Sockeye seekers still have time to troll Lake Wenatchee

The Everett Steelhead and Salmon Club will teach river fishing classes on Aug. 11, Aug. 18 and Aug. 25 from 7-9 p.m. at the Floral Hall in Everett’s Forest Park. The classes will focus on river fishing for humpies, coho and steelhead. Fees are $39 for adults and $25 for children ages 10-15 with paying adult. Call 425-257-8300 for info.

* The Skagit Valley Chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation meets on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. in the portables behind the truck building at Skagit Valley College. For info call 360-428-8888.

* The Sky Valley chapter of Trout Unlimited has meetings on the second Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. in the Snohomish Co. PUD building in Monroe. For info call 360-794-6378.

* The NW chapter of the Washington Waterfowl Association meets on the 2nd Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m. in the Conway Fire Hall. For info contact Rone Brewer at nwducks@snohomish.net

* The Skagit Valley chapter of Pheasants Forever will meet every Tuesday at 7 p.m. during the months of January, February and March at 501 S. 2nd St. in Mount Vernon.

How to submit information: Items for the Outdoor Calendar can be submitted by e-mail (sports@heraldnet.com), by fax (425-339-3464) or by mail (P.O. Box 930, Everett, Wash., 98206). The deadline is noon on Monday.

Sockeye seekers still have time to troll Lake Wenatchee

The Lake Wenatchee sockeye fishery continues to perk, with a stronger run coming into the lake than had been predicted earlier. State Fish and Wildlife Department management biologist John Easterbrooks, at the Yakima office, said fishing will be on tap at least through this weekend, and could be extended as far as the end of the month.

“Since this fishery is not an every-year thing, we’re not budgeted for it and it’s stretching our resources,” Easterbrooks said. “But we won’t shut it down as long as there are harvestable numbers in the lake and as long as strong interest continues.”

The cumulative total of harvested sockeye stood at 3,780 fish on Monday, Easterbrooks said. About 600 fish were taken over the weekend, and the success ratio was 1.4 salmon per rod.

The best bite by far has been during the early morning hours, off the mouths of the Little Wenatchee and White rivers in the lake’s upper end, between 45 and 80 feet deep. The standard rig includes a size “0” white or chrome dodger, 12 to 18 inches of leader, and either a bare red or black hook, or a small pink jig or hoochie.

No particular problem, aparently, has developed over limited parking space for boat trailers at the State Park launch on the lake’s south end, but boaters should be cautious about submerged rocks in the river outlet until they’re well out into the lake.

Snohomish pinks: The word on the introductory even-year humpy season on the Snohomish River is that folks are catching fish, but it’s not as hot as the last couple of odd-year seasons. And because there aren’t as many salmon coming in, the better fishing is not where they’re moving through but where they tend to stack – on the upper river, from the mouth of the Pilchuck to the Highway 522 bridge.

“And they are getting fish up there,” said Pat Houston at Triangle Beverage (360-568-4276) in Snohomish. “On all the usual humpy gear – Dick Nites, Wicked Willies, jigs, Buzz Bombs.”

Boaters launch at the Maple Street ramp in Snohomish (you can get as far upriver as Douglas Bar or so with a standard prop setup) and either anchor above “showing” schools or drift slowly, casting small spoons or jigs to rolling, splashing fish. A very slow retrieve is critical, allowing the spoon to just flutter in front of their noses.

One good bank fishing spot is the “cheapskate hole,” on Short School Road, off the old Snohomish-Monroe highway. Another, offering a lot of water access although requiring a longish walk to get there, is Bob Heirman Park, on the south side of the river, right across from Crabb Bar and above Thomas’ Eddy. This is also an excellent spot for coho a little later in the year, Houston said. Turn upriver as if going to Kenwanda Golf Course from Hwy 9, at the stoplight south of the river bridge, then Broadway to Connelly Road. The parking lot for the park lies right alongside Connelly Road.

Houston said the even-year pinks are a little smaller than their odd-year brethren; averaging 2 to 3 pounds, with a few to about 5 pounds.

Local saltwater: Although areas 8-1 and 8-2 are open for coho, there has been little interest from anglers waiting for resident silvers to put on weight and for ocean fish to come down the Strait of Juan de Fuca. All Star Charters owner/skipper Gary Krein (425-252-4188) said the best fishing – and it’s been pretty good for coho to 12-plus pounds – has been to the south, off Jefferson Head.

“For all practical purposes,” Krein said, ” local coho fishing doesn’t really get under way around here until the end of August.”

Bob Ferber at Holiday Market Sports in Burlington (360-757-4361) reports beach fishing for coho getting underway at several places on the west side of Whid;bey Island, and better action on the way. One customer, Ferber said, worked a beach on Admiralty Inlet just south of the Keystone ferry terminal near Fort Casey for 5-6 pound fish on Buzz Bombs and Rotators during the flood tide.

Steelhead situation: At a state Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting on Feb. 6, a two-year wild steelhead retention moratorium was adopted, making it illegal to keep unclipped steelies statewide. The controversial action aroused considerable backlash, with many anglers feeling they had been blindsided by the moratorium. Enough negative public comment was received, apparently, to convince the Commission to revisit the issue.

So a public meeting has been scheduled to take comment on the moratorium, Aug. 28, at the Kitsap Conference Center in Bremerton, starting at 10 a.m. The agenda is posted on the Commission’s Web site, http://wdfw/wa/gov/com/meetings.htm.

Many fishermen are pushing for an amendment to the moratorium regulation, in effect reverting to the 1 wild fish per day and 5 per season limits in effect on certain rivers prior to the Commission action. Except for the Green River in the Seattle area, most of the rivers where wild steelhead retention was allowed prior to the moratorium are on the Olympic Peninsula. State biologists have maintained that healthy wild runs on certain Peninsula rivers could host a meticulously regulated harvest fishery.

Some anglers, according to river guide and Arlington resident Sam Ingram, feel the Commission bowed to political correctness and pressure from elitist conservation organizations when they passed the moratorium, ignoring advice from their own biologists.

“There is also some feeling,” Ingram said, “that the tribes would be able to harvest, commercially, any fish given up by sport anglers, under court-mandated sharing rules. Or at least no guarantee that they wouldn’t.”

And finally, Ingram said, it’s self-evident that once anglers give up a fishery, it is often very difficult to get it back.

Ingram said a petition is available for signing at the Hook, Line &Sinker tackle shop in Smokey Point (360-435-5052), asking the Commission to revert to the old rules. Oral testimony may be presented only at the Aug. 28 meeting. Interested persons may also pre-submit comments via e-mail to commission@dfw.wa.gov, or by regular mail to Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission, 600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501.

Big trout: Kelly Gregory of Everett nailed a jumbo rainbow trout of 32 inches and 12 pounds on Aug. 1, soaking Power Bait at Lake Tye, in Monroe. “My husband netted the fish for me,” Gregory said, “and it totally destroyed a brand-new landing net.”

There are still big ‘bows cruising Tye, Blackman’s and Storm lakes, from state and club planting programs earlier this year. Other good trout bets (although without the jumbo triploids) include Heart Lake in Skagit County for fish in the 12- to 18-inch range, and in Lake Goodwin locally, according to Everett Steelhead and Salmon Club president Jim Brauch.

Other stuff: The Cowlitz remains red hot for summer-run steelhead, putting out better than one hatchery steelhead per rod for boaters last week, and just under a fish per rod for bank anglers. Fall chinook action is getting under way on Drano Lake, with some 70 boats counted, trolling with downriggers, on Sunday. Buoy 10, on the other hand, produced only 67 chinook and 14 coho for 1,124 angler trips last week, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Slow, steady fishing for summer chinook on the upper Columbia remains the rule, according to Brewster resident and fishing guide Rod Hammons (509-689-2849), below Wells Dam and at the mouth of the Okanogan River. Two to three fish a trip, Hammons said, on dodger and herring, running 12 to 30 pounds.