Three high-profile chinook salmon openers – two in saltwater, one in fresh – proved reasonably successful last week for the knowledgeable anglers who put in their time on the water.
The Tulalip bubble, which opened two weeks earlier than normal, drew the usual crowd Friday to the terminal fishery off Tulalip Bay. Action wasn’t red hot, according to All Star Charters owner/skipper Gary Krein (425-252-4188), but considering the early start, it wasn’t half bad, either.
“We saw, or heard of, maybe 20 fish taken on Friday,” Krein said. “That was better than I had anticipated, and we were able to boat two fish. Saturday slowed and we heard of 10 fish or so, and on Sunday, it was down to probably a half dozen.”
Krein said most of the fish he saw were taken farther out, in deeper water. He caught his between 60 and 90 feet, in 90 to 250 feet of water. Guide and avid angler Tom Nelson (tom@fishskagit.com) said hot weather raised surface temperatures in the bubble, which probably helped push the fish farther off the beach and into the deeper water. Anglers working jigs at 40 feet along the edge of the bar did not fare particularly well over the weekend.
A green flasher followed by a green squid was clearly the best combination for anglers on his boat, Krein said. Spoons, often a good bet in the bubble, went hitless.
Although it’s becoming clear that Tulalip hatchery operations are producing an earlier run to the bay, it’s still too early for peak numbers. The action should improve over the next several weeks.
The catch-and-release fishery for chinook in Marine Area 10, roughly south of Edmonds, opened last week to little pressure and slow fishing. By early this week, though, there were excellent numbers of fish in the north portion of the area and Krein scored big on a mix of adult kings, blackmouth and shakers in the slot from Apple Cove Point south to Kingston. “I think we had a 12- or 15-fish day on Tuesday,” he said.
A Coyote spoon behind a flasher was the hot rig.
The freshwater opener, of course, was on the Skykomish River from the mouth of the Wallace downstream to the Lewis Street Bridge in Monroe. While the river was high and a little dirty from heavy rains, it was fishable and probably more productive than it would have been under normal summer lows. The water level has since dropped, but snow melt during the recent hot days has brought more water and a certain amount of color downstream during afternoon hours.
Nelson said two boats from Three Rivers Marine fished the Sky last week and landed six or seven chinook, including one 25-pounder.
“The fish were scattered throughout the open section,” he said, “but it’s significant that the Three Rivers guys hit all their kings on eggs – either backtrolling with a diver, six feet of leader, and a small cluster, or boondogging the same small egg cluster.”
They had some hit on small, plug-cut “firecracker” herring, Nelson said. Another rig worth trying, he said, is to backtroll a Warden Fatfish, on the underside of which you’ve wrapped a small egg cluster for the scent effect.
“Get ‘em quick, though,” he said. “There seems to be a fair number of fish in the river, but as soon as we lose our water, we’re done.”
Guide and Arlington resident Sam Ingram (360-435-9311) hit a nice 20-pound king and a summer steelhead on a drift Tuesday, but noted that seals have been working the river. That could account for some of the slow days so far, he said, but added that there are kings in the Sky to be had, and the numbers – according to returns to the Wallace hatchery – are building every day.
Lake Washington sockeye: As of Wednesday morning, about 34,000 sockeye had been counted through the Ballard locks, which doesn’t raise a great cheer from salmon managers and anglers hoping for a Lake Washington season, but it isn’t a dismal number, either. Biologist Steve Foley at the state Fish and Wildlife Department’s Mill Creek office said it’s still too early to make the call either way, and that counts, which have been dragging along at 4,000 or 5,000 fish a day, could jump suddenly to several times that number.
Foley said there is seldom a pattern to the return of sockeye to the Lake Washington system. The count, for instance, is ahead of the same-date numbers for 2002, the last time a season was opened, but well behind that of 2001, when there weren’t enough total sockeye counted to mount a fishery.
Westport’s up: If all the hype is to be believed, the coastal summer salmon fishery could be one of the best in 20 years. At least that’s what Mark Cedergreen, spokesman for the Westport Charter Boat Association, is selling.
The Westport-area fishery opens Sunday, and Cedergreen said the number and average size of chinook being hooked incidentally by rockfish and lingcod charters indicates good numbers of fish in the area.
An absence of El Nino or La Nina weather systems for the past decade has allowed Pacific salmon runs to build significantly, Cedergreen said.
For fishing and activities information call the Westport/Grayland Chamber of Commerce Information Center at 1-800-345-6223.
Southwest Washington: Lower Columbia sturgeon charters out of Ilwaco and Chinook averaged 0.8 legal fish per rod last week, and private boaters took one for every 4.6 rods.
Good shad fishing is still available just below Bonneville Dam, where bank fishermen took about seven fish per person last week. There’s still decent fishing as well in the Camas area.
There has been good summer-run fishing in the Cowlitz, mostly in the vicinity of Blue Creek. State checkers said boat fishermen last week averaged .75 fish per rod, and bank anglers averaged about one for every five rods. Boondogging with long leaders, a bit of yarn on No. 2 or No. 4 hooks and small egg clusters is a productive technique. And don’t expect to be lonesome on the drift below the mouth of Blue Creek.
Northwest Washington: According to Bob Ferber at Holiday Market Sports in Burlington, smallmouth bass fishing on Lake Whatcom has improved recently. Most of the fish are out of the post-spawn and becoming more aggressive. This is the time of year when smallies are vulnerable to topwater plugs on calm, sunny days, Ferber said.
“But typically, crankbaits, spinnerbaits and Rattle Traps are effective lures,” he said. “I prefer the suspended Rapala Shad Raps in crayfish, perch scale, or silver with a blue back. These lures allow you to cover a large area and because they suspend, (they) can, when necessary, be retrieved at a slower rate than conventional crankbaits.”
Ferber said Lake Sixteen, east of Conway, is treating trout fishermen well, putting out 10- to 13-inch rainbows to trollers using Roostertails tipped with a piece of nightcrawler, and a split shot. Size “0” Dick Nites in 50/50 are also productive.
The tackle shop weighed a Dolly Varden a couple of weeks ago that pulled the needle to slightly over 8 pounds. The big char came from the Skagit, in the Burlington area, and was taken by a plunker, Ferber said, adding that the river remains very consistent for dollies.
Good deed: Lake Stevens resident Neal McAfee Jr., disabled and in a wheelchair, has not been able to pursue his favorite recreation, hunting, since becoming disabled, but appears to be once again in business.
“Recently the Seattle/Puget Sound Chapter of Safari Club International and the Seattle Sportsmen’s Conservation Foundation presented me with an electric wheelchair which they had painted and upholstered in camouflage,” McAfee said. “They had also installed apparatus to hold, move and shoot my rifle. I don’t know the exact cost of these items, but think they would be in the $6,000 to $8,000 range.
“I was shocked by this very generous gift. It will give me the freedom to enjoy the outdoors with my friends and family.”
Goodbye: State Fish and Wildlife Commission member R.P. Van Gytenbeek of Seattle has accepted a position as CEO of the Federation of Fly Fishers, based in Bozeman, Montana. He will serve on the commission until fall, when he moves to Bozeman. His six-year term on the commission, which oversees the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, was scheduled to expire in December.
A retired artillery captain, with 30 years of private-sector management experience, Van Gytenbeek is a past FFF president and has served as executive director of Trout Unlimited.
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