A Wise Old Fisherman once told me you can predict the strength of a coming chum salmon run by determining which way most of the woolly bears are marching. If the majority of the orange-and-black caterpillars are headed east (upriver), the old angler said, then it will be a good chum year.
I went out to a wooded road near my house to test the theory and, sure enough, found three woolly bears. One was going west, one was going east, and the third was road kill.
Given the mixed results, I’ll have to rely on the anecdotal evidence provided by local anglers.
Jim Strege at Triangle Beverage in Snohomish said chum fishing on the upriver bars has been red hot, with really bright fish in the 12- to 16-pound range. There are still a few coho being taken as well, he said, but most of the late silver action has moved up into the Skykomish.
The bar dogs are hitting big purple or blue Spin N Glos with shrimp, Strege said, and have been for more than two weeks now, in strength.
“It’s early for this many chums to be available,” he said.
Sam Ingram agrees. The river guide and Arlington resident keeps records, and said chum action this good on the Skykomish is a week to 10 days ahead of schedule.
“We started really getting into ‘em late last week on the Sky,” he said, “along with a few really nice-sized coho with sea lice still on ‘em.”
Backtrolling Kwikfish or Fatfish in green, pink, or purple patterns is standard procedure for boaters looking for a chum/coho mix, Ingram said, while a float/jig setup in the same colors should work for bank anglers.
“I watched a couple of guys early this week fishing from the bank at Buck Island, just above Monroe, finish out their limits and leave,” Ingram said. “But those chums are so strong that if you’re going to fish them from the bank, you’d better be rigged heavy enough or have running shoes on, one or the other.”
Some salmon anglers aren’t high on chums, Ingram said, and that’s too bad.
“As bright and fresh as they are in the rivers right now, they’re fine on the table,” he said. “Or, smoke up a batch and take some to your local senior center. I’ve done that for two or three years now, and I can guarantee you that no one there cares whether they’re chums or not.”
Ingram makes another point. “Get out there on the river,” he said. “I don’t know about you, but I find even one chum more exciting than sitting in front of the tube, watching our college and pro football teams lose.”
Chums cannot be kept on the Skagit this season, but coho fishing has been pretty good. Cal Stocking of Cause For Divorce Guide Service fished the Lyman area last week and landed a dandy 18-pound silver, along with a couple of 8-pounders, on Dick Nite spoons. Bob Ferber at Holiday Sports said the Rockport area has also been good for a mix of coho and chums, still in good shape, using an assortment of Dick Nites, Wicked Willies, and Vibrax spinners, along with marabou jigs.
Jim Brauch, president of the Everett Steelhead and Salmon Club, returned from a weekend trip to British Columbia’s Vedder River, near Chilliwack. Incredible fishing for fall chinook to 50 pounds or larger, he said, along with big coho, and it’s really not that far away.
“It’s fishing the way we once had it in our rivers here,” Brauch said.
Saltwater: A handful of saltwater salmon anglers have been having a ball at Point No Point the past week or so, landing a mix of coho and chums. Gary Krein, owner/skipper of All Star Charters in Everett, said the period around high slack has been productive.
“At one point, on a trip over the weekend, I had two separate triple-headers,” Krein said.
On one trip, he took seven chums and two coho, he said, and on a trip Tuesday, two chums and two coho. The dogs are going 7 to 15 pounds, he said, and the coho 5 to about 13. The most productive depth has been 45 to 65 feet, and Krein said he has been concentrating around the tide rips.
Coyote spoons behind a green flasher have been the hands-down fish getter, he said, in the green/white pattern, or the red racer. He’s been using 40 to 44 inches of leader to catch both chums and coho.
Bob Ferber said Mike Dunnigan, owner/skipper of Seahawk Charters, nailed a jumbo silver of 21 pounds last week fishing the Pile Point/Eagle Point areas of the San Juan Islands.
Blackmouth time: Winter blackmouth season opens Monday in Marine Areas 5 through 13, and Krein said he expects a good early season. He and others have been catching and releasing legal chinook in fairly good numbers recently, and if they had been targeting bottom-hugging feeder kings instead of coho and chums, he said, they probably would have been doing even better.
Krein said that on Monday he’ll be somewhere around Hat Island, or in Saratoga Passage, trolling a flasher/Coyote spoon combo with the leader shortened to 34 to 36 inches, and probably down around 80 feet. He’s been finding a good blackmouth population around Hat, and said fishing was good early last season from Elger Bay on north to Onomac and Rocky Point. Fish have also been taken at Point No Point, he said.
State Fish and Wildlife Department checks on Saturday showed 11 anglers at the Edmonds sling with six coho and two chums, and on Sunday at the Everett ramp, 38 anglers with five coho and four chums.
Kokanee: Freshwater diehards might run north to Lake Shannon, near Concrete, where Bob Ferber said fishing has been good recently for fat kokanee in the 11- to 14-inch range. Successful fishermen are using a Pautzke egg/maggot combo fished 10 to 12 feet deep, and chumming with a feed egg/meal mix. Ferber’s phone number, for information, is 360-757-4361.
Waterfowl: The local duck season opener (Oct. 16) was, in the words of longtime Skagit Wildlife Area manager John Garrett, “the most dismal, unproductive opening day I’ve seen in all the time I’ve been here.”
Conversely, with windier, wetter weather last week, hunting picked up on the Skagit to a level Garrett called “pretty decent.”
Yakima kings: The Yakima River fall chinook/coho season closed on a harvest well below that of recent years. The total take of kings was just under 800 fish, according to state estimates, compared to 1,442 fish last year and 2,300 in 2002.
Share your game: Hunters wishing to share their game with those less privileged may take advantage of the National Rifle Association’s data base of some 120 game-sharing programs and networks around the country. Call the NRA’s Hunter Services Information Clearinghouse at 800-492-HUNT, or log on to www.nrahq.org/hunting/hunterhungry.asp.
Learn steelheading: It’s almost steelhead time when the clinics start turning up, so mark your calendar for Nov. 20, the date scheduled for the Everett Steelhead and Salmon Club’s annual river steelhead and salmon clinic. It runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Floral Hall in Forest Park, Everett, and is free and open to all interested anglers. Presentations and exhibits will cover both basic and advanced gear and techniques, including float fishing, fly fishing, drift gear, knot tying, slinky making, bait preparation and a lot more. For more information, call Everett Parks and Recreation at 425-257-8300.
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