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A chance hook of chinook
Sportsmen - particularly anglers - hold fast to the notion that being in the right place at the right time will often mean success.
However, it also can add up to squat, as in nada, zip, zero and skunkeroo.
I know, because I've been there many times.
For months, I've been trying to catch a chinook salmon.
I started off on the lower Columbia River at Drano Lake during the peak of the record-busting spring run.
Nothing. Not even a nibble.
Later, I tried Oregon's Willamette River. Same ending, but with a slight twist. I managed to land a springer but had to toss it back because it was a so-called "wild fish."
I even gave Ringold and the vaunted Hanford Reach a try with no luck.
Resigned that bringing home a salmon was out of my reach, I cast my attention to the fine run of steelhead presently surging up the Columbia and Snake rivers.
Everyone I talked to, it seemed, has caught a steelhead or at least had one on.
So, after putting in the requisite 20 to 30 hours the state Department of Fish and Wildlife says anglers average before catching one, it only figured that the fish bending my rod over while trolling plugs behind McNary Dam was a mint-bright steelhead.
Wrong.
It was a fall "upriver bright" chinook salmon - all 30 pounds of it.
While patience ultimately proved to be my key to success, Joe Bumgarner, a Fish and Wildlife Department biologist in Dayton, said location is still the ticket among successful steelheaders.
And right now, the hot spot appears to be the Snake River above Lower Granite Dam in the Clarkston area and upstream to the mouth of the Salmon and Grande Ronde rivers.
"Although steelhead are still moving up the Columbia - and anglers are catching fish from McNary to Lower Monumental dams - a lot of fish already have moved through the system and are now in Idaho and Oregon," he said.
Steelhead fishing is reported to be good-to-excellent on the Snake at the mouth of the Tucannon River, as well as further upstream where anglers recently were averaging from six to 10 hours a fish. However, on the Snake above Clarkston, the average is closer to three to six hours a fish.
By comparison, bank anglers above Ice Harbor Dam on the Walla Walla County side and off rip-rap jetty wall at Charbonneau Park have been spending close to 30 hours for every steelhead caught.
Bumgarner said another top spot for steelheaders fishing with a fly rod is the Grande Ronde River near Boggan's Oasis.
"One of the biggest factors in fall steelhead success is water conditions," he said. Warmer water tends to slow fishing, while cooler water will often trigger activity."
Bumgarner also noted that as rivers cool, fish often will begin to congregate, which accounts for some of the red-hot fishing found in the slackwater behind the dams.
Closer to home, Ringold, north of Pasco, also has been good for bank anglers, who recently were catching a fish for every four rods.
"The trouble with all of this forecasting business is that fishing can be hit or miss. Hot one day and cold the next," Bumgarner said.
As for catching steelhead, the popularity and productivity of bobbers, jigs and shrimp is becoming legend. Nevertheless, trolling deep-diving plugs, such as the Magnum Wiggle Wart - which fooled my big king - can be effective.
Gary Bergstrom, assistant manager of sporting goods at Griggs Department store in Pasco, said one of the more popular bobber and jig setups is an Uncle Walt's weighted bobber - a 5-inch Styrofoam bobber with a white body and fluorescent red tip that comes with a bead and a bobber stop.
To rig, slide the bobber up the mainline after the bobber stop and a small red bead and have been attached. The bead is necessary to keep the bobber from slipping over the stop. The bobber stop is either a piece of line or small plastic stopper attached to your mainline.
Next, tie on a leadhead jig, such as Uncle Walt's Bucktail Jig or a Mac's Lures Rock Dancer, in either the marabou or bucktail styles. The 3/8-ounce jig size is perhaps the most popular for getting the bait down quickly. Also, you may have to experiment with how far to slide the bobber stop on the mainline, but four to six feet from the bottom of the bobber to the jig should put the lure at about the proper depth for cruising steelhead.
The jig then is topped off with a whole bait shrimp. Some anglers prefer using natural-colored shrimp, while others like the red-dyed variety. However, you could try cured salmon roe or a nightcrawler, which are widely popular among drift-fishing steelheaders.
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