If you want to catch a couple of sockeye salmon but you’re boat-less, the opening of a portion of the Skagit River on Tuesday is perfect for you. Bank fishing for the run of Baker Lake sockeye is cheap, easy and (with a little exploring) productive, said state Fish and Wildlife Department biologist Brett Barkdull in the agency’s La Conner office.
Bank access to the river is plentiful and, since the fish tend to travel close to shore — sometimes in just two or three feet of water — expensive equipment and long casts really aren’t necessary. The temptation is to fling ‘er way out there, I know, but don’t do it. Long casts in this fishery are usually counter productive.
The Skagit will be open from the Highway 536 bridge in downtown Mount Vernon upstream to Gilligan Creek, about five miles above Sedro-Woolley, with a three-sockeye daily limit. It’s scheduled to close July 15, but it may not last that long if the recreational quota of 20 percent of the non-tribal share is met.
The quota was designed with the help of a panel of user group representatives, and is intended to assure enough fish in Baker Lake to provide a productive recreational fishery. It’s anticipated that the lake will open July 10. For the latest information, visit the sockeye webpage: http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/salmon/sockeye/baker_river.html.
Barkdull said he expects a return this year of a little over 46,000 sockeye and said there are already fish in the river, so it should be worth a shot from Tuesday morning on. Sockeye move rapidly so it’s critical to find the slot in which they’re traveling. Don’t expect these fish to “hold” in any particular spot, Barkdull said.
Bank or boat, the vast majority of Skagit River sockeye anglers “plunk” for their fish, anchoring their bait to the bottom and waiting for sockeye to come to them. A basic plunking setup of a wing bobber, bead and bait should do the trick, Barkdull said, along with tackle capable of handling 8 ounces of sinker.
Kevin John, at Holiday Sports in Burlington, said a No. 4 Spin N Glo in red, pink or orange, or a No. 6 Corky in the same colors, would be a popular choice. Use a three-way swivel with two or three feet of leader and a 12- to 24-inch dropper to a 2- to 8-ounce pyramid sinker, depending on water flow. Bait with a sand shrimp or cured prawn, or dress up the rig with a pink mini-squid behind the wing bobber.
Young’s Bar on the west side of the river, just above the Mount Vernon bridge, offers easy access, as does Lion’s Park, directly across the river from the bar. There’s a lot of park access in Burlington, on the north side of the river, from the railroad bridge up to Gardner Road. In Sedro-Woolley, take River Road to access at Fruitdale Road. And the South Skagit Highway offers productive turnouts from the Highway 9 bridge almost to Gilligan Creek, most of which are public and should produce fish.
Early coho derby tickets
Early tickets for this year’s Everett Coho Derby (Sept. 19-20) are on sale at Bayside Marine, Greg’s Custom Rods, Harbor Marine, John’s Sporting Goods, Ted’s Sports Center and Three Rivers Marine. To encourage early purchase, the deal has been sweetened with a $500 prize to the participant who weighs in the biggest coho and who bought his or her ticket between June 1 and July 31. First prize in the derby is $10,000.
Shad
Some 50,000 shad per day are going over Bonneville Dam, a “decent” number according to state biologist Joe Hymer in Vancouver, but fishing has been relatively slow for what should be about the peak of the run. Creel checks last week showed 337 shad for 257 anglers, which isn’t bad, but well below peak fishing the past few years.
The 560,000 fish over the dam to date is just 42 percent of last year’s run at this point, and also below the roughly 750,000-fish 10-year average.
Most of the fish are being caught on the approximately one mile of bank between the yellow deadline marker at the dam and the power lines, Hymer said.
The biologist also shared an interesting bit of piscatorial trivia. A Coleman National Fish Hatchery chinook with a coded wire tag was recovered in a fishery on the lower Columbia mainstem just below Bonneville last week. The hatchery is located on a tributary to the Sacramento River in California.
Not only was the fish lost, it was also a fall chinook.
Crabbing starts
Test fishing has shown Hood Canal crab are now hard-shelled, so the state has decided to open the recreational season on the canal on Monday, more than two weeks earlier than scheduled. Crabbing will be open Thursdays through Mondays each week, except next week, which will have a one-day opening on Monday before reopening on its weekly schedule June 18. Recreational crabbing opened June 1 in Marine Area 13, south Puget Sound, but most marine areas on the Sound open July 2.
Seasons for the Puget Sound crab fishery are posted on the agency’s website, wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish/crab, which also includes an educational video on crabbing.
Coastal salmon
Coastal salmon creel sampling coordinator Wendy Beeghley said the mark selective hatchery chinook season has not been a spectacular success. Effort and the number of kings boated have been low, she said. The Westport area, for instance, produced only 0.3 chinook per person last week, although Neah Bay and Ilwaco fared slightly better.
Nice, prime fish, however, averaging 8 to 12 pounds with a scattering into the low 20s. Fish at Neah Bay, she said, were mostly feeder chinook in the 6-or-so-pound range.
The coastal salmon fishery switches to traditional regulations on Saturday, but Beeghley does not see enough coho in the area to make a huge difference in per-person catch rates.
Wenatchee River salmon
Spring chinook fishing on the Wenatchee River is still going well, said Rick Graybill at Hooked On Toys in Wenatchee, but low, clear water conditions have made it pretty much a crack of dawn and late evening show. Eggs have been the top bait choice, Graybill said, behind divers, used in traditional drift fishing, hung under a float or soaked on the bottom by plunkers. The springers are nice-sized fish, going 10 to 16 pounds, with an occasional 20-plus pounder in the bag.
“Guys are sizing down,” Graybill said. “Going to a Ping-Pong-ball sized cluster of cured salmon roe, and 15-pound fluorocarbon.”
Any deep hole — and the deeper the better — should be stacked with kings, he said, particularly with some oxygenating white water at the top of the hole. Fishing has been best on the upper stretch, around Leavenworth, but Graybill said the lower river is just dropping into shape and should be good.
For more outdoor news, read Wayne Kruse’s blog at www.heraldnet.com/huntingandfishing.
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