Many local steelhead rivers are still high and dirty from recent flood conditions, which makes today a good time for Marine Area 10 to reopen to winter blackmouth fishing.
While it’s likely the same overstock of shakers that bedeviled anglers during the first portion of the winter season will still be hanging out in the waters south of the Edmonds-Kingston ferry line, there also should be at least fair numbers of legal chinook waiting to nail a lure.
All Star Charters owner/skipper Gary Krein of Everett (425-252-4188) said Wednesday he would be out there this morning, trolling between Kingston and Apple Cove Point, anywhere from 70 feet deep to the bottom, in 150 to 180 feet of water. The slot fishes best on an outgoing tide, Krein said, and the tides are favorable for the next three days or so.
“I’ll probably start with a Coyote spoon behind a flasher,” he said, “maybe with a plug on one rod.”
He likes the two-tone green Coyote, or the “cop car,” and said a 5-inch Tomic plug in No. 603 – mother of pearl with red head – or No. 128, white with green sides, also would be a good choice.
“When Area 10 closed at the end of November,” Krein said, “the guys coming up from Seattle were getting some legals, and lots of shakers, there. Also, Area 11 has stayed open, and they’ve been doing pretty well down around Vashon Island. We should be able to find some blackmouth.”
Steelhead: Steelheading has been a tough haul of late. The latest state checks from the Cowlitz River showed 20 bank anglers with one fish at the barrier dam; 28 bank anglers at Blue Creek with 16; 40 boat anglers at Blue Creek with 12; six bank anglers at Mission Bar with none; and two boat anglers at Mission Bar with none. The Blue Creek count wasn’t too bad, but not the hot action anglers have come to expect from the Cowlitz over the past several years.
River guide and Lake Stevens resident Tom Nelson (tom@fishskagit.com) hit the Skagit Tuesday on a scouting mission and found just 2 feet of visibility at Rockport. He launched and ran up to Marblemount, reasoning the early run of Cascade River hatchery brats probably would be shooting right through the murk in the mainstem Skagit, heading for home.
“Dollies and dog salmon were the only fish in evidence,” he said. “It’s too early to pull the ripcord on high steelhead hopes this season, but a solid grip on the handle would be acceptable.”
On the other hand, Nelson said, both Reiter Ponds on the upper Skykomish, and Tokul Creek on the Snoqualmie, have been providing fair numbers of early, bright, winter steelhead.
Guide and Arlington resident Sam Ingram (360-435-9311) said the Skykomish was up in the trees at 18 feet recently, and was still running 9 or 10 feet as of Tuesday, and showing only 6 inches of visibility. There’s a chance it could drop in by this weekend, Ingram said, but it’s iffy. An alternative, he said, would be the lower ends of the Wallace, Sultan or Pilchuck, which tend to clear sooner. Catch statistics indicate the Sultan usually comes on toward the end of December, he said.
Jim Strege at Triangle Beverage in Snohomish (360-568-4276) is a little more upbeat about the current season. Entries so far in his annual winter steelhead contest indicate better fishing than in the past three or four years. The contest has become a pretty fair indicator of seasonal success rates on the Snohomish and Skykomish, and Strege said he already has at least a half dozen pictures on the wall of guys with doubles. “Last year, we only had a couple of entries before Dec. 15th,” he said.
The fish have been coming from both the Snohomish and Sky, and Wednesday morning, even with what Strege called “ugly water” conditions on the Snohomish plunking bars, anglers were hitting steelhead. The fish have been running 5 to 12 pounds, he said.
The contest is free, runs through the end of the local season, and offers various tackle prizes for the largest fish and for weekly drawings among all entries. Simply stop by Triangle Beverage (603 Second St., Snohomish) and weigh your fish.
The Peninsula rivers are again off to a good start, although not quite as early as they have been the past two or three years. A check two weeks ago by the state tallied 200 anglers with 145 steelhead on the Quillayute and Bogachiel; 10 with none on the Hoh; and 11 with 11 fish on the Calawah. Those averages have since dropped some, but still indicate that if you’re serious about catching a winter steelhead, Forks is the center of the universe. Farther south, the Wynoochee and Humptulips also have been putting out early-season fish.
Biologist Scott Barbour, in the state’s Montesano office, reminded anglers that they can again keep one wild steelhead per year on the Bogachiel, Clearwater, Calawah, Dickey, Goodman Creek, Green, Hoh, Hoko, Pysht, Quillayute, Quinault, and Sol Duc. The state Fish and Wildlife Commission repealed the statewide moratorium on wild steelhead retention after the current regulation pamphlet was published.
Winter trout: Rob Phillips, writing in The Reel News, recommends winter trout fishing on the Yakima River – if you’re a hardy soul and dressed for the job. The river above Roza Dam remains open year-around, and can provide excellent action on both nice rainbows and whitefish. It’s catch-and-release water, and generally thought of as a fly-fishing opportunity, but light spinning tackle and single-hooked, barbless lures also are legal, and can be effective.
Gary Fairbanks at Gary’s Fly Shoppe in Yakima (509-972-3880) recommends surface flies like size 20 and 22 midges in black, olive and gray, along with blue-wing olive baetis. Spin fishermen score with one-eighth-ounce Rooster Tails or Vibric Rooster Tails in black, brown or white. Cold water sometimes makes the big rainbows (some pushing 20 inches) less than aggressive, so work your gear slowly through the deeper holes.
Fly fishing on Rocky Ford Creek, northwest of the city of Moses Lake in the Columbia Basin, is another winter opportunity.
“Winter is a great time for this catch-and-release fishery,” said state biologist Jeff Korth, at the Ephrata office. “Water temperatures are pretty constant, it rarely freezes up, and it’s full of food for the trout year-around. The average fish will go 18 to 20 inches, with lots of them well over 20 inches. And, they’re so fat that even the 18-inch fish are 5-pounders.”
Sometimes crowded during peak times, the stream offers a whole lot of elbow room this time of year. The only downside is that the fish can be picky.
Guide and Brewster resident Rod Hammons (509-689-2849) said the annual fishery for big, pen-raised, triploid rainbows in the Columbia River above Chief Joseph Dam is prime time right now. Hammons suggests drifting with a three-quarter-ounce slip sinker, 4 feet of leader, Power Bait in any color, shrimp, worms, marshmallows and/or corn. Make sure the bait floats, he said, adding the fish have been running 5 to over 12 pounds.
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