Hoopengarner on Outdoors
509-582-1544
Steelheaders start to reel in record run
Welcome to the dance, Ringold.
With the opening Tuesday of the Columbia River above the blue bridge in Pasco for hatchery steelhead, anglers finally have a full dance card to chose from for tackling this year's record run.
Besides the Snake River and the Columbia above McNary Dam, Mid-Columbia anglers now can fish upstream to the old Hanford townsite wooden powerline crossing - upstream of the Ringold Hatchery - through March 31.
Paul Hoffarth, a state Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist in Kennewick, said Tri-City anglers wasted little time wetting lines in the new water.
"We had about 20 people fishing from the bank on opening day and several boats," he said. "I'm expecting at least 100 boaters and bank anglers this weekend."
Hoffarth said the catch rate since opening day has averaged about one fish an hour or two, which is phenomenal considering the statewide average is about 20 hours per fish.
"We checked one boat," Hoffarth said, "and they had caught seven steelhead, released three and went home with their limit of four in about two or three hours."
"It's pretty hot fishing and it should stay that way for several weeks or until the weather turns cold and angling effort declines," he added.
However, with an extended season and nearly 11,000 harvestable fish available to anglers, Hoffarth said the fishing should be good right through winter.
This year's overall run on the Columbia above Bonneville Dam has topped 630,000 steelhead as of Nov. 1. At Priest Rapids Dam, about 14,000 wild fish and nearly 16,000 marked hatchery fish are expected to return.
Moreover, because nearly all the fish returning to Ringold are hatchery-reared and considered surplus, fish that begin piling up at the state-operated facility will be netted and trucked back downstream to Richland and released, giving anglers a second shot.
Anglers can easily tell if they've caught a Ringold-bound steelhead, Hoffarth said, by looking for a missing adipose fin (the small fleshy fin just above the tail) and the right ventral fin, located on the underside of the fish and nearly opposite the dorsal fin.
And the excellent fishing isn't limited to Ringold.
Anglers can catch fish anywhere from Richland upstream, including the Taylor Flats area and above the Esquatzel Diversion Channel, off Columbia River Road.
One reason the fishing can be so productive away from the Ringold Hatchery is that steelhead tend to move around greatly in the months preceding the spawning period in mid- to late March, Hoffarth said.
"We've observed John Day River steelhead continuing to migrate upstream past McNary Dam and then returning back through the dam to spawn in the spring," he said.
That explains why anglers often catch huge Snake River-bound steelhead at Ringold.
If you're gearing up for a trip to Ringold, Frank Sergeant at Critter's Outdoor World in Pasco said the majority of bank anglers are drifting corkies and shrimp or cured egg clusters or backtrolling from boats with Magnum Wiggle Warts and a host of other deep-diving plugs.
Sergeant said Nos. 10 and 12 corkies in fluorescent red, orange and yellow with orange dots are popular when teamed with a whole shrimp or salmon roe. Many anglers top off the whole affair with a small chunk of bright-colored yarn tied on just above the shrimp. The assumption is the yarn will snag in the steelhead's teeth if it tries to steal the shrimp, giving anglers added time to set the hook.
If you enjoy casting spinners, Blue Fox Vibrax spinners in size No. 4 in blue, chartreuse and fluorescent orange take plenty of fish, although it hurts to lose the expensive lures on the boulder-studded river near Ringold.
Not to be overlooked is fly-fishing for steelhead.
There is perhaps no greater thrill in angling than the moment when your flyline suddenly goes taut and the line begins peeling off your reel like the scene from Jaws.
Many fly casters are working the Columbia above Ringold where there is less angling pressure - but still plenty of fish - or on the Franklin County side of the river above Richland.
Drift fishing from shore or boat requires using enough lead weight on breakaway line (generally attached to a three-way swivel) to keep the offering bouncing along the bottom. A pause in the drift may indicate either a strike or a rock. Regardless, it's important to set the hook.
Experienced anglers say if you're not hanging up once in a while, you're not going to catch fish.
However, another technique could eliminate many of the hang-ups associated with bouncing lead weight on a rocky bottom.
Hoffarth said the popular bobber, jig and shrimp method can be used quite successfully at Ringold.
The key, he added, is setting the bobber stop on the line at the proper depth so that the weighted lure and bait will float along just off the bottom, where the steelhead lurk.
"It's really a pretty exciting fishing method, like bobber fishing for perch or crappie, except that when the bobber goes down with a steelhead you'd better hang on," he said.
Elsewhere, boat anglers above McNary Dam continue to net fish, although it's been somewhat spotty of late, due partly to the large number of anglers and weather conditions.
Fishing at night with lighted Vortex lures is a preferred method and angling pressure is somewhat reduced.
Magnum Wiggle Warts, Hawg Boss, Lure Jensen's Hot Lips and Norman lures are attracting plenty of strikes, although many of the lures in fish-catching colors - including black with silver flakes - have been flying off the shelves of local sporting goods and retail stores.
Sports home | Americans | Posse | Area sports | Riley | Outdoors | Area golf