The dastardly winter of 2006-07 has wrought havoc not only with roads and power lines, but with something far more serious – Puget Sound salmon fishing.
What could have been a decent blackmouth season – there are some nice fish out there between the schools of shakers and the Arctic fronts – has become more work and trouble than it’s worth for a lot of fishermen, and many a boat sits forlornly on its trailer in many a backyard.
There’s a glimmer of hope on the horizon, however, with the scheduled opening of Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet south to the Edmonds-Kingston area) on Feb. 1. If the weather moderates just a tad, there should be salmon for all hands, according to reports from anglers currently at work in Area 10 (central Puget Sound south of Edmonds-Kingston).
“Fishing has been very good in Area 10 for a couple of weeks now, almost everywhere down that way,” said All Star Charters owner/skipper Gary Krein of Everett. “It closes Jan. 31, the day before Area 9 opens, and there’s no reason why prospects for 9 shouldn’t be excellent.”
Krein said Possession Bar is the premier fishery in Area 9, and he likes the “outer bar,” a narrow shoal running southward on the west side of Possession proper. It runs from the Scatchet Head buoy southward, almost directly toward Kingston, Krein said. He likes the west side of the bar on an incoming tide, and the east side on the ebb. He starts trolling it along the edge, where the shoal drops from a depth of about 90 feet, down to 120 feet, keeping his gear at 110 feet. If there are no concentrations of bait showing, he’ll look for them, moving outward to 180 or even 200 feet of water.
If there’s plenty of bait around, and Krein is confident there will be, he’ll probably greet the opening with 5-inch Tomic plugs – Nos. 603 or 600 in glow white, or the green scaleback, No. 632. If bait is scarce, or the plugs aren’t working, Krein said he’ll probably revert to the standard flasher/Coyote spoon combo, using spoons in the yellowtail or frog racer color schemes.
While waiting for Area 9, the weather forecast looks a little better and Krein said there are some legal blackmouth being taken up in Area 8-1, along with a few really nice fish to 15 pounds. The slot from Fox’s Spit to Baby Island, and on across Holmes Harbor in the Greenbank/North Bluff area have produced fish on the Whidbey side of Saratoga passage, along with the Onomac area on the Camano side. The Fox’s Spit/Baby Island run is relatively well protected from southwest winds, but Krein said you’ll get beat up pretty badly off Greenbank on a south wind.
State Department of Fish and Wildlife personnel checked three chinook for seven boats at the Camano State Park ramp on Saturday, and five fish for 12 boats at the Port of Everett ramp.
“Most of those Everett fish came either from Camano Head or the racetrack (between Camano Head and Hat Island),” Krein said, “and most were just legal length.”
Krein is scheduled to give six seminars at the Seattle Boat Show. He’ll speak on central Puget Sound winter blackmouth fishing. He’ll cover the Area 9 opener, including how to fish Possession Bar and Double Bluff, plus some of the better spots in areas 8-1 and 8-2. The show opens today and his talks are slated for 7 p.m. on Friday; 5 p.m. on Saturday; 3 p.m. on Sunday; 6 p.m. on Tuesday; 5 p.m. on Feb. 1, and noon on Feb. 3, all at the fishing stage.
The Seattle Boat Show: The event runs from today through Feb. 3 at the Qwest Field Event Center, and on the water at south Lake Union, with free shuttles between the two. Hours are weekdays, noon to 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults; $5 for young people ages 11-17; and free for children 10 and under. A three-day Flex Pass is $18. Purchase tickets online at www.seattleboatshow.com and receive free parking, a free cup of clam chowder from FX McRory’s and a one-year magazine subscription.
The show is expected to draw more than 60,000 boating enthusiasts to see over 1,000 craft – fishing boats, inboard cruisers, runabouts, kayaks, sailboats and inflatables – and hundreds of accessories, plus the latest high-tech innovations.
There will be 74 different seminars on the fishing stage, by names such as Tom Nelson, TJ Nelson, Tony Floor, Tom O’Haus and others. A boater education center has been added to promote the new boating requirements to be phased in by the state starting in January 2008. The biggest change in state boating law will be the requirement that boat operators carry a boater-education card when on the water.
Boat maintenance and operation seminars have been gathered under the “Boat Show University” banner, offering 50 speakers and more than 250 presentations. For boaters wanting to immerse themselves in advanced marine topics, a number of three-hour intensive seminars have been set up on topics such as electrical troubleshooting and diesel engine repair. To see the seminar schedules or to preregister for Boat Show University, go to www.seattleboatshow.com.
Steelhead: It’s getting to be transition time on Northwest rivers, when early hatchery steelhead runs give way to later native-stock runs. Hatchery fish still are being taken in many places, including Reiter Ponds on the Skykomish, the Cascade, the upper Skagit, the Cowlitz, and the Kalama, among others. The Cowlitz at Blue Creek has been probably the best bet. A total of 28 fishermen were checked there late last week with 18 fish. Remember that Blue Creek itself closes to fishing Wednesday, and the steelhead limit in the Cowlitz drops from six fish to two.
Both Kress Lake (near Kalama) and South Lewis County Park Pond have been putting out surprisingly good steelhead fishing as “surplus” hatchery fish from the Cowlitz system are being planted in the two lakes rather than being recycled downriver. Ten-pound steelhead in a small lake? Yep.
The Kalama has been very good for both boaters and bank anglers (one to two fish per boat last week), but was blown out of shape by rainfall early this week.
Cold, dirty water also plagued the Snohomish system this week, according to guide and Arlington resident Sam Ingram.
The upper Skagit has been fair to good for a mix of native and hatchery fish. The drift from Rockport to Concrete has been perhaps the best stretch, when the Sauk isn’t pumping in mud, according to Bob Ferber at Holiday Market Sports in Burlington.
Smelt: Good jigging at Cornet Bay, on most tides, but nothing yet at Oak Harbor Marina.
The Cowlitz remains a blank so far, although there are signs that smelt may be entering, or are already in, the lower river. A very few fish were dip-netted the first two Saturdays of January (dipping is legal only on Saturdays) and a group of harbor seals was seen feeding on smelt near Gearhart on the lower Cowlitz last week. By Saturday, seals and cormorants were observed in the middle of the river above Kelso, although no smelt were taken by light recreational pressure.
Waterfowl: One last duck-hunting weekend coming up, and warmer weather has brought birds back to the fields on the Skagit delta and other estuarine areas. But according to Rone Brewer, president of the Northwest Chapter, Washington Waterfowl Association (nwducks@snohomish.net) the flocks are widely scattered and a successful hunt must start with some serious scouting.
Columbia Basin: Guide and Brewster resident Rod Hammons (509-689-2849) said there are a couple of top fishing opportunities right now in his area. The first is Rat Lake, where ice fishing is hot on the north end for trout running 12 to 13 inches. Limits are common.
The second is the peak of the season for big triploid rainbows in Rufus Woods Lake, the Columbia reservoir above Chief Joseph Dam. Access the bank along the south side from Bridgeport upstream, where several Corps of Engineers access areas are open to the public. Hammons said a fly fisherman using a pontoon boat recently nailed a 20-pounder in that area.
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