Sports

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Report scores and results to 425-339-3470 or 1-866-6-SCORES (Call after 4:30 p.m.) E-mail information including items for Tuesday's Communities Sports Roundup and Thursday's Outdoor Calendar, to sports@heraldnet.com Kevin Brown, Sports Editor kbrown@heraldnet.com   Published: Thursday, March 20, 2008 Anacortes derby one of best By Wayne Kruse, Herald Writer The Anacortes Salmon Derby, coming up March 29-30, is an event that has already outgrown its humble beginnings. It has become myth. It has become legend. It is a fishing contest, yes, but also a social happening of epic proportions in the north Puget Sound area. You miss the derby at the risk of becoming a piscatorial pariah, or at least damaging your reputation as a chinook highliner. And the fact that the derby sponsor, the Fidalgo Chapter of Puget Sound Anglers, sold out its self-set allotment of 800 tickets two weeks ago, only adds to the appeal. This one is becoming the Spirit Of Big Derbies Past, when events such as the Seattle Milk Fund Derby in the 1950s gave away two automobiles and put the photo of the winning angler and his big king salmon on the front page of the Seattle Times' sports section. How all this came about is a little difficult to say, but the $10,000 first prize certainly didn't hurt, and neither did the fact that the organizing committee shrewdly designed and publicized the event as "family friendly," and "locally involved," and added activities that make it more than just a fishing trip. So, you were one of the smart ones who bought a ticket early, and you're seriously interested in scoring one of the many cash or top-quality merchandise prizes. Do you think others have the same thing in mind and are going to be out in the San Juans this weekend scouting for salmon concentrations? Better believe it. "From reports we've been hearing, I'm guessing that success in the Anacortes derby will hinge on finding bait," said Bob Ferber at Holiday Sports (360-757-4361) in Burlington. "Fishermen checking in here have told us there has been a scarcity of bait recently, with the northern part of the islands better in that regard than the southern portion." The top derby winners probably will be adult hatchery spring chinook, Ferber said, like the 22-pounder taken at Tide Point on Saturday. Other nice fish reported over the weekend, he said, included a 17-pounder from Parker Reef on the north end of Orcas Island, and a pair at 15 and 18 pounds from the trolling slot between Fidalgo Head and Burrows Island. With fish probably scattered, and not much activity reported from the outlying banks, Ferber said his derby choice probably would be President Channel on the west side of Orcas Island, or the west side of San Juan Island. Those areas usually hold a few Fraser River and Skagit River springers this time of year, he said. If chinook are showing the telltale scratched gill covers resulting from rooting in the sand for candlefish, Ferber said he probably would go with needlefish-size squid, or Coho Killer or Kingfisher spoons, matching the smaller bait. He would fish the squid behind a green-stripe flasher, and choose a spoon in 50-50 green/white, army truck, or perhaps all chrome. But he would certainly have a plug-cut herring on one of his downriggers, saying that herring seems to work particularly well in times of general bait scarcity. "Another point," he said, "is that adult chinook tend to suspend in the water column more often than blackmouth. So keep an eye on your sounder, watching for larger targets you can bring your gear up to." State Fish and Wildlife Department checks have shown that while some nice-sized chinook are being caught in the islands, numbers are down a little from earlier in the season. A check Saturday at the Washington Park ramp in Anacortes, for instance, showed 49 anglers with nine fish and, on Sunday, 59 anglers with five fish. Meanwhile, Ferber and other knowledgeable anglers have been reporting a "late-season resurgence" of action in Marine Areas 8-1 and 8-2. He and friends fished Thursday, Friday and Saturday of last week and put 13 hatchery blackmouth to 10 pounds in the box, released seven unclipped fish, and culled five more that would have been legal. All this was on the "racetrack," between Hat Island and Camano Head, in 80 to 110 feet of water, 5 to 12 feet off bottom, using plug-cut herring. He heard that Elger Bay and Greenbank also produced some fish, and that the Bait Box area on the southeast corner of Whidbey Island was showing blackmouth for a couple of parties trolling Coho Killer spoons. Arlington resident and avid angler Sam Ingram reported a party of friends found blackmouth still available around Hat Island on Tuesday morning, hooking five fish and keeping two in the 6- to 7-pound range, off the island's southeast corner. They were using a flasher and green hoochie with a herring strip, Ingram said. State checks over the weekend at the Port of Everett ramp showed 50 anglers with 16 chinook on Saturday, and 93 with 15 on Sunday. Coastal lingcod: The ling season on the coast opened Saturday, and while weather conditions on the Pacific are notoriously iffy this early in the year, fishing has generally been pretty good. "The ocean's been a little lumpy, but when we're able to get out it's been OK," said Larry Giese at Deep Sea Charters in Westport (1-800-562-0151). "There are healthy populations of black rockfish available and while we haven't been taking lingcod limits for everyone, action has been pretty good." Black rockfish ("sea bass") run 2 to 5 pounds on the average, while lings can go anywhere from 5 to 30 pounds, Giese said. Coastal salmon outlook: While salmon seasons are still in the formulative stage, Giese said the most likely scenario in a year when coho populations are down drastically probably will be a coastal season starting early -- maybe June 8 or so -- to take advantage of decent populations of chinook, but closing early as well, probably by the end of July, to stay away from scarce silvers. Start of the Westport season last year, he said, was July 4. Trout: Fishing is picking up with the warmer water temperatures. The best bets include Blackman's Lake, Flowing Lake and Lake Tye in east County. Blackman's and Flowing have been stocked by the Snohomish Sportsmen's Club with pen-raised triploid rainbows in the 2- to 3-pound range. Stay shallow, trolling 50-50 or red head Dick Nite spoons with little or no weight, or dark Rooster Tail spinners, or Triple Teazers, or soaking Gulp Power Eggs in 6 or 8 feet of water. Lake Campbell, north of Deception Pass, has put out triploid rainbow to 23 inches, according to Holiday Sports. Trolling a black Rooster Tail has been effective. Pass Lake hit 60 degrees a week ago, and fly fishermen scored very well on nice rainbow and browns, using chironomids. Springers: Salmon fishermen chasing spring chinook on the Columbia River opener below Bonneville Dam fared well, according to state checks. Boat anglers averaged one chinook kept or released for every 5.5 rods on the 16th, and the majority of boat activity was observed off the Vancouver airport. State biologist Joe Hymer in Vancouver said it's too early for spring chinook activity in Drano Lake or at the Wind River. Tigers: Washington is becoming a nationally recognized fishery for tiger muskies, as the sterile muskellunge-northern pike cross increases in both number of lakes planted and general population. Muskies, Inc., the non-profit organization working with muskies of all types, said Washington anglers led the nation last year in number of tigers caught and released, and took 11 of the largest 25 hybrids caught in the country. The hot hand was Michael Floyd of Auburn, who reported the fifth, 10th, 14th and 15th largest tiger muskies. Since 1998, tigers have been introduced into seven Washington lakes, usually as both a desirable gamefish, and as a means to control "scrap" forage fish such as suckers, tench, carp, sunfish and northern pikeminnow. NW Tiger Pac, Chapter 57, Muskies, Inc., is the newest of the organization's chapters. For more information go to www.nwtigermuskies.com, or e-mail Mark Holcomb at meholcomb@bvmm.com. Decoys: Mark your calendar for the Northwest Decoy Collectors show, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 10 at the Cottontree Convention Center in Mount Vernon. The center is just west of Riverside Drive and just south of the Skagit River bridge. E-mail Rone Brewer, president of the Northwest Chapter, Washington Waterfowl Association, at nwducks@snohomish.net

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