40-inch-long Wynoochee winter-run on March 1 of last year. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

Both agree that December and January provided hot fishing, with limits being an average day. That means that for the guys like me who will head out in search of large, latearriving fish, there will still be a lot of hatchery-origin fish making their way back downriver. I don’t mind catching kelts, or “downers” as we call them, as it makes for a fun day of fishing, but of course, it’s the big fish I am after, and for them I target four primary waters in the Aberdeen area.

THE HUMPTULIPS IS one of my favorite fall king and early winter coho fisheries, but when it comes to steelhead, I try and save this one just for March.

Recent years have seen lower than desired returns of clipped winter-runs, and since the facility they’re raised at is about midstream for the journey of the wild fish, anglers mostly concentrate their efforts at the Stevens Creek complex.

But in March, natives can be caught upstream to the Hump’s forks, and even beyond by adventurous anglers.

Most, though, prefer to launch at the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s Hanson Road access, a large gravel bar with ample parking and some bank fishing area. They float down to Reynvaan, a very long gravel bar where a shore fisherman could also easily spend an entire day working. Others will put in there

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FISHING and float to either Copalis Crossing or down to Humptulips Dyke Road (Thorberg), though there is not much bank access here for bankbound anglers. In September and October, during low water, I will float from Dyke Road to the Highway 109 bridge access (Morley) for salmon, but in March I don’t run this part of the river. The water is usually too high, and this is deep, slow stuff that kings like to hang out in but steelies will move through as fast as they can.

Two Grays Harbor tribs, the Humptulips and Wynoochee, have serious navigation hazards to beware of, the former’s near Stevens Creek and the latter’s here, at the diversion dam. Rope your boat through on the left side. (JASON BROOKS)

THE WYNOOCHEE RIVER is the next Grays Harbor river open this month, and for those who are very proficient on the oars of drift boats or large pontoons, floats begin at the 7400 Line Road, with most taking out at either White Bridge or Crossover. This is an allday drift and starts with fast rapids through a boulder garden about a mile after you put in. And because the launch is on Green Diamond land, which doesn’t require a pass yet for this access site, no commercial shuttles are allowed. This means you will need to bring your own truck to get back to the put-in; cars are not advised due to the bumpy and rocky mainline, on which logging trucks have the right of way.

One of the ’Nooch’s most popular floats is from White Bridge to Black Creek. White Bridge also has an access site across the river from the launch just for bank anglers. The float will take you past Crossover, another popular launch only a few miles downstream. If you only have a few hours to fish, this can be a very productive run. There is another large gravel bar at Crossover to fish from the bank, but parking is limited.

About halfway down to Black Creek is the diversion dam. Don’t take this low-head dam lightly. I know of a fatality that happened a few years ago when a drift boat was caught in the back current and then caught the water flowing over the dam, flipping the boat. Make sure you go to the far left as you approach the dam, then 50 Northwest Sportsman

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get out of the boat and use a rope to guide it over the spillway.

The Black Creek takeout has no bank access and very limited parking along the side of Wynoochee Valley Road. Be courteous and don’t hang out on the launch as there is only room for one boat at a time. It’s very popular for those with jet boats, as the water here allows sleds to run upand downriver. For drift boaters, this is the last take-out above tidal influence. While I have floated all the way out to Montesano, if you time it wrong, you will spend the last few miles, and hours, forward rowing to a muddy bar just below the WDFW district office.

THE SATSOP RIVER has come into some controversy as someone decided to block the rough launch at Decker Creek by placing a large root wad in the middle of the small dirt access road. It has since been moved, and rumors of the landowner not allowing access have been discounted.

Either way, someone tried to limit access to the upper river. There is very limited parking, and it is best to shuttle your vehicle before you fish,

only leaving a car without a trailer at the put-in to allow others to park.

Bank anglers also use this spot to hike down to a few gravel bars and tight corners known as the “S curves.”

There’s also more bank water upstream at Schafer State Park (Discover Pass needed), and with a Green Diamond access permit, the upper East Fork Satsop flow right next to a mainline, offering hike-in fishing.

Downriver of Decker Creek, Cook Creek offers more bank access, and the main takeout is at WDFW’s West Fork Satsop River access site. If you are in a drift boat, make sure you check the flows and that you can row back upstream to the launch, which is a couple hundred yards up the West Fork from the mainstem.

Jet boats often put in or take out here, but the Highway 12 launch is more popular for sleds. If the water is low and clear, floating from the West Fork to Highway 12 can be very productive for fresh fish.

THE UPPER CHEHALIS is overlooked for late steelhead. While the lower river is big and more like a lake at high tide, once you get above the Satsop it turns into a more typical Southwest

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FISHING Washington steelhead stream. Jet sleds are most common, and anchor fishing is popular.

Its tributary, the Skookumchuck, saw a 15,000-smolt bump in the release set to return this year, to a total of 100,000. This river, which is more like a large stream, offers great bank access near the hatchery, with several river miles open to the public.

Floating jigs is the most common technique, but don’t forget your drift gear or fishing beads. A very late strain of coho will be finishing up their spawning, and with redds full of eggs, every rainstorm will wash some down to feeding steelhead. Open until April 30th, the Skook offers one of the longest winter steelhead seasons in Western Washington.

Another of the upper Chehalis’s steelhead-bearing tribs is the Newaukum, near Onalaska. Access to this tiny river some 75 miles above Grays Harbor is difficult,

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Many anglers worry about using bait because of the chance a steelhead will swallow it and the hook, but the author likes to use large sand shrimp with either a yarnie or rag as its larger profile means it’s less likely to be swallowed. (JASON BROOKS)

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A pink worm is one of the author’s musthave baits for late winter-run steelhead because of how well it can elicit strikes, especially from larger fish. (JASON BROOKS)

and don’t expect any hatchery fish except perhaps strays from the Skookumchuck. However, it is small enough that a day spent hiking its banks can make for a chance at a trophy steelhead in one of the toughest conditions.

In past years, clipped fish were released as high as Eight Creek, north of Pe Ell, on the very upper Chehalis, but those have been discontinued.

TECHNIQUES FOR LARGE fish vary, from pink worms, spoons and plugs to other lures such as large Spin-N-Glos or rags. I am a big fan of the worm because I have been very successful in using them, but plenty of terminal gear works.

As I mentioned above, it is paramount to upsize your gear as this time of year means big fish.

Starting with rods I will break out my baitcaster, a North Fork Customs Series One 900. At 9 feet long with a line rating of 8 to 17 pounds and 54 Northwest Sportsman

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a medium/heavy-fast action, the rod has a super-sensitive tip but its power allows me to turn or hold a large fish in faster water. For those who prefer spinning outfits, a rod that is 9 to 10 feet long, rated for 10 to 20 pounds and has a fast or extra-fast tip will help land the bigger fish.

One thing that is vastly different when it comes to big, wild fish versus hatchery fish is the bite. We are taught that the bite can be so subtle that any little bump could be a fish. But most of the time, when a big late fish grabs your hook, there is no doubt, so those light limber rods that help feel the difference between a nibble and a rock aren’t really needed this late in the year. It is more important to have the proper gear to land these big fish than to worry if you missed a nibble.

Braided line rated at 30 or even 40 pounds is almost a must if you want to land big wild steelhead, but if you prefer monofilament, don’t go

any lighter than 20-pound test. For leaders I use Izorline’s clear XXX in 20-pound test, but I do keep a few leader rolls of 15-pound test ready.

Make sure you upsize your swivels as well, with size 5 or 7 being on the smaller end, and a size 3 being more than adequate.

Bait is controversial this time of year as we are targeting fish that will be released. I was recently chatting with Bill Herzog, one of the gods of steelheading, if there are any, and a guy who has caught more 20-pluspound fish than I have hatchery brats. While we were talking about an upcoming trip, both hoping to hit our favorite river in common for big wild native steelhead, he mentioned sand shrimp. If there is one bait that I will use this time of year, that would be it. Herzog notes that he likes to use jumbos, those normally fished for keeper sturgeon. I have fished this bait with yarnies and rags, an inch-long piece of pipe foam and

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various colors of yarn sticking out.

Big baits catch big fish – and more importantly, are less likely to be swallowed, given their large profiles.

Hook size needs to be adjusted accordingly as well. The smallest hook I will use this time of year is a size 1, with a 1/0 being my most common. One guy I fish with preties several 6-inch rubber worms, mostly pink or some combination thereof, with a large Cheater or Corky in a contrasting color and a size 2/0 hook.

His motto is “go big or go home” – he only wants to catch large fish and isn’t bothered by the fact that any small fish probably can’t get its mouth on the hook if they strike.

Another buddy, a jig fisherman, began using a dropper and a bead.

Last January, while I was sitting at my desk, my phone message ringtone let me know that Chris Clearman caught yet another steelhead while I was at work. He made sure to let me know that this

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fish grabbed the Hevi-Bead dropper.

This set-up is pretty easy to fish.

Simply tie on your jig to your float rig, and then off of the bend of the hook, tie on another leader with a bead pegged a few inches from the trailing hook.

If the water is low and clear, using just a plain bead pegged a few inches above the hook, and either drift fished or bobber-dogged, is hard to beat. Again, it’s good to upsize the bead to a 10mm or even 12mm. I prefer Hevi-Beads because they are made of glass or ceramics, depending on the style and color of bead. This means that you can bobber-dog them by having them on your leader and using a lighter weight. Last March, guide friend Ted Schuman and I were fishing a coastal stream, playing leap-frog with another boat with two fly fishermen. Every time we saw the other boat, they were fighting a fish. It didn’t matter if they were in front of us or behind

us. At the takeout I made a point to strike up a conversation with them.

I noticed they were using floating line with a large strike indicator and a long leader with a single bead about 3 inches from their hook.

If the set-up they presented at the ramp was what they’d actually been using on all those fish, they were bobber-dogging beads, though they wouldn’t admit that. This is a perfect technique for oversized late winters as the hook often buries into the side of the fish’s mouth and has near zero mortality.

MARCH MARKS THE beginning of spring, but winter steelheading is still going strong. Some of the strongest fish of the year can be found swimming in the tributaries of Grays Harbor, one reason I love fishing its rivers. Put away the limber gear and bring out the big stuff for the biggest fish of the year on the Hump, ’Nooch, Skook and upper Chehalis. NS

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58 Northwest Sportsman

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FISHING

Personal Best Steel The winter-run of a lifetime is just one cast away.

By Andy Schneider

E

very angler heads to the water for different reasons. Some need to get away from the stress of work, others to enjoy the pursuit of an elusive advisory or perhaps quiet natural settings, while some may want that adrenaline rush of hooking and fighting a fish. There are even some anglers who get more enjoyment putting others into fish than hooking one themselves.

But the one commonality that drives every angler to the water is the fish. Without the fish, fishing would be pretty pointless and not too enjoyable, no matter how much you just need to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Every time that an angler makes a cast, feeds line to a wiggling plug or mends a belly out of a line, there is hope that the fish they are in pursuit of is just slightly bigger than the last one they caught.

A TROPHY FOR EVERYMAN

On assignment for this story earlier this winter, the author actually landed his biggest hatchery steelhead to date, this 15½-pounder. (ANDY SCHNEIDER)

You see those shiny magazine covers showing disproportionately large steelhead, angler kneeling along a rocky shore, wearing perfectly clean breathable waders, a giddy grin on their clean-shaven face, usually a snowy forested ridge in the background and always a high-end spey rod perched perfectly between themselves, fish and shore. While these pictures grab our attention, they usually don’t hold it for all that long because we have a hard time relating to the fisher on the cover. Not only are most of these fish caught in

British Columbia or some far-away river, we just don’t look that pretty or handsome when we are out fishing.

OK, maybe you do, dearest reader, but most other anglers don’t get up in the morning, hop in the shower, shave or apply makeup, put on a new pair of waders, throw a highmegapixel-count camera in the boat and go out and catch monster after monster – all of which hold perfectly still for the photo, of course. No, most steelheaders probably have a difficult time getting to sleep before

a trip, and while we show up ready to catch a fish, rarely do we do so in color-coordinated and clean fishing garments. When it comes time for photos, someone’s hat is usually askew (and not just to be hip), the greasy stain of a breakfast burrito streaks their sweatshirt, and the fish keeps squirming and flopping at the exact moment the picture is taken.

But when we look back at the day in the album, we see the moment for what it was – when the trip turned from being good to great. While most

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FISHING photos wouldn’t be cover worthy, they bring a smile to our faces and make us look forward to the next adventure.

Let’s go in search of that fish.

WHERE THERE BE BEASTS There are only a few rivers in the Lower 48 that annually see steelhead into the mid- to high-20pound range, and even fewer where any that size can actually be harvested. Looking for bragging rights and looking for dinner usually means two totally different trips. Rivers with broodstock programs give anglers the best chance at catching an extra-large fish to harvest. But if dinner can be better accomplished at Papa Murphy’s, and you really just want to hold a steelhead so thick that you can’t even wrap your hand around the tail’s wrist, or peduncle, then the waters of the Northwest open up to you a little more.

Rivers with broodstock programs such as the Wilson, Nestucca, Siletz, Alsea and Siuslaw produce a few hatchery fish every season around the 20-pound mark. But they’re really known more for producing hatchery fish that are “above average.” These range anywhere from 12 to 16

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Darrel Smith’s been hard at work trying to up his personal best steelhead, fishing the Olympic Peninsula’s West End for beasts like this Sol Duc nate, caught a couple winters back. (DARREL SMITH)

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pounds and put brats to shame. Hard, exciting battles and excellent table fare are other traits that broodstock steelhead offer.

But to get away from the crowds a little and pursue an opponent that you turn loose after a fair fight, look to rivers that don’t get a stocking of hatchery fish. The mainstem Nehalem and Trask Rivers are no further a drive from most of the above broodstock streams and offer the opportunity to catch steelhead well into the teens and definitely some in the 20-pound range on a regular basis.

And don’t forget smaller tributaries like the Salmonberry River, Drift Creek, Yachats River and Cummings Creek. Hatcheryfish free, they can produce surprisingly large fish for such small waters.

Washington’s Olympic Peninsula presents a mix of hatchery, broodstock and native-fish rivers.

The Sol Duc, Calawah, Hoh, Quinault, Queets, Humptulips and Wynoochee are well-known for their beasts, but remember that the state record came from the East Fork Lewis. It and the Kalama are no slouches.

HERE, BEASTY, BEASTY, BEASTY If you set out in pursuit of big fish, you will need to upsize your tackle and gear to target and land these fish. But while the saying “big fish like big baits” has some truth to it, it’s more likely that a big steelhead would attack a small skein of roe presented at a natural drift than a fall Chinook-sized bait clumsily bouncing downriver. Big fish get big by avoiding the hazards of the sea and rivers, anglers included.

Paying attention to bait and lure details makes a lot of difference for actually catching larger steelhead.

While you may still be catching smaller, younger, inexperienced fish, the confidence of landing these fish over and over can mislead you into thinking that you 62 Northwest Sportsman

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Winter 2015 Show Schedule: are doing everything right. You may be missing out on hooking larger steelhead simply because they passed on your presentation because something just didn’t look right to them. Fluorocarbon line, perfectly tuned plugs, fresh and well-shaped skeins of bait, freshly painted jigheads with clean feathers, muted, more natural colors, and baits and lures free of any fish-deterring scents will make a difference.

Drift fishing is one of the most effective ways to target larger steelhead. Not only can you get your offering into fishy depths quicker, you can target all parts of holding water very effectively by simply adding or lightening up your lead. One-aught hooks, 12-pound fluorocarbon leaders and 14-pound mainline will handle just about any fish swimming in Northwest waters.

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Many of the largest steelhead swim into Northwest rivers with all their fins, but hatchery fish that stay in the ocean an extra year before returning or make multiple spawning runs can grow to sizable proportions. Ayden Schneider hefts a pretty nice coastal steelie, caught in late December.

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natural roe colors. In higher and offcolored waters, don’t use brighter or darker colors; rather, utilize largersized baits to attract a bite.

Bobber fishing is one of the most effective ways to present a natural presentation to a steelhead. Not only is your bait going to be drifting at the same speed as the current, it can be suspended at the exact depth where fish may be holding. Jigs, beads or eggs are all good baits and lures to utilize under a float. Pay attention to the conditions of your jig, the freshness of your eggs and the location of your bead in the water column. Jigs work best suspended just off the bottom; roe needs to be freshened up when the skeins have milked out and start to look faded; and beads need to be bounced gently on the bottom just beneath the bobber, not dragging behind it.

Plug fishing yields some of the largest steelhead, usually because plugs can fish deeper water more effectively. Compared to smaller fish, larger specimens are also more capable of holding in faster water without fatiguing. Utilizing a plug to reach those depths and

aggravate a fish into biting is highly effective. Size 3.5 Mag Lips and K11X Kwikfish are two very effective plugs for fishing deep and fast waters. Muted colors, such as pink, crawfish and greens, may be slightly more productive than bright contrasting colors that typically lure average-sized fish into biting.

Being versatile may be the most effective technique to consistently catching steelhead. Taking the time to switch out your lure or bait and presenting a different offering before moving on could be the most important thing to remember when targeting large and finicky fish.

All that said, while some anglers desire to catch a steelhead that pushes the hallowed 30-pound mark, most of us weekend anglers only want to have a good day on the water. When an “above average” fish does bite, a good day turns into a great day in a hurry. A steelhead doesn’t have to weigh at or above a specific pound to be considered a trophy. Truth be told, any fish that breaks your “personal best” can be a trophy. Catching a steelhead of a lifetime may only be one cast away. NS

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COLUMN

Banking On Steelhead I

landed my first steelhead, a summer fish, while casting and still-fishing/ plunking a Spin-NGlo into the Columbia River from a beach near Woodland. It was BUZZ RAMSEY later, after a friend suggested I try for winter steelhead on the Sandy, that I tried my luck on a midsized stream.

Since still-fishing/plunking was the only fishing method I knew, I remember tossing an Okie Drifter into the river near the Troutdale bridge. A friend told me the egg-looking cluster was what worked on the Sandy. The water was low and clear – so clear, in fact, that I could occasionally glimpse my orange-colored Okie as it sat steady in the current, anchored near bottom with a 4-ounce pyramid-style sinker.

After several hours a guy came by, evidently, to see how I was doing. We chatted for a bit and just before he left, he said, “You know, you might have better luck drifting that.”

At the time, I’d never heard of drift fishing for steelhead. You gotta remember, this occurred back in the early 1960s, back when I’m not sure there were even fishing technique seminars or sport shows (all they had were boat shows in those days). This was well before the Internet, televised radio shows, know-how reports, and I had yet to see a magazine containing step-by-step instructions on how to catch steelhead.

Since I had no mentor to instruct me on how to drift fish for steelhead, I relied on observations and tips from fellow anglers for advice. It was a full season before I would land my first using this technique.

MAN, HAVE THINGS changed! And while anglers still catch plenty of steelhead drift fishing from shore, many have added float fishing to their arsenal. And just like those fishing from boats, a growing number of bank anglers take more than one fishing rod along on their fishing adventures, each

The author’s come a long way from plunking a Spin-N-Glo off a Columbia River beach for summer steelhead, but he still enjoys patrolling the banks for them.

Here, his brother, John, prepares to corral a wild Trask River winter-run that bit a winged bobber. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

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COLUMN rigged for a specific fishing technique.

For example, many anglers fishing winter steelhead from shore will carry a drift rod, usually an 8-foot-6 to 9-foot casting style in a medium-heavy action with a low-profile baitcasting-style reel spooled with 12- to 17-pound-test monofilament or 20- to 30-pound-test braid. They’ll also have an additional one dedicated to float fishing, typically a light- to medium-action spinning rod ranging in length from 9 to 10 feet with a spinning reel capable of holding 120 to 140 yards of 8- to 10-pound mono or 15- to 20-pound super line.

The reason for varying the poundage of mono as compared to braid is that most mono lines break several pounds above what’s stated on the spool, and mono stretches. What most anglers know is that mono stretches about 10 percent when dry, but because mono absorbs water, what you may not realize is that it also stretches 20 to 30 percent when wet. You see, it’s not only the bend of the rod that helps anglers land big fish while using light

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line, but the stretch of mono.

As a comparison, braided lines have little or no stretch and the majority of manufacturers label braided lines at their true breaking strength, which means you cannot compare them with monofilament when selecting the right pound test. What many anglers do, me included, is to step up a pound-test category or two over the mono I’m replacing.

The heavier pound test braid will still be thinner than the monofilament you were using, last much longer before it needs changing, and add a measure of sensitivity to detecting the bite of a steelhead when drift fishing that’s unobtainable with monofilament. Braided lines are popular for those float fishing because braids float better than mono, and their thin diameter makes them easier to mend upstream when wanting to eliminate line belly in order to keep your float tracking no faster than the current. You can make your super line float even higher by adding a fly line dressing to it.

DRIFT FISHING FROM shore is most productive when rivers are high to medium height, since with this method you can get your offering to the bottom and slow it down by adding additional weight. Float fishing works best when river levels are low, in areas where the current is slow moving, and will outproduce all other techniques when fishing current edges.

Having rods available to address both fishing methods makes sense for bank anglers because, as many have discovered, they allow you to quickly switch from one fishing method to the other, and the fish will quickly tell you which presentation they like best.

On many rivers, March and early April represent the best chance to catch a winter steelhead – especially a big one, since big steelhead are usually males that come in during the latter portion of the season. NS Editor’s note: The author is a brand manager and member of the management team at Yakima Bait. Find him on Facebook.

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COLUMN

Kayakers Not Left Out Of Springer Fisheries S

pring is just around the corner, and if you’re like most kayak fishermen in the Northwest, you’re KAYAK GUYS probably ready to

By Todd Switzer get back on the water in pursuit of some quality fish. Few fish can compare to spring Chinook, both in fight and as some of the best-eating salmon available.

While a growing number of us are finding ways to fish during the shorter days of winter, we’re all looking forward to the longer days and warmer temperatures of spring. This is the time of the year when new fishing opportunities seem to open up with every passing week, as water temperatures rise, triggering an increase in fish feeding activity. The fishery that seems almost tailor-made for kayak anglers is Lower Columbia springers.

Though the run only accounts for a small fraction of the total number of kings passing through the Columbia annually, that won’t slow down the hordes in pursuit of their first salmon of the year.

In 2014 the return of spring kings was measured at 315,600 fish, and this year’s is forecasted to be similar, 312,600 fish.

About 75 percent of these fish will be heading for their final destination in the Snake River, well upstream of Bonneville.

The remaining 25 percent, or about 90,000 fish, will seek the tributaries of the Lower Columbia. These are the ones that kayak anglers typically target in the calmer waters.

Early in the springer season, dragging herring can work particularly well for Chinook. Jeff Anderson caught this pair of Willamette kings near where he lives by Portland’s Hawthorne Bridge. (WRIGHT & McGILL/ EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

SOME BRAVE SOULS work the Buoy 10 fishery, however. All of the returning kings have to funnel through here before heading upriver. Since these fish typically

won’t start moving into the mouth of the Columbia in significant numbers until mid-March, the bulk of activity can

happen in just a couple of weeks.

Kayakers have had success at Buoy 10 in March, but they face difficult conditions,

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COLUMN including strong tidal currents and frequent strong winds. I’ve tried to fish here when the wind has kicked up to 20 knots and there was no place to hide. It was quickly obvious to me that trying to fish in those conditions was a waste of time; I was headed home before lunch with an empty stringer. Of course, there are those spectacular days in March when conditions line up perfectly, and if you’re in the right spot at the right time, success is only a matter of wetting a line. Before heading out into the Buoy 10 fishery make sure you know the weather forecast and have your exit strategy planned out. Conditions in this location can change quickly.

There are, of course, other options further upstream and much closer to home for most local kayak anglers. A number of springers will return to the Cowlitz, Kalama, Lewis, Willamette, Clackamas, Wind and Klickitat Rivers, as well as Drano Lake. The advantage of targeting salmon in these areas is that there is a lot less water to cover than

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As waters warm, anglers switch to trolling prawn spinners, which is what Michael Rischer nabbed this one on upriver of Portland last season. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST) trying to find them in the main channel of the Columbia, and the fish will hold in deeper holes and slots as they move farther upstream. As these rivers become smaller moving away from the Columbia,

the available holding areas become smaller, making your choices on where to target your effort easier. These smaller rivers can also provide more protection from the wind, and since they are usually

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COLUMN less than a mile across, even at their mouths, shore access is never far away should a storm blow in unexpectedly.

A TOP OPTION for spring kings from a kayak is the Willamette River as it passes through downtown Portland. Fishing in the shade of the Rose City’s skyline and many bridges provides one of the most unique kayak angling opportunities in the Northwest. And there should be plenty of fish; around 55,000 Willamette springers are expected back to the mouth of the Columbia, and many of those will make it into the Oregon trib.

Kayak fisherman Jeff Anderson’s local launch is just a short walk from his home in downtown Portland, and he has been targeting these fish for years. I had the opportunity to speak with him about this fishery and he was willing to share some of his hard-learned knowledge with me.

The first thing Anderson wanted to stress is to not expect results from just a few hours of fishing effort. While it’s not

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impossible to get a fish on your first day out, it’s not very likely. He says it took him a couple of years before he started to figure out this fishery, and considering all the days he’s put in and springers that he’s landed, he calculated that each is the result of about 48 hours of fishing effort.

Before he heads out, he considers a wide range of variables, including flow rates, water temperatures, turbidity and passing weather fronts. Conditions found after a passing cold front, such as falling water temperatures and increasing turbidity, can stimulate these fish to bite.

The most important consideration is to fish around structure in 15 to 25 feet of water. Even small depressions at the back of sandbars can hold fish, so knowledge of the structure and other features in the area you’re fishing will make a huge difference in your success.

Whether it’s Buoy 10, the Willamette or any of the Lower Columbia’s tribs, the terminal tackle of choice is a high-quality spinning herring, either cut-plug or

whole, trolled about 1 to 2 mph behind flasher and kept near the bottom with lead on a dropper loop. A close second is a prawn spinner, which some fishermen prefer when water temps climb above 60 degrees.

With either of these options the key is to keep your presentation within a few feet of the bottom. Kings don’t grow to be the largest salmon in the ocean by wasting energy, and the most efficient way for them to move upstream is to swim just inches off the gravel in the cool and oxygen-rich water near the bottom.

What Anderson tells me points in the same direction: Spend the time to get to know an area, build a personal map of the structure that might hold fish, understand the environmental conditions that can stimulate the bite, and, above all, be willing to put in the time to get results.

Keep these details in mind when targeting these prize fish and you’ll be more successful.

Stay safe and tight lines this spring. NS

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FISHING

The Kind Of Fever You Want

The omega-3-rich flesh of a March or April Columbia Chinook is the only known antidote for springer fever. (ANDY SCHNEIDER)

With a good run diagnosed and symptoms of low water in the offing, this could be a good season for spring Chinook.

By Andy Schneider

PORTLAND—“The

beauty of spring Chinook is that they are pretty easy to find, just tough to get them to bite.”

That is how Brandon Glass sums up springer fishing in one sentence.

Arguably one of the tastiest of all salmon, due to their finicky behavior, they are also one of the toughest to catch. Being both elusive and delectable makes them a very prized catch, one that also creates a little bit of a craze we like to call springer fever.

Symptoms usually start to show well before anglers take to the rivers.

The earliest cases will present in December, when the official forecast for the Columbia and tribs is revealed, and fever and tingling sensations can be observed during January’s and February’s sportsmen’s shows.

The condition starts advancing as days get noticeably longer, and turns to a pandemic around spring break time. This miserable, but nonlifethreatening disease is easily treatable.

However, there is a good percentage

of anglers who may see a relapse of symptoms if they are not fully treated.

Spring break starts in Oregon on March 23rd, and that is exactly when Glass, who guides with his dad, Jack, as Team Hook Up (503260-8285), is going to start hitting the water in force. But if river conditions and fish cooperate, he may hit the water sooner.

“It’s all going to depend on the water conditions and river height,” explains Glass. “The way our winter has been going so far, it looks like we will have a light snowpack and lower water conditions.”

While below-average snowpacks could present problems this summer

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FISHING and fall, Columbia River conditions this spring could be the best for fishing we have seen in a while. Skiers and snowboarders have been cursing this weather pattern, but secretly every Chinook angler has been rejoicing.

Between mandatory spills and lots of spring runoff, springer fishing conditions the last decade have been very difficult.

Those conditions, along with a forecast of 232,500 upper Columbiabound kings plus another 55,000 Willamette fish expected to pass Buoy 10 this season, means this year could see a pretty solid case of springer fever sweep the area.

THERE ARE ONLY two main tactics for pursuing spring Chinook on the Columbia out of a boat, when it comes right down to it: trolling herring and anchoring with plugs. Both are very productive, and each have their moments outfishing the other. But knowing when to pitch the hook overboard and run plugs, and when to fire up the trolling motor and spin some bait is what puts fish in the boat on a consistent basis.

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“It’s all going to depend on water height,” explains Glass. “If the Columbia has a reading of 7.5 feet or less (at Vancouver), I’m going to be trolling. When the river is running above 7.5, I’ll be anchoring up or back-trolling.”

Red-, green- or blue-label herring are the preferred bait size when trolling. Anglers usually plug cut the greens and blues while fishing reds whole. Glass prefers a plug-cut bait in a simple brine of rock salt, pure anise or Bloody Tuna, and water. If the Columbia is running clear, he will often forego brine and run his herring right out of the package.

Glass starts his rigging with braided mainline tied to a 20- to 30-foot monofilament “bumper.”

“This bumper allows a little more stretch and less resistance to the fish. These spring Chinook are soft biters and tend to let go with any resistance they feel. Soft rods and a slight stretch from mono really help the fish inhale the bait, instead of spitting it out,” he explains.

Glass prefers to use a weight slider with a 10- to 16-inch lead dropper

The I-205 bridge marks the eastern end of the popular and productive “interstate” stretch of Columbia spring Chinook water. (ANDY SCHNEIDER)

above a barrel swivel or bead-chain swivel. Between the swivel and his flasher, he uses 2 feet of 40-pound mono. Behind the flasher he either runs a 3½- or 5-foot leader of 20-pound fluorocarbon – shorter in murky and longer in clear waters.

Glass runs either 3/0 or 2/0 barbless Gamakatsu octopus hooks, depending on the size of his bait.

There are numerous flasher makers these days, but Glass prefers Yakima

FISHING

Bait’s Big Al’s Fish Flash in UV finishes.

“Silver-and-chartreuse is my favorite all-around color for a flasher, with dark green-and-red my second favorite. A silver-and-red flasher can be very productive at times, especially first thing in the morning,” he says.

When trolling herring, Glass makes sure he keeps in contact with the bottom. Using lighter leads in shallower water and heavier ones in deeper water, a good selection of

5- to 12-ounce cannonballs should accomplish this.

As for speed, Glass pays close attention to this variable.

“Every year, when I cut open a spring Chinook, I find lots of herring heads and plug-cut baits that other anglers have thrown overboard. This tells me that these fish have been eating these baits as they slowly roll and bounce along the river bottom.

That means I really have to troll slow to make my bait appealing to these fish. I usually keep my trolling motor out of gear as much as I keep it in gear,” he tips.

Glass also realizes that the current on the surface varies from how fast the river’s running at depth.

“If you throw your herring overboard while you are trolling, you might see it just lay there and not spin at all. But that is because the surface current may be moving faster than the rest of the water column.

The trick is to find a speed slightly faster than the current at the depth your bait will be fishing at. Once you accomplish that, your bait is fishing at the right speed,” he says.

“WHEN I’M ANCHORED up or backtrolling, I’m fishing along islands, brushlines or mouths of rivers, pilings or points,” Glass says. “I’m looking for some sort of structure that creates seams and softer water. When the Columbia is running high, the center channel is moving too fast for spring Chinook and they will move to the sides of the river. The perfect depth for fishing in higher water is 4 to 12 feet of water.”

Once Glass finds some sort of structure to anchor behind or along the side of, he decides whether he’s going to flat-line his plugs or run a lead dropper to get them into the zone.

“In water 9 feet deep or less, I’ll usually just flat-line my plugs. When I’m in 9 to 12 feet of water, I’ll do half my plugs flat-lined and run the other half on lead lines. Anything deeper than 12 feet, I run lead lines on all my plugs,” he says.

For flat-lining, he uses the Mag Lip 4.5, running it 80 to 100 feet behind the boat. When using plugs with a lead line, Glass runs a M2 or T50 FlatFish on a 20- to 36-inch lead line, running a longer dropper in deeper water and

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FISHING shorter in shallower waters.

Glass wraps all his plugs with either a sardine or an anchovy fillet.

“As long as you have a nice greasy bait, you don’t need to do anything else to the wrap or plug,” he hints.

“Don’t get wrapped up in changing your bait wraps every half hour either. With the colder water temps in the spring, a bait wrap will last a long time.”

With the requirement to use barbless hooks for Columbia River salmon (and steelhead), to help improve his landing ratio, Glass replaces the stock trebles with a 2/0 or 3/0 Big River Bait Hook (open eye) on all his plugs.

“It takes a little bit of finagling with the right size of hook for your plug to get it right, but once you do, your landing ratio improves greatly,” he says.

THE COLUMBIA OPENS March 1 from I-5 up to Beacon Rock for boat anglers, with the water from there up to Bonneville Dam reserved for bank fishermen. While the river between Cathlamet and North Bonneville presents a huge expanse that can be very challenging to navigate, let alone fish, hiring a guide is one of the best ways to ensure a productive and safe day on the water. For those who are more versed in the ways of the big river, here are some starter spots to work this season: Clifton Channel creates Tenasillahe Island, just downstream of Cathlamet. Clifton offers sheltered trolling along its entire length. It’s also one of the first places that anglers get a good opportunity to ambush spring Chinook just after fish enter the Columbia. During tide changes, the top end of Tenasillahe Island is usually most productive for anglers trolling herring, while anchoring with plugs produces well on the outgoing. The Columbia meanders around lots of small and big islands through this section of river and it can pay to explore small 80 Northwest Sportsman

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channels and choke points where fish will push upriver away from the mainstem’s current.

Willow Grove is a good location for anglers wanting to fish below the crowds of the Portland-Vancouver metro area. Just downriver from Willow Grove boat ramp is Crims Island. Crims offers good anchor locations along its entire length. The shallower depths on its upper end are productive during higher water levels.

Just downriver from Crims, the Columbia narrows and offers a good location for trolling herring downriver to Wallace Island. Trolling slowly upriver against an outgoing current or trolling with the current

on smaller tide exchanges is most productive.

Dibblee Beach is a renowned plunking location and consistently produces fish through the entire season. Located on the Oregon side and on the inside of Lord Island, Dibblee offers some of the best shore fishing on the lower river.

Warrior Rock and Sand Island both support a “boat-in” plunking fishery that is extremely productive, though trollers and anchor fishermen have good success when the sea lions are not working the area. Trollers start at Warrior Rock and troll to the bottom of Sand Island. When the Willamette and Multnomah Channel are blown out, springers returning to

SPRINGER COURTESY Just because you’ve got the fever doesn’t mean you can’t be courteous to your fellow boaters and anglers. Spend enough time on the water during the peak of springer season and you will see it all: inexperienced anglers, unsafe operators, folks with a total lack of selfpreservation and/or common sense, and others who are just plain rude.

Overall, most anglers who share the waters today are courteous, friendly and will give you the benefit of the doubt, but there are a few things that get under everyone’s skin.

HOGLINE ETIQUETTE • Leave enough room on either side of you so your fellow boaters can run their rods without tangling with your lines.

• Match tackle with neighboring boats.

Don’t long-line divers while all the other boats are running lead. All it takes is the current to shift slightly – remember, the Columbia is tidally influenced throughout the boat-fishing stretch – and you’ll have taken yourself and your neighbors out of the game.

TROLLING AND RUNNING • When running to the top of your troll again, or just running upriver, don’t run through the fleet. Hug the

A little space will go a long way towards ensuring you and your fellow hogliners enjoy the fishing. (ANDY SCHNEIDER) shore or the middle of the channel to remain safe and courteous.

• Get your boat on plane or slow to an idle. No matter how small your boat is, when you are powering upriver at half throttle, you are creating a large wake. That makes it uncomfortable for all boaters you are passing. Look behind you and see what sort of wake you are making – remember, you are responsible for any damage your boat wake causes.

• And be aware of your surroundings.

If a boat in front of you hooks a fish or a snag, give them some room. If another angler isn’t paying attention and on a crash course with you, give them a whistle to make sure there are no close calls. –AS

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the Western Oregon system tend to stage in this area, making for very productive fishing in the clean water of the Columbia.

Willow Bar, and Social Security and Collins Beaches are some of the most productive plunking spots in the metro area. They’re on Sauvie Island and accessible from Reeder Road. On Willow Bar, you can drive onto the beach and sit in the comfort of your car on wet days while watching your rod. Social Security requires a short hike over the dike to a long plunking beach. Long casts are not needed at either, since Willamette and Columbia spring Chinook really hug the shore here, especially in high-water years.

The water from Willow Bar to Collins Beach offers a nice long troll and consistent depth. Since it’s a long run from any major boat ramp, traffic on this troll is usually light.

Davis Bar, across from the mouth of the Willamette, remains one of the most productive and popular trolls on the entire Columbia. The path starts at the barges anchored along the Washington shore. You can navigate inside or outside of them and find fish. The run stretches to Frenchman’s Bar Park, where some anglers either pull out and make another pass or continue on to Caterpillar Island.

The interstate stretch, between the I-5 and I-205 bridges, has been a consistent producer for many seasons.

Most anglers start their troll at Wintler Park (on the Washington side) and troll to the Portco boat ramp. Two other good options include starting at the head of Hayden Island, on the Oregon side, and following it under I-5 to the railroad bridge, or dropping in at Beaches Restaurant and trolling along the shore to I-5, then cutting at a 45-degree angle towards Hayden.

While herring is the most popular bait at the interstate, some anglers hover-fish plugs. They do so using large jumbo divers and holding against the current along the Washington shore in front of Wintler Park.

Whatever your lure of choice, good luck fighting that fever, er, fish! NS 82 Northwest Sportsman

MARCH 2015

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RIG MONTH OF THE

THE KICK-BACK-AND-RELAX SPRING KING RIG NOTES Some days are just too unpleasant for trolling herring.

Anchoring up and hunkering under the canvas while running Mag 4.5 or 5.0 Mag Lip No. 7 barrel swivel Lips or Kwikfish is a very productive way to catch spring Chinook and keep 8mm bead out of March’s and April’s 60-inch, 30-pound3/0 Big sometimes nasty weather.

Large duolock test leader River When fishing in less than 12 snaps Bait feet of water, simply “flatWeight slider (open line” a 4.5 or 5.0 Mag Lip 80 50-pound eye) to 100 feet behind the boat. braid Medium duolock snaps hooks When fishing deeper water, mainline deploy a Kwikfish on a lead K14X Kwikfish dropper. No matter what 24-inch lead plug you deploy, secure Split ring dropper a small fillet of sardine or 4/0 Big River Bait anchovy to its underside. (open eye) hooks Then sit back, pour some 4- to 8-ounce No. 7 barrel swivel coffee and wait for your rod cannonball to bury over. –Andy Schneider Colored, shortened line used for illustration purposes. (ANDY SCHNEIDER)

MARCH 2015

Northwest Sportsman 85

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COLUMN Bright spring Chinook lead off what promises to be another great year of salmon fishing in the Columbia.

Some 312,600 Columbia, Willamette and Cowlitz springers are forecast, most of which will be swimming past Portland and Vancouver, which is where the author caught this one while fishing with Buzz Ramsey. (TERRY OTTO)

Sweet Returns In Store For Columbia Anglers T

he Columbia and Willamette Rivers’ salmon run projections are in, and local anglers could be looking STUMPTOWN at another year of

By Terry Otto record and nearrecord returns. The spring Chinook run should come in very similar to last season, and summer runs of steelhead, Chinook, and sockeye should keep fishermen plenty busy until autumn. Fall runs of coho and Chinook

could mirror those of 2014, keeping lines tight along the Columbia and its tributaries through October.

Of course, the forecasts have been wrong in the past, but veteran Troutdale guide Jack Glass of Team Hook Up (503666-5370) says that the states are doing better with their salmon predictions.

“For a number of years they missed on the projections by quite a bit,” says Glass.

High angler expectations were dashed, and fishery managers took heat when the runs came in poorly.

“Now they play the projections on the

conservative side,” he says.

The result has been projections that are more accurate in the last few years.

In fact, when the states have missed, the runs have come in stronger than expected, not the other way around.

An example is the sockeye return of last summer. The states expected 347,000 to enter the Columbia, but the actual return was a record 645,100 adults.

RIVER CONDITIONS KEY However, projections are just part of the story, especially when it comes to spring

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COLUMN Chinook. Fishing conditions in the spring vary greatly and can affect the bite, no matter the number of returning fish.

Spring weather and river flows can be all over the map, and they have a direct effect on the fishing.

“The last couple years it’s been kind of a slow go,” says Joe Hymer, a supervising fisheries biologist for the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission. “Last year, the fish moved over Bonneville late. We had some season extensions in April, but it was still slow.”

Willamette anglers struggled too.

Also, run timing has shifted in recent years, for reasons managers do not understand.

“The fish come so late now,” Glass says.

“Don’t be afraid to fish for them later.”

He notes that poor river conditions and timing affected the last year’s harvest.

Glass says the late runs favor those who fish two Portland tributaries that have strong runs of springers.

“There is good fishing in the Sandy

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water temps will discourage the bait bite.

THE FORECASTS

Anglers come from far and wide to fish Buoy 10, including the long haul from Colville, Richae Struck’s hometown. With another epic run headed back to the mouth of the Columbia, we’ll bet Richae will be back for another go at fat kings like this one she landed there last season. It bit a herring and gave her a great fight. (WRIGHT & McGILL/ EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

and Clackamas later in the spring,” he says.

“June can be very good.”

He says anglers should try hardware or plugs in these rivers then, since warmer

Returns of spring Chinook to the Columbia are expected to total about 312,000 adults to the mouth, within just a few thousand of last year’s actual return. Of those, about 55,000 Willamette springers are projected to enter the Columbia, very close to last year’s projection and actual run.

Returns to some Washington tributaries may be low again this year, and the Lewis will probably remain closed to spring Chinook. The Cowlitz is expected to be about the same as last year, with about 11,000 adult springers projected to return.

Columbia summer Chinook returns should be about the same as last year too, with some 73,000 adults expected to pass upriver. Managers also expect about 390,000 sockeye, over a quarter of which are headed for Lake Wenatchee.

Fall Chinook returns could be as high as 1,500,000 adults, when upriver

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brights and tules are combined. This would be the third epic run in a row, and Stumptown fishermen must be getting Chinook spoiled by now.

About 964,000 Columbia coho were forecast to be swimming in the ocean last year, with 600,000 expected to enter the big river, but managers say that 1.25 million silvers actually were offshore. Fishing records were set up and down the river, and an incredible 109,000 hatchery and wild-origin fish were collected at a Cowlitz hatchery. This year’s return won’t be as big, but fisheries folks predict 777,000 early and late Columbia coho in the ocean (along with 206,000 Oregon Coast fish).

As for forecasts for the rest of Western Washington, those should be announced very early in March as the annual salmon-season-setting process known as North of Falcon kicks off.

While many anglers were hoping for a rosier Willamette springer forecast, for the most part, 2015 is a positive set of projections, and a lot of salmon should be swimming past Portland and

You can bet Lauren Davis is looking forward to another good run of coho up the Columbia. The Chehalis lass caught this one at Buoy 10 during a salmonDungeness combo trip with her father, Jason, who’s been taking the 15-yearold fishing on the rivers and ocean since she was 2. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

Vancouver again this year.

Glass, for one, is happy.

“I’m very optimistic about the projections and the coming season,” the guide says.

While water conditions will play a role

in how many salmon hit Stumptown grills in 2015, there should be plenty of fish in the rivers. Doubtless, the area’s best anglers, including Glass, will find a way to catch a few. NS

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FISHING A tasty ling slides into the net. After months of storms, late winter and early spring typically offer good action for the bottomfish up and down the Oregon Coast, including off Depoe Bay, where this one came aboard. (TERRY OTTO)

March Of The Lings This month finds hungry, unpressured lingcod and black rockfish back on nearshore reefs.

By Terry Otto

C

apt. Lars Robison positioned the Samson carefully over the reef, and we started our first drift. The torpedo baits had barely been dropped to the depths when several anglers shouted “Fish on!”

The deck hand scrambled to net the lings as they emerged from the Pacific off Oregon’s Central Coast. A soft wind pushed the boat very slowly

over the reef, and by the time the captain fired up the motors to move to the top again, there were already 19 lingcod aboard.

These inshore fish averaged about 10 to 12 pounds, and a few more to the upper teens were landed too. The greedy fish were hungry this day.

One more pass, and the boat had its 14-man limit of 28 lings, and a few rockfish to spare. Robison, part owner of Dockside Charters (800-733-8915) in Depoe Bay, then shifted his focus to rockfish, and by the time we hit the harbor, many of the fishermen had rockfish limits too.

The ocean still carried the swell from three days of hard winds, although there was no wind that

day. It was one of those times when it was good to be aboard such a large craft. The Samson is a steady, 50foot vessel, and its size takes much of the roll out of the swells. That makes for a more comfortable and enjoyable day on the water. Indeed, rotten weather keeps most fishermen off the salt from November to March, and gives the reefs time to repopulate with lingcod. When the ocean finally calms enough to fish, the action can be amazing. Early spring can provide some of the best action of the year all along Oregon’s coast.

QUICK RUN TO COD A short run from the small harbor of Depoe Bay had put us on the fish very

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FISHING quickly. That is one of the nice things about fishing for lings and rockfish out of the only port in a 50-mile stretch of shore between Newport and Pacific City. Anglers with small craft can find rockfish right outside the harbor’s entrance channel on good days, the inshore reefs are just a short hop away, and deepwater reefs are out only a few miles. The narrow channel that constitutes the bar is easy compared to some other ports, although it is tight and there is only room enough for one

Success! An angler holds up his limit of inshore lingcod for the camera, caught aboard the Samson, captained by Dockside Charter’s Lars Robison. (TERRY OTTO)

My, what big teeth you have! All the better to eat rockfish with, my dear. That’s what this Simpson Reef ling might have thought before being caught

by Darrel Reininger while aboard a Betty Kay Charter boat out of Charleston a couple seasons ago. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

OREGON LINGCOD DOING WELL It is an unlikely story in these modern times, but lingcod populations along the Oregon Coast are healthy and robust. The fish are plentiful just about everywhere, and it’s a rare reef that doesn’t hold some of these toothy predators.

But just a short while ago, that wasn’t the case.

“In the early 2000s lingcod were in a downward trend,” says ODFW groundfish biologist Lynn Mattis, “but they have rebounded greatly.”

Mattis reports that the public has shown some concern about building numbers of lingcod, and their predation on rockfish.

“We hear that from the public, but that is not why the size limits are set the way they are,” she says. “We are managing the lingcod for themselves.

We want to protect them and let them spawn at least once.” –TO 96 Northwest Sportsman

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boat at a time to motor through. An angler can put his boat on the rocks here real quick if he is incautious.

What you find out of this port is typical of ling fishing everywhere.

The cod are aggressive feeders, and come equipped with a mouth to get the job done. They can suck in prey fish that are almost half their own size, and they want big food. They like to eat rockfish, and many of the larger lings netted in a day at sea may be “hitchhikers.” They suck in a rockfish being hauled up by a fisherman and refuse to let go. A quick net job at the surface generally does them in, even though they aren’t hooked themselves.

Robison’s partner and Dockside Charter’s co-owner Loren Goddard (docksidedepoebay.com) says lings use their powerful jaws to choke their prey before eating it.

“They crush the gill plates so the fish suffocates,” he says.

“Once the fish succumbs, the ling swallows it headfirst.”

He reports that they can be cranked to the surface while holding on because they are waiting for the prey to give up and quite moving.

In other words, their greed for a big meal does them in.

Lings are fools for live bait, and many an undersized rockfish is left on the hook and sent back down to

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FISHING the depths to fool this apex predator.

According to Robison, live bait tends to work better.

“They don’t seem as interested in a dead bait,” he says.

The most common rig for Depoe Bay lings is a 3- to 8-ounce torpedo jig, with a shrimp fly positioned about 2 feet above it. Big swimbaits are also effective, and pink, green or white are preferred colors. Baits are lowered to the reef below and jigged fairly vigorously as the boat drifts over.

Lings are bottomfish, so if your set-up isn’t right on the deck, you’re wasting your time. You must stay within the strike zone of just a few feet off the bottom to do well. A rockfish may follow a bait up off the bottom for quite a ways, but a cod will rarely do so.

USE DESCENDERS TO RELEASE ROCKFISH If you fish reefs for lings, you will undoubtedly catch rockfish, which have an air bladder that expands as the fish is pulled from the depths.

This bloated chamber keeps the fish from swimming back down to the bottom, and makes them easy prey for sea birds. You can save more fish by releasing rockfish at the depth you caught them by using a descender.

Descenders greatly improve the chances of survival for rockfish, and anglers who use them get credit from ODFW in the form of lower mortality rates. With less bycatch mortality, seasons can stay open longer. Depoe Bay skipper Loren Goddard suggests the modestly priced “Seaqualizer,” which allows anglers to preset the depth for release. –TO

BEWARE NEW REGS The daily limit on lings is two, but there have been some tweaks to the seven-

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fish marine (rockfish, greenling, cabezon) bag limit for this season.

Thanks to efforts to rebuild canary rockfish stocks, anglers will be able to retain one a day for the first time in over 10 years. However, with federal overseers reducing much of the West Coast’s allowable take of rarely caught nearshore species by over a quarter, the blue rockfish bag was set at three, and all China, copper and quillback rockfish must be released this year. Cabezon will not open for retention until July.

Always check the regulations before fishing.

Fortunately, those species make up something like just 5 percent of the sport catch, so the vast majority of the haul is black rocks and lings.

While the lingcod is no pretty charmer, he is excellent table fare.

A fine dinner of fish and chips is a great reward for a fun day of fishing the salt, whether out of Depoe Bay, Garibaldi, Newport or any port on the Oregon Coast in March. NS

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COLUMN Ilwaco provides access to good ling fishing grounds, with the charter fleet heading offshore to get at the tasty cod while private boaters target the Columbia’s South Jetty. That’s where Mic Dorrance picked up this 41-pounder last season. He’d hooked a 2-foot-long ling that this beast then decided needed to be eaten. “He wouldn’t let it go.

Ended up in the cooler,” reported Mic’s friend Ron Wigger of Wilsonville, Ore. (WRIGHT & McGILL/

South Coast Ling Flings

By Tim Bush

T

he first opportunity of the season for Westside anglers to catch a lingcod will have them setting their sights west and southwest until the Pacific is underneath feet planted firmly on the deck of a charter boat. Saturday, March 14, is the day to show up early at the dock, reason being that a tempting, tasty limit of 10 rockfish and two large, aggressive lings awaits on the ocean. Please pass the tartar!

Tucked just inside the north side of the Columbia River’s mouth is the historic fishing town of Ilwaco. I recently had the chance to chat with a longtime charter operator there, Pacific Salmon Charter’s Milt Gudgell, whose experience springs from 75 years of life and as a professional skipper since the early 1960s. His four boats, plus more in the fleet (pacificsalmoncharters. com) are sleek, modern and seaworthy. The largest is 55 feet, and can fish 20 anglers.

Last year, Gudgell piloted the Sara Kay and the Westward, and his sons run two too.

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Because the sea floor at the Columbia mouth is essentially a sand bottom, serious bottomfishing finds the fleet well offshore.

“Twenty-four miles outside is where we target lingcod,” Gudgell says.

Previously, the run was only 18 miles, but the skipper says that the state closed that particular spot due to endangered yelloweye and canary rockfish. Gudgell, who has seen the decline of fishing opportunities since the mid-1970s, stresses that anglers who care about future fisheries get involved in the political process, fishing clubs and North of Falcon salmon talks.

Still, most anglers get their limit offshore, though some days are better than others, especially if there’s a lot of wind.

“Seeing structure on the depth sounder is key to success” for lings, says Gudgell.

“Generally, we target 180-foot depths, but can fish as deep as 400 feet if fish are there.

Rocky areas and underwater wrecks do hold lings, but wrecks are small areas and harder to fish in strong tides and winds.”

He prefers bait over artificial lures.

“Bait will always work. Smelt, herring and anchovies all work well,” Gudgell says.

His gear consists of large-capacity reels loaded with 80-pound braided mainline, 40-pound mono leaders and two-hook mooching-style set-ups.

“Heavy rods and reels are the norm … because it’s a meat fishery,” Gudgell says.

The reasoning for heavy gear is obvious: Inevitably, someone will hook a monster ling! Having enough line to peel off and fishing with a rod with enough backbone will be the difference between landing a trophy or sobbing like a silly baby.

His best advice?

“Hang onto the fishing pole and don’t put it in a pole holder. Pay attention to the rod and what the crew says,” Gudgell tips.

Skippering for five decades, Gudgell has seen a lot at sea, but the experience of young anglers may rate highest in his book.

“Happy kids. Catching fish, the excitement and smiles they bring onboard, gives me the best memories,” he says.

If going out on a private boat,

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COLUMN check the weather ahead of time, and with the Coast Guard’s base at Cape Disappointment (uscg.mil/d13/sectcolrvr) for bar information. Also see the Port of Ilwaco’s website (portofilwaco.com), which is loaded with invaluable info.

Should you find yourself shorebound, the huge boulders along the North Jetty at Cape Disappointment State Park produce outstanding bottomfish action throughout the year. Though the jetty was not built as a fishing platform, smart anglers who watch out for large breaking waves and wear a Mustang auto-inflate lifevest toss 1- to 4-ounce leadhead jigs threaded with plastic single- or double-tail worms in white, glow, black and red. Another way to pull lings to 12 pounds out of this rocky hangout is a simple bait rig of a herring lashed to two hooks with Miracle Thread, above a 1- to 4-ounce sinker. A third slick technique is to fish a slip float with very light weight and a herring that sinks slowly.

(Or, take the time and effort to catch and fish a live pile perch or greenling.) Let the

herring sink and flutter, washing over and around submerged rocks. Lingcod can’t resist the smell and temptation of real bait.

Redtail surf perch are also available all year long, and are typically targeted on the ocean side of the jetty. Try casting two No. 2 hooks tipped with pieces of a razor clam’s tough neck and a 3-ounce pyramid sinker.

Longer, 10-foot-6 rods are helpful from the jetty and shore, allowing you to cast further and get away from the rocks a bit.

EIGHTY MILES NORTH of Ilwaco sits Westport, also home to a charter fleet that pursues lings beginning in mid-March.

“They will head 18 to 20 miles northwest of port, where there are some outcroppings,” says Larry Giese of Deep Sea Charters (deepseacharters.biz), which books trips for around nine boats based out of the harbor. “Our captains have a good handle on where nice lings are located, which is a good reason why anglers want to head out with an outfit having (30 to 40 years for some captains) experience.”

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Skippers bait clients up with frozen herring and 10- to 12-ounce sinkers.

“We tell everyone to hit bottom, reel up eight or 10 times, and if no bite, then drop down again, reel up and wait 10 seconds.

If no bites, drop down again. Always reel up a few cranks, so you don’t get hung up,” Giese tips.

He says captains “will target the rockfish first and lings afterwards. Rockfish are easy to catch. They come up to the top right away if you throw a couple pieces of bait like anchovies over.”

One boat in the fleet uses super light tackle and small anchovies, making for some real sporty action.

Landlubbers can find lings off the jetty.

And don’t forget to enter the charter derby. Last year’s big ling went 42 pounds.

For more, see charterwestport.com.

Whichever port you choose to hit this month – La Push should not be forgotten – don’t forget your saltwater license, pack a lunch and some common sense around the ocean, and get out there for lings! NS

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FISHING Clients of Potholes Reservoir guide Shelby Ross show a full stringer of walleye as well as perch and a bass. (POTHOLESFISHING.COM)

Eaters To Be Had Too While walleye anglers focus on landing the next world record, late winter’s great for catching frying-pan fodder.

By Jeff Holmes

T

wo years ago, the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s Olympia staff made yet another avoidable Thurston County-based PR blunder by summarily announcing the liberalization of walleye, smallmouth bass and channel catfish limits in the Columbia River and its tributaries.

They did this to avoid future scrutiny under the Endangered Species Act and lawsuits associated with managing for a non-native predator that is documented to prey on outmigrating smolts, even if the impact of walleye is relatively negligible compared to other sources of mortality, like dams and piscivorous birds. Despite an

explainable story that the warmwater community might understand if not totally accept, WDFW didn’t even attempt to educate the public and preferred instead to merely take their lumps. Fisheries managers never expected the lifting of bag limits to have a perceptible impact on salmon and steelhead fisheries, nor on spinyrays, but the managers didn’t bother to share this with the thousands of Washingtonians who live for walleye, bass, and catfish angling on the Columbia and its many tributaries.

Immediate reaction from the warmwater angling community was predictable and swift: They were pissed, and they still are. The good

news, however, two years postliberalization, is that walleye fishing has been tremendous across the state, including in the Columbia. Even in the state’s most famous big-fish water – Lake Wallula – 2015 marks a third consecutive year of excellent fishing.

Also known as the McNary Pool, it famously gave up the world’s largest walleye in 22 years late last February when John Grubenhoff nailed a new 20-pound, 3-ounce state record on a slow-trolled F-14 Rapala in TriCities. Alongside these big trophy females that most anglers are out to catch and release, increased numbers of male “eater” walleye have been showing as well this winter. The best chances of a new state or world record definitely exist in and around Tri-Cities, but don’t overlook both the trophy potential and superior numbers of eater walleye at two other Evergreen State walleye fisheries this

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FISHING Banks Lake is poised to have a really good walleye season, if last year’s showing of just-undersized fish is any indication. (BIGWALLYSGUIDESERVICE.COM)

March. Both fished great in 2014, and expectations are just as high or higher for 2015.

WHEN BANKS LAKE legend Gordon Steinmetz passed away a few years ago, the fishing community lost one of its most respected voices. The future of Big Wally’s Guide Service and Store (bigwallysguideservice. com) in Coulee City came briefly into question, until it was purchased by expert guide Keith Jensen, who carries on the tradition of guiding and storekeeping excellence forged by Steinmetz over many years. Jensen even kept the name Big Wally’s. A pro-staffer for Fetha Styx, Mack’s, Pro-Cure, Lund Boats and more, Jensen is a passionate warmwater angler, especially for walleye.

“Walleye are creatures of habit,” says Jensen. “They spawn in the same areas each year, they position on the same points each summer, and they winter in the same locations each year on lakes like Banks. Come March, the ice is typically gone, but the water temperatures are still cold (36 to 40 degrees). Walleye are still in their deep winter haunts in March, spending the cold months in water depths of 36 to 60 feet. One key area on Banks where they winter is right 106 Northwest Sportsman

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outside Barker Flats in 40 to 60 feet.

In March, I target the 40- to 50-foot depths around Barker Flats using a 2or 3-ounce bottom bouncer in front of a spinner rig.”

“On my guide trips, I am running four rods, and each rod, to begin the day, has a different Mack’s Lure spinner/crawler rig attached,” says Jensen. “The four spinner rigs are: the Mack’s Lure Smile Blade/Slow Death Hook combination; the Mack’s Lure Double Whammy Walleye Series bait; the Mack’s Lure Wally Pop; and, starting this year, the new Mack’s Lure SpinDrift Rig. I also will start with four different colors on these particular baits. Walleye can be quite particular with colors, so I will have one green, one purple, one gold, and one blue bait to start the day. As the day progresses and we begin catching fish, I then dial it in to which specific Mack’s bait and color they want.

“A second key area on Banks in March is the area across from Coulee Playland Resort in Electric City. The inflow of water into Banks Lake from Grand Coulee Dam is at this location. I target the 35- to 50-foot depth range with the same baits listed above. Speed plays a key factor this time of year. With the water temps in the high 30s to low 40s, the

walleye want a slow presentation.

I troll my bottom bouncers/spinner rigs at .5 to 1.0 mph. One of the great things about the Mack’s Lure Smile Blade is that it spins at speeds as low as .25 mph.”

Jensen believes this will be a good year at the 27,000-acre and 27-milelong reservoir.

“Last year we saw an enormous amount of undersized walleye on Banks Lake (they must be at least 16 inches to keep). We also had an outstanding crop of walleye in the 19- to 25-inch range, and they were flat-out healthy. Last year anglers were catching the undersized walleye all throughout the lake, which indicates the lake is holding a very high population of fish. And to top it all off, these undersized walleye were starting to push the 15- to 16inch range by last fall. So they were feeding and growing throughout the year. Since the 2011 drawdown, Banks Lake has seen an explosion of yellow perch, which are preferred prey for walleye and a lot of anglers.

Many jumbo perch are caught in March in the same areas where the walleye were wintering, Barker Flats in particular,” he says.

THE POTHOLES RESERVOIR has

been revitalized over the past few years by a rebounded perch population that has set off a chain reaction of fecundity. Why? Everything eats perch at Potholes, including walleye.

“The March walleye bite on Potholes has been phenomenal the past three years, thanks to our increased perch population,” says Shelby Ross of Ross Outdoor Adventures (potholesfishing.com).

“With mild weather, the ice-covered months of March from years past are just a bad memory. It has become a month of transition as the walleye start moving off of their winter habitat of deep-water midlake sand humps as they stage for their annual spawn.”

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FISHING (mardonresort.com). The Fetha Styx pro-staffer is notorious for being a nice guy and a walleye magnet.

“Walleye start stacking up near the mouths of the inlets that feed Potholes: Crab Creek, Lind Coulee, Frenchman Wasteway, Winchester Wasteway, and near the rocky shoreline of Goose Island,” says Ross. “Lots of eater-sized, 16- to 19-inch fish are caught in March with a few 25- to 30-plus-inch females. These big females produce our fish for the future, so I always hope most of them get released. Tons of perch are caught this time of year too, but keep in mind that while they seem very fat, they are full of eggs, so the fillets from them are not as big as they appear.”

Ross says that March’s primary walleye technique is casting and aggressively jigging a ½-ounce blade like Yakima Bait’s Showdown.

“Chrome is the most popular color, with brass being second. I use

Mack’s Lures prism tape to add a little more ‘bling’ to my presentation.

I like silver prism tape on a chrome blade, but chartreuse is very popular too. Other popular jigging options are Mack’s Lures Sonic Baitfish, as well as swim jigs and Whistler-style prop jigs. Slow-trolling a ’crawler and Smile Blade spinner, such as Mack’s Cha-Cha or Wally Pop, will produce a few fish early in March, but much more by the end of the month as water temps warm and fish become more aggressive,” Ross says.

“Locating fish in March involves starting near the mouths of the inlets I mentioned and cruising, watching your electronics. When you see a large mass of baitfish, throw a buoy on them, use the electric motor to hold near the buoy, and cast the blade bait. Let it sink to the bottom, reel up the slack, lift the rod 2 feet aggressively, let the bait flutter to bottom keeping the slack out, lift

again, etc. If anything doesn’t feel like the bottom, set the hook! If you don’t get bit in 20 minutes, start to cruise again for another bait ball. The folks at Mar Don Resort can usually point you toward where to start and simplify the search. Check the weather as storms and high winds can ruin your day on the water; this is a big body of water.”

This summer, I’ll visit Ross and Jensen on their home waters and will report back in detail about how to be successful pursuing the tastiest of Northwest freshwater fish during the warmer months. I’ll also seek credible biological explanations about how the drawdown of Banks in 2011 and further inundation of Potholes Reservoir around the same time contributed to resurgences in both fisheries. Perch fishing at both big lakes is like days of yore, contributing to fantastic walleye and bass angling to come in 2015. NS

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FISHING This Yellowstone cutthroat was taken on a Pat’s Rubberlegs near Cody, Wyo. (ZAC HOLMES)

Folla’ The Skwala To Trout Valhalla March sees the beginning of late winter’s great green bug hatch.

By Zac Holmes

T

he Northwest’s mountain streams have been dark, lonely places for anglers over the last few months, but the coming spring brings great prerunoff fishing opportunities. Rainbows and cutthroats are bulking up for the spawn, and brown trout are in search of food after a long winter.

The appearance of the skwala stonefly in March provides some of the best fishing of the year. Also known as spring stoneflies, these large (size 8 to 12) green bugs reliably

hatch each year as winter gives way to spring. When conditions are right, the largest trout in the river will aggressively eat both the adults on the surface, and the nymphs below.

A number of rivers in the Northwest host quality prerunoff fishing opportunities, including the Yakima River in Eastern Washington and the Bitterroot, Clark Fork, and Blackfoot Rivers in Western Montana.

THE YAKIMA: WASHINGTON’S BLUE RIBBON TROUT STREAM Spring stones hatch from California

to Wyoming, but we are fortunate to have one of the West’s premier skwala destinations in our backyard.

The Yakima is Washington’s only blue ribbon trout stream, and hosts good numbers of wild, native rainbows that respond aggressively to the big bugs. The river is conveniently located in the middle of the Evergreen State, and is a doable drive for anglers coming from our region’s major population centers.

The Yak has many different faces in its 200-mile course, but it’s the upper 75-mile, blue ribbon section that draws the most attention from

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FISHING Nice browns like this are common on Montana’s Smith River. This one took a skwala nymph drifted through a boulder garden.

(ZAC HOLMES)

trout anglers. This stretch includes a variety of landscapes, ranging from verdant headwaters to the “farmlands” to its terminus at Rosa Dam, in the “lower canyon.” Trout are still found in decent numbers below this stretch, but the river gradually becomes a warm-water fishery downstream.

The Yakima fishes well in all seasons, but early spring may be the best. Jack Mitchell, owner of The Evening Hatch (theeveninghatch. com) in Ellensburg, has been fishing the river for three decades, and says that the prerunoff season is definitely his favorite time. The rainbows are in an aggressive, postspawn mode, and will respond well to big spring stonefly patterns. There are generally less people on the water, and the wildlife viewing for elk, bighorn sheep, and eagles is an added bonus.

MISSOULA: THE SKWALA VALHALLA Missoula is the epicenter of the skwala hatch, and fishing spring stoneflies on the Bitterroot, Clark Fork and Blackfoot Rivers and Rock Creek is the stuff of legends. I have been fortunate to experience great 112 Northwest Sportsman

MARCH 2015

skwala activity on all of these waters firsthand. A couple of especially good days stick out.

After a slow morning on the Bitterroot, the fish “turned on” in the afternoon, and I landed several 20-inchers and a bevy of other nice trout on olive stimulators. On another occasion, while fishing the world-famous Rock Creek in March, I caught the grand slam of salmonids in the drainage – rainbow, cutthroat, cutt-bow, brown, brook and bull trout, plus whitefish. I’ll never forget those two days.

The Bitterroot is perhaps the best-known spring stonefly fishery in the West. Much has been written about its prerunoff fishing opportunities, but Matt Potter, coowner of the Kingfisher Fly Shop (kingfisherflyshop.com) in Missoula, says not to overlook the Clark Fork for skwalas. The Bitterroot is a great spring fishery, but the Clark Fork has an even heavier skwala hatch that occurs both upstream and down- of Missoula, and hosts fewer anglers per mile. The Blackfoot and Rock both host skwala hatches, as well, and provide great nymph and streamer

fishing when the trout aren’t looking up for dry flies.

SKWALA 101 Mitchell believes that skwalas are a vital food source for trout in the Northwest. Spring stoneflies are the first big meal of the season, and regardless of how many are observed while angling, they are there, and the trout know it.

“Fish make their living by eating the predominant insects and food sources of the season,” he says.

Skwalas are members of the stonefly order. They possess a similar shape and habitat to the salmonflies and golden stoneflies that hatch in the spring and summer, but are not from the same family. They are more closely related to the willow, or yellow sally, stonefly.

Skwalas have a relatively simple life cycle. Females deposit their eggs over the water, and these develop into a nymph over the next year. When the water warms the following spring, skwala nymphs crawl from the rocky river bottom to the bank, where they emerge from their nymphal shells and fly or crawl away.

In both their nymphal and adult stages, spring stoneflies have a total length of about 1¼ inches. They vary in color from olive green to brown to nearly black, but the predominant color is greenish. Female skwalas possess fully developed wings, allowing them to fly and deposit their eggs back into the water. Male spring stoneflies lack wings, and cannot fly, but are highly mobile crawlers.

Stoneflies are clumsy swimmers, and are easily knocked into the water by wind, or because of their poor flying.

Once afloat, stoneflies either waddle back to shore, or drift freely until they are eaten or drowned.

The spring stonefly hatch occurs every year without fail, but the intensity and timing is unpredictable.

According to Potter, the hatch is totally dependent upon water temperatures and the length of the

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FISHING photo period, which is the amount of daylight versus darkness in a 24-hour period. When water temperatures reach the upper 30s and low 40s, skwala nymphs become active, and then hatch when temperatures exceed 42 degrees. The peak usually occurs between the last week of March and the second week of April, but again this varies with elevation and weather patterns. The hatch ends by the time runoff begins.

BEST PATTERNS Matching the spring stonefly hatch does not require a degree in etymology. There are only two phases in their life cycle – nymph and adult – and a number of patterns will effectively imitate these stages. Dry flies range from big, size 6 foam bugs to more diminutive size 12 stimulatortype flies, and everything in between.

Both fly shops mentioned above recommend patterns on the smaller

A female skwala climbs the author’s tent alongside Montana’s Rock Creek. (ZAC HOLMES)

end of the spectrum, in sizes 10 or 12.

There are times when fishing the bigger, more buoyant sizes will work, but they are generally a better option when used to float a nymph below.

The best patterns will ride low in the water, have a narrow body, and a black butt, which are hallmarks of classic skwala patterns. Examples include patterns such as The Unit and Trout Candy on the Yakima, and the Rogue Skwala and Bullethead Stone on the Bitterroot.

I’ve heard theories about skwala coloration varying by elevation, with lighter-colored bugs being found in

lower rivers, such as the Yakima, and darker-colored insects being found at higher elevations, but I don’t think that this is a huge concern. Color is generally less important than size and shape are, but it is hard to go wrong with a green body.

Fishing a skwala nymph imitation is a great technique. Oftentimes a trout that ignores a skwala on the surface will happily slam a nymph tumbling through the water column. Nymphs range from size 6 to 12, but anglers can often get away with using the larger-sized imitations. Patterns range from somewhat anatomically correct flies, such as the 20-Incher, to goofylooking bugs like Pat’s Rubberlegs.

Both are effective. In fact, this past January, the Yakima produced a 23inch rainbow on a Pat’s Rubberlegs for an Evening Hatch client. Colors should include olive, brown, black, coffee and peacock.

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MARCH 2015

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FISHING OTHER BUGS

STREAMERS AND LURES

Spring stoneflies aren’t the only insects on the menu this time of year.

The March brown mayfly is present on local streams, and it would be wise to have a few patterns on hand, should the fish key on them.

March browns are medium-sized insects with long tails, and sailboatshaped wings.

Another mayfly, the blue-winged olive, hatches on cloudy and overcast days in March and April.

What these insects lack in size, they make up for in appeal. Big fish love these little bugs, and landing a 20-inch trout on a size 20 dry fly is one of the most challenging feats in Western fly fishing.

Midges, an unrelated but ubiquitous insect, are also available.

The skwala bite is generally not that strong in the morning, and anglers may want to try throwing streamers during those hours. Streamers are flies that are tied to behave like baitfish when jigged and stripped through the water.

Streamers vary widely in size, color and shape, and seemingly everyone has a different theory about what works best. My friends, clients and I fish lots of streamers, and we find that the magnum-sized versions do not work nearly as well as those in sizes 4 to 10.

We particularly like articulated flies, such as the Sculpzilla and Boogeyman patterns in black, olive and flesh. It always pays to pick up a few patterns from a local shop too.

Lures are also effective for fishing the prerunoff season. A variety of

NYMPING I like catching big trout on dry flies as much as the next guy, but if the

116 Northwest Sportsman

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fish aren’t looking up, I switch to wet patterns. Nymphing is generally a more consistent method of taking

spinners, spoons, and jigs will get the job done, but responsible anglers will make sure to remove any treble hooks from their hardware. Trebles are overkill, and they commonly end up in the fish’s eyes, gills, and sides.

Barbs too should be smashed down.

Using quality single, barbless hooks is not only effective, but more ethical if the fish is going to be returned to the river. Rvrfshr Products sells highquality steelhead tackle, including the rvrwhirler spinner and rvrwaggler spoons. These lures in the smaller sizes are highly effective for trout, and the sickle hook is easier on fish than barbed treble hooks or a siwash hook.

Also see Scott Staats’ Central Oregon column this issue for more hardware ideas. –ZH

trout in the springtime. Fishing subsurface is particularly important when considering that greater than

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FISHING two-thirds of a trout’s diet is taken below the water’s surface.

Nymphs can be fished singly, or in pairs. Novice or beginning anglers should stick to using a single nymph to avoid tangles and frustration. When the time comes to use two, though, consider using a larger diameter of tippet, as this will help the flies turn over, and are more knot-resistant than smaller tippet sizes.

There are several ways to fish nymphs. One of the most common is to attach 12 to 24 inches of tippet to the bend of a buoyant dry fly. Tie a beadhead pattern to the other end of the tippet, and then fish this pair in the “hopper-dropper” method, where the top fly acts as both a bobber and a bait.

Another common method is to fish a nymph or two beneath a “strike indicator” or bobber.

This technique is simple, but very

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Skwala patterns like these draw some of the biggest fish in the river. (ZAC HOLMES)

effective. It allows anglers to work different levels of the water column by adding an extra fly, and adjusting the depth with the strike indicator.

Weights are sometimes added to help flies sink faster or deeper.

Yet another way to nymph fish involves a highly effective, but more complicated method, called short nymphing. With this technique, the idea is to drift two or

more weighted nymphs on a tight line and without an indicator, and “feel” the fly as it slides through likely water into the mouth of a fish. Variations of this include Czech and Euro nymphing. NS Editor’s note: The next issue of Northwest Sportsman will provide a more in-depth look at the logistics of fishing the Yakima and Missoula-area rivers.

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120 Northwest Sportsman

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FISHING

Trout, This Exit A trio of Columbia Basin waters off I-90 heat up in March.

By Mike Wright

BEVERLY, Wash.—For devoted fly fishers who have endured the long winter with occasional bouts of cabin fever, your day of deliverance has arrived. The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, in its inimical wisdom, has designated certain selective lakes and streams for early openings. Since spring comes early these days to the Columbia Basin, many of these March 1 waters offer good fishing. Three excellent opportunities are Lenice and Amber Lakes and Crab Creek. Although the stream is open year-round there are some factors that make it and the lakes good March fisheries. Just as spring comes early to the basin, so too does summer. There is a rather small window for experiencing the best of these fly fishing hot spots. When the heat descends on Amber, Lenice and Crab, fishing deteriorates rapidly. For that reason it would be wise to visit these areas before the window closes.

LAKE LENICE AND Crab Creek owe a great deal of credit for their fishing excellence to the Bureau of Reclamation’s Columbia Basin Project. Lenice and its sister lakes, Nunnally and Merry, were created in the 1960s when water from the irrigation project seeped into low-lying depressions adjacent to Crab Creek.

Shortly afterwards, abundant aquatic vegetation began to appear in Lenice, and soon hordes of insect life made a home in the lush vegetation. WDFW was convinced to stock the lake with Kamloops rainbows. In their native British Columbia the strain grew to very impressive proportions. However, to attain these sizes took time. In BC, they are a long-lived species, not reaching maturity until their fourth or fifth year of life. In the Columbia Basin, they did not take on the same characteristics. It was soon determined that the water of Lenice was simply too warm for the strain; they rarely survived for more than three years. The stocking program was changed and a hardy California rainbow strain, which had a long history of surviving in warmer water, was introduced.

This seemed to be a better fit for the lake. The rainbows in Lenice were averaging 14 to 18 inches, with a considerable

From the top of the Columbia Basin to its western edge, waters on either side of I-90 are great for spring trout fishing, including the cluster of March 1 opener lakes near the mouth of Crab Creek.

That’s where Tacoma’s Al Schultz hooked this beautiful rainbow off the reeds. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

number of them reaching 20 inches or more. Well-fed in the rich waters, they grew rapidly, resembling small footballs (fully inflated ones at that). They were strong, health specimens and were very spirited fighters.

In addition, browns were introduced into Lenice to feed on the sunfish and other nontrout species. Like the rainbows, the browns were healthy, strong fish, but not as rotund, more like slightly deflated, making for easier gripping during the landing process.

Since the browns were only partially successful in controlling the sunfish, in 1988 it was decided to poison the lake and restock it. A number of the sunfish found refuge in the small inlet and weeds, necessitating an additional poisoning in 2000. Some browns were restocked, but this time triploid rainbows were introduced into these waters.

Since they do not reproduce, while other rainbows are expending energy in spawning, triploids stay busy feeding and gaining weight.

Whichever species you catch here, one thing you can

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FISHING be sure of is that you will be in for a long, hard fight. The trout also have an affinity for finding the densest weed cover and burying themselves in it. For these reasons it’s advisable not to go lighter than a 5-weight rod and 3X tippet.

In March, midges appear, making a chironomid pattern the fly of choice. Leech and scud imitations are also very effective early on. With chironomids, most use floating line and a strike indicator, with the fly 4 to 8 feet under the indicator. As with many lakes in this region, black or red patterns seem to be the most productive.

Since the depth drops off rapidly along the south shore, another effective method of fishing this section of water is to use an intermediate or sink-tip line with a leech, Woolly Bugger or sculpin, sometimes coupled with a chironomid dropper 1 to 3 feet behind the lead fly.

Lenice also has a very prolific damsel hatch beginning in May, followed closely by callibaetis and caddis hatches. Early-season fishing is mostly subsurface, however. On warm days, a Griffith’s Gnat or a Renegade, targeting fish working on the surface, can entice a take.

Lenice has been characterized as a trout factory with 20- to 30fish days possible. Considering the trout will average 14 to 18 inches, with some reaching up to 24 inches, it’s not hard to understand why the lake is popular. A spacious parking lot accommodating 100 of more vehicles is commonly filled to capacity during certain times of the year.

To reach Lenice from I-90, turn at the Highway 26/243 exit on the east side of the Columbia River bridge and head south. After approximately a mile make the turn toward Wanupum Dam and Beverly. After 7½ miles, turn east on the Beverly-Crab Creek Road. After about 5 miles there is a fishing access sign and the Lenice parking area on 122 Northwest Sportsman

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A peak into the author’s early-season fly box for Columbia Basin waters shows a lot of nymphs – chironomids, Hare’s Ears, Copper Johns, Pheasant Tails – but also streamers and a scud. (MIKE WRIGHT)

the left side of the road. From the parking area it’s an easy hike.

AMBER LAKE IS a selective-gear fishery located 12 miles southwest of Cheney, in the northeastern end of the Columbia Basin. Sitting in a narrow canyon, the lake lies between rolling timbered hills and farmland. Steep basalt cliffs line the north side, with gradually sloping hills on the south. It covers 120 acres and has a maximum depth of 40 feet. There is one public access, on the north side, above midlake. With private land surrounding the rest, shore fishing is limited to a small sliver around the boat launch, but most of the fishing is done by boat, float tube or pontoon boat. A winding paved road leads from the parking area above the cliffs to the boat launch.

The lake is very popular, especially with anglers from nearby Spokane, making the launch area very congested at times, including this month.

Amber contains rainbow and cutthroat, but there seems to be a much greater population of the former. With an abundance of insect life and leeches living in

the thick weed cover, the trout put on weight rapidly and are in excellent condition. Averaging 12 to 18 inches, with a fair number reaching 20 inches or more, they are strong, tireless fighters that put a real strain on your rod and tippet.

Although there are some instances when a 3-weight rod will work fine, considering the fighting ability of the fish and the thick weeds, it might be prudent to employ a 5- or 6-weight rod. The water is fairly clear and the fish tend to be somewhat leader shy, so it might also be advisable to use fluorocarbon tippet and leader with 3X or 4X strength In March midges begin appearing, and a chironomid is the most effective fly to use. Like Lenice, floating line and a strike indicator is the most commonly used technique, particularly in the shallower southwest end. A black Snow Cone chironomid with red ribbing has proven to be very productive.

(Like most lakes in this region, red chironomids are a safe bet.)

This time of year, the key to success is an extremely slow retrieve. March water temps can be cold, making the fish a little sluggish. For the deeper water, in the middle and toward

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FISHING the northeast end, a leech, Woolly Bugger or soft-hackled Mini Leech using intermediate or type 2 fastsink line might be a good choice.

It has been stated that, if you are not pulling up weeds, you are not going deep enough. Coupled with a slow retrieve, keeping your fly just above the weeds is of paramount importance.

Amber can be very fickle at times. One day, on the southwest end, I landed 14 and missed several others. The next day, in the same spot, I was thoroughly humbled.

At the same time, two anglers in a boat anchored 30 yards away were pulling one in every five minutes or so. Noticing their stationary position and strike indicators, I assumed they were also using chironomids. I moved up my strike indicator to ensure the fly was deeper, and sheepishly kicked out closer to the water they had

124 Northwest Sportsman

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staked out. I certainly didn’t do as well as they were doing, but I was able to catch a couple and salvage some semblance of dignity for my deflated ego.

In May damsels and callibaetis mayflies begin to appear. When the former are around, Kauffman Mini Leeches, Pheasant Tails and gold-ribbed Hare’s Ears replace the venerable chirononmid. And during this time, dry fly fishing improves dramatically, especially during the evening. An Adams or Parachute Adams in size 14 to 16 is most popular during this period.

Although it is possible to catch some trout on an adult damsel, a damsel nymph is definitely more effective.

Two things to keep in mind: Arrive early – the afternoon winds can be severe – and bring an anchor, especially when fishing with chironomids. When the wind comes up it can be very difficult to maintain

your position.

To reach Amber take the Four Lakes exit off I-90 and stay on Highway 904 to the west end of Cheney. Look for a sign on the left side indicating the direction to Amber, Williams and Badger Lakes.

Turn left and stay on the South Mullinix Road for approximately 10 miles. Look for the sign to Amber Lake and turn right on the paved road, following the signs to the fishing access.

ODDLY, CRAB CREEK derives its name from crayfish, which are more of a freshwater lobster actually. The stream originates 3 miles east of Reardan, and flows west-southwest before emptying into the Columbia River near Beverly after a 163-mile journey. Said to be the country’s longest ephemeral creek, its upper end is entirely dependent upon springs and small feeder streams.

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Originating near Reardan, west of Spokane, Crab Creek’s upper end hosts redband rainbows and browns, some of which grow to more than 20 inches. The drawback is that public access is tight – this image is of “the wall,” part of leased section of the stream – though maps showing state and federal lands will reveal accessible areas around Odessa. (MIKE WRIGHT)

There are places where the flow resembles a small river while just downstream it may be just a trickle, or even a dry bed as it flows for miles underground.

Crab’s banks are a mix of public, private and leased lands. The best fishing exists in the upper section, above the town of Odessa.

Downstream, summer heat and low oxygen levels render much of these waters unfit for trout survival.

Cooling springs in the upper creek help to mitigate the effects of the summer heat, making an ideal habitat for trout. Redband rainbows, brown and brook trout populate this upper portion, and can average 12 to 16 inches with a number growing to more than 20 inches.

Unfortunately for most anglers, much of the most productive bigfish waters run through private or leased land. Washington’s stream access law only applies to navigable waterways below the high-water mark. This is not to say that there aren’t 20-inch fish on the public portion of the stream, but they may be a little harder to find. However, the number of trout per mile in the public section is actually better than the private. If you don’t mind paying a rod fee for a chance at the big fish on the private portion of the creek, contact Pat Way at Northwest Outfitters (nwoutfitters.com) in 126 Northwest Sportsman

MARCH 2015

Coeur d’Alene.

According to anglers Joey Mara and Daniel Silverberg, Crab’s best public water is accessed via exits 220 and 231, the Rocky Ford North and Harrington-Tokio Roads.

“Upstream (east) from where the creek and Rocky Ford North intersect there is roughly 6 miles of perfect desert spring creek. The eastern end of this Bureau of Land Management parcel is crossed by the Harrington-Tokio Road, marking the end of public access,” they say.

In the early season, fishing is primarily subsurface; small midge pupae or larvae patterns, size 16 to 18, Pheasant Tails, size 14 to 16 and Copper Johns, size 14 to 18 are all good choices. Large rubber-legged streamers or crayfish may bring out the big boys.

March is a good time to fish Crab Creek for a couple very good reasons.

The area is infested with rattlesnakes and ticks, but this month, the pests are not nearly as much of a problem as they are in the summer. And the water is usually higher and not quite as clear, so there is less chance of spooking fish.

For those of us eager to start fishing again, these spots in the Columbia Basin can meet your needs. There are strong, hardfighting fish just waiting for your arrival. NS

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COLUMN

Stick Big Browns, ’Bows Near Bend T

here’s no shortage of fish to catch in the middle Deschutes River, especially rainbow trout. And if you’re after some CENTRAL OREGEON big ones, there are

BY Scott Statts some lunker browns lurking there as well.

Steve Brown of Bend likes to fish everything from Benham Falls down to Cline Falls. His preferred method of attack for the browns is a 6-foot-5 medium-light-action baitcasting rod with 10-pound fluorocarbon line.

“I’m using suspending jerkbaits, also known as rip baits or slash baits,” says Brown. “Rapala makes one called an X-Rap, Lucky Craft makes one called Pointer 78 – as long as they’re at least 4 inches.”

Brown says that the browns and rainbows are on a totally different program in terms of where they hang out in the river. The browns, obviously, take up all the best habitat, from which they like to ambush smaller fish. They’ll lay under a ledge where fast-moving water is dumping in and then dart out when a smaller fish comes by. Or they’ll lay amongst logs and trees in the river and come out and nail these baits.

“I cast on the downstream side of a log,” Brown explains. “I’ll crank it down, then I’ll rip it two or three times. Because it’s a suspending crankbait, it will dart like a panicked fish. Then I’ll stop it and it will hang right there, not float up or sink. Then I’ll repeat this process and the fish will always hit it on the pause.”

He says it’s a fun, visual way to catch fish since you can watch the lure

Stickbaits aren’t just for brown trout in lakes – they work in rivers too, as evidenced by this nice one caught by the author’s friend. (STEVE BROWN) flashing, then all of a sudden you’ll see the big flash of the take. These browns will run right up into 4 or 5 inches of water to take the bait. If the browns don’t come out of the wood and hit it, he says they’ll trail the lure out into the river and attack it from behind.

“You usually don’t catch a lot of browns, but I’ve caught fish consistently between 5 and 8 pounds,” Brown says.

He’s caught many right in the city limits of Bend. Not many people fish the river through Central Oregon’s largest town. However, between now and this

summer is when it gets good because all the people floating the river are gone.

Plus, the fish have less to eat, so they turn to eating smaller fish since most of the bug life is down under the rocks.

These big browns are very aggressive because they are so territorial. If you throw something near them, they’ll react because they want that thing out of their territory, plus it’s a food source.

FOR RAINBOWS, BROWN prefers a spinning outfit, a 5-foot-6 one-piece crappie rod with 4-pound line. He uses MARCH 2015

Northwest Sportsman 129

COLUMN crappie jigs or lipless crankbaits such as Rat-L-Traps. He uses fluorocarbon line, since it sinks and helps get these baits down in the fish’s face.

There are not a lot of big rainbows in the Deschutes, but there are thousands and thousands of them in the 10- to 12-inch range, he says. They are always found in the faster, highly oxygenated sections of the river. Anglers seldom catch browns in those locations.

“I’ve stood in the same spot in sections of the river and caught 30 rainbows in 35 casts,” says Brown. “It’s fun on an ultralight rod.”

The biggest he’s caught was about 18 inches.

For lures, Brown chooses ones that have either a black back, gold side and orange belly or a green back and white belly. Then he takes fingernail polish and paints black and red spots on the orange belly to make it look like a young brown trout, or a little bit of pink on the side to look like the rainbows. He

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The middle Deschutes, stretching between Benham Falls and Lake Billy Chinook, provides good gear and fly fishing for rainbows and browns. Steve Brown shows off a 19-inch Teutonic trout taken on that stretch. He says that some of the biggest can be caught where the river runs through Bend. (STEVE BROWN)

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COLUMN also removes the barbs from the treble hooks and always practices catch and release.

ON THE FLY, Brown uses the same technique for browns as he does with a baitcaster, but, of course, with a 7-weight rod with sinking line and a 4- to 6-inch pattern. He ties 12 inches of 20-pound fluorocarbon to 18 inches of 12-pound line. He uses mostly big articulated streamers that are either olive or brown and orange.

Brown is the owner of Better Ways Products, the company that makes RodWrap (rodwrap.com). In cold or wet conditions, or when you’re constantly casting, RodWrap provides better grip on your rod handles. He’s also just come out with a new net that’s great for big trout, salmon, steelhead or bass.

Whipping big streamers isn’t the only way to tempt browns this time of year.

Jeff Perin has been fishing the middle Deschutes for many years, and he says

nymphing can be really productive too. “I love to throw a nymph in the runs and riffles,� says the owner of The Fly Fisher’s Place (flyfishersplace.com) in Sisters.

Perin suggests using one nymph as your point fly, then a smaller one as your dropper. He also likes to use an October caddis pupa with a dropper.

A soft hackle Pheasant Tail and electric blue Prince Nymph also work well. He says some of these are unique flies used on this section of river.

For nymphing, Perin uses a 9-foot 4- or 5-weight rod with a 9-foot leader and a 4X tippet. For dry fly fishing he prefers an 8½-foot 3-weight rod with a floating line and a 9- to 12-foot 5X or 6X leader. For streamer fishing he likes a 9½-foot 6-weight rod with a sink tip and a short leader. “The streamer fishing should be really good right now,â€? Perin adds.

THE MID-DESCHUTES FISHES quite differently during each season, as

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most anglers who work it know. The river is obviously up this time of year, compared with the flows during the irrigation season. According to Perin, this could be a good thing or a bad thing. It changes the wading habits of anglers as well as access to some of the holes. However, it can also move the fish closer to the banks and put them in places where they’re a lot safer from predation.

The average-size rainbow Perin catches is 12 to 14 inches. The average brown is 12 to 16 inches, and whitefish are 12 to 14 inches. Occasionally he catches rainbows in the 18- to 20-inch range and browns in the 6- to 8-pound range. Any rainbows over 20 inches are considered steelhead and must be released.

This section of the Deschutes is open year-round with a limit of two trout per day, including one bull trout better than 24 inches long. Only artificial flies and lures may be used. NS

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COLUMN

What To Make Of A Mack

I

pulled into Cave Rock Cove on Lake Tahoe a little before 7:30 a.m. Walking over to the lake I noted just how clear the IN THE WILD water looked. Rocks

By Randy King dotted the shoreline, becoming a wonderful shade of turquoise the further into the water I looked. The water was pristine, like an uninhabited high mountain lake that freezes solid every winter.

Lake Tahoe also seemed to be devoid of life, but I knew that wasn’t the case. Like the pine-covered hills that surrounded the picturesque water, more things lurked below than could be easily seen.

In fact, I was actually after a seldom seen fish, a lurker of dark places. The lake trout, also commonly referred to as Mackinaw, are a nonnative to the West.

They grow slowly, and unlike their distant cousins in the true trout family, these char hold in deep water most of the year. Lake Tahoe has deep water in abundance.

Author, wild game prep expert and food blogger Hank Shaw admires a Mackinaw he caught at California’s Lake Tahoe in mid-January while fishing with our Boise-based cooking columnist.

(RANDY KING)

CHEF

A SHORT WHILE afterwards, my friend and mentor Hank Shaw arrived from Sacramento. He is the James Beard Award-winning blogger (honest-food.net) and author of Hunt, Gather, Cook as well as Duck, Duck, Goose. Shaw is one of the leading experts on wild game preparation in America, and had come up with the idea to fish for lake trout. I was glad to oblige.

Shortly after our guide, Capt. Gene St. Denis of Blue Ribbon Charters, arrived, we headed out. His workhorse of a boat – take note, history buffs, it’s nicknamed PT-109 – took us across the lake quickly. Watching the depth finder we noted sections over 1,000 feet deep. With depths of up to 1,644 feet, Tahoe is second only to Oregon’s Crater Lake for deepest in the United States; Washington’s Lake Chelan is third, Idaho’s Lake Pend Oreille fifth.

Back on the surface, Capt. Gene gave us an education about Tahoe – mobster tales,

the Godfather II house and the “truth to all the rumors” around the lake. It was clear he liked conversation, and he happily regaled Hank and I with stories of giant fish that got away and an extinct salmon that could grow to 8 feet long.

“Can you imagine hooking that?” Gene would exclaim.

The lake was calm and no wind blew; the 20-minute ride was quite enjoyable.

WE STOPPED IN the happy fishing grounds on the west side of the lake, over about 250 feet of water. Gene pointed out the grocerystore Danish and stash of soda, and said, “Let’s get fishing.”

At first I was shocked to see the configuration of blades, spinners and downriggers that we were going to use.

“The plan is to bounce this weight along the bottom to stir up debris, then follow behind that with all these flashers and spinners,” Gene instructed. “Behind that we drag this little baitfish. By the time the little baitfish gets there, those fish are so pissed off they strike him. That is how we catch fish, not because they are hungry, but

because they are pissed off.”

In total the set-up was about 8 feet of spinner and flashers, including one footlong silver-and-white monstrosity.

Shaw inquired if this was a specialized rig.

“Yeah, it’s the Capt. Gene special!” was the reply.

The first strike came quickly, on Hank’s rod, then one on my set-up. Unfortunately for my notions of the fight, Gene insisted on setting the hook and handing the pole over for us to reel in the fish. Not to be too much of a stinker but I love the feeling of setting the hook on a fish – it is triumphant, really. Not setting my own hook made me feel kind of like a child. But as they say, Captain’s boat, captain’s rules – I kept my mouth shut and reeled.

I wish I could say the laker fought me, but I can’t. The most tiring part was simply reeling in that much line – roughly a football field’s worth – to the surface.

By the time my first fish reached the top, the belly was distended because its air bladder had inflated and was no longer even pulling on the line. It was roughly 7

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COLUMN

SMOKING A LAKER

L

ake trout are a notoriously “fatty” fish.

Some deride this and say it makes the fish gross, but come on, fat on a fish is delicious. Fat is what makes kings from the Columbia and Copper Rivers each spring so good. Fat is what keeps a fish moist.

The goal is to just get a little sweet, spice and sugar into the fish via the brine. Then add a layer of smoke on top to make it that much more delicious.

This recipe will work with most types of fish – salmon, trout, steelhead, probably even rockfish and lingcod.

6 cups water ¼ cup kosher salt ¼ cup white sugar 3 tablespoons soy sauce 1 tablespoon five spice powder 1 tablespoon pickling spice 1 bay leaf 1 clove garlic, crushed 1 each lake trout (20 to 30 inches), butterflied (see chefrandyking.com for a visual guide)

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Add all the ingredients, except the lake trout, to a medium sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Stir with whisk until sugar and salt are incorporated. Remove from heat and let cool.

When the brine is cool add the deboned lake trout to the mix. Let sit in the brine for at least 24 hours.

Next remove from the brine and pat dry. The next step is vital: let the fish air dry for eight hours or so.

(If you must speed this up, put the fish under a small fan; the forced air will dry it quickly.)

I place the fish on a smoker rack, then place the smoker rack on a cookie sheet and place it all into the fridge. This step is called “tacking” the fish. It creates a layer of meat that is “tacky” to the touch – pellicle, technically. That layer is more receptive to smoke. Don’t be the person who doesn’t tack his fish.

Next, smoke the fish for two to three hours at about 200 degrees, or until it is fully cooked. I like to smoke over apple

The finished product. (RANDY KING)

and alder for the most part. Cool the fish completely and enjoy!

For more recipes, see chefrandyking .com.

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COLUMN pounds, not bad, but not record breaking.

(A good rule of thumb with these fish, if you lack a scale, is that they equal about a third of a pound per inch. A 26-inch fish is about 8 to 9 pounds. It is a rough system, but it will help with recipes and bragging rights.)

Our fish were quickly clubbed and added to the fish box. Meat secured, we dropped lines and fished for another hour or so before landing two more fish, both larger than the first pair. Looking to catch the latter half of a playoff game Hank and I decided to call it a day. We both had our limits. We left Capt. Gene on the dock at about noon and found a watering hole shortly after.

UNKNOWN TO ME at the time was the controversy over lake trout around the West. I had no idea just how much of a problem these big fish could be. Though they love cold, deep lakes, Mackinaw are not native to waters in the Cascades, Rockies or Sierras at all, and just like

Use the butterying method of ďŹ lleting to remove all bones from the laker.

(RANDY KING)

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most introduced or invasive species, they come with certain biological implications.

Lake trout come from upper Midwest, Canadian Shield and Alaskan waters; they are even commercially harvested in some areas. Unfortunately for fisheries across the country, it was not uncommon for biologists – both government and bucket alike – to spread species across the West.

In fact, of the many game fish species in Idaho, only a handful are native.

In some locations, like Tahoe, lakers are a great boon. In others, they’re considered a truly devastating invader.

The problem with lake trout is that when they reach a certain size, they become piscivorous – i.e., they mainly eat other fish. Across the West, native trout populations have been devastated by them. In Yellowstone Lake, numbers of cutthroat trout have been dramatically lowered due to the illegal introduction of lake trout. The National Park Service says that act “irreversibly altered and made future sustainability of this thriving and diverse ecosystem uncertain.” Apparently, each adult lake trout is capable of eating 41 cutties per year – but the biomass swap is not equitable to the ecosystem.

Lake trout live in deep water, making themselves unavailable to all the other predators around Yellowstone Lake. Nary a river otter, bald eagle or grizzly bear have dined on these invaders, though bears regularly ate cutthroat in spawning creeks each spring. After the population crash, it was theorized that that forced bears to go after elk calves. Lakers also live for an incredibly long time, often 20-plus years.

Park managers have even gone so far as to hire a commercial fisherman to remove the fish from the lake, netting 300,000 pounds, or 40,000 individual fish. Meanwhile, the cutthroat-based ecosystem is suffering more and more each year.

Management is vital for sustaining and securing fisheries into the future. As such it is up to anglers to help out where we can. Keep the fish that we are told to keep, loose the fish we are supposed to release.

Fisheries biologists are trying to do the best they can against fish that want nothing more than to survive. It is an uphill a battle that we can all help fight – one dinner plate at a time. NS 140 Northwest Sportsman

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COLUMN Pugetropolis lakes host a mix of stocker cutts, released as fry, and sea-run ones. Where they can find good forage, the fish can grow to nice proportions. Liz Baluch of Bellevue caught this 19-incher at Lake Washington. (WRIGHT & McGILL/ EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

Cutthroat Start To Trout Season

A

long-lived angling b i a s , largely the

By Doug Huddle making of those who crafted sportfishing seasons decades ago to fit fish-growing strategies, is that trouting here doesn’t start until the end of April.

Angler aversions to getting wet, cold or bored also play into partiality to fairseason trout fishing, as do even more quirky likes and dislikes.

But emerging off-season trout fisheries, such as those for hatcheryreared rainbows in Lake Roosevelt and

NORTH SOUND

Thanksgiving’s Fish Friday releases, are transforming that notion, as are opportunities for the native cutthroat trout inhabiting Western Washington.

AMONG THE MYRIAD cutthroat species and strains in North America, the indigenous kind known as “coastals” are among the earliest of trout to turn a fin here. They’re nominally divided into two camps based on how they live their lives. The anadromous, or sea-run, strain comes and goes from streams in which they’re hatched into nearshore areas of Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia and ocean waters elsewhere along the

North Pacific coast.

Resident or sedentary coastal populations are composed of those cutts which stay in freshwater their entire lives and are found in lakes, creeks and rivers. Those that lurk in deeper lake habitat in search of food during warmer seasons slide into shallower areas and laager up during the winter, staking territories in which they occasionally pick off morsels of food. If they reach the age of 3 or 4 years old, the urge to spawn begins factoring into their behavior as well.

Individual resident cutthroat aggregations, exemplified by the wild

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Northwest Sportsman 143

COLUMN RABBITS CLOSE OUT HUNTING SEASON populations in Lake Whatcom and Crescent Lake on the northern Olympic Peninsula, can be longer lived, and if well fed by some form of bountiful forage species, can grow to prodigious size.

A number of year-round lowland Northwest Washington waters with dynamic spinyray populations, a combination of sunfish, bass and catfish, are planted with coastal cutthroat trout fry or fingerlings each fall, while other lakes with easily swimable links to the saltwater have a mix of both life histories and typically don’t need or get admixtures of hatchery fish.

PROVOKED BY HUNGER, the lengthening daylight or reproductive urges, coastals shift into a more aggressive mode well before winter’s chill leaves the spring air. But whether it’s off the mouths of creeks or in a feeding lie, they still hold ground along the bottom and don’t meander much out into more open water areas of lakes.

Anchoring up and still-fishing may net you a strike or two, but it won’t make for an arm-tiring outing. To boost your encounter rate you need to go “prospecting,” a style of fishing halfway between plunking and trolling.

For effective March fishing for lake cutts, there are several schools of thought. One mindset says head for a stream mouth, either the outlet or an inlet, with enough flow that potential spawners will want to ascend, and there shallow-troll offerings in close to shore.

Less often utilized, but very effective is the art of drift still-fishing baits. If that sounds like a contradiction in terms, it’s the plunking of a smallish, scented bait (eggs or worm) just off the bottom, allowing a slight breeze or occasional oar strokes to move the boat along.

To effectively execute this technique, also called wind mooching, it’s important to know the depth along the intended drift path. The idea here is to slowly present those scented baits through or just above potential trout lies on the bottom of the lake, usually in water no deeper than 25 feet. A handson approach (gripping the rod as you 144 Northwest Sportsman

MARCH 2015

Small game hunts, including ops for rabbits, wrap up statewide on Sunday, March 15.

If walking or shushing forest roads after higher elevation hares isn’t to your liking, cottontail rabbits, though smaller than snowshoes, are still suitable main ingredients in any stew or burgoo.

Though cottontails can be found along lower foothills forest roads, they’re even more plentiful down in farmland country, in older fencerows and field edges next to streams.

Do contact landowners for their permission before venturing onto private property. You may need to assure them that you are out only for rabbits in this late period and not other game that are now off-limits.

If you don’t want to take the time to gain legal access to private agricultural acreage in Northwest Washington, public lands west of Ferndale, the Lake Terrell, Alcoa-Intalco and BP Cherry Point units of the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s Whatcom Wildlife Area complex have plenty of cover/forage habitat favorable to cottontails.

In Skagit and northwest Snohomish Counties, the department’s Smith Farm site west of Stanwood as well as the newer pheasant release site west of Interstate 5 at Bow Hill are good public lago hunting locales.

Except for the Bow Hill area, which was until recently largely forested, the breaks between fencerows or forest edges along farm fields in these public places are still distinct. And with seasonal grass growth laid down from frost or winter snow, there is substantial sightability for boot hunters that will improve success.

CROWDS AREN’T COMMON when it comes to hunting rabbits. In fact, I know of just a handful of folks who engage in this food-gathering activity, so it’s likely you’ll often have the March field to yourself.

If you go smoothbore, the firearm of choice among rabbit hunters is a smallgauge, shorter-barreled, field-grade shotgun that’s preferable to heavier, longer-barreled fowling pieces. Game loads (with No. 6 or 7½ shot) give a greater margin of safety when rabbit

A beagle or other hound can be indispensable for hunting rabbits.

(FANTAGU, WIKIPEDIA)

hunting behind a dog. You need to be proficient at focusing the pattern on your quarry’s head, or you’ll end up having to comb the meaty portions for pellets.

On open-field jaunts or forays along remote tracks, a scoped .22 with LR cartridges or a .223 varmint rifle are good choices for those more distant sight detections. To be on the safe side, consider using .22 shorts in rural residential locales, and never shoot into a downrange backdrop that you have not checked.

Wild rabbits and hares are creatures of habit and predictable in their behavior, but indications of their presence are subtle and often difficult to “see” in the thick undergrowth of Western Washington.

Along road corridors and field edges, key giveaways to rabbit presence are “warren” or vegetation entries that are suitably sized for the hares. Up to 10 inches high and slightly oval in shape these holes in the grass or brush walls are bigger than those for rodents such as kangaroo rats, but are smaller than the bush entries and neighborhood trails used by coyotes, foxes, raccoons and deer.

Rabbits have a number of these warren entries that they use regularly, and these doorsteps should be a point of focus at dawn and dusk for returning or emerging animals. In these environs hunting with a smallish hound or spaniel with a trained nose that focuses on rabbits gives you a distinct advantage.

ONE OTHER CAUTIONARY note: the two game-classified rabbit species huntable in Washington both have erect ears. If you are hunting in farming country and see flopped ears on a rabbit, that’s a sure sign you’re looking at someone’s 4-H project or means of making a few extra dollars, and therefore not a legitimate target. –DH

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Northwest Sportsman 145

COLUMN would drift fishing for steelhead lets you mend line length if the bait comes into hard contact with weeds or some structure, or as the bottom drops off.

To enhance this technique’s effectiveness, it’s important that your chosen watercraft track straight in a breeze and not spin erratically. Of course, at times or on some days there’s not enough or too much wind and it may be blowing from an uncooperative compass heading, so having alternative gear and propulsion for nearshore trolling is good idea.

On the business end of your line, egg clusters should be about half a thumb in size, much smaller than those used in steelheading. Also, red wiggler or garden worms are preferable to nightcrawlers. Use a herring or shrimp oil on the worm glob, and don’t leave too much tail when you bait your hook.

THE BEST OPTIONS in Whatcom and Skagit Counties for March cutts are

generally shallow lakes – with the exception of Samish – and lean into the early spring sun (southerly aspects) so their waters warm quickly, especially so this year since they did not have to shrug off any ice coverings.

Lake Terrell, in far western Whatcom County and located 5 miles west of Ferndale, is perhaps better reputed as a largemouth bass and channel catfish angling stop. In 2012 and 2013 its 321 acres received 10,000 and 38,000 fingerling cutts, respectively.

Reconfiguration of the lake’s outlet has made it passable for sea-run fish, so its modest depths are likely to be getting infusions of natural-origin sea-run or resident fish from further downstream in Terrell Creek and Birch Bay. Given their uniform shallowness, Terrell’s expanses with their indistinct shorelines and many waterfowl nesting islands can be prospected for cutts almost anywhere, but close to shore off the main early-spring weedline is the

best place to start. Stand off the weeds 15 to 20 yards and cast to them or use a suspended offering under a bobber.

Lake Samish, just inside Whatcom County and 6 miles south of Bellingham, has an all naturally reproducing mixed resident and sea-run cutthroat population. Two public avenues to the water are available, a state access on the east shore and the county park to the west at the bridge crossing. Due to presence of the sea-runs Samish’s special regulations include minimum size and take restrictions (two cutthroat longer than 14 inches). During the cold months a good share of these fish are known to lay up on the 10- to 20-footdeep shelf along the east shore of the main lobe of Samish where they lurk for spring breeding perches. Mud, Finney and Barnes Creeks are its main spawning streams. Prevailing southerly breezes make this a good lake on which to wind mooch.

Lake Campbell, situated on Fidalgo

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Northwest Sportsman 147

COLUMN Island south of Anacortes, has a state access on the north side that anglers in a variety of watercraft will find readily accessible. Water depth – or rather, the lack of it – influences fishing here. Campbell is 10 feet deep or shallower under the vast majority of its 390 surface acres. The lake’s maximum deep, either 15 or 22 feet, depending on source, is confined to a small pocket cupping the south side of the island.

The most recent coastal cutthroat stocking was in October 2012 and 2013 totaling 5,000 and 21,200 small fish respectively.

Due to its uniform shallowness of depth, early season prospecting for these fish and their older, larger territorial brethren in Campbell should be far ranging. Start a search pattern on the bottom, close to and paralleling the shore. Use a scented bait on a short leader under a bobber.

Big Lake, in Skagit County east of Mount Vernon along Highway 9, has a combination of naturally sustained stay-athome trout and migratory fish arriving via the Nookachamps Creek system, though

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the daily bag limit is still the statewide five trout per day with no minimum size.

Many anadromous and resident fish use Lake Creek and its tribs at Big’s south end.

There’s a broad 10- to 15-foot-deep sloping bottom to a reedy shore where the coming and going cutts lay up.

Grandy Lake, in north-central Skagit County northwest of Concrete beside Baker Lake Road, is sustained by natural spawning of resident cutts with some help from a small, privately run hatchery.

Its native trout now share their domain with largemouth bass and a small spring planting of rainbows added in March.

There’s an expanding Skagit County park on its north shore that provides access for fishing as well as a base camp for sorties to several other small lakes, such as Vogler (seasonal), Everett (yearround) and Depression (year-round) in the greater vicinity. Beginning in late April, forays to the Baker River’s reservoirs from this overnight site also are possible.

Grandy’s water heats up and the weeds

start growing by midspring, so it’s best to prospect it now for trout before the bass become active.

In Whatcom County, Terrell is the only lowland year-round lake receiving resident cutts. Padden and Silver Lakes, two seasonal waters, also get infusions of these early active trout, but you can’t fish them until the last Saturday in April.

Three year-round lakes in Skagit County – Campbell, Clear and Cavanaugh – have in the past three years received fall fingerling cutthroat plants. To the south, Snohomish County’s Blackman, Goodwin, Martha (Warm Beach) and Roesiger Lakes currently get annual fall coastal cutthroat build-ups.

NEXT ISSUE Getting ready for April’s opening day, late blackmouth options and Diablo Lake rainbows. NS Editor’s note: Doug Huddle lives in Bellingham, is retired from WDFW, and has written about hunting and fishing in the Northwest for more than 29 years.

MARCH 2015

Northwest Sportsman 149

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HUNTING

March Musts For Spring Turkey Here are 10 things you should do now to have a more successful gobbler hunt next month.

By Troy Rodakowski

E

very season is different and not every bird is the same.

We turkey hunters encounter many different challenges year to year, and as I have come to learn, there are several things we can do to increase our odds of harvesting a gobbler each season.

Perhaps the most important is preseason preparation, which I can attribute at least 75 percent of one’s success too. I have been blessed to have enjoyed 16 consecutive successful seasons (knock on wood), and in that time I’ve learned many valuable lessons while tromping through the Pacific Northwest turkey woods: It wouldn’t have been possible without plenty of advance work. Here are a few of the things me and others have found to be very helpful the month before the hunt even starts.

ORGANIZE YOUR GEAR Despite my constant worry about calls, insect repellant, shells, decoys, GPS, batteries, headlight, etc., I always seem to forget

Along with rechecking your gear, getting out and scouting before season starts can put you in the right spot when it comes time to head afield with a live tag in your pocket. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)

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HUNTING something. So, in March I like to take everything out of my vest and, going item by item, return it to its proper pocket or pouch as I check it off a list.

This drill not only helps me to stay organized and not forget anything, but reminds me exactly where everything is when I’m out hunting.

TUNE THOSE CALLS One thing you can’t do is just throw that old diaphragm call in your mouth and start blowing it. Yes, it may sound great and you might be experienced enough to make all the right noises, but remember the latex on those things can wear out, so replacing them or having a back-up every season is a great idea.

Chalking that box call and pulling out the old slate or wing bone call is important as well. Box calls need to be maintained with fresh chalk and tightened to ensure tune.

Of course, make sure to practice and retrain yourself prior to the season opener too.

GUN/BOW CHECK Break out your weapon of choice, grab a turkey target and see how that thing patterns at certain ranges.

Try different shot sizes if you aren’t happy with the results. If you have found one that works consistently over the years, stick with it and fire a round or two, if nothing else just for confidence.

Also, make sure you have the right turkey chokes for your gun.

If you don’t already have one, I highly recommend purchasing one as they greatly improve patterns and distance.

Check your bow and make sure it is dialed in at different ranges. Chances are, it has been sitting for much of the winter,

so dusting it off early and slinging arrows is important.

GET BACK IN SHAPE This should be something we all do yearround but we tend to slack at times – spending time in the gym or on a jogging/hiking trail during the winter is not always our first choice. Turkey hunting can take a lot out of a hunter, as covering lots of ground is often times necessary to find that gobbler.

FOOTWEAR Have a pair or two of boots that are broken in well and fit the terrain you plan to hunt. A good light pair and a waterproof, insulated pair are necessary during the spring. Weather can change quickly, so having, literally, your bases covered and ensuring comfortable feet is very important.

Good sock-and-boot combos are essential for dry comfortable feet.

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HUNTING Don’t purchase a new pair of boots just prior to season and expect your feet to like you.

TOUCH UP DECOYS If you plan on using decoys, make sure to have ones that look lifelike. I like to save fans from some of my jakes to attach to various decoys to give them a more realistic look. Paint faded decoys to give them a little brighter look.

I also like to attach a sting or cord to one of my standing hens or jakes for movement. This works pretty well on birds from a distance.

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Hunting guide Jeff Miller of Field N’ Marsh Outfitters (northwesthunting.com) points out that it is also important to check your camo and make sure it not only matches the terrain you choose to hunt, but that it isn’t washed out

154 Northwest Sportsman

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In just a few more weeks, lusty gobblers like this one will be fair game for Northwest turkey hunters. Those who’ve done their preseason prep stand the best chance of taking one. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)

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He hunts with four variations for the west side and two for the east. Wise, seasoned birds are not

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HUNTING That said, for safety’s sake, it’s also smart to pack some hunter orange while traveling to and from your turkey hunting area. Accidents involving turkey hunters are occurring more often as the sport grows in popularity.

RETHINK THE BLIND When hunting from a blind, whether it’s pop-up style or natural construction, make sure to be comfortable in it and select a good location that turkeys frequent or travel through.

You need to have a decent view with good shooting windows where the birds will most likely appear.

Scouting a location for a blind is key, and it can take several weeks to find just the right location. I like to use my binoculars and glass from a distance, watching turkeys two to three times a week before deciding where to set up my blind.

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FIND TURKEY TOWN Locate food sources, such as old oak stands with acorns, or open fields with seeds and plentiful insects. Creek bottoms with snails and amphibious life are also hot spots, plus turkey tracks are easily observed in soft soils during the early spring.

Places where birds spend time strutting and dusting can be prime areas to set up an ambush or catch birds moving. Often, they will find old burns or slash pile remnants to dust. Looking for areas where birds have scraped and taken dust baths can help point you to an area where they will likely return.

GET PERMISSION NOW “Go visit landowners now, not one week prior to season and offer to help around the property,” tips Miller.

“Bring them something they like,

such as smoked salmon, fresh crab or, if they have kids, bring the kids something.”

This applies to folks whether you are paying for access or not.

“When I’m down in Southern Oregon guiding I like to take landowners to breakfast and treat them right anytime I get the chance,” Miller adds.

Regardless, of when and where you plan to hunt, keeping a few of these things in mind and acting on them will most definitely help you as a hunter this spring. I know for a fact these have helped me over the years, and I continue to learn even more season after season.

Oregon’s youth season runs April 11-12, with general spring season open April 15-May 31, the same dates as in Washington, where the youth hunt takes place April 5-6. Idaho’s dates are April 8-14 for youths, and April 15-May 25 for general. NS

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158 Northwest Sportsman

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WDFW Boss Has Deep Idaho Roots

By Ralph Bartholdt

K

amiah is one of those places.

To get there you follow the Clearwater River east from its confluence with the Snake at Lewiston.

You follow it upriver into Idaho’s Bitterroot Mountains, and then you follow it some more.

By the time you near Kamiah you’re like an addict, white-knuckled behind the steering wheel, tires hugging the fog line. The beauty out there, all around you, beckons. But you can’t look – not even glance – as the high-shouldered hills, short grassed and rock fingered, become forests of ponderosa pine. You cannot watch the clouds like seams in the demin-blue sky make reflections on the river along the road that is wide in places, dancing and spinning like a skirt.

It narrows into chutes of shooting water that spool cold and deep into furrows where sea-run salmon and steelhead live before widening again and slowing down, swirling under shadow formations and the sky.

You don’t see any of this, because your eyes scan the narrow highway like a periscope fully wired to your hands that grip the steering wheel with the intensity of a bucking rope. The pinstripe highway snakes though canyons with a sort of ferocious beauty that dares you take your eyes off the road. It’s a siren song and you know what that means. A moment of inattentiveness could have you crashing into the boulders along the shoulder, or worse, crossing the centerline toward an abrupt meeting with an RV heading the other way.

You can do what the college kid

from Pennsylvania did as he headed east along the river in a car of sketchy ownership. He stopped and gawked in a turnout, sweating profusely, shooting pictures with his cell phone when state police rolled up. Geez, what a road, he told the troopers – who not long after found the 5 pounds of pot in small bags in a suitcase in his trunk.

It’s that kind of derelict and wild beauty that surrounds Kamiah, population 1,300, which lies as close to the heart of Idaho as you can get without a surgical instrument, or a helicopter pilot.

Kamiah is far enough off the beaten path you have to want to be there. Few travelers but the most time-rich, or road weary, bother to visit. It is one of a handful towns remaining in Idaho that still relies on the timber industry for at least a part of its paycheck.

And the river – as someone said – runs through it.

THIS IS WHERE Jim Unsworth, the former deputy director of the Idaho Department of Fish & Game and the new Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife director, started his 32-year career before earlier this winter accepting his latest role in Olympia.

Ever the wildlife guru, Unsworth as well as helicopter pilot Jim Pope of Clarkston, spent months in Idaho’s backcountry tranquilizing, netting and collaring elk as part of Unsworth’s research into the state’s wapiti populations. The seminal work resulted in survivability models that are used worldwide in a variety of conditions, geography and for species other than

COLUMN In addition to being an elk biologist, Jim Unsworth, the new director of the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, was a fishing guide on Idaho’s Snake River and enjoys chukar hunting. (JIM UNSWORTH)

ungulates.

“He lived in a crappy, single-wide trailer in Kamiah,” Mark Hurley recalls.

“That’s where he started.”

Hurley, now IDFG’s assistant chief of wildlife, visited Unsworth there as a young biology student.

The two became fast friends, worked projects together and eventually Unsworth saw enough promise in Hurley to hire him as a biology assistant on a mule deer study that, decades later, is still a going concern.

“He was the best judge of character of anyone I’ve met,” Hurley says. “He was always pushing you, always trying to make you better.”

In the kitchen of the home perched over the Snake River south of Clarkston where he and his wife Joanne live, Jim Pope has scattered some pictures of the years he spent chauffeuring Unsworth around Idaho’s backcountry to places like the Salmon and Selway – an easy helicopter ride from Kamiah – and the Lochsa and Lolo hinterlands, where much of the elk work was done.

Pope, a former military pilot, remembers the first time he was contracted to take the young biologist into the wilderness on a research project.

“A guy walked up to the helicopter,”

MARCH 2015

Northwest Sportsman 159

Pope remembers. He had long hair and a beard, and Pope, anxious for the biologist to show up so he could get a move on, asked the young man just where he thought he was going.

“On that helicopter,” the man replied.

“The hell you are,” Pope countered.

He didn’t know he was the one he was waiting for.

“He looked like a hippy.”

The two became close friends, logging hundreds of hours together and helping each other into and out of jams as they tranquilized, netted, wrestled and fitted full-grown elk with radio collars.

UNSWORTH WAS RAISED in Idaho Falls in a family of outdoorsmen. His dad was an electrical contractor who spent his free time taking his family on fishing trips to the area’s nearby rivers, like the Henrys Fork and the Madison across the state line in Montana. Unsworth grew up hunting birds and big game, earned his journeyman’s electrician license and guided for a bit on the South Fork Snake.

While at the University of Idaho he took a summer job with the game department.

It was a defining decision.

“I couldn’t believe people got paid to do that,” he says.

He earned a degree in wildlife management from the University of Idaho, a master’s in fisheries and wildlife in Montana, and returned to Idaho for his doctorate while working for IDFG and living in Kamiah.

As he climbed the department ranks, eventually turning in his field smarts and calluses for a different kind of ingenuity, he helped usher the department through its own milestones. A series of treacherous winters knocked out herds in central and northern Idaho, which was known as the state’s elk factory, a big-game hunting destination for more than a half century.

As populations began to recover, wolves, introduced in the 1990s, added another variable to Unsworth’s survivability models.

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benchmarks and, implementing vigorous management policies, it maintains robust wolf populations across the board, including the thousands of square miles of Idaho backcountry where Unsworth first learned the trade of managing the state’s wildlife.

When he accepted the job of directing Washington’s fisheries and wildlife department, it came as a surprise to some like Hurley who didn’t think Unsworth would someday leave his home state.

Science is dynamic, always challenging traditional tenets, and Unsworth is a scientist who embraces new challenges.

When he moved into the administrative sector of IDFG, he realized the dichotomy it presented.

His past was tied to remote wilderness and the wild animals he studied, free of amenities and mostly on a shoestring.

Combined with his strong research background, his role in Boise – a long ways from his Kamiah beginnings – allowed him to develop budgets and funnel money where he felt it was needed most.

“You can facilitate, so people can do bigger and more work,” he says. “You can influence a broader range of the state.”

With his move west, and his new acquaintance with Olympia, the fifthgeneration Idahoan is confident he is leaving his home state and its wildlife in good hands.

“I’m really looking forward to living and working in Washington,” Unsworth said as he packed his home before his first day on the job at WDFW, on Feb. 2.

If there was one memory he was taking west, it may be the time when he and Pope had a six-point bull elk down in a brush field and it awoke too soon from the tranquilizer.

“It did a little dance on us,” he recalls.

Or, the time flying over a herd of 1,500 elk in the winter with temperatures hovering below zero. The animals’ breath covered them like a shroud.

“They made their own cloud,” he says.

Or, maybe he’ll just keep all those things close as he makes more memories in the Evergreen State.

“Any stuff you see and do as a wildlife biologist is unforgettable,” Unsworth says. NS

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Studies Looking Into Wolf Impacts On Washington Game

I

t wasn’t that many years ago that it became pretty obvious Washington’s wilds would soon have another apex predator on

By Leroy Ledeboer the landscape.

Gray wolves were exterminated way back when livestock men, government trappers and almost anyone with a rife believed that the only good wolf was a dead one, and nothing, including poisons, was off limits.

But in recent decades a new thinking has taken hold, led by those who firmly believe this once-abundant then extirpated predator has a rightful and necessary place in our ecosystem. So the decision was made to reintroduce wolves, pack hunters that naturally found Yellowstone National Park’s abundant large ungulates to their liking.

Theoretically, two adult wolves could turn into 2,300 in just ten years. Of course, this never happens, but like so many species with good habitat and room to expand, wolves multiplied rapidly, so it wasn’t long before they were sending out emissaries, young males and females searching for new territories where they could be the alpha and rear packs of their own.

BASIN BEACON

MONTANA, WYOMING, AND Idaho were the first states to see these long-absent packs, much to the consternation of many big game hunters and ranchers – and no doubt feelings of satisfaction for some predator activists.

Once in the Northern Rockies, it was only a short time before the grays crossed our border, at first only a trickle, primarily in our northeast corner as Canadian wolves dropped down out of British Columbia, but now more of a flood as they come over from Northeast Oregon and the southern Idaho Panhandle. They’re definitely here now, spread out across the northern tier

In an effort to get a better fix on Washington moose populations, earlier this winter, WDFW staffer Annemarie Prince, seen here, and others captured around two dozen cows and outfitted them with GPS collars. A grad student will track the animals through the rest of the year to check on their health. State special species manager Rich Harris hopes to run a six-year study on the complex critters. (ANNEMARIE PRINCE, WDFW) of Eastern Washington, with at least two packs in the Cascades and more wolves suspected south of I-90. This month, the Department of Fish & Wildlife will publish its annual count for 2014, but as of press time in early February, it was believed there were at least 15 packs. No doubt there are several more unconfirmed ones – hunters, keep reporting sightings – and game managers know the numbers will continue to grow fast, somewhere in an annual 30- to 40-percent range.

From all the available data, we do have a sufficient prey base to handle this expansion, at least for the foreseeable future. But have wolves already begun to impact our big game herds? In Yellowstone, elk numbers are down by as much as 80 percent since reintroduction 20 years ago, though other factors there, such as bear predation and drought, play strong roles too. And they’ve certainly changed how elk behave in Idaho and elsewhere, which impacts hunters, requiring us to learn new tactics.

To date, though, wolves don’t seem to have seriously reduced any of Washington’s deer, elk or moose herds to the extent they have in specific ranges in several other states. Dave Ware, WDFW’s wolf policy coordinator, was asked by state Senator Judy Warnick (R-Moses Lake) about that at

a joint House-Senate committee hearing in mid-January. She said that people are telling her that they’re not buying hunting licenses because “there are no deer and elk up in Northeast Washington anymore.”

“It was when they were reaching 400, 500, 600 wolves in those states that they started seeing those localized declines,” Ware said about impacts to big game herds in the Northern Rockies. “At this point in the state of Washington, the only thing we’ve done so far is, we did actually look pack by pack around the state, and looked at our population survey information for deer and elk as well as our harvest statistics for deer and elk. And at this point, in almost all of those situations where we’ve got significant numbers of wolves, deer and elk populations are increasing for a variety of reasons. But at this point, we haven’t seen that in the state of Washington.”

By an unusual coincidence, the same day Ware was briefing lawmakers, British Columbia wolf managers began a project to remove 24 wolves to help out a woodland caribou herd that crosses into Washington and Idaho. Radio-collar data showed that wolves killed two of six members of the all-of-18-animal-strong herd last year. BC choppers were being allowed to operate in Idaho, but not Washington, where wolves are state listed.

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COLUMN In late January, a bipartisan group of Washington lawmakers from both sides of the Cascades introduced House Bill 1676, which would require WDFW to conduct peer-reviewed research on “wild ungulate population(s) in game management units that have experienced a change in population dynamics due to the recovery of gray wolves.” At an early February public hearing, the bill enjoyed wide support from ranching, hunting and Northeast Washington interests, and Ware said that WDFW strongly supported it as well. He estimated it would cost $106,000 to expand ongoing research to fulfill the bill.

Once wolves reach those magical breeding pair and statewide distribution numbers, that will kickstart getting the grays off the endangered state species list. That’s projected to be only about six years off, and when it occurs, WDFW can implement more robust facets of wolf management. If numbers justify it, will wolf hunts become a reality as one management tool? From a longtime hunter’s standpoint, I have to say this at least could become somewhat of a winwin, keeping an apex predator’s numbers somewhat in check and giving today’s hardy young outdoorsmen and -women a challenging trophy animal to pursue.

BEFORE ANYTHING BECOMES a reality, though, we need to get a clearer picture of wolf impact, and that won’t be easy. But at least now we have a new technology, GPS tracking collars, to help us take a more scientific approach to the problem.

Everywhere from Michigan and Minnesota to Montana and Idaho, these collars have already been deployed, allowing wildlife managers to more quickly and accurately track big game feeding and migration patterns. Perhaps more importantly, they can signal when and where a collared animal dies, so the exact cause of death can be investigated within days.

And already some of these GPSenhanced investigations have produced surprising results. In Minnesota, just one of our northern tier states where a truly precipitous decline in moose numbers has set off real alarm bells, researchers concluded an 81 percent jump in wolf numbers played a major role in moose mortality in one northeastern herd.

However, their northwestern moose herd saw a much greater crash, from roughly 4,000 in the 1980s to a mere 100 today, and all their data suggests that health-related issues, possibly driven by climate change, were the real culprit in that vast region.

Closer to home, a recently concluded

DEER STUDY CATCHES DOE IN DEATH’S GRIP Snow blankets the forested copse, almost a peaceful scene except that a whitetail doe appears to be struggling for some reason. From the vantage point of her neck, we can see her apparently clambering over or under a downed tree.

And then things go downhill very, very fast for her. After a moment’s respite, a tan blur races right at her, two seconds later she lets out a bawl, snow flies, branches like a rib cage are everywhere, then the camera angle changes to sideways and it’s over for her.

It’s a chilling if not extraordinary piece of footage from work being done

by University of Washington researchers.

Strapping neck cameras on whitetails and muleys, they’re looking at wolfdeer interactions in eastern Okanogan County and on the Colville Reservation, including how the presence of packs 168 Northwest Sportsman

MARCH 2015

may affect how the ungulates graze.

But the video, posted to YouTube

by American Hunter magazine, actually shows a mountain lion taking down one of their deer. Slowed down to onequarter speed the cat races in. You can see its ears pinned back as it either throws or rolls the deer under a downed tree. No longer does the camera dutifully record every bit of forage that enters the deer’s mouth – but as snow showers off the shaken branches, you know the predator will soon gorge.

The camera and its video were later recovered by UW PhD. candidate Justin Dellinger’s team. Their work is being funded, in part, by the Safari Club International, and the data is of high interest not only to tribal wildlife managers, but North-central Washington hunters as well. –AW

helicopter darting and GPS collaring study in western Montana indicated that cougars were taking a far higher toll on that region’s elk, data which may have come as a surprise to many of that state’s outdoorsmen, who have lobbied hard and somewhat successfully for expanded wolf hunts to curb their numbers after federal recovery goals were long past met.

And earlier this winter, Idaho kicked off a similar study in the Coeur d’Alene and St. Joe River drainages, where a total of 100 cow and calf elk will be collared and tracked to help determine everything from overall survival rates to wolf predation to migration patterns. This particular study, right along our eastern border, could also have real significance for our state.

And Washington wildlife managers are also getting into this fray. Somewhat surprisingly, the Eastside’s moose herds have bucked trends. Ours have been steadily increasing instead of declining in numbers. But the bios know this too won’t go on forever and could quickly change, so a moose-collaring program is now under way in the northeast corner. Twenty-eight adult cows were collared in early 2014 and the another 25 will be this winter to get a better sample size.

“Our radio collaring program is definitely in its infancy,” WDFW big game manager Rich Harris told me in mid-January, “and we would really like to expand it into a sixyear study because so many factors can go into big game survival and reproduction.

Because all systems in nature are complex, we need a multipronged approach to come to any kind of definitive answers.”

Biologists all across the country have been echoing this last sentiment. Even when there is high predation, whether from wolves, bears or cougars, they want to know if other factors are involved. Obviously, animals weakened from winter stress, a parasite infestation or a host of possible diseases, will be much more vulnerable than healthy beasts.

This carefully monitored GPS collaring program includes extensive in-the-field work being done by University of Montana graduate assistant James Goetz. A former marine with tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, he’ll use his bushwhacking stamina to track

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individual cows to see if they have a healthy calf or two at their side, as well as monitor two dozen trail cams to get even more accurate counts of calf reproduction and survival, both big first steps in clarifying the region’s moose-wolf interaction.

ANOTHER EXCITING PIECE of new technology that could give us even clearer insights into predator-prey behavior is the tiny video cameras now being slung directly under ungulates’ necks, giving us a realtime picture of what that animal is seeing.

The first deployment of these cameras is a major part of a four-year study of deerpredator interaction that’s taking place on a vast expanse of the Colville Reservation and nearby federal lands (see Big Pic, Northwest Sportsman, August 2013). One hundred mule deer and whitetails have been fitted with these devices.

By far the most graphic scene these cams have captured to date is the final moments of a whitetail doe as it’s taken down by a cougar (see sidebar last page), but it’s the overall stats that will prove most beneficial.

With two confirmed packs, the Strawberries and Nc’icns, roving this landscape, as the study entered its third year, wolves did not appear to be inflicting major damage on that region’s deer. During that span, eight of the collared deer had been harvested by hunters, six by cougars, five more by coyotes, one by a black bear and one by wolves. Another died of natural causes.

Again, it’s too early in this study to draw any real conclusions, but camera collars are another real tool, one that has been used in a variety of ways in other states. In Alaska it was a real apex predator, grizzly bears, that got fitted with collars in an attempt to see what impact they were having on moose survival.

Obviously, no amount of new technology or scientific data will alter extremist views on either side of the wolf question, but as outdoorsmen, it’s absolutely vital to first face a couple basic facts: Wolves are here now, and they’re not going away. And we’re going to be far better off if we allow the wildlife biologists a chance to do their studies, then look honestly at the data they compile, then be sure we make our voices heard and do whatever we can to help with these complex management issues. NS 170 Northwest Sportsman

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COLUMN The author examines Browning’s newest AB3 Hunter, featuring a handsome checkered stock. From the bench during range day just before SHOT Show, he put two quick rounds into a swinging bowling pin at 100 yards in less than 20 seconds. (DAVE WORKMAN)

Dead Bang Winners M

ON TARGET

By Dave Workman

oving deer at 100 yards are tough to hit, so when a rifle is accurate enough to put two consecutive rounds into a swinging bowling pin at that distance, it gets your

attention.

With Browning and Winchester press manager Kevin Howard looking over my shoulder at range day on the eve of January’s Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade, or SHOT, Show in Las Vegas, I put two rounds downrange with Browning’s newest version of the AB3 A-Bolt rifle – this one chambered in .30-06 – and nailed that pin solidly. Admittedly, the rifle was in a fairly stout Caldwell Lead Sled rest, but hitting a moving target that small twice in

about 20 seconds with a rifle I’d never fired before says plenty about the weapon.

The AB3 Hunter is the third generation of Browning’s popular A-Bolt. This specimen has a handsome checkered walnut stock (typical entry-level rifles these days have composite stocks), Inflex recoil pad, detachable recoil pad, top tang safety and a nifty little button on the rear right just behind the bolt handle that unlocks the bolt with the safety on, for ejecting rounds safely. That was impressive enough, so when I sat down and nailed that bowling pin, it struck me that Browning has a winner.

Credit the button rifling and the fast 60-degree bolt throw for my follow-up shot. That free-floating barrel has a target crown, and it wears a deep matte-blue finish that is eye-catching.

The trigger broke comfortably light;

that is, one doesn’t have to tug on it to make the rifle discharge. Once in a while, one runs across a brand-new model that for reasons known only to the gods has a horrid trigger. Fortunately, such dogs are few and far between, and I’ve never seen one that had “Browning” etched on the barrel. If I recall correctly, this trigger breaks somewhere around 4 pounds, and was crisp.

Ah, but the wood. It’s handsome. It’s clean. It’s traditional. Somebody looking for a new bolt-action big game rifle is going to drool on this one. If I had this rifle on a hunt over on the Snake River breaks this fall, I’d fire up the barbecue and smoker before leaving camp because anything on the business end is going to definitely end up in the cooler.

The good news is that the AB3 Hunter is available in several popular short- and

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COLUMN long-action calibers, according to the company’s website, browning.com.

WINCHESTER’S NEW XPR is another sizzler that just impressed the hell out of me.

This one has a tough-as-nails synthetic stock that will do rather well in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.

It’s got a detachable magazine, blued, button-rifled Chromoly steel barrel and receiver, Inflex Technology recoil pad and recessed target crown. This specimen was also chambered in .30-06, and it was just as accurate as the Browning.

Winchester designers included a twoposition thumb safety at the rear right of the receiver, and like the Browning AB3, it has a bolt-release button that allows the bolt to be opened while the safety is engaged, so you can pop out a live round safely. One might actually consider this set-up a virtual three-position safety mechanism.

This Winchester has a 60-degree bolt throw, which is fast and sure. The bolt

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The new Winchester XPR has the kinds of features Workman likes, including a bolt-release function that allows for ejecting live rounds while the safety remains engaged. This image shows two controls: The rear one is the two-position safety and the smaller front button is the bolt release. (DAVE WORKMAN) body is coated with something called nickel Teflon, and it is slick.

Available in .270 Winchester, .30-06 Springfield, .300 Winchester Magnum and .338 Winchester Magnum in both the standard black matte and Hunter model with Mossy Oak Break-Up camo, I’d say this one is a cut or two above an entry-level rifle. A third version, which comes with a Vortex scope, is chambered for those calibers plus 7mm Remington Magnum.

It’s got a good trigger, and thanks to that

recoil pad, when it goes “Bang!” you don’t get whacked in the shoulder or bruised on the cheek.

Another important feature is the M.O.A. trigger system. The trigger comes factory set at 3½ pounds, and when I touched it off, I didn’t feel a hint of creep.

The stock features QD sling swivel studs and the standard calibers come with 24-inch barrels, while the magnums have 26-inch tubes. Find out more at winchesterguns.com.

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COLUMN SAVAGE ALSO HAS a dandy new entry in the Model 10 FCP-SR, chambered for the .308 Winchester. I’ve never seen a Savage that isn’t capable of MOA accuracy all day long, provided the shooter does his or her part, and this one is no exception.

Cut with a 1:10-inch rifling twist, this is something of a tactical rifle in a serious game-busting caliber. It’s got a detachable 10-round magazine, weighs 8¾ pounds empty, and measures 44¼ inches overall.

So, what makes it such a hot rifle? Long story short, I hit everything I aimed at. That’s the acid test. A rifle that doesn’t put a bullet where you want it to go isn’t worth much in the clinches, no matter what the target.

Savage fitted this rifle with an AccuStock and the action features the popular AccuTrigger. It’s got a fluted matte finish barrel and black synthetic stock. What gets your attention immediately is the oversize bolt handle.

The test rifle was topped with a Bushnell scope, and the combination was deadly accurate.

Now here’s a “black rifle” that is a robust tack-driver, the Savage Model 10 FCP-SR, chambered in .308 Winchester. It takes a 10-round magazine that is tough and easy to eject and replace. By the time that magazine is empty, you’ve hit something! (DAVE WORKMAN) Sure, this rifle’s primary application is for law enforcement. So what? An accurate rifle is an accurate rifle, and for someone who may hunt from a stand or a favorite stump, rock or log every year, the weight of this model is not going to be that big an issue, especially in a trade-off

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If the intent is to use this rifle for taking that one critical shot in a law enforcement situation, my small experience with the FCP-SR was enough to convince me the new Savage is up to that challenge too.

Check it out at savagearms.com. NS

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