by Dave Graybill, January 19, 2015

I didn’t get any fishing in but I sure had a busy week. My travels took me from the Colville Tribal Salmon Hatchery in Bridgeport to the TRAC in Pasco. It was one of those weeks where I was out gathering information or sharing it.

On Tuesday of this week I traveled to Bridgeport and met with Pat Phillips, hatchery manager at the Colville Tribal Salmon Hatchery, and Casey Baldwin, Senior Research Scientist for the Colville Fish and Wildlife Department. This gave me a chance to see the facility up and running with fish being processed and to talk about the near future of the salmon fishing in this region. I saw spring and summer run salmon in different stages of maturity, from just-hatched eggs to small fry that were still too young to be fed. They showed me the large ponds where the fish were being held until they would smolt and be released into the Columbia. One of the features of this hatchery is that the fish are transferred from one station to the other and finally into the river without being handled. This water-to-water transfer system greatly increases survival rates of the fish. Everything is working as it should at the new facility. Anglers are eager for the first return of salmon to the upper Columbia and this hatchery in 2017, and the return in 2018 is to be even larger.

After I toured the Colville Tribal Fish Hatchery in Bridgeport I had time before my next appointment to do some checking on the fishing at Rufus Woods Reservoir. When I came up over the hill I saw one boat working the can line, and when I got to the boat launch I found four trailers parked there. The other anglers had run up river, maybe all the way to the net pens. I checked on some of the bank fishermen and found that the bite was slow that day. Just one of the fish from the latest release had been landed, and it was less than 2 pounds. Talking to some other anglers I learned that bigger fish are still available in Rufus, but are being taken mainly by trollers that are fishing big plugs deep.

I spent most of the weekend in Tri-Cities and the TRAC attending the first sport show of the season. I was with the folks from Bob Feil Boats and Motors. The Schuyler family did another great job and attendance was terrific at this year’s event. The exhibitor hall was packed with booths representing everything from products to fishing and hunting trips to places right here in Washington to exotic locations all over the world. I always enjoy these shows. It gives me a chance to see people that I don’t see other times of the year, and to talk to many new people. I was impressed by the number of people that stopped me to say thanks for the reports that they read in the local Nickel Nik or on my web site. I have to mention that there was a terrific buzz at the show about a young angler that caught a big walleye off the dock at Mar Don Resort on Potholes Reservoir. It was reported to weigh 19 pounds! The next Schuyler show is the Central Washington Sportsmen’s Show in Yakima. It takes place from February 20th to the 22nd. It’s in the Sundome.

This week I will be doing some more travel. This time it is over the mountains with the first stop in Puyallup at the Washington Sportsman’s Show. This is the biggest one in Washington. It fills a good portion of the fair grounds, and is loaded with exhibitors of all kinds. This is where I get to see a lot of my contacts in Eastern Washington and beyond. I also get to see the manufacturers that I work with, many of them I have gotten to know through Ed Iman’s Fish Camp. I will probably spend two days at this show. There are just so many people I want to visit with and exhibitors that I want to see. The show will run through Sunday the 25th.

Also starting next weekend is the annual Seattle Boat Show. This is a monster show, and the largest of its kind on the west coast. There will be over 1,000 boats on display at the CenturyLink Event Center, and regular free shuttles to Lake Union where the really big boats are moored. It is an amazing thing to see. In addition to the boats there are hundreds of exhibitors at this show with everything from fishing equipment to electronics to representatives from boating destinations all over the west coast. I want to visit with the people from Kingfisher and SmokerCraft. I have driven boats from these manufacturers through Bob Feil Boats and Motors the past couple of years. If you haven’t ever been to this show I would recommend it. It’s a blast!

While I was at the show in Pasco I talked to Rob Phillips, the outdoor writer for the Yakima Herald, and he said he was anxious to get up to Lake Roosevelt. He loves to fish there this time of year, as I do, for the rainbow and to try for the big kokanee that are shallow in the winter. Also there was Austin Moser, of Austin’s Northwest Adventures, and he felt the same way. He and I plan to give Lake Roosevelt a try when we get a break in the show season. If you want to get a taste of what it’s like, go to my web site at FishingMagician.com and go to the Fishing TV Page. There is a show we did up there last year that you can watch.

Well, if you are planning to go to any of the shows this season I may see you there. If not I hope you get out on the water and enjoy some of the great winter fishing we have available to us here in Eastern Washington. Go Hawks!

FishingMagician.com