By Bill Monroe
For The Oregonian/OregonLive
CELILO - A soft breeze tickles the Columbia River's surface into twinkling sunlight.
Bob Toman powers his main engine down and the boat coasts to a stop as he lowers the trolling motor and kicks it into gear.
Other than one distant bass boat and a passing Tidewater tug and its barges, we have one of Oregon's most historic and scenic locations all to ourselves.
The Columbia is closed to all salmon and steelhead sportfishing. The aluminum fleet of the week before is off the water. Some are feeling fortunate about a few salmon steaks in the freezer, some head a couple hundred miles west to squeeze the last several weeks of fall chinook season from their dwindling calendars.
Others are home, moaning about the closures, the year's disappointing tuna season, buoy 10's Quixotic results and low runs.
Seated next to me, Herb Doumitt is smiling all the way to the bank.
...To the riverbank, that is...or lakeshore...pond...ocean beach...Anywhere in Oregon with permanent water offers fishing opportunities to whomever can cast a line from boats, rafts, kayaks, sandy or rocky shorelines, docks or piers.
Doumitt, an Oregon State University graduate and former Navy jet pilot, rarely sits on his hands and even more rarely complains about nothing to fish for. Bass, crappie, walleye, catfish and other warm water fish are always on his radar.
"24-7," he says. "We can fish every day of the year."
Almost on cue, Toman announces we're trolling off the top of his favorite submerged mesa. Within moments Doumitt is on to a walleye at 50 feet. I start to reel in and my own line goes taut, then a fish strips line...Walleye reportedly fight like deadwood; will I have to release a chinook?
My fish is still fighting hard as Toman nets Doumitt's walleye; then he turns to mine as a larger walleye also comes to the net.
Both, Doumitt announces, are "perfect size for eating."
Doumitt, one of many engines fueling the Oregon Bass and Panfish Club, strictly adheres to an unspoken club maxim - take smaller, edible fish and release large spawners despite Oregon and Washington's decision to eliminate all bag and possession limits for walleye, bass and catfish in the Columbia River.
If you really want to see Doumitt on a catapult shot, ask him whether he believes there need to be limits.
"Absolutely!" he'll reply. "Biologically, it doesn't change anything. Socially, it's disrespecting the resource."
Doumitt and others say - with some justification - there's no scientific proof removing limits improve the numbers of outmigrating salmon and steelhead juveniles; that the pressure to remove limits was a political knee-jerk reaction.
And while he's on the subject (he's completely wheels-up airborne by now), Doumitt heatedly laments the disproportionate attention paid to warm water fish in Oregon and Washington.
Washington, he says, recognizes the growing role of warm water fish and their popularity with the angling public by employing more than a dozen warm water biologists in the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and operating numerous warm water hatcheries for put-and-take fisheries.
Oregon? "Two warm water biologists," he says.
Warm water and cold water fish - including trout and salmon and steelhead - have coexisted in relative peace since the introduction of warm water species more than 100 years ago, he says.
"It's like a two-story house," Doumitt says. "Warm water fish live in the top half; They're upstairs where the air is warmer."
Some good bets: Warm water fish are stuffing themselves this time of year just like any other fish getting ready for the winter.
Some good fall fishing is available throughout the Multnomah Channel (walleye from Coon Island to Scappoose Bay; bass and crappie elsewhere); Portland's harbor remains a good bet for crappie and smallmouth bass (try Terminal 4) and fish are safe to eat on a limited basis; Salish Ponds hold bass and panfish; Mt. Hood College Pond has panfish; Meldrum Bar and the mid-Willamette River hold bass and panfish, as does Clackamette Cove in Oregon City. So, too, in St. Louis, Canby and Bethany ponds and Commonwealth Lake.
Henry Hagg Lake near Forest Grove is now open all year and provides year-round fishing for both trout and warm water. NOTE: Warm water fish are found all along the shoreline (look for bass beneath piers and docks) and the locations of habitat "spider blocks" are noted on a map. Fish around them and find crappie.
Short casts: Oregon hunters! Turn in a poacher and receive preference points for a big-game tag instead of a cash award. A new program allows up to four or five valuable points for information leading to an arrest or citation and is retroactive to Jan. 1 of this year...The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission will adopt rules next week in Klamath Falls to allow the salvage of road-killed deer and elk (not bear, cougar or other animals) after Jan. 1, 2019...A public meeting is scheduled for Seaside at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 22 in the Seaside Civic and Convention Center, 415 First Ave. to discuss when to reopen razor clam digging on Clatsop beaches...The Oregon Duck Hunters Association meeting Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Colwood Golf Center on Columbia Avenue in northeast Portland will feature Eric Strand, local duck and goose guide discussing the season beginning Oct. 13 and how/where to hunt public land.
