FISHERIES — As voracious as a wolf and more mobile than a northern pike,the cormorant is finally getting more attention as a peak predator on certain fisheries.

Oregon officials were successful in getting permission to kill sea lions that feed on protected salmon trying to swim upriver to spawn. Now they want federal approval to shoot a type of seabird that eats millions of baby salmon trying to reach the ocean.

The Oregonian has the story.

FISHING — Idaho's spring steelhead fishing season closes today in most waters.

The Little Salmon, from its mouth upstream to the U.S. 95 Bridge at Smokey Boulder Road, remains open until May 15.

Meanwhile, the spring chinook fishing season opened April 22, but only about two dozen adults have been counted so far over Lower Granite Dam. 

FISHING — Steelhead aren't making that big early spirt up the Snake and into Idaho this year.

The run numbers over Both Bonneville — as well as the few hundred a day that were marching over Lower Granite last week — are hovering around the five-year average.

Much more fun to come.

STEELHEAD FISHING — The Washington Fish and Wildlife Department has issued an emergency closure of fishing for steelhead and whitefish in the Uppler columbia river tributaries effective a half hour after sunset Sunday.

Actions: Close the Methow, Wenatchee, and Icicle Rivers on March 25 to fishing for steelhead and whitefish.

Read on for the details of the emergency just posted.

FISHING –  Starting Friday (March 16), selective fisheries for hatchery-reared steelhead on the Wenatchee, Icicle, and Methow rivers will temporarily reopen, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department announced this afternoon.

Anglers will be allowed to catch whitefish in the Wenatchee and Methow rivers so long as those rivers are open to steelhead fishing.

Steelhead fisheries in all three rivers are tentatively scheduled to run through March 31, but could end sooner if fishing impacts on wild steelhead reach annual federal limits, said Jeff Korth, regional WDFW fish manager.

“These limited openings are designed to support wild-steelhead recovery by reducing the number of hatchery fish on the spawning grounds,” Korth said. “Anglers can play an important role in that effort by removing hatchery fish not needed to meet spawning goals.”

Because the fisheries could close on short notice, Korth recommends that anglers check the department’s Fishing Hotline at (360-902-2500) or Fishing Rule website for updates.

The Similkameen and Okanogan rivers will remain open for steelhead fishing, although sections of the Okanogan River around the mouth of Omak and Tonasket creeks will close to all fishing Friday to protect wild steelhead staging for spawning.

Read on for more details.

FISHING - Friday was a shirt-sleeve day with plenty of action for Grande Ronde River steelheaders.

Dennis Matsuda and Dan Hansen of Spokane caught and released 13 steelhead during the day, some of them beautifully fall bright fish.

Not bad for February.

FISHING — A Spokane showing of “Connect,” the 3rd film from Confluence Films, will be shown on Feb. 22 as a benefit to raise money for the Wild Steelhead Coalition and efforts to protect Columbia River wild steelhead.

The film features six international fishing locations, 12 anglers, 10 fish species and one angry croc.

The 2011 Fly Fishing Film Tour featured a clip of Connect, but the full feature film will be shown Wednesday at The Lincoln Center, 1316 North Lincoln Street. Doors open at 6 p.m. Show starts at 7.

Tickets will cost $5 at the the door; procedes from tickets and raffle items will go the WSC.

 Info: Josh Mills,  jmills81@hotmail.com  or contact Silver Bow Fly Shop. 

FISHING — It's time for a women's road trip to Riggins, Idaho, to warm up the town and win cash in the Women with Bait steelhead fishing derby on the Salmon River.

Every guided boatload of ladies gets a “bait boy” to do all the dirty work so the women can concentrate on catching fish.

The event opens Wednesday and runs through March 3. 

Contestants get a grab bag of goodies and the chance to win cash or prizes for the most fish, the biggest fish and even the smallest fish during that period.

 Contestants also tend to be a hit back home when they serve fresh steelhead for dinner.

The entry fee of $200 per angler includes the cost of the guide, gear, fish handling, boat, food and derby registration.

See the 2012 tournament rules.

Get more details from Exodus Wilderness Adventures, (800) 992-3484 or email riverescape@frontier.com.

PUBLIC LANDS — The public and wildlife soon will be sharing a new chunk of an elk-friendly ranch and Grande Ronde River access in southern Asotin County. The 2,200-acre parcel bordering the Grande Ronde River was approved for acquisition Saturday by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission.

The land, accessible off the Grande Ronde Road between Boggan’s Oasis and Troy, Ore.,will be the first phase of what is planned to be an even larger acquisition over about 10 years from Milton (Mike) Odom II and the 4-0 Livestock and Land Company LLC.

The area is tentatively being called the Mountain View Project, said Bob Dice, Washington Fish and Wildlife Department wildlife area manager in Clarkston.

The acquisition brings the total acreage in the Blue Mountains Wildlife Area Complex to more than 68,000 acres, Dice said.  The other units in the complex include the Chief Joseph, Asotin Creek and Wooten wildlife areas.

Read on for more details.

OUTDOOR EDUCATION — Local sportsmens groups are sponsoring two programs of interest this week in Spokane.

Unfortunately for the universal sportsman, both programs are set for Tuesday starting at 7 p.m..

• Steelhead fisheries in Washington, and update on Olympic Peninsula’s Elwha River Dam removal, by Rob Masoni, Trout Unlimited Western vice president, Tuesday at Northern Lights Brewery, 1003 E. Trent Ave. Sponsored by TU Spokane Falls Chapter.
• Whitetail deer research project in northeastern Washington, by Woody Myers, Fish and Wildlife Department wildlife biologist, Tuesday at Inland Northwest Wildlife Council auditorium, 6116 N. Market St. Sponsored by Inland NW Wildlife Council.

• The fish must be recorded on the angler’s salmon or steelhead permit.
• The processed fish must have the skin attached, including the portion with a healed, clipped adipose fin scar.
• It must be packaged in a way that the number of harvested fish can be determined.
• The fish must be processed ashore when the angler is done fishing for the day.
• No processed salmon or steelhead may be transported by boat.
• No jack salmon may be processed in the field.
• Processed salmon or steelhead count toward an angler’s possession limit while in the field or in transit.

FISHING — The holidays are taking a bite out of the fishing pressure on the Snake and Salmon rivers, but the fishing in the Salmon near Riggins has been very good for anglers with a pass to leave home.

“A lot of bigger native steelhead have moved into the river system, many over 32-inches,” Amy Sinclair of Exodus Wilderness Adventures reported Wednesday afternoon.  “Recent rains have not affected the river which is in good shape with great visibility; water flow at 5110 CFS. Water temperature last week hovered between 37-38 degrees. However a cold snap over the weekend dropped the river temperature to 36 degrees which slowed the fish down and have them holding in the deeper pools. Deep diving, slow action plugs, bait divers and drifting bait seem to be the best methods to entice the fish.”

So how good has the fishing action been?  Check out this report from Sinclair:

Salmon River (Riggins) creel report for Nov. 13-20

42 anglers fished with Exodus hooking into 100 steelhead or 2.4 fish per person and landed 71 or 1.7 fish per person.

Birthday boy Jeff Lind from Athol, Idaho, limited out by 12:30 pm with drift boat guide Jeff Wieber on Nov. 19.

Terry Pike from Columbus, Ohio, landed the  MONSTER 36-inch  native steelhead (pictured above) that gave him quite a fight from the drift boat guided by Norm Klobetanz.

FISHING – Anglers along the Snake and Grande Ronde rivers have been leaving a lot to be desired in the categories of ethics and compliance with fishing rules.

On a recent boat patrol along the Snake River upstream from Clarkston, Washington Fish and Wildlife Department police found plenty of lawbreakers.

Fourteen citations were issued in the fourhour patrol, reports Capt. Mike Whorton, department enforcement supervisor in Spokane.  

FISHING — The number of steelhead climbing over Lower Granite Dam has slowed to 100-200 a day as the fish start hunkering in for the winter and the next big surge of movements in February or March.

There should be plenty of fish to catch in the Snake and tributaries if you can zero in on them.

But other factors play a role in angler success from week to week and even day to day.

Last week, Salmon River anglers from the Riggins area were riding high with great fishing success.  But the weekend brought change, as Amy Sinclair of Exodus Wilderness Adventures observes in this post-weekend wrapup:

Steelhead fishing was definitely affected by the storm system front and the full moon over the weekend; Saturday was one of the toughest fishing days of the year with few fish found throughout the entire river corridor. Fortunately the moon is waning and the weather pattern has settled and already the fishing has picked back up and returned to the incredible fishing we had for the past 2 weeks. While water temperatures continue to hover between 37-38 degrees, the fish are maintaining interest in plugs and in particular the infamous “truck and trailer”. These fish are still very acrobatic and we have started to see many more natives, especially over 32” in the last few days.

FISHING — After reading my outdoors column on steelheading puzzles along the Snake River and tributaries, some readers are asking where they can go fishing on the Touchet and Tucannon rivers.

Touchet River steelheading is allowed during the June-through-October gamefish season, as well as during the steelhead season that runs Nov. 1-March 31.

Much of the Touchet is private, but anglers find access:

• At levees within the towns of  Dayton and Waittsburg.
• Between the two towns at Lewis and Clark Trail State Park.
• At the WDFW Dodd fishing access site nine miles north of Touchet and Highway 12.
• And from private landowners who often give permission to anglers who ask.

Tucannon River steelheaders find easy public fishing access in the first mile of river up from the Snake.

Farther upstream, one encounters mostly private land for miles. Permission for one property often is granted at the Tucannon River RV Park above Starbuck.

Anglers also can find access on state and national forest land farther upstream to the Tucannon Hatchery, but most of the steelhead harvest occurs downstream from Highway 12.

Historically, December is an excellent month for steelheading on the Tucannon.

STEELHEADING — The latest Idaho steelhead fishing harvest report indicates slower than normal fishing in the lower reaches of the Snake River, but good fishing upstream from the Salmon River.

Great fishing has been reported from the Salmon River area near Riggins.  Read on for details. 

FISHING — The movement of steelhead over Lower Granite Dam has slowed way down, but more than 167,000 of the fish have climbed over the dam and are making themselves available to anglers throughout the upper system.
  

SALMON FISHING — The fishing season for chinook and coho salmon will be extended in the lower Hanford Reach of the Columbia through Oct. 31, the Washignton Fish and Wildlife Department has announced.

 The extension affects the sport salmon fishery in the Columbia River between the Highway 395 Bridge at Pasco and the wooden power line towers at the old Hanford townsite.

The season previously was set to end Sunday.

Read on for details.

FISHING — If you're a steelheading fly-fisher and you haven't seen the BC fishing flick Metalhead, now's the time. 

Even if you have seen it, the Spokane Falls Chapter of Trout Unlimited suggests joining them and having some fun and watching the film as they show the movie Monday (Oct 24) starting at 7 p.m. at the Magic Lantern Theatre, 25 W. Main Avenue in Spokane.

Metalhead is an exciting film from AEG productions. It features die-hard trout bums hooking up with impressive BC steelhead and having a dirt-bag adventure in the wilds of Canada's pristine steelhead country.

Bring some cash for the raffle and join TU at the Saranac Public House from 6 p.m.-7 p.m. before the show for beverages (happy hour prices) and fishing stories.

 

Still have questions? Email me at jerrywhitefish@gmail.com

FISHING — Idaho Fish and Game officials just posted this notice to holders of three-day salmon-steelhead permits fishing in waters and at times when steelhead and chinook salmon both are present and can be caught and kept:

Differentiate harvest of the two species on your permits.

The three-day permits are valid for both salmon and steelhead, and anglers get only the single permit. The intent with the three-day permit has been that it could be used for the salmon season or the steelhead season. Those two seasons usually don’t overlap, and only one species was recorded on a permit for the three days fished.

Read on for more details.