The Washington Outdoor Report week of January 1

Catch and keep sturgeon

Catching and actually keeping a sturgeon is a great way to kick off the new year and you can do just that this winter in the Columbia River Gorge. This special sturgeon fishery opens on New Years Day and anglers will be able to keep one sturgeon a

day and a total of two per year upstream of Bonneville Dam to McNary Dam.

In the Bonneville pool to the Dalles Dam there is a harvest quota of 675 sturgeon. The size limit for sturgeon is a little smaller here than in the other two pools. Keepers must measure between 38 to 54 inches from the tip of the nose to the fork of the fish’s tail.

The Dalles pool, like the Bonneville Pool, is open for sturgeon fishing on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. There is a 190-sturgeon quota in the Dalles pool to John Day dam and the fish must measure between 43 and 54 inches from The Dalles to McNary dam. The John Day pool has the smallest quota, only 105 fish, and is open for fishing seven days a week. Despite this it is historically the last pool to close for catch and keep sturgeon every winter.

Marc Bush is the owner of Twisted Waters Guide Service and will be fishing in the Gorge for sturgeon again this January. I asked him why the John Day pool is the last to close despite the seven day a week fishery and the smallest harvest quota. Marc replied, “Those fish have a lot of good terrain to hide out in and it’s a little bit harder to catch them up there in my opinion.”

Asked about what kind of bait he uses for winter-time sturgeon, Bush said, “Sometimes they are biting sturgeon candy (aka – squid), sometimes it’s nightcrawlers or shad or chunks of dead fish. It’s kind of an experimental, find out as you go thing for me”.

Bush will be fishing between The Dalles and John Day dams this winter for sturgeon. You can book a trip with him by calling 253-468-0610.

Waterfowl Hunting

Ponds, wetlands and lakes are pretty well frozen over at this point but waterfowl hunters can find success in the new year hunting rivers and streams where ducks and geese will congregate. The Columbia River shines as a great place to go this now for both

diving and puddle ducks but smaller rivers and streams hold healthy numbers of ducks as well. The ducks and geese need to feed as well and will often do so twice a day during the winter months. Scouting wheat or cut corn fields for ducks or geese and getting permission to set up on them can lead to limits if you are willing to brave the cold and wait for those web-footed birds to come in.

Portland Boat Show

The first big boat show of 2023 will be taking place at the Expo Center in Portland. It’s the Portland Boat Show put on by O’Loughlin Trade Shows from January 11-15. With hundreds of boats of all sizes spread out over 200,000 square feet, there will be a big selection of watercraft and accessories to see here.

Trey Carskadon with O’Loughlin Trade Shows says, “This show is interesting because it has evolved into one of the largest sportfishing boat shows in the country. There’s more variety of fishing boats to look at and buy at this show than any other show in the country we are aware of. There’s also lots of pleasure style boats (wakeboard, wake surfing, cruisers, runabouts) available as well.

Trey continued by saying, “Being the first boat show of the year, it gives buyers the opportunity to find inventory that hasn’t been picked over at the later boat shows later in the month and in February and on.” You can find out more about the Portland Boat Show at www.pdxboatshow.com.

John Kruse – www.northwesternoutdoors.com and www.americaoutdoorsradio.com