McBride smokes out salmon on Columbia River hot spots

This weekend will offer the last best shot at fishing 2008’s exceptional run of huge fall chinook salmon on the Columbia River’s Hanford Reach.

The kings are stacked in the fabled 50 miles of free-flowing river below Priest Rapids Dam, and they’ll be bending fishing rods through October – but don’t wait too long.

In the past 10 days, the wild spawn-bound salmon have noticeably declined from prime condition for the barbecue and most of them will be choice smoking quality only for another week or two.

Catch a big one this weekend – some exceed 50 pounds – and you’ll find the fish still full of arm-punishing fight and hefty fillets will fill the cooler.

You also may drive home with a prize up to $1,000 in your wallet.

On Tuesday, Don McBride of Richland gave me a personal clinic on how to succeed this weekend in the 13th annual Knights of Columbus Salmon Derby. Beyond being the derby coordinator, McBride is a salmon fishing fanatic.

“Shortly after moving to the Tri-Cities (from Montana) in 1987, the first salmon I caught on the Columbia was a 42-pounder,” he said over the hum of his 8-horse trolling motor near the Vernita Bridge. “I got the fever bad, and I’ve never lost it.”

For example, McBride has been fishing the Reach portion of the Columbia about three days a week since he caught the first lunkers of this season’s run on Sept. 6.

A consultant for the dismantling of Hanford nuclear reactors, he’s not a fishing guide, but his prowess with a rod is well-known. Anglers have bid $1,200 at fund-raising auctions to go chinooking with McBride.

His son landed a 29-pounder off his boat two weeks ago to win a $100 weekly pre-derby youth prize.

Last weekend, McBride caught a 42-pounder that won the $1,000 prize in the Jeff Johannsen Memorial Salmon Derby, one of four derbies set this year on the Reach.

This guy reacts to salmon with the intensity of a bloodhound on hot scent.

He launched from Vernita Bridge at 5:30 a.m. and was putting out tackle with his buddy, Jim Klos. They were backtrolling through a 45-foot deep midriver hole as a hint of light gathered on the horizon.

McBride connected to the Internet with his cell phone to get the river flow rate out of Priest Rapids Dam.

“We’ll fish here in low flows and move to about 20 feet of water closer to shore if they start dumping water out of the dam,” he said.

McBride rivals a fine restaurant chef as he wraps sardine fillets on his Kwikfish plugs and drizzles them in a tray with a sauce of Lunker Lotion, sardine oil and other scents. He wears Latex gloves to help keep human scent off the lures.

He flashed the luminescent plugs with a strobe before dropping them overboard. They wobbled down into the inky depths with a glow that bordered on eerie considering the distant silhouette of the B Reactor.

He proceeded by running the plugs on downriggers about 10 feet off the bottom and using a Jet Diver to take down a Wiggle Wart, Brad’s Super Bait or salmon roe.

Klos’ rod had a bump within seconds, but no hookup. That was the beginning of a nearly two-hour drought that revealed McBride for what he is.

Tenacious.

Two boats nearby were whacking and stacking chinook. One boat of four anglers netted four fish – all on the same beat-up green and white Kwikfish plug – while McBride was fishless.

But he didn’t panic. He didn’t abandon a routine that has proven effective. He kept refreshing the bait and scent and making minor adjustments in color on his plugs and the depths of presentation until he scored.

Then everything clicked into a well-honed ritual.

If the salmon hit the plug on the downrigger, McBride would rev the trolling motor to draw the downrigger ball toward the surface before jerking the line from the release.

“That takes out the momentary slack you get when you release from the downrigger,” he said. “Once I learned that trick, I rarely miss a hookup.”

“Welcome aboard!” he said, greeting each fish before dispatching it, cutting the gills and dropping it into the livewell to bleed.

Baits were refreshed and quickly put back into the water. Plugs were tuned with pliers if they didn’t swim straight.

A cigar was lit as a burnt offering to the fish gods. A whiskey flask was handed to the angler who landed the fish, and the second swig was taken by the angler designated to catch the next one.

“Create the vacuum,” McBride would say sometime later. Klos would dutifully remove the bled-out salmon from the livewell and put it on ice in the cooler.

“Get ready for the next fish,” McBride would say.

And the three anglers aboard did just that, over and over, until five Columbia kings filled the cooler, sans the big one that broke off and got away.

Before motoring back to the launch, he used Crest toothpaste to brighten used lures and dishwashing soap to remove oily scents.

It was just another routine day of salmon angling for Don McBride.

ON TV: See Don McBride catch his derby-winning 43-pound chinook on Dan Barth’s Outdoor Storytellers segment coming Monday, around 6 a.m., during KXLY TV’s Good Morning Northwest.