Steelhead or winter blackmouth? That’s the question. And the answer is that neither fishery is a sure thing right now, but if you need a break from Christmas shopping, they are pretty much your choices.
Good winter steelheading is still a week or two away, at least, on most rivers, but there are early winter fish coming in and waiting for a juicy shrimp tail or tantalizing marabou jig. Probably the best river locally is the North Fork Stillaguamish, which offers at least a decent chance at summer runs and the occasional fresh winter fish in the area between Hazel and Fortson.
Darrel Kron at Hook, Line &Sinker in Smokey Point said all the usual gear will take Stilly steelhead. In fact, he said, one customer who fished the midnight Dec. 1 “opening night” circus caught eight fish while deliberately changing from jigs, to Corkies, to spoons, to shrimp and yarn, to a plastic worm. He caught at least one fish on each, Kron said, except the plastic worm.
Kron said anything in peach or pink has been effective on the North Fork, and that fly fishermen, working below spawning chums, reported that any fly pattern imitating eggs was a winner.
“One thing you might keep in mind, however,” Kron said, “is that the big flood last month substantially changed the bottom structure on most of our rivers. Guys will have to start learning how to fish most rivers all over again.”
Out on the Olympic Peninsula, where the first winter fish normally show up, Bob Gooding at Olympic Sporting Goods in Forks (360-374-6330) said fishing has been perhaps a little better than usual for this early in the season.
“Whether that’s a harbinger of a good run this year or just the fact that all that high water brought a bunch of fish in fast, is hard to say,” Gooding said. “Everybody’s hoping, of course, that it’s due to the ‘good run’ theory.”
The Bogachiel and the lower end of the Calawah are the hot spots currently, Gooding said, because of hatchery fish returning to the Bogachiel facility. On the Calawah, anglers seem to favor float and jig setups, while fishermen on the Bogachiel more often go with a Corky and shrimp or eggs. Hatchery steelhead are running 4 to 8 pounds, with the occasional fish to 10 or 12 pounds.
The Cowlitz has been surprisingly quiet for a river known as an early riser. That might be because the water has been high and difficult to fish, or because a lot of the fishermen down that way are still working on surprisingly fresh coho below the barrier dam.
Kay Abbruzzese at Fish Country Sports in Ethel (360-985-2090) said a good run is predicted this winter for the Cowlitz, but that the fish aren’t there in numbers yet. Most years, steelheading on the big southwest river is under way by the end of November and smokin’ by mid-December.
“A lot of the guys are still catching nice coho,” she said, “but there are a few taking steelhead at Blue Creek, where the numbers aren’t high but the weights are good. We weighed a 15-pounder and one just under 17 pounds early this week, and that’s not bad. There were rumors of a couple in the 20-pound range, too, but they’re suspect.”
Abbruzzese said the river was a little colored and running at about 7,000 cubic feet per second on Tuesday morning, which isn’t bad. Float fishing is big on parts of the Cowlitz, she said, with shrimp, jigs or rubber worms hung below. The black/red “nightmare” jig is a popular float partner, as is the 4-inch, single-tail pumpkin-colored rubber worm with glitter.
State biologist Joe Hymer in Vancouver said most of the southwest rivers are holding winter steelhead (10 winter fish were “recycled” to the lower river from the hatchery on the Kalama on Monday), but that none were particularly hot right now. The Cowlitz and Lewis are still carrying some color, he said, and the Kalama or Elochoman are probably better bets until more fish arrive.
“The Elochoman put out some steelhead last week,” Hymer said. “Word got around fast, and it was crowded over the weekend, so it probably could use another shot of water and fresh fish right now.”
Hymer said this winter’s steelhead run on lower Columbia tributaries looks, on paper, to be about the same as last year’s. And last year’s winter fishery was average or slightly better, he said.
The Skagit has dropped from flood levels, but the Baker is still putting in color, said Bob Ferber at Holiday Market Sports in Burlington (360-757-4361), and a few winter steelhead are showing up.
“The roads in the upper valley are generally OK now,” Ferber said, “and they’re getting a fish or two or three each day on the Cascade, and a few down in the Rockport area on the Skagit. Plunkers on the lower Skagit bars are starting to score, occasionally, and I heard of two taken over the weekend on the Spud Bar below Mount Vernon.”
Ferber said the first winter steelhead he has verified was taken off the beach at Fort Casey about a week and a half ago, on the standard Whidbey Island surf casting rig – a Spin N Glo with hoochie skirt.
About the current winter steelhead fishery on the Skykomish, guide and Arlington resident Sam Ingram said, “You might as well put some points in the book by doing all your Christmas shopping and lights and stuff right now, so you’ll have fishing time when there’s a fish in the river. A couple of us fished Monday and Tuesday, I went down and he went upriver, and the total take, on one strike, was one dark, worn-out summer-run.
“The prediction for this winter’s steelhead run on the Snohomish system, out of the Mill Creek WDFW office, is for a good one,” Ingram said, “but it’s a notoriously inexact science and so it’s hard to say.”
Over in sagebrush country, the month of November was good to steelheaders working the Columbia from the beach at Ringold, above the Tri-Cities. The harvest was an estimated 652 steelhead (just 23 wild, released), which is well above that of the past two years, even though angler effort was 10 to 20 percent lower. The total catch for the fishery so far this season is 1,105 fish, and that’s not too shabby. Sure, it’s a long drive, but if you’re a dedicated steelhead fisherman, it helps a lot to be both mobile and open-minded in this day and age.
And don’t forget the big Steelhead University class coming up Saturday at Outdoor Emporium in Seattle, featuring names such as Buzz Ramsay, Rob Endsley, Bill Herzog, Tom Nelson, Joel Shangle and others. For $88 you immerse yourself all day in the best steelheading advice available in Western Washington. Call Endsley at 360-676-1321 or Nelson at 425-377-1167.
Winter blackmouth: We’re down toward the end of the column now, and there’s a reason for that. Since Marine Area 9, with some really good blackmouth fishing, closed, anglers have been forced into areas 8-1 and 8-2, and they’re not finding a whole lot of fish. A state check at the Port of Everett ramp on Sunday showed 25 fishermen with three chinook, and that’s one of the GOOD checks.
All Star Charters owner/skipper Gary Krein said Elger Bay is putting out a fish or two, as is the Langley shoreline, but that generally the fishery has been slow. To pour salt into the wound, large numbers of shakers continue to make life difficult for anglers trying to put a spoon or plug in front of a legal chinook.
Krein expects fishing to improve, particularly for larger fish, later this month and into January. Meanwhile, work a No. 188 two-tone green, or frog racer Coyote spoon with flasher, at 80 to 120 feet.
Smelt: Few smelt jiggers have been out in the bad weather, but when you’re ready, there should be fish at Cornet Bay. Before the storm fronts started marching, jigging was good there, particularly on an incoming and high tide.
Razor clams: Limit digging has been the rule, even though the wind and surf have been tough so far this fall season, according to state biologist Dan Ayres in Montesano. And that should again be the case for the next scheduled dig, Dec 31 (all five beaches), Jan. 1 (all except Copalis), and Jan. 2 (Twin Harbors only).
Waterfowl: If you haven’t broken out the old shootin’ arn so far this winter, you’re missing one of the better waterfowl seasons in recent memory. Wind, rain, flooding, bitter cold – what more could the avid duck or goose hunter want? Anthon Steen at Holiday Market Sports said many limits of ducks and snow geese have come through the shop from almost everywhere in the general area – saltwater, bayfront, inland fields.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
