The inaugural Baker Lake Sockeye Shootout hits the water — fresh, new and exciting — on July 29, 30 and 31, sponsored by the Coastal Conservation Association’s North Sound Chapter. No one can predict how the fishing will come down, but the gorgeous setting will make it arguably the most scenic salmon derby in the country.
The event is limited to 300 participants at $20 for CCA members, $50 for non-members, $10 for youth non-members, and free for youth members. The ticket outlet/entry form pick-up and drop-off closest to this area is Holiday Sports in Burlington, 360-757-4361. Others include Morgan Creek Outfitters in Sedro-Woolley, Outdoor Ventures in Concrete, Yeager’s in Bellingham, Dave’s Sports Shop in Lynden, and online at www.CCAWashington.org/bakerlakederby. My guess is that the event will prove to be a big seller, and if you’re interested you might want to get right on it.
The largest sockeye will win $1,000; second, $500; and third $250. Youth largest fish takes home a quality rod/reel combo, and the sockeye closest to average fish weight wins a $100 Cabela’s gift card. The weigh-in station will be at the Swift Creek campground and launch ramp.
Entry forms and complete rules and schedule are available at the above website. For additional information contact Tony at 360-354-0204 or Curt at 360-224-9345.
Other upcoming CCA events include the Wenatchee Salmon Derby, July 15-16; the Lower Columbia Summer Steelhead Challenge, July 22-24; and the King of the Reach Derby, Oct. 28-30.
Buoy 10 info
Pat Hoglund claims that buoy 10 on the lower end of the Columbia River is North America’s most popular summer salmon fishery. And it’s hard to argue with the numbers he provides from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife: 951,300 chinook predicted to return in 2016; 978,500 chinook returning annually as a five-year average; 60,000 angler days at buoy 10 in 2015; 500 to 1,000 boats on the river daily with a high of 1,800. The stats are staggering.
Hoglund is publisher and executive editor of Brookwood Press in Portland, and a longtime and avid salmon fisherman on the lower Columbia. His firm publishes the Salmon and Steelhead Journal, a magazine that has become a major player on the Northwest sportfishing scene, and he has now come out with a booklet “Buoy 10: Lower Columbia River Salmon Fishing Guide.” The booklet is a clean, professional publication offering everything you need to know to get started in the fishery, and tips of value to the experienced buoy 10 angler as well: tides, rigging tackle, spinner guide, bait, boat ramps, lodging, maps and more.
Might as well face it — the lower Columbia can be an intimidating place. Miles of water, hundreds of boats, and a fishery that experts consider “technical,” or at least complicated. Whether it’s knowing where to be at certain stages of the tide or knowing how to rig your tackle to be successful requires a certain level of competence.
Complicated, sure, but as probably the best place in the state to get a reasonable shot at a 30-plus pound king it’s well worth learning. Hoglund’s Buoy 10 Guide gives you a foot up.
The publication is priced at $14.95, and to order a copy, call 503-284-4383, or go to www.salmonandsteelheadjournal.com/b10.
Crab
The full slate of Puget Sound summer recreational crab seasons has been announced by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, as follows:
Marine Area 13 (south Puget Sound), crabbing currently underway through Sept. 5, five days a week; marine areas 4 (Neah Bay), 5 (Sekiu), and 12 (Hood Canal) open 6 a.m. June 16 through Sept. 5; a portion of Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet) from the Hood Canal Bridge north to the Foulweather Bluff/Olele Point line, open 6 a.m. June 16 through Sept. 5; marine areas 6 (eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca), 8-1 (Deception Pass), 8-2 (Possession Sound), 9 (Admiralty Inlet), 10 (Seattle), and 11 (Tacoma), open July 1 through Sept. 5; Marine Area 7-South (San Juan Islands), open July 15 through Sept. 30; Marine Area 7-North (Gulf of Georgia), open Aug. 13 through Sept. 30.
These seasons and details on fishing regulations, as well as an educational video on crabbing are posted on WDFW’s crab fishing website, http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish/crab/.
No nighttime crabbing allowed, and all crab must be entered on a catch record card immediately after putting them in the boat. There are separate record cards for summer and winter seasons.
Yakima chinook
The middle Yakima River opens today through the end of the month for hatchery spring chinook, from Union Gap (downriver from Yakima) to just below Roza Dam. Since this is a late opening, WDFW regional fish program manager John Easterbrooks says there should be catchable numbers of kings currently in the river.
Best fishing is at the upriver deadline, the railroad bridge below the dam, and just below that in the deep “big bend pool”, Easterbrooks says, plus a couple of the deeper holes farther down, in the Yakima canyon.
It’s a smaller run this year, so the limit has been dropped from two hatchery kings to one, and the season shortened, but there should be enough salmon in the area to provide decent fishing for the next couple of weekends.
Easterbrooks says the most popular fishing method is to drift eggs under a float, about a foot off the bottom. Casting and retrieving spinners also works, for chinook in the 8- to 15-pound range.
There are several other special rules in effect; go to www.wdfw.wa.gov/fishing and look for the latest information.
Hanford Reach closes to sockeye
Because of the possibility of a depressed run of sockeye headed for the Okanogan River, the Hanford Reach from Pasco upriver to Priest Rapids Dam has been closed to sockeye retention, June 16-Aug. 15.
No one seems to have a good handle on just what to expect from Columbia River sockeye this summer. Last year’s warm water temperatures stressed the fish and allowed diseases to take hold, and a high percentage of the 2015 run never showed up in the Okanogan. But, there were still a bunch of fish left in saltwater, not old enough yet to spawn until this year, so the picture isn’t completely bleak. WDFW biologist Travis Maitland, for instance, is still optimistic that there will be enough fish heading for Lake Wenatchee to allow a recreational season.
For more outdoor news, read Wayne Kruse’s blog at www.heraldnet.com/huntingandfishing.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
