Anglers will probably be out in force Saturday on the Skykomish River, opening day for the first full hatchery chinook season on the stream in a very long time. Whether or not they boat any of the big and much-coveted kings, however, remains to be seen.
“I got on the Internet this (Wednesday) morning and the river was running at 11-plus feet,” said fishing guide and Arlington resident Sam Ingram (360 435-9311). “That’s too much water, and the forecast for warm temperatures means more snow melt and no drop in river levels anytime soon.”
Ingram said 7.5 feet, or less, is what happy anglers like to see on the Sky. Much more than that, he said, pushes salmon over into the brush and makes fishing difficult. Check The Herald for river levels, or go the state Fish and Wildlife Department Web site, www.wa.gov/wdfw, and look for the link to river levels.
When the river drops, he said. there will be at least a few kings around, but probably very good numbers of both late winter and early summer steelhead. Saturday’s opener is for one fin-clipped chinook and/or up to two fin-clipped steelhead. Regulations require a single hook on non-buoyant lures, to prevent snagging.
Ingram says there probably won’t be serious numbers of chinook in the Skykomish much before June 10-15, which will still allow a good season before the July 31 closure.
There will undoubtedly be fishermen on the river Saturday, however, looking for kings from the opening bell, and Ingram offers the following tips:
High, murky water conditions call for large diving plugs, such as the K-15 and K-16 Kwikfish or Magnum Wiggle Warts. Generally, silver plugs with either blue or green markings would be the best choice, in both plug types
“Reds are popular, and a lot of guys fish ‘em,” Ingram says, “but red doesn’t show up well in dirty water. Later in the season is the time to break out the reds and golds.”
Boaters will pull not only diving plugs, but diver/bait rigs, using eggs or sand shrimp.
Bank anglers will cast magnum Wiggle Warts, or plunk or drift eggs. “You have to forget steelhead and think BIG salmon-size baits,” Ingram says. “If you’re using eggs, use a golf ball-size gob or larger. These guys want a meal.”
Bait fishermen usually use something like a large Spin N Glo ahead of their bait, and Ingram suggests the hard, mylar-winged lures rather than the soft-wing models.
Chinook will be found hanging in the slower, deeper holes throughout the river, but Ingram says there are at least three well-known spots for boat and bank anglers. One is at the mouth of the Wallace, a very popular area but one where anglers must be careful to, first, stay off private property and, second, fish only in the Skykomish, not in the closed Wallace.
Another good spot is at the mouth of the Sultan, and a third is off the park in Monroe, near the burned-out trestle above Lewis Street. A fourth spot, for boaters, is Taylor flats, about a mile below the Sultan River launch.
Ingram, and others, spent a lot of time and effort getting this fishery opened, and he warns that WDFW enforcement will be monitoring the action closely.
“All they have to see is a bunch of guys snagging with Buzz Bombs, and they’ll shut it down for everybody,” Ingram says.
State Fish and Wildlife department biologist Curt Kraemer predicts about 5,000 adult chinook returning to the Skykomish Hatchery on the Wallace, and says about half of those fish will be adipose clipped, and thus legal to keep.
Coastal salmon: Another fishery that hasn’t been available for a long time – two chinook, seven days a week, out of Westport and other coastal ports – is in full swing. Kelly Westrick at Westport Charters says the catch is running somewhere between a fish per rod and two-fish limits, and that the hatchery kings are averaging a solid 14 pounds.
About the only drawback is wind, Westrick says, which occasionally makes the 15- to 20-mile run a little difficult. Still, days in which the fleet can’t leave the harbor make it almost a certainty that the first half of the season will stay open until the scheduled June 16 closure. If you’re not fishing, you’re not taking your quota, Westrick says.
The salmon fishery will re-open in Marine Area 2 on June 30, and in areas 1, 3, and 4 on July 7.
For those so inclined, Westrick says, they’re still running at least one trip a day for black rockfish and a few lings, and fishing has been good.
Halibut: Marine areas 1, 3 and 4 (Ilwaco, La Push and Neah Bay) are now closed to halibut fishing because the recreational catch quota has been reached. Areas 3 and 4 will reopen on July 1 when the second portion of the quota becomes available.
Shad: Counts at Bonneville have been up and down, but a high of 43,000 shad counted Monday on the ladders, and a cumulative total of 180,000 so far, means that it’s time to get serious about driving down to the Columbia for some fast sport with these large members of the herring family.
Spring chinook: The springer fishery at the mouth of the wind has switched from trolling to drifting with bobbers and eggs or shrimp, according to WDFW biologist Joe Hymer in the Vancouver office. The switch resulted in some pretty good catch totals last week, with 260 boat fishermen taking 99 adult chinook.
As the major portion of the run enters the river proper, checks in the gorge section of the wind showed a very crowded 373 bank fishermen with 269 kings. Farther upriver toward the cofferdam, 76 anglers had 33.
Local trout: Avid angler and Everett Steelhead and Salmon Club member Jim Brauch says Lake Goodwin is prime time right now for rainbow which perhaps aren’t jumbo size, but a scrappy quarry nevertheless. Brauch and a partner caught and released 30 or so rainbow in the 9- to 10-inch range over the weekend, trolling dark wet flies very shallow, and a Wedding Ring spinner tipped with a bit of Power Bait.
Eastside trout: The best bet this weekend in Eastern Washington is a combo trip to Jameson and Grimes lakes, neighbors in Douglas County. Jameson, arguably the single best trout lake in the state, had a slow, cold spring, which means that most of its very large trout population is still available to anglers as the waters warm.
Nearby Grimes opens Saturday, as a trophy fishery for big, Lahontan-strain cutthroat, and it should be good. Fishing guide Sam Ingram (above) who hits Grimes every chance he gets when he doesn’t have a trip booked on the Skykomish, says 5-pound cutts are ho-hum there, and that an 8-pounder might raise a few eyebrows. Troll Hot Shots, various wobbling spoons, or dark, streamer-type flies, or fish black jigs.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
