The selective blackmouth season in Marine Area 9 — the first time anglers were to be allowed two (clipped) winter chinook in that prime water in 10 or 15 years — opened Jan. 16 to high hopes and then fell flat. And it hasn’t picked up a whole lot since then, according to Gary Krein, owner/skipper of All Star Charters in Everett.
“We’re all scratching our heads and wondering what’s going on,” Krein said. “It’s a little hard to understand.”
He said there wasn’t much bait showing on usually productive Possession Bar, and that other spots might be a better bet this weekend. One is Brown’s Bay, from the shipwreck south to Edmonds, where a few fish have been taken on a reasonably consistent basis. The north half of Saratoga Passage, in Marine Area 8-1, has been at least fair, as has Elger Bay in the north portion of Area 8-2. The racetrack, between Hat Island and Camano Head, has slowed but is still worth a try, and some nice fish have been taken, usually first thing in the morning, from the southeast corner of Hat Island.
Krein recommended fishing near bottom in 90 feet of water or so, with a flasher and green squid, or 5-inch Tomic plugs in glow white or mother of pearl.
“Don’t be set in concrete at that depth, however,” he said, “because a pretty good percentage of the blackmouth being caught up Saratoga Passage and in Brown’s Bay as well, have been suspended at 50 to 70 feet, well off bottom.”
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife personnel checked 11 boats and 16 anglers with no fish on Saturday at the Port of Everett ramp, and on Sunday, nine boats with two fish.
Checks were better at the Port Townsend ramp, where 11 anglers coming off Midchannel Bank on Saturday had four blackmouth, and nine anglers on Sunday also had four fish.
So if you have to travel a bit to find winter salmon, you might as well think San Juan Islands. Marine Area 7 opens Friday to the same selective regulations currently in effect in Areas 9, 8-1 and 8-2, and experienced fishermen up that way are expecting a pretty good fishery from the opening bell.
“I guess you could call it ‘guarded optimism,’” said Bob Ferber at Holiday Sports in Burlington, “based on results from the last several seasons. We expect a pretty good perecentage of clipped chinook and, weather permitting, the success rate should be decent.”
There are more good salmon holes in the islands than a fisherman could hit on 20 openers, but Ferber rattled off just a few expected to produce blackmouth this weekend: “Close to home would be Fidalgo Head, Burrows Island, and Humphrey Head,” he said. “A little farther out would be Lopez Flats, Kellett Ledge, Black Rock, Point Lawrence, Tide Point, Eagle Bluff, Peavine and Obstruction passes. The north end of Orcas is a bit of a run, but Parker Reef up there was good last year. There’s interesting water around Waldron Island, but that’s 22 miles from here and fished more by the guys from Bellingham. And President’s Channel has a reputation for producing large fish.”
Ferber said standard setups in the islands include flasher and either Coyote spoon or Coho Killer, generally in green patterns except for the always-popular “cop car,” and herring.
Steelhead: Still no decision from the state on opening or not opening the usual catch and release late season on the Skagit/Sauk rivers this year. The prediction of 5,200 returning wild-stock fish to the system, well below the spawning escapement “floor” set by the department, and especially in light of a new and more conservative statewide steelhead management plan, could spell “no go” for the very popular fishery this winter. But it’s likely to be at least another week before that decision is made, according to Annette Hoffmann, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Region 4 fish program manager.
“We’re still working with our co-managers (tribes) on balancing various impacts to the run,” Hoffman said. “We’re aware that this should be resolved sooner rather than later, and we’ll try to move it along as rapidly as possible.”
Fishermen who read the writing on the wall might want to hit the Skagit for C&R wild fish during the month of February, because the usual March 16-April 30 season on the upper river may well not happen.
Meanwhile, a not very good winter season limps along pretty much throughout Western Washington, slower right now for being between hatchery and wild runs. The Skagit abruptly died two weeks ago, after producing pretty good fishing for the first portion of the hatchery season. The Skykomish finally cleared, and put out a few fish, mostly below Reiter Ponds. The Kalama has been very slow, but the first appreciable numbers of late-run hatchery winter steelhead showed up on the Cowlitz last week. Joe Hymer, a state biologist in Vancouver, said the late-run hatchery fish could provide a pretty fair fishery through February, in both the Kalama and the Cowlitz.
Hymer said a brief check last weekend on the Cowlitz showed four boat fishermen in the Blue Creek area with three winter steelhead.
The outlook for the Olympic Peninsula rivers has improved recently, for two reasons. First, storm-sensitive streams such as the Hoh, Satsop and Wynoochee have finally cleared from early-season rainfall and, second, rivers with an appreciable wild-run component, such as the Sol Duc, have come on fairly well.
Checks recently on the Sol Duc showed 52 anglers with 31 wild steelhead, 24 of which were released (the Sol Duc is one of the handful of winter steelhead rivers where fishermen are allowed to keep one wild fish per year), and six hatchery fish. On the upper Hoh, a river which had been practically invisible on the steelhead charts earlier this winter, 48 anglers had 19 fish, all wild and all released. By comparison, checks on the Bogachiel showed that the hatchery fishery was about over, as 34 anglers had just four fish, all but one of them wild.
Smelt: The Cowlitz smelt run is in limbo, since water temperatures in the river are a degree or two too low to encourage the fish to come in from the Columbia. That is, if there are any fish waiting in the Columbia. State personnel said an absence of seals and diving ducks, and no smelt taken during test dipping last week in the Cowlitz, indicate that pre-season estimates of a depressed run may be correct.
Clams: A razor clam dig has been tentatively scheduled Feb. 6-9 at Twin Harbors beaches, and Feb. 8-9 at Long Beach, assuming marine toxin tests show the clams are safe for consumption. Mocrocks and Copalis beaches will remain closed because of the low number of clams available for harvest.
“We want to make sure there will be enough clams to support a dig at all four beaches this spring,” said state clam manager Dan Ayres in Montesano. “The spring openings are very popular because they’re held on morning tides.”
The tides for the Feb. 6-9 period are as follows: Feb. 6, plus 0.1 feet at 6:15 p.m.; Feb. 7, 0.0 feet at 6:52 p.m.; Feb. 8, plus 0.1 feet at 7:27 p.m.; and Feb. 9, plus 0.4 feet at 8:02 p.m.
Depending on harvest data, Ayres said there may be an additional digging opportunity in March, but likely only at Twin Harbors.
Other good stuff: Pass Lake traditionally comes on in February for fly fishermen working a slow presentation with chironomids or woolley bugger/leech patterns.
No guarantees, but ice fishing has started on Patterson Lake out of Winthrop for nice-sized yellow perch going 7 or 8 inches to 10 inches or so. Also, rainbow trout in Roses Lake (Chelan), Rat Lake (Brewster), Big and Little Green lakes (Omak), and Sidley or Molson lakes near Oroville. Be very careful and make sure you have at least four inches of clear, hard ice.
Good action now for whitefish in the Yakima River, a traditional fishery this time of year for those chasing smoker fodder.
Some of the best walleye fishing of the year, particularly for big fish, is available now in the Columbia above and below McNary Dam.
Watch for two or three warm days and head for Lake Stevens. Cool water temperatures have kept the lake’s population of big, feisty triploid rainbow in slow motion the past two or three weeks, but warmer water should trigger a good spring bite. Fish Power Bait on the bottom off any of the public piers.
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