Tue., Dec. 5, 2017
TRANSITIONS -- The Outdoors Blog is evolving. After nearly 41 years as Outdoors editor at The Spokesman-Review, Rich Landers has officially retired. He will continue writing occasionally as an Outdoors correspondent, but the reins of the department and Outdoor coverage have been handed to the...
Wed., Nov. 29, 2017
GRANTS -- The Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) is seeking volunteers to help evaluate proposals for grants that have funded prized land acquisitions for wildlife and trails and facilities across the state. RCO is looking to fill vacancies on three advisory committees that...
Mon., Nov. 20, 2017
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT -- Two people from Spokane have been appointed to a 20-member advisory committee to help the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife a with strategic planning, development of legislative proposals and future budget requests. David Cloe of the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council and...
Mon., Nov. 20, 2017
FISHING -- The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has scheduled public meetings in a step toward revising management of the state's salmon and steelhead fishing guide industry. All meetings are scheduled from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.: East Wenatchee: Nov. 20, Douglas County PUD...
Thu., Nov. 16, 2017
FISHING -- Washington is opening a harvest season for hatchery steelhead under 28 inches in the lower Snake River starting Saturday. Following are details just announced by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Action: Opens lower Snake River to retention of hatchery steelhead measuring under...
Thu., Nov. 16, 2017
FISHING – Anglers will be fishing for more than $10,000 in cash and prizes under a new format when the 2017 Lake Pend Oreille Fall Thanksgiving Challenge Derby kicks off on Saturday. The annual event sponsored by the Lake Pend Oreille Idaho Club runs through...
Thu., Nov. 9, 2017
PUBLIC LANDS – Renting the historic Red Ives Ranger Cabin on the St. Joe River is being switched from a mail-in lottery to a national online reservation system, the Idaho Panhandle National Forests reports. Starting this month, reservations will be made through the Reserve America...
Wed., Nov. 8, 2017
FISHING -- Steelhead enthusiasts have until Sunday to donate and boost a juvenile steelhead research project on tributaries to the Clearwater River. The Clearwater-Snake Rivers Chapter of Trout Unlimited has received a $3,000 grant sponsored by Orvis and Trout Unlimited to study juvenile steelhead in...
Wed., Nov. 8, 2017
FISHERIES -- Sullivan Lake is a great option for getting out to enjoy what's left of fall colors -- on the forest and on the fish! The Western larch needles are yellow and the crimson-colored kokanee are running from the lake into Harvey Creek where...
Tue., Nov. 7, 2017
FISHERIES -- The Memory of Fish, a film about the effort leading to dam removal and restoration of Washington's Elwha River, will be screened at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 9, at the Magic Lantern Theatre in Spokane. American Rivers and award-winning filmmaker Jennifer Galvin...
Mon., Nov. 6, 2017
FISHING -- Being a predator is risky business. Wolves are kicked by moose, for example. But this video of a northern pike that died and froze in the surface ice of a winter lake as it pursued a bass boggles my mind. Check it out.
Tue., Oct. 24, 2017
FLY FISHING -- Winter is prime time for fly fishers to build their inventory of patterns. To get novices on the right track at their vise, Wayne Jordan will be teaching four Beginner Fly Tying Classes. The first one is set for Nov. 11 at...
Thu., Oct. 19, 2017
FISHING -- A thief has assured a fly-fishing priest will live his newly made vow of poverty as the newly-ordained Roman Catholic priest’s fishing gear was stolen from a vehicle parked outside a church in Butte. The Rev. Kirby Longo told The Montana Standard that...
Wed., Oct. 11, 2017
FISHING -- Washington fish managers have decided to allow catch-and-keep steelhead fishing starting Sunday for a weak run of Snake River fish. Idaho will decide on Friday whether to allow some harvest this season on the Snake, Clearwater and Salmon rivers. Currently anglers are limited...
Wed., Oct. 4, 2017
FISHING -- Idaho's 2017 coho fishing season will open Saturday, Oct. 7 -- that's 10 days earlier than announced in an Idaho Fish and Game Department release earlier this week. The date change reflects a clerical error. The season is set to run Oct. 7-Nov....
Tue., Oct. 3, 2017
FISHING -- Fisheries managers in Idaho and Washington could be on the verge of reopening steelhead harvest on the Snake, Salmon, Little Salmon and Clearwater rivers and opening a coho season on the Clearwater. But on the hot topic of opening harvest on a weak...
Tue., Oct. 3, 2017
SHELLFISHING – The first razor clam dig of the fall season will get underway Oct. 6-7 at four ocean beaches, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife announced today. The agency has approved the dig on evening tides at Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis and...
Tue., Oct. 3, 2017
FISHING -- The catch of chinook in the Hanford Reach of the Columbia held steady last week with an average of 1.2 salmon per boat. Last week was perhaps the peak of the run heading to spawning areas below Priest Rapids Dam. The 2017 run...
Mon., Oct. 2, 2017
FISHING -- In this Outdoor Tech story about Stream Map USA, I explored an application that combines searchable mapping, GPS location and navigation, stream flow information and other features into a useful tool, especially for exploring new lakes, rivers and streams. I know there are...
Thu., Sept. 28, 2017
FISHING -- Chumming – the practice of dumping bait of some sort in the water to attract fish so they can be caught -- is generally prohibited in Washington. That could change if a proposal to make chumming legal statewide for sport fishing is approved...
Tue., Sept. 26, 2017
FISHING -- The fishing wasn't red hot, but anglers averaged 22 hours per chinook for 1.3 salmon per boat on the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River last week. Fishing pressure was up from the previous week and catch rates were slightly higher, according to...
Tue., Sept. 26, 2017
FISHERIES -- The sockeye salmon returns to their spawning areas in Idaho was the second lowest in 10 years -- a statistic that actually exceeded expectations in a grim year for some Columbia River system fisheries such as steelhead. The 157 sockeye trapped in the...
Mon., Sept. 25, 2017
FISHING --More than 100 spring chinook salmon not needed at a northern Idaho hatchery have been released into a creek to spawn naturally, giving a boost to the fishery one way or another. Eric Barker of the Lewiston Tribune reports that workers with Dworshak National...
Mon., Sept. 25, 2017
FISHING – Simplifying Washington’s fishing regulations is the goal of 13 proposals that will be presented at public meetings across the state by Fish and Wildlife Department fish managers. Public comment on a proposed package of simplified recreational fishing regulations for freshwater species, such as...
Thu., Sept. 21, 2017
FISHING -- Working on numerous complaints of illegal gillnetting on the Columbia River at the Deschutes River Sanctuary, Oregon State Police teamed with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Enforcement for a nighttime river patrol that caught two people deploying gillnets illegally before confiscating 85...
Rich Landers writes and photographs stories and columns for a wide range of outdoors coverage, including Outdoors feature sections on Sunday and Thursday.
