Fishing the Town Run for summer steelhead
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. -- As Jon Payne puts his boat in the Willamette River at Island Park, a busy beaver nibbles on some branches.
"A beaver," Payne points out, "in duck country."
Payne plans to fish the "Town Run," the stretch of river through Eugene and Springfield, for summer steelhead.
Steelhead are the migrating version of rainbow trout, swimming from the ocean into freshwater to spawn.
They are not an official Pacific salmon, but steelhead are a favorite of anglers due to their large size and feisty attitude.
Not everything that bites an angler's hook belongs there -- on the hook, or in the river.
"It's a northern pike minnow," Payne says of the frist catch. "There's actually a bounty on the Columbia River to eradicate the rivers of this fish. All they do is feed on steelhead and salmon smolts."
Working the boat closer to the I-5 bridge, a steelhead takes a hook.
"When he shakes his head, just drop your tip," Payne says. "Don't give him any slack. Let him run if he wants."
A single steelhead will have to do; Payne and company can only hook some small trout after landing what will soon be fillets of steelhead migrating towards dinner.
Take Me Fishing: This story is part of the Take Me Fishing series airing Wednesdays during the 6 o'clock news. Take us fishing: Post your fish tales to YouNews
