Outdoors
Rec
B
Saturday, April 30, 2022
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Anglers can increase
earnings by catching
northern pikeminnows
Rewards offered
starting May 1
for anglers
EO Media Group
Mining for morels
U.S. Forest Service/Contributed Photo
Morel mushrooms in the Umatilla National Forest in 2017.
Waiting for the fungi to appear
TOM
CLAYCOMB
BASE CAMP
f we can get a light shower and then it turns
warm for a couple of days then it should be
mushroom season, yippee!! The problem is, you
think it’s about to bust loose and then it gets cool. I
don’t know what to think and I don’t think the poor
lowly mushrooms do either.
I
Dennis Dauble/Contributed Photo
In an eff ort to really lower your self worth, think about
it this way. It’s embarrassing enough to get outsmarted by
a fi sh with a brain the size of a pea, how much more is it
when you get outsmarted by an inanimate object — for
instance, a mushroom!
As alluded to above, to kick off the mushroom season
we need a light rain and then for the temp to get warm
for a day or two. With this magic formula, it seems they
can pop up overnight. Being a mushroom hunter is the
most frustrating and at the same time rewarding outdoor
activity there is.
I’ve been a mushroom hunter for 43 years. You’d think
that I could write a knowledgeable article on the subject but
some years I feel like a beginner. It drives me nuts to see
some bozo write an article on fi nding morels. According
to their article you just have to go out in the woods, look
around old logs and then proceed to fi ll a pillow case. I
read an article like that and want to brand “BOZO” on
their forehead. They’ve obviously gone out one time with
someone who knows what they’re doing, found a mess and
are instantly setting themselves up as the world’s leading
authority on mushroom hunting.
A blonde and a black morel, both gathered off Skyline Road in the
Blues at 5,800-foot elevation in late May 2020.
See, Fungi/Page B2
PORTLAND —
Anglers can earn more
money by catching
northern pikeminnows in
the Columbia and Snake
rivers this year.
The Northern Pike-
minnow Sport Reward
Fishery, which encour-
ages people to catch and
turn in the fi sh that eat
millions of young salmon
and steelhead each year,
has boosted the bounty
from $5, $6 or $8 per
pikeminnow 9 inches or
longer, to $6, $8 and $10.
It’s the fi rst increase in
the reward amounts since
2015. The sport reward
season starts May 1 and
continues through Sept.
30 in the lower Columbia
River (mouth to Priest
Rapids Dam) and the
Snake River (mouth to
Hells Canyon Dam).
Anglers will receive
$6 for each pikeminnow
longer than 9 inches for
the fi rst 25 fi sh turned in,
$8 for each fi sh from 26
through 200, and anglers
who catch at least 200
pikeminnows during the
season will get $10 for
each additional fi sh.
Specially tagged
northern pikeminnow
released by state fi sh and
wildlife biologists into
the Columbia and Snake
rivers are each worth $200
to $500.
In addition to
increasing reward
amounts, program man-
agers are making it easier
to participate. Online reg-
istration and an app are
expected to debut early in
the 2022 season.
“These tools will make
it more convenient for
people to participate, par-
ticularly those who don’t
live near a pikeminnow
registration station,” said
Eric Winther, Washington
Department of Fish and
Wildlife, Columbia River
Predator Control Program
project leader. “Currently,
people have to drive to a
station and fi ll out paper-
work before heading out
Gary Lewis/Contributed Photo, File
Brian Davis with a morning’s
catch of pikeminnow.
to fi sh. Registering online
or through the app means
they can go directly to the
river, spend more time
fi shing and make one trip
to the station to turn in
their catch.”
Eighteen full-time sta-
tions will operate during
the fi ve-month season,
with two to four additional
satellite stations opening
later in the season. These
satellite stations off er
anglers additional pike-
minnow harvest opportu-
nities in areas with good
fi shing during short win-
dows of time. Interested
anglers are encouraged to
get the latest information
on the program website,
www.pikeminnow.org,
before heading out.
Since 1990, anglers
paid through the program
have removed nearly 5
million pikeminnow from
the Columbia and Snake
rivers. The program is
funded by the Bonne-
ville Power Administra-
tion and administered by
the Pacifi c States Marine
Fisheries Commission
in cooperation with the
Washington and Oregon
departments of fi sh and
wildlife. It has reduced
predation from pike-
minnow on young salmon
and steelhead by approxi-
mately 40% since it began.
Details on how to reg-
ister for the program and
applicable state fi shing
regulations are also avail-
able on the program web-
site. Anglers will fi nd
resources on the site,
including maps, how-to
videos and free fi shing
clinics, to help boost their
fi shing game.
For more information
visit the program website
or call 1-800-858-9015.
An author’s Tax Day reward: A publisher
LUKE
OVGARD
CAUGHT OVGARD
F
ew things are as grat-
ifying as a tax refund.
We all know it was
our money to begin with,
but there’s something about
going head-to-head with
“The Man” and coming out
on top that I look forward
to every year. My taxes
are usually done in Feb-
ruary, so the April 15 dead-
line (April 18 this year) is
meaningless to me — usu-
ally. Not this year, though.
After almost a decade of
paying my dues as a colum-
nist, fi ghting writer’s block,
angry emails, loss of muse,
encroaching deadlines and
so much disappointment,
I fi nally get my reward on
Tax Day.
Almost nine years since
I penned my fi rst news-
paper article, I’m pleased
to announce that my fi rst
book, “Fishing Across
America” has a publisher.
Hold for tearful applause.
I consider publishing this
book the crowning achieve-
ment of my life, and it feels
a lifetime away from when
I fi rst wrote about fi shing
in a spiral-bound notebook
as a 13-year-old kid or even
when I fi rst started writing
about sports and fi shing for
our local paper a decade
after that.
Though my last key-
stroke was fi nished years
ago, the publication pro-
cess is far more brutal than
the dating scene, and you
can expect rejection after
rejection while looking for
a publisher. Mercifully,
convos with two other out-
doors writers who each
took diff erent paths to pub-
lication let me exhaust
every opportunity before
fi nding my publisher, Ink-
shares. Huge thanks to
Matthew Miller (“Fishing
Through the Apocalypse:
An Angler’s Adventures
in the 21st Century”) and
Kris Millgate (“My Place
Among Men”) for talking
me off the ledge.
Now, you can fi nd that
hilarious, heartwarming
and weirdly captivating
CaughtOvgard content
you’ve come to love 600 to
1000 words at a time in just
The author’s 2019 road trip was a long one, but it was one of the greatest adventures of his life. Now you
can share that journey in his new book, “Fishing Across America.”
a few more words centered
around my 2019 summer
road trip.
The book’s outline
Longtime readers know
what to expect from me:
harrowing tales in which
I barely escape marginal
decisions, epic adven-
tures, loads of dad jokes
and puns, digestible his-
tory, a wide array of fi sh
in an even wider array
of habitats, food, travel
tips, romantic failure
and the gripping narra-
tive that draws in so many
readers who don’t even
fi sh. I can promise all of
that and more in “Fishing
Across America.”
The trip that spawned
this book almost didn’t
happen, but it panned out in
the end as I traveled across
the country for my cousin
Austin Crawford’s wed-
ding and saw him united
to his wife, Darian. I had a
fi shing conference as a rep-
resentative for Fishbrain a
few weeks later, so rather
than fl y twice, I decided to
drive and fi ll the downtime
with fi shing.
It was the road trip of a
lifetime that has spawned
subsequent road trips every
summer since.
46 days.
12,167.2 miles.
122 fi shing stops.
19 states.
2019 fi sh.
211 species.
149 new species.
Read about the “Lone-
liest Road in America,” a
confrontation with poachers
who nearly shoot me,
wading up alligator-infested
creeks, landing massive
sharks and tiny minnows,
fi ghting drunken tourists
for real estate, barely sur-
viving Disneyworld and so
much more.
If you’ve enjoyed being
CaughtOvgard all these
years, please take a little
bit of that tax refund and
buy a copy of “Fishing
Across America” today.
Books are available for
preorder today at www.
inkshares.com/books/
fi shing-across-america.
█
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Read more for free at
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lukeovgard or contact luke.
ovgard@gmail.com. Thank you
for your continued support of
local journalism.