If you’re fishing for chum salmon in a heavy mist, are you chasing fog doggies?
OK, that’s a lame intro, but the chums are in, and have been for a couple of weeks – at least on the Snohomish River system. The state Fish and Wildlife Department is predicting very good runs on the Snohomish and Skykomish this year. As always with chums, the sooner you get after ‘em – and the lower in the river you fish for ‘em – the better shape they’re going to be in.
Jim Strege at Triangle Beverage in Snohomish (360-568-4276) said he has already weighed two dogs over 20 pounds, and he’s heard reports from the plunking bars of hogs bigger than that. Plunkers, he said, are using sand shrimp with size 2 or 4 Spin N Glos in purple, metallic blue or red, or chartreuse. Drift fishermen on the upper Snohomish and the lower Skykomish prefer marabou jigs in purples or pinks, he said.
So far at least, enough fresh chums are coming up the system to provide strong, bright fish for all comers, but Strege said he’s seen no early-winter steelhead.
Guide and Arlington resident Sam Ingram (360-435-9311) took two chums of 20-plus pounds last week, one each on Thursday and Friday, along with several smaller fish, while drifting the Sky from Sultan down to Monroe. He said the fish were bright and of high quality, but to find table-quality chums, he said, you have to fish the traveling water, not the soft eddy-type stuff where the spawners are located.
Ingram used the smaller Kwikfish, K13s and K14s, because the Sky is still relatively low and clear, along with Magnum Wiggle Warts. He said anything in purple, pink or green works, but his technique is to anchor at the top of a hole and walk the plug through the holding water with a 1- or 2-ounce ball above the lure to make sure it’s down on the deck.
“That keeps the plug in front of their noses for a longer period of time, and triggers strikes that you probably wouldn’t get with a faster-moving, back-trolled or drifted lure,” Ingram said.
Nick Kester, river guide with the All Star Charters fishing team (425-327-2421), made a “research run” up the Snohomish and on up the Skykomish to above the Nordstrom farm, hitting “one or two fish in almost every hole we fished,” Most were fresh and bright, Kester said, and ran from 13 pounds to 18 pounds. He back-trolled K-14 and K-15 Kwikfish in green and chartreuse, with a sardine wrap.
Bright chums also are being landed on the lower Skagit especially in the Burlington area, according to Bob Ferber at Holiday Market Sports in Burlington (360-757-4361). Plunkers are scoring with a purple or tiger purple/chartreuse Spin N Glo/sand shrimp combo, while boaters are using Kwikfish, Mag Wiggle Warts and other popular chum plugs.
Blackmouth fishing so far this winter hasn’t set any records, but at least fair fishing (if you have the patience to outlast all the shakers) remains the norm in Saratoga Passage areas such as Elger Bay, Baby Island and others. The banks south and west of the San Juans are probably offering the best fishing currently – Hein, Eastern, Partridge – according to Mike Lindquist of Salmonator Charters (360-293-5170). Lindquist has been scoring with Coyote spoons behind a flasher.
The Yakima River chinook fishery ended Sunday, with a catch of about 66 fish harvested the final week. Anglers averaged a fish for every 38 hours on the river, and the total season catch was considerably lower than last year.
For all intents and purposes, the Hanford Reach fall chinook season also ended last weekend. Success rates were somewhat better than they had been, at one fish for every 11 angler hours, or one chinook for every 1.9 anglers. The catch was still down from previous years, and down from the same week last year.
Columbia steelhead: The state opened the upper mainstem Columbia to steelhead fishing on Saturday, from Rocky Reach to Chief Joseph dams, but there’s almost no chance the popular Methow River will open this winter. Regional biologist John Easterbrooks in Yakima said tracking systems have indicated a substantial shortage in ESA-listed, wild-stock steelhead returning to the Methow this year, and little chance of that changing.
The Okanogan/Similkameen remains closed as well, but Easterbrooks said numbers there are on the bubble. He said as the run moves farther up the Columbia, the Okanogan/Similkameen portion could well be deemed adequate for spawning escapement and the river system opened to fishing in a week or two.
Most steelheading on the upper Columbia is done by boaters, drifting float-and-jig rigs in specific slots. One of the more popular drifts is along the outside edge of a toothy area known, appropriately, as “the rocks,” just below Pateros on the west side of the river.
At Ringold, a hatchery facility on the east side of the Columbia above the Tri Cities, 128 bank fishermen were checked last week with an estimated 123 steelhead, 89 of which were kept. Released fish included 54 adipose-clipped-only, and nine wild-stock fish, but anglers will be allowed to keep adipose-only clipped fish beginning Nov. 1.
And speaking of steelhead, Steelhead University features a comprehensive class on Dec. 9 at the Outdoor Emporium in Seattle with a chance to go one-on-one with the Northwest’s top steelhead fishermen. On tap will be Buzz Ramsay with plug fishing secrets; Rob Endsley on float fishing and special techniques; Nick Amato on drift fishing; Bill Herzog on spoon fishing; Lake Stevens resident Tom Nelson with “reading water 101,” and Joel Shangle with steelhead run timing and hot spots.
Preregistration is required; space is limited. The fee is $88. For more information or to register, call Rob Endsley at 360-676-1321, or Tom Nelson at 425-377-1167.
Hunt reporting system on line: The automated harvest reporting system for hunters, originally scheduled for Oct. 1, is finally up and running, according to state officials. Hunters can file their harvest reports either on the Internet at https://fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov/, or toll-free at 1-877-945-3492.
All hunters with deer, elk, bear or turkey tags are required to report their hunting activity by Jan. 31 to avoid a $10 fine, even if they were unsuccessful or didn’t hunt. Hunters who report within 10 days of harvesting an animal – and unsuccessful hunters who report by Jan. 10 – are eligible for a drawing for one of nine special deer or elk permits, and the 10-day period this year began Oct. 19.
Some dealers are recommending that hunters report by phone, at least until the Internet system has had a shakedown period, because more mistakes have historically been made in license procedures performed online than by telephone. And be sure to save your confirmation number.
While on the subject, there seems to be some evidence that the $15.33 discount allowed by the state for the big game/small game combo license is not necessarily automatically allowed when a hunter already in possession of a small-game license goes to purchase a big-game license. If that applies to you, be sure to mention the discount to the dealer.
Waterfowl: The opener and the first week of the statewide duck season were widely successful, on both sides of the Cascades, according to reports. Anthon Steen at Holiday Market Sports said a number of limits were taken on opening weekend around the mouth of the Skagit River and other bay-front locations on the Skagit delta, mostly widgeon and teal. Wind and rain has helped.
Rone Brewer of the Northwest Chapter of the Washington Waterfowl Association said club members have reported good hunting from the Samish Unit of the Skagit Wildlife Area (on Samish Bay) to Whidbey Island, and all the way down to boat hunters on south Skagit Bay. Padilla Bay and Telegraph Slough also put out birds. Brewer said there was even some indication that a few northern mallards (big birds with very bright orange feet) were harvested both east and west of the mountains.
In the Columbia Basin, the popular waterfowl areas around Moses Lake and Potholes Reservoir suffered from low water levels, forcing hunters to forgo boat access and hike into scattered potholes. Those who put out the effort, did well. Region 2 waterfowl managers are trying an experimental water-management scenario at the Gloyd Seeps Wildlife Area, involving water released from Billy Clapp Lake, which will create substantial new wetlands. The Seeps should be worth a look from waterfowl hunters, according to biologists there.
On a related topic, the state is soliciting public input on Fir Island snow goose management at a meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. on Oct. 30 at Conway School (19710 SR 534, Conway). The Fir Island area is a winter destination each year for snow geese migrating from Wrangel Island, off the coast of Russian Siberia. The combined Fraser River delta and Skagit River delta winter population is estimated at about 80,000 geese, from an entire Wrangel Island population of about 120,000 birds.
Additional crabbing: Local recreational crabbers are out of luck, but for those willing to travel, the state is reopening four marine areas to additional autumn crabbing.
Deciding that quotas haven’t yet been met in certain areas, shellfish managers are reopening marine areas 6 (eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca), 9 (Admiralty Inlet), 10 (Seattle/Bremerton), and 12 (Hood Canal), beginning Nov. 1. The areas will be open seven days a week through Jan. 2.
The crab season has continued uninterrupted in marine areas 4, 5, and 13, since they opened June 18. The state said surveys indicate quotas have been reached in areas 7 (S, E and N), 8-1, 8-2 and 11, and those spots will remain closed.
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