Hordes not here yet, but pinks worth a trip

Thinking pinks?

Well, the screaming humpy hordes haven’t hit the Mukilteo-Edmonds shoreline in force just yet — or at least not as of Wednesday morning — but enough of the small salmon have entered local waters, it appears, to make a fishing trip this weekend a reasonable idea. Reports indicated the morning bite at the shipwreck on Wednesday was at least a fair one, particularly to the south, and that there were also fish being caught between the shipwreck and Mukilteo.

Anglers north of the shipwreck were working early in the day at 25 to 40 feet, while those farther south were finding fish a little deeper — maybe 60 feet. A white dodger or flasher followed by a pink mini-hoochie is the standard gear.

Everett Steelhead and Salmon Club member Jim Brauch reported pinks rolling off the mouth of the Snohomish and at Kayak Point. Guide and Arlington resident Sam Ingram said he’s confident enough humpies will have been brought in by recent rains to make the Aug. 16 river opener on the Snohomish and lower Skykomish a viable one. The Sky will be open for pinks below the Lewis Street Bridge in Monroe.

Beach fishermen on the west side of Whidbey Island have been doing well, tossing small pink Buzz Bombs for humpies, particularly at Lagoon Point, and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife checks over the weekend at West Beach in Deception Pass State Park showed 103 anglers with 41 pinks and one coho.

Excellent coho and pink salmon action is available at Sekiu, where checks Sunday at Olson’s Resort showed 141 anglers with 112 coho and 196 pinks. At the Port of Everett ramp on Sunday, 296 fishermen had 13 chinook, five coho and 106 pinks.

Get after ’em. The next three weeks are prime time.

Skagit Derby

Some 180 tickets were sold for last Saturday’s Ray Reep Memorial Salmon Derby on the Skagit River, sponsored by Mount Vernon Parks and Recreation to benefit a future boat ramp on the river at Ted Reep park. The first-place chinook was caught by Andy Otis, who won $2,000 for a hefty king of 35 pounds, 15 ounces; second and $500 went to Mark Coleman, at 31 pounds, 10 ounces, and third and $250 to Benjamin Jacobs, at 29 pounds even.

Wayne Logsdon took home $500 for the largest pink salmon, a 6-pounder, and Janet patterson won the mystery weight pot. There were six chinook and 42 pinks weighed on derby day.

The unique and nostalgic Skagit summer chinook season closed Sunday, and most anglers who participated would probably say the first-in-a-long-time fishery was only a so-so event, judged by the number of salmon caught. As far as I was able to find, a 42-pounder was the largest king taken in the recreational portion of the fishery, boated Sunday, July 12, by Skagit veteran Bob Hanseth, on a homemade Winner Spinner/Skagit Special. Hanseth was fishing about a half-mile above the North Fork bridge, according to Lana Stowers, co-owner of the “red barn” launch on the North Fork.

Edmonds Derby

Tickets are on sale for the Edmonds Coho Derby, sponsored by the SnoKing Chapter of Puget Sound Anglers and scheduled for Sept. 12, 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. in marine areas 8-1, 8-2, 9 and 10. Edmonds will again this year be the final event in the Northwest Salmon Derby Series, and the series’ grand prize — a 19-foot Stabi-Craft SuperCab package worth $60,000 — will be awarded, along with specific Edmonds derby prizes.

Tickets are $30, available at Bayside Marine in Everett; Outdoor Emporium in Seattle; Sportco in Fife; All Season Charters in Edmonds; Ed’s Surplus and Ted’s Sports Center in Lynnwood, and Three Rivers Marine in Woodinville. Tickets are limited, according to Derby Chairman Steve Sande, and likely to sell out.

Cash prizes are $5,000 for first, $2,000 for second, $1,000 for third, $500 for fourth and a top selection of merchandise awards. Derby organizers have again provided for weigh-in at both Edmonds and Everett, for the convenience of participants, then final awards at the Edmonds Marina.

For more information go to www.edmondscohoderby.com for details.

Too hot for fish

The Lake Wenatchee sockeye season was shut down Tuesday because of significant and unexpected mortality in the Wenatchee River due to high water temperatures. Migrating fish were affected, according to state biologist Art Viola in Wenatchee, and not enough entered the lake to allow the season to continue.

Fishing on the opener and for a couple of days after was very good, according to Don Talbot at Hooked On Toys in Wenatchee, but it was clear the population of salmon holding off the two tributary rivers at the lake’s north end was not being replenished.

Anglers took an estimated 2,040 sockeye in the lake during the abbreviated season, Viola said.

Recent hot weather also caused a loss of 135,000 young winter and summer steelhead at the Kalama Hatchery, which would have been due back as adults in 2010 and 2011, and 138,000 at the Washougal Hatchery. State biologist Mark Johnson said it wasn’t yet clear whether enough smolts could be “borrowed” from other hatcheries in the region to help make up for the loss.

Water temperatures at Washougal reached 80 degrees and at the Kalama, 72 degrees, according to the Associated Press.

Our area got through the heat wave relatively unscathed, according to Region 4 (Mill Creek) hatchery supervisor Doug Hatfield. “We had a couple of minor problems, but nothing of any significance,” Hatfield said.

END OF PRINT COLUMN

Two rodsw allowed

Anglers on most state lakes and ponds will be able to exercise the option of using two rods starting Aug. 15, under a new law passed by the last state Legislature. The two-rod endorsement will cost $20 ($5 for resident seniors) over and above the cost of a fishing license, and is available starting today at authorized license dealers statewide, and from the state at https://fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov.

The endorsement will not apply to saltwater or to streams and rivers. Neither will it apply on about 145 lakes around the state with special regulations and/or specific management objectives. Most of the excluded lakes are juveniles-only, fly fishing only, managed for threatened or endangerd species and similar situations. For a list of excluded lakes, go to wdfw.wa.gov/licensing/twopole/.

Two rods does not mean two limits. Standard limit and other regulations will still apply to two-rod fishers.

Waterfowl seasons set

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission set 2009-10 waterfowl hunting seasons at its August meeting in Colville, under generous guidelines established by the feds. Rule changes from last year include increased statewide bag limits for pintail, scaup and canvasback, due to higher breeding populations this year; decreased dusky Canada goose quota levels for southwest Washington; and two extra days of goose hunting in Eastern Washington. Full seasons and rules will be available next week on the state web site, wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/regs_seasons.html, and by pamphlet soon after at all license vendors.

Buoy 10

Fishing has picked up at the bottom end of the Columbia, as buoy 10 fishermen nailed chinook and coho at the rate of just under a fish per rod on certain days last week. State creel checks Saturday and Sunday showed a total of 179 anglers with 13 chinook and 97 coho.

Tuna

Albacore action for charters out of Westport has been very good, but generally speaking the fish have been too far offshore — 40 to 90 miles — for day trips. That means overnighters, but the tuna have been large enough, up to 25 pounds, to make it worth the trouble.

Coastal salmon

Limits around for almost everyone out of Ilwaco, 95 percent coho; a fish and a half per rod out of Westport, about one-fourth chinook; and one fish per rod out of Neah Bay, one-fourth chinook.