There’s lots on the plate for the outdoor enthusiast over the next few days, but not necessarily blackmouth fishing. The second half of the winter chinook season started out mediocre and hasn’t improved much, according to checks by the state Fish and Wildlife Department.
Creel checkers last weekend tallied 347 anglers at the Port of Everett ramp, with 38 blackmouth, averaging 7 pounds. That’s not great fishing by any standard, particularly considering the high interest in the fishery. Results farther west on the Strait of Juan de Fuca haven’t been much better. Checks at Port Angeles on Saturday showed 19 anglers with two fish, averaging 11 pounds, and at Port Townsend, 15 anglers with no fish.
The Stanwood Hotel Salmon Derby and Chili Feed drew an excellent crowd, and some of them even managed to find a blackmouth. Among the 160 participants Saturday and 133 Sunday, first place and $2,700 cash went to Jody Erickson at 12 pounds, 1 ounce; second and $1,100 to Tom Heggem at 9 pounds, 15 ounces, and $850 for third to Bill Hayes, at 9 pounds, 14 ounces. All three fish came from Camano Head.
Few anglers know more about fishing salmon in local waters than All Star Charter owner/skipper Gary Krein, a 17-year veteran. Krein will be the featured speaker at the March 5 meeting of the NorthShore Chapter of Trout Unlimited. The meeting will start at 7:30 p.m. in the second floor meeting room of the Bothell American Legion Hall, 19215 Bothell Way N.E. The public is invited. Call Dee Norton at 206-362-6593, or e-mail deewrite@earthlink.net.
Marysville resident and fishing guide Tom Nelson (tom@fishskagit.com) says blackmouth action in the San Juans is better currently than in local waters, especially Thatcher Pass (black rock) and Spring Pass.
“North of Falcon gets underway in Lacey on Thursday (today),” Nelson says, and on the table for anglers locally will be an opening for Skykomish hatchery chinook and a possible Skagit River king season. Angler participation in these meetings is vital, highly informative, and even fun.”
Clams: The current razor clam dig “should provide relatively easy limits on almost any of the beaches that are open,” according to WDFW shellfish manager Dan Ayres in Montesano. The dig runs through Saturday, afternoon tides only, on Long Beach, Copalis, Mocrocks (Copalis River to Moclips River), and Kalaloch. Note that the popular Twin Harbors beaches south of Westport will not open this time around.
Ayres doesn’t like to target specific beaches, but if you’re new at the game and don’t have a favorite of your own, he says you could do worse than choosing the Ocean Shores area.
The low tide today is a minus 0.6 at 7:25 p.m.; Friday, -0.1 at 8:07 p.m.; and Saturday, plus 0.6 at 8:48 p.m.
Smelt: Suddenly there are smelt all over the place. Literally. Dippers on the Cowlitz over the weekend were taking five minutes to a half-hour to dip a limit in the Lexington area. At Carnival Market, a limit was taking an hour or so in a river high and dirty.
Dippers on the Lewis, near the salmon hatchery, were taking limits in a few dips there over the weekend, and small schools of the silvery food fish were being seen every few seconds near the hatchery intake early this week.
WDFW biologist Joe Hymer in Vancouver says the run size has been updated, and all Columbia tributaries on the Washington side have been opened to smelt dipping seven days a week, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, now through March 31. The bag limit has also been increased, to 20 pounds per person, per day. No license is required to dip for smelt in Washington.
Sturgeon: As usual, sturgeon fishing on the lower Columbia has turned on as the fish follow smelt into the river. Some 2,400 sturgeon boats were counted in an aerial survey Saturday, between Bonneville Dam and Longview. The sport catch has grown, however, to the point that more restrictive regulations are going into effect. Catch and release will be the sturgeon rule on Sundays and Mondays this spring, March 1 to May13, and seven days a week from July 25 through Sept. 30, from Bonneville Dam to the mouth of the river.
The release period has been lengthened because sport harvest has exceeded guidelines the past two years, running approximately 1,700 fish over the 40,000-fish sport quota. Brad James, WDFW biologist, said this year’s sport catch quota is 38,300 fish, while the commercial quota is 9,700.
Steelhead: As expected, the state will close steelheading on the Skagit below Concrete on March 1, but will leave spring C&R seasons in effect on the upper river and on the Sauk as published in the current fishing regulations pamphlet. The return of native steelhead to the system is expected to be about 5,000 fish, some 83 percent of the basin’s escapement goal.
Guide Tom Nelson (above) says results so far on the big river have been very promising for the C&R season. Nelson released fish of 16, 17.5, 18 and 22 pounds last week.
There’s still fair action available on the Cowlitz, where nine boat anglers were checked at the Blue Creek ramp with five fish last weekend. Some 17 anglers at the barrier dam had two steelhead.
Turkey raffle: The deadline for the annual spring turkey raffle has been extended until March 10, giving turkey hunters an extra two weeks to purchase tickets for the chance to hunt one month longer and take an additional three birds this year. The raffle tickets are $5 per chance, available in person at any hunting license agent statewide; over the phone by calling toll-free 1-866-246-9453; or via the internet at www.fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov.
Eastside trout: March 1 marks the opening of trout fishing on dozens of lakes and a few streams in Eastern Washington, along with renewed interest in a host of year-round waters.
The general forecast for the Columbia Basin lakes is a mixed bag, according to biologist Jeff Korth in Moses Lake. Weather conditions have been unpredictable, Korth says, but all lakes in his bailiwick should be ice-free. He says Quincy and Burke lakes should be the best of the lot, coming off the 1999 rehabilitation with their second crop of lake-raised rainbow. Dusty will be out of action, because the rehabilitation planned for last spring was cancelled.
Action will be slow, but the fish large, on the Hampton lakes. Some of the Pillar-Widgeon chain and the Quincy-area walk-in lakes will be fair for yearling rainbow.
Korth says the popular selective-tackle waters Lenice and Nunnally should be hot, boasting some huge triploid rainbow grown heavy since the 2000 rehabilitation. Another surprise will come in the shape of “tiger trout,” a brown trout/brook trout cross, planted last year as fingerlings (1,000 in Lenice and 1,500 in Nunnally). The tigers are expected to be about 12 inches on the opener.
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