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Boat not necessary for Snake River steelhead
Washington fishing map feature
By Jim Pearson
Fishing and Hunting News
ICE HARBOR DAM, Wash. — The two fishermen admitted it was "kinda slow" but
quickly added, "You shoulda been here last week."
A few steelhead were being taken along the shore of the Snake River when I was there in early January, and they were nearly all fin-clipped keepers. The week before, when it was so hot, the fish were mostly big, wild non-keepers. And so it goes with steelheading. I was standing on the banks of the Snake River a ½-mile upstream from Ice Harbor Dam when the guys told me that. If you turn off State Route 124 at the Ice Harbor Dam sign and turn upstream just before you get to the dam, you will see the spot I'm talking about on your left. It's about halfway between the dam and Charbonneau Park (C-2, p. 40, Washington Atlas & Gazetteer).
In the right is a parking spot with a porta-potty — that gives you an idea how many people bank fish from the shoulder of the road. In fact, I stopped my truck in the middle of the road, rolled my window down and talked to a fisherman who had his chair set up in the gravel shoulder that separated the roadway from the water. One fisherman did have a chrome-bright hen in the 8 or 9-pound class, and then, as if on cue, Robert Engelhardt from Kennewick set the hook on one. I even got photos of it, but didn't have time to get the film processed before deadline. It was a buck, not as bright as the hen, but still a nice fish in the 6-pound class. He said the steelie played with his bait forever before he finally took the bobber underwater. It was then that Engelhardt set the hook. "You have to wait until they take the bobber down before setting the hook," he said. "That's the only way you know they have it in their mouth." Just as I was pulling out of the parking lot, the fish counter pulled in. He gave me the once over, wondering if I was exiting with a native fish, I suppose. I drove up to Charbonneau Park, a distance of less than a mile, parked and walked down to the rocks to see what was being caught. The boat launch was open at the park, and the guys I talked with were fishing from the boulders of the jetty that protected the launch. They weren't doing much, but they assured me, "You should have been here last week." Pretty soon, the fish counter showed up, and the fishermen knew him by his first name. They were regulars along that shoreline. Right after that, two game wardens arrived, but they retreated to their pickup and the spotting scope when some goose hunters opened up across the river very close to some "no shoot" zones. After the fish counter discovered the case I was carrying was for cameras, he decided I probably wasn't trying to hide anything when I drove away from him 20 minutes earlier.
Local rigs The guys fishing from the jetty were rigging just like the ones from the roadway. They used a heavy, lead-weighted slip bobber with 6 to 8 feet of leader below the bobber stop. To the leader, they affixed a Rock Dancer jig of approximately a ½ ounce. A shrimp was impaled on the hook and the hair of the jig doused with shrimp scent before the whole setup was flung 20 yards out into the river. One fishermen tipped the point of the hook with a Pautzke's Ball o' Fire salmon egg. Most don't bother with the salmon egg, but he thinks it gives him an edge. Some diehards held on to the rod, but most set it down in the rocks or laid it across their chair. They would have plenty of time to pick up the rod and set the hook once a fish began biting. They could talk with their neighbor fisherman for approximately 10 minutes until the bobber had drifted into an area they didn't like. Then they retrieved, checked the bait, put on more scent and recast. It was a lazy type of fishing, great for socializing and drinking coffee. The setup had a few variations. Some fishermen cast jigs as light as one-eighth ounce, just heavy enough to drag their bait through the bobber. They believe that lightweight presentations move more naturally with the current and are more readily taken by fish. The Canadians, who originally started the bobber-fishing craze, have now improved on that. They use a fly instead of a jig. Many think the streamer fly serves only to make the bait appear larger, and the hair or marabou dressing holds scent much better than juices squirted on a shrimp. To keep from dragging their bait through the slip bobber once it hits the water, they tie on an inch-long section of surgical tubing a foot or so above the bait. A strip of pencil lead sufficiently long to sink the bait is inserted into the surgical tubing in the same manner many people do for bottom bouncing. Such a setup allows the bait to move about freely in the current. Shrimp recipes
Here's how he puts them up: He begins by buying a $10 package of approximately 200 small shrimp at Grumpy's South First Surplus (509-452-0868) here in Yakima. He uses just enough water to cover them, but adds to the water an entire tub of double red Pro Glo, two tablespoons pickling salt, one package of either grape of wild cherry Kool Aid or one bottle of Beauty Max. Landon likes his shrimp almost black, so if you want lighter-colored bait, leave out some of the coloring or use gold, green or natural Pro Glo. Leave them in brine overnight, stirring them two or three times. Once out of the brine, he rinses off the shrimp, air dries them, and saturates them in shrimp oil and garlic powder. "I want guys to smell my shrimp a half mile down the river," he says. I've used his bait more than once, and I can tell you the recipe works. On the way home, I stopped at the park just upstream from where the Highway 12 bridge crossed the Snake River just before it meets the Columbia. Four guys were taking out a large jet boat. They hadn't taken a fish that day, but said, "You wouldn't believe last week." They figured the rains and snow had dumped enough fresh, cold water into the river that the fish had made a run upstream. He told me how they fished from the boat. It was a simple setup. They used ... no, that story will have to wait for another time. The editor only allows me so much space for one of these stories, and I've used up my allotment. I will tell you this: The next time I'm going a week before I plan to. That way I won't have to listen to anymore "You should have been here last weeks."
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Copyright © 2007 Last Modified 8-21-07
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