Glory Days Are Gone

By Andrew Marks

Originally a letter to the editor published in Salmon and Steelhead Journal. Page 2 is reproduced here. Emphasis added.

No one likes the political crap. We go fishing to get away from that stuff! But, because we do love to go fishing and hunting, we need to, we have to, start paying attention. I repeat: If you love to hunt and fish, you have to start paying attention!

Failure to do so will result in loss of opportunity. If you love to hunt and/or fish, you need to vote the right way! If your elected representative or senator doesn't have a stated position on recreational fishing and hunting opportunities, I don't care how much you "like" them you must vote for the other person and tell them so. If you can convince them to adopt a stated public position to support your hunting and fishing opportunity, then they've earned your vote. Simple.

I think having candidates come and speak to your hunting and fishing club, your homeowner's association, or anywhere else is a good thing. You can talk to them and tell them what it takes to earn your vote. Many will even meet you for coffee at their local haunt in their district. I've met with mine several times over the years. Call their office, set up a time, tell them your issues, ask their position. Rinse and repeat. It's easy and simple, and that's how "the process" of representative government is supposed to work.

Does it always work as it's supposed to? The answer to that is, No. You have to watch their votes in committee and on the floor of the chamber on key laws important to us. Organizations, like the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) for example, and there are others, employ lobbyists who give legislative reports, and you can tell from that who of them are with us. Which ones vote as they told us they would, and which ones don't? Then, you must vote accordingly.

It doesn't matter if they are a "nice guy". They're all "nice guys" or "nice gals". It comes down to who votes for us, and who does not. For me, I have become almost a single-issue voter. If you ask me how I am voting, I will tell you why I vote as I do. My issues are fish issues. If you're working to preserve my opportunity to fish and hunt, I will vote for you. If you're not, I will try the next guy.

In Washington, around 780,000 people buy hunting and fishing licenses, and in Oregon, it's about 650,000. If you think your vote doesn't matter, in 2004, Washington Governor Gregoire beat Dino Rossi by 130 votes after two recounts. In 2010, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber won by 22,000 votes out of 1.4 million, and he was one of the best fish advocates we had. In 2012, Rob McKenna lost to Washington Governor Jay Inslee by abuot 100,000 votes, and Gov. Inslee has been one of the worst governors ever for recreational fishing.

Fishing and hunting opportunities under Jay Inslee and his cabal have only declined. We are now derisively referred to as the "Hook and Bullet Gang," and WDFW staff and commission openly act with disdain and disregard for recreational license buyers.

We have poor representation in Olympia and Salem. There is no question about that. And it is our fault. We have failed to speak with a single voice. The gillnetters have figured out how to get together to support their fishing opportunities. The Tribes know. Recreational hunters and fishers have the biggest voice, yet we fail to speak with a unified message and voice. We fail to use our voice, so our votes are unfocused. In short, we have marginalized ourselves. We don't matter, and no one in charge must pay any attention to us as the recreational fishing community.

The message is simple: If (candidate) has a position supporting my hunting and fishing opportunities and the conservation of our fish and wildlife resources, then I will vote for you. If you don't, I won't. Period!

This is not a political statement; it's a right to fish and hunt statement. I have personally voted for candidates from both major parties. For me, the opportunity for my grandchildren to go fishing and hunting is most important. People who support that opportunity get my vote. Yes, I care about other issues, too, but for me, my hunting and fishing heritage wins out over the rest.

Are you prepared to lose your ability to go hunting and fishing? How important is it to you? Do you know how your representatives voted in Olympia or Salem? You need to.

Note: As this writer explains, after the election it’s important to maintain a relationship with your local legislators. For a number of years some of us advocates have observed over and over that our big issues and major policies are most likely to be initiated in the legislature. When the angling community gets its act together it is possible to make representative government work effectively on behalf of our part of the public sector. By early next year the ANWS executive committee will be able to identify high priority legislative proposals for the 2025 session. And in the meantime, you can make an important contribution to this process by letting your own legislators know what is important to you and why they need to fully engage with the angling community.

Please let me know when you have questions or comments. - Bob Oleson, VP of Gov. Affairs

Rendezvous at the Grande Ronde

By Jeff Hernandez, President Association of Northwest Steelheaders

Photo above by Gary Halvorson, Oregon State Archives   DPLA identifier: f9247188a947e7e77782e0a32abbed10   Oregon State Archives identifier: 20160623-382

Two years ago, I saw the Grande Ronde River for the first time. We flew into Lewiston Idaho, picked up our rental Jeep and drove down to Troy Oregon for the rendezvous. Descending the winding hills into the Troy is nothing less than majestic. My heart leapt when I finally saw the winding river flowing through the canyon floor. Exciting things were about to happen, and they surely did.

This year we were told the event might not happen, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got an email from ODFW District Biologist Kyle Bratcher letting us know the event was a go. He asked if the Steelheaders would like to teach a basic steelheading class again this year, and without hesitation I said yes, we would love to. The main purpose of this gathering is to do a broodstock collection on the Grande Ronde. The intent is to gather some early returning October hatchery Steelhead and spawn them in order to create an earlier run. They tell me it’s a bit cold Steelhead fishing in November and December in that area, so an earlier run is appreciated.

Here are a few highlights from the trip that I would like to share. First of all, the organization and food were top notch. Kyle Bratcher and Michael Lance, both with ODFW covering the Grande Ronde watershed did a wonderful job planning the event. Some folks donated a dinner or two and ODFW provided the rest. They had a nice dinner and gathering at the big tent every night (Thursday to Saturday) and we saw 40-50 people arrive after fishing all day for dinner and a presentation. We had 3
presentations in total and all of them were fabulous.

The first presentation on Thursday night was from Kyle Bratcher, District Fish Biologist for ODFW. He shared an interesting study about fish stocking. He and his team did some research on the impact of dropping fish from different heights. They discovered that weather you drop a fish from 30 feet or 60 feet it really didn’t impact the fish mortality. They determined that they could have a very high success rate and low mortality from dropping fish from a helicopter as long as the fish were not too large. Good to know.

The second presentation was also very interesting. It was given by Marika Dobos the Fisheries Staff Biologist for Idaho Fish and Game, and it was about the impact that Walleye have on the salmon and steelhead populations. This was an eye opener. Not to discredit the impact that Pike Minnow (last years presentation) have on smolt, but what I learned is that Walleye are brutal. Walleyes are hearty and good survivors. They have learned to survive in harsh conditions and because of all the dams on the Columbia they are thriving. They are reproducing at a high rate and will be close to impossible to eradicate. They are not native to the area and were mostly introduced by illegal planting. Their primary diet is fish smolt, so they prey on baby salmon and steelhead, among other fish. Yes, they are good to eat and sound fun to catch, but these fish are growing in their population and are a real threat to salmon and steelhead survival. I volunteered a Steelheaders army to do some Walleye fishing and see what we can do. There is no catch limit, and we are all encouraged to retain as many Walleyes as we
can and never throw one back. Even the big ones. I see a Walleye Fish Bash in our future. You can read more about Walleye in this article: https://idfg.idaho.gov/article/walleye-are-spreading-idaho-0

The last presentation on Saturday night was given by Winston Morton, Regional Habitat Biologist with ODFW. The presentation helped me understand the power of watershed restoration efforts. ODFW worked with landowners in the area and made some significant changes to the local watershed. They shared how planting trees and shrubs in an otherwise flat and open terrain made significant improvements. Rearing salmonid need cool water and safe habitat to survive. We got to see before and after pictures of the areas of interest and saw the dramatic change. One very cool thing that happened is that when trees were planted, beavers came and created beaver dams. These are good. In such a small stream that only trickles during the summer months, having a deep 3 to 4 foot “beaver pond” is a godsend to these fish. Its deep and cool and created the perfect environment for these fish during the hot summer months. Simply amazing.

All in all, I was very impressed with the presentations and left realizing something important. There are a lot of folks doing amazing research to keep our watersheds and fisheries healthy. These biologists are studying all sorts of different fish species, ecosystems, watersheds, environmental conditions, gamefish, predators, etc. to name a few of the things that impact the fish that we love. Yes, we also appreciate hatcheries and rely on them to support the fishing industries as well as the total fish consumption that happens in our country. All in all, ODFW is more than just hatcheries. They are biologists doing great work that we need to support.

Back to the fishing. This year was a record year. We were told that they collected 35 hatchery Steelhead in their efforts and released another 15 native steelhead during the long weekend. Sadly, I didn’t catch a steelhead this year but feel like I can take partial credit for one steelhead. I was showing my new friend Kyle Mackie from the Idaho Wildlife Federation the ropes; we had a nice few days on the river together. He came down to connect with the Steelheaders and discuss working together on their Snake River dam removal campaign, which we are glad to do. Anyhow, it was his first time on the Grande Ronde and being my third year, I said I would show him the ropes. As it turned out, Kyle is a very good fisherman and seemed to show me the ropes. But at one point his jig and float broke off and he was heading back to shore to tie up a new rig. I was fly fishing (with not much success) and told him to grab my spinning rod and give it a try. It had a nice (orange bodied) spinner on it, so he took me up on my offer. A few short minutes later he was yelling “fish on” from a short distance away. He landed a nice 7 Lb. native steelhead that we released after taking a quick picture or two. He was generous to give me partial credit for his beautiful fish.

If getting out-fished by Kyle wasn’t humbling enough, my wife Leslie decided to get in on the action and the 2nd day fishing she put on a trout clinic. She landed 3 very nice Bull Trout that ranged between 16 and 19 inches. Yes, I did catch a nice one myself and a few local rainbow trout, but her fish were very impressive. Spinners were the go-to method that brought us the most success, but Kyle hooked and almost landed another steelhead using his small center pin real on his fly rod, throwing a small trout bead. I was impressed that he almost landed this steelhead since he was only using 6lb test. I think he was just showing off, but whatever.

Lastly, I want to thank all the Steelheaders who made the trek up to help with the basic Steelheading clinic, the broodstock collection as well as taking out the members from the class to fish on that Saturday. This was the largest turnout and participation since I have been attending. We had members from the Salem, Sandy, TV and McLoughlin chapters come to help. The class went well as we all took turns sharing our passion about steelhead fishing and lending our knowledge to some new students from around the state. If there is one thing we know how to do well as Steelheaders, it’s sharing our knowledge and passion for fishing with others. I was proud to stand side by side with my brother and sister Steelheaders and share this passion with others.

Hopefully this won’t be the last rendezvous that we have on the Grande Ronde. I have to admit that I am getting used to the long drive in October that is most definitely worth the trek. Helping others, teaching classes, catching fish, learning a few things and having some laughs definitely makes this trip one of my favorites of the year. I hope to see you up there next year if you can make it and who knows… I might just let you borrow my spinning rod if we fish near each other. But then again, you may not need my help getting the job done.

Anglers should keep any walleye they catch in the Snake and Salmon rivers

Article by Marika Dobos at Idaho Fish and Game: full article linked below

Idaho Fish and Game has received more verified reports and pictures from people catching walleye in the Hells Canyon reach of the Snake River and Salmon River in 2023 than in all previous years. It is alarming to receive so many reports of walleye being caught upstream of Lower Granite Dam, and unfortunately there are indicators that more walleye are coming which is not good for salmon and steelhead.

Our 2024 Hall of Fame Banquet is this Saturday, November 9th!

Mark your calendars now! The Hall of Fame will be at the Gray Gables this year. The address, 3009 Chestnut St Portland, OR 97267, is just off McLoughlin Blvd (Hwy 99E) in Milwaukie. They are known for providing a great banquet.

Even if you can't join us for the banquet, you can still bid in our online auction. We have a great selection of items available, so hurry and look at the catalog below!

Fred Meyers to Donate to NW Steelheaders – The Rest is Up to You!

We are thrilled to announce that we have received our first check from Fred Meyers. Thank you to all who have signed up so far!

NW Steelheaders has enjoyed a good relationship with Fred Meyers for years having received grants for specific achievements from the Meyer Memorial Trust, but that does not help cover our overhead expenses. The Fred Meyer Community Rewards Program can help with that, but it requires your help. Click the button below to learn more and set up your Community Rewards!

Chapter Meetings

Most chapters have resumed Monthly Chapter Meetings in-person, and we hope to get everyone meeting as soon as possible! To get more detailed meeting information please visit our Events Calendar. If you're having trouble finding a meeting you can attend, please reach out to us at office@anws.org and we'll help you out. As always, Chapter Meetings are free and open to the public. If you're new to Northwest Steelheaders, attending a meeting is a great first step to getting more involved with your local fishing community. 

Upcoming Meetings

•  Tualatin Valley Chapter - Thursday, November 14 @ 7 pm

•  Salem Chapter - Tuesday, November 19 @ 7 pm

•  Emerald Empire Chapter - Tuesday, November 26 @ 6:30 pm

•  Mid-Valley Chapter - Wednesday, December 4 @ 6 pm

•  Sandy River Chapter - Thursday, December 5 @ 7 pm

•  Columbia River Chapter - Tuesday, December 10 @ 6:30 pm

•  McLoughlin Chapter - Tuesday, December 10 @ 7 pm - this meeting is off-site

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