What has so far been a pretty good winter blackmouth season closes Friday in popular Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet, including Possession Bar), forcing anglers looking for feeder chinook to go either south to Area 10 or north to areas 8-1 and 8-2. Based on catch rates in November, Area 10 — particularly Jefferson Head and the Kingston area — would seem to be the better bet.
“Both 8-1 and 8-2 have improved in the past week or 10 days, and they’re certainly holding fish,” said Gary Krein, owner/skipper of All Star Charters in Everett, “but based strictly on the evidence, 10 would be the best choice.”
In Area 8-2, Krein said Columbia Beach was the top producer over the weekend. Other good spots included the Whidbey Island shoreline in the Langley area, or, across on the Camano Island side, Elger Bay.
Up in Area 8-1, Krein suggested the Onomac area on the Camano side, or Baby Island-Greenbank on the Whidbey side.
He said that while losing Possession for a while (Area 9 reopens on Jan. 16) is a negative, the local waters are generally easier to fish because of a lack of bothersome cross-currents, and in some cases being more sheltered from the prevailing southwesterly winds. Krein said he uses more flasher/squid or flasher/Coyote spoon setups in the local waters, and fewer Tomic plugs, than he does on Possession. He also shallows out to a degree, working usually between 80 and 120 feet or so.
Remember that while the limit in both 8-1 and 8-2 is two chinook, they must be fin-clipped hatchery stock. Remember also that special fish-handling rules are in effect and being monitored by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife enforcement people, so read the regulations.
State checks at the Port of Everett ramp over the weekend showed 161 fishermen with 21 blackmouth on Saturday, and 68 with six on Sunday. At the Oak Harbor Marina on Saturday it was 25 anglers with four fish, and at the Maple Grove ramp on Camano Island, four anglers with one.
Mike Chamberlain at Ted’s Sport Center in Lynnwood said there are some nice-sized fish being caught this winter.
“We’ve had a 17-pounder, a couple of 15s, and some other big blackmouth come through the shop,” he said, “and those certainly aren’t the only ones out there (in Area 10).”
Bob Ferber at Holiday Market Sports in Burlington said customers have been hitting fair numbers of blackmouth in Area 8-1, but that many of the fish have been sublegal.
Ferber said the Whatcom Creek chum fishery in Bellingham has finally started to heat up. When it’s hot, he said, it’s almost an automatic limit fishery, much like the one at Hoodsport on Hood Canal.
Ferber also noted his shop has received a large quantity of Puget Sound Herring Sales winter bait, including lots of blues, greens, and reds, and a “decent” supply of purples. With continuing herring shortages over the past few years likely to continue, many salmon fishermen are putting bait away for the future.
“Winter-caught herring are the best around, due to a lower fat content,” Ferber said. “They’re firmer, and thus better for bait purposes than summer-caught fish.”
Steelhead: Chamberlain said several nice winter steelhead were taken last week in the Skykomish, but that the river had dropped into a too-cold, too-low and too-clear mode this week. The Skagit has been putting out some early steelies for plunkers, according to Ferber, notably in the slot along the south bank of the river just below the I-5 bridge. The Cascade also started producing fish, Ferber said, before it got a little too cold.
Ferber said reports from the Whidbey Island beaches indicate a fish or two starting to hit the sand for surf casters at Fort Casey, although fishing pressure has been low so far.
Winter steelheading has started in earnest on the Olympic Peninsula, where, according to Bob Gooding at Olympic Sporting Goods in Forks, the action on hatchery fish is “kickin’ in.”
“Not bad; fairly decent fishing for this early,” Gooding said. “There are still a few salmon around, too, from what was a poor run over here, but most guys are switching to steelhead now.”
The best early fishing, as usual, is on the Bogachiel, from the hatchery down to the mouth of the Calawah, and on the lower end of the Calawah itself. Fishermen on the Calawah, Gooding said, mostly use a float and jig rig in pink or black, while those on the Bogachiel drift Corkies and the rest of the usual stuff.
Gooding, by the way, just returned from a week of pheasant hunting in the Dakotas.
“Phenomenal hunting,” he said. “Big, fat, grain-fed birds, and as many of them as you could ever want to see. But cold? Man, one morning it was four degrees, with a 25-mile-per-hour wind, and let me tell you that what passes for cold-weather gear in Western Washington doesn’t cut it out on a Midwest prairie. All I could do was hope my fingers and toes were still there, because I sure couldn’t feel ‘em.”
Good steelheading is available for those willing to drive to the east side of the state. On the Snake River, above the interstate bridge near Clarkston, state surveys show anglers averaging one fish for every seven to eight hours on the water. Between the mouth of the Grande Ronde and the Oregon state line, the average goes down to one fish for 11 to 12 fishing hours — still not bad. Other Snake River creel check numbers are available at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/creel/snake/index.htm.
Wenatchee River steelheading remains popular, despite a decline in the catch rate to more than 10 hours per fish taken. The tougher pickings are attributable to colder water temperatures and the fact that a significant number of steelhead have apparently moved upriver past the fishing deadline at the Icicle Road bridge in Leavenworth.
Fishermen casting from the bank of the Columbia below the Ringold rearing facility upriver from the Tri-Cities are doing slightly less well than last year at this time, but still nailing one steelhead for every 13 fishing hours. Through the first three weeks of November, a total of 375 marked steelhead had been kept by fishermen, from a catch of 433 fish.
Down on the Cowlitz, some 29 winter-runs were in the rearing pond traps last week, about average for this time of year according to state biologist Joe Hymer.
Deer: Although results were not all tallied, the late rifle season for whitetails in the northeast corner of the state was expected to be one of the best available to Washington hunters. For much of the first part of the season the weather was too nice, according to biologist Steve Zender in Spokane, with little or no snow, but the harvest was still in the 22-percent success range.
Waterfowl: Duck numbers continue to build on Skagit and Samish bays as colder temperatures force birds into the area from farther north. Rain, cold, and blustery weather have all contributed to improved hunting on the Skagit delta, according to Skagit Wildlife Area manager John Garrett.
Anthon Steen, at Holiday Market Sports, said snow geese on Fir Island seem to be moving around a little more (making them more accessible to hunters) than normal this early in the season, probably attributable to the “quality hunt” program partnership between landowners and the state. Even if you weren’t drawn for one of the quality hunt slots, the program tends to push birds off areas inaccessible to hunters in the past.
Bits and pieces: Crabbing remains open in Marine Area 9, and has been “pretty decent,” according to Mike Chamberlain at Ted’s. … Chamberlain also said Pass and Lone lakes are still putting out some nice trout, but that colder temperatures probably will bring an end to that action before much longer. … Squid jigging at Edmonds has been slow. … Trout fishing on lakes Washington and Sammamish remains strong for a mix of rainbow, cutthroat and hybrids, ranging from 14 inches to multi-pounders. Most trollers are using downriggers, set at 25 feet or so, and Needlefish spoons. … Lake Stevens has picked up for triploid rainbows of late. They range in size from 8 inches to 5 or 6 pounds. Find a public pier and soak Power Eggs on a slip sinker and 4 feet of leader.
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