A number of Eastern Washington game management units open this weekend to spike bull elk hunting, but the state Fish and Wildlife Department made a huge gaffe in its 2005 Big Game Hunting Seasons and Rules pamphlet. The season opens in those units on Saturday, not Sunday as stated in the pamphlet. The areas in question are GMUs 145-154, 162-186, 249, 251, 328, 329, and 335-368.
Department spokesman Craig Bartlett, in Olympia, said the agency is “still getting calls from confused hunters.”
In other hunting news, rain and windy conditions have improved waterfowl hunting after a slow opener at the Skagit Wildlife Area. Checks by state personnel on the flats over opening weekend showed about two ducks per person, which is not great for the area. Mild weather was blamed for the low success rate.
The opening weekend bag was made up of about 60 percent teal, 23 percent mallards, 6 percent widgeon, and 4 percent pintail.
The weather wasn’t much more cooperative on the eastside waterfowl opener. Shotgunners scored at a clip of about three ducks per person in the Columbia Basin’s popular areas. Some of the more productive public hunting took place along the Winchester and Frenchman Hills wasteways, west of Potholes Reservoir.
Deer hunting results from around the state ranged from about average to well below average. Some of the highest success percentages came from whitetail country in the northeast portion of the state, where one hunter in seven was checked with an animal at the state’s Deer Park station.
Most mule deer in the Okanogan and Methow areas are still in the higher country, according to biologists, so opening weekend success percentages of between 5.0 and 6.0 at the Chewack station are not really a good indicator of the quality of hunting to come.
The Vail unit, in southwest Washington was, as usual, one of the best producers in what was a below-average opener on the westside. And even there, the buck count at the Rainier check station was 108 blacktails, down from 164 on the opener last year, and 151 the year before. Spikes and forkhorns dominated the harvest, according to state biologist Jack Smith, and there were no really large bucks checked.
Other opening weekend westside checks included 658 hunters at Coweeman with 23 deer, and 550 at Washougal with 21.
Local blackmouth: The new, early, blackmouth season in areas 8-1 and 8-2 has not lit any fires, according to knowledgeable local salmon fishermen. State checks bear this out, tallying only one chinook at the Port of Everett ramp over the weekend. The numbers at the Camano Island ramp were slightly better – two fish for 22 anglers on Saturday, and four fish for 11 on Sunday.
Gary Krein, owner/skipper of All Star Charters in Everett (425-252-4188), said Saratoga Passage was probably the best bet of a slow show. Krein hit three fish by 9 a.m. Wednesday directly off the Langley Marina. He was fishing at 90 to 100 feet and had taken one fish on each of three rigs: flasher/green Coyote spoon; flasher/green squid; and Tomic plug.
“The Whidbey shoreline from Greenbank to Penn Cove is probably as good a choice as you have right now,” Krein said, “or at Onomac and Rocky Point on the Camano side.”
Other salmon: Beach fishermen at Point No Point continue to score on passing coho. Checks there over the weekend showed 19 anglers with three coho.
And it’s chum salmon time at the Hoodsport Hatchery on Hood Canal, where 27 beach fishermen were checked on Sunday with 51 chums. Similarly, the mouth of Kennedy Creek, on the south Sound west of Olympia, put out 16 bright chums for 14 fishermen on Saturday.
River coho fishing locally has probably been better in the Skagit than the Snohomish, according to Lake Stevens resident and river guide Tom Nelson (tom@fishskagit.com).
“But even on the Skagit,” Nelson said, “it’s likely to be a repeat of a lot of other 2005 salmon runs in Western Washington – meaning that it’s having its moments, but will almost certainly turn out to have been below the forecast.”
Nelson said his usual coho technique – drifting eggs – didn’t work on the Skagit during a productive trip last week, so he had to go to Plan B. That involved free drifting and casting Fatfish plugs, fishing them back clear to the boat. You can cover more water this way, Nelson said, than by simply backtrolling the diving plugs.
The Cowlitz is a good bet now for late-stock hatchery coho. The run size has been updated from 7,000 to 23,000 fish.
Anglers also can keep hatchery coho on the Kalama now that hatchery needs have been met.
Mid-Columbia steelhead fishing – bank and boat – at the Ringold Springs hatchery complex above the Tri-Cities, has been hampered by high water, but has still been productive. Checks there over the weekend showed approximately a fish for every five rods.
Big trout: Fall is a good time to try the trophy rainbow fishery in Coldwater Lake on the Mount St. Helens National Monument near the town of Toutle. Trout to 15 inches are the norm, according to state biologist John Weinheimer, and fish to 18 or 20 inches are not uncommon. It’s a special fishery, so be sure to read the regulations.
Pheasant: The eastside pheasant season opened Oct. 22 and results indicate that the forecasts of more wild birds this year because of a mild spring were correct. Hunting was relatively good, particularly around Royal and Othello, and in the southeast corner of the state.
Steelhead clinic: It’s time for the annual steelhead and river fishing clinic put on by the Everett Steelhead and Salmon Club. In cooperation with the Everett Parks and Recreation Department, the clinic is scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 19 at Floral Hall, Forest Park, in Everett, and it’s free to all interested fishermen. The clinic covers all the basics necessary to successfully fish for steelhead and salmon in local rivers. There will be speakers on float fishing, jig fishing and fly fishing as well as demonstration tables and hands-on instruction.
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