Options abound for late-autumn anglers

Even though it is the heart of hunting season, I am getting a real urge to go fishing. I’m not sure why I am getting this “gotta go fishing” itch, but every now and then it just flares up and the only way to get it to subside is to go fishing. So that is what I will do.

The big question then becomes, where should I go fishing and for what should I fish? Fishing in November is a whole lot different than fishing in May or June, or even in September. Besides the obvious difference in temperatures, most of the runs of salmon and steelhead have migrated past my favorite fishing holes. And the local streams are now closed to fishing, so where should I go?

Actually there are a few pretty good options to consider.

One of my favorite spots to fish in November is the Snake River in Hells Canyon. I’ve had the good fortune to fish up on the Snake during the past couple of years and the fishing for these summer run steelhead in November can be quite good. It can also be quite cold.

Two years ago fishing buddy Doug Jewett and I were fishing up in that region when an arctic blast hit. Even though it dropped into the teens in Hells Canyon, it didn’t seem to bother the fish at all, and we caught several nice steelhead.

To scratch this little fishing itch I might just have try to put together a short trip on the Snake sometime soon.

Another option for steelhead, a little closer to home, is to fish above or below the John Day dam. Every year about this time, anglers trolling plugs, or fishing from the bank with bobbers and bait will get into some late summer run steelhead.

Or, if the fishing there isn’t red hot, it might be worth heading down to the mouth of the Klickitat for a shot at the last of the coho salmon arriving there. I fished there three weeks ago with Bob Barthlow of River’s Northwest Guide Service and had an outstanding day. Three of us in the boat landed six fat silver salmon.

Barthlow said that, while the fishing will definitely tail off during November, he has caught fish trolling at the mouth, and up into the lower river, around Thanksgiving in year’s past. So, that is another option for sure.

I’m even thinking about heading to the Klickitat for a little dual purpose fishing. What I might do is fish from the boat at the mouth for silvers during the first couple of hours in the morning, and then grab my drift fishing gear and head up the Klickitat for a steelhead.

A few years back I got a similar fishing urge so I threw on my insulated waders, rag wool gloves and headed to the Klickitat. It turned out to be a great day. Besides seeing a bunch wild turkeys, deer, ducks and geese, I managed to land a couple of beautiful steelhead.

Of course, trout fishing is always an option. While the lower Yakima, the Naches, Tieton and other streams closed to trout fishing on October 31, the upper Yakima, above the Rosa Dam is open all year long. And, with the cooler fall temperatures, the river should now be void of all of the fair weather anglers.

Something is hatching almost all year long on the Yakima, so match the hatch and drop a fly in on them, or, use spinning gear with a barbless, single hooked Rooster Tail. I many times will use my little ultra light spinning rod up on the Yakima and have had some outstanding days. I’ll sometimes get a foul look or two from the fly fishing purists, but the laws allow barbless, single-hooked lures too.

Another trout fishing option I am considering is to head over to Lake Lenore near Soap Lake and try to catch a few of the Lahontan cutthroats that are in the lake. This was one of my favorite fishing spots several years ago, then the fishing kind of tanked. But in the past few years it has improved considerably and November has always been a great time to fish there because of the lack of other anglers, and the fish seem to always be in a biting mood.

So, if the fishing bug has been biting you, these are a few options to consider. It is biting me bad, so I’m going to go for sure. I just don’t quite know where yet. Maybe I’ll just head to one of the local freeway ponds, or over to the…

• Rob Phillips is a freelance outdoor writer and partner in the advertising firm of Smith, Phillips & DiPietro. He can be reached at rwphillips@spdadvertising.com.