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Sportsman Northwest

Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource

Volume 7 • ISSUE 10 PUBLISHER

James R. Baker ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

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EDITOR

Andy Walgamott CONTRIBUTORS

Ralph Bartholdt, John Black, Jason Brooks, Roger Davis, Tyler Dungannon, Chris Gregersen, Jeff Holmes, Zac Holmes, Doug Huddle, Randy King, Leroy Ledeboer, Terry Otto, Buzz Ramsey, Andy Schneider, Hunter Shelton, Scott Staats, Richard Thompson, Mark Veary, Dave Workman, Mike Wright SALES MANAGER

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Email letters, articles/queries, photos, etc., to awalgamott@media-inc.com, or snail mail them to the address below.

ON THE COVER

Fishing at Buoy 10 last season with guides Jim and Jennifer Stahl, Richard Graham of Everett caught this hefty Chinook. (NORTHWEST FISHING GUIDES, NWFISHINGGUIDES.NET) INSET: Willamette Valley contributor Troy Rodakowski drew into a Hart Mountain pronghorn permit a couple seasons back, scoring this fine buck. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)

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CONTENTS

VOLUME 4 • ISSUE 6

VOLUME 7 • ISSUE 10

COLUMNS 61

THE KAYAK GUYS Mark slips out of line for the Hammond launch and paddles us out to Buoy 10 for salmon.

73

WESTSIDER Guest columnist Hunter Shelton fights the flossers with float and drift-fishing setups that kings actually bite.

77

STUMPTOWN Terry takes a turn in our kill-itand-grill-it kitchen with an ode to “popcorn brookies.”

87

THE LONG HAUL – NEW COLUMN! Jeff Holmes celebrates peoplepowered hunting and fishing opportunities and quality of life in the Northwest outdoors.

111 BASIN BEACON The best days of the year are coming up at Potholes Reservoir, says longtime local, Leroy.

36

HOW TO KILL IT AT BUOY 10

With 2.6 million kings and coho on the way, our experts Buzz and Andy detail the best baits, killer rigs, outline a week-by-week fishing guide, and zoom in on the very best waters at the world’s most famous salmon fishing hole with a MAP! (BUZZ RAMSEY)

FEATURES 65 83 95 103 117 139

Columbia fall kings from shore Tahsis, BC., salmon, bottomfish Dworshak Reservoir record bass Topwater bassin’, Northwest style North Fork Coeur d’Alene cutthroat Southeast Oregon antelope preview 149 Northern Rockies big game prospects 159 Cascades, Olympics elk scouting

DEPARTMENTS 13 15 16 25 29 30 32 34 34 52 81

The Editor’s Note Letters To The Editor Big Pic: Skagit bull trout booming News: Weyerhaeuser’s fee-access policy Dishonor Roll; Jackass of the Month Outdoor Calender Reader photos Wright & McGill/Eagle Claw Photo Contest winner Browning Photo Contest winner Rig of the Month: Barbless spinner rig for Buoy 10 Jig of the Month: Micro Jig

125 INLAND NORTHWEST We’re on the cusp of cast-and-blast country in the Idaho Panhandle, Ralph reports.

129 CHEF IN THE WILD Randy details how to hunt down and cook aliens – well, at least the unwanted species invading the Northwest.

135 ON TARGET With an itch in his trigger finger, Dave gets us ready for the start of hunting with safety reminders and workout plans.

145 CENTRAL OREGON She washed out of TV’s Extreme Huntress competition, but Central Oregon huntress Candy Yow is a winner in our book!

171 NORTH SOUND It’s a weird year for berries, and with the black bear opener dead ahead, Doug has some ideas – plus, tips for Baker Lake sockeye!

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NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN is published monthly by Media Index Publishing Group, 14240 Interurban Avenue South, Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. Periodical Postage Paid at Seattle, WA and at additional mailing offices. (USPS 025-251) POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Northwest Sportsman, PO Box 24365, Seattle, WA 98124. Annual subscriptions are $29.95 (12 issues), 2-year subscription are $39.95 (24 issues). Send check or money order to Media Index Publishing Group, or call (206) 382-9220 with VISA or M/C. Back issues are available at Media Index Publishing Group offices at the cost of $5 plus tax. Display Advertising. Call Media Index Publishing Group for a current rate card. Discounts for frequency advertising. All submitted materials become the property of Media Index Publishing Group and will not be returned. Copyright © 2014 Media Index Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher. Printed in U.S.A. 10 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

THEEDITOR’SNOTE

L

adies and gentlemen salmon anglers of the Northwest, we are officially living in the good ol’ days, again.

As I write this issue’s Editor’s Note, the Columbia’s sockeye run has spun up a stunning new record, and is now nearing the 600,000-fish mark at Bonneville Dam. Though they appear to have somehow eluded lower river fishermen, once the red salmon hit the Tri-Cities, Teddy Schmitt began hammering on them, just like how he wrote how to do it for us earlier this summer, and then my email was flooded with pics from the Brewster Pool. Predicts Bob Loomis at Mack’s Lure in nearby Wenatchee, fishing should remain hot until mid-August or so.

The big crick’s summer Chinook run hasn’t been too shabby either, and in fact, for the first time in recent years that I can recall, it actually came in above forecast and allowed for additional angling opportunity. Some of those kings have been stout, and that should make for an interesting derby in the Brew Pool in the early days of this month.

AND NOW COMES the year’s main attraction. In case you missed it on our cover, the Table of Contents, our blog, or news articles earlier this year, Washington and Oregon fishery managers are predicting an incredible 2.6 million adult Columbia fall Chinook and coho.

The biggest jag of that are kings, and if the forsoothery holds, this year’s run would be 119 percent of 2013’s record breaker – which produced record and near-record catches from the buoy to Hanford Reach – and a whopping 254 percent of average for the past 10 years.

This issue, we set out to wreck those records.

It’s what we do.

Our Buzz Ramsey and Andy Schneider offer stellar advice on all aspects of fishing Buoy 10, while Mark Veary again takes us out in his kayak, and Jeff Holmes lies in wait up at Puget Island with a most unusual wobbler rig, courtesy of that unrepentant line-running plunker, Kirby Cannon. We’ll follow the run upriver next issue too.

This is not to overlook other opportunities around the Northwest this month, nor is it to pretend that all is fine and dandy with our salmonid stocks. But, boys and girls, the good ol’ days are here again. See you at the buoy. –Andy Walgamott

Shipwreck Sh hipwreckk

As

B

O GT N I N SH WA R E G O O RO EL T N N HA DC N I L

(BUZZ RAMSEY, TOP; ANDY SCHNEIDER, LOWER RIGHT)

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AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 13

LETTERSTOTHEEDITOR TREE FARM ACCESS Online readers have not been happy with Weyerhaeuser’s change to charging for access (see story this issue, p. 25, and Northwest Sportsman, July 2013) to enter much of the timber behemoth’s lands in Western Oregon and Western Washington this year.

Responding on Facebook to our July 8 blog “Grays Harbor County Targets Timberland Tax Deferrals,” Brad Alexander wrote: “I commend [the county] for challenging a large corporation.”

Luin Biddix added: “I hope they tax the crap out of them.”

Meanwhile, Carl Fargon posted an explanatory statement he received from WDFW: “Current state laws, adopted by the legislature, do provide a lower tax rate for private forest land that is designated for timber production. However, public access is not a requirement stated in the law as some people believe. There might be some confusion because at one time an ‘open space’ designation did require public access and the intent language of the bill establishing the reduced tax rate for forest land listed recreational spaces as one of the public benefits from sustainable forestry.”

COLUMBIA SOCKEYE After we reported that the sockeye count at Bonneville Dam had set a new record on July 8 of 526,367 (and counting), Jerry Brown lamented on Facebook: “We use to get that many in the ’80s on Lake Washington!”

That particular post also generated the most shares (43) and likes (63) between mid-June and mid-July on social media for us.

The runner up was the abovementioned Grays Harbor County vs.

Weyerhaeuser story (15 shares, 51 likes).

MOST LIKED READER PHOTOGRAPH POSTED AT FACEBOOK.COM/NORTHWESTSPORTSMANMAGAZINE We’re going to call it a tie for mid-June to mid-July: Kylie Roth’s nice 16.25-pound summer Chinook, caught off Wenatchee on the July 1 opener, got 47 likes and five shares while loyal reader Scott Fletcher’s 20-pounder, hooked the same day and location, got three shares and 49 likes.

TWEET OF THE ISSUE

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AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 15

BIG PICTURE

(THE AVID ANGLER)

THE

AUTHOR’S SPECIAL FOREWORD–In the black of morning on November 8, 2013, this transplanted Eastern Washingtonian drove to Olympia’s Natural Resources Building in a driving rain for what would be the last time. My heavy steps pounded hollow in the empty rotunda of the big building on my way to the 5th Floor, the hub of the state Department of Fish & Wildlife in Olympia and home to my workspace in the director’s spin shop: Public Affairs.

A poorly stuffed and filthy golden eagle – “Dusty” – occupied almost 7 feet of airspace above my cubicle, a sight I found exciting when I took the job during a record-beautiful summer in Thurston County. I’d sworn never to live in Pugetropolis, but I took this job with a genuine desire to serve the public and uphold the stated mission of the department. I had excelled per the praise of many across the department and the state, including my boss. The night before I had sat in that man’s office 16 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

across from my cube, trying to suppress the bile in my stomach as I’d done for a couple months.

While my career and more hung in the balance, he regaled me with stories analogizing the loss of my job to his failed marriage and rocky relationships with kids. He praised my work and told me this decision had nothing to do with my performance. I “paraded” my knowledge of fish and wildlife, was “too big to work in [my] shop” (also an “ogre”), and I was a junior member of the shop overstepping my bounds. I pandered, listened, fake laughed – everything – to save my job that night. I saw contempt, jealousy and more in his tone and countenance, and knew my job was lost.

Dusty loomed sadly as I packed my belongings and gathered evidence of my excellent work in Public Affairs, a group that had been captained for eight years by a confessed antihunter up until two years ago. Public Affairs’ lead writer told me on several occasions that

he had been “terrified” someone would expose their work group, and I immediately saw why.

Like so many of the department’s operations and business processes, Dusty is a stuffed relic.

He still passes for an eagle and may yet for a good many years, but so do 100-year-old mule deer mounts in old bars and closed-down businesses around the West.

It would be unfair not to acknowledge my gratitude to the many at WDFW throughout the state doing the real work of managing our state’s fish and wildlife, often with huge job scopes and limited support, especially from the NRB. There are those within the department and those who have worked for WDFW who believe that their work could eventually be shopped out to the federal government. It seems hard to believe and potentially frightening, but it makes sense. As WDFW continues to flounder into the future, playing scapegoat to the feds, what will happen? It’s tough to see the

MIXED BAG

Bull Market Bucking the trend of sliding salmonid populations, native char are doing well in the Skagit Basin.

By Jeff Holmes

future, but I cringe at the thought of our state’s fish and wildlife being managed from the other Washington.

After losing my job and dealing with the subsequent fallout in my life, I let righteous indignation consume me for a while before I got to work and made things better for my family and for me. We’re headed home to Eastern Washington where we belong to make better money doing work we like around people and places we love. The end result of this whole debacle for me was a huge personal and professional learning experience that inspired me to get healthier and happier. I genuinely root for WDFW and ended up better off for my experience with them.

A different version of the draft on bull trout that follows on these pages was rejected by a senior member of WDFW’s Public Affairs team because he believed the topic of fishing for the species to be too incendiary and potentially

damaging to the department’s reputation. My former colleague – who neither fishes, hunts, or knows much about the natural world – reportedly garnered Director Phil Anderson’s support in excluding this little article from WDFW’s Great Getaways (wdfw.wa.gov/ fishing/vacation), a family summer camping and fishing guide I wrote as a contractor prior to taking a job in Public Affairs.

Since that colleague is most assuredly not a biologist, and since micro-managing department executives should respect the science of our state’s management biologists on the ground, please enjoy my very brief and biologically supportable call to action: Head to the Upper Skagit and its tributaries during summer for the best anadromous bull trout fishing and some of the biggest wild river rainbows in the state. Read the rules, crimp your barbs, handle them with care, and tread lightly. – Jeff Holmes, July 15, 2014

MARBLEMOUNT, Wash.–As efforts to protect native salmon, steelhead, and char in the Wild and Scenic Skagit River have necessarily resulted in tighter regulations on some historically popular fisheries, others are thriving and offer some of Washington’s best summertime cold-water angling opportunities for species that might surprise some anglers.

Puget Sound’s largest river still receives runs of coho, Chinook, sockeye and chum salmon that have excited families for generation, and that continues, but under stricter regulations.

And in odd-numbered years, huge numbers of pink salmon show up to the Skagit and provide the river’s most popular and liberally managed fishery. Pinks offer excitement for anglers from the river’s mouth near Mount Vernon upstream 80 miles to Marblemount. Above this small town nestled in the North Cascades, the upper Skagit River is managed as a catch-and-release fishery under selective-gear regulations.

It is in this stretch where a combination of cold and clean water, tight regulations, and abundant food in the form of mountain whitefish, sculpins, salmonid smolts, and the eggs and carcasses of salmon, combine to support one of the most robust bull trout populations in the contiguous United States.

Ocean-going, or anadromous, bull trout pushing 15 pounds are sometimes caught in the Skagit, and consistent catches of bulls from 22 to 28 inches are AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 17

MIXED BAG Outside of the Salmon River’s Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness of Idaho, no other basin in the Northwest may offer the amount of pristine, protected upper watershed that the Skagit does. The glacial creeks and rivers of North Cascades National Park, and Mt. Baker, Noisy-Diobsud, Glacier Peak and Henry M. Jackson Wildernesses, and frigid Seattle City Light reservoirs provide the needed cool waters for bull trout to thrive. Large salmon runs in recent years have provided the forage in the form of pink salmon fry.

(NATIONAL PARK SERVICE)

the norm until the big spawners leave the river in late summer for super-cold creeks to make their fall spawn.

The fishery continues throughout the summer for smaller bull trout and for native rainbows. These ’bows have some anglers turning to their steelhead gear to handle them – many grow well over 20 inches.

But even with this robust and improving trout fishery, it is the upper Skagit’s bulls that dominate and that provide the best opportunities to carefully catch and release beautiful and large fish with simple fishing techniques.

18 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

THE UNIQUENESS OF this fishery comes into focus when compared to the current state of bull trout elsewhere in the Lower 48. Across much of Washington and throughout most of their range in other Western states, highly aggressive and cold-water-loving bull trout are struggling to survive. Due to a host of factors such as road building and resulting siltation, deforestation and decreased shade for streams, climate change, historic overfishing and more, bull trout received threatened status under the federal Endangered Species Act in 1998. Bulls, which aren’t really trout but instead char, are still recov-

ering across much of their range Well prior to listing, fisheries managers across the West observed and responded to declines in most bull trout populations by tightening regulations or eliminating fishing for these toothy predators altogether. Bull trout are highly succeptible to harvest, especially when they enter small streams to spawn, but biologists don’t struggle to manage the fish because of their snappiness at lures.

Precipitous declines in bull trout populations in the West are due primarily to habitat loss and bulls’ strict criteria of very cold, clean water. The big char are doing

MIXED BAG much better in British Columbia and Alberta, but some localized populations in the United States are thriving and are open to catch-and-release fishing and even retention in places.

Like no other river system in Washington or perhaps elsewhere in the American West, bull trout continue to thrive in the Skagit River basin due to a steady stream of glacial runoff, excellent habitat and booming food sources, easy access to saltwater to feed, and careful management.

in freshwater and sometimes migrate to sea like their anadromous cousins, salmon and steelhead.

The biggest specimens in the Skagit do venture into the salt, growing big on surf smelt and other targets of opportunity in

One does not need a subtle presentation or a secret lure to land a bull trout. Instead, large lures with single, barbless hooks fished on 7- to 81⁄2-foot spinning or casting reels with 8- to 14-pound-test mainline are all that are needed.

They – as well as native rainbows – greedily hit fly anglers’ streamers in light and dark colors, and slam spoons, spinners, plugs – even bass jigs. Try curltailed or tube jigs in dark and light colors. Fly anglers fish mostly 6-8-weight rods and also employ a range of beads, egg patterns, and flesh flies. Gear and fly anglers alike look for bull trout in many of the same river features they’d look for steelhead or a rainbow trout: in seams, around boulders, and generally in good resting water with ambush cover.

Ocean-going bull trout pushing 15 pounds are sometimes caught in the Skagit, and consistent catches of bulls from 22 to 28 inches are the norm.

A COMMON MISCONCEPTION is that bull trout and Dolly Varden are the same fish, the former being of solely freshwater origin and the latter migrating to sea to grow fat before returning to freshwater to spawn. The two members of the char family are actually genetically distinct species, both of which sometimes live exclusively

Puget Sound. Some bulls also remain in the river year-round and grow to respectable sizes themselves.

There are few coldwater fish more carnivorous than a bull trout. Predators of opportunity, they will eat just about anything they can grab and swallow. Like lingcod in Puget Sound, they often latch onto smaller fish as they’re being reeled in by anglers.

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20 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

STAKING OUT A camping spot at Rasar State Park, Skagit County’s Howard Miller

MIXED BAG Steelhead Park or the private Clark’s Skagit River Resort near Rockport is a good first move before hitting the river. The Skagit Valley and surrounding Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest draw lots of summertime campers, especially on weekends. Still, there’s always plenty of room to pound the banks alone, even on the busiest days.

Across the Skagit from Marblemount is the Cascade River’s confluence. This tributary’s lower half mile is well known as one of the most popular combat fisheries in Northwest Washington. When coho salmon and winter-run steelhead are in the river and in prime condition, finding room to fish can be difficult, especially from late summer through fall into December. This short, lower stretch closes for a month and a half during midsummer and opens in September for the river’s abundant pink salmon. But for adventurous anglers looking for day hikes and in-shape families looking for summer

hiking and backpacking challenges, the upper Cascade offers excellent bull trout fishing, some rainbow trout and even a very early run of coho that must be released carefully if accidentally caught.

Wading and roadside access is tough but available along the 23 miles of the Cascade River Road, which ends at Cascade Pass Trailhead in North Cascades National Park. Hikers in the national park must secure a backcountry permit before their trip.

For families after a less adventurous but more relaxing stay, the Forest Service’s Marble Creek Campground sits 8 miles upstream of the Cascade’s confluence on Cascade River Road while the National Park Service’s Goodell, Newhalem, Gorge and Colonial Creek Campgrounds are along or just off State Route 20, the North Cascades Highway.

Moving west down the Skagit to its next major tributary, the all-catch-and-release summer fishery on the Sauk River is often overlooked. Bull trout fishing can be fantas-

tic, and native rainbows swim here as well.

Access is good along the Sauk between Rockport and Darrington, and better upstream of the latter town. The Forest Service offers two popular campgrounds (Bedal and Clear Creek) with good river access. The Sauk’s cold, swift water can be hazardous for unwary visitors, but is exactly what allows the river’s bull trout to thrive.

The Suiattle River is a major tributary of the Sauk where regulations allow some harvest and where bull trout and rainbows are doing well. The Suiattle River Road is now closed at mile marker 11.5 after catastrophic flood damage in 2003 and 2006.

Anglers can now hike on the road to access good fishing and hiking and can also hike on a myriad of trails to beautiful vistas and mountain lakes.

Websites for tourism-oriented organizations in the Skagit Valley, Darrington, and the Mountain Loop and Cascade Loop Highways have more on activities and lodging. NS

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Northwest Sportsman 23

MIXED BAG By one game manager’s estimation, this fall will see a quarter of Western Washington’s private timberlands require a fee permit to enter, some 1 million acres. In some cases, hunters are now used to paying up – Hancock, which owns the below gate, began charging a decade or so ago – but the scope of Weyerhaeuser’s entry into the field has the feel of a game changer. (JASON BROOKS)

Cut Out Weyerhaeuser ends its decades-long policy of allowing widespread free walk- or drive-on access to tree farms.

By Terry Otto PE ELL, Wash.—If you hunt on Northwest timberlands, then you’ve seen it. The dumped trash, hundreds of shell casings littering the ground, the shot-up washing machines, the destroyed fences and gates, and the signs of wood theft are all too common on private as well as public forests. For decades timber companies have allowed free access to their properties, and during that time many a recreationist has seen fit to trash the tree farms. While the vast majority of the public is ethical enough to treat the land with respect, a minority do not.

A few bad apples, and everyone loses.

“That’s the shame of it,” says Gregg Miller, a public affairs officer for Weyerhaeuser, which owns millions of acres in Western Oregon and Western Washington. “It’s only a few people who are ruining it.”

Still, ruining it they are, and the results of

the abuse have come home to roost. Weyerhaeuser and other private timber companies are beginning to change their access policies, now issuing limited numbers of access permits to their lands. No, those permits are not free, and in some cases, the Tacoma-area-based company has begun offering Southern-style, full-season leases for some of their lands to high bidders.

PRIVATE TIMBERLANDS OFFER what most public lands do not: active logging. The 40-year timber-cut cycle offers game animals’ better quality browse, and that draws hunters, who have been used to free access.

At the same time, that access has resulted in vandalism, trash dumping and other illegal activities that have driven these changes.

“We have had issues related to vandalism and dumping,” says Miller. “It’s mostly episodic, but we’ve had some incidents. We had one case where a fire was started by tar-

get shooting.”

Miller also explains that the illegal activities are a safety concern.

“What is critical to us is the safety of our employees,” he says.

He points out that a few parcels in each tree farm will remain open and free to nonpermit holders – 17,000 acres in two parcels of the Aberdeen Tree Farm, 52,000 acres in the St. Helens – but most of the parcels will be permit-only.

The change will not be popular with hunters who have come to depend on that access year after year. It is a serious loss for thousands of Northwest sportsmen, but others who use the timberlands for hiking, fishing, collecting mushrooms, and more will be affected too. In an age of decreasing opportunities, dropping numbers of active hunters and anglers, and the revenues they provide the economy, this could be another blow to state wildlife agencies, sportsmen, and the businesses that depend on them.

People other than us undoubtedly have contributed to the illegal activity, but the hard truth is that hunters will bear the AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 25

MIXED BAG punishment more so than others. There are plenty of mushrooms and hiking opportunities in the national forests, but these days the game has a harder time of it in that thick second-growth or unlogged timber. In comparison, the private lands are game-rich.

Still, the timber companies must look to the bottom line, and the costs of damaged equipment, wood theft, and illegal dumping are getting beyond their control.

“We can lock the gate,” says Miller, “but they just dump the trash right in front of (the gate).”

He reports that incidents have dropped in those areas where the company has instituted permits.

“It’s just about access management,” he says.

HUNTERS FEEL THIS is another knock to the rank and file. With some permits costing as much as $550 – for a single month in one Western Oregon forest – and others up for

26 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

bid, most see this as a move that will benefit wealthier hunters, who already have the advantage when it comes to accessing private lands in general, and lock out those with less financial means.

On July 7, Washington’s Grays Harbor County took the rare action of attempting to cut off tax deferral status for private timberlands, as a retaliatory measure. Commissioners voted unanimously on the action. While the legality of the motion is questionable, it is a sign of how distressed many in the hunting community feel about Weyerhaeuser’s policy change.

A quick visit to the company’s website makes it clear just how much acreage is being shifted to permit-only. Hunters in Southwest Washington, where Grays Harbor County is located, are seeing a huge amount of formerly open lands that are now restricted. And the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife warned its hunters they will see vast areas closed to free access this fall.

So is this the future of timberlands hunting? Will more landowners follow suit? It is hard to imagine that they wouldn’t, if this project saves and makes Weyerhaeuser significant money.

Miller says the program may change some in the future.

“We will assess it every year, and make adjustments if necessary,” he says.

While it is hard to swallow, the reality of the situation is that hunters are only one group of recreational users who access these lands, and much of the damage has been done by others. However, many so-called hunters share the blame, and those among the hunting public who have trashed these properties in the past have helped push the current changes. If hunters are to continue to enjoy access to quality hunting properties, we must start doing a better job of self-policing. When scofflaws are allowed to break the rules, and other hunters do not call them on it, a loss of access is what the future holds for all sportsmen. NS

MIXED BAG

Detective In Trouble Over Deer

By Andy Walgamott

L

ast issue we reported on the Colorado police officer who was sentenced for poaching an elk – while on duty. This issue, a Washington cop is in trouble after reportedly lying to game wardens about who shot a deer at camp last fall.

David Herrin, a Spokane County detective, swore to fish and wildlife officers that his

daughter had killed the deer up in Stevens County, but according to the Spokane Spokesman-Review, it was actually taken by a landowner there, who then offered it to Herrin who put his daughter’s tag on it and got her to initially pretend she’d shot it.

In court papers, Herrin, a 25-year law enforcement veteran, called it a “dumb mistake.”

But it may be a pattern of behavior.

According to reporter Nina Culver, the case came to light after Herrin’s ex-wife came forward to claim that Herrin had been tagging deer on their children’s permits, and that she was worried it would get their boy and

JACKASS OF THE MONTH You gotta hand it to Northwest game wardens. While protecting our fish, wildlife and lands, they end up dealing with some real charmers. It almost seems like the Oregon State Police’s Fish & Wildlife Division puts up with more than its fair share, but maybe that’s also because the agency puts out periodic newsletters on all the People Who Make Bad Decisions their

troopers contact while patrolling the vast expanses of the Beaver State.

The most recent newsletter, covering April and May, had all sorts of bozos who didn’t believe that fishing and hunting regulations applied to them, but the guy who takes the cake is the prime minister of the People’s Republic of Sauvie Islandistan, a hitherto unknown nation near Portland.

This spring Trooper Adam Shimer had to

girl in trouble.

Culver writes that Herrin’s son told wildlife officers that he and his sister didn’t attend deer camp in 2012, but state records indicated that a doe was shot on his tag that October.

“The son also told investigators that Herrin would routinely have him and his sister fill out transport letters for their deer ahead of time,” Culver reported.

A witness says that neither child was out last fall, according to the story, and now Herrin faces charges of illegal hunting and lying to investigators.

have frequent talks with the man about camping at the state wildlife area, which is verboten. Despite “numerous warnings and one violation,” he spotted the man and his tent yet again. That led to a criminal citation and another warning about being in a prohibited area and trespassing after hours.

So what’s the dude’s deal? He claims that Trooper Shimer et al have “no authority” on Sauvie Island. Maybe so in his own little world, but we’re about to make him one unhappy camper: He’s our Jackass of the Month.

4 Men Found Guilty Of Illegally Gillnetting At Banks Lake A Central Washington county prosecutor hopes that four Westside men found guilty in early July of illegally gillnetting 194 whitefish out of Banks Lake last winter get some fairly significant jail time at their upcoming sentencing.

“There really is no excuse for this behavior. We will be asking the court to impose two months of county jail time on each of these four defendants,” said Angus Lee, the elected Grant County prosecutor.

The four men are identified as Vladimir Savchenko, 36, of Edmonds; Peter Zhezhelev, 46, of Kenmore; Aleksandr

Kashnikov, 45, of Everett; and Sergey Mitsevich, 39, also of Everett. They were each found guilty of unlawful use of a net to take fish, a second-degree gross misdemeanor, and illegal recreational fishing, a first-degree gross misdemeanor.

Tip of the hat to the Grant County Prosecutor’s Office, which is taking illegal fishing activities very seriously these days.

This case follows one in 2013 in which four other Eastern European men, caught with a couple hundred Lahontan cutthroat illegally gillnetted out of the county’s popular Lake Lenore in April of that year, were sentenced to nearly three weeks of jail apiece and fined over $4,000.

AUGUST 2014

(WDFW)

Northwest Sportsman 29

OUTDOOR

CALENDAR Sponsored by

AUGUST Aug. 1 Opening of salmon fishing at Buoy 10; Bear season begins across Oregon as well as numerous Washington units; Steelhead retention opener in lower 1⁄2 mile of Idaho’s Clearwater River; Opening day of elk hunting for numerous Oregon youth permit holders Aug. 1-2 Oregon Tuna Classic’s Deep Canyon Challenge out of Ilwaco; info: oregontunaclassic.org; Washington Tuna Classic out of Westport; info: washingtontunaclassic.com Aug. 1-3 9th Annual Budweiser-Lowrance derby, Brewster, Wash.; info: brewstersalmonderby.com Aug. 2 13th Annual South King County Chapter-Puget Sound Anglers Salmon Derby in Areas 10, 11 and 13; info: pugetsoundanglers.net Aug. 9 19th Annual Gig Harbor Chapter-Puget Sound Anglers Salmon Derby in Areas 11 and 13; info: gigharborpsa.org Aug. 15 Black bear hunting opens in Washington’s Northeastern B, Okanogan and South Cascades Units Aug. 16 South Sound (Olympia) Salmon Derby; info: nwgriego@comcast.net Aug. 16-17 Cabela’s Fall Great Outdoor Days at Lacey, Tulalip, Springfield stores Aug. 22 15th Annual Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association Buoy 10 Challenge on the Lower Columbia; info: nsiafishing.org/event/buoy-10-challenge/ Aug. 22-23 Oregon Tuna Classic out of Garibaldi, Ore.; info: oregontunaclassic.com Aug. 3 16:50 First quarter Aug. 23-24 Sekiu Salmon Derby; info: Aug. 10 10:09 Full moon northwestsalmonderbyseries.com; Cabela’s Aug. 17 04:26 Last quarter Fall Great Outdoor Days at Lacey, Tulalip, Aug. 25 06:13 New moon Springfield stores * Data courtesy NASA; all times PST Aug. 30 Opening day of bowhunting season for deer and elk in Oregon; Willapa Bay Salmon Derby; info: dfdbones@aol.com; Southwest Washington Anglers Columbia River Fall Salmon Derby; info: swwa.org

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RECORD NORTHWEST GAME FISH CAUGHT THIS MONTH (OCEAN SPORTFISHING CHARTERS)

Date

877-588-8582 • toblermarina.com 30 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

Species Pds. (-Oz.)

8-1-13 Dolphinfish 8-1-92 Redear sunfish 8-3-08 Tilapia 8-5-99 Dolly Varden 8-8-87 Bocaccio rockfish 8-8-70 Sockeye 8-31-13 Opah* *Image

16.27 1-15.5 4-4.43 10.94 23.63 5 28.18

Water

Angler

Ilwaco (WA) Reynolds Pd. (OR) Swan Falls Res. (ID) Whitechuck R. (WA) Swiftsure Bank (WA) Redfish L. (ID) Westport (WA)

Albert DaSilva Terence Bice Jason Arneson Leroy Thompson Carson Kendall June McCray Rick Shapland

AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 31

Like lookin’ at pics of large lings? You’ll love Mic Dorrance’s 41-pounder, picked up while he and fishing partner were angling out of Ilwaco earlier this summer. The big fish actually hitchhiked on a 24-incher Mic hooked. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

Anchored up on the Lower Columbia, Fred Clarke was able to get this action shot of a small native jack Chinook leaping out of the river on his phone.

The trout weren’t biting at Battle Ground Lake for Brianna Weimer one day this past spring, but the panfish near shore her pa Gary spotted ended up providing “some of the most fun we have had in a long time. Watching that little bobber dance around on the water and seeing her smile brought back many great memories of being a kid myself!” Great job, Dad! (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

(WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

Rod Rieder figured that since this year marked his 40th, he might as well check of some bucket list items, starting with a spring black bear.

The Cabela’s softlines manager knocked over this cinamon-chocolate bruin in Idaho with a 130-shot from his .300 Ultra Mag that took out both shoulders. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

Neah proved no match for Ryann Parshall, who landed her first halibut, this 12-pounder, there this season. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST) 32 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

MIXED BAG

Hail hath no fury like a red Mepps spinner – that’s the lure Steve Miller used to catch this 41⁄2-pound rainbow at Deer Lake northwest of Spokane during a late April hailstorm. (WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

Danny Slevin may not grow up to be a fan of big government, but you can believe he’s a fan of big Government Island spring Chinook!

He landed this one off the Portland-area island in the Columbia this past season.

(WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

We could all be so lucky! Salem’s Ryder Sharpe has a fishing hole right there in his gramp’s backyard when he pays a visit to Toledo. He caught this nice trout there this spring. (WRIGHT &

Eastern Oregon’s Brownlee Reservoir provides a scenic backdrop to Mari Cobb Stuart’s nice-sized catfish, caught there this past June.

(WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

For your shot at winning Wright & McGill/ Eagle Claw and Browning products, send your photographs to andy@nwsportsmanmag.com or Northwest Sportsman, 14240 Interurban Avenue South, Suite 190, Tukwilistan, WA 98168. By sending us photos, you affirm you have the right to distribute them for our print or Internet publications.

AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 33

PHOTO CONTEST

WINNERS!

Mari Cobb Stuart is this issue’s Wright & McGill/Eagle Claw Photo Contest winner, thanks to this pic of her and her Brownlee Reservoir catfish, caught earlier this summer. It wins the Oregon angler a package worth $50 of Lazer Sharp hooks, pliers and a Lazer Sharp hat!

Remember this name: Brenna Blankenship. Our monthly Browning Photo Contest winner has arrowed a ridiculous number of recordbook-qualifying bucks. Last season the Southwest Oregon lass got this 4-pointer, and it scores her a Browning hat and sticker!

Northwest

Sportsman Your 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.

34 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

Salmon trollers work below Tongue Point as dawn breaks over Tongue Point and the upper end of the Buoy 10 fishery. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

36 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

FISHING

Epic Expectations Get ready for what could be an incredible season at Buoy 10, where nearly 1 million coho and 1.6 million kings are expected.

By Andy Schneider

ASTORIA—What’s it going to be like to have 2,567,000 fall salmon moving through the Columbia River estuary this season?

No one can possibly know – over the past 75 years and probably longer, we simply haven’t had a season that’s resembled what’s headed our way. You could hear words like amazing, awesome, phenomenal, superb, incredible,

stunning, marvelous and epic pulled out to describe the action at Buoy 10.

But there is another word we will hear too: “fast!” Not only will this season be here and gone before we know it, but there will be many fast days on the water. When we have millions of salmon feeding, staging and moving into the mouth of the big river, every salmon angler on the water should have no problem finding fast limits this season!

That said, the estuary is a humbling piece of water. Not only does the 80,000 acres of surface water give fish a huge area to spread out, but it presents challenging boating conditions daily. But come prepared with good tackle, quality bait and a capable boat, and you can enjoy a fishery that not only will remind you of the good ol’ days, but may be one for the record books.

RIGGING UP Every year there is usually a little relearning that needs to be done to have a successful trip to the Buoy 10

AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 37

FISHING fishery. Things that may have worked so well for you last year may not be the hot item again this year. Being versatile in techniques and tackle will ensure

that you have a productive season from the start.

TACKLE Starting with a rod and reel that

WHAT TO DO WHEN AUG. 1 The Buoy 10 fishery opens on the first of the month for the retention of coho and Chinook, and it usually sees a handful of fishermen testing the waters for early returners.

Catches are usually light, but way back on Aug. 1, 2001, those hardy anglers were taken by surprise as the first wave of that year’s 1.3 million coho surged into the Columbia ahead of schedule. A morning incoming tide pushed the silvers well past Buoy 10 and anglers found themselves limited and heading back to port quicker than expected.

While we won’t have quite the numbers that we did that year, 964,000 coho is still a lot of fish. Combine that figure with the expected 1.6 million Chinook and that is an incredible amount of fish. While the bulk of the kings won’t show in earnest till mid-August, there will be plenty of early-returning, lowerriver Chinook to keep rods folding and drags screaming on opening day.

With an outgoing tide till 10:30, a good place to start would be at the Astoria-Megler Bridge on the Washington side, and then troll with the tide to the bottom end of Desdemona Sands. As the tide turns to incoming, position the boat just upstream of Buoy 10 itself and hold against the tide as coho and Chinook push into the estuary.

(ANDY SCHNEIDER)

green buoy line on the Oregon side off downtown Astoria. Either incoming or outgoing tides are productive. Break out the 12ounce cannonballs and keep them dragging the sand on either side of the river.

AUG. 9-15 Big tides start this week, with a whopper on Saturday, the 10th – a near-11-foot exchange. And by the end of this week of big tides, expect to see some big pushes of coho moving into the estuary.

That said, big exchanges can make it difficult to fish the outgoing tide below the bridge in the afternoon. A strong ebb combined with afternoon winds create unpleasant conditions some days, and plain dangerous water on others.

Concentrate your efforts above the bridge, launching from East Mooring Basin or Warrenton if you plan on fishing much into the afternoon. These larger tides will move fish throughout the estuary, so be prepared to move to find fish. Trolling from the Church Hole to the bridge on the morning incoming tide should provide action. As tide switches to outgoing in the afternoon, stay above the bridge in the Blind Channel, or run across to Astoria and troll the shallower waters north of the green buoy line.

AUG. 2-8

AUG. 16-22

The fishery’s first week will see a series of soft tides. Soft tides are always favored by anglers specifically after Chinook.

At this point of the season, the majority of kings in the estuary will be headed for Youngs Bay, Grays River and the Cowlitz, and they have a tendency to mill around, giving anglers plenty of opportunities for catching them. But with the Youngs Bay closure in effect for the first time this year, the next most productive place to ambush these fish is above the bridge. Troll either the Blind Channel on the Washington side, or the

Softer tides return this week, so expect to see a lot of fresh Chinook moving in with each. By now, upriver brights should be making up a good percentage of your catch, along with plenty of lower river Chinook. The latter stock will start to get a bronze to them, though the fish will still cut bright red.

The Columbia below the bridge will be most productive during these softer tides.

Troll from the bridge to Chinook on the Washington side through the Church Hole, or the Green Line on the Oregon

38 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

can handle the heavy currents, rough boat rides and clumsy crew is a must.

There are many quality rods on today’s market that are designed specifically for

side from the bridge to Hammond.

As the tide switches to incoming, position your boat either at the head of Desdemona Sands, at the Day Marker, or from Buoy 14 to Buoy 22. As the tide floods and the bite starts picking up, follow the fish upriver.

AUG. 23-31 Larger tide swings should push a huge portion of early coho into the estuary.

Holding against the morning incoming tide at Buoy 10 itself should provide hot action throughout the tide. If you haven’t limited on coho by midmorning, troll with the tide through the Church Hole. As you get close to the bridge, turn and hold against the current for high tide. Just before tide change, expect to see action above and below the bridge. As tide turns, start trolling with it again, but if action slows around you, pick up and leapfrog the fish to keep in the action.

While coho fishing should be second-tonone this week, finding a meaty king may present a challenge, what with all the hungry silvers. One idea may be to head up to Tongue Point, where there should be lots of Chinook but very few coho. Trolling herring from Tongue Point to Rice Island on the incoming tide should put you into one. –AS

estport W T

2014 Derby Update

he Westport Charterboat Association has been sponsoring fishing derbies for over 50 years now. In the early years they covered a weekend. Today, the derby is on every day of the season!

Before and after salmon season, the derby is operated on a weekly basis. A cash prize up to $500, equivalent to half the derby ticket sales proceeds for the week, is paid out for the biggest lingcod, blackcod, or cabezon of the week. During the halibut directed season, the halibut prize is a $500 daily prize with a $10 ticket. The

Robert Baker

Jennifer Reuter

lingcod derby continues weekly.

During the salmon season the derby is operated on a daily basis with prizes up to $500 for the largest salmon and a weekly prize of up to $500 for the largest lingcod of the week.

An annual prize of $2,500 is paid out for the largest Chinook salmon, $1,500 for the largest coho salmon and lingcod, $1,000 each is paid out for the largest halibut, and albacore tuna. There is also a $1,000 prize for the largest Chinook in July and a $1,000 prize for the largest Chinook in August.

Derby entry is only $5 and tickets are sold at every charter service and at the derby booth. When you check in, ask for more specific details. Derby ticket purchases are limited to people fishing on licensed charter boats. Derby proceeds are split between prizes and funding the association.

Northwest Sportsman will profile all of the Westport derby winners throughout the season here in the magazine and on nwsportsmanmag.com. When you fish at Westport this summer, be sure to enter so you have a chance at prizes and seeing yourself profiled here in the magazine!

Nikita Stata

Lou Figueroa

Upper right: At press time, JENNIFER REUTER was holding onto top spot in the Westport Charterboat Association’s Chinook derby, thanks to this 29-pound, 3-ounce salmon. She caught it on June 22 while fishing with Capt. Chuck Custer aboard the Freedom, and scored $420. Above, top to bottom: ROBERT BAKER took the lead in the Westport Charterboat Association’s annual lingcod derby when he brought this 39-pound, 4-ouncer over the rail of Capt. Rhett Weber’s Slammer in late June. Fishing off the Hula Girl with Capt. Steve Westrick, NIKITA STATA put a loop around first place in the Westport Charterboat Association’s daily Chinook derby with this 29-pound, 1-ouncer, caught on June 19. Northwest Sportsman reader LOU FIGUEROA was a daily winner in the Westport Charterboat Association’s Chinook derby, thanks to this 26-pound, 2-ounce king landed in late June. The Spanaway resident hooked it while fishing on the Ms. Magoo. (WESTPORT CHARTERBOAT ASSOCIATION, ALL)

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JUNE 2014

Northwest Sportsman 39

FISHING salmon fishing in the Northwest. Long, moderate-action rods work well for the fishery. Ten-foot-six and 12-foot rods have become the norm when trolling herring for coho and Chinook. These longer rods have some great advantages, the first being that you can spread your gear out, allowing you to better avoid tangles and cover more water.

Second, a longer one will stay loaded, no matter how frenzied the salmon’s fight. You will be able to keep tension on that fish and not allow it to slip those barbless hooks.

Combining your rods with linecounter reels will ensure that you and your crew can deploy setups to the proper depth every time. A linecounter is especially helpful when sharing productive depths with friends. Spool your reels up with 30-pound monofilament or 50- to 65-pound braid.

Delta Divers have lost a little bit of their popularity at Buoy 10, as anglers have been making the switch over to

Thanks to a forecasted return of 2.6 million fish back to the mouth of the Columbia, it should be lights-out fishing for coho and Chinook at Buoy 10 this season, and you can bet the author’s wife Missy and friend Nancy Zimmer will be among the many Northwesterners hitting that most famous salmon hole. (ANDY SCHNEIDER)

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Astoria A storia using standard lead cannonballs, but there is no denying that divers perform exceedingly well in certain conditions.

They work best when holding against the current in deeper water, while lead is best when trolling with the current in shallower waters. Holding against the current on an incoming tide from Buoy 10 to Hammond, divers are going to perform best. Divers will dig and dive straight down, while a lead cannonball will get caught in the current and blow back too far to be productive.

But when trolling with the current on an outgoing tide above the bridge, lead cannonballs will work better. You can easily keep your lead cannonball in contact with the bottom, telling you exactly where your bait is, whereas it will be difficult to determine a diver’s exact depth when trolling with the current in shallower water.

When rigging, start by tying your 42 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

Green Is. Buoy 10's Blind Channel

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Russian Shallow sand banks Island Boat launch Lois Island

The Hammond ramp is Oregon’s westernmost and closest to Buoy 10. Right outside the harbor is the downstream end of the lower Green Line trolling path. (ANDY SCHNEIDER)

HOW TO SPEAK BUOY-ESE IN 10 MINUTES! So, you’ve heard about the gazillion salmon headed to the Columbia estuary, but either haven’t fished here or it’s been awhile since your last trip and you couldn’t tell Green Lines from Goonies from tules anymore. Lucky for you, we

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Northwest Sportsman 43

FISHING mainline to a large duolock snap that will be clipped into the diver’s swivel.

Clip a flasher directly behind your diver, then run 60 inches of 30-pound monofilament or fluorocarbon line to two 4/0 hooks. With a spinner, run 60 inches of 40-pound mono leader to a duolock or tie it right to your spinner.

With lead, start with a plastic weight slider, two 8mm beads on your mainline tied to a six-bead chain swivel.

From the swivel, tie 16 inches of 40pound mono to a flasher. Behind that, run 60 inches of 30-pound mono or fluoro to two 4/0 hooks. A 24-inch lead dropper of 20-pound mono and a 12ounce cannonball should keep you in touch with bottom throughout the tide.

Adding another chain swivel halfway down your leader is not overkill – it’s a good way to prevent tangles.

Whether you’re getting down with a diver or cannonballs, make sure to have an inline flasher tied above your bait. Yakima Bait’s Big Al’s Fish Flash,

buoy marks the westernmost fishing boundary of the Columbia, making it the first place to intercept fall Chinook and coho as they enter the river. While the buoy sits halfway between the base of Washington’s North Jetty and Oregon’s South Jetty, the term also refers to the fishery from there upstream 14 miles. Buoy 10 itself fishes best 1.5 hours into a flooding tide.

Hammond: The westernmost boat launch on the Oregon side, the waters directly in front of this small town fish best halfway through a flood tide.

Sawdust Pile: Directly west of the entrance to the Skipanon River and Warrenton boat ramp, this is a well-named landmark for trolling the Green Line or picking up your gear to make another pass when holding against the incoming tide.

The Green Line: Directly north of Hammond, this series of green channel markers increases from 25 as you go upriver. The most common Green Line troll starts at the Astoria-Megler Bridge

and follows the buoys down to Hammond. The second most popular is just above the bridge, following the buoys along downtown Astoria.

Astoria: Not just the fifth best small town in the country (or where the cult classic The Goonies was filmed), Astoria also has some fantastic fishing of its own. Besides the upper Green Line, trolling along the cargo ships, sitting on anchor from Tongue Point downriver as they switch from bar pilots to river pilots, can be very productive.

Tongue Point: A distinct land mass jutting out into the Columbia, Tongue Point (and its counterpart, Rocky Point, on the Washington side) is the upstream boundary of the Buoy 10 fishery.

The most popular troll is from Tongue to Rice Island on a large incoming tide.

The Church Hole: The namesake for this long troll starting at the Washington town of Chinook and stretching up to the bridge is around the halfway mark and is easy to identify (for the record or should you need to make a

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AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 45

FISHING ShortBus Flashers, BYO Flashers and Hot Spot Agitator Flashers are just some of the productive attractors that will grab the attention of coho and Chinook.

BAIT Herring is essential for Buoy 10.

Yes, you can get by with spinners or anchovies, but you need to have the baitfish in your spread in some form to have consistent success in this fishery.

Personal preference will determine if you bring your own frozen herring or buy fresh bait on location. Many guides prefer the former over the latter for its quality. Frozen herring will have all their scales intact, as they’re usually packaged after being starved to firm them up. They’re also usually very consistent in size, making for easy plug cutting and rigging.

Fresh herring’s biggest advantage is just that: It’s the freshest bait you can buy. It’s usually processed early in the morning and delivered to boat-ramp bait shops before the start of business.

confession, it’s St. Mary’s Catholic Church). Most anglers target the 30foot-and-shallower water on the north edge of Desdemona Sands. This troll produces on an ebbing or flooding tide – just be cautious of a strong ebbing tide here in the afternoon, as conditions can be very dangerous.

The Blind Channel: Starting directly above the bridge on the Washington side and stretching all the way up to Rice Island, this troll is most productive early in the season for lower river Chinook or during big tide swings. Year after year, this is probably the fishery’s most productive stretch of water.

The Day Marker: This black-andwhite sign is at the westernmost edge of Desdemona Sands. Holding against the incoming tide here is popular and a good starting point for either the Church Hole troll or a troll towards Hammond.

Desdemona Sands: This shallow, ever-shifting shoal stretches for 8 miles,

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Hefty upriver brights bound for the big-water spawning grounds of the Hanford Reach mix with tule stocks from the lower Columbia and Gorge streams, along with coho headed for the Cowlitz and other tribs. (ANDY SCHNEIDER)

roughly centered on either side of the bridge. The sands can be navigated only close to high tide and only with a shallow-draft boat. Skirting the bank saves the embarrassment of grounding, and ensures a full day of fishing. Also be cautious navigating under the bridge on its span over the sands, as the current can be extremely strong and the concrete pillars, needless to say, very unforgiving.

KNOW YOUR CHINOOK There are at least seven strains of Chinook swimming through the Buoy

FISHING 10 fishery. Some are heading far upriver to the Hanford Reach and Snake, others to mid-Columbia tributaries, while some are checking into local streams. Lower river kings often have a shape like a football – shorter in length but with a big girth. They also tend to get a bronze color early in the season, though the meat will still cut bright red. Tule (two-lee) Chinook are the only ones that should be released all the time. They’re easy to identify – typically a very bronze and copper-colored body, large exposed teeth and an oversized adipose fin. They do not cut well, and they can stink.

Fresh anchovies can also be purchased at the same locations and are a good option to have if salmon get finicky.

No matter your choice, make sure you have a cooler dedicated strictly for bait. Keep fresh bait especially cold, as the fish aren’t starved before processing.

Oftentimes their digestive tracts are full and quickly rupture, spoiling your bait.

Herring can be fished in a variety of ways – whole, plug cut, with a bait clip or helmet. Herring and anchovy helmets are popular with some anglers for their fish-catching spin. Scotty, Pro Troll, Sure Spin and Krippled all make great products that consistently catch fish.

Buoy 10’s “other� bait is actually not a bait at all, but it’s so productive at times that no self-respecting angler would be caught down here without it.

The spinner has proven itself season after season, and is now considered a Buoy 10 essential. Just don’t get stuck thinking that there’s a magic water temperature for spinners in the estuary. The

ramp, head into the nearest harbor. Astoria’s East and West Mooring Basins are fairly protected, but don’t forget the John Day boat ramp, just above Tongue Point. Then pull out your smartphone and look up a taxi service.

Most cab rides run around $15 – well worth the safety of you and your crew.

BAY SICK Even though you are technically fishing on a river (albeit a very large one), conditions may resemble an angry ocean. Having some Dramamine, Bonine, a scopolamine prescription or some anti-nausea ginger gum onboard can help keep everybody enjoying the fishing and scenery.

HAIL A CAB The wind almost always picks up between 1 and 3 p.m., so make sure you are close to your port before that slight chop turns into steep, breaking swells in the main channel.

But if the fishing is just too good and you find yourself far from the

CRASH COURSE Paying attention is a must when fishing Buoy 10, since there is a lot of boat traffic, large commercial vessels and sport fishing boats constantly moving in and out of the Columbia River’s estuary. Many times during a day, you

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FISHING

NG

N O X

IA

will find yourself or another boat on a crash course with you when trolling.

Most of the time, you can make an adjustment far enough out and pass each other with plenty of clearance. But there will also be times that, as you make a

X

TR

(ANDY SCHNEIDER)

E

LE

Columbia is usually close to 70 degrees, while the ocean temperature is around 58. As tides ebb and flow, water temps are anything but consistent.

No. 5, 6, 6.5 and 7 spinner blades are the most productive sizes, but it’s not so easy to pick out a color. There are so many combinations for Buoy 10 spinners now that it’s best to bring your entire collection and experiment to find a consistent producer. Yakima Bait, GDF, BC Angling, and Fatal Flash all make great spinners designed especially around this fishery.

With the requirement for barbless hooks, crimping barbs on your spinner’s treble hooks can lead to some disappointment. Many guides and anglers simply cut the treble hooks off and went with a single 4/0 siwash or an (open eye) Big River Hook.

Head to Buoy 10 with the tips on these and the following pages, and you should score during what looks to be a record-wrecking run. NS

Even if the Buoy 10 fishery is 14 miles long by 5 miles wide, anglers tend to gather in certain channels on certain tides, and that means skippers need to be watchful for danger and to know the rules of passage.

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Barbless Spinner Rig for Buoy 10 NOTES Spinners have proven themselves season after season in the Columbia estuary and are now considered a Buoy 10 essential. Just make sure you bring lots of different shaped spinner blades, colors and sizes. Also, don’t just crimp your barbs that come stock on your favorite B10 spinners – cut the treble hook off and crimp on a Big River Bait hook that comes in an open eye. Having a strong single 4/0 hook will ensure deep penetration into any Chinook’s or coho’s jaw.

Run your spinner 5 feet behind a Delta Diver and Flasher and you will have a winning combination for Buoy 10.

–Andy Schneider

52 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

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4/0 Big River open-eye bait hook (barb crimped) 5-foot, 40-poundtest mono leader Delta Diver

(ANDY SCHNEIDER)

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COLUMNS

Getting In Front Of 2.6 Million Salmon U

nless you’ve been off planet, it’s likely you’re aware of the record-breaking salmon run returning to the Columbia River BUZZ RAMSEY from now through the end of September. It’s unbelievable, really, to have a salmon forecast totaling 2.6 million fish. We’d all be counting our blessings to have either a huge coho or whopper Chinook forecast, but this year we have both – 1 million silvers and another 1.6 million fall kings. Wow! And while finding a hotel room in Astoria or Ilwaco might be difficult at this late date, catching a salmon limit at Buoy 10 should be easy – given you’re fishing in the right spot during a decent part of the tide.

WITHOUT A DOUBT, the chief factor in finding salmon at Buoy 10 is an understanding of how tidal movements affect where salmon can be found. If you think that there is no way 2.6 million fish crowding into the Columbia mouth can escape detection, think again. After all, the Buoy 10 management area is a 4-mile-wide, 14-milelong section of river that sees salmon move several miles with each tidal exchange.

The basic concept of where salmon can be found with each tidal movement is pretty simple, really: Fish wanting to enter the big river collect at the mouth when the tide is outgoing (ebbing) and move into the estuary as the tide floods eastward. So the best fishing at low tide and the beginning of the flood is at or near the western boundary, the famed buoy. As the flooding tide builds, the fish (perhaps a massive wave of them) move eastward with it. At or near the top to the tide, the majority of the salmon can be found near

At the top of the tide, the waters on either side of the Astoria-Megler Bridge can hold lots of salmon, as Jim Robinson found out last season while fishing with the author. (BUZZ RAMSEY) or above the Astoria-Megler Bridge.

A tide book or smartphone app (I use FishHead) can provide you with the timing of the tide swings and tell you the amount of change from low to high in feet. This is important because a big tide will push more fish further into the estuary, in which case many will move upriver, while a low exchange will cause fish to accumulate in the estuary and linger in that area longer. A small tide exchange is when the difference between high and low tide is 7 feet or less.

During any given day, the best bite will likely occur during the last half of the flood and first half of the outgoing. This is when you will find most fish in the area extending from the west tip of Desdemona Sands, off Hammond, eastward past the bridge.

During the latter half of the flood you should be trolling upriver, the same direction as the incoming water. One strategy is to troll the north channel near Desdemona Sands in 20 to 30 feet of water and make mile-long tacks upriver, trolling well past the bridge as the flood tide is nearing its peak. Many anglers use cannonballstyle sinkers off a 20-inch weight-dropper line during this part to the tide, since it’s easier to keep your gear positioned just above bottom during the flood with sinkers as opposed to a diver.

Once the tide changes direction and begins to ebb, you’ll need to turn your boat around and troll westward, making milelong tacks before picking up your gear and running upstream to start another downAUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 57

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stream troll. It’s during the outgoing tide that divers, like a Double Deep Six or Delta, become more widely used than cannonballs.

Just run your diver out until it is within 2 or 3 feet of bottom.

SWITCHING YOUR GEAR from inline divers to sinkers is quick and easy when rigging everything with size 4 (54) plug snaps. In addition, employing plug snaps can make dealing with line tangles much easier.

Attractors, like Fish Flashes and other brands, are popular at Buoy 10. This flasher style spins on its axis, sending out horizontal, strobe-like flashes of light that fish quickly respond to. The triangular shape of this flasher style causes it to spin when connected directly to a diver, which makes rigging easy.

If you’re fishing a cannonball off a dropper line, however, you may want to rig a 22to 24-inch section of heavy mono from your spreader/sliding-weight setup back to your flasher so there is no way your sinker can swing up and tangle with your flasher. Letting your line out slowly is another way to re-

duce the chance of a tangle.

Both bait and lures produce at Buoy 10.

The traditional bait here is herring rigged to spin, with green or blue label being the most popular sizes. My advice is to have both sizes as fish will sometimes prefer one over the other. In addition, they may like ’em whole or plug cut, depending on their mood.

When it comes to salmon spinners, the most popular styles are those incorporating a squid into their design. Squid spinners are now offered by most manufacturers, with Mulkey and Toman brands found in most shops. Try rigging your herring or spinner on a 4- to 6-foot leader behind your flasher. Rigging a swivel halfway down your leader will help eliminate twisted leaders and keep everything working properly.

My plan is to be at Buoy 10 during the last three weeks of August and into early September, a time I hope to see you there. NS Editor’s note: The author is a brand manager for Yakima Bait and member of the management team. You can find Buzz on Facebook.

60 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

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COLUMNS

Buoy 10, By Kayak Buoy 10 is big – there’s a lot of water, there are a lot of power boats (some much, much larger than others) – but it and its record run of fall Chinook and coho are handleable by kayak, with the right precautions. Scott Brenneman trolls west as a freighter heads up the Columbia. (JEFF ANDERSON)

E

arly-morning low tide in mid-August: a line of trucks a mile long queues for the two Hammond ramps. Stepping out THE KAYAK GUYS of the 4-Way Stop

By Mark Veary and Go I contemplate the predawn traffic jam through a cloud of steam rising off my coffee. Thank goodness that’s not me!

Twenty minutes down the road I unload my gear to a choir of swamp sparrows, juncos and blackbirds. The sun hasn’t yet cleared the Coast Range but curling wisps of fog are already visible on the glassy waters of the Columbia River’s estuary.

No lines, no fees, no fumes.

My plan for the day is to hitch a ride on the outgoing tide, following the shipping channel toward Buoy 10 proper. Indeed, timing will be everything. As I paddle, I’ll keep an eye on my depth finder for the salt wedge that hails the change to incoming. All that water trying to escape the Columbia means that I’ll be drifting west well past the official high slack hour.

BEFORE PUSHING OFF, I take an inventory of my safety gear.

Drysuit, underlayers, hat, sunglasses,

sunscreen – check.

While days often break warm and still this time of year, the afternoon north and west winds will cool things in a hurry, and water temps here oscillate between chilly and downright cold.

PFD, safety knife, VHF radio, emergency strobe – check.

Should something unexpected happen, all of the items I’ll need for survival and rescue are attached to me and easily accessible. Scanning VHF channels 9, 13, 16 and 22A lets me eavesdrop on the giant cargo ships with which I’ll be sharing the water.

Safety flag, elevated 360-degree white light and noise maker – check.

Visibility is the key to avoiding conflict, though audible signals can be equally important in close quarters.

Knowing the deadly implications of mistakes in this crowded and often treacherous fishery makes delaying my launch time more palatable.

FINALLY ON THE water, I’ll rig up with a 6-inch flasher ahead of a Thumper spinner or possibly a Coyote spoon. Heavy leader and bead chains help to keep things running straight. While traveling with the tide a simple 4- to 6-ounce cannonball sinker will keep my gear in the zone. No need to bother with divers on a kayak. They’re just

not worth the extra drag.

If I pass through any bait balls, I may pause to drop a sabiki rig and jig up some fresh anchovies. Pinned to a Krippled Anchovy helmet, these freebies can make a big difference with finicky salmon. They’re also deadly when free drifted or mooched on the slack tides.

By Buoy 14, the water becomes choppy and confused with all of the transiting power boats. Standing waves crest and roll, fueled by the collision of salt- and freshwaters. As the tide nears low slack, I’ll remove the flasher from my rig and add 3 or 4 ounces of additional weight. Current eddies and seams can wreak havoc on complicated trolling setups, and the salt wedge makes it difficult to keep my gear down.

Once the surface water is moving upstream I remove the extra weight, put the flasher back on and follow the current east.

Depending on success, wind conditions and how much time I have, I’ll either work my way back to the launch or drag bottom while skirting Desdemona Sands to fish the flats above the Astoria-Megler Bridge. In the deeper channels I fish shallow, somewhere between the 10 and 20 pulls I have marked in my line with bobber stops. When the depth drops below 30 feet, I let out additional line to dredge the bottom for Chinook.

High slack brings my favorite hour of the AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 61

COLUMNS day. Minimal paddling is required to mooch or free-drift bait through the deeper slots along the Washington shore. Above me, gulls hang like a child’s mobile. Beneath my silent hull, scavenging bait balls flash and dart, drawing in opportunistic predators. In all the frenzied commotion, a drifting bait doesn’t last long.

While the author doesn’t use divers in his B10 setups, some kayak anglers like Jeff Anderson use them. (JEFF ANDERSON)

D

EA

L W ER EL IN C Q O UI M RI E! ES

OVER THE COURSE of the day, I’ve kept a watchful eye on the winds. More than any other threat, it’s wind that can be trusted the least. While I’ve never had to resort to plan “B,” I maintain a list of possible take-outs on both sides of the estuary should fatigue or gale prove too potent.

Even on a fishless day, tackling Buoy 10 with a kayak is a success – a full-body exercise in maximizing the potential for hooking up. Each current seam, wind gust and bait cloud is experienced viscerally. I compare it to tackling double-black-diamond ski runs or surfing a 15-foot winter swell.

You take away far more than you put into it. NS

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Northwest Sportsman 63

FISHING

Within Range Fall Chinook are too far out for plunkers? Not so, Lower Columbia anglers are discovering.

By Jeff Holmes

LONGVIEW—An army of Oregon and Washington salmon guides in sleds will work the Columbia’s waters this Au-

gust as fall Chinook in projected record numbers crowd upstream. Many more private boats will also anchor, troll, and hover for kings on the lower river.

From proper-sized river boats to 8-foot dinghies, you’ll see it all if you spend much time fishing the big creek. When the salmon are in, everyone wants in on

the action. But that doesn’t mean everyone should be out on the water in all conditions, and Northwest blogs and discussion boards light up with discussions of what boats are minimally adequate for fishing the Columbia. These discussions often erupt following a tragedy.

In the mildest late summer conditions careful anglers can fish the river with small boats, but most of the action involves anchoring

Salmon anglers like Kirby Cannon are discovering that by setting up on beaches near deep water and running lines out with small boats or kayaks, they too can catch fall brights on the Lower Columbia River. (SALMON JUNKIE GUIDE SERVICE)

AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 65

FISHING over deep water in or near the river’s main channel, or trolling or hovering in close proximity to many other fishing boats. Even when the wind doesn’t blow – which it does, often – anglers must deal with the wakes of big boats and inattentive boaters in much larger craft. With lots of dangers to observe, crazy crowds of boaters, and a million Chinook moving upstream, plunking makes a lot of sense, despite the misconception that fall fish run too deep

for this oldest and cheapest of fishing techniques. Successful plunkers know, however, that their techniques must necessarily differ from those employed in spring and early summer when salmon run close to beaches.

Fall Chinook run deeper and further from shore due to lower flows, warmer water, and more light penetrating the water column. Targeting these large salmon from the bank or with small crafts is a little more diffi-

PLUNKING PUGET ISLAND Excellent steelhead and fall Chinook fishing can be found in and around downtown Portland, and hordes descend on these waters when the fish are in. No matter the crowds, there will be plenty of fish to go around this fall, but for those who prefer a less urban aesthetic, there are options. Further downriver near the Port of Cathlamet, there are not nearly as many anglers as closer to PDX. Cathlamet is home to a few restaurants, sparse accommodations, and an excellent county marina with cabins, yurts, and camping spaces for rent. Mostly anglers come here to visit, and we recently found a bar full of other people with dyed fingers. We also met a couple from Bonney Lake who were so drunk they offered us $100 for our $20 pizza 10 minutes after the bar stopped serving food. For the ultimate commentary on the availability of late-night food here and our planning, we ate the pizza.

The town’s nightlife and culinary options may pale compared to Portland’s, but its historic feel, small businesses, and surrounding natural beauty make it an ideal getaway opportunity for friends and families who like nature and fishing for total chromers. Here, the Columbia narrows for the first time above its mouth, and islands and sharp shorelines funnel fish along their flanks. On Puget and adjoining islands, anglers bound to the shore and those who own small crafts can find uncrowded beaches with deep water only a cast or a run-line away. For those without boats, there’s plenty of roadside plunking available, but for anyone with a motor

66 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

boat or a kayak, the fishable area expands dramatically. If you haven’t, spend some time with a map of the lower river within a few miles up and downstream of Cathlamet. You’ll notice miles of island shoreline close to deep-water travel lanes.

My wife and I spent several days on Lower Columbia beaches plunking for steelies and salmon in our Bellinghambased NuCanoe Frontier kayaks this summer. We found miles of beaches with 40-foot-and-deeper travel lanes very close to sandy beaches that played host to a good ol’ time. In the short time we’ve had these hunting and fishing kayaks, they’ve already proven their worth as fishing craft and relationship enhancers.

Speaking of relationships, if you’re looking for one of the Northwest’s great rentable retreats, complete with moorage on Puget Island and unlimited fishing advice from a retired botany professor and a die-hard Cathlamet fisherman, try Stockhouse Farms.

We stayed across from Cathlamet on Puget Island this April at Rog’s Retreat on the farm (stockhousesfarm.com) for a very good price and plan to return.

This beautiful private cottage on an award-winning community-supportedagriculture farm comes with a loaded fire pit, s’mores stuff, homemade bread, butter and rose-hip jelly. Bring your wife or girlfriend here to this beautiful farm, and watch her want to go fishing again. –JH

cult. Gone are the short lob casts required to plunk for shallow-running springers. Instead, longer casts must be made, and only from specific beaches in close proximity to deep-water travel lanes. Many of these beaches where casting is possible can be found on or around Puget Island and other Lower Columbia islands where the shipping channel slices close to shore.

BUT IF CASTING were the only way to reach fall fish for plunkers, the subject would be far less article-worthy. Enter the running of lines via all manner of floating craft.

Not everyone has a big-river boat or even a desire to be in a boat at all, but anyone who can put on a PFD and who can paddle or run an electric motor can deliver baits from the shore with minimal costs. Go to any of the Columbia’s popular plunking beaches – Kalama Beach, Dike Road, etc. – and chances are you’ll observe many anglers with kayaks, canoes, cartoppers, pontoon boats, and other small craft.

Even some big sled owners will use their boats to run lines so friends and family can hang out on beaches in August instead of in garlicky sleds. Most disregard plunking this time of year or simply don’t know how easy it is to hang out on a beach listening for a bell to ring. As a result, there’s plenty of room out there this August to fish for kings and big B-run steelhead bound for Idaho, which run deeper and later than their smaller predecessors from July.

I’ve been using my NuCanoe Frontier this summer on Lower Columbia beaches to run lines, and I’ve been lucky enough to get help from a friend and plunking aficianado, Salmon Junkie Guide Service’s Kirby Cannon (503-206-9808).

I’ve heard some people actually laugh when they hear that Cannon sells plunking trips on a regular basis, but they’re wrong. Plunking, like any technique, involves a hierarchy of skills and a sharp learning curve. Many times during this year’s spring Chinook

season, he and his clients outfished guides I know who were out the same day in sleds with six rods. Cannon would acknowledge that it’s not every day that the plunkers beat the boats, but it is a highly effective and inexpensive method.

68 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

Here, Cannon offers his suggestions for fall Chinook fishing from shore:

“ALMOST AS MUCH as gear, the most important consideration for plunking is the tides. I can’t stress that enough.

The outgoing tide is the best by far. It’s

really hard for gear to work properly on the incoming and the low water of fall. Get to your fishing spot and get set up before high slack so you can fish the tide change and all of the outgoing. It’s easier to get lures to work, obviously, but more fish move and bite on the outgoing as well.

“Even before thinking about buying other plunking gear, start with a good rod holder. Plastic holders break too easily, and if there are rocks, well, no plastic will work. Heavy-duty metal holders that can be hammered into sand, gravel and rocks are critical to fishing properly and securing your rod and reel. Many plunking rods have been pulled into the river over the years, and all it takes to prevent it is buying a proper rod holder and hammering it in solidly.

“You obviously want a rod with good backbone for these big fall fish.

Plus, if you’re running lines to get out in the travel lanes, you generally want to run 10 to 12 ounces of lead. Even when casting, it often requires 8 to 10 ounces. They make all different kind of plunking rods, but not all have the oomph needed to fish these heavy weights while handling big fish. I use a 12-foot surf rod rated for 15-to-40pound line. My reel is an open face with no level wind, which makes for easier casting and less drag. I use a Daiwa Sealine 30.

“Most plunkers use mono, although you get a few who use braid. When these guys hook a fish on a crowded beach, or when someone near them hooks one, their braid becomes a dangerous line-cutting hazard. Fish get lost.

I run 30-pound mono with 30-pound leader. It does just fine, and I’ve never had to go any bigger.

“There are many different types of plunking rigs and baits, as well as different lengths for lead-dropper lines.

Those lengths depend on what type of baits you’re fishing and how deep you’re targeting fish, either by casting or running lines. A good and popular example for August is all the guys running line out to deeper water with a

floated line with a wobbler [see rig above]. Wobblers sink, so they all fish a long lead dropper, usually 36 to 48 inches, to keep their wobblers off the bottom. If you’re casting in moderate depths with floating baits,

70 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

Wobblers sink, so to effectively fish them from a plunked position, many anglers add a highly buoyant cigar-shaped bobber to their setup. Tie your mainline to a three-way swivel. Tie a 36- to 48-inch lead-dropper line to the bottom of the swivel, and tie a 10-ounce pyramid or claw sinker to the dropper line. Next, tie 24 inches of line to the backside of the three-way, add a bobber stop and a small Corky instead of bead for more floatation, then a 6-inch Thill Big Fish Slider float. Next comes another Corky followed by a barrel swivel. To complete the rig, tie 24 to 36 inches of line to the barrel swivel and then add your wobbler – or spinner.

If you run your line out to deeper water from the beach, start well upstream to allow for current and tide to carry your rig a little ways until it settles to the bottom in a deep travel lane in front of your rod holder position.(KIRBY CANNNON)

like Kwikfish or Spin-N-Glos, your lead-dropper line only needs to be 16 to 24 inches.

“You can run multiple baits on the same line, provided there are no more than a total of three hooks. I do this often, and so do most plunkers. Running multiple baits increases your odds of getting bit and is a good idea in most cases, but what if you snag up? Even in sandy areas, wood or a small rock patch can sometimes cost you. You will see some guys run their lines out in the summer and fall with three floated lines with wobblers. In my opinion, it’s a lot of gear. One snag and you lose three bobbers, Corkies, swivels, lead and, worst of all, $30 in wobblers. I run multiple rigs when I’m casting from shore and there’s less chance of snag, like in sandy or cobble areas or on beaches where I have fished a lot and know most of the hazards.

“More people focus on the Washington side because of the cold-water rivers flowing into the Columbia, attracting those rivers’ fish as well fish from throughout the system. The Oregon side doesn’t get much love, but upriver brights are scattered throughout the river. Wherever you fish, don’t get discouraged because it was slow with no fish one day. The next day can be light’s-out bells, where you can’t step away from rod holder.” NS

AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 71

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72 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

COLUMNS

Fight The Flossers With Floats

What you’ll see when a king actually likes – to say the least – your eggs hung under a bobber or drift fished. (HUNTER SHELTON)

A

couple Augusts ago I got a late start and pulled into the already crowded Skokomish River at the crack of 9 WESTSIDER a.m. After getting all

By Hunter Shelton our gear ready and Guest Columnist rods rigged, my new-to-Chinook-fishing partner and I headed down to my old stomping grounds to see if there were any midmorning biters left.

As we stood on the gravel bar, I described where to cast and how long each drift should be with anglers standing almost within arm’s length of each other. My partner was outfitted with a float-and-eggs setup and I had a drift-fishing presentation baited with eggs, and it didn’t take long to hook up with the

first one – two casts to be exact. Unfortunately, I lost that approximately 14-pounder, but two hours later we walked out with our limits while many others hadn’t even touched a fish all morning.

From that quick fishing trip I learned a few things: 1) Fish will still bite in crowded, pressured water; 2) Go ahead and sleep in; and 3) My egg cure was on point! And so could yours this summer and fall on many of Western Washington’s fall Chinook fisheries, including the Skoke, Nisqually and Samish, among others. So shorten up that leader, pinch those barbs and tie on a bobber for a more fun and legal king salmon season.

IT ALL STARTS with the main attraction – the bait – and the cure is a huge part of it.

Normally fall Chinook aren’t too picky about which you use, but sometimes it helps to have eggs in a couple different cures on hand

when you are fishing. There’s always the goto cures like Pautzke’s BorX O’Fire and Fire Cure, but never count out other companies like Pro-Cure, Nate’s, Amerman’s, and ShurCure as well as liquid dyes and cures. This year I am excited to try out Pro-Cure’s Wizard Cures and their Redd Hot. Make sure to read the directions on the cure bottle for best results or do a quick YouTube search on curing eggs for salmon.

For salmon I prefer to use bigger clusters of eggs, like the size of a golf ball, and baits that are really juicy and milk out well. Scents can be added but I haven’t noticed a difference in takes yet. Sand shrimp, prawns and other baits can be used and can be just as effective as well.

As for terminal tackle there are two main ways of rigging bait for fishing from the bank, either under a bobber or drift fished. For bobber fishing I like to use a AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 73

COLUMNS stout spinning combo, with a 9- to 10-foot rod and a reel loaded with either 20- or 25-pound mono or 30- to 60-pound braid.

I have tried several different combos and one I really like is the 9-foot-9 Berkley Air IM8 rod with a Mitchell 300xe loaded with 55-pound Fireline Crystal, but it’s anyone’s preference for what to fish with.

Now, for the business end. What I do is slide a bobber stop up the mainline, then bead, orange or chartreuse Corky, ½- to 1ounce Beau Mac drift or torpedo float then a 3⁄8- to ½-ounce bobber weight.

From the weight I tie on a 2-foot-long, 15pound leader with a 2/0 hook with yarn.

The reason for the yarn is that it will get tangled in the fish’s teeth and it helps to pull the bait loop when rebaiting.

My personal favorite way to fish eggs for kings is drift fishing. I start with a medium-heavy 8-foot-6 rod. I’m a Lamiglas type of guy, so I like the Norwest Specials or the G1310-T model which has a 10-20-pound line rating, perfect for when I spool my baitcaster with 25-pound

74 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

mono.

I tie on a swivel with a weight, and then off the swivel is a short, 18- to 24inch, 15-pound leader to a 2/0 hook with yarn. When drift fishing, the key is to have enough weight so that you are maintaining constant contact with the bottom. I have noticed that kings prefer a slowerthan-natural drift, and sometimes I have had to physically lift the rod to get the weight off the bottom to bounce it downstream.

I’M NOT GOING to say that bait is the only way to get kings to bite. Rather, I have personally had and heard of people who have great success with twitched jigs, and retrieved spinners and spoons.

The same colors you would use for coho – the usual pinks, purples, blacks, oranges and greens – work for kings.

And while Corky/bead and yarn combos get a bad reputation, during the fall I have had some good days on the Humptulips and Skokomish with Corkies and

beads on short leaders. One rainy fall day on the Hump I hooked 10 kings in two hours on just an orange bead and purple yarn with a 30-inch leader. Corky-andyarn combos in orange, purple, green and chartreuse have produced best for me in the past.

There aren’t many secret bank spots on Chinook rivers like the Skokomish, Nisqually, Samish, but there are certain slots that people know that fish may use as a traveling lane. Those can be dropoffs behind which fish lay, or even just a stump or rock in the water. These structures could be anywhere from the hatchery intake where the fish are headed for, but never count out above there as salmon have a tendency to stray on many rivers.

So for this season, prepare your bait, shorten those leaders and sleep in to catch your share of chrome-bright Chinook on any of the many king fisheries.

Tight lines and don’t forget to pinch those barbs. NS

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76 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

COLUMNS

Last Call For Summer Fun T

he little fish were hungry, and they were biting well. It was a beautiful summer day and we were catching “popcorn brookies” in a STUMPTOWN

By Terry Otto number of different Mt. Hood streams. They’re mostly little creeks that few fishermen bother with, and they mostly offer small trout – which was precisely what we were after. The waters have no limit on the size or numbers of nonnative brook trout, and thinning their ranks helps our native char, the bull trout.

We did catch and release one bull trout that day, but we caught and kept over two dozen brookies, some as small as 3 inches.

It was a great summer day, and the end result was a dinner of brook trout fried deliciously crispy, and served with a sweet chili sauce. We chased it with cold beer, and declared summer the best season of all.

IT’S AUGUST, A month that brings joy and anxiety to folks in the Northwest. It’s glorious summer, but it’s almost over. The rains will come soon, so it’s time to get in as much fun as you can. There’s no shortage of opportunities for the local fisherhunter-gatherer, but if you need a few suggestions, here are some ideas: Sunshine and trout: Trout fishing seems made for the summers of the Northwest, and the biggest problem is figuring out where to go. Much of the water in and around Portland teems with trout of one kind or another, and many local spots are stocked all year.

Some will fade with the heat, but don’t forget the Clackamas River’s lakes for good action all summer. Try Faraday or North Fork Reservoir at Promontory Park, where there is a special kids-only fishing pond for the youngest fishers in your family.

The Mt. Hood National Forest has excellent trout fishing, lakes such as Timothy, Olallie and Trillium. However, there are miles and

Crisp-fried popcorn brook trout are a favored summer delicacy for the author and family. The small ones can be eaten whole, and are delicious. (TERRY OTTO)

CRISP-FRIED POPCORN BROOK TROUT This was a favored recipe when we visited Colorado years ago, and we tried it again recently with Oregon brook trout. They were superb.

1 teaspoon garlic powder ½ teaspoon paprika Caravelle brand or other sweet chili sauce Lemon slices Vegetable oil for frying

Ingredients As many 3- to 4-inch-long brook trout as you can legally catch and keep, gutted and beheaded. The trick here is to use the smallest brookies, because the bones will cook through during the process and turn soft. This makes them perfect for eating whole – skin, bones, and all – just like popcorn shrimp. Once a brookie reaches more than 4 or 5 inches, the bones won’t cook out as well.

2 eggs and an equal amount of beer Two teaspoons cornstarch 1 ½ cups flour 11⁄2 teaspoons salt

Directions Clean and dry the trout. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan. Whisk cornstarch into beer, then add the eggs and whisk again. Add salt, garlic powder, and paprika to flour and stir together. Dip whole brookies into the egg mix, then into the flour mix, and drop into hot oil. Flip once as soon as one side starts to brown, which should just take a couple minutes. About two minutes more and they are done.

Serve with chili sauce and lemon slices, and pair with grilled potatoes and a fruit salad.

AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 77

miles of underfished streams on the forest, and these are where you can find wild, willing trout that will attack just about anything you put in the water. If you want to keep stream trout, you would do well to target the brookies. Most Mt. Hood streams offer only catch and release or meager limits for native rainbows and cutthroats.

Look for the brook trout in high-elevation creeks below lakes with self-sustaining populations of them. A quick call to the forest’s ranger district offices will help narrow the search, and Internet queries will net some results, but be prepared to do some exploring.

Make it easy on yourself, and if it’s allowed on the creek you’re fishing, try worms. A lowly ’crawler will outperform any other bait when it comes to brookies, and that includes most flies. Drifting a small hook and a bit of worm under a single split shot is deadly. But if you like to work hard (or bait is not allowed), try the smallest Panther Martin with a bronze blade you can find.

Walleye of August: This month brings

78 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

some excellent walleye fishing with it, and although the Multnomah Channel usually slows a bit in August, the Willamette can still produce well, and the Columbia should provide a good bite all month.

Once again, worms are the easy way to score. Simply troll downstream over the gravel and rock reefs, keeping your worm harness on the bottom. In the Columbia, look to the Washougal Reef north of Government Island.

Team Hook Up Guide Service (503-6665370) runs walleye trips.

All hail kings: Any discussion of Portland options in August must include the upriver brights that will grace the Columbia in the last half of the month. With a forecast of well over a million Chinook returning to the big river, this season could actually be better than last year, and that’s saying a lot.

Many of the big salmon will be taken by anglers fishing wobblers from anchor, although trolling can also prove effective.

Hoglines will form off the north side of Government Island and other hotspots like the mouth of the Sandy River. NS

The Columbia should be full of fine fall Chinook by the end of August. Todd Griffith of Reno caught this one last season. (TERRY OTTO)

AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 79

80 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

JIG

Micro Jig

OF THE MONTH

Article and images by Chris Gregersen

A

ugust’s jig of the month is a very simple pattern, yet a presentation that is largely overlooked. The micro jig takes one of the most basic jig patterns and scales it down to less than half the size of most “standard” steelhead jigs.

Micro jigs can be effective at any time, but they’re most at home in low and clear water, when steelhead have been pressured and are pretty wary of most oversized presentations. These bite-sized morsels can also be dynamite on winter brats as well, and virtually any of your favorite jig patterns can be tied in a micro size.

Supplies

2 Fur On

Size 4 2x hooks, rabbit fur, micro pearl-core braid or fine chenille, glue.

1 Choosing A Hook When tying these jigs, the main concern is hook strength. Avoid the fine-wire “panfish” type jigheads, and opt for 2x hooks instead. They are tougher to find, so consider ordering online. For comparison, here are sizes 1/0, 1, 2 and 4 jig hooks – the 4s are my go-to for micros.

The small profiles of these jigs are what will trigger fish to hit, so elaborate patterns aren’t usually necessary. Start with the bunny tail. I like rabbit fur for these jigs, which is much finer than marabou and gives you great action and profile with relatively little material. Pinch a finger full of hair and cut it right off the rabbit strip or hide, and anchor it in.

3 Finish Up Once tied down, lay down a piece of micro pearl-core braid, or fine chenille. Wrap the body. Wrap this forward evenly and tightly to give a slight ribbed appearance, then tie off at the head with a couple half hitches and glue.

CONTEST If you tie one of the jigs Chris features on this page this year and catch a steelhead with it, email awalgamott@media-inc.com a photo with the jig in the fish’s mouth and you could win a full set of his jigs featured here in 2014!

4 Fishing Small Whether you tie this jig on a 2x hook or standard wire, I recommend fishing them on 6-pound leader and a soft-action rod to ensure you don’t bend or pull out the hooks. NS AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 81

FISHING

Top Shelf

By Jeff Holmes

T

ucked in a fjord on Vancouver Island’s northwest CANADA coast, the tiny port EH! of Tahsis is the gateway to the Northwest’s greatest ocean salmon fishery. Every port on our coast can boast lights-out salmon angling at times – this year especially – but numbers don’t lie in this case. Two fabled protected-water fisheries – Nootka Sound and Esperanza Inlet – are just minutes away from Tahsis, and the open ocean is less than an hour. The Continental Shelf is only 15 miles offshore here, funneling Canadian and American salmon into the narrowest chute on the West Coast and attracting big schools of albacore in late August and September as close as 12 miles out. Nowhere between the Queen Charlotte Islands and Mexico does the shelf come closer to land than in front of Esperanza Inlet.

This August, those offshore waters an hour from Tahsis will shine with slashing Chinook and coho, as record numbers of Canadian and American fish travel down the Salmon Highway bound for the Fraser, Columbia and hundreds of other Northwest streams.

Excellent protected-water salmon fishing can be found far closer to Tahsis too.

And with these big returns, even more anglers than normal from all over the world will fly in or make the underthree-hour drive from Campbell River.

What looks like a ghost town in early June will erupt with campers, boats, Bryan Adams music, subsequent laughter, and the waft of smoking salmon.

These hordes bearing coolers will in-

clude plenty of Lower 48ers. Most of the more than 2 million salmon bound for just the Columbia will streak past Esperanza Inlet in late July and August, and many knowledgeable American salmon hunters make annual trips to fish with guides at lodges or out of their own boats. It’s also generally very easy to score lots of lingcod, halibut and rockfish to go with one’s all-but-guaranteed eightsalmon (four kings) possession limit. Generous limits, combined with an unmatched aesthetic experience, bring some Northwest sportsmen back every year. It’s very easy and affordable to bring boats or kayaks to Vancouver Island

Proximity to edge of the continent draws salmon, bottomfish, tuna tight to Vancouver Island’s Tahsis. with both BC Ferries or the Black Ball Ferry Line out of Port Angeles, Wash., and even with a ferry ride, Tahsis is only a long day’s drive from Portland and Seattle – even Spokane.

WHILE THE FISHING and visual landscape are amazing, Tahsis leaves something to be desired if you’re

Fishing aboard the Kristine out of Tahsis earlier this summer, Jake Barker nailed this 45-pound Chinook on hoochie. “He fought like a big sturgeon, ripping 100-plus yards of line or so and then just wanting to stay down,” the St. Helens, Ore., angler reports. (JAKE BARKER) AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 83

and Follow the Law It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3...

1.

The ONE place not to be is in the path of whales. Don’t position your vessel in the path of oncoming whales within 400 yards of a whale.

2.

Stay at least TWO hundred yards away from any killer whale (200 yards = the distance of two football fields or about 200 meters).

3.

Remember these THREE ways to Be Whale Wise: follow the guidelines for viewing all wildlife, check for local protected areas and restrictions, and always be safe.

400 yards

looking for a touristy coastal community. The small village used to be a bustling industrial port with logging, mining and fishing paying the bills. Today, timber giant Western Forest Products – whose operations are conspicuous across the island – trucks their timber elsewhere. All that’s left of the mill is a giant concrete slab overgrown by weeds and blackberries. The town may not be typical for tourists, but the swell of summer visitors will nonetheless transform a bleak, almost post-apocalyptic townscape into an outpost for serious anglers and outdoor adventurers setting out for the wilds. Anyone who has lived in Tahsis has stories of bears and cougars in yards, even of wolves in town.

The intensive logging of Vancouver Island has built immense wealth in Vancouver and elsewhere in Canada for generations.

Old practices that destroyed or threatened salmon and steelhead runs have been improved, but clearcuts are nonetheless evident almost everywhere. Refreshingly, the drive from Campbell River to Tahsis is partly unlogged, and much of the route slices through Strathcona Provincial Park, which is characterized by tall, rocky peaks and magnificent waterfalls. The island is home to 18 distinctive mountain ranges and several peaks reaching 7,000 feet.

Roosevelt elk and blacktail deer are common along the drive to Tahsis and provide a prey base for the island’s robust-butelusive predator populations. If you’ve ever wanted a chance to photograph large, coal-colored black bears, most trips to the island yield several bruin sightings, especially on remote beaches and around ripe berries and other food sources along roads. Sea otters, river otters, porpoises, seals, sea lions, diverse bird species, and even orcas are common in the marine environment.

SINCE TAHSIS’S FEW hundred year-round residents swell to a couWHALES’ PATH

WHALES’ PATH

400 yards

Visit www.bewhalewise.org to learn more, download the laws, regulations, and guidelines, and to report violations.

Report Violations: Enforcement 1-800-853-1964 or online at www.bewhalewise.org

84 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

ple thousand in midsummer, there’s not much year-round infrastructure, but there is at least one excellent restaurant (Tahsis Time Grill) and a good one at the full-service Westview Marina (good burger). Westview (westviewmarina.com) offers reliable lodging too, but the best lodging bet in Tahsis is the Nootka Gold B&B (nootkagold.com), whose owner is also the owner and chef at the grill. Nootka Gold is ideally located and is comfortable and super-clean, with an excellent kitchen appointed by a chef. Staying here and eating at the grill is a very good idea. So is learning to pronounce the town’s name before every Canadian corrects you. It’s not taw-sis; it’s taa-sis. And when you clean your catch or have someone clean it, it’s fill-etting, not fill-aying. Eh? Already by June, a 46-pound Chinook was landed in Esperanza Inlet by angler Jake Barker fishing out of Westview Marina. Fish this large and larger are caught every year here, but never so early. West Coast fisheries managers prognosticate record salmon fishing and a high proportion of 4- and 5-year-old kings, meaning those from 25 to 45 pounds – or larger. And by mid-July, big waves of migratory salmon were tripping Scotty downrigger releases and filling coolers. Planning a 2015 trip to Tahsis or one of the lodges spread around Nootka Sound and Esperanza Inlet is a sure bet, especially from July 15 to August 15 if big migratory kings are your main draw. In late August, northern coho show, and so do unbelievable numbers of tuna. September is fantastic and worth a look for 2014 and the future. NS

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COLUMN

Exploring Esperanza’s Bounty O

ur paddles finally moved together in practiced rhythm as we powered our brand-new kayaks on phosphorescent water with

By Erika & Jeff Holmes the full moon’s glow and the tide at our backs. Human lights came into view, two hours later than our stated latest return to Rodgers Fishing Lodge on Vancouver Island’s stunning west coast. Here it stays light out until almost 11 p.m. in midJune, and we’d lost track of time reveling in We always carry our Counter Assault bear the beauty and solitude of kayaking in prospray, a must for sportsmen and hikers on tected waters an hour from the nearest port.

Vancouver Island or anywhere predators are The warmth of wine was in both of our numerous and known to be aggressive. Just stomachs an hour earlier as we cinched up on our short walk, we saw scores of piles of our Mustang PFDs in the near darkness and fresh bear scat and half as many piles of old set out for the lodge from a remote logging wolf dung, maybe cougar. landing in a fjord off of Vancouver Island’s Esperanza Inlet, close to the open ocean.

BEFORE BEGINNING OUR return paddle to We had paddled our NuCanoe Frontiers the lodge in the fading light, a commercial to the landing from the lodge earlier that prawn boat pulled up to moor at the remote evening, watching black bears crunching logging landing’s dock. Esperanza Inlet is rich oysters and mussels at low tide on the way. with spot shrimp, but don’t call them shrimp With our kayaks tied to the landing’s dock, in Canada. They’re prawns – eh? – and they’re we spent the evening hikwonderful and easy to trap ing logging trails offering The Long Haul, celebrating or to buy off the dock. Even people-powered hunting stunning scenery and bird from the boat, however, watching, as well as all-im- and fishing opportunities, spot prawns cost $10 a and quality of life in the portant passage through pound in 2014, comparaNorthwest outdoors. the island’s nearly impeneble to red king crab. Prawntrable vegetation. After returning to the landing is now big business up here, and with ing from a 4-mile walk, our plans for a more demand from Asian markets, the numcooking fire were shredded like our aluber of prawners has similarly increased. We minum foil packet containing China rockfish met the driver in Tahsis who hauls all of the fillets, butter, citrus, and salt and pepper. live spot prawns brought into the port to a It was dumb and irresponsible of us (Jeff) processing and shipping facility on the isto leave that fish where the bears could get it, land’s east coast. It was his 36th straight day although it was clear that the landing is a of making the same six-hour round trip haulplace where trash is sometimes stored – and ing tens of millions of dollars of prawns, inburned – by fishermen, loggers, and various cluding those caught by the boat that had commercial enterprises in Esperanza Inlet. just appeared.

First blood out of his new kayak for co-author Jeff Holmes was this quillback rockfish; he also hit vermillions and lings from the craft while fishing out of Tahsis, B.C., this year.

(JEFF HOLMES)

THE LONG HAUL

Moments after mooring, a homesick 19year-old Australian walked up to smoke cigars where we were finishing snacks and drinks – ones we’d more wisely hidden away in the storage compartment of our kayaks.

“Mitch” had come to prawn fish in Canada for the experience, to pay for his trip, and to make enough money to spend a little time in Canada and the US before going home. He lamented he was only going to break even and that he was all but a slave to the laziest and meanest prawn fisherman in British Columbia, a guy who fished and pulled a third of the traps of his competitors in twice the time. Jeff tried to commiserate with Mitch in his native tongue, but as usual, all the Australian words Jeff knew were made-up tripe from a chain steakhouse. We enjoyed a bonzer laugh and a fair dinkum chuckle about that, and found common ground and a love of Australian butt-rock band Wolfmother. Mitch was glad to see nice people for the first time in over a month, but he was somewhat less glad when the captain bellowed up from the boat, “Time for bed!” This was our cue to wish him luck – and to start paddling.

We worked off our wine and snacks by straining against the tide. We made slow ground against its pull for awhile and felt it go slack as a full moon rose behind us above AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 87

COLUMN A bald eagle perches in one of the author’s NuCanoe Frontier kayaks.

the peaks of Strathcona Provincial Park. We tucked in against heavily forested Eliza Island, the rocky shoreline of which led toward the lodge. We picked our way along the backside of the small island with the lodge’s distant lights in sight, and the tide turned and sped us along until we were within the lodge’s breakwater.

KAYAKS ARE RARE but very welcome at Rodgers (rodgersfishinglodge.com), which gladly hauled ours from Tahsis via supply boat the day before. Most visitors to Tahsis and nearby lodges are set on filling coolers with salmon and more, and the most efficient way to do this is via seaworthy ocean boats. Many Canadian and American anglers stay in Tahsis and run to the fishing grounds daily, but there’s simply no getting closer to the best fishing in Esperanza Inlet than at Rodgers. The open ocean is fewer than 10 minutes away from the remote floating lodge, and vast paddling and kayak fishing opportunities exist both offshore and in protected water.

90 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

(JEFF HOLMES)

One of Vancouve r Island’s plentif bl OnacekofbeVaarnc ul s sn ouac veks r Ison gras land s in ’s pl frblon entiful actkof beaarwsalsnl ac ofkssaon la l.

(JE gr FF assHO inLM front of a wall of salal. (JEFF HO ES) LMES)

FISHING Earlier in the evening, Jeff caught several small quillback and vermillion rockfish jigging from his Frontier, and the next day we’d do even better, landing a lingcod and larger rockfish. We also fished from boats in the open ocean for salmon, halibut and lings on this trip, and on a planned return adventure, we’ll catch rides with a mothership boat to access some of the most stunning and untapped kayak fishing opportunities on the West Coast. With nary a black or blue rockfish in the mix in four days of fishing, we landed yelloweye, rougheye, canary, copper, quillback, China, silver-gray, vermillion, brown, and widow rockfish with our guide in the ocean, along with nice lings, several salmon, and two small halibut. With a full moon and a giant tide swing, halibut fishing proved tough. A nice cod ate one of the two dinks we caught, and we gaffed it. Visiting Vancouver Island during the early season is a gamble since the weather is less predictable and the salmon are much less numerous than during the heart of summer.

Still, as usual, we left Canada with a mighty

92 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

haul of fish.

There are vast options for guided and doit-yourself fishing and paddling adventures in fresh- and saltwater all over the island, but the best, most unspoiled options exist on the Northwest coast in places like Esperanza Inlet and many more. We’ve made trips to the north end of the island several times, but this was our first with kayaks. Vancouver is world-famous for its paddling, yet despite the excellent fishing, very little kayak angling takes place. That’s our cue to keep coming back in our NuCanoes. Halibut, salmon, lingcod and rockfish are all available in protected water here in Esperanza Inlet and in nearby Nootka Sound, and in the open ocean during calm conditions.

UPON OUR LATE return to the lodge that first night, we sneakily slid our boats up onto Rodgers’ deck to avoid detection, only to see the lodge lights go out. The owner’s wife, Pam, saw that we had pulled up to the kayak-friendly dock – well after midnight.

Oops. We won’t make Pam worry or stay up

late again, but we will be returning to the lodge in summer 2015 with kayaks. We hope to land salmon and halibut from our Frontiers on that trip, along with fishing offshore from proper-sized ocean fishing boats. Rodgers’ fleet of 23- to 29-footers with new twin outboards provides safe and fast travel to and from remote fishing grounds. We fished the ocean every morning of our trip, cruising one day at 35 knots in a 29-foot Pursuit with twin 225s on a flat ocean, a stark contrast from our evenings spent paddling.

Rodgers also welcomes boat-in customers bringing their own fishing craft, but with record salmon fishing expected in the best saltwater ambush spot in the Northwest, the lodge is sold out for summer 2014.

They still have some availability for their new trophy coho/albacore tuna combo trips in September, where the tuna grounds are so close and the boats are so swift that anglers can load up on albacore offshore and comfortably fish inshore for trophy northern coho to 25 pounds – in the same day! NS

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AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 93

FISHING

Contender Or

Pretender?

Dworshak has served up giant smallies, including the last two Idaho state records – can its waters feed a new world record?

By John Black

OROFINO, Idaho—On Oct. 28, 2006, Dan Steigers shocked the bass establishment to the core by landing a 9pound, 11 1⁄2-ounce smallmouth at Dworshak Reservoir.

The phenomenal catch was remarkable for several reasons. The monster fish shattered the Idaho state record – also held by Steigers – by almost 2 pounds. At that time it was the largest state record fish caught anywhere in the country since 1971. And it’s currently the fifth largest state record smallie in the United States – all others came from states located well down the latitude ladder Immediately, this impoundment of the North Fork Clearwater, a system much better known for its giant steelhead, was in the limelight as a first-rate smallmouth destination, and some enthusiasts even boldly predicted the next world record would come from here.

But a world record – a fish of 12 pounds – from this far north?

Doubters say heresy. Not possible.

Ain’t gonna happen. No way!

Everyone knows the short growing season in the cold weather makes such a record impossible.

Some disagree.

Steve McMinn of the LC Valley Lunker Chasers, seen here with (right) Steve Knoll, believes without a doubt that Dworshak will yield even bigger smallies than these 7.75- and 6.85pounders, caught during a spring tournament this year. (STEVE McMINN)

THE CASE FOR Believers say the gene pool that spawned Steigers’ monster fish is still present and therefore there is a good chance that some even bigger smallmouth are swimming in the lake.

Steve McMinn, president of the LC Valley Lunker Chasers in nearby Lewiston, is one of these strong believers. He says there is “no doubt” Dworshak could produce the next world record.

“The habitat is perfect. Every year the water is swarming with healthy kokanee, the T-bone steak food source

for big bass. Plus, we have so much area that parts of the lake, especially in the north section, are essentially virgin water,” he says.

McMinn also points out that Dworshak is a relatively new fishery and that it will get even better as it evolves.

“It is a big body of water and, just because nobody has landed a 10-pluspound bass doesn’t mean they aren’t here,” he states.

Sean Wilson, the lake biologist for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, supports McMinn’s view that the lake will evolve and its best days AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 95

FISHING lie ahead.

“We are currently working to get a better understanding of the growth, survival and diet habits of our smallmouth and how they have been changing in recent years. We also have an ongoing nutrient program for kokanee that is increasing and stabilizing our kokanee population. We suspect kokanee are the main source of food for big bass, and anything we do to help our kokanee will surely help the size of our bass,” Wilson writes.

Steigers and Clearwater Bass Club

president Jack Worle aren’t convinced the nutrient program is a good thing for the reservoir’s bass. They agree the larger kokanee are good for bass already large enough to eat them because the abundance of the feed can help get them grow to amazing sizes.

But they worry that the larger kokanee hurt the young class of smallmouth which miss out on the abundance of perfect bite-sized 6-inchers.

“I’ve heard this thought, but I don’t buy it,” says Wilson. “It still takes the kokanee over a year to get to 6 inches,

HOW TO

) e b y a (M

CATCH THAT RECORD The world-record smallmouth weighed 11 pounds, 15 ounces, and was caught on Dale Hollow Lake on the TennesseeKentucky border. Both states claim the fish as theirs. Either way, it was hooked

by David Lee Hayes while trolling a 600series pearl-colored Bomber 300 feet from the boat. The lure looks like a Magnum Wiggle Wart, a popular salmonid plug used in Northwest rivers.

Both guide Jeff Jarrett and current state-record holder Dan Steigers like this method in the fall, but they prefer weighted stickbaits to Warts or Bombers. Steigers caught his whopper on a Sweet Beaver plastic creature bait.

He also likes PowerGrubs and crankbaits when the water is cold. In October, “anything that looks like a kokanee is good.”

Local bass club president Steve McMinn is a fan of topwater baits, crankbaits, grubs, and tube jigs, while the advice from Jack Worle, a counterpart in another local bass group, is to bring a full tackle box because what 96 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

works one day might not work the next.

Worle changes baits and colors often.

Steigers fishes Dworshak year-round and has had his best luck in October.

McMinn thinks a prespawn spring catch has the best chance of nabbing a world record. Jarrett has caught his biggest single fish in August.

Where to fish? The northern part of the lake is best, especially late in the year when kokanee head for their spawning grounds and many big bass follow them. During the heat of the day, the bass go deep – especially big ones – and they follow kokanee balls that go deeper as summer goes on. Also, fish the points, coves and areas where creeks flow into the lake.

Good maps of Dworshak are available at its six boat ramps. –JB

so there should always be kokanee of an appropriate size available as a prey source. The kokanee are about an inch bigger in the years we have fertilized compared to years we didn’t. I doubt that puts them out of the range the bass can eat.”

Jeff Jarrett of Jarrett’s Guide Service (wefishhere.com) in nearby Orofino says there is not yet enough science to determine the long-range impact of the nutrient program, but he sides with Wilson and McMinn regarding the positive potential of the reservoir. Just last year, one of Jarrett’s clients caught two fish of worldclass size, and he catches some big smallmouth on almost every outing.

Jarrett is also an avid believer in age cycles and thinks perfect growing conditions could exist for a particular class of smallmouth that might produce both huge numbers and jawdropping sizes. He believes this could happen at any time.

THE CASE AGAINST

The biggest and most obvious case against Dworshak as a potential world record fishery is its northern location.

Smallmouth aren’t sturgeon or catfish.

They only live a few years, so the length of growing season is a major reason why most big guys have come from more southerly, nonsnowpackfed waters. Good growing temperatures last only so long in Idaho so generally, the fish don’t have the chance to get as big here.

That doesn’t mean the task is impossible as an extraordinary gene pool has the potential to neutralize this. Still, if a 12-pound Godzilla were to be nailed in the north, it would be major news for sure!

There is also a strong feeling among many experienced bass fishermen that the fishery has been on the decline since Steigers’ 2006 catch.

Worle points to smaller tournament bag limits as absolute proof and Steiger himself, who spends most

FISHING weekends on the lake, supports the decline scenario. He still catches big fish at times, but they are becoming fewer and farther between.

The potential world record skeptics point out that, though Steigers’ fish was impressive, it was still a full 2 pounds under the world record. One member of a Northwest fishing forum states, “The next world record is not coming from Dworshak. I want to see something over 10 pounds before I take that potential seriously.”

In fact, Worle thinks the next Idaho record will actually come from the Snake River, some 50 miles from Dworshak. He believes it has a more varied and therefore superior food source.

“I know there are 10-pound fish out there,” he says. “It’s just being lucky enough to get one in the boat.”

A recent catch from the Snake by Lewiston High School student Adam Dinubilo supports Worle’s opinion.

Dinubilo released the bass without

98 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

By late summer, as kokanee move uplake past Grandad Bridge toward spawning areas above there, smallies will be right behind – or rather, just underneath.

(JOHN BLACK)

weighing it, but a rough estimate put it at 23 inches which is certainly up there.

Another issue is that Dworshak can be a fickle and difficult fishery. The rise

and fall of water temperatures and the severe drawdowns often make bass fishing unproductive. This is especially hard on people who do not have the

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FISHING flexibility to hit the water when the conditions are good.

“People who have to plan their fishing around vacation times can be out of luck,” says McMinn. The fishing can be dead one week and on fire the next.

Conditions change that much and that quickly here.”

OTHER FACTORS All fisheries go through cycles, but many believe Dworshak is more vulnerable to off years than most other reservoirs. The reason for this is, again, the drawdowns, which average 155 feet in winter, and can sometimes contribute to severe spawn kill. Even one of these years is extremely detrimental to smallmouth as a whole, and big fish in particular.

Illegal harvest is another issue. Most anglers are honest and environmentally sensitive. They learn the local laws and follow them to a tee. But all of the peo-

100 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

ple interviewed for this article agree that a few unscrupulous people can and do keep everything they catch, regardless of size or circumstances. A few such people can severely harm a fishery.

Also, all of the fishermen interviewed believe a slot limit needs to be established and enforced to increase the long-term health of the smallmouth population. Currently, this does not exist at Dworshak, so a lot of good-sized fish, critical to spawning are taken out of the lake annually.

Although McMinn is an optimist, he thinks increased tournament fishing is a problem too. Sometimes fish are taken off spawning beds 40 miles or more from the weigh-in and then released at the station.

“Think of it this way: Your wife is two weeks from giving birth and you drive her 40 miles away and tell her to walk home. You can see how that might be a problem,” McMinn jokes while making the serious point.

THE VERDICT Breaking a record that’s held up since 1955 is an extreme long shot, no matter who you are or where you are fishing. Getting hit by lightning (twice), winning the Lotto or being eaten by a polar bear seems more likely.

But thinking about it is fun and a bit exciting. Plus many people have caught 6-pounders here, oncein-a-lifetime smallmouth for many.

But regardless, serious bass fishermen should put the reservoir on their bucket list. It is a beautiful area and you will be glad you are here.

In fact, it has been nicknamed Divorceshack because of its appeal and ability to lure fisherman every weekend.

And you never know. While there are no polar bears in Idaho, we sure do have Lotto outlets and lots of lightning! NS

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FISHING

Bass On Top

By Roger Davis ummertime. For most anglers, this means fishing. For you, that may be chasing salmon, steelhead, trout, lingcod, or even albacore.

There are two species of gamefish that are highly underrated in these parts: largemouth and smallmouth bass.

More specifically, trophy

S

largemouth and giant smallmouth.

Somewhat overshadowed by the popularity of salmon and steelhead, the quality and size of bass in the Northwest has remained a secret to all but a select breed of fisherman.

In all my years of fishing, I’ve felt no greater thrill than the feeling when a giant bass explodes on my topwater lure. Summertime is by far the best time of year to land yourself a trophy bass on topwater. I am going to discuss a few patterns that have consistently helped me land big largemouth and smallmouth during this very time of year. Many say summertime is the most difficult to catch a trophy bass, but little do they know, topwaters work on giants.

KERMIT THE FROG One of the best methods for catching a giant bass in the summer is

North Puget Sound angler talks summer topwater fishing.

the hollow-bodied weedless frog.

Capable of being fished in areas a normal lure can’t, they can be dynamite during the right conditions.

The first and most important thing to consider when using a frog is your tackle. I recommend a heavy, fast-action casting rod in the 7-foot-2 to 7-foot-6 range coupled with a low-profile, high-speed baitcaster with at least a 7.0:1 gear ratio. Next, and most important, braided line. I prefer 65-pound Spiderwire. Having the right tackle will increase your hookup ratio exponentially.

Frogs are most effectively fished in shallow, stained, weed-choked lakes. On hot days, work the frog over the thickest matted vegetation you can find, working the bait with a walk-the-dog action. To better achieve that enticing side-to-side action, trim the legs about 1 to 1½ inches. At night or during cloudy conditions, fish the weedlines and pad edges. Pause at openings in the weeds and be prepared for violent strikes. When you do get a strike, immediately lower your rod tip and reel in the slack before setting the hook hard. The braided line and high-speed reel will help get a solid hookset and pull trophy bass from the thickest cover.

WHAT’S THE BUZZ?

When the author says the bigger the bait, the bigger the fish, he means it.

This 6-pounder bit on a California-bassin’-sized 9-inch stickbait. (ROGER DAVIS)

Buzzbaits are probably the most overlooked big-bass catcher in our part of the country. The reason most anglers don’t have success with buzzbaits is because they require tuning out of the package.

The first thing I do to tune a new buzzbait is to remove the blade and add a small Colorado blade to act as AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 103

FISHING a “clacker.” It taps against the spinning blade for added noise.

Next, I file the rivet behind the blade. A couple grooves in the form of a cross work quite nicely to get a good amount of squeak and squeal. Finally, I place the buzzbait in front of a fan on high for half an hour. This breaks in the blade and really achieves that high-pitched, metal-on-metal squeak that drives big bass crazy. Noise is what makes buzzbaits so effective – the more noise, the better. You will have about 500 casts before the blade and rivet wear out and need to be replaced and retuned.

A couple other tricks to improve hookup ratio include trimming the skirt even with the back of the hook shank and, perhaps most importantly, always adding a trailer hook. Fifty percent of my buzzbait fish are caught by the trailer hook.

In shallow stained lakes I use a ½-ounce buzzer and hit all open water, cover, and just about anywhere I can get a clean run without fouling the blade. In clear-water lakes I use a ¼ounce bait and fish it on flats, weedlines, docks, and laydowns, bumping cover as often as possible.

Don’t forget to vary your retrieve. Buzzbaits can work under just about any kind of conditions, and I always have one tied on this time of year, no matter what lake I am fishing.

As far as tackle, I recommend the same or similar setup as your frog rod. And just as with a frog, do not set the hook im-

104 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

In a decade of bassin’ in the Northwest, Davis says he’s caught more fish over 6 pounds on topwaters in summer on these specific lures than anything else in his tackle box. He also says that no matter the style of topwater you choose – frogs, buzzbaits or stickbaits – make sure of one thing: its color.

Black is his go-to shade, day or night, and in any water condition.

(ROGER DAVIS)

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FISHING mediately when you get a strike. Lower the rod, reel in the slack quickly, and set the hook hard. The braided line will assist in the hookset and for pulling the biggest fish out of the thickest cover. Braid is critical for landing giants.

DON’T BE A STICK IN THE MUD Perhaps my most preferred method for catching huge bass in clear waters is the use of topwater stickbaits such as the Heddon Zara Spook and the Lucky Craft Sammy. Nowadays, not much tuning is required for these baits out of the package. If you’ve never used a stickbait, I recommend picking up at least one and practicing your walk-the-dog action with it.

I reserve this bait for early mornings, late evenings, and overcast days on clear lakes. Stickbaits shine in calm or lightwind conditions. Avoid using them in windy or choppy waters.

Make long casts and work the bait along points, shallow flats, weedlines, and docks.

Replace the stock trebles with some Gamakatsu EWG trebles of the same size. These not only will increase your hookup ratio, but hold the fish better once hooked. I prefer a mediumpower, moderate-action casting rod with a good-quality, medium-speed baitcaster. The softer rod helps hold the fish on and prevents ripping the thinner wire trebles out of the fish’s mouth. Spool up with 15- to 20-pound monofilament because

106 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

Topwaters really shine on big bass – especially at night. This 81⁄2-pounder fell victim to the author on a full moon. (ROGER DAVIS)

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it floats and helps achieve the walkthe-dog action more easily. I even wax the first 10 feet of line to prevent it from sinking when I pause the bait.

When a strike occurs, do not set the hook right away. Immediately lower your rod, reel down the slack, then set the hook in a firm sweeping motion. Do not set your drag too tight (the light-gauge trebles can bend and straighten if you’re not careful), and remember to play the fish carefully.

It’s easy for the fish to throw a big plug when it gets airborne, so if you anticipate the fish taking to the air, lower your rod tip down into the water and reel down hard and fast to prevent it from taking flight.

AFRAID OF THE DARK? Finally, my personal favorite way of catching trophy bass in the summer is fishing in the middle of the night with a topwater. The buzzbait

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is perhaps the best nighttime lure ever invented. The frog is a close second, and stickbait a close third.

Learn these three baits, and then give them a try at night. You won’t be disappointed.

Fishing at night does require some knowledge of the layout of the lake, including the best big bass cover.

Fishing without relying on one’s eyesight can take some getting use to.

You must rely on feel and sound.

Buzzbaits, frogs, and stickbaits make lots of commotion on the surface that bass can track down at night. They should be fished around docks, flats, cover, and weeds. The bigger the lure, the bigger the fish you will catch.

I haven’t discussed color up until now because my choice is simple. My go-to for any topwater – day or night – is black. It works in any condition, and especially well after dark.

Finally, plan your night-fishing trips three days on either side of a new or full moon. These times are best for catching a trophy. I prefer a full moon because it’s easier to see my topwater, and the moon helps create a better silhouette on my lure for the bass to track down.

GET OUT THERE! As with anything, experience is key. Through my experience these methods have given me greatest success this time of year for catching giant trophy bass out of our local waters. Applying these methods will eventually bring you the same success and you can land the bass of your lifetime on a topwater lure.

Just remember, practice makes perfect, and as with anything in life, persistence pays off. Good luck out there this summer and may you land the bass of your dreams on a topwater! NS Editor’s note: The author fishes bass lakes in the Mount Vernon, Wash., area, north of Seattle, where he also resides.

AUGUST 2014

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Potholes’ Best Yet To Come T alk to most walleye guys who regularly hit the Potholes, and they’ll tell you that from about mid-April on, fishing at the Columbia Basin reservoir

By Leroy Ledeboer was about as good as it’s ever been, with a pretty good mix of large or at least decent-sized bugeyes in the mix. Throw in plenty of decent-sized perch, those always aggressive bass, and even some jumbo rainbows, all willing to latch onto a trolled spinner-worm combo or small plug, and they had many fine outings.

Then, right around the second week in June, the lake tanked. Oh, there were still bass guys who were capable of getting into the backwaters nailing largemouth, and smallmouth were still showing along the face of the dam, but the big show was over – or had at least considerably dimmed.

So why this huge turn-around? Essentially, it’s the same thing that occurs every year: a sudden deluge of baitfish (all those youngsters from this year’s spawn) coupled with plenty of weed growth. Those hordes of baitfish quickly ducked into all the cover, the predators followed, and suddenly anglers faced a double whammy of overstuffed targets and lure-tangling vegetation. Troll the very edges of the weeds and you still could catch a dandy walleye or eye-popping bass, but crowd in just a bit and you’d hang up in a hurry.

BASIN BEACON

THAT’S ABOUT TO change. No, those clouds of baitfish won’t disappear, though they’ll be thinned a bit, and right along with the walleye, bass, perch and trout, they’ll be forced out into more open water

Guide Shelby Ross holds up a 29-inch walleye client Steve Starr of Moses Lake caught on a crankbait in mid-June. (POTHOLESFISHING.COM) as the reservoir drops precipitously, thanks to irrigation demands in the southern basin.

“Late July and August could be fantas-

tic, but September is almost bound to be,” notes Shelby Ross, owner-operator of Ross Outdoor Adventures (509-750-7763). “Even by late June we were seeing the water AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 111

COLUMNS drop fast, 21⁄2 feet lower than it was a year ago at this time. When it’s low enough, those weeds will be up along the shoreline, and the fish will get concentrated off the mouth of Crab Creek, along the face of the dunes, out in front of Medicare Beach, the humps north of Goose Island.

“After that it’s a real smorgasbord. Troll cranks or spinner-worm harnesses, and you get a bit of everything, though I personally stick with cranks as long as they’re working. With two rods on side planers, four off the back of the boat, I can cover a much greater swath of water, and I don’t have perch constantly ripping up my baits.

“And remember, the fish have had a long spring and summer to grow, so we catch bigger fish of all species, even the perch. In fact, last year some of the locals at MarDon Resort were limiting on 10-plusinch perch right in front of the state park and up in the mouth of Crab Creek. If you want to concentrate on perch, just look for the fleet. See a cluster of boats anchored

112 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

August may not seem like a good time for trout in the Northwest, but Potholes Reservoir can shine this month, as this pair of bows caught by the author last summer attest. (LEROY LEDEBOER) up, and you can bet they’re sitting on a school.

“In September, bass fishing can go off the charts,” adds Ross. “Last year, on one outing at the mouth of Crab Creek, we trolled Shad Raps and landed 29 large-

mouth in a couple of hours, and had as many as four hookups at one time. Plus we caught walleye and big trout right along with them. The sad thing is that right after Labor Day, this place starts looking like a ghost town. The fishing’s maybe the best of the year, but the crowds totally disappear.”

This summer, that huge run of upriver brights heading up the Columbia may add to the drop-off, but it’s a seasonal decline that goes back decades. Skip Davis, perhaps the best known Potholes bass guide back in the 1970s and ’80s, often lamented the fact that largemouth fishing was always tops in late summer and early fall, but he had a hard time getting clients to make the trip.

And Ross is dead-on. August should be very good, though you’re still competing with all those water skiers as well as a bunch of fellow anglers. But September and even October can be an absolute angling smorgasbord, when suddenly all

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those predators are compressed in much less and far more fishable waters, and everything from trolled cranks and ’crawler-spinner-bottom walker setups, or, if you’re a hardcore bass guy, to topwater gear is nailing fish.

I WAS WELL aware of all this last fall, but as much as I enjoy catching all types of spinyrays, I became so caught up with trolling for the Potholes’ big rainbows – everywhere from right off Medicare Beach and the deeper waters south of the dam – that I abandoned everything else. Yeah, I lost my one ultimate slab, a rainbow that I’m guessing would have topped 6 pounds, but first he put on a real show, repeatedly arcing high above the lake, shaking vigorously, till on a final jump, he sent my small crank sailing about 10 feet.

Still, the 2- to 4-pounders that fishing partner Felix Ramarui and I were able to boat were more than enough to send us

home happy. Only the oversized smallmouth we occasionally nailed put up a better scrap, and as table fare these ’bows were tops. Most days it was just a matter of locating the trout, usually suspended anywhere from 10 to 30 feet down over deep water, though a couple of times we and fellow trollers found them close to the bottom off Medicare Beach, in 20 to 30 feet of water.

Mostly we trolled cranks, everything from No. 5 and 6 jointed Shad Raps in fire tiger perch to 2¾-inch Flicker Shads in blues, red and perch, and a couple of ½ounce FatFish, often using my downriggers to get the cranks deep enough. However, that elusive “best crank” seemed to change almost daily, and some days it was a small spoon or spinner that had the most magic.

Needlefish, Super Dupers, Krocodiles and Rooster Tails all had their moments.

Bottom line, though, just about any of your favorite trout setups will likely work on these chunky rainbows, including flasher-spinner-’crawler rigs, just as long as you hit that day’s trout water column. Spot ’em on your sonar, set your ’riggers accordingly, and you’re in business.

As we moved into October, that trout bite sometimes became more spotty, so we switched tactics and trolled spinnerworm setups just south of the mouth of Crab Creek, occasionally nailing another big rainbow, but more often walleye, big perch and feisty smallmouth.

So, show up in August and you should be in for fine angling. Come in September, and you’ll get even better fishing and a real break from the summer crowds and the Columbia Basin’s heat.

Oh, and if you have youngsters or just like to enjoy the ease of lawn-chair fishing, consider that big fishing dock at MarDon (mardonresort.com). Anglers fishing off it in late June were already hauling in some dandy crappies, most just shy of that 10inch legal minimum, a few up in the 12- to 14-inch range, right along with lots of perch from 6 to 8 inches, and a good sprinkling of smallmouth. This dock too is likely to get better and better as the water drops, more baitfish move in and more predators show up to pick up an easy meal – and get picked off themselves in turn. NS

5 AM Hot Breakfast

116 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

FISHING

Cutts Back The westslope trout of the North Fork Coeur d’Alene, heavily impacted by logging and mining, rise again.

By Mike Wright

KINGSTON, Idaho—When anglers talk about fishing North Idaho, chances are the main topic of conversation is the lakes. This is certainly understandable as the region is blessed with a multitude of still waters capable of fulfilling nearly any fisherman’s desire.

Often lost in the discussion is the fact that the Panhandle is also endowed with several outstanding trout streams. The North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene is one such shining example.

d’Alene River and its two forks could be considered on a level with such fabled blue-ribbon streams as the Madison, the Green and Henrys Fork. That was before the habitat destruction that took place at the hands of the logging and mining industries. The North Fork was subject to practices that led to stream channelization, sedimentation pollution and just

AT ONE TIME, the Coeur

An angler works the North Fork Coeur d’Alene, which suffered decades of abuse, but has bounced back with habitat work. (MIKE WRIGHT)

AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 117

FISHING plain mismanagement.

The use of splash dams on many of its tributaries had devastating effects too. Logs would collect behind them until the water level was sufficient to float the wood to lumber mills. The dams would then be destroyed, sending massive amounts of water and timber downstream, scouring out the streambeds, destroying much westslope cutthroat trout spawning grounds. Heavy clearcutting also put large volumes of silt into the river.

Gold and silver discoveries along the North Fork added to the degradation. Placer miners dug up the bed to glean the riches, leaving the gravel on shore and allowing silt to move back into the stream.

A well-intended, but poorly thought-out log-and-brush removal program was instituted in the 1960s, adding to the problems. The woody debris otherwise helped hold the gravel and rocks in place, creating pools and riffles – a very important factor in the development of a healthy trout habitat.

And road projects kept the river and its tributaries from meandering and forming side channels – more key fish habitat. In a 2007 study, the Idaho Department of Fish & Game’s Bryan Stevens and Joe DuPont noted that in 24 side channels, the maximum daily temperature was 3 to 8 degrees cooler than the mainstem. They found that cutthroat were using these side channels as a cool-water refuge during the warmest months, probably insuring their survival.

ALTHOUGH IN SEVERELY reduced numbers, the feisty and resilient westslopes took all the adversities man and nature could throw at them, and survived. Soon, concerned individuals, organizations and agencies came to the aid of these iconic symbols of the Northern Rockies. The Forest Service, with the cooperation of lumber companies, began placing 118 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

A selection of flies to bring for the North Fork would include terrestrials, nymphs and caddis imitations.

(MIKE WRIGHT)

logs back into the river to create pools and, in some cases, side channels. Trout Unlimited, IDFG and the Forest Service added structures to protect against bank erosion and rehabilitate the streambed in the lower section of the river. In 2000, the Forest Service began loggingroad removal and repair in the Yellow Dog Creek drainage. By 2008 this project had yielded a 44 percent reduction in sediments entering the stream. The Army Corps of Engineers, IDFG, Department of Environmental Quality, North Idaho Flycasters, and the Kootenai Environmental Alliance all worked with the USFS on the project.

In addition to reducing the sediment problems, large boulders were placed in the stream to create more than 100 pools to act as cold-water refuges. A similar project was started in the fall of 2000 in the Tepee Creek drainage. A meandering streambed was reconstructed as part of the project. Annual sedimentation was reduced by an average of 22 percent, which had a major effect on cutthroat density. It went from virtually

no fish in 2001 to 1.5 fish per 100 square meters in 2011.

Realizing the outstanding success the program had elsewhere, IDFG placed catch-and-release-only regulations for cutts in the entire North Fork drainage. There is a six-fish limit on all other species, but only barbless flies or lures are allowed on the system.

The move was not without its critics, primarily from small groups in the Silver Valley and St. Maries areas.

To their credit, IDFG stood firm and the results have been impressive.

“The densities of cutthroat have generally been improving steadily since the 1980s,” explains Jim Frederick, state fishery manager for the Panhandle. “Though we have had a bit of a decline in the total number of cutthroat, the estimates of fish over 12 inches continues to stay up at a level that is about as high as we’ve ever seen. I think it is safe to say that most anglers are thoroughly delighted with what they are finding on the Coeur d’Alene River.”

Judging by the increase in the average size of cutthroat on a tributary of North Idaho’s North Fork Clear-

FISHING water, Kelly Creek (Northwest Sportsman, July 2014), after the catchand-release regulation went into effect, it may be safe to assume the rise in the number of larger specimens in the North Fork Coeur d’Alene may also be a result of the regulations. In addition, the Idaho Board of Outfitters has drastically restricted guiding on the river. This has tended to lessen the angling pressure and helped the catch rate.

FOR SOME TIME it was generally accepted that to catch bigger fish you needed to concentrate your efforts on the upper North Fork. However, with the restoration efforts, fish sizes as well as numbers in the lower section of the river have been improving. It may even be possible to catch an occasional Chinook that has wandered up from Lake Coeur d’Alene. During the warmer months, a prolific bikini hatch takes place on

the lower North Fork. During this period all but the most voyeuristic anglers head upriver.

The upper river features a much steeper gradient with a great deal more pocket water. The wade fishing can be tricky in places, but very rewarding. There is excellent dry fly fishing, as long as you maintain a drag-free drift. An additional word to the wise: The further upriver you venture, the fishing may improve, but the road definitely does not.

The North Fork has very good insect hatches. Skwalla stoneflies appear in March and April followed closely by golden stones. As weather warms, various mayflies begin to hatch out. Green drakes, PMDs, blue-wing olives and some tricos can be found in June, July and August.

The caddis is also a staple during summer, but unlike Kelly Creek, the big October caddis is for the most part a no-show. In the latter part of

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summer and early fall, terrestrials such as grasshoppers, ants and beetles become a key target for trout.

When fishing bigger dry flies, like hoppers or Chernobyls, many anglers improve their chances by tying on a dropper about a foot below the lead fly. A size No. 14 or 16 Pheasant Tail, Prince Nymph or Hare’s Ear is a good choice.

In most instances 4X tippet and leader are strong enough for most fish in the North Fork as the average cutthroat is between 10 and 14 inches. However, there are some that are considerably larger, so there are times you might consider 3X. This would be especially true when you are using heavier nymphs or streamers.

Whichever you choose, fluorocarbon tippet and leader might be advisable. The water is very clear and fluoro can be a distinct advantage. There are some rainbow and

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Northwest Sportsman 121

brook trout along with mountain whitefish in the river and their size is comparable to the westslopes. At one time bull trout called these waters home, but unfortunately they have gone the way of the dinosaurs and two-dollar gas.

The North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene is open to fishing year-round, and winter can be very good at times. Many of the cutthroat migrate into the middle and lower reaches of the river to winter in some of the deeper holes. Since they are cold blooded they are not as active during the winter, but going deep with nymphs and streamers and being patient can be very rewarding. For those who may want a change of pace from sitting on an ice sheet watching for the bobber to disappear the North Fork can provide that opportunity. Whether it is a warm August morning or a brisk February afternoon, this really is a river for all seasons.

TO REACH THE North Fork, take the Kingston exit off of I-90 and head north on Couer d’Alene River Road.

This good, two-lane paved highway follows the lower and middle sections of the river. There are numerous campgrounds throughout.

The National Research Council once described the North Fork thusly: “The river is as transparent as glass, the mountains cloth in evergreen forests of white pine, grand fir, Douglas fir and spruce; the riparian area thick with cottonwoods and silver beeches on both banks almost forming an arch overhead for the deep channel; and the stream alive with trout and other fish that could be seen by the thousands in the clear water.”

The river may not be back to that state yet, but thanks to the work of the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene Watershed Advisory Group, Forest Service, IDFG and others, the river is well on its way back to being the outstanding stream of its glory years. NS 122 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

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AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 123

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COLUMNS

Cast-and-blasting A ‘Value’ Proposition W

ho knows how it started, but it’s catchy, and it rhymes.

The first time I reINLAND NORTHWEST call hearing the term

By Ralph Bartholdt “cast-and-blast,” it was in Montana on the Clark Fork River where it winds narrowly through miles of lowland scrub hunkered with winter mule deer beds, and the sandy banks are pitter-pattered with the husks of shotgun shells.

In Maloney’s bar in Butte, the cast-andblasters on those early winter nights chugged and glubbed about their Central Flyway bag limits and maybe the occasional big brown trout they lifted from the Clark’s black water.

In North Idaho the term is used sparingly.

Hunters generally stay away from the rivers in the fall, leaving them as the sole haunts of fly anglers who take big strides into the emptiness of the cold, vapid current under yellow tamaracks to reel in sluggish cutthroat and bull trout that heave lethargically on the line.

IN THE PANHANDLE, the blasting part isn’t done with a fowling piece. It’s usually left to the big guns.

Dan Mottern, who owns the Idaho Fly Fishing Company (208-245-3626) on the banks of the St. Joe in Avery, grew up on the river chasing fall cutthroats and in the surrounding hills climbing after bugling elk.

(RALPH BARTHOLDT) AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 125

COLUMNS Just like a tangled fly line, or a deep trouser pocket full of junk hiding one shell you need to extract with cold fingers, call it added complexity. The St. Joe, the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene and the Clearwater River too offer more in the fall than just the casting and blasting for trout and elk: bear season, grouse season, and in the Clearwater, B-run steelhead fishing opens in mid-October.

Bowhunters prepare for their own version of the blast this month.

“Bowhunting and cuttie fishing in September is an extremely good value,” Mottern likes to say in his business voice, which is less than a half-octave away from his bag ’em and tag ’em voice, barely containing the passion and enthusiasm borne of a life spent in the wilds of the Panhandle.

“It’s some of the best cuttie fishing of the year, and bugling bulls, and if you want to add a third element to really add value, add blue or dusky grouse hunting in high country.”

You may want to quit your job and bump around the upper reaches of the St. Joe Valley from now until the snow flies.

IN AUGUST, SITTING in the backyard with a laptop on your knees shaded by a patio umbrella stuck in a bucket of sand, you’ll find that the St. Joe National Forest – part of Idaho’s Panhandle National Forest – has 20 campsites, most of them pretty close to the eponymous river and its tributaries. The ones off the beaten path nearer the high country can fill up during elk season, but there’s another complexity here: Because elk numbers have dropped in the Joe over the past decade, the region is targeted less by hunters. Last year there were plenty of river campsites available even in early October, the peak of the rifle season.

Despite the active chatter from the naysayers still grumbling over the lack of a cow-harvest season in most of North Idaho, hunters are killing bulls in

the St. Joe. “In the last three years we’ve been seeing an increase in harvest,” says Wayne Wakkinen, Panhandle region wildlife manager for the state Department of Fish & Game. “If you look at the last 30- to 40-year history of harvest, it’s pretty close to average.”

“In October, you have cold mornings and warm afternoons,” Mottern says.

“The value ...”

He is using his business voice but underneath there runs the bubble of zeal and cast-and-blast energy.

“The value,” he says, “is not as good as September, but rifle hunting in the mornings and fishing in the afternoons makes for a good recipe. The crowds have thinned out and the river is mostly visited by a passionate fishing group.”

And for bear hunters: “The Joe produces a lot of bears, relatively easy to hunt over bait,” he says.

“You can fish in the afternoon and sit on a stand in the evening.” NS

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Northwest Sportsman 127

128 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

COLUMNS

Eat The Invaders!

A

s I glance around my familiar Idaho surroundings, I see natural beauty.

Unfortunately, what I see is not, in fact, IN THE WILD natural. The bullfrogs

By Randy King that I hear croak at night are an invasive species. The collared doves sitting on the branch outside my window are an invasive species. The many dandelions in my yard – invasive.

Both flora and fauna in the Northwest are affected by what has been called the Columbian Exchange.

The concept is simple. Before Christopher Columbus showed up, the New and Old Worlds had been separated for a wee bit of time, causing a separation and specialization of environments. When the new people arrived and “discovered” the Americas, they brought with them many things. Disease, an unfortunate invasive species, killed a high percentage of the native human population.

Earthworms killed large sections of the forest undergrowth. Small and large, the contact of two disparate worlds had unintended consequences.

The New World gave the Italians tomatoes, the Irish potatoes and the Turkish coffee. The Old World gave the Americas wild boar, horses, and countless other plants and animals.

Later, invasive species were brought in for food or for feed. Ironically, if the creature in question serves a purpose – as in it is desirable to either the sportsman or the rancher – it is called an introduced species. Think wild turkey, Hungarian partridges, chukar and catfish. (There is no native catfish west of the Missouri River drainage.) But if the effect of the species is less than positive – think common carp, hogs and bullfrogs – they are called invasive. Thus is the implied importance of semantics.

A movement is happening all across the

A tasty collection of invasives! Going around the horn from top left, that’s Eurasian collared dove chili, sliced wild boar chorizo, smoked carp, and dandelion and lamb’s quarters leaves. (RANDY KING)

CHEF

country – eat the invasive species out of existence. One man is trying his hardest to wrestle this problem into common conversation and he literally wrote the book on invasive species – Eating Aliens. Jackson Landers cites the buffalo and passenger pigeons as unfortunate examples of how hunters and eaters can affect populations.

Human hunting drove them both to extinction, mostly so people could have them for a snack. Landers argues that we should have the same passion for invasive species as we had for the passenger pigeon. Basically, if we had an unbridled love for eating invasive species, we could stem the damage that they do and thus get back a more natural habitat.

I, for one, am on board with this delicious cause, mostly so I can hunt and fish with unique methods and times of years. Below is a far-from-exhaustive list of invasives and how you can hunt or fish for them.

COMMON CARP WERE introduced into the United States in the 1880s as a substitute pro-

tein resource, which turned out to be a big letdown for the U.S. Fish Commission, a precursor to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The hope was that aquaculture – specifically, farm-raised carp – would become as “important among the American farmers and planters as the cultivation of cattle, sheep, swine, poultry or of grains, fruits and berries.”

The Fish Commission got that wrong.

Aquaculture of carp is almost nonexistent in America. Even Idaho, home to a very productive aquaculture industry, does not farm carp.

I follow the Old World method of smoking the fish over hardwood.

THE NORTHWEST HAS native frogs, and the most common are the red-legged frog.

But then people ate them into obscurity. So someone got the bright idea to ship in bullfrogs from the Southern U.S. and farm them for food. Now the invasive species dominates ecosystems.

To identify a bullfrog, look for a circle beAUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 129

COLUMNS hind and slightly lower than the eye (this is actually the ear drum). Most other frogs are protected; bullfrogs, on the other hand, are open take. I use a gig, a bow fishing rig and even my bare hands when I am bored.

In the South they are often called swamp chicken, and a good frog fry on a Sunday is hard to beat.

AS IMPLIED BY their name, Eurasian collared doves ain’t from these parts. They have been on the path toward world domination for about a century – first Europe in the 1950s, the Bahamas by the 1970s, and they are now all the way up to the Alaska-Canada border. Apparently, a hurricane transported them from the Bahamas to Florida.

“They have steadily been marching across the country since then,” says Sal Palazzolo of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

Collared doves are similar enough to native mourning doves that most can’t tell the difference at first glance. On closer inspection, the former has a black ring of feathers

around its neck, the bird is usually lighter in color and has a squared tail. On average, collared doves are also bigger than mourning doves. Oh, and season is typically open all year, not just September, as with their native cousins.

I HAD A turtle when I was younger. It was the common type from the pet store, and his name was Myrtle the Turtle. I fed him grasshoppers and goldfish and thought he was my friend.

Until he bit me.

I watched as his jaws slowly closed on my finger, taking off a rather large section of skin.

Myrtle then ate my flesh.

Traumatic.

After that, my father and I took him to a local pond and set him free. Little did I know that I was doing irrevocable damage to the local ecosystem.

The Northwest has a native turtle and not the type that is now rampant in ponds around my area. Now Frisbee-sized former house pets are roaming local ponds, eating

bass and local vegetation. They are not supposed to be here. Turtle soup, anyone?

WHILE NOT A “technical” problem according to some fish and game agencies, I find it hard to think that sustainable populations of hogs are not growing under our noses in the Northwest. Idaho recently had an issue near CJ Strike Reservoir with multiple hunters and trappers taking out pigs. Did they get them all? Who knows. Sows can breed at a remarkable rate – two litters per year at five-plus piggies per litter. And then those can start to breed at just 6 to 8 months old. Uncontrolled, that is nearly exponential growth in populations.

Pigs are on the march across the country in epidemic proportions. Hopefully we will never have the same issues that Florida and Texas have. Good news for hunters of hogs in Idaho – if you see one, you are encouraged to shoot first, then file the report.

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COLUMNS dog killed. Introduced in the South as a source of fur, these little creatures are now causing damage across the country. Portland has a sizeable population, one that has pushed out the native muskrat population. They were brought to Stumptown as another creature to trap for fur. They successfully started breeding and have yet to leave. Live traps are the most common method of take within city limits. I hear that they are tasty – kind of like marmots.

POPULAR WITH GARDENERS and pond enthusiasts, the Chinese mystery snail is spreading further and further across the West. In fact, their exact distribution is not even known – but I know that they exist in Idaho. And I have eaten them. Idaho escargot, anyone?

Imported to San Francisco in 1891 as a food source, these snails are originally, as their name would suggest, from various sections of Asia. Not normally considered a huge ecological threat, they are known to eat bass eggs when given the opportunity – a case of invasive vs. introduced. NS

Whether you call them Froschwurst or bullfrog boudin, these sausages made from the invasive pond hoppers – as well as bear liver and rice – look delicious! (RANDY KING)

HOW TO COOK AN ALIEN Carp should be smoked or sliced very thin and fried. They are full of bones, but if you can get around that, they are very tasty.

Brine sides of carp in 2 quarts water, 1⁄2 cup brown sugar and a 1⁄2 cup salt for two days.

Then smoke them over hardwood for two to three hours until fully cooked and a little dry. Serve to people at the next dinner party – don’t tell them what they are eating.

Bullfrogs are the chicken-fish of the swamp. I fry them up in a classic Southern style – flour, salt, garlic powder. For a great variation, try soaking them in Korean barbecue sauce and then grilling them. Serve with a light arugula salad and enjoy.

Eurasian collared doves are just like other doves, except with maybe a little more red in the meat. I like to make potpie out of them. Try also a quick stir-fry 132 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

with the meat (leg and breast) – this makes a little meat go a long way.

Turtles need to be rinsed under cold water for a few hours before they are cooked. The meat can be a little stinky otherwise. Some even say that the turtles should be kept in a small pen with the water changed every day to “flush” their system. I am not too sure about the need to prolong the inevitable, so my turtles get a rinse after the evisceration.

Hogs are the most versatile of the invasive species. They can be everything from bacon to prosciutto, capicola to jerky. So take the gift of a hog as a culinary experiment, for they are rare for us in the Northwest.

Nutria are little red hunks of toughness, but I have never met a cut of meat that a crockpot cannot handle. Add the skinned, gutted and washed nutria to

the pot. Pour a 50-50 mix of chicken stock and barbecue sauce until the nutria is almost covered. Put the lid on and head to work. Time and slow cooking is your friend. When you get home make pulled nutria sliders. Don’t tell the family. Trust me.

Chinese mystery snails are large and great as escargot. Blanch them in boiling salted water, and then put them in ice water. Pick the meat out with a skewer. Just know that these molluscs bear their young alive, so at the wrong time of year, they can be full of little baby snails – way too crunchy for my liking! After they are removed from their shell cook them on low for about two hours. Then serve them in a sherry cream sauce.

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Start Thinking Hunter Orange!

H unting seasons crank up in the Pacific Northwest this month with bear, and pick up steam in September with grouse and mournBy Dave Workman ing dove hunting in both Washington and Oregon, plus some hunting opportunities for other species, including the Evergreen State’s annual High Buck Hunt that runs Sept. 15-25.

Grouse hunting kicks off Sept. 1 in Washington and Oregon, while it ignites Aug. 30 in neighboring Idaho. Early archery hunts also open Sept. 1 in Washington, two days after they begin for deer and elk in Oregon.

As is always the case, this time of year finds conflicts between early-season hunters and late-summer hikers who are a dedicated bunch and may be out there until mid-October just to enjoy the fall colors. Keep your senses about you because wherever you hunt, you could encounter people who dislike hunter orange, either as a fashion statement or because the people who wear it are carrying guns.

Dove hunters rarely have this problem, but for grouse and big game hunters, including bowhunters, pay attention.

Washington’s new-this-year Mount Baker Wilderness High Buck hunting area could be a prime spot for conflicts. Hikers generally stick to the trails, so be darned sure that wherever you hunt, know where that trail is and don’t fire in that direction.

There is no law that requires hikers to wear fluorescent orange during a hunting season, though a fair number of them do because they’ve wised up to the fact that hunters are out there too. It is a rare occasion that one encounters a jerk, but it’s happened to me a couple of times.

One of these morons started yelling at me – thus causing his dog to begin growling and acting aggressively – some years ago on a trail into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness on the

ON TARGET

opening day of that year’s High Buck Hunt.

Only the timely and unexpected appearance of an old friend brought a halt to the encounter. On another occasion, two jerks I encountered on the grouse opener a few years later expressed the hope that I’d get shot by somebody.

On other occasions, hikers I’ve met have been pleasant and aware that hunting seasons were in progress.

GETTING IN SHAPE If you haven’t started getting in shape yet for fall, you’re late. I’ve been walking regularly around my neighborhood on roughly a 1.5-mile route that takes about 30 to 45 minutes, and this month will find me wearing a backpack that has some weight in it. That regimen started in late May and has picked up through the summer. I wear my hunting boots on these little sojourns to get my feet used to them again.

August affords you a full month to get off the couch and out there on the trail or at least on the sidewalks. Visit a city park, go over to the high school stadium and run up and down the bleachers. Ride a bicycle.

Get your gun in shape too. Now’s a good time to pull it out of the case, wipe it down, run an oiled patch down the bore and take a very good look at the stock. If there are scratches, now is the time to buff them with very light sandpaper and/or steel wool and get some oil or some other preferred finish on there.

I prefer a 50-50 mix of hot linseed and tung oil for major jobs. For a little patch work, warmed up neutral shoe wax will suffice, but do it now!

It’s also a good time to shoot up last year’s ammunition and get some new loads. I’ve encountered guys at the gun range with ammunition that has been gathering dust for a few years. I never begin a hunting season with old ammunition.

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation is hosting a Freedom Shoot on Saturday, Aug. 16 at the Evergreen Sportsmen’s Club south of Olympia, noon to 4 p.m. Not only is this a good opportunity to chat politics and get

some tasty chow, you can also exercise your trigger finger. The facility is located at 12736 Marksman Road SW, Olympia, on the west side of the Mima Mounds.

CALL FOR VOTES The problem with hunting seasons is they occur in the fall, and so do elections. Washington outdoorsmen and women are facing a vote this year on two competing initiatives, and not voting for either will allow one to pass.

Initiative 591 is a simple one-page measure that requires background checks in Washington to comply with a uniform national standard, as they do currently. It is supported by the Hunters Heritage Council, Washington Arms Collectors, Washington State Rifle & Pistol Association, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and the Washington State Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors Association.

Initiative 594 is an 18-page gun control measure promoting universal background checks. It is supported by a Seattle-based organization calling itself the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility.

The author’s looking forward to fall’s hunts, and advises anyone in the woods – hunters and hikers alike – to include some orange to be seen better. (DAVE WORKMAN)

AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 135

COLUMNS

NEW KNIVES FROM CRKT Columbia River Knife & Tool recently announced a couple of new fixed-blade models for wilderness survival that could also come in handy on a hunt.

HoodWork knives feature a corrosionresistant ceramic coating and is handground for a razor edge. Both models feature high-carbon blades.

The HoodWork with Veff serrations has a 6.1-inch blade and measures 11.31 inches overall. It has a multi-layer G10 handle with full tang and an orange Paracord lanyard, and it comes with a brown leather sheath.

The other entry is the HCK1 Hood Camp Knife, with a 6.1inch blade, polished resin-infused fiber handle with orange Paracord lanyard and brown leather sheath. –DW

What UBC means to hunters is that you could no longer loan or borrow a rifle or shotgun from a pal for a weekend or longer without paying for a background check to make the transfer, and then going through a background check to get it back.

There are a handful of exemptions for immediate family members “which … shall be limited to spouses, domestic partners, parents, children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, first cousins, aunts, and uncles, that is a bona

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fide gift.”

You want to loan a shotgun to your pal from work that you’ve known for 20 years and who is off on a week-long trek to Montana and you would be required to go through the check. Both times.

Proponents of I-594 have raised a mountain of cash. They claim that this measure will somehow prevent mass shootings and other violent crime. Criminals don’t bother with background checks and they know it. Recent mass shooters have passed background checks. The only people who will be affected by passage of this measure are people who wouldn’t commit a crime.

Even gun-control proponents have acknowledged that this measure would not prevent the kinds of crimes that make headline news. Such proposals are always “a reasonable first step.”What’s the next step?

Far too many hunters and gun owners are not registered to vote. How stupid is that? If you’re not registered to vote, do it now. NS

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Northwest Sportsman 137

HUNTING

Tough Conditions For Antelope, Hunters Oregon wildlife biologists report on pronghorn numbers, offer tips for draw hunts that open as early as mid-August.

Jeff Heil of Medford took this Hart Mountain buck last season with a Savage .300 WSM and 180-grain Nosler Accubond bullets.

(COURTESY OREGON HUNTERS ASSOCIATION)

By Tyler Dungannon

LAKEVIEW, Ore.—Boasting only three preference points for antelope, I could only muster minimal optimism as I checked my Oregon controlled-hunt drawing results on June 19. Truth be told, my second-choice possibilities for deer and elk offered more intrigue. After confirming that I had drawn my second-choice deer bow tag and second-choice elk rifle tag, one more entry lingered in the “SUCCESSFUL” column. Pronghorn!

Had the hunting gods smiled at me (or rather laughed at me) and thrown me a crummy second-choice East Slope bow tag, where they might as well be issuing rhino tags?

Successful for 474B.

My first-choice rifle tag? Seriously?!

Mixed feelings of jealousy and excitement sprung from members of my hunting party after I revealed the news: “We’re going antelope hunting!”

I had defied nearly 100-to-1 odds to draw my coveted antelope tag. The odds of filling it – at around 90 percent – will be much better. But that doesn’t mean it will be easy.

I CALLED CRAIG Foster, the longtime Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist in Lake County, to ask about pronghorn numbers, water availability and range forage conditions on the high desert, and what those factors would mean to lucky hunters like me who tote Oregon antelope tags this season. Here’s what he and other

ODFW biologists from Southeast Oregon had to say about this year’s outlook in the outback.

According to Foster, hunters should be concerned about the very dry range conditions this year. If summer rain hits the district, the herds might be unaffected and relatively widely distributed. However, if we don’t get any summer showers, water could be scarce and herds will cluster together in large numbers near water sources such as springs or large reservoirs.

“These conditions make hunting a lot harder because hunters are all looking at the same few herds,” which could be up to 300 animals, Foster says.

Across the district, fewer tags were offered in the big units, including five AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 139

HUNTING fewer in both Warner and west Beatys Butte, meaning fewer hunters to compete for those big herds. Last year’s fawn ratios varied across the units in this district. Eastern units were around 20 fawns per 100 does, but recruitment improved in western units.

ODFW cut tags from the south Wagontire antelope hunt.

“South Wagontire is definitely my main concern,” Foster says. “It has continued to have poor fawn recruitment.”

Surveys showed 14 fawns per 100 does, but he notes that that’s up from last year’s eight.

Hart Mountain boasted 63 bucks per 100 does, which is perhaps slightly higher than average. When fawn recruitment is good, Hart buck ratios usually run in the 50s per 100 does.

West Beatys Butte revealed 21 bucks per 100 does, which is slightly below ODFW’s typical management range of 25 bucks per 100 does. The

140 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

unit also showed good fawn production: 27 fawns per 100 does.

The Silver Lake Unit supported ratios of 45 bucks and 35 fawns per 100 does. The Warner Unit only tallied 21 bucks per 100 does.

ROD KLUS, DISTRICT wildlife biologist in Hines, hopes hunters will be patient.

“Don’t be in a big hurry,” he advises.

“The big ones are out there. There’s no reason to expect that there won’t be some nice antelope taken this year.”

If you spot a trophy buck, expect it to hang around for a while.

“The antelope don’t move much in the desert units,” Klus explains.

He reports that “fawn recruitment in this district (Silvies, Malheur River, Steens Mountain and east Beatys Butte) was very stable, around 29, which is very unusual in these units.”

Fawn recruitment is usually variable from year to year across the state. In these units, there was no snowpack to

Find water, and you will find antelope this season. A mild spring helped horn growth, but a dry summer will have the animals concentrated near water sources. (TYLER DUNGANNON)

speak of this past winter. Despite the dry conditions, Klus reports buck ratios near 42 per 100 does on average.

He believes the lack of water won’t make a big impact on the forested areas in his district. Although antelope are often widely distributed in such habitat, Klus notes that it’s also hard country to hunt. In desert units, animals bunch up, which is typical every year. A summer drought won’t have an impact on horn size this summer because the horns are already full-grown.

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HUNTING Overall, the trend has genuinely been good for antelope, and antelope numbers seem to be holding steady.

BIOLOGIST PHILIP MILBURN in Ontario insists that driving around all day isn’t the way to go about hunting antelope in these units.

“Especially in the middle of the day, these animals can be hard to see,” he notes.

It’s important for hunters to glass thoroughly in the mornings and evenings.

The Whitehorse Unit’s numbers look good, and buck ratios bode well, but water continues to be scarce. Good thing antelope don’t require much water.

However, Milburn adds, “It wouldn’t surprise me to see some shifts in distribution due to water. A lot of traditional water sources will be dry this year.”

That said, with water distribution

142 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

varying by unit, “horn growth, despite the drought, was pretty good.”

Buck ratios appeared very similar in the Whitehorse and Owyhee Units, steady, while fawn recruitment has fluctuated during the last five years.

“The forage down south is terrible (due to wildfire), and I suspect we’ll see some reduction in fawn recruitment due to the lack of forage, although coyote numbers are down, so that should help,” Milburn says.

He believes the opportunity for a trophy buck is definitely there because ODFW manages antelope very conservatively.

EVEN IN THE worst of weather and habitat conditions, pronghorn always offer some of the best big-game success rates in Oregon because, after all, they can run but they can’t hide.

Find water, and you’ll find antelope.

Find a lot of water, and you’ll find a

lot of antelope.

Just remember that while it’s fine to hunt over water sources, don’t camp next them. All wildlife need to come to water and human presence there can keep them away day and night. Besides, camping next to water means you’re camped next to a mosquito factory, and about all you’ll accomplish is to ruin a good hunting spot while getting bit.

If, like me, you have an antelope tag burning a hole in your pocket this season, you’ve already beaten the toughest odds by simply drawing, but the hunting phase can be tough as well. Hot, dry, dusty conditions can take a toll, both physically and mentally. By the time I tagged my last antelope on the fifth day of the season in 2010, after packing up and moving camp twice, our tent trailer looked like a dirt bag on a vacuum cleaner. And like a vacuum cleaner, that sucked. NS

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144 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

COLUMNS

Central Oregon’s Huntress F

for protection. She says this or many opened her eyes to the fact that years, most women would like to learn maybe these skills but either can’t seem to even as far learn from their significant other or back as the don’t have the self-esteem they first caveman, need. hunting has “I watched as lives were changed been tradiCENTRAL OREGON

By Scott Staats and self-esteem grew to amazing tionally carlevels,” Yow says with excitement in ried out by the males of our species. her voice. “With this in mind I decided However, things are changing today to become a part of helping more as women are representing the women enjoy the outdoors and fastest growing part of the hunting grow in their outdoor skills.” industry in the country.

She started first by applying for In the Northwest, Candy Yow of La and becoming part of “The Prois Pine, Ore., is taking the bull by the Posse,” a group of women who stand horns, or in this case, by the antlers. for and represent Prois Hunting and “My life has always been spent in Field Apparel for women. This group the outdoors and as far away from of women is very active in promoting people as possible,” she says. and living the outdoor life, from proYow grew up on large ranches fessional shooters to hunters to just and loved getting on her horse first outdoor activists. thing in the morning and riding all day, exploring the beauty of the backcountry.

STILL, IT WASN’T enough to satiate “As would be expected we hunted Yow’s outdoor appetite, so she enA lifelong outdoorswoman, La Pine’s Candy Yow hosts a hunting show, most of our meat in those days,” she recently participated in the Extreme Huntress competition and organized tered the Extreme Huntress Comperecalls. “We lived a long ways from the 1st Annual Northwest Ladies Hunting Camp this past spring. “My goal tition, which is an international town, and more often than not we is to help as many ladies as possible achieve their goals in this area,” she competition with the goal of creating says. (CANDY YOW) had venison for dinner. From this positive role models for women who came my deep respect for wildlife and huntwant to participate in hunting. opportunity. ing.”

She wrote an essay to try for the semi-fi“How else would you see the beauty Growing up on the ranch she never really nals and was shocked to learn that she made and fill your soul with the peacefulness?” thought much about the topic of women the top 20. Then she had 30 days to get as hunting – everyone pulled their weight, many online votes as possible to make the WHEN SHE MET her husband, Randy, a whether it was field work or hunting. top six. Those competitors would then go to few years ago and realized his whole Of course for her, hunting was more fun the 777 Ranch in Hondo, Texas, where they world was hunting, she fit right in. They than some of the other jobs. She often wonwould compete in a head-to-head competinow have a Western big game hunting dered why other women would talk about tion for seven days, showing off their shootshow called Extreme Desire TV, which can the men going hunting and the women staying skills, knowledge of all aspects of hunting be seen on MAV TV, in Canada on Wild TV ing home. as well as some endurance skills. They would as well as two Central Oregon stations, KTVZ “Why would you want to miss out on all also harvest at least two animals while there. and COTV. the fun, the opportunity to see the surround“I wanted to go to Texas so bad, but could Yow is happy to see more women getting ings and the wildlife?” she wonders. “It’s defsee right off the bat I was going to have a batinvolved in hunting. Each of their shows has initely hard work and your body aches at tle trying to sell myself online for votes,” Yow a woman involved at least to some point in night from the miles of hiking, climbing and recalls. “I felt I would do much better in the the hunting. carrying, but you do that at the gym too.” hunting competition.”

She started volunteering for projects When there was a long hike or a climb Ironically, she missed the first week of votlike Women on Target, which teach involved in a hunt, Yow would jump at the ing because she was in the backcountry women the basics and safety of firearms AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 145

hunting bears, but came on strong the next two weeks. Still, Yow just couldn’t pull it off in the end, although she came real close.

“There was some very tough competition and I am honored to have made the top 20, but believe I can do it next year,” she says.

“I learned a lot, so I will be back and try again to make it to Texas to try my skills against the other ladies.”

IT ONLY SPARKED her drive more, and in May she began the 1st Annual Northwest Ladies Hunting Camp to teach and incorporate all skills used while hunting. She brought in several of her professional friends from different aspects of the hunting world, and the first camp was held at Luckiamute Valley Pheasants in Monmouth, Ore. Yow says it was a smashing success.

With a small class of 30 there was plenty of one-on-one attention for the ladies.

Classes included basics of hunting, safety, shooting ranges for pistol, rifle, shotgun and archery. Each lady shot and learned safety at each range.

After shooting, they covered topics such as how, when and where to put in for tags, upland game bird hunting, how to pack your backpack, how to pack a kitchen for camping in the backcountry, Dutch oven cooking, wildlife photography and how to set up a tent for all weather conditions.

By the end of the weekend Yow says everyone was exhausted but knew they were on to something that would grow to be a big hit in the years to come.

“So with this in my mind, I head into hunting season with more ideas of how to welcome women into this great world I love and live for, how to get them more involved, how to encourage them to step out and go enjoy the beauty of the wilderness, how to learn to harvest their own food and gain respect for it, and feel the aching muscles it takes to get it,” she says.

“It’s the most satisfying feeling, and my goal is to help as many ladies as possible achieve their goals in this area.”

Personally, it wouldn’t bother me a bit if my wife took up hunting. It would at least double our chances of getting meat in the freezer – and maybe even guarantee it since she usually catches more fish than me anyway. NS

146 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

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148 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

HUNTING

Out-of-staters Not Out Of Luck Last-minute tags still available for great Rocky Mountain hunts.

Much has been made of the effects of disease, predation and EHD on deer and elk herds in the Northern Rockies, but the truth is, there are still good numbers of wapiti, whitetails and muleys, like the author’s 2013 buck, out there. (ZAC HOLMES)

By Zac Holmes

MISSOULA—Big game hunters have it good in the Northwest, so why go anywhere else? Well, if you are like me, you can’t help but wonder what’s around the corner.

This compulsion has allowed me the great pleasure of hunting across our region, including Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. In all three states, I have observed absurd amounts of game, harvested some nice animals, and picked up lots of shed antlers. I roll my eyes when the naysayers start the pessimistic wolf talk. I don’t deny the effects of predation, but these doomsday descriptions are highly inaccurate. In fact, many of the big game units of

Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming are over population objectives, and are providing the same quality hunts that they have for generations.

From the evergreen forests of North Idaho to the alpine basins of Montana to the grassy ridges of Wyoming, there are some killer options available to nonresident hunters in the Northern Rockies.

IDAHO While other Western states manage their big game hunts with a drawonly system, good ol’ Idaho is still a place to get a tag without a bunch of grief. The state offers a few controlled hunts, but the majority of Idaho is available with just an over-the-

counter tag. According to Department of Fish & Game deer and elk coordinator Toby Boudreau, out-ofstate hunters are welcome, and can depend on being able to purchase over-the-counter tags.

A recent survey of Idaho’s big game hunters revealed that both residents and nonresidents favor the opportunity to hunt every year, rather than the alternative of applying for ultraexclusive, hard-to-draw trophy hunts. This is a good thing, because there are outstanding prospects for elk and deer here.

Elk: While elk numbers may be lower than a generation ago in the north-central part of the state, the remainder of Idaho is doing very well.

Sixty-five percent of elk units are AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 149

HUNTING above population objectives, and bucks, including a number of 180there are a number of great areas in inch and bigger specimens. Many are the central portion of the state, inaware of the Panhandle’s stellar cluding the McCall, Pioneer, Brownwhitetail hunting, but it might surlee, Weiser, Tex Creek, Lemhi, and prise others to hear how good the Sawtooth Zones. Several of these hunting actually is. The age-class units offer harvest for either sex, and structure of whitetails may be the allow for the use of rifles or archery best in the country, due to an impresequipment. Also, the Bannock, Diasive concentration of 5- to 9-year-old mond Creek, and Bear River Zones bucks. The abundance of public lands in the southeast provide great potenis a great feature of this hunt too, betial for elk hunts. These units are also cause those without access to private above population objectives, and aclands can still have areas to themcording to IDFG’s Martha Wackenselves on national forest lands. hunt, 2014 winter survival was favorThough chewed back in some areas, elk are over game able, and current agency objectives in many regions of Idaho, Montana bull/cow and and Wyoming, though getting a tag for a branchantlered bull like the author’s 2011 elk are a mixed bag calf/cow ratios are at this point for out-of-state hunters. (ZAC HOLMES) exceptional. There are a limited number of tags for these units, but they have not sold out in three years.

Deer: There is a “phenomenal mule deer season ahead of us,” predicts Boudreau.

From Lewiston south to Idaho’s southern border, the state has experienced a trifecta of consecutive mild winters, favorable fawn crops, and good conditions for antler growth. In fact, last season produced an amazing 40-inch buck, Like Idaho, Montana offers nonand Boudreau says that he is excited residents plentiful amounts of tags, to see this year’s crop of heavypublic land, and animals to pursue. horned deer. He believes that there According to Ron Aasheim at Fish, will be many younger bucks availWildlife, and Parks, the western and able as well, but that hunters might central parts of the state offer great want to hold out for a mature, fouropportunities to have a “real Monpoint-or-better buck. Some specific tana hunt,” because with just an units to consider for a good mule over-the-counter tag, nonresidents deer hunt would be Units 66A, 68, can pursue deer and elk in some of 71, 72, and 74 through 77 in the exthe most beautiful landscapes imagitreme southeast corner. nable. Most of these lands are naNorth Idaho also holds potential tional forests, or part of the Block for a great hunt. Each year, Units 1 Management program, and provide through 9 produce scores of nice

MONTANA

150 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

exceptional access. Disease, predation and weather have been factors over the last few years, but populations are still strong, and there are a plethora of bulls and bucks available in 2014.

Elk: Overall, elk numbers in Big Sky Country are in good shape. Animals are found from corner to corner, and 80 percent of units are above population objectives. Since Montana is our fourth largest state and offers a daunting number of locations for a nonresident hunter to choose from, I asked Aasheim where he would hunt elk. He recommends Region 3 in the southwest corner, and Region 4 in west-central Montana.

Though seven elk regions host great hunting opportunities, Region 3 is the hotspot. It produces an astonishing 50 percent of the state’s harvest, and includes an abundance of quality habitat.

Areas such as the Big Hole River drainage, the Madison Range, and the Bridger, Castle, Crazy, and Little Belt Mountains are legendary elk haunts. Specific units to consider in Region 3 include 315 and 319 in the Bridger and Crazy Mountains, which allow for the harvest of two animals, and have some of the highest densities of elk in the state.

Deer: Deer are another story in Montana. Although they are still widespread, and in very huntable numbers, “this is not a great time to hunt deer in Montana,” acknowledges Aasheim. The principal reasons for this are disease and weather. Last

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HUNTING summer, EHD, a fatal, naturally occurring virus accounted for big losses in whitetails across the state, and that led to a “terrible fall,” he notes, but was quick to point out that whitetails are known to breed fast, and a full and speedy recovery is likely.

The harsh winter of 2011 also took a toll on deer, but they too are rebounding.

On a positive note, it is still Montana, and although it may not be a “great” time to hunt deer, it is still a “good” time.

The Rocky Mountain Front is a very special place. Deer are plentiful, and the area is indescribably beautiful. Both whitetails and muleys reside here, and some incredible specimens are harvested each year. Unit 441 offers great opportunities for both younger age-class mule deer and the big, mature bucks that migrate out of the Bob Marshall Wilderness when the snow

152 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

and cold forces them into the front country. Whitetails are found in this unit, as well, but occur primarily on private lands.

On the other side of the Bob in Region 2 are some additional quality deer hunts. Unit 281 in the upper Blackfoot watershed has both species, but only the whitetails can be hunted with a general tag. This is OK because they are plentiful in this unit. A combination of Forest Service and Block Management lands provide access to vast swaths of the valley, including some very productive whitetail habitat.

Closer to Missoula is Unit 283 in the Rattlesnake Mountains and Unit 285 in the Swan Range. These units are great places to pursue both species with a general tag. The animals are numerous, and I have personally observed a number of specimens that most hunters would be happy to harvest.

Units 520, 560, and 575 between Livingston and Red Lodge have a ridiculous number of deer. Whitetails, in particular, thrive here, and EHD has not significantly affected their numbers. There is quite a bit of national forest land, state lands, and Block Management land, but much of the best whitetail habitat is privately owned. It is possible, however, to gain access by knocking on doors. Perhaps because deer are so prolific here, I have had good success getting on private lands by politely requesting permission. Mule deer too are a good option, particularly in Unit 560, where I harvested a mature 4x4 buck last year after passing on several smaller bucks, and observing nearly 100 does on public land.

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hunt, fish, and hike all over the Northwest, but in my opinion, there isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t much that compares to western Wyoming. With only a half million residents, Wyoming is sparsely populated and ripe with awe-inspiring wild lands and recreational opportunities.

The Department of Game & Fish has a reputation for having a difficult licensing system, and I kind of agree with this sentiment, but based upon the absurd amount of big game and other wildlife that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seen over the past decade, it is most definitely worth cracking the code.

No, the licensing system is not actually that difficult to navigate, but there are nuances to planning a hunt. For instance, Wyoming does not, unfortunately, offer over-thecounter tags to nonresidents, so at this late stage of the season, most of the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s antlered tags have already sold, and license availability is

154 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

essentially nonexistent for buck deer and bull elk. There are, however, still leftover cow elk and pronghorn tags available this fall.

Elk: Wyoming is experiencing great booms in both elk populations and harvests. In fact, with an astonishingly high success rate of over 45 percent, the last two elk seasons, 2012 and 2013, are No. 1 and 2 respectively, in annual elk harvest.

Wyoming believes that they have too many elk, and thus offers liberal amounts of antlerless tags. This and a lack of interest in cow hunting by residents often allows for the availability of leftover tags. Wyoming’s bull elk tags are spoken for by now, but a leftover cow tag offers better odds of filling your freezer while hunting some sweet country at the same time.

Units 90, 92, and 94 in the state’s west-central Wyoming Range, for instance, generally have remaining tags, and this is a good unit to hunt cows and learn the lay of the land so that you can draw a bull tag or buck tag there next season. These units are over their population objectives and much of the region is federally owned. Also, Units 12 and 21 in the Sierra Madre Mountains are way over objective, and contain lots of quality public lands. This range is in the south-central part of the state, and is a veritable elk factory. And Units 56 and 59 in the Cody area usually offer opportunities for leftover cow tags too. I have hunted here, and there are good odds of harvesting an animal, particularly when the weather cooperates. But if you do hunt this region just east of Yellowstone, be extremely mindful of grizzly bears. No joke.

Antelope: According to WDGF’s Al Langston, Wyoming may hold almost as many antelope as all of the Western states combined, and hunters enjoy a success rate of around 90 percent. Again, no overthe-counter tags are offered, and the draw was months ago, but Units

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HUNTING 15 through 17, 20 through 24, and 26 in the northeastern part of the state have difficult public access and generally don’t sell out.

For those who possess the financial means, trespass fees that grant access to landlocked public lands, or ranches and farms, are good ways to utilize these leftover tags. To help bridge hunters with property owners, the state offers a list of landowners who allow access for fees starting at $100. The combination of this access with the small parcels of public lands within these units allows great odds for success. My friends hunt these units, and regularly harvest nice bucks, either by paying for access or getting lucky on the adjoining state and BLM lands. NS Every year, many Oregon and Washington hunters, like Eric Duncan and Jannaeah Baty of Vancouver, venture to the Northern Rockies states for big game, and they return richer for the experience and often in meat. Duncan and Baty hunted public lands for this pair of bucks. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)

Editor’s note: The author, who is the brother of Northwest Sportsman contributor Jeff Holmes, is a guide based out of Cody, Wyo.

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HUNTING

Scout Now For September Bulls Tips for finding elk in Washington’s Cascades and Olympic Mountains.

By Jason Brooks

It’s high country like this just east of the Cascade Crest in western Yakima County where elk will be hanging out during September’s bow hunt. Scouting out bowls with water, forage and deep timber nearby now could pay dividends next month. (JASON BROOKS)

WHITE PASS, Wash.—Deep in the dark timber, elk escape from summer’s midday heat. They emerge to feed in the alpine meadows at first light and once again as the moon rises over the Cascades. This is where you need to be scouting in August if you want to notch your archery elk tag in September.

Jeff “Bernie” Bernatowicz gave some sound advice for those who want to chase after elk in the early archery season, noting that the backcountry is fairly steep and higher in altitude, meaning cooler nighttime temperatures.

“That’s where the elk are that time of year,” says the longtime state wildlife biologist for western Yakima County.

Early elk hunting also means you need to either strap on your hiking boots or load up the horses, as getting to the higher elevations puts you into the wilderness areas that are roadless and motorcycles and ATVs are not allowed.

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HUNTING The author’s scouting partner, son Adam, glasses for bulls. (JASON BROOKS)

For Yakima-area hunters, Bernie has some great news, as the past winter was extremely mild. In fact, the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife didn’t have to start feeding elk at the popular Oak Creek Wildlife Area feeding station until late February, and even then, very few animals came down compared to an average year.

He says the herd is in “good shape, and last year there were no winter surveys due to the easy winter, as the elk didn’t come to the feed stations.”

This means that there likely was low winterkill mortality and that elk hunting should be fairly good for those who can get to where the elk live.

AND WHERE DO the elk live?

“Anywhere up high. The Bumping Unit (GMU 356) has the most elk 160 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

in it,” says Bernie.

The William O. Douglas Wilderness makes up most of the unit, and it’s fairly steep and good for those with horses or who like to hike into the backcountry. Bernie notes that the unit had an overall success rate of 9.8 percent for archers last year, among the best for Eastern Washington’s major elk areas. To reach the high alpine meadows of the Bumping Unit, head to Bumping Lake on Forest Service Road 1800, which continues to the south side of the lake and then turns west. At the end of the road is a trailhead that will take you up the Bumping River and towards Crag Mountain. On the north side of the unit there are trailheads that take off from Highway 410, Chinook Pass, out of Pleasant Valley up into the drainage of Kettle Creek. If you hunt the western border of the unit, make sure you check your GPS and maps

often, as you could wind up in Mt. Rainier National Park, which is closed to hunting.

Don’t overlook the Rimrock Unit, to the south of Bumping. It had an overall success rate of 11.3 percent for bowhunters. Bernie suggests hunters get away from the roads as the hunts start just after the popular Labor Day Weekend, which sees an increase in people camping and riding ATVs around the woods. The human activity pushes elk a bit further away and into the dark timber. He suggests that if you like to hike, find an area at least half a mile from the nearest road and up to about 5 miles away to find the elk. Those with horses tend to go back a bit further in, allowing those who are boot-bound to hunt the “void area” between the roads and where horseback hunters set up their camps.

Temperatures can still be mild this time of year, so look for water sources and meadows where the elk will likely feed at first and last light.

The road up the South Fork Tieton River will get you close to the Goat Rocks Wilderness, north of Mt. Adams. From there, take one of the many trails up into the wilderness and away from the roads to find the elk.

The Sept. 2 bow season opener is a little before Yakima herd bulls are in the rut, but they will still be starting to bugle. Both cows and spike bulls are legal with an over-the-counter tag, so try and concentrate in known feeding areas. The younger bulls will still be with the cows, as the big boys aren’t ready to push them out of the herd just yet. Bernie stresses that over the past three years, elk in the Yakima units have done “pretty good” increasing the herd size, thanks to milder winters and late rains in spring growing more feed.

WESTSIDE ELK HUNTERS know that Roosevelts will be heading towards full rut by the time next month’s season ends, and that the chance to hunt bulls with at least three points on one side means there’s no need to focus on groups of cows while look-

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HUNTING

Tactics vary for hunters on either side of the Cascades. A group of grazing cows and calves can be a good potential target on the Eastside because legal spikes will be hanging out with the herd still before the rut really kicks. But with their three-point minimum, Westside hunters are chasing more mature bulls that may not be accompanying cows quite yet. (JASON BROOKS)

162 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

ing for that spike. Sound off a bugle and when the reply comes back, you know it’s time to head into the very dark and thick timber.

This year some of Western Washington’s best elk country has gone to a pay-to-play program, and if you don’t already have your access permit, you need to find public lands.

But with an epidemic of hoof rot also occurring in Southwest Washington, it might have made the choice not to give in to Big Timber easier this season. Instead, head to the rainforest.

The Olympic Mountains are very steep as well as thick with evergreens. Elk numbers are not as high as to the south, but the bulls have more opportunities to grow big.

Olympic National Park provides a sanctuary for the elk that wander in and out of its boundaries along the many river drainages. The elk here don’t need to go to the high country to find relief from summer’s heat or

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HUNTING green grass in alpine meadows. Instead, they tend to use river drainages that provide cool shade and water along with thick cover and plentiful forage.

“Public lands and private commercial timberlands bordering the park are good prospects. Hunters are encouraged to scout for elk that may leave ONP and travel along major river drainages,” noted WDFW district biologists Anita McMillan and Shelly Ament in their hunting prospects for last season.

Jefferson County holds the Clearwater Unit, which lies on the west side of the Olympics. This heavily forested unit is comprised of mostly public lands, including a 270,000-acre Department of Natural Resources forest. It receives a lot of moisture and is a logged-over rainforest, so expect to get soaked.

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sound like much, but given the thick cover and the fact that the unit receives little pressure, most of the bulls killed were mature and were at least five points.

The Sol Duc Unit is in Clallam County and lies on the northwestern edge of the Olympics before they break off into the Pacific Ocean. The unit is bordered on its eastern side by the national park and on the west by the town of Forks. Almost the entire unit is within national forest and DNR holdings. In 2013, 94 archers reported harvesting eight bulls.

Public lands in the Olympics don’t offer the road mileage that private ground does or near the fresh clearcuts of a couple decades back, but there are some private holdings and smaller cuts in very steep terrain. Look to the many river drainages and elk trails that are worn through the thick brush. Once

you are able to push into the oldgrowth, the understory will open up a bit and make it so you can still hunt along the well-used elk trails.

Sound doesn’t carry very far in the dense forest, so if you hear a bull bugling or a cow mew, elk are close.

For an archery hunter the thick cover can help conceal you for the stalk, though it can also be very frustrating when trying to find a shooting lane.

WHETHER YOU HAVE a Westside or Eastside archery tag in your pocket, now is the time to get out and scout. For those who like the high country, nothing beats an early archery elk hunt in September when the weather is nice and the elk are still in their summer patterns and not pushed around by those chasing after them with rifles. But lower-elevation lands around the perimeter of the Olympics offer good opportunities too. Either way, good luck! NS

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Northwest Sportsman 169

170 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

COLUMNS

Bear With The Berries he unusual winter of 2014 is likely to affect

By Doug Huddle the summer bruin distribution at the Aug. 1 opener of the black bear hunt. At lower North Cascade elevations, say, below 4,000 feet, a shallower-thannormal snowpack melted out three to four weeks earlier this spring. This hastened sprouting of browse plants and the budding of berries.

But above 4,500 feet, substantial postmid-February precipitation that fell in solid form piled up a more traditional pack, especially in north- and northeast-facing basins where it’s yet to fully disappear.

With seasonal moist root and sedge crops now on the wane, black bears turn their attention to foraging for summer carbs and they’re finding in many lower elevation areas a berry crop well ahead of previous years’ schedules.

That, plus the cool shade of wet forested areas, may entice a fair number of otherwise seasonally roaming bears into staying on lower slopes awhile longer before many make inevitable treks up to the alpine tree fringe in search of low-bush blueberries.

Notwithstanding these favorable conditions for natural forage going forward, on the whole it was a quiet spring on the black bear front. Whatcom and Skagit Counties seemed to have fewer early sighting and garbagerooting complaints, though in more urban King County, reports of problems with black bear were up – a surprisingly hefty 360pound boar was captured between Woodinville and Duvall. Under a Washington law passed several years ago, rural and urbanfringe residents are now legally obligated to remove or bear-proof attractive nuisances to reduce bear temptations.

Far less transient sign was found on forest roads and fewer encounters on timberlands were reported this spring. This may have been due to the fact that in a number of managed forest locales, black bears were kept on the run by contract hunters with

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T

A late berry crop in some parts of the western slopes of the North Cascades may keep black bears, like this one captured a few Augusts ago outside Granite Falls by hunter Devin Schildt’s trail camera, at lower, more accessible elevations this month. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST) hounds who were hired to deal with animals causing sap-feeding damage.

GIVEN THAT THE prevailing boot technique for bears now is to sit and watch, earlygeneral-season bear hunters will likely gravitate to locales with the broadest visibility, either low-down areas of recent timber harvest or higher elevation timberline fringes or burns. With logging roads into much private lower timberland acreage now perennially gated, walking or mountain biking is the chief and required mode of access. Getting high on private holdings in the Bowman, Blue, Bald and New York Mountain areas is problematic because of the distances from the gated entries to upper basin and ridgetop stands.

Vehicular access is still an option into some state forest lands in the Kendall area on the east side of Sumas Mountain and across the river on Slide Mountain, as well as up the Clearwater Creek and Warm Creek Roads in the Middle Fork Nooksack off the FSR 38 mainline.

In Skagit County, given the checkerboard pattern of ownerships, driving approaches across state lands can be problematic due to easement limitations where private landowners request road closures.

On federal forest lands here, on the north end of the Mount Baker Ranger District, bear hunters will once again have motor vehicle access to two key locales, the Glacier and Canyon Creek basins via district Forest Roads 39 and 31, respectively. Both systems facilitate access to timberline and old burns (Grouse Ridge, Boundary Ridge and High Divide), plus some upper-slope clearcuts where there’s still some sighting distance.

As mentioned with this year’s lingering snowpack, berry crops at middle and higher elevations in the Whatcom County foothills are going to be several weeks late, especially on north- and east-facing slopes. Bears in the high country will be gravitating to south or sunny slopes for the earliest ripening fruit, as well as boggy upper basin areas with similar aspects for grasses and roots.

On the south end of the Mount Baker AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 171

COLUMNS Ranger District, look to the Finney Block (south of the Skagit River) and its Iron Mountain (1775 Road), Gee Creek (1705 Road) and Gee Lake Road (1720 and 1722 Roads) accesses. The Illabot Creek Road, east of Rockport, offers access to the 16 Mainline and the 1620 Road on federal lands, as well as walk-in access to lower-elevation gated private timberlands. Also the Jackman Creek (14 Road) mainline east of Concrete tops out in some wet hollow old-growth stands in the Thunder Creek watershed that are excellent summer bear habitat.

In the Baker River valley, the LoomisNooksack (12 Road), Schreiberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Meadow (13 Road), Anderson Creek (1107 Road), Marten Lake/Boulder (1130-1131 Roads) and Shuksan (1152 Road) Forest Service routes provide access to aging second-growth units with some vistas. They also serve as jumping-off points for developed trails or pioneered routes into subalpine areas.

Elsewhere in the Nooksack, the Swamp Creek (3065 Road), Wells Creek (33 Road), Anderson Creek (3071 Road) and White Salmon

172 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

Ian Churchill shows off a Baker Lake sockeye.

(WRIGHT & McGILL/EAGLE CLAW PHOTO CONTEST)

(3070 Road) routes will be the best choices to pursue a bear hunt.

BAKER LAKE SALMON While the earlier in-

river sockeye stanza did not live up to angler expectations, the upper Baker River Valley reservoir fishery is unfolding close to the preseason forecast, which calls for 27,500 fish

AUGUST 2014

Northwest Sportsman 173

COLUMNS back through a strike area to see if you can get a second. Otherwise, the best advice for these often-hard-to-get fish is continuous prospecting, keeping your gear in the water, and always being on the move to increase chances of crossing paths with them.

If you haven’t fished Baker before, there are some things to remember. This long, Lshaped mountain-valley reservoir can be dangerously windy in both sunny and stormy conditions. Small boats have been swamped. Parking is limited, weekends can be crowded, and be prepared to pay a launch/parking fee at the Forest Service accesses. Camping along the lake shore is allowed.

NEXT ISSUE Samish River September kings and early bowhunting options on the North Sound’s farms and foothills. NS

174 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2014

or call

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Editor’s note: The author lives in Bellingham, is retired from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, and has written about hunting and fishing in the Northwest for more than 30 years.

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ther end. There is some thinking that the naturally acidic and often muddy water of Boulder Creek makes the lower half of the lake less tenable for these newly arrived fish so they jet uplake into the, relatively speaking, clearer waters.

Many anglers will troll a zigzag track including legs close along the north shore from Swift Creek up to Shannon Point and then down the center of the lake and up the south shore centering on Noisy Creek.

Downlake, beware of shoals in the west half. To preserve gear, troll north and south off the east-side shore.

Predawn starts are often the order of the day, and at that time and through sunrise, anglers will pull gear at depths of 15 to 25 feet.

Some anglers insist that the fish go off the bite when the sun stands tall, but others lengthen their troll reaches or lower their downrigger ball to 30 to 50 feet to track in on the light-sensitive fish.

Because they are a schooling fish, by the end of August when sockeye numbers are nearing their greatest, it’s worthwhile to troll

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available for harvest.

This is a hardware trolling fishery, so a successful rig for reds always includes a flasher or dodger, usually the 00 and 1 sizes. Leaders off the tail must be kept short – a foot and a half to 2 feet maximum to make sure the flasher action is imparted to the business end. Hooks should be size 1 and 2, and because of the way these fish strike, many anglers lean to Gamakatsus for their hyper-sharp points and red anodized finishes. Some commercial mimickers will use just a bare business set of one or two hooks, but others will insist that a fresh rear-facing shrimp bait must be laced in.

When used, Mylar hoochie skirts in red, pink or orange liveries are the choice.

Some fastidious fishers will dress out their terminal tackle with some sort of shrimpbased oil or jelly, in part, they say, to mask the human odor.

With loads of sockeye adult decanted at both West Pass Dam ramp (south end) and Swift Creek Ramp at the reservoir’s big midpoint bend, the lake can be plied at ei-