State Department of Fish and Wildlife creel checks last week on the Cowlitz showed that winter steelheading on the big southwest Washington river is starting to gain a little weight. Some 49 boat fishermen had 31 steelhead, eight coho kept, and seven coho released.
State biologist Joe Hymer in Vancouver said the catch is probably a mix of early- and late-run stocks at this point in the season, and that it will be swinging to the late-run fish in the weeks ahead. The department is re-engineering the Cowlitz fishery to close out the early-timed steelhead and focus on the late-run stock, so the large, three-salt fish likely will be scarce but could weigh up to 20-plus pounds.
Karen Glaser at Barrier Dam Campground on the Cowlitz said she has seen several big steelhead recently, with a 24-pounder tops to date. She said bright coho are still coming in, many in the 15-pound range. The best steelhead fishing has been in the Blue Creek area; best coho fishing at the barrier dam.
Twitching jigs are the hot lure, Glaser said, in a wide range of colors. Pink, white, purple and black are favorites.
The river is fishable despite recent heavy rains, but Glaser said it’s running at 14,200 feet per second (fps), which makes things difficult for anglers. An ideal flow is 8,000 to 10,000 fps.
Over on the Olympic Peninsula, the Calawah was the hot river before the monsoon hit. Late-week checks tallied 34 bank anglers and two boat fishermen with 51 hatchery steelhead and two wild stock fish released. On the Bogachiel, it was 71 bank anglers and 49 boat fishermen with 13 wild fish released and 37 hatchery fish kept. Counts on the Sol Duc tallied 31 bank anglers and 24 boat fishermen with 28 wild fish released and 14 hatchery stock kept. The upper Hoh put out three wild fish released for 12 bank and 10 boat fishermen, while on the lower Hoh, 22 anglers caught zip.
Fishing slowed a little at Ringold Springs on the Hanford Reach portion of the central Columbia last week. State biologist Paul Hoffarth said action has been spotty recently, but that the month of December produced the best fishing for that period since 2003. Boat fishermen over the weekend averaged 9 hours per steelhead.
Hoffarth said Ringold Hatchery staff transported all the hatchery steelhead captured at the trap this fall and released them back into the river at the Tri-Cities to give anglers another chance to catch these returning adults. Of the 949 steelhead harvested since the fishery opened Oct. 1, 20 percent were “transported” fish.
Mike Chamberlain at Ted’s Sport Center in Lynnwood said the Skykomish had a few pretty good steelhead days before the heavy rains, and that the season on the Sky has definitely been better than last year. Friday, Saturday and Sunday could be good, he said, but he said that after the weekend, the bulk of our hatchery fish will have come in and the local fishery will be starting downhill.
Some fish have been taken at Tokul Creek, he said, but that there hasn’t been much action to speak of on the Cascade.
Spring chinook forecast
Washington/Oregon salmon managers have come out with their forecasts for various Columbia-drainage runs, and spring chinook — arguably the most popular fishery — are predicted to return in about the same strength as in 2014. Most of the popular tributary fisheries such as the Cowlitz and Drano Lake, also look much like last year, biologist Joe Hymer said.
Last year’s total Columbia River spring chinook forecast was for 308,000 adults, Hymer said. The actual count came to 315,600, and the prediction for 2015 is for 312,600 fish.
If forecasts hold true, there will be fewer sockeye in the Columbia River run. The total river sockeye prediction last year was for 347,000 fish, while the actual count came to a whopping 645,100 fish. The prediction for 2015 is 394,000 fish.
The Lake Wenatchee segment of the sockeye run was forecast at 63,400 and counted at an actual 118,500. The prediction for 2015 is 106,700 fish.
Sturgeon
Catch-and-keep sturgeon fishing is open on portions of the Columbia, and fishing has been at least fair. Checks last week showed 20 boat fishermen on the Bonneville pool with three legal white sturgeon kept and 46 sublegals released. On the Dalles pool it was two legals kept and eight sublegals released for 68 bank anglers, and three legals kept plus four oversize and 35 sublegals released for 30 boat fishermen. On the John Day pool, 23 bank anglers released three sublegals, and 30 boat fishermen released one oversize and five sublegal fish.
Brant hunting closes
State waterfowl managers on Tuesday canceled a scheduled January brant season. Counts of the birds in Skagit County indicated numbers were below the level needed for the hunt to proceed. The season was scheduled to open Saturday, provided at least 6,000 birds were counted during an aerial survey, according to state waterfowl manager Don Kraege. Two recent surveys of Padilla, Samish, and Fidalgo bays resulted in counts of about 3,600 brant.
Similarly low counts were recorded in 2003, the last year the late-season brant hunt was canceled in Skagit County.
Razor clams
The next razor clam dig on coastal beaches is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 17-24, with two minus 1.4-foot tides in the middle of the dig: at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 20, and at 7:13 p.m. on Jan. 21. Both those dates are open only on Long Beach and Twin Harbors beaches.
Winter blackmouth
The San Juan Islands remain the place to be for blackmouth fishermen. State creel checks at Washington Park in Anacortes on Friday showed 27 fishermen with 10 chinook, and on Saturday, 111 with 40 fish. At Cornet Bay on Saturday, 22 anglers had eight chinook.
Local fishing has been slow in Mariner Areas 8-1 and 8-2, but fishermen are looking forward to the opening of Marine Area 9 on Jan. 16.
Squid jigging
It has been an excellent squid season for jig fishermen on various lighted piers, but Mike Chamberlain at Ted’s Sport Center said if you’re interested in the fishery on, say, the Edmonds pier, you’d best get on it. “It’s been a great year, but it’s definitely starting to slow,” he said.
Ice fishing
Moses Lake had been good through the ice for big perch to 15 inches, and Fish Lake near Leavenworth for perch and trout, but the recent warm shot probably put an end to that. This looks not to be a blue-ribbon winter for ice fishing.
For more outdoor news, read Wayne Kruse’s blog at www.heraldnet.com/huntingandfishing.
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