Is nothing sacred, for Pete’s sake? We traditionalists have taken another shot in the shorts with the announcement that Fenwick will no longer produce its Classic Glass Fennglass rod series, a longtime favorite among us seasoned Northwest steelheaders.
So now what do you do if you break the tip of your old Lunker Liberator in the car door? I mean, graphite, boron, spun titanium, hypothesized ionic petroleum residue, Kevlar-wrapped Chinese cane, and other popular rod materials are fine, but there are a number of us out there who just like the solid, comfortable, dependable feel of a good glass steelhead rod. Particularly at a price under that of a new pickup.
Bob Ferber at Holiday Market Sports in Burlington (360-757-4361), who hit me with this heartbreaking news, said he has a few of the most popular models left, including DR90, DR82, FS89C, FS85C, and FS83. Get ‘em while they last, my friend, because the fat lady is coming on stage.
Better hunting access: The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is floating a proposal to increase hunter access to private lands by nailing a $5 surcharge on state hunting licenses just for that purpose. The surcharge would help pay cooperating landowners for road and gate maintenance, litter cleanup, security, liability insurance, damage mitigation, and other expenses, according to state game division manager Dave Ware in Olympia. Ware estimated up to one million acres could be secured for hunter access with proceeds from the proposed fee increase – centered on industrial timberland, and key pheasant and waterfowl hunting areas.
“We understand that support for a license increase is never easy, but a program that makes a significant difference to the amount of private land available to hunters will cost money,” Ware said. “It’s up to hunters to let us know if that is worth the license increase.”
The innovative proposals will be the subject of three public meetings this month, the closest of which will be held Aug. 24 at the LaQuinta Inn and Conference Center in Tacoma, 7-9 p.m. Written comments are also being solicited, through Sept. 15, by e-mailing wildthing@dfw.wa.gov, or by mailing to Wildlife Program, WDFW, 600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501, Attn George Tsukamoto.
A copy of the proposals and an opinion survey can be found on the agency Web site at http://wdfw.wa.gov, or can be requested by calling the state Wildlife Program at 360-902-2515 or sending a written request to the above address.
Waterfowl dates have been set, as follows: Duck hunting runs Oct. 16-20, and Oct. 23-Jan. 30, but pintail and canvasback are off limits Oct. 23-Dec. 6. The youth hunt runs Sept. 18-19, and statewide goose season opens Oct. 16. Generally, duck populations on the Pacific flyway remain strong, except for pintail, and there should also be excellent numbers of Canada geese available this fall and winter.
Coastal salmon: The salmon season off the Washington coast started fairly slowly in most areas, keeping fishing pressure down, and anglers have stayed away in droves even though action has picked up and the outlook for good-weather days of late summer is excellent.
“Both effort and catch have been low out of Westport, Ilwaco and LaPush,” said state salmon survey coordinator Wendy Beeghley in Montesano, “and that’s probably the result of several factors – slow early fishing, the economy, the price of gas, who knows.”
But fishing has definitely picked up, she said, with checks over the weekend and early this week at Westport running slightly better than a fish per rod. About a third of the catch was chinook; two-thirds coho, and the coho mark rate was up to about 50 percent, Beeghley said.
At Ilwaco, it was 1.4 fish per rod. “Even better than that,” Beeghley said, “is the ratio of about one-fourth chinook and three-fourths coho, which is a very good chinook percentage for Ilwaco. I was down there, and those are very, very nice kings, averaging 15 to 20 pounds, with coho going 8 to 11 pounds.”
Beeghley said there have been reports of larger than normal concentrations of salmon hanging off the Strait of Juan de Fuca, between Washington and British Columbia. Many of those are probably Columbia River fish, she said, which means they will be contributing to the coastal sport fishery all the way down the line as they move south over the next several weeks.
Buoy 10: Starting to come on for fall chinook now. Checks by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife personnel last week showed 1,469 anglers with 330 kings, 98 coho, and 3 steelhead. Reports noted much improved chinook catches after about Aug. 11.
Tulalip bubble: Peak of the season now, in the bubble, and checks at the Port of Everett ramp are reflecting that. State personnel last Friday tallied 107 anglers with 19 chinook, 16 coho, and 2 pinks. The success rate dropped on Saturday, as it often does, to 14 kings for 200 anglers, along with 22 coho and 1 pink.
Cowlitz steelhead: Torrid summer-run fishing was interrupted for a spell last week by larger than usual dam releases, but the water has dropped and fishing picked up again to about a fish per rod over the weekend for boat anglers below Blue Creek.
Edmonds resident Kevin Harter called, however, with a warning about vandalism at the state access site and popular takeout
Lake Wenatchee sockeye: Still a good bet, even though some of the fish have started pushing up the lake’s two tributary streams. Enough remain on the sport quota, according to state spokesman Bob Perleberg in Wenatchee to allow the fishery to remain open at least through this weekend. Standard rig is a size “0” chrome or white dodger, short leader of 12 to 18 inches, and either a bare red or black hook, or a hot pink mini-squid. Checks have been running better than a fish per rod, with the best bite by far during early morning hours.
Snohomish River pinks: Best fishing is perhaps past on the upper Snohomish for the even-year pink run, and it has probably met the modest expectations of a run not expected to be as strong as the last couple of odd-year fisheries. If you want to give it a last shot, concentrate on the upper river, between Douglas Bar and the Highway 520 bridge, where the fish are concentrated and, probably, starting to spawn.
Elliott Bay chinook: The short, but excellent, season for kings on the Seattle waterfront runs through Sunday (on a Friday-through-Sunday schedule), and is worth the drive this weekend. Nice fish to 30 pounds are available, and checkers have noted a fish for about every two boats, most on herring, off the shipyard and container terminals. Launch at the big facility in West Seattle, but be there early.
Drano Lake: Good mix of steelhead and fall chinook being taken, for upwards of 125 boats counted Saturday.
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