BRAGGIN’ Rights Photo submitted by Amanda Davis Amanda Davis of Leavenworth shows off a King Salmon caught above Wells Dam.

Inside information on the outdoors 9/7/10

Photo submitted by Dave Graybill Steelhead season opens on Sept. 8 on many of our area rivers, including the Wenatchee. These anglers are enjoying an opening day float in the Sleepy Hollow area. The main stem Columbia, Methow, and Entiat also open to steelhead fishing on the 8th. Wednesday, Sept. 8 Town Ford in Wenatchee is holding another in their series of seminars. This one will be on fall salmon and steelhead fishing techniques. The seminar will take place at the Town Ford dealership on Wednesday, Sept. 22, beginning at 6 p.m. A featured speaker will be Shane Magnuson of Upper Columbia Guide Services. He will touch on fall salmon fishing on the Hanford Reach and Vernita. He is actively fishing this area of the river, and has been for years. He will also be talking about fishing on the upper Columbia River and share the details of his bobber and jig fishing methods. The other speaker at the seminar will be Brian Nielson, of BJ's Guide Service. Nielson and I have a couple of fishing trips planned for this fall, and I talked him into coming to the seminar. Here's why; he has been fishing the Klickitat and Grande Ronde rivers for steelhead since 1983, and has been featured on the Columbia Country television show. Nielson has fine-tuned techniques that take fish in all conditions pulling plugs. He will show in detail how he fishes plugs and baited plugs. What anglers learn from Nielson can be applied to the main stem Columbia and the tributaries for steelhead this season. You can learn more about Nielson by logging onto his website at www.bjguide.com. Tuesday, September 07, 2010 More...

Hatchery brings in final run of salmon for the season

The last run of the season was Aug. 31 and the Leavenworth Fisheries Complex at 12790 Fish Hatchery Road, was busy collecting eggs and sperm to start the process all over again while hosting tours of the process for the general public. Wednesday, September 08, 2010 More...

INSIDE INFORMATION ON THE OUTDOORS 9/2/10

Wednesday, Aug. 25 I jumped on board Shane Magnuson's boat the other day, and joined his two clients for a day's salmon fishing on the upper Columbia River. I wanted to tape a segment on the fishing for my Fishing TV Show, so he saved a seat for me. We hit a great day to be on the water. It was sunny and calm the entire day. He headed for the spot known as Pelican, which is around the corner from the mouth of the Okanogan River, and we had a fish in the boat before it was light enough to video the action. After trolling here a bit long without any action, he headed down and around the corner to try off the mouth of the Okanogan. We didn't have the bait in the water more than 15 minutes when a rod went down. The fish appeared to be solidly hooked, but we didn't get it to the boat. Shane grew impatient with the fishing here, we only saw one king landed, so we head for the launch and a new area. He put the boat in above Wells Dam and went back to work. The move paid off. We put two more fish in the boat, one weighing about 37 pounds! Thursday, September 02, 2010 More...

Funding let to rehabilitate damaged farmland

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced that Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) funds are being made available to farmers and ranchers in 14 states to repair farmland damaged by natural disasters in 2010. "USDA is committed to helping farmers and ranchers restore conservation measures on farmland devastated by the recent floods, tornadoes and other disasters," said Vilsack. "These funds will help producers recover from several potentially devastating events, and further USDA's ongoing efforts to maintain a healthy agricultural economy that conserves our environment." Wednesday, August 25, 2010 More...

Fires grow slowly in Icicle Canyon

Three fires believed to have been started by lightning grew in activity over the weekend, while trails and campgrounds remain closed. The Eightmile Lake Fire, 13 miles southwest of Leavenworth, picked up activity late Friday afternoon, according to Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest Public Affairs officer Susan Peterson, who added the fire is burning in a mosaic pattern that will ultimately create more diverse habitats. Wednesday, August 25, 2010 More...

Inside information on the outdoors 8/24/2010

Friday, Aug. 20 I was called away to Anaconda, Montana for a few days, and it was good to see a lot of family while I was there. I did manage to sneak away for a few hours of fishing, and saw some beautiful water. I fished Flint Creek, which flows from Georgetown Lake, and Warm Springs Creek, which runs along the highway on the way up to Georgetown. Flint Creek is a beautiful, meandering stream, but was colored from the thunderstorms that blew through the day before. It was a joy to fish, and produced a few small brown trout for myself and my fishing partner Tom Vershuren. Warms Springs Creek is a very small and fast running stream. I was directed to some likely spots by my brother in law Ed Heim of Anaconda, and surprised me with some great fish. The first day I landed a 14 ½-inch cutthroat that I hooked in a small pocket of water. I think this is the largest cutthroat I have ever caught on a small stream. It was gorgeous. The next day I got one of about 12 inches in a small riffle. I want to thank Ed for sharing his home waters with an out-of-stater. Tuesday, August 24, 2010 More...