S PORTS
www.hoodrivernews.com
Hood River News, Saturday, January 24, 2015
A7
Fishing is best ‘when rivers drop and waters clear after a rain’
Winter steelhead
tips from a local pro
THE HOOD
is
RIVER
stocked with
about 50,000
winter steel-
head smolt an-
nually, which re-
turn in late De-
cember through
mid-April.
By BUZZ RAMSAY
Outdoor News Columnist
Steelheading this time of year is
a challenging sport. After all, how
many people think about fishing in
the middle of the winter? Dealing
with the rain, hail, snow, and cold
rivers that fluctuate from muddy-to-
clear, depending on the ever-chang-
ing weather conditions, is what
makes this sport difficult for some
and exciting to others. The rewards
can be great (if you dress for the oc-
casion) big hard fighting fish and
scenery that at times can be breath-
taking.
To be successful takes persis-
tence, well honed angling skills and
an understanding of the fish you
are after. To help figure these crit-
ters out, remember that in most sit-
uations steelhead prefer to lie in
water less than ten feet deep.
Depths averaging five-to-eight feet
and moving the speed of a brisk
walk are what you should look for,
especially if the river bottom is con-
Photo by
Adam Lapierre
toured, strewn with boulders
and/or running next to a cut bank.
If the water is higher than normal,
fish will be found anywhere the cur-
rent slows. This usually means
near shore, in big, wide drifts, or
along current edges.
Steelhead love to rest in the tail-
out (end) of a hole, but will move
farther into the drift if pressured or
when the water is low and clear.
They migrate most during the
morning and evening time periods,
on a full moon – providing there is
no cloud cover, and when the river
is high, green and dropping from a
recent rain storm. All these are gen-
eral rules but remember that fish
are where you find them and since
they can be aggressive biters, it
pays to try a few casts in every good
looking spot.
Where you fish, high or low, on a
river should depend on water con-
ditions. The basic rule is, if the
water is high, fish high. If the water
is low, (and been that way for
awhile) fish low on the river.
Fishing is best, when rivers drop
and waters clear after a rain. Steel-
head are drawn upstream by the
smell of fresh water. As water levels
drop, moving fish begin to hold in
the holes, mostly near the tailouts.
After a storm and water fluctua-
tion, good fishing can last from a
few days to a week or more, depend-
ing on the run size.
Angling effort normally increas-
es during these time periods. As the
water levels drop and clear, most
fish numbers are thinned by sport
harvest – the rest disperse through-
out the river. This is a time when
anglers wait (some pray) for the
next rainstorm and subsequent rise
in water level which will encourage
another wave of fish to enter rivers.
Water conditions can dictate
which technique will be the most ef-
fective. Under extreme low water
try drifting fishing a Corky Drifter
near bottom in combination with a
small egg cluster or sand shrimp,
float a steelhead jig below a float, or
cast-and-retrieve a weighted spin-
ner. Under high turbid water condi-
tions, I’ve always enjoyed the best
success drift fishing with a larger
(or two) drift bobbers like a Corky
Drifter rigged with an 18-inch
leader and pencil weight or large
slinky style sinker.
Rivers in the mid-Columbia offer-
ing opportunity for winter run
steelhead include the Hood River,
White Salmon, Wind and Rock
Creek. While the Wind and White
Salmon are no longer stocked with
hatchery winter steelhead they are
open to fishing and there is a real
opportunity to capture a late-re-
turning summer steelhead or win-
ter steelhead that has strayed from
another river system.
According to ODF&W biologist
Jason Seals, the department has
continued a hatchery brood-stock
program on the Hood River by re-
leasing 50,000 smolt annually. These
progeny-of-wild fish start returning
in late December or early January
and run through mid-April – nor-
mally peaking in March.
Biologist John Weinheimer with
WDFW said that although the de-
partment has stopped stocking the
Wind and White Salmon with
hatchery winter runs they’ve start-
ed a new program on Rock Creek by
releasing 20,000 fin-clipped hatch-
ery smolt. These fish should begin
returning this month and remain
in the system through winter.
Eagles 39, Lions 24
Team wrestling
key to HRV victory
By ADAM LAPIERRE
News staff writer
HRV wrestling hosted its
first home dual meet of the
season Tuesday night, and
for those in the audience ex-
pecting an exciting show, the
action did not disappoint.
After losing the first five
matches and falling behind
18-6 (HRV picked up a forfeit
at 103 pounds) to the visiting
St. Helens Lions (5A Special
Dist. 1), the Eagles rebound-
ed by winning six out of the
last eight matches to finish
with a 39-24 team victory.
“We expected a good fight
tonight and that’s what we
got,” coach Trent Kroll said
after the dual. “I’m very
pleased with how we compet-
ed. This result is a great ex-
ample of team wrestling.
Our focus was to get pins and
not give up pins to maximize
points, and we did that phe-
nomenally.”
In dual meets, a pin is
worth six team points, a tech-
nical fall (win by 15 points) is
worth five, a major decision
(win by eight or more) is
worth four points, a decision
(win by seven or less) is
worth three and a forfeit is
worth six. While St. Helens
won seven matches to HRV’s
six, the Eagles picked up five
pins and a forfeit, while giv-
ing up just two pins.
“We talked about that be-
fore the dual, about the im-
portance wrestling as a team
and fighting for every point
possible,” Kroll said. “All but
two of the matches we lost
were close, and the fact that
we gave up just three team
points in those matches,
along with picking up five
pins, is the reason we fin-
ished with the win.”
After accepting a forfeit at
106 pounds, Jessica DeHart
was up first for the Eagles at
112. In one of the most excit-
ing matches of the night, De-
Hart used her signature take-
down, the fireman’s carry,
once in the first period and
once in the second to take a 4-
2 lead going into the final two
minutes. After getting taken
down with less than a
minute remaining, DeHart
managed an escape to take a
one-point lead in the final
ten seconds of the match. In
one last act of desperation,
her opponent charged in and
scored the final takedown
just as the buzzer sounded to
take the 6-5 win.
Next up was the freshman
duo of Angel Jones and
Jason Shaner, both of whom
showed great promise in
their home varsity dual
opener; Jones lost 12-9 and
Shaner 11-7. Dylan Peterson
lost by fall, then James Estes
lost a close 4-3 battle before
senior Jorge Ortega turned
the tides with a 6-4 win off a
takedown and two nearfall
in the first period and a re-
versal in the second. Senior
Chris Castro got the crowd
fired up with a third round
pin after trailing 1-2 through
the second period.
Mo m e n t u m c o n t i nu e d
with Trystan Fischer, who
hammered his opponent to
the mat in the opening sec-
onds for a first round pin.
Senior Steven Swafford then
punished his opponent
through two rounds before
pinning him in the third for
Photo by Adam Lapierre
PICKING UP PINS Tuesday night in HRV’s home dual vs. St. Helens are (top) James Estes and Max
Lane. The Eagles had five pins in the dual while giving up two, which resulted in the 39-24 win.
six more team points. Oscar
Villegas lost by fall to St. He-
lens all-star Myles Terry,
which narrowed HRV’s lead
to just three points. Mark
Reyes and Max Lane deliv-
ered under pressure with
two pins – Reyes in the sec-
ond round and Lane in the
first minute – that sealed the
team win. Justin Wilson fin-
ished the night with a hard-
fought 5-3 overtime loss for a
final score of 39-27.
■
Tuesday’s dual, originally
scheduled for Dec. 4 but de-
layed due to bad weather,
was a special fundraiser run
through the nation-wide
PinCancer organization,
whose motto is “The World’s
toughest sport taking on the
world’s toughest opponent.”
Through community dona-
tions, the kids raised $2,000
for the organization. Pin
Cancer’s 2015 goal is to raise
HRV ski team sweeps last week’s competition
Lucy McLean continued her
run of dominance in high school
ski racing last weekend with an-
other first place finish in Mt.
Hood Ski League slalom action
Sunday at Mt. Hood Meadows.
The win — her fourth consecutive
first-place finish this season –
propelled the Hood River Valley
High School varsity girls ski team
to an overall win for a third
straight time.
The HRV boys saw a change of
pace its finishing order, with No.
1 skier Austin Keillor posting the
fastest run of the day on his first
run, but following with a DNF on
his second run. William Lamer
posted two solid runs to lead the
Eagles with a third place finish
behind Eli Holeman of The Dalles
and Colin Howe of Columbia. Char-
lie Sutherland and Onar Smith
posted top ten finishes to help the
boys team to an overall win.
The team has a break in action
this week and picks back up next
weekend with a slalom race at Ski
Bowl, assuming there’s enough
snow on the course.
Varsity boys:
William Lamer: 3rd, 49.19
Charlie Sutherland: 4th, 50.83
Onar Smith: 9th, 1:04.27
Patrick Crompton: 17th, 1:14.13
Colson Zack: 18th, 1:15.15
Oskar Anderson, 22nd, 1:28.83
Varsity girls
Lucy McLean: 1st, 48.60
Mattea Schwab (Horizon): 3rd,
WILLIAM
LAMER
HANNAH
BERGEMANN
52.46
Kelli Clarke: 4th, 52.74
Sophie Caldwell: 21st, 1:12.29
Freestyle:
HRVHS skiers dominated rail
jam and slopestyle contests over
the weekend at Mt. Hood Mead-
ows, both in numbers and in per-
formance.
In the rail jam competition,
HRV was the only school to make
an apperance, so it was an inter-
squaqd contest. Top three finish-
ers for the girls were Hannah
Bergemann in first, Savanna
Brentlinger in second and Avrie
Van Tilburg in third. For the boys
top three were Tucker FitzSi-
mons, Trey Roeseler and Sammy
Stevenson.
Slopestyle top five were as fol-
lows: Girls – Hannah Bergemann,
Savannah Boersma, Savanna
Brentlinger, Avrie Van Tilburg
and Nicolette Paulus; Boys –
Tucker FitzSimons, Reece Car-
roll, Patrick Crompton, Jason
Lebsack and Trey Roeseler.
$250,000 to support pro-
grams at St. Jude Children’s
Research Hospital.
“Hosting a Pin Cancer
Dual was a great experience
for everyone involved, espe-
cially the kids,” Kroll said.
“It allows our wrestlers to
serve in their community,
while bringing great public-
ity to a worthwhile cause. I
am proud of our team and
h ow we a l l h e l p e d t o
fundraise for this charity.”
Teacup Classic delayed
due to lack of snow
Due to lack of snow, the Teacup Lake
Nordic Club has rescheduled its annual
Teacup Classic race for Feb. 22 with
hopes that the dismal snowpack with
improve by then. The event, originally
scheduled for this Sunday, is an all-abili-
ties Nordic race that includes a kids
race at 10:30 a.m., a new 20K race start-
ing at 11 a.m. and the traditional 5K
race starting at 11:10 a.m. The event is a
fundraiser for the club; suggested dona-
tions are $20 for youth and $35 for
adults. TLNC maintains and regularly
grooms the popular network of tails at
Teacup Lake SnoPark along Highway 35,
just north Mt. Hood Meadows. For more
info or to register, visit
www.teacupnordic.org.