Hordes of hungry, howling humpies are screaming down the Strait of Juan de Fuca, bent on pillage and mayhem, and the advance skirmish line is already here. State Department of Fish and Wildlife creel samplers checked 300 anglers Sunday at the Port of Everett ramp with 184 pinks — particularly impressive considering that most of the fish were caught incidentally on chinook tackle. Sunday was the final day of the popular Area 9 hatchery chinook season, and the creel checks included 36 kings and 21 coho in addition to the humpies.
Many experts feel that the big humpy run (6.8 million forecast for Puget Sound rivers) is early this year. Kevin John at Holiday Sports in Burlington, for instance, said pinks have been rolling in the Skagit River for two weeks and that there should be catchable numbers available when the river opens Saturday for four salmon, only two wild coho, release chinook and chum. Salmon will be legal in the Skagit from its mouth to Gilligan Creek.
A return of 603,000 pinks is forecast for the Skagit; 282,000 for the Stillaguamish; and a whopping 1.6 million for the Snohomish system. Other WDFW checks Sunday included the Ediz Hook ramp in Port Angeles, where 88 fishermen had 15 chinook and 134 pinks; Olson’s Resort in Sekiu, 112 with 21 chinook, 12 coho and 172 pinks; Point No Point beach fishery, 13 with six pinks; and Washington Park in Anacortes, 58 with 86 pinks.
Kevin John said plunking will be the most popular way to fish pinks on the Skagit, using sand shrimp and a 3- or 4-ounce pyramid sinker. Drifters will cast and retrieve small spoons such as the FST or Dick Nite, spinners, and hot pink jigs in 1/4 to 3/8-ounce weights.
Marine areas 8-1 and 8-2, our local saltwater, will also open Saturday. This won’t be the peak of the humpy run, of course, but it should be worth fishing anyway, right now in Area 9 from the shipwreck south (Picnic Point has been good), and after Friday from Mukilteo to the shipwreck, including “Humpy Hollow.” Beach fishermen are scoring humpies at Point No Point, Fort Casey, Bush Point, Lagoon Point and West beach, among others, tossing Rotators or pink Buzz Bombs.
“The locals like an ebb tide on the Whidbey beaches,” said Mike Chamberlain at Ted’s Sports Center in Lynnwood, “especially with a large tide that pushes migrating pinks toward the beach.”
Saltwater fishermen will slow-troll an 8-inch Hot Spot flasher or a size “0” white or pearl dodger, 12 inches of leader with the dodger and 16 inches with the flasher, and a hot pink mini-squid. Speed should be slow enough that the gear swings side to side, but does not rotate.
Chamberlain says to start early in the morning at anywhere from the surface down to 35 feet, gradually going deeper as the light brightens, to as deep as 60 or 70 feet. Those without downriggers can use a 6-ounce crescent sinker or a diver to get down to where the fish are holding, at least early in the morning.
All that being said, see below.
River closures
The state Fish and Wildlife Department has closed or altered fishing on a number of river systems across the state to protect fish stressed by drought conditions. Unusual “hoot owl” restrictions will limit fishing on certain rivers to the hours between midnight and 2 p.m., allowing prime-time fishing while protecting fish during the hottest part of the day.
Local rivers affected are as follows:
Closed to fishing:
—Skykomish main stem from the mouth upstream to the forks, except the Reiter Ponds section from the Gold Bar/Big Eddy access (Highway 2 bridge) to the forks.
—Wallace River, mouth upstream including all tributaries.
—Stillaguamish, from Marine Drive upstream including north and south forks and all tributaries.
Open to fishing only during “hoot owl” hours:
—North Fork Skykomish in its entirety, and all tribs.
—South Fork Skykomish, from Sunset Falls upstream, and all tribs.
—Sauk River, above the Suiattle, including the North Fork to the falls, and the South Fork in its entirety.
—Samish River, from I-5 upstream, and Friday Creek upstream.
As of Sunday, the very popular Columbia River sockeye fishery was shut down between Rocky Reach Dam, just above Wenatchee, and Chief Joseph Dam at Bridgeport, above Brewster. Biologists say high water temperatures in the Columbia have resulted in higher than expected sockeye mortality and that the fish must be protected until water conditions improve in the Okanogan.
For a full list of state rivers affected, go to www.wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/.
Baker Lake sockeye
Kevin John says the Baker Lake sockeye fishery is going well, with “lots of fish in the lake,” some limits, and most getting at least a fish or two. Sockeye have been scoped as deep as 120 feet, he said, but that most of the fish are being taken at 50 to 70 feet.
Through Monday, 25,604 sockeye had been trapped at Baker Dam, and 19,209 transferred to the lake. The daily trap count on Sunday was 515 fish, and last year’s total trapped was 13,788 sockeye.
Wenatchee sockeye
Lake Wenatchee opened Thursday morning for sockeye, with a four-fish daily limit and selective gear rules in effect to protect bull trout, steelhead and chinook: up to three single-point barbless hooks per line, no bait or scent, knotless nets, and two rods allowed with the proper endorsement.
State biologist Travis Maitland in Leavenworth said he expects at least 32,000 fish in the lake and about 9,000 of those harvestable in the recreational fishery. “It should be a good season,” he said, “and the salmon are in good shape.”
The bulk of the fishing is done on the upper end of the lake, off the mouths of the tributary rivers. The Glacier View campground is close to the fishing area, but has only a gravel launch appropriate for cartoppers or other light craft, and very limited parking space. Most anglers launch at the state park ramp on the south end and run uplake, Maitland said, but caution must be used because of the shallow, rocky structure off the ramp, worse this season than most years.
“If you plan to launch in the dark, better have a good light,” Maitland said.
A lot of Lake Wenatchee sockeye fishermen are still using the single, bare red hook behind a dodger or flasher, Maitland said, but others spice it up with smile blades, beads, or other attractors.
Area 9 chinook closed
Preseason guesses as to the probable length of the Marine Area 9 selective chinook fishery this summer ranged from three days to a week, but in the end it lasted a week and a half as the last of the 2,483-fish quota was taken and the fishery closed on Sunday. Area 9 will remain open for coho and pinks but chinook must now be released. The daily limit will be two salmon plus two additional pinks.
A number of salmon fishermen remarked that the Area 9 kings were smaller this year than in previous seasons.
Tulalip bubble reg change
Salmon managers have closed the Tulalip bubble to chinook retention as of July 31, due to a shortage of brood stock for the Tulalip and Wallace River hatcheries. Chinook retention may reopen if brood stock collection efforts indicate the goal will be met.
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