Salmon Successes as Oregon's Legislative Session Comes to an End

We were largely successful in securing the key bills and amendments we wanted during the legislative session that just wrapped up. We negotiated the Columbia River endorsement renewal and legally tied the fee to require ODFW to keep non-tribal commercial gill nets off the lower Columbia River. After three long years, we got our veteran’s angling license bill signed into law, increasing veterans' access to fishing programs in Oregon. We also secured amendments to protect small streams in eastern Oregon and undisturbed wetlands. Some of the bills we were interested in did not make it through the process this year, including bills to establish an independent science review board, update the structure of the Marine Advisory Board, and allow ODFW to reduce angling fees to increase accessibility. We were very involved in the process to set ODFW’s 2021 - 2023 biennium budget as well, which includes funding to reinstate a Habitat Division to coordinate efforts across the Department. It also includes funding for multiple positions to support complex water basin planning efforts and field biologist throughout the state. There is not any funding for immediate hatchery reconstruction earmarked.

This Summer Could Shape the Future of Pacific Northwest Salmon

By Betsy Emery, Advocacy and Campaign Manager 

With recent weather reaching nearly 120 degrees, it's no surprise that our cold-water fish are going to have a long summer ahead of them. Oregon experienced the driest spring since the 1890s. The spring summer Chinook adult salmon returns weren’t enough to support a fishing season on the Clearwater River in Idaho. Now, as we head into summer, over 70% of the state is in severe or extreme drought, and lack of snowpack has many of our streams  flowing with only 25% of the water they usually have this time of year. We haven’t even approached the depths of summer when the mainstem Columbia River routinely  heats up above the 68 degree temperature salmon can withstand, increasing risk for disease outbreaks.

Save the Date: August 4th Pint Night

On August 4th, join us for a Pint Night at Hopworks Urban Brewery at 6pm. Meet other Steelheaders and learn about the dire need for a salmon recovery plan that restores a free-flowing lower Snake River. Salmon don’t have any more time to wait: beloved Chinook and B-run steelhead runs across Oregon, Washington, and Idaho will start to go extinct in the next five years. 

We will have postcards for you to send your representatives in Washington + Oregon and banners for you to use during our boat Rally for the River on August 7th on the Willamette River between the Morrison and Burnside bridges near the Portland waterfront at 1:30pm. We printed 30 vinyl 6’ x 3’ vinyl banners for folks. Reserve a banner for your boat here! 

The pint night is where you can pick up your banner and learn more about the need to restore a free-flowing lower Snake River. We can’t wait to see you all there!

Why Fish for Shad?

By Mark Hutchinson, Tualatin Valley Chapter President and Board Representative

Each year I have to take a small break from springer fishing to catch a few shad. The day I went,138,000 were crossing Bonneville dam, that means you have good odds of catching fish. That many shad is more than the entire springer run in one day. I’ll usually fish for them when the counts go over 15,000 a day.

We went on a Sunday afternoon with not much else to do after church. We anchored in the current, and adjusted the boat to where we saw downstream fishermen catching fish. We used a steelhead pole, dick night lures, 4 foot leader, splitter, and 2 OZ lead on a 36” dropper. We also used special shad darts my friend Joe made me as a present for taking him fishing. Color is important, that day red fished better than chartreuse. In the course of 4 hours, we boated 33 shad, and lost half that many. Throughout the afternoon I had two sturgeon grab the shad and jump behind the boat, they were 6 to 8 feet long, my 10 pound line was no match for them.

When I got home, my friend said they didn’t have any room for the shad, I would have to keep them all. Thankfully, he agreed to help me clean them the next day.

After work on Monday, my wife lectured me about not wanting shad in the freezer, so we only bagged up 10 of them for crab bait. The others we scaled, filleted, and put them in a Tupperware container in the refrigerator. The next day I made up a dry rub of 1/3 cup salt to 1 cup of brown sugar and some spices and sprinkled it in between the fillets, then placed it back in the refrigerator. Later that evening I smoked half of them for a couple hours in our Traeger and canned them.

I packed them into ½ pint jars with a slice of Jalapeno, and put them in the pressure cooker. An hour and 40 minutes (100 minutes) later, I turned off the cooker and followed my wife to bed. The next day I took them out, opened one of the jars and was happy with what I saw. Next time, I'll start smoking earlier and brine them overnight. Later in the week I smoked the others and canned them too.

I like taking canned shad with crackers as a snack when I go fishing. I’ve learned to let people taste it before I tell them what it is. Shad is a great fish to take both kids and friends to catch, they're 1 to 5 pounds and they run and jump. I call it a gateway drug to steelhead fishing: it’s good practice netting, playing fish, and if you lose one what the heck.