Out & About

Hunting section coming Thursday

OUTREAD –The Spokesman-Review’s annual report on hunting news and prospects for the Inland Northwest’s 2010 seasons will be folded into Thursday’s daily paper.

New lure imitates hatchery food

OUTFISH – Not long after the net-pen-oriented trout became a hit at Lake Rufus Woods, fly fishers went to their vises and created “the pellet fly” to imitate the feed that boosted the Columbia reservoir’s rainbows to state-record proportions.

Some anglers have tried imitating the feed by baiting hooks with brown plastic worms cut into fish-food-sized chunks.

A Virginia angler applied the same idea to a lure.

After watching fish in private ponds eating pelletized commercial fish food, Steve Munsey developed Stubby Steve’s Artificial Fish Food Lure.

He combined fish food with a natural rubber latex to create a soft, flexible chunk of fish food that’s easily threaded onto a small hook, where it stays put cast after cast.

The product isn’t likely to be stocked by stores since it has a shelf life of about a year.

Info: www.stubbysteve.com/

River clean-up is 2 tons of fun

OUTDO – Students, families, church groups, teams – a wide range of volunteers are signing up for the eighth annual Spokane River Cleanup, Sept. 25, organized by Friends of the Falls.

Last year, 800 volunteers recycled two tons of trash along the lower river.

Preregister: www.friendsofthefalls.org

• In addition, a core of rafters who started the river cleanup years ago as a club project have set an “Upriver Scrub” event on Oct. 2 focusing on the river in Spokane Valley.

Preregister: www.spokaneriver.net/ valleycleanup

Try your hand at the Poker Paddle

WHAT: Fourth annual Eloika Lake Kayak and Canoe Poker Paddle.

WHEN: Saturday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

WHO: For all ages, sponsored by the Eloika Lake Association.

WHY: Promote fun and fitness in a natural setting; raise lake project funds.

DETAILS: Entry $20 in advance, $25 on site at Jerry’s Landing. Kayak rentals available, $10. T-shirts, prize drawings.

INFO: Tammy Magnuson (509) 292-2100.

Preregister: www.eloikalake.com

Smooth trekking on Kettle Crest

OUTDOING – The overhaul continues on a 14-mile stretch of Kettle Crest Trail 13 from Sherman Pass south to White Mountain.

Crews are grooming the trail to high standards for hikers, mountain bikers and horses.

Work has been completed from White Mountain Trailhead north to around Sherman Peak, a popular destination from Sherman Pass.