Steelhead fishing hurt by low water levels

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, December 7, 2005

If it’s not too high and dirty, it’s too low, cold and clear. Many Western Washington steelhead rivers are starting to fall into the latter category, with no rainfall and minimal snowmelt recently.

Such is the case in the Forks area, which started to put out peak winter steelhead fishing last week before Peninsula rivers began to drop into the too-low range.

State Department of Fish and Wildlife checks late last week showed the best fishing, as expected, on the Bogachiel, where 109 fishermen kept 63 hatchery steelhead and released 19 hatchery and two wild fish. Not far behind was the lower Hoh, where 57 anglers kept 18 steelhead, and released four hatchery and one wild fish.

Statistics from the state show a mixed bag on returns of early hatchery steelhead to lower Columbia River tributaries. The number of adults returning to the Elochoman River in November, for instance, was 42, compared to 31 in the same month last year. The Cowlitz didn’t fare as well, tallying 49 winter steelhead back to the salmon hatchery, compared to 250 last year.

The Kalama has been putting out fair fishing, according to state biologist Chris Wagemann, in the canyon stretch for bank anglers, and the middle section for drift-boaters.

The Skagit, after a truly dismal season last winter, is showing signs of an improved catch this winter.

“We’re cautiously optimistic,” said Bob Ferber at Holiday Market Sports in Burlington. “One guide boat hit seven fish on Saturday and five on Sunday, all up by Rockport, and we’ve had other good reports from the Sedro-Woolley area. Even better, these are nice fish to 12 or 13 pounds, hatchery stock, with more in the 8- to 9-pound range. That’s a definite improvement over those emaciated 5-pound peanuts we were seeing last winter.”

The Cascade is already producing bright winter steelhead for those who can keep the dark coho away. Float-and-jig fishing is popular there.

Ferber said that, surprisingly, there are still bright, fresh coho being caught by anglers chasing winter steelhead and, again, the Sedro-Woolley area has been the most productive. The silvers ranged from 7 to 13 pounds over the weekend, he said.

Last week’s midnight changeover to winter gear on the North Fork Stillaguamish produced no winter steelhead for the glow-ball crowd, according to Darrell Kron at Hook, Line &Sinker (360-435-5052) in Smokey Point.

“No winters that I heard of,” Kron said, “but probably eight or 10 summer-runs at Fortson. Farther down river we’re hearing of a winter fish or two, here and there, along with a fair number of summer-runs.”

Kron said the North Fork is too low and clear now, and that the mainstem Stilly, often dirty, could be the better bet this weekend.

Jim Strege at Triangle Beverage in Snohomish (360-568-4276) will run his annual winter steelhead contest again this year, with prizes for largest fish and fish closest to the mystery weight, along with a weekly drawing for tackle from among all fish entered. Steelhead from the Snohomish and/or Stillaguamish systems are eligible.

Blackmouth: All Star Charters owner/skipper Gary Krein, in Everett, agreed that the winter fishery has finally started to improve, and that Saratoga Passage is probably the top producer right now.

Krein has been working the east shoreline of Whidbey Island from Langley north (roughly Sandy Point to Fox’s Spit) and hitting two to five keepers per trip. On Saturday, for instance, he released three wild fish, kept three legal hatchery fish, and released four shakers – a typical day over the past couple of weeks.

“They’ve been nice, fat fish, too,” he said, “a lot of them in the 6- to 10-pound range. And I’ve been hearing reports of fish around Onomac Point, in Elger Bay, and around Baby Island and Greenbank, as well.”

Krein has been putting his ‘riggers at 100 to 135 feet, right on the deck (if you’re not bumping, you’re not catching). He’s been using a green glow flasher, 40 inches of leader, and a Coyote spoon in two-tone green or frog racer pattern.

Remember, Krein warned, Marine Area 9 is open to crabbing, but closed now to salmon fishing and won’t reopen until Feb. 1.

Bass: If you’re an aficionado of those funny green fish with all the sharp points, you might want to take a winter look at the Washington Bass Association, our large and active local club. Plenty of competition for the fire-breathers; plenty of softer stuff for the family, and an upcoming Junior Bassmaster’s group. Novices and those without boats are matched with experienced members. Meetings are at the Meadowdale Community Center, 6801 N. Meadowdale Road., Lynnwood, at 7:30 p.m. on the first non-holiday Wednesday of each month. Call new members chairman Dave Bruggman at 425-778-4933.

Squid: A few have been taken off the Edmonds pier, according to Mike Chamberlain at Ted’s Sport Center in Lynnwood (425-743-9505). The catch has been much better from piers in the Seattle area.

Smelt: Nothing yet of real interest from any of the usual smelt jigging areas.

Winter trout: The Eastern Washington winter trout season is at an awkward point – too much ice on some lakes for easy boat or bank access, but not nearly enough yet to support ice fishing. That will change, one way or the other, and the following should be putting out rainbows: in the Methow Valley, Davis, Campbell, Cougar and Little Twin; Lower Green, near Omak; Sidley Lake, near Oroville, for trout to 18 inches; and Roses Lake, near Chelan, which was just planted with 20,000 one-third-pound rainbows and about 100 going a pound and a half.

Banks Lake is putting out limits of rainbows averaging 20 inches with a few in the 21- to 23-inch range, for shore-bound bait fishermen working from the jetty at Coulee City Park on the south end of the lake, and for trollers fishing the north end with Apex spoons in 8 to 18 feet of water. The big reservoir is also still good for smallmouth bass, and for perch going 10 to 12 inches along the weed beds and in the bays around the lake’s north end.

Commission meeting: The state Fish and Wildlife Commission, meeting in Olympia over the weekend, approved three-year management plans for Columbia River sturgeon. The plans generally uphold the recreational catch at current levels while providing larger reserves to protect spawning fish. Allocation formulas remain the same – 80 percent of the harvestable 40,000 fish to Washington and Oregon sport fishermen, and 20 percent to the industrial fishery.

The commission also increased the number of mountain goat raffles from one to two; authorized spring bear hunts in the Blue Mountains, the Capitol Forest near Olympia and on land owned by Hancock Forest Management near Mount Rainier; and merged Game Management Unit 558 with the Lewis River unit (560) and created five new deer-management areas on islands in San Juan, Island, King and Pierce counties.+