A big bottle of mosquito repellent may have been more valuable than a dozen pink mini-squids to participants in the inaugural Baker Lake Sockeye Shootout over the weekend. The bugs were bad, participation was low, and the fishing only fair for the derby, sponsored by the North Sound Chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association.
“Fishing was decent Friday and Saturday, but there wasn’t a lot of participation,” said Kevin John at Holiday Sports in Burlington.
“We did okay for our first derby,” said club spokesman Curt Wilson. “There were some minor glitches and the lake was higher than usual — which may have affected the fishing — but we had a good number of kids, there were no problems coordinating with the Forest Service, and a little wind helped keep the mosquitoes down.”
Everyone seemed to enjoy the Saturday barbecue, featuring 100 pounds of pork shoulder, said Justin Zakariassen, state assistant CCA director.
Some 60 participants weighed in 61 sockeye over the three days, with the first-place prize of $1,000 going to Ken Brown, for a fish of 6.72 pounds. Second and $500 went to Dave Sitton at 6.63 pounds, and third, worth $250, to David Stasel at 6.21 pounds. The youth winner received an Okuma SST rod and reel, and the average fish prize of a $100 Cabela’s gift card went to Landon Arman.
Salmon closure
The other shoe dropped during a conference call Tuesday afternoon, and salmon managers for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife closed the Marine Area 9 portion of the very popular summer selective chinook fishery in Admiralty Inlet, effective at the end of the day Thursday. That includes Possession Bar and Midchannel Bank, among other productive spots.
There is some quota left for Marine Area 10 (Edmonds/Seattle), so that fishery remains in effect at least until another conference call scheduled for Aug. 9. Whatever is decided after that call will only affect the final week of the season, as Area 10 is due to close anyway on Aug. 15, quota or no quota.
For this weekend, All Star Charters owner/skipper Gary Krein says the best prospects in Area 10 would probably be Jefferson Head, the Kingston area, and the Edmonds/Richmond Beach shoreline. “But it’s been slow down that way,” Krein said. “I fished Kingston on Tuesday with three other charters, and we all took a total of two legals.”
The kings have been small this year, Krein says, with anything over 10 pounds few and far between.
State checks at the Port of Everett ramp Saturday tallied 26 chinook for 262 anglers. At the Fort Casey ramp — mostly fishermen running across to Midchannel Bank — 65 anglers had 13 chinook, and on Sunday, 45 anglers had 13 fish. The Everett ramp on Sunday showed 248 with 25 fish; the Washington Park ramp in Anacortes showed 36 with one, and at Shilshole it was 122 with 23, many of which were probably caught at Jeff Head.
Checks farther out the Strait of Juan de Fuca were a little better over the weekend, where 33 fishermen had seven chinook at the Ediz Hook public ramp in Port Angeles.
San Juan chinook
Regulations in the San Juan Islands changed Tuesday from a limit of two hatchery chinook, to one chinook, hatchery or wild. That should give a boost to fishing in the islands, which has been on the slow side, according to Kevin John (above). “Slow fishing, lots of small fish, and a low percentage of fin-clipped keepers has kept effort to a minimum,” he said.
Lake Wenatchee sockeye
If you’re a salmon aficionado, the place to be this weekend is on Lake Wenatchee, hauling in sockeye. Travis Maitland, Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist, said that even though fishing has slowed a little since the July 20 opener, it has still been pretty good.
“Fishermen here on the opener averaged about three-and-a-half fish per rod,” Maitland said. “That’s down now to about two-and-a-half per rod, which is still not bad.”
He said the sockeye are still in good shape, and that word of a strong run coming back to Lake Wenatchee this summer has increased participation considerably. “On the opener we counted 180 boats on the lake at 7 a.m. That works out to about 450 anglers,” he said.
The last total count of sockeye over Tumwater Dam on the Wenatchee River was about 62,000 fish, which is pretty close to the forecast. Maitland said he thinks the full run will end up totalling 70,000 or close to it.
“We have at least 30,000 fish either in the lake or on the way, left to catch, so I think the season will run easily through the month,” he said. So far there has been no closing date set.
Standard rigs include double red or green 1/0 or 2/0 hooks, often dressed up with several beads, or pink mini-squids, behind a dodger, trolled just fast enough so the dodger swings back and forth.
Selective gear rules are in effect, allowing up to three single, barbless hooks per line, no bait or scent allowed, knotless nets required. Two rods are allowed if the angler has a valid endorsement. Maitland said the fishery could be closed at short notice, so interested anglers should check the WDFW fishing hotline, 360-902-2500, or the agency web site.
Buoy 10
Participation is building and so is the catch on the bottom end of the Columbia River, usually known as “buoy 10” by salmon fishermen. State biologist Joe Hymer in Vancouver said fishing at this point is “okay, but not great,” with a 0.4-chinook per boat average for the 230 boats counted above the Astoria bridge on Saturday.
A new regulation requires hatchery chinook only on Sundays and Mondays, any chinook other days through Labor Day.
Edmonds pier
The Edmonds fishing pier is still on track to be reopened by Aug. 16, according to a City of Edmonds spokesman. Repairs to the venerable structure — said to be the most-used pier on Puget Sound — have kept it closed through July and unavailable for the chinook fishery, crabbing and surprisingly good numbers of squid for this time of year.
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