The popular hatchery chinook fishery on the Icicle River should be a hot item this year, according to biologist Art Viola with the state Fish and Wildlife Department.
What Viola calls “an exceptionally abundant run” of 9,000 to 12,000 kings are expected back to the Leavenworth National Hatchery and, once the hatchery stock requirement of 1,000 to 1,200 fish are taken, the rest are harvestable.
The small river opens to fishing today, although peak action isn’t expected for several weeks. The daily limit will be two salmon, with a night closure and non-buoyant lure restriction.
Anyone who has fished the Icicle knows the limitations involved. It’s not very big and, with private property owners along much of the shoreline from the hatchery to the Wenatchee, access gets iffy. The best bank fishing is from the deadline, 500 feet below the hatchery rack, downstream for a quarter-mile or so, on public land. Driftboats can be used but, again, the number of deep, holding holes is limited.
Another river opportunity for hatchery chinook is available on the Yakima, which opened in late April. Last year was the first chinook season in decades on the Yakima, and anglers learned fast, quickly figuring out how, where and when to tempt the fish. Action turned out to be very good – so good, in fact, that the season closed early.
Higher, dirtier water conditions this year will make it a little harder to fill all or part of the 10-fish seasonal limit, but there should be plenty of kings available. Mid-May is the rule of thumb used by local experts for the time the river starts to drop and clear from early snow-melt, and the first fishing is usually on the lower end, from Granger upstream. Later, best results will be from Selah gap to the deadline below Rosa Dam.
The most popular method last year was to drift eggs under a bobber, as you would on the westside for steelhead, using a slip bobber and stopper to keep your bait near bottom. That technique was used by both boat and bank anglers, while other boaters back-trolled diving plugs through the deeper holes.
And don’t forget the anxiously awaited summer chinook season coming up on the Skykomish, June 1-July 31. Arlington resident and professional river guide Sam Ingram had a large hand in making this season come to pass, and he will teach a pair of clinics on how best to take advantage of this, the first Skykomish king salmon fishery, in years.
The first clinic will be at Tuesday’s meeting of the Sky Valley Chapter, Trout Unlimited, starting at 7 p.m. at the Snohomish County PUD building in Monroe, 120 E. Fremont St. For more information contact Gary Bee at 360-794-6378.
The repeat will be 6:30-9 p.m. next Thursday at Hook, Line &Sinker in Smokey Point. Pre-registration is required by calling 360-435-5052. The tackle shop has moved to new digs recently, address 5200 172nd St. N.E., No. 104. Take the Smokey Point exit, 206, off I-5 and go directly east through the first stoplight. At the second stoplight, turn right (south) and then left. The shop is behind the car wash.
Bottomfish: Saltwater fishing is pretty much limited to halibut and other bottomfish currently, but if that’s your bag, it’s been pretty good in a number of different locations.
Some nasty weather conditions have hampered halibut anglers out of Neah Bay since the season opened, but when wind and swell permit, limits have been the rule on Swiftsure Bank, Blue Dot, 72-square and other spots. Al Heilman at the new and improved Big Salmon Resort, 360-645-2374, says fish are averaging 30 or 35 pounds at the farther-out locations, and a little smaller than that on Swiftsure.
Small-boaters have been taking some really nice halibut at spots closer to town, although not the numbers found on charters. Halibut of 91 and 124 pounds were weighed last week, Heilman said, and both were taken off the “garbage dump” west of Neah Bay.
“Don’t wait too long if you intend to come out here for halibut,” he said. “WDFW people are saying the quota will probably be reached by mid-June, latest.”
All Star Charters skipper-owner Gary Krein, 425-252-4188, has been putting his clients into lings and rockfish locally, since the May 1 opener. The limit hereabouts is one of each, and anglers can only keep lings between 26 and 40 inches.
“A 26-inch lingcod will go probably 10 pounds, and a 40-incher about 20 pounds,” Krein says. “We had to release one fish that was 49 inches long and weighed 35 pounds.”
The rockfish are coppers, browns and quillbacks, he says.
Krein has been fishing the artificial reef off the south end of Hat Island, and the sunken ferry west of the Possession Point buoy on Possession Bar. He tries to fish around the tide changes, when tidal flow is less, and uses both herring and jigs.
He rigs whole herring on a standard salmon mooching rig, and likes 6-inch curly-tail jigs in black or “motor oil” patterns. For both, he tries to get away with 3 or 4 ounces of lead if he can, and uses Spectra line for faster sink and better sensitivity.
“Take plenty of gear,” he says. “By their nature these reefs are grabby, and if you’re not losing lures you’re not fishing where lings are living.”
Anglers out of Cornet Bay, at the north end of Whidbey Island, have also been finding lingcod. State checks there Saturday showed 100 anglers with 31 lings, averaging 12 pounds, 19 greenling, 10 rockfish, and one cabezon.
Crab: Recreational crabbing has reopened on Hood Canal, but testing by state shellfish biologists is still showing a too-high percentage of soft-shelled crab in local waters.
Area 8-2 remains closed until at least 80 percent of legal males pass hardshell requirements, according to Norm Lemberg at the Fish and Wildlife Department’s La Conner office. The molt appears to be several weeks later than in recent years, Lemberg says, but testing will continue weekly until the fishery can be opened. The area usually opens in late May.
After Area 8-2, the usual progression is Area 8-1, then Area 7 (San Juan Islands), followed by Anacortes/Bellingham and Birch Bay/Blaine.
Spring chinook on the Columbia: Boat fishermen at the Wind River mouth averaged a chinook per every 2.5 rods last week, while bank anglers averaged one for every seven.
Fish and Wildlife Department biologist Joe Hymer in the Vancouver office says fishing effort appears to have peaked at the mouth of the Wind, and is increasing on the river proper, in the Gorge below Shipherd Falls. About 100 boats were counted at the Wind on Saturday.
At Drano Lake (mouth of the Little White Salmon), catch rates were running about the same as on the Wind, and boat numbers Saturday were down there, as well.
Both the Cowlitz and the Lewis are now putting out a mix of springers, winter steelhead (Cowlitz) and summer-runs.
Local guide Kyle Ward, 425-334-3988, hit Drano Lake with a party for six kings Saturday and eight on Sunday, running 12 to 25 pounds on Saturday and 10 to 18 pounds on Sunday.
Sturgeon: Guide Kyle Ward (above) said sturgeon fishing on the Snohomish River delta has been fairly good recently, particularly in the Priest Point area. Ward says predictions are for a good summer steelhead run this year on the Snohomish system, and he’s taking bookings.
Fishing course: Experts with the Everett Steelhead and Salmon Club will teach a comprehensive “fishing school” for 10 weeks, June 12 through Aug. 14, on Wednesday evenings. The fee is $10 per class or $75 for the whole series,
Place is Floral Hall, Forest Park, and signups are through Everett Parks and Recreation. The first evening will be an orientation, then three weeks of river salmon and steelhead, three weeks of saltwater salmon and three weeks introduction to fly fishing. Call 425-257-8300 to sign up or for more information.
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