The feds signed off on the negotiated summer Puget Sound-area salmon seasons last week, and the lights came back on.
But that doesn’t mean Friday’s reopening of scheduled fisheries was a slam dunk for the rod-toting multitudes who hit the water, gratefully, on the weekend. The idea that because fish hadn’t been worked over for a while and were thus numerous and ready for lunch proved out in some cases, not in others.
On the Skykomish River, for instance, where the hatchery chinook and summer steelhead fisheries had been delayed, the weekend brought boat anglers and bank fishermen out of the woodwork. And according to Bob Hammond at Three Rivers Marine in Woodinville (425-415-1575) they found “fantastic” fishing for kings.
“We know of two boats Saturday who hit nine fish and eight fish for the day, respectively,” Hammond said.
That’s great fishing for chinook, but it didn’t translate to steelhead on the Sky. Reports had indicated a whole bunch of fish at Reiter Ponds on the middle river, and fishermen were there and waiting Friday morning. They were monitoring the state Department of Fish and Wildlife website for the expected opening release, which came through about 11 a.m., triggering a mass movement to the water around the state rearing pond outlet stream.
Unfortunately for these early anglers, hatchery personnel apparently decided to get their brood stock right off the top of the run, and opened the trap prior to Friday morning. There were a fair number of steelhead taken — one report had it at 15 or 20 fish total for the afternoon — but not what it could have been.
So, very good fishing for 10- to 16-pound chinook but slow to fair results for steelhead on the Sky, which was the opposite of what most folks anticipated.
Hammond said salmon fishing was better upstream than downstream from the Lewis Street Bridge in Monroe, and that the hot system was free-drifting eggs.
On the Skagit River, most of the fishing targeted the Baker Lake sockeye run, open as far up as Gilligan Creek, above Sedro-Woolley.
“Things got fairly busy over the weekend,” state biologist Brett Barkdull said, “but fishing was pretty slow. Our creel checks found no fish on Friday, and only five on Saturday.”
The majority of Skagit River sockeye anglers plunk for their fish, anchoring a Spin N Glo /bait setup with a chunk of lead, and waiting for the fish to come to them. Barkdull said the river is currently too low and clear for that technique to do well. Plunkers do better when the water’s a little high and a little dirty.
“Fishermen are still learning how best to approach this fishery,” Barkdull said.
The run is right on the forecast target at this point, he said, but it’s too early to talk about extending the river fishery to make up for opportunity lost to the closure.
“We need to see what the catch rate looks like toward the end of the scheduled season,” Barkdull said.
The number of sockeye entering the Baker River trap on Friday totaled 224 fish; on Saturday, 144; and on Sunday, 443 fish.
Out on the salt, All Star Charters owner/skipper Gary Krein said fishermen might give the Tulalip bubble a shot. There seems to be more chinook in the area than the past few dismal years and a scattering of nice fish being boated. Krein fished Saturday, lost a king, boated a 15-pounder, and said he heard of a couple more good fish taken as well. He was pulling a “cop car” Kingfisher Lite spoon at about 80 feet in 100 feet of water, on the northern side of the bubble.
Another option is the catch-and-release season currently underway on part of Marine Area 10, which expands to the whole of areas 9 and 10 on Friday. Nick Kester, the other All Star skipper, found some fine fishing in Area 10 on Sunday, Krein said, taking and releasing 18 chinook in about two hours, at 100 feet on a Kingfisher yellowtail. Krein said the fish were a mix of blackmouth and adults, weighing 5 to 15 pounds or so.
And, of course, on July 16 the super-popular selective (fin-clipped only) catch-and-keep season opens for chinook in areas 9 and 10.
Derbies
Since there generally will be no coho harvest in Puget Sound this year, our two local events, the Edmonds and Everett coho derbies, have been canceled. That leaves six events still online in the West Marine Salmon Derby Series, the series that offers participants a chance at a major boat/trailer drawing prize at the end of the year: Bellingham Salmon Derby, July 8-10; The Big One Salmon Derby, Lake Coeur d’alene, Idaho, July 27-31; South King County PSA Salmon Derby, Aug. 6; Gig Harbor PSA Salmon Derby, Aug. 13; Columbia River Fall Salmon Derby, Aug. 20; and Willapa Bay Salmon Derby, Sept. 3.
A particularly interesting event coming up is the inaugural running of the Baker Lake Sockeye Shootout (not a member of the above derby series), July 29-31. The event offers a first prize of $1,000 and has a 300-ticket limit. The derby is sponsored by the North Sound Chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association and information, rules and an entry form can be found online at www.ccawashington.org/bakerlakederby. Pick up and drop off entry forms and purchase tickets at Holiday Sports in Burlington (the nearest outlet). For additional information, call Tony at 360-354-0204 or Curt at 360-224-9345.
Ticket prices are $50 for non-CCA members, $20 for CCA members, $10 for non-CCA youth, and free for CCA youth. The weigh-in station will be at the USFS Swift Creek campground/boat ramp.
And don’t forget the Fourth Annual Puget Sound Speed Crabbing Derby, scheduled for July 9 at the Port of Everett ramp. The unique event benefits the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, costs nothing to enter, and offers some solid crabbing-oriented prizes. To watch speed crabbing videos, download the rules or register, visit www.speedcrabbing.com.
For more outdoor news, read Wayne Kruse’s blog at www.heraldnet.com/huntingandfishing.
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