Outdoors
Rec
B
Saturday, November 13, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
On
the
bead
GARY
LEWIS
ON THE TRAIL
T
his is one of those years
when steelheaders don’t
talk to each other. Oh, they
talk, but they don’t talk fishing.
They chat about the chukar num-
bers or bemoan the elk they
missed. Word has come down
from on high that steelhead num-
bers are down. One of those years
when a lot of guys stay home
while other anglers quietly go to
the river and then lie about it.
It reminds me of the day we
fished with Adam Hocking on
the Snake. In Lewiston for a visit
one January, my friend Kris Bales
and I planned a day with Adam
Hocking of Steel Dreams Guide
Service. We would run the Clear-
water or the Snake, depending on
the weather.
I called Adam the night before.
“Meet me at Heller Bar at eight
o’clock,” he said.
I expected to see two dozen
anglers on the bank and two
dozen trailers in the parking lot.
Instead, it was just Adam, his
brother-in-law Carl Welch and
Tiller, the springer spaniel.
We would side-drift yarnies
and beads, Hocking said. If we
could hit the seams where steel-
head hold, we would have a decent
chance at getting fish to grab.
Kris Bales/Contributed Photo
Adam Hocking with Gary Lewis and Tiller on the Snake River on an early January day.
The drift
How they roll
Fish take beads for the same
reason they bite salmon eggs.
Steelhead, salmon and trout are
programmed to eat fish eggs. And
eggs tumble along the bottom.
Putting beads in front of fish is
a deadly technique.
Most species in our steelhead
streams are gravel spawners and
the eggs that don’t make it into
the 3/4-minus tumble down with
the current. Neutral-buoyant, they
Gary Lewis/Contributed Photo
A road trip to the Snake in December or January can pay off with good steelhead action. This Snake River steelhead fell for a
side-drifted rig in very shallow water.
stay close to the bottom and get
vacuumed up by everything from
suckers to sturgeon.
For the bottom-bounced bead
presentation there is a variety
of opinion on where to peg the
sphere. Some say three inches,
while others like to set the bead
two inches from the hook. Instead
of eyeballing it, try to set the
bead about two fingers’ width
away from the hook. Why is this
important? A bead set too far
away is likely to result in an out-
side-the-mouth set, which is con-
sidered snagging in some locales.
At the hook-set, the line slides
through the bead and the hook
usually plants inside the corner of
the mouth.
To fix the bead in place, use a
toothpick and break it off, slide
the bead over a bobber stop knot,
or use a threaded rubber band.
Prospect in fairly straight
classic drifts. Watch for water that
moves at about the speed of a fast
walk.
Many guides prefer a nine-foot
spinning rod and a reel that can
hold about 160 yards of eight- to
12-pound test main line. High vis-
ibility lines are good to give the
boat operator a quick sight refer-
ence. For leader, use 48 inches of
six- to 10-pound clear mono or
fluorocarbon, knotted to a No. 4
single hook. In clear water, step
down a size to a No. 6.
In the weight box, keep up to
five different lengths of precut
hollow core pencil leads. Or tie up
with a sliding snap swivel on your
main line and connect it to a pre-
tied “slinky” weight.
Use just enough weight that
your pencil lead or slinky ticks
the bottom every two or three
seconds.
In a jet boat, set up to drift
downriver stern first, with the
bow slightly angled into the run.
At the head of the slot, start the
kicker before shutting down the
big motor. The rearmost angler
(often the boat operator) should
make the first cast.
See, Steelhead/Page B6
Fall rains bring flush of new grass
Fresh growth will help
deer, elk and upland
birds prepare for winter
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
BAKER CITY — When Brian
Ratliff gazes at the south-facing
slopes that loom above the Snake,
Powder and Burnt rivers in Baker
County he’s gratified by the soft
green haze he sees.
Better that than brown.
Or, worse still, white.
The green fuzz — detectable
even from miles away — reveals
a crop of tender grass that has
sprouted, nourished by the peri-
odic rains that arrived in North-
eastern Oregon soon after the
conclusion of a summer defined
by severe drought.
This forage, coming as it has
before snow has accumulated at
the lower elevations that serve
as winter range for many spe-
cies, could spare deer and other
wildlife from the potentially fatal
deprivations of winter, said Rat-
liff, the district wildlife biologist
at the Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife’s (ODFW) Baker
City office.
“Right now it’s great,” Ratliff
said Nov. 10. “If we had had a dry
fall and then gone right to snow,
we would be in a lot worse shape.
I’m very, very happy that we got
Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald
New grass growth greens a slope near Brownlee Reservoir in eastern Baker County
on Sunday, Nov. 7. Wildlife biologists say the flush of grass will help deer, elk and
upland birds add fat layers that will give them a better chance to survive winter’s
deprivations.
(the fall grass).”
Although daytime tempera-
tures have been near average, Rat-
That grass is especially vital
liff said frequent sub-freezing
for deer, Ratliff said.
nights have limited grass growth
The source of nutritious food
on north-facing slopes, which get
allows deer to amass a layer of
much less sunlight.
fat that can sustain them during
Most of the new grass is con-
the frigid weeks and months to
come. Fawns are particularly vul- fined to south slopes, with winter
ranges in the Snake River country
nerable due to their smaller body
faring better
mass, which can’t
than along the
generate as much
“We’re definitely
lower Powder
heat.
and Burnt
But Ratliff said
seeing a fall
rivers, Ratliff
bucks, which are
said.
in the rut now
greenup, and it’s
The situ-
and thus burning
a pretty welcome
ation is sim-
more calories than
ilar in Union
usual, are also
sight after such a
County, said
vulnerable to dry
Matt Keenan,
dry summer.”
falls when most
district wild-
of the available
— Matt Keenan, district
life biologist
forage has been
wildlife biologist, Oregon
at ODFW’s La
left desiccated
Department of Fish and
Grande office.
by the hot, dry
Wildlife, La Grande
“We’re defi-
summer.
nitely seeing
Dry grass isn’t
a fall greenup,
as nutritious as
and it’s a pretty welcome sight
the new flush of growth spurred
after such a dry summer,” Keenan
by rains in October and early
said on Wednesday, Nov. 10. “It’s
November.
definitely going to help. It’s super
Elk and bighorn sheep tend
crucial for deer and elk to add to
to be hardier than deer, but those
animals also benefit from the crop those last-minute fat reserves.”
Like Ratliff, Keenan said the
of nutritious grass just before
rain would have been even more
winter descends.
beneficial had it arrived earlier in
Ratliff said he would have pre-
ferred to see the greenup begin
the fall, when warmer tempera-
tures would have yielded a more
a bit earlier, in late September or
bountiful grass crop.
early October, which would have
given animals more time to pack
See, Green/Page B6
on pounds.