It’s coming up coho derby time in our part of Puget Sound Country, and substantial changes are in the works this year which should offer an exciting opportunity for every dedicated salmon angler in the area.

First on the scene is the Edmonds Derby on Sept. 6, making a move this year toward big-time status. Because the traditionally larger Everett Derby bowed out this time around as the final event in the Northwest Marine Trade Association-sponsored Northwest Salmon Derby Series, the Edmonds event snapped it up. The series is just that — a series of fishing derbies throughout the Northwest which award by random drawing, at the last derby of the season, two boat/motor/trailer combinations worth a lot of money. Anyone buying a ticket to any of the series derbies is also automatically entered in the drawing and, as you might guess, that final event at which the boats are awarded, along with the prizes for the individual derby itself, carries a certain amount of interest and prestige.

The Edmonds Coho Derby sponsor, Sno-King Chapter of Puget Sound Anglers, knows all this.

So do the Everett Coho Derby sponsors — the Everett Steelhead and Salmon Club, and the Snohomish Sportsmen’s Club. To make up for the loss of cachet, the Everett event folks came up with a variation on the old “million dollar derby” ploy, and it’s an interesting way to go. They will plant 10 tagged coho in the derby area, each worth between $500 and $25,000 if caught by a legal entrant.

I’m not fond of the phrase, “win-win situation,” but this has gotta be one.

Here’s a quick sketch of the two derbies’ particulars, but for rules and full information, go to the Web sites: www.edmondscohoderby.com, or www.everettcohosalmonderby.com.

EDMONDS COHO DERBY: September 6, marine areas 8-1, 8-2, 9 and 10 only, 750 tickets will be sold at $30 each, and are available at Boater’s World outlets; Bayside marine in Everett; Ted’s Sporting goods and Ed’s Surplus, both in Lynnwood; All Seasons Charters in Edmonds; and Outdoor Emporium in Seattle. Kids 14 and younger pay full fare, but are eligible for both adult and youth division prizes. First place is worth $5,000; second, $2,000; third, $1,000; mystery fish, $500; and a lot of merchandise awards. The two boats to be awarded by NMTA are worth a total of about $85,000, with the main squeeze being a 23-foot welded aluminum Pacific, made in Marysville, with a 225-hp, 4-stroke Suzuki outboard and a tandem-axle EZ Loader, worth $70,000.

Edmonds Derby organizers have provided an Everett-area weigh-in at Bayside Marine, next to the Port of Everett launch, along with live leaderboards at both Edmonds and Everett locations.

EVERETT COHO DERBY: September 20-21, tickets $25, kids 12 and under free, available at Joe’s outlets, Greg’s Custom Rods, Holiday Market, Hook, Line &Sinker, Jerry’s Surplus, John’s Sporting Goods, McDaniels Do It Center, Outdoor Emporium, Possession Bait, Sportco, Ted’s Sport Center, Three Rivers Marine, Triangle Beverage, and Woody’s Market. First place is worth $2,500; second, $1,500; third, $1,000; down to $500 for sixth place. Special children’s prizes. Grand Prize raffle, composed of all adult ticket holders, is for a 17-foot Alumaweld with 25-hp Mercury outboard and Rogue trailer, package valued at $15,000.

More on this derby later.

TROUT: The flying ants are out, so it must be sea-run cutthroat time.

Avid angler and retired state Fish and Wildlife Department biologist Curt Kraemer, in Marysville, said cutts are moving into area streams to spawn, but for top fishing conditions, anglers will have to wait until the rivers and creeks drop significantly from current levels. “The rule of thumb is, the lower the better for good fall cutthroat fishing,” Kraemer said.

The Snohomish system is a good bet, including the lower end of the Snoqualmie, the bottom half of the Skykomish, and the main Sno and its sloughs. The main Stillaguamish is a classic, the North Fork Stilly from Deer Creek down is good, as is the South Fork below Jim Creek. The Skagit from the Baker down has its fans, and the Samish and Nooksack below Everson will put out fish. Be sure to check the regs, however, because there are closed streams and portions of streams, and catch and release areas. All saltwater is catch and release.

Kraemer fly fishes for cutthroat, and he said 90 percent of the fish he catches (and releases) are taken on a Knutson Spider — yellow, black, chartreuse, or orange — in 4s, 6s, and a few 8s. He also uses the reverse spider, and a selection of muddlers, all on float or sink tips, cast and stripped back, wet. He will fish dries when the opportunity presents itself in the form of rising fish.

“Cutthroat are the perfect transition from fishing to hunting,” he said. “You have to hunt for fish, drifting in a small boat or hiking the shore, to be successful. Once you find one or two, then there should be others in the general area.”

Most cutthroat will be in “softer” water, around stumps and other structure, in the eddies, and along the current lines, generally in three to six feet of water. If you’re not a fly fisherman, small Dick Nite spoons and other thin-bladed spoons will take fish, and they’re more effective than spinners, Kraemer says.

Also troll Dick Nites, Needlefish, and similar spoons in saltwater, where cutthroat stage before entering the rivers. Red head and 50-50 brass/chrome are popular colors, with a quarter-ounce of weight above the swivel and six feet of leader or so. Streamer flies are also good, particularly in candlefish imitations.

Both sides of Port Susan encompass top cutthroat habitat, along with Mission Bar, and most of the north and west side Camano Island beaches. The rule of thumb is be off the beach only far enough so you can see the bottom on one side of your boat, but not on the other.

Sea-runs are shore-angler friendly as well. Wade and fish most any of the beaches above, on the high slack and for an hour and a half either side.

LOCAL SALMON: Ocean coho are showing down the shoreline from Edmonds to Seattle, according to All Star Charters owner/skipper Gary Krein, and recent results have been good for fish up to about 12 pounds. Unfortunately, Krein said, that good fishing hasn’t translated into most of areas 8-2 or 9.

He’s been using flasher and glow-white squid, working from near-shore areas clear out to mid-channel, starting at 40 feet in the morning and dropping as deep as 100 feet later in the day.

SEKIU SALMON: Fall coho action has been excellent out of Sekiu recently, according to Val Mohr at Van Riper’s Resort, and most of the fish are ocean adults to 10 or 12 pounds. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife personnel checked 86 anglers there on Saturday with 42 coho.

Fishermen are going out into the Strait a mile or two for best fishing, Mohr said, using coho flies in light green or off-white; flasher and hoochies in glow white or other light colors; and flasher/Coho Killer spoons in green spatterback or mother of pearl.

SAMISH CHINOOK: Up north, Bob Ferber at Holiday Sports reports the Samish fishable and starting to produce a few of the big chinook the small stream is famous for. Just starting, not red hot, he said. Use a size 4 or 5 Vibrax spinner with chrome blade on the incoming tide, or drift eggs or a float/jig setup on the outgoing, but remember the rule change this year which forbids allowing any tackle to lie motionless on the bottom. “So far,” Ferber said, “the enforcement people have been simply explaining the new rules, but at some point they’re going to start issuing citations.”

And, in a somewhat unusual development for this time of year, Ferber said some pretty good smelt jigging is taking place from the Deception Pass State Park docks at Cornet Bay. “It’s kind of weird,” he said, “especially considering last winter was sort of the ‘season that wasn’t.’”

ALSO: Buoy 10 closed to chinook retention on Monday; Klickitat County joined the list of five other counties where cougar hunting with hounds is allowed; the Hanford Reach fall chinook fishery hasn’t started yet; the Cowlitz is still productive for summer steelhead around the trout hatchery; recreational crabbing will be open on most of Puget Sound over the Labor Day weekend, but will close at sunset on Labor Day for “catch assessment”; crabbers must submit their summer catch reports by Sept. 15; the state Fish and Wildlife Commission will decide whether or not to penalize crabbers $10 for NOT submitting timely catch cards at its meeting Sept. 5-6 in Olympia (call 360-902-2267 for more information on the meeting).