There’s enough on the outdoor aficionado’s plate right now to fill up several long weekends, but – oh woe, oh woe – we’ll have to make do with Memorial Day.
The Icicle River above Leavenworth is one opportunity. It opened for spring chinook on Tuesday, and while the first couple of weeks of the season aren’t normally too productive, there are fish to be had. Shawn Short at Hooked On Toys in Wenatchee (509-663-0740) said three or four nice chinook were taken in the hole just below the hatchery deadline on opening morning, including a beautiful 24-pounder. Hatchery kings on the small stream will average 10 or 12 pounds, Short said.
The hatchery hole is the most popular bank access, for anglers plunking with a Spin N Glo/frozen herring combo, or eggs. Drift boaters hit the deeper holes downriver to its confluence with the Wenatchee, anchoring and feeding bait into the slots, or backtrolling Kwikfish.
Salmon managers expect an adult return to the federal hatchery of about 2,500 fish and, since only about 1,000 are needed for brood stock, 1,500 will be available for harvest. That would be a little under the run size of recent years, Short said.
Probably a much better opportunity to hook a hefty springer is available over on the Olympic Peninsula. Fishing has been very good on the Sol Duc and, when it’s clear enough to be fishable, the Hoh, said Bob Gooding at Olympic Sporting Goods (360-374-6330) in Forks. Bank anglers hit the Sol Duc at the hatchery and catch fish, Gooding said, but spring kings tend to scatter out through the entire river system rather than bunching, and a boat is the best way to find ‘em.
On the Hoh, chinook are scattered downstream from the Oxbow Campground at the Highway 101 bridge, south of Forks, but weather will be the key to angler success over the long weekend. “It silts up pretty quickly with warmer temperatures,” Gooding said.
Bank fishermen throw spinners or drift a float with eggs or shrimp, Gooding said. Boat anglers fish bait also, or backtroll Kwikfish (about a size 11 under low water conditions). The blue scale pattern, and the silver with chartreuse head, are two of the most popular plug colors currently.
And down on the Columbia, spring chinook fishing has been pretty good recently, at the usually productive spots. The Lewis River has been the best, although success rates have slowed a little on the North Fork. Boat fishermen there still averaged nearly one chinook for every two rods last week, while bank anglers were one for four. Checks at Drano Lake tallied a king for every three rods, when including fish released, with two or three in the 30-pound range.
Head to the Columbia for shad: Shad, on the Columbia, are another top opportunity this weekend. Counts over the Bonneville have reached 40,000 fish per day, and state Fish and Wildlife Department checks down the big river to Longview showed success rates by boat fishermen averaging nine shad per rod. Bank anglers in the Camas area were averaging about three fish per rod, according to state spokesman Joe Hymer in Vancouver.
Shad are also being caught by bank fishermen just below Bonneville Dam, probably the most popular fishing spot on the river, but state creel checks won’t start there until the summer chinook fishery begins in mid-June.
Hymer said the shad fishery has been expanding downriver the past few years and is no longer limited to the Bonneville/Beacon Rock/Camas stretch.
Sturgeon fishing on the upswing: Sturgeon fishing on the lower Columbia is building toward a June peak, according to Milt Gudgel at Pacific Salmon Charters in Ilwaco (1-800-831-2695). Fishing has been good recently, at about three-quarters of a legal sturgeon (between 45 and 60 inches) per rod on charter boats. Upriver sturgeon fishing is a great sport, if you’re interested in playing and releasing huge fish, but if you want to take one home to dinner, the lower end is by far the most productive. And, since the charters are releasing a lot of oversize fish this spring, the action is better than the per-rod average for legals might indicate.
Sturgeon trips cost $85 per person, per day, plus tax.
North coast halibut quotas filled: Three days was all it took for recreational halibut fishermen to reach their north coast quota, and fishing off La Push and Neah Bay is now closed. Checks showed 2,100 halibut averaging just under 22 pounds were caught in just two days in Marine Areas 3 and 4, and that on May 17 alone, 1,351 fishermen took 1,134 halibut.
The two areas are scheduled to reopen for two days, June 19 and 21, under a separate quota. That fishery will be restricted to waters no deeper than 30 fathoms, to protect certain rockfish species.
Meanwhile, halibut fishing remains open seven days a week in the Ilwaco area, and five days a week in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and all other areas of Puget Sound except Hood Canal.
Bottomfishing for species other than halibut remains open in Marine Areas 3 and 4, with a 20-fathom restriction in certain areas.
Checks by the state at Ediz Hook in Port Angeles showed 58 anglers with five halibut and one lingcod, as fishing in the inner Strait continued fair to good.
Hein Bank and, to a lesser degree, other banks off the San Juan Islands, also continue to put out halibut. Bob Ferber at Holiday Market Sports in Burlington (360-757-4361) said fish to 50 or 60 pounds have been reported over the past week from Hein, and the occasional barn door larger than that off Keystone, on Admiralty Bay.
San Juans place to be for lings, shrimp: Hit the San Juan Islands for lingcods and shrimp – recreationists chasing both have been doing very well when wind and tide cooperate. Some 40 anglers at the Cornet Bay ramp were checked with five lings, four rockfish and three greenling on Sunday, taken in the Deception Pass area. Checks at the Port of Everett ramp on Sunday showed 15 anglers with two lings.
Hood Canal shrimp closed: Recreational shrimpers on Hood Canal reached their quota in five days this year.
Hunting update: There are still lots of turkeys around Lake Roosevelt, even though toms are not as vocal now as they were earlier in the season. It would make a nice combo fishing/hunting trip over the weekend, according to guide and Arlington resident Sam Ingram.
The 2007 special hunt applications are now available for sale, and big game regulations are available, for free, at license outlets.
And waterfowlers are in danger of losing historic hunting rights on a large portion of the Skagit Delta, thanks to Gov. Gregoire and her veto pen, and despite herculean efforts by the Washington Waterfowl Association. The governor has vetoed a proviso which would have withheld funds for the proposed Wiley Slough restoration on Fir Island until the state had ameliorated the loss of recreational opportunities by waterfowl hunters, birdwatchers, and others. The veto means the department may proceed with dike removal and other efforts supposedly designed to provide downstream resting habitat for salmon, steelhead and sea-run cutthroat smolts. The “restoration” will destroy upland habitat in what is called the “Headquarters Unit” of the Skagit Wildlife Area, traditionally used by recreationists since the 1920s or 30s.
Columbia Basin update: State biologist Jeff Korth in Ephrata said now’s the time to fish walleye in the big waters of the Basin, including Potholes Reservoir, Sprague, Banks, and Moses lakes. “The fish are done spawning and are back on the feed,” Korth said. “Mid-May through mid-June is always the best walleye fishing of the year on these waters.”
It’s also prime time for smallmouth, he said. Regs were liberalized for smallmouth on Moses, Potholes and Banks, with a 10-fish daily limit, but only one over 14 inches.
Top trout lakes in the Basin for this weekend include Park, Blue and Burke.
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