OUTDOOR OUTLOOK: Kokanee derby a great success

Published 6:52 pm Wednesday, May 26, 2010

A very large and enthusiastic crowd overcame limited parking, a cramped launch ramp, and what could have become combat fishing conditions to make a relatively well-behaved and immensely successful day out of the first-ever Lake Stevens Kokanee Derby on Saturday.

The event, sponsored by the Snohomish Sportsmen’s Club and the Lake Stevens Lions, drew 285 entrants, a number “way beyond what I ever thought we’d get,” in the words of Snohomish club president Mark Spada of Snohomish.

Spada said adult anglers weighed in 80 individual kokanee, 69 bag limits, and seven trout, while 75 youngsters entered 24 fish in an all-species competition.

The first-place adult cash prize of $1,000 for largest kokanee went to Scott Sceeles, at 1.26 pounds; second and $500 to Terry French at 1.23 pounds; third and $250 to Brad Savinski at 1.23 pounds; and fourth, worth $100, to Joe Hart at 1.21 pounds.

The biggest bag limit (up to 10 kokanee) weighed 8.46 pounds and won $500 for Travis Welch. Second, and $250, went to Brandon Doucet at 8.25 pounds.

“Those numbers are getting close to a pound per fish,” Spada said, “and that’s good kokanee fishing.”

The largest trout category ended up a real surprise, Spada said. “Different groups have put all these triploid rainbow, many in the 5-pound or better range, in the lake over the past few years, but amazingly, none of those showed up for our derby.”

The winning trout, caught by Gene Rich and worth $500, was a cutthroat weighing 1.06 pounds.

In the kids’ competition, first place and $100 was won by Mackenzie Ramsey with a nearly 4-pound bass; second and $75 by Rodney Badgett with a 2.3-pound bass; and third by Logan Tonsgard with a 2.08-pound trout.

Spada said he was particularly pleased with the turnout of young entrants, since there was a lot of competition from the fish-in at North Gissberg Pond and at least two other fishing-oriented activities in the area.

Kokanee were scattered throughout the lake and at different depths, Spada said — a good thing, since it tended to spread the crowd over a larger area. With no stratification evident yet in the lake, fish were caught anywhere from the surface down to 80 feet and, while the east side and the aerator drew a lot of attention, the west side put out its share of fish as well.

John Thomas of Rotten Chum Guide Service in Snohomish fished the derby and his party of five put 47 fish in the cooler by 1 p.m. A 4/0 chrome dodger with 15 inches of leader and a Wedding Ring spinner tipped with corn or maggot was the top rig. Avid angler and river guide Sam Ingram of Arlington fished with Thomas and said leaded line — two colors early in the morning and five or six colors later — caught about as many fish as lines on the downriggers.

“It turned out there was plenty of room on the lake, and we didn’t see any issues associated with tight quarters,” Ingram said. “We found the event well run and enjoyable, and it looked to us like the Lake Stevens police boat was finding pretty good compliance with safe boating regulations.”

“We had anticipated a shortage of parking with an entry list this long,” Spada said, “but we actually had spaces left over. Folks generally said they enjoyed the event and the day, and the only negative comment I saw about putting pressure on the resource was on a couple of websites.”

Going to do it again next year?

“We are,” he said. “We would like to do some sort of kokanee enhancement, in Stevens and/or other area lakes, with the proceeds, but we don’t know at this point just how we can go about that.”

Sky opens

The Skykomish opens June 1 for the summer, with increased opportunity for local salmon fishermen. Hatchery chinook will be legal from the mouth to the Wallace, June 1 through July 31, which is a lot more water (and some better water) than has previously been open for kings. For the last couple of years, the downstream deadline has been the Lewis Street bridge in Monroe.

The whole mainstem Sky also opens for steelhead, except for the area immediately adjacent to Reiter Ponds.

Guide Thomas said the lower end of the Sky contains some nice, deep, holding water for chinook that in the past couldn’t be targeted. Unfortunately, however, about the only bank access to chinook water in the new section, for those without a boat, is the Tualco area and the reformatory hole. Contact him for information at 425-280-5494; lamiglas@hotmail.com; www.rottenchumguideservice.com.

He advises fishing steelhead for the first couple of weeks of June, in shallower water, drifting shrimp or eggs. About June 15 he switches to the deeper runs and holes, drifting or backtrolling bait and concentrating on chinook.

From shore, he says, the cracker bar in Sultan is hard to beat for a combo of both steelhead holding water and deeper king water. The mouth of the Wallace always puts out fish, but is usually crowded. He says drive the Ben Howard Road and don’t be afraid to hike around a little to find the deep holes where the chinook live, and again, use bait. Shrimp and eggs are by far the best bet for these river kings.

Stilly also opens

Sturgeon fishermen can go back to work with the reopening of the Stillaguamish below the Marine Drive bridge on June 1. Other portions of the river open according to the schedule published in the 2010/2011 regulation pamphlet.

Bass

Bass fishing in local lakes has been good as the fish move toward the spawn. Anthon Steen at Holiday Sports in Burlington said a 6-pound largemouth was reported from Beaver Lake, near Clear Lake in Skagit County. It’s also prime time for smallmouth in Lake Stevens and Lake Whatcom, among others.

San Juans bottomfish

Steen also said lingcod fishing was still good — and open through June 15 — but that anglers were having to explore a little to find the spots which haven’t been hammered since the season opened. Weather allowing, he said, halibut fishing on Hein bank has been productive. He likes herring in a plastic squid skirt, fished off a spreader bar in about 125 feet of water.

At the Cornet Bay ramp on Saturday, state Fish and Wildlife Department personnel checked 87 boats with 24 lings and 19 halibut. At the Port of Everett ramp on Saturday, 25 boats had 6 halibut and 10 lings.

Shad

The spring shad fishery on the lower Columbia is underway, with fish being caught already off the docks at Steamboat Landing in Washougal. Almost 60 bank anglers were counted on both the Oregon and Washington shores just below Bonneville Dam during a state flight on Saturday, but success rates there were not known.

Halibut

A very good halibut season continued over the weekend on the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca, where 101 boats at the Ediz Hook ramp on Friday were checked with 73 fish. At the Freshwater Bay ramp on Saturday, 25 boats had 15 halibut.

Southwest steelhead opportunity

A strong summer steelhead run is entering Columbia River tributaries, prompting state to increase the limit on hatchery fish in the lower Cowlitz to three per day, May 22 through Oct. 31, from the Hwy 4 bridge at Kelso upstream to Mayfield Dam.

For the same reason, two Toutle River tributaries opened Saturday for hatchery steelhead — the South Toutle from the mouth to the 4700 Road bridge, and the Green, from the mouth to 400 feet below the water intake at the upper end of the hatchery. This opening, two weeks prior to that scheduled, is for the purpose of harvesting hatchery fish not needed for broodstock. Selective gear rules will be in effect through June 4, however, to minimize mortality of smolts and/or wild-stock adults.

Entiat opens

Two chinook daily are now legal on the Entiat, since the river opened Wednesday from the mouth upstream about 6 miles to the Entiat National Fish Hatchery. At least 800 adult springers are expected to return to the hatchery this year, according to state biologists.