Outdoors

Idaho discounts nonresident big-game tags

Glacier Park warns hikers of hazardous high country travel

Bats, bears, bighorns and more at Sinlahekin seminars

Fires scorch hopes for sockeye fishermen

Paraglider crashes, dies at Chelan Butte

Fires may block access to Lake Wenatchee sockeye anglers

Huckleberry festivals mark ripening of Idaho state fruit

Montana man lands sailing title in Nevada desert

BREWSTER, Wash. – Salmon snobs are not among the parade of boats trolling the shoreline near this orchard town this month. Salmon-fishing jocks would be in the main Columbia River channel, dragging the bottom for kings. But the flotilla of anglers concentrated near the mouth of the Okanogan River clearly prefer accessibility and abundance over size and stature, targeting the sockeye that are migrating up the Columbia in the biggest numbers since record keeping began in 1938.

The boat has a price tag bigger than most houses. It’s handmade, computerized and powered by a 550-horse Corvette engine that launches the 25-foot hull, loaded with 3,000 pounds of ballast, from a dead stop to the ideal, preprogrammed speed in just a few seconds. That’s one of the perks enjoyed by Ricky Krieger, a professional wakeboarder who honed his flying feats of derring-do growing up on the shores of Long Lake. Going for a ride with Krieger is like having a front-row seat at an outrageous aerial circus. The boat leaves an exaggerated wake that forms a huge kicker, sending him high in the air. Krieger defies gravity with eye-popping spins, twists, corks and inverted grabs. Somehow, the tricks end with a flawless landing and a megawatt smile on his face.

Lake Wenatchee sockeye season starts Saturday

Idaho considers scaling back sage grouse hunting

Planted flowers attract classy clientelle

Snake is standout in northeastern Washington

First Utah condor chick confirmed

Idaho adopts wolverine management plan