The shaggy outdoor carpet and walls of the Evergreen State have passed the point of peak green and the rivers run tepid enough to wade on in. Even sporadic rain storms bathe easy like warm showers.
Fields are a patchwork of yellowing square bales and golden stubble. The mixed salad canopy of leaves down in the holler reveals shades that blaze like a summer sun’s nightly farewell.
Prickly old pines and brittle beatle firs turn dirt brown and descend down the well-worn path of decay. But old fruit trees burst with life.
Lurching pioneer cherries and sideways apples, seemingly sprouted from Johnny’s personal stash, overcome gnarled limbs and twisted roots to produce a paint splatter parfait of burgeoning fruit clusters. Young plums and pears enjoy their first season in the sun since being freed from the serrating strangle of invading blackberry vines. Their spindly stalks slowly straighten and wispy branches sag into shape under the natural strain of ample fruit.
Translucent apple skins reveal iridescent pastels that hint at long forgotten heritage varieties. Veins of pink and purple stripe the oblong orbs in patches of plumping plums. They will take time to reach full form, but Mustang red cherries drip like hot wax and dangle like overzealous ornaments on a loitering summer solstice tree.
The sheer abundance of screaming ripe fruit imbues a false sense of security – Stop to pick a few to eat on the spot. Tart. Sweet, and perfect in every way. Then turn away resolved to return tomorrow with a basket, a ladder, and, more time to pick.
Time does not grow. It only slips away.
Birds keep the time though, and sing it every morning. They don’t need a ladder. And they have no need for a bucket.
While ravenous ravens distractedly scratch scraps from the pigpen by dawn’s amber light daft crows swoop in on the wing to pillage the bounty of unguarded backyard fruit.
A cacophonous murder if there ever was one, the crows don’t go unmolested for long among the loaded limbs and the raving jealous ravens mount a scrambled offensive over their observed turf. In the void of commotion deft little brown birds flock for the untended morsels and knock pockmarked fruit into the busted brown brambles below for strategic scavenging later, whenever the big birds came back.
A split-tail barn swallow with tunnel vision darts in and out of an abandoned goat hut. It dashes by daylight from it’s mud cup nest in the eaves to the cherry laden limbs along the far flung fence line. Tiny chirps go silent inside the nest until their next meal returns on the wing. Then a grateful choir of chicks rejoice for sweet regurgitation.
Even strawberries, blueberries and raspberries are not safe from the plundering beaks of birds. But as any fruit picker worth their salt can tell you, a bird pecked berry is a gift from the sky. Damaged, it is no good for market so it is safe to eat without feeling the guilt of not filling a basket.
When I was green on the farm a pretty girl I barely knew told me eating those berries was akin to kissing a bird. As I pick the low hanging fruit later in life that thought still makes me blush.
FISHIN’
This week the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is celebrating “Bass Week” in an effort to turn anglers onto the prospect of both the large and smallmouth bass that are lurking in murky state waters.
The warmwater fish are found primarily in shallow lowland backwaters, ponds, lakes and reservoirs, However, bass will also bite in rivers like the Chehalis and Newaukum during summer months when the water flow drops and air temperatures peak.
In northern Region 5, the WDFW recommends targeting bass in Carlisle Lake (Ol’ Mill Pond) in Onalaska, Swofford Pond in Mossyrock, Riffe Lake in East Lewis County, and Silver Lake in Toutle, in addition to Horseshoe Lake and Kress Lake in Cowlitz County. In southern Region 6 the WDFW says anglers will have the best odds ripping lips in Long Lake, Summit Lake and Patterson Lake in Thurston County.
In order to bonk bass the WDFW suggests using a drop shot setup in order to sink bait just above the bottom. Areas adjacent to submerged structures typically drawn in the densest pockets of bass and successful anglers also employ spinner baits and jigs to increase their odds of putting bait in front of a hungry fish.
According to lunker lunatic Lane Douglass, soon to be a senior at W.F. West, the best bass bite has been found at Riffe Lake this summer, particularly on the west end of the reservoir.
“We just find points and stumps and structures and then cast at them and we’ve been killing ‘em,” said Douglass. He noted that the fish have been hitting particularly well on crawfish and grub jigs.
Warmwater panfish are also biting on area waters such as South Lewis County Park Pond and Douglass says he has had plenty of success hooking tiger musky on Mayfield Lake. He advised that the musky fishing is typically best in three to ten foot water with a decent mat of weed beds for the ungainly fish to lounge in.
“You can see them from quite a ways away with your polarized glasses on and then you just try to cast right at them and make them mad so that they’ll attack your bait,” said Douglass, who compared the taste of tiger musky to sturgeon.
In the Chehalis Basin a few summer steelhead runs will take up the bulk of angler attention. Two of the most popular rivers each summer are the Humptulips and Wynoochee rivers in Grays Harbor. On the flip side, in the Lewis County stretch of the Chehalis River bass and trout continue to be the primary target for successful anglers.
On Saturday the WDFW will host an event for young anglers with special needs at the Merwin Fish Hatchery. That once-a-year fishery will run from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. near the Merwin Dam east of Woodland. More than 100 youngsters are expected to show up with their families this year to the 20th annual Merwin Special Kids Day. Rods, reels, tackle and T-shirts will be provided for participating anglers to use and keep for later fishing trips. To register, call 1-800-899-4421.
Aside from the anglers who have been fishing the various reservoirs signs of angler activity have been sporadic on the Lewis River. According to A.J. at the Bob’s Sporting Goods fishing desk in Longview, most Lower Columbia River tributaries have been similarly slow.
“I haven’t heard anything about the tributaries. They’re real slow and low on water,” said A.J. at Bob’s on Wednesday.
To wit, the WDFW sampled eight anglers on the Elochoman River last week with no catch to show at all.
However, he noted that steelhead anglers have been having success along the banks of the mighty river from County Line Park down to Vancouver using coon shrimp. WDFW statistics back up the fish tales he’s been told behind the counter, too.
According to those stats, last week 273 bank anglers near Longview kept 21 steelhead and released 11 more while 52 boat anglers kept 13 steelhead and released 10 more. Additionally, 91 bank anglers near Cathlamet kept six steelhead and released two others, while 76 boat anglers kept 19 steelhead and released three.
“Mostly people are plunking for them,” said A.J. “The hog line is for salmon and salmon season is closed now.”
That summer Chinook fishery on the Lower Columbia River below Bonneville Dam closed on July 1 due to a depressed return that was running roughly twenty percent below the anticipated average. From the Megler-Astoria Bridge to Bonneville Dam anglers are currently allowed a total of six salmon and, or, steelhead a day, while releasing all Chinook. The daily limit for adult fish in the lower river is two adult sockeye salmon or hatchery adult steelhead, or one of each. The rest of the six-fish limit can be filled with hatchery jacks.
According to a WDFW report this week there were no changes to the anticipated run size of 209,000 sockeye and 44,000 summer Chinook expected to reach the mouth of the Columbia. However, the run may be one or two days earlier than expected with sockeye numbers beginning to trend down and Chinook numbers looking up. The WDFW has estimated that between July 1-8, steelhead anglers on the Lower Columbia River made 3,950 fishing trips and caught 668 summer steelies. Those stats indicate that 444 of those steelhead were kept and 224 were released. Additionally, 24 sockeye were caught with 21 kept, and 86 Chinook were released in the lower river.
The Kalama River and Cowlitz River, along with their mouths on the mainstem Columbia, are two tributaries that have been providing some action for dogged anglers.
“We’ve been doing really good off the beach in Kalama for steelhead. It’s pickin’ up pretty good down there,” noted Colby Rader, a recent Kelso High School graduate who has been bonking tropical fish on vacation in between local sessions for sturgeon and steelhead this summer.
“Haven’t fished a whole lot in the Kalama but I know guys are catching steelhead pretty good,” he added.
Douglass, a former teammate of Rader’s on the Rural Baseball Inc. Dirtbags, noted that he had himself a heckuva time up at the Cowlitz River barrier dam a little over a week ago when he hooked a sturgeon at the drop deadline. Douglass noted that he was plunking for late springers with 12-pound test when the dinosaur fish latched onto his hook.
“I was really surprised because we just had on a corky and yarn and he just swallowed it,” said Douglass, who thought he’d hooked an “old boot” Chinook at first because the fish didn’t seem to want to fight.
That’s when the five foot sturgeon surfaced and started zigging and zagging up and down the bank with abandon.
“After a 20 minute fight we finally got it up. I couldn't get him out with the net. I had to bear hug him,” said Douglass, who released the sturgeon according to regulations.
WDFW sampling last week showed only moderate success for steelhead anglers on the Cowlitz River. Downstream of the I-5 bridge two bank rods showed no catch. Upstream of the I-5 Bridge 10 bank rods showed two keeper steelhead and 19 boat rods kept four steelhead.
Last week the WDFW announced an emergency closure for Chinook salmon that will extend from the mouth of the Cowlitz up to Forest Road 1270, along with the Cispus River and Lake Scanewa until the end of July. Spring Chinook salmon runs to the Cowlitz River have been depressed in recent years and preseason forecasts again predicted sparse numbers.
So far the actual return of spring kings has been even worse than those initial forecasts anticipated. A press release noted that the fishery was closed in order to “help ensure hatchery broodstock goals are met.” The closure will also allow for adult fish to be trucked upriver above Cowlitz Falls Dam as part of ongoing reintroduction efforts.
The annual fall Chinook run on the Cowlitz River will begin to arrive in August after the spring run ends. Fishery regulations are set to revert to permanent rules on Aug. 1. All other permanent regulations will remain in effect during July and anglers can still keep up to three hatchery steelhead per day.
HUNTIN’
The WDFW is continuing its campaign to encourage prospective hunters to begin working on their required hunter education training. All hunters born after Jan. 1, 1972 are required to complete a hunter education course prior to purchasing their first hunting license and those classes fill up quickly in the weeks just prior to fall hunting season openers.
Those courses are offered in a traditional classroom setting as well as online. Traditional education courses include applicable exercises and supervised live-firing activities that are taught by WDFW certified instructors. The online courses include the same information but can be completed according to the student’s preferred pace and schedule. Online students are also required to demonstrate their skills during a one-time field evaluation course prior to obtaining a hunting license.
In just over two weeks the first general hunting seasons will begin. Black bear hunts will act as the slow opener to the fall hunting season when they begin on Aug. 1 in coastal areas and in the East Cascades zone. The South Cascades Zone will open two weeks later on Aug. 15.
As the dog days of summer approach it’s a good time to remember that, as always, coyotes remain legal hunting fodder in the Evergreen State.
PREVENTIN’
In the ongoing effort to prevent wildfires from sparking across Washington the WDFW has extended restoration efforts and closures in two wildlife areas in South Central Washington.
Closures to parts of the Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area in Kittitas County and the Wenas Wildlife Area in Yakima were previously announced in order to protect ground previously touched by wildfires.
According to a press release from the WDFW, the Milepost 22 fire on June 20 burned 7,614 acres of the Whiskey Dick unit of the L.T. Murray Wildlife Area. That area will remain closed until at least Sept. 15. During that closure the Washington Department of Natural Resources will work to finish mop up duties while WDFW staff work on seeding, weed control and other restorative efforts.
Visitors are still allowed to access unburned sections of the wildlife area by traveling north to south from the Windfarm east to the Columbia River. Additionally, the closure does not impact motorized access from Vantage highway, although about seven miles of “green dot” roads in the Whiskey Dick unit are closed.
The Wenas Wildlife Area was struck by the Buffalo Fire on June 2. That fire burnt an area that has been charred multiple times in recent years. All told about 4,000 acres of the area, between the Yakima River and elk fence, have been shuttered to use. That area includes the southern trailhead of the popular Skyline Trail on Lower Buffalo Road and about three miles of the trail itself. The closure will extend through at least Nov. 30, although hunters will be allowed walk-in access during seasons.
“That area has been hit so hard with fires that those fragile soils need protection,” explained Ross Huffman, WDFW regional lands operations manager, in a press release. “Our goal is to protect wildlife habitat and accommodate wildlife recreation as best we can, which is why we’re allowing walk-in access for hunters during the limited hunting seasons.”
Additionally, annual target-shooting restrictions across most of the 105,000 acre Wenas Wildlife Area will remain in place through at least September.
