Salmon are in the spotlight this time of year around Puget Sound and the fishing opportunities are there. If you would rather chase big kings than small sockeye, for instance, there are more than a few available in different places right now.
One of the better areas is the Strait of Juan de Fuca, where anglers working out of Sekiu have found abundant bait and good chinook populations the past couple of weeks. State Fish and Wildlife Department checks at Coho Resort on Sunday tallied 28 chinook for 25 boats, and at Olson’s Resort, it was 39 boats with 30 kings.
The Sekiu area is functioning under the state’s selective chinook fishery, allowing fin-clipped kings only, and while a few guys continue to mutter at having to deep six a big fish or two, it’s generally working pretty well. Gary Ryan at Van Riper’s Resort (360-963-2334) calls the action “very decent” off the caves, the bell buoy and several other normally productive spots.
“There are tons of small anchovies in the area, and that’s what the fish are feeding on,” Ryan said. “So the successful fishermen are going to smaller baits and lures, such as the little 3-inch Coho Killer spoon behind a flasher, on downriggers.”
He said chinook are being taken at 40 to 60 feet, over 110 to 200 feet of water, generally, and that not too many ocean coho have shown in the area as yet.
Coastal salmon fisheries remain spotty. Ilwaco is the best, by the numbers, at about 1.4 fish per rod last week, but 82 percent of those fish were coho. Neah Bay showed about three-quarters of a fish per person, 80 percent coho, and Westport remained slow at a little better than a half fish per rod. More than half were chinook, however. In an attempt to sweeten the coastal pot, the state has announced a regulation change which will allow seven-days fishing in Marine areas 1, 2, 3 and 4, from Friday through the end of the season.
South Puget Sound, which has become one of the premier summer chinook fisheries in the area, is picking up. state checks at the Point Defiance Boathouse on Sunday showed 35 boats with 27 chinook.
The Elliott Bay king fishery remains consistent, with checks at the Duwamish River ramp on Sunday showing 37 boats with 15 chinook.
More locally, the Tulalip bubble has improved at least to a degree recently, and there seem to be enough chinook in the area now to allow jiggers to find fish with Point Wilson darts worked around bait balls. There were 10 kings checked Saturday by the state at the Port of Everett ramp.
Chinook action in the San Juan Islands has dropped off a bit, but fish are still being taken, according to Anthon Steen at Holiday Market Sports in Burlington (360-757-4361), at such places as Lopez flats, Thatcher Pass, Obstruction Pass, Point Lawrence, and Eagle Bluff/Tide Point.
Derby: The initial edition of the Budweiser/Lowrance/Brewster King Salmon Derby on the Columbia River over the weekend drew 120 entrants and weighed 50 chinook, according to event coordinator JD Smith of Brewster. Top spot ($1,000), at 34.1 pounds, went to Brad Wagner of Wenatchee; second, at 30.3 pounds went to Steven Anderson of Bridgeport, and third, at 24.2 pounds, went to Ken Kneis of Omak. Anglers from this area fared well, with Adam Davis of Arlington nailing a $190 side pot for two salmon totaling 35.9 pounds, and Chris Smith of Stanwood winning a prize in the youth division for a fish of 10.3 pounds.
Guide and Brewster resident Rod Hammons said the top fish was taken on a Flatfish, although most successful contestants caught their kings on either herring or Magnum Wiggle Warts. The bulk of the fish were taken off the mouth of the Okanogan, Hammons said.
Sockeye: South Lake Washington is the gorilla in the room right now, and rightly so, for those wishing to bring a prime salmon dinner home to the table. Boats of all shapes and sizes will work in this fishery, and while downriggers are more efficient, you can usually get down to a fish or two with 6 or 8 ounces of crescent lead, at least in the mornings. Troll very, very slowly with a size “0” chrome or white dodger (not a flasher), very short leader (12 or 14 inches) and a red or black, bare, size 2/0 Gamakatsu hook. Many experienced anglers, Tom Nelson and Bob Ferber included, like to tie two hooks in tandem with a small, red Corky or two between them. Krill scent, smeared over everything, is a popular way to go.
Jerry Beppu at Linc’s Tackle in Seattle (206-324-7600) said the fishery has been very good so far, with most experienced anglers taking two-fish limits. Chrome dodgers with scalelight were the preferred attractor, he said, and a small “retro” backlash seemed to develop over the choice of lure.
“A substantial number of people went back to, and started doing very well with, the old reliable U-20 Flatfish in fluorescent red,” Beppu said. “You need to lengthen your leader to maybe 15 inches if you use a plug, however.”
He said fish would be moving toward the south end of the lake by now, and tapped the area just south of Seward Park as a good place to start.
Guide and Arlington resident Sam Ingram (360-435-9311) called from the lake Wednesday morning, from just south of the Evergreen Point bridge, with two fish in the boat and another lost at 8:30 a.m. He and his fishing partner were getting a solid hit about every half-hour he said, at 75 feet.
The chances of a sockeye season happening on Lake Wenatchee remain slim to nil, with no apparent improvement in a run predicted by state biologists to be well below escapement needs this year.
And finally, Anthon Steen at Holiday Market Sports (above) said there’s a relatively unknown sockeye fishery this time of year in the San Juan Islands at Eagle Point, where large numbers of fish pass on the way to BC’s Fraser River. Troll very slowly with a white or chrome dodger, a short leader and a pink mini-squid. Depth will vary.
Coho: Marine areas 8-1 and 8-2 opened Aug. 1 for coho, but it’s early for decent fishing. All Star Charters owner-skipper Gary Krein said the occasional silver is being taken at the shipwreck and on Possession, but not very many.
Top spot, he said, remains Jefferson Head, pumping out coho like a veritable fish factory.
“It’s slowed a little from what it was the past couple of weeks,” Krein said, “but you can still catch limits if you put in your time.”
He likes a dodger and squid, tipped with a strip of Berkley Gulp, fished at 40 feet early and deeper as the sun gets brighter. Silvers there are averaging 3 to 6 pounds, he said, with the occasional fish to 7 or 8 pounds.
“A lot of guys from the Everett area are running down there now,” Krein said, “and fishing pressure has increased significantly.”
Tuna: Albacore are holding 45 to 50 miles off the coast, just within range of one-day charter trips from Westport, according to Merle Lundell at Westport Charters, and boats are coming back with up to 60 fish on board, averaging 15 pounds. Single-day trips cost around $300 per person and 1 1/2 -day trips go for $450. In September, two-day extended trips start running at $525.
Lundell said his firm is booked pretty tight for tuna, but the Westport Chamber of Commerce can suggest other charters, either by phone at 1-800-345-6223, or on the Web at www.westportcam.com, click on tourist info, click on fishing.
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