Landlocked sockeye salmon will be in the piscatorial spotlight Saturday as the fleet hits Lake Stevens for the sixth annual Kokanee Derby. The event, sponsored by the Snohomish Sportsmen’s Club and the Lake Stevens Lions, should draw well, as word of very good early action has circulated through the local sportfishing fraternity.
Big kokanee will pay down four places, including $1,000 for the top fish. The largest limit (up to 10 kokanee) wins a $500 gift card, and the largest trout pays $500. The kids’ division (14 and under) pays $100, $75 and $50, and second and third places can be any species caught in Lake Stevens on derby day. Kids fish free. Adult tickets go for $20 a copy and are available at Greg’s Custom Rods, Lake Stevens; John’s Sporting Goods, Everett; Ted’s Sports Center, Lynnwood; Triangle Bait &Tackle and McDaniel’s Do It Center, both in Snohomish; Three Rivers Marine, Woodinville; and Holiday Sports in Burlington.
Marci Rockenbach at Greg’s Custom Rods (425-335-1391) said regulars have been coming in with limits or near-limits recently. Kokanee are still scattered, Rockenbach said, with the best numbers coming from the top 20 feet, though the larger fish are holding a little deeper. White shoepeg corn is producing better than maggots as bait, Rockenbach said.
“Marinate your corn overnight in a bag of either tuna oil or Dick Nite DNA Kokanee Scent,” she said.
The standard tackle setup is a small dodger, followed by 13 or 14 inches of leader and a Wedding Ring spinner tipped with corn. Anglers with an experimental bent, however, may want to try one or more of the latest lures, Rockenbach said. Those include the Kokanee Bite, the new Kokanee Khaos, or Free Drifter flies — the latter a lights-out lure for sockeye east of the Cascades that needs to be trimmed down to kokanee size for use here.
Participants without boats can vie for the $500 largest-trout prize from any of several public piers on the lake, including Wyatt Park on the west side, and anglers have been taking a few large rainbows that way recently, Rockenbach said.
Wyatt Park is also a launch alternative, and it will be open either early on derby morning or possibly the night before, Rockenbach said. There also will be a lot of help available for launching or parking at the Fish and Wildlife Department’s access and launch in the city of Lake Stevens, and ample parking behind Jay’s Market.
Chinook closure
The state has announced that the Skykomish River will not open June 1 for hatchery chinook as previously scheduled. The reason cited by Jennifer Whitney, district fish biologist in the agency’s Mill Creek office, is that the predicted run for Wallace River hatchery chinook is below broodstock needs. The run will be monitored closely, Whitney said, and if early returns indicate enough fish to meet broodstock needs, the Skykomish selective fishery will open.
Halibut derby
The 15th annual Port Angeles Halibut Derby is scheduled for May 23-24, offering $5,000 for the first-place fish, $2,500 for second, and $1,500 for third. Cash prizes are awarded through 30th place, which is worth $130.
Tickets are $40 per person for one or both days and are available at Swain’s General Store in Port Angeles, Jerry’s Bait and Tackle in Port Angeles, and Brian’s Sporting Goods in Sequim. There will be no ticket outlet this year on the east side of the Sound, but derby spokesman Norm Metzler said tickets will be available from May 22 up to derby morning at the Port Angeles Yacht Club derby headquarters, and at Swain’s General Store until 10 p.m. Friday night. For ticket information, call 360-452-2357.
Metzler said most boats landed a fish on the Marine Area 6 halibut opener (May 8-9) and that good weather helped draw a big crowd. The largest fish he heard of was a 55-pounder.
One of the better areas was the “31-36 Line” off Port Angeles, Metzler said, usually a good shallow area early in the season. The majority of PA-area halibut anglers — probably 50 to 60 percent — now fish off the anchor, Metzler said, putting down a big, oily, scented bait and letting the fish follow the scent trail. Anchor fishing is normally limited to 90 feet of water or less, he said.
Mike Chamberlain at Ted’s Sports Center said the local halibut opener was nothing to write home about. The Port Angeles area was good, he said, but the farther east you came from there, the fewer fish were taken.
“Mutiny Bay was not up to past years,” Chamberlain said. “All in all, it was not a good start to the halibut season around here.”
To the north, Kevin John at Holiday Sports in Burlington said Hein Bank got a lot of play and produced good fishing, but was crowded, as usual. Halibut there averaged 30 to 50 pounds, but “We spoke to one customer who had four fish by 10 a.m., going 25 to 70 pounds.
“Guys who like a little more elbow room are moving to Partridge and Eastern banks,” John said, “and good reports are coming in from those, as well.”
Herring and squid are usually the bait of choice on the banks, he said, with scent of some kind added. Those using jigs often go with large, scampi-tail types, also soaked with scent and often tipped with a chunk of octopus. Popular jig colors, John said, are white, black, pink and chartreuse. Fishing depths usually range from 60 to 160 feet, but deeper work — down to 300 feet — is catching on.
Razor clams
The first razor clam closure since 2005 on coastal beaches because of marine toxins was posted last week, canceling portions of a four-day dig and warning diggers to destroy any clams dug on Thursday, May 7.
Domoic acid was the villain, according to clam manager Dan Ayres and he said state Health Department tests indicated toxins just above “action level” in most areas at that point.
But Ayres said on Wednesday “The party’s over, and a great season is going out with a fizzle. Tests showed toxins were continuing to increase, and there’s no way they’re going to come down to safe levels by this weekend, or by next week.”
So this razor clam digging season is closed, and Ayres said, “I hope folks will remember the fantastic digging we had, rather than the way it went out.”
For more outdoor news, visit Wayne Kruse’s blog at www.heraldnet.com/huntingandfishing.
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