Small fish, big prize at Edmonds Coho Derby

So it wasn’t the big kahuna. But hey — a $5,000 fish is a $5,000 fish, whether it was a wall-hanger or not.

And that was a good thing for Glen Kincaid, whose 7.5-pound silver won first place in last Saturday’s Edmonds Coho Derby — the smallest winning fish in the event’s history. Last year’s winner weighed 11.5 pounds.

The next four coho on the leaderboard were 6-plus-pounders, compared to the 20 entries in 2014 at that weight or better. Second, and $2,500, went to Gerrie Counsellor at 6.8 pounds, while third and $1,000 was landed by Steve Nuss, at 6.7 pounds. Kids’ winner was Logan Weidner at 5.7 pounds.

“There were a lot of small fish around,” acknowledged derby chairman Ed Chapman, which was probably predictable from fishing results in local waters earlier this month. But not only were the coho small, the total numbers were not great either. Derby day had beautiful weather, and the event boasted roughly the same number — a little under 1,000 — participants as last year, but only 287 coho were weighed in, compared to 331 in 2014. Sunday, by all reports, was considerably better.

Chapman said the fish were scattered, as is typical with coho, but that many entries came from three general areas: off Edmonds in deep water; off the shipwreck; and the southwest edge of outer Possession Bar.

I fished Tuesday with Tom Nelson, Marysville resident and host of The Outdoor Line, ESPN Radio 710 on Saturday mornings, along with Mark Spada and Mark Yuasa. Spada is a Snohomish resident, tackle rep, and one of the organizers for this weekend’s Everett Coho Derby, and Yuasa is the outdoor writer for the Seattle Times. The fifth member of the party had four feet and a serious antipathy toward harbor seals.

We did well, putting five fish in the box by about 9 a.m., and two of which — at 6 or 7 pounds — would probably have been money fish in the Edmonds Derby.

We stopped at the shipwreck first, but didn’t mark many fish, so picked up and ran to outer Possession Bar. Fishing wasn’t fast, but we found a couple of biters each pass along the southwest edge of the bar. Best lures seemed to be flasher and Ace Hi fly, or flasher and green squid with a herring strip on the forward hook, while a whole herring on the center rod generated little interest. We hit fish anywhere between 35 and 110 feet.

Fishing regulation changes

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission will consider proposed changes in sportfishing rules at a public meeting Friday and Saturday in Spokane. Probably the most controversial change would implement selective gear rules on some north coast rivers and prohibit harvest of wild steelhead in several Forks-area streams which currently are the only rivers remaining in the state on which anglers are allowed to keep one wild steelhead per season. The rivers involved would include the Calawah, Bogachiel, Hoh and Sol Duc.

To review and comment on the proposals (by Nov. 4) go to http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regulations/rule_proposals/.

Resurrection Derby

Tickets go on sale next week for the 6th annual Resurrection Salmon Derby scheduled for Dec. 5-6. Only 100 team tickets will be available at $400 per team, with a guaranteed purse of $15,000 and $10,000 for largest salmon. The event sold out last year.

This is the derby which was previously held in the San Juan Islands, but which has been moved this year to Anacortes. There will probably be a new, similar, derby in the islands, but it’s not clear whether the traditional Anacortes derby will survive.

Get your tickets online or at Holiday Sports in Burlington. For more information go to www.resurrectionsalmonderby.com.

Okanogan deer

State biologist Scott Fitkin said the north-central wildfires did relatively little harm to the mule deer herds and habitat in the Methow Valley but more damage on the Okanogan Valley side.

Probably the worst damage in the Methow, Fitkin said, was in the Big Buck GMU of the Methow Wildlife Area, and forestland to the west of that unit. The lower end of Unit 242 was damaged, Fitkin said, but that access will be a bigger problem than actual damage to the mule deer herds.

On the Okanogan side a lot more habitat was damaged. The south half of the Sinleheken Wildlife Area burned, and most of the Scotch Creek WA. Unit 233 was hit and there will be some access problems there, Fitkin said

The areas east of the Okanogan River and south of Hwy 20, the south half of Unit 204, were probably impacted the most and will present significant access problems.

The good news is that wildfire generally does little harm to large animals, and the mule deer will still be there, adapting to changed conditions. “Get above the burns for good hunting opportunity,” Fitkin said. “You may find deer condensed in some of the habitat remaining. Look for green forage and areas of moisture in the brown landscape. And if we get rain, the burns will green up very rapidly as they did last year, and attract deer.”

Fitkin said last year was a good mule deer season in the Okanogan/Methow and he looks for a similar hunt this year, except for the fact that deer may not be where hunters normally find them.

Basin birds

The Royal Hunt Club is an excellent opportunity for reasonably priced access to good bird hunting in the Columbia Basin, around Royal City, benefitting youth activities and athletics in the area. A season pass for pheasant, duck and goose seasons goes for $300 and will include access to 2,000 pen-raised pheasant released at sites marked on the hunt club map. No guides are allowed to participate.

For more information call 509-346-2651.

Rules of the maritime road

Reader Dale Duffield, a 5,000-ton licensed master, has a point to make about safety and rules of the road on the water. On Sept. 6, he says, he was piloting his 40-footer from Seattle to Everett and had several close calls with fishermen in sportfishing boats.

“Rule 3 defines which vessels are considered fishing vessels,” he says. “A sport troller does not fit the privileged vessels rule.”

Rules 13, 14 and 15 are also important, he says, suggesting anglers should make themselves conversant with maritime right of way rules. There are numerous boating classes taught by the Coast Guard Auxiliary and other groups in the area throughout the year.

Drought restrictions raised

Fishing closures and the imposition of “hoot owl” hours on many of the state’s rivers have been lifted on most Puget Sound streams and several in Eastern Washington.

Westside: Snoqualmie to the falls; Skykomish, North Fork and South Fork; Stillaguamish, including both forks; Sauk from the suiattle upstream, North Fork to the falls, and South Fork; Samish above I-5, and Friday Creek.

Eastside: The only one of much interest to fishermen from this area is the lifting of hoot owl restrictions on the Methow, from Gold Creek up to Foghorn Dam, one mile above Winthrop.