Don Talbot is always a vibrant personality, but early this week he was even more exuberant than normal.
“We’re elated around here,” he said. “It’s historic.”
Speaking from Hooked on Toys in Wenatchee, he was talking about the just-announced coho season on the Wenatchee, Icicle and Meth
ow rivers.
“This will be the first time anyone around here can remember that the Wenatchee will be open for three species — chinook, coho and steelhead — at the same time,” he said, “and we’re pumped.”
The Icicle had a small coho fishery in 2009, but the Wenatchee and Methow have not opened for silvers in at least 30 years, according to Jeff Korth, northcentral region fish manager for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The coho fishery opened Wednesday morning and will remain open through Oct. 31 on all three rivers. Korth said 20,000 adult coho are expected to return this year above Rock island Dam, more than enough for spawning escapement and hatchery brood-stock needs.
“Coho nearly disappeared from the upper Columbia in the early 1930s,” Korth said, crediting re-introduction programs by the Yakama Nation.
Steelhead fishing is open on the Wenatchee, Methow and Icicle, with a daily limit of two hatchery fish per day, and up to three adult chinook daily on the Wenatchee. The coho limit is three fish daily, clipped or unclipped, in addition to the catch limits for other species. Selective gear rules and a night closure are in effect to help protect endangered wild steelhead.
“There are bright coho in the (Wenatchee) river right now,” Talbot said. “Look for guys to be casting Blue Fox spinners, maybe with a small hoochie skirt, in chartreuse, pink or chrome. The area up by the mouth of the Icicle will probably be popular, although fish will be caught throughout the river, and they’ll be stacked in with the steelhead.”
METHOW STEELHEAD
The steelhead opener on the Wenatchee was a pretty good one, Talbot said. On the Methow, it was only fair, with pressure down from the past couple years and a high percentage of unclipped fish showing. State biologist Bob Jateff in Omak said the run is predicted to be a little smaller than the past couple of years but still strong enough for a good season. Reflecting this, the mandatory-keep limit has been cut from four fish to two.
“That mandate to keep hatchery steelhead is important,” Jateff said, “to demonstrate our ability to remove a sufficient percentage of hatchery fish from the population.”
Anton Jones, owner of Darrell & Dad’s Family Guide Service in Chelan said fly fishing is king on the Methow but float-and-jig guys can score, too. Fly fishermen drift a glo bug under a strike indicator, or “swing” big woolly buggers and leeches. Float and jig fishermen use Mack’s Glo-Getter jigs or Worden’s Maxi Jigs in the brightest colors they can get. Remember, single barbless hooks.
“How about this for a fall odyssey,” Jones said. “Catch chinook and steelhead below Chief Joseph Dam, then go above for a Rufus Lake triploid rainbow for the North Central Washington trifecta. Add a loop up to Omak Lake for a Lahontan cutthroat for the slam and, if you’re completely nuts, start at Chelan and a Mackinaw then go after the other species for a quintella.”
LOCAL COHO
This is turning into a banner autumn for coho, in both salt and fresh water, and the silvers keep pouring down the Strait of Juan de Fuca to fuel the fire.
Go get ’em off the Shipwreck, or on down toward Edmonds, or on the line from the shipwreck to the Possession green can. And here’s a somewhat unusual rig avid angler Sam Ingram has had good success with the past couple of weeks: a white flasher, 30 inches of leader, and a No. 4 chrome/green-glow Spin N Glo bobber, with a green spatterback hoochie skirt. It’s like the rig beach fishermen cast for steelhead off the west Whidbey beaches, but a different color.
State checks at the Port of Everett ramp on Sunday showed 302 anglers with 130 coho. Out on the Strait they were still catching fish: 98 fishermen with 131 coho at the Port Angeles public ramp on Ediz Hook on Saturday, and even five silvers for seven beach fishermen at Point Wilson.
Ingram said the rivers here have been spotty, but can be red hot if you find yourself in the right place at the right time. The Snohomish has been better than the Skykomish, he said, but the rain this week could change that.
HANFORD KINGS
It’s the top of the season now for fall chinook on the Hanford Reach portion of the Columbia River. Don Talbot (above) at Hooked on Toys in Wenatchee said he fished last week and landed six chinook, the smallest of which went 18 pounds. The fish are still in decent shape, he said, and holding in the deeper holes. State checks last week tallied 479 boats with 513 adult kings, 126 jacks and two coho.
“Find a hole or slot in the Vernita/White Bluffs area 40-plus feet deep and backtroll it with Super Baits in Hot Tamale (red), Mountain Dew (green), chartreuse or pink,” Talbot said. “Stuff the baits with tuna and lots of garlic.”
YAKIMA KINGS
Both angler effort and catch rates for fall chinook continue to rise, according to state biologist Paul Hoffarth in Pasco. Checks last week showed 147 anglers with 11 adult chinook, five jacks and one coho, an average of one chinook for 25 hours of fishing time.
BIG BULLHEAD
A huge brown bullhead, caught Sept. 28 in Lacamas Lake, Clark County, is close to becoming a state record for the species, said state biologist Joe Hymer in the agency’s Vancouver office. The fish weighed 28.1 pounds, more than doubling the previous record of 11.04 pounds caught in an unnamed lake in Snohomish County in 2000. Biologists said there was some question about whether or not the fish is a hybrid, but it was looking like a true brown bullhead.
The freshwater bullhead caught in many lakes in Western Washington generally averages 10-12 inches in length and is commonly called a “catfish” by anglers to differentiate it from the also common sculpin.
For more outdoor news, read Wayne Kruse’s blog at www.heraldnet.com/huntingandfishing.
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