It’s a bit of a drive, and it can be difficult getting a boat in the water, but Seattle’s Elliott Bay chinook offer a chance to participate in a really unique “urban” fishery – the opportunity to fight a 20-plus-pound king salmon in the shadow of a major downtown core. There aren’t many places in the country where that’s possible – Portland, San Francisco and a couple of Great Lakes ports come to mind – and it adds a little extra pizazz to what might otherwise be just another day cranking downriggers.
Now through early August is prime time for these hatchery chinook, headed for the Duwamish/Green River system, according to All Star Charters owner/skipper Gary Krein in Everett. The season opened July 8 on the usual Friday-through-Monday schedule, for eight weekends, which is two weekends longer than last year. Krein said the fishery is much like the Tulalip bubble in several respects, including the usual pattern of good fishing for the first few days after the opener, a week or two of slow action, and then a pickup toward the peak of the season as major numbers of salmon stack off the mouth of the Duwamish River.
This is a crack of dawn affair, Krein said. As the old rule of thumb goes, “if you don’t need a flashlight to rig your first bait, you’ve missed the bite.” Evenings, while not as consistent as early morning hours, can also be productive, Krein added.
Again much like the Tulalip bubble, Elliott Bay kings can be found scattered around the bay, and they tend to suspend at a certain depth instead of hugging bottom structure. The area off the West Waterway is popular, but kings are taken all the way around the bay, past downtown Seattle – inshore and out in the middle. Krein said he starts at 30 to 40 feet deep early in the morning, and will go down to 80 or 90 feet later, regardless of how much water he has under the boat.
He trolls a red Alaska Eagle flasher and green squid much of the time, but says moochers working plug cut herring also do well here – particularly the old-timers who learned their craft when this was an all-summer, every-summer fishery.
The Armeni ramp in West Seattle is the most popular place to launch, but it can be particularly crowded on weekend mornings. It helps that since the bay is largely protected from prevailing southwest winds, small boats, quickly launched, are the popular choice with many anglers.
Tulalip bubble: And speaking of the bubble, now’s the time to start getting serious if you’ve been thinking of putting in a morning or an evening off Tulalip Bay. Traditionally, mid-July has seen the start of peak action there for kings in the 12- to 25-pound range, even though “peak action” means something like one chinook for every 10 rods or so.
The evening bite has been every bit as good as, and sometimes better than, the morning hours so far this season, according to guide and Snohomish resident Nick Kester. His most productive setup has been a two-tone green Coyote spoon, 42 inches behind a flasher, fished at 40 to 50 feet.
Area 10 coho: The area switched from catch and release to catch and keep on coho July 1, and has been increasingly productive for smallish silvers to 2 or 3 pounds in the Kingston/Apple Cove Point area, and on south to Jefferson Head. Generally, the best coho fishing on the Kitsap Peninsula side of the Sound is on a strong outgoing tide, in the top 60 feet of water, and the fish can be found anywhere from the inshore ledges to the middle of the shipping lane. Work the rips, look for birds, use your sounder.
Strait of Juan de Fuca chinook: The relatively new selective (hatchery fish only) fishery for chinook in the Strait is becoming more popular each summer and, while it wasn’t hot on the July 1 opener, it’s now getting close to the start of last year’s peak fishing, according to Gary Ryan at Van Riper’s Resort in Sekiu. It’s a 4-fish bonus limit this humpy year, just two of which can be coho or clipped chinook The traditionally productive chinook spots, Ryan said, are between Olson’s Point and Eagle Bay, or from the Bell off Slip Point down to the coal mines/Mussolini Rock area. Fishing is generally best early and late in the day, close to shore and along the kelp line.
“Traditional moochers go with 4 or 5 ounces of lead and a cut plug herring along the kelp,” Ryan said. “Trollers use downriggers, flashers and hoochies in green spatterback or army truck, or Coyote spoons in army truck or cop car.”
When the pinks show up in force, he said, the Sekiu area becomes a real circus, particularly for kids and families.
“It’s a great kids game,” Ryan said. “Find a school and just drift and cast to them with light tackle and pink jigs.”
The Sekiu area is known to be small-boat friendly, since most of the hot spots are protected from southwesterly winds. It also offers good bottomfishing, if the salmon aren’t on the bite.
Columbia Basin walleye: Beat the peak of summer heat for a good walleye bite in Moses Lake, Potholes Reservoir, Sprague Lake, Banks Lake, or many sections of the Columbia River. Spinner/nightcrawler rigs and diving plugs are popular with trollers, while drifting and casting small jigs with plastic grub bodies can be very effective, particularly over submerged weed beds and around rocky structure.
Other Basin warmwater species: Now, before August temperatures soar, is also a good time to hit the lower Snake River or the Columbia from Hanford Reach to John Day Dam for some of the best smallmouth bass fishing in the West. Channel catfish offer sporty action and good eating in the same general areas, and, along with smallmouth, in the lower Yakima River.
Good book: I don’t review many outdoor books here, but occasionally a particularly interesting one comes along and such is the case with “Celebrity Fish Talk,” by Dave Strege. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Strege is originally from the Everett area and is related to Jim Strege, avid angler and owner of Triangle Beverage in Snohomish, sort of the unofficial fishing headquarters for anglers on the Snohomish River. Dave Strege has been a southern California sportswriter for 30 years, and the outdoor columnist for the Orange County Register since 1994.
Actor Kevin Costner wrote the book’s foreword, and he writes well. “Fishing is the smell of a canvas tent, an old Coleman stove, and yellow salmon eggs,” he wrote. “To this day, those smells are ingrained in my senses. I can’t get rid of them nor do I want to. They bring me closer to nature, closer to God.”
He wrote about the anticipation, as a kid, the night before a fishing trip: “I wouldn’t fall asleep until 2 or 3. My dad would wake me a couple of hours later and I’d be ready to go, right on time. I could be late for school or something else, but I was never late for fishing.
“Fishing is when the car leaves the highway and hits gravel. The sound tells you you’re closer to fishing.
“It’s driving around the bend and hoping you don’t see someone sitting in your favorite spot.
“It’s a red lure catching all the fish, and sitting next to a guy who has a red lure and you don’t.”
Bobby Knight’s wife, Karen, livens things up in one of the chapters, with a quote after falling into a river while learning to fly fish under Knight’s close scrutiny: “You know, it’s hard to play at your best when the coach is on your ass all the time.”
And John Dietsch, fly fishing production coordinator for “A River Runs Through It,” on having to extract a hook from the neck of Brad Pitt, who hooked himself while casting: “It was not pretty.”
The fishing stories reveal a softer, more human side of a long list of celebrities, including Jay Leno, Tiger Woods, Samuel L. Jackson, Deion Sanders, General Norman Schwatzkopf, Dan Rather, Sugar Ray Leonard, Rush Limbaugh, Wayne Gretzky, and many more.
Some of the stories are nostalgic, some are funny, some are poignant. All are interesting.
Celebrity Fish Talk, $19.95, is available at most booksellers, including Borders, Barnes &Noble, Waldenbooks and others; or by calling toll-free 1-877-424-BOOK; or online at www.sportspublishingllc.com.
* A Hunter Education Class is scheduled to run from June 6 through June 18 at the Lynnwood Recreation Center (18900 44th Ave. W.). Sessions are from 7-9:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. To register or for more information, call 425-771-4030.
* Hunter Education Classes are scheduled for July 13-16, July 20-23, July 27-30 and Aug. 3-6 at the Wildlife Committee of Washington Range in Bothell (1031 228th St. SW). Sessions are from 7-10 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. To register or for more information, call 425-481-8686.
* The Everett Chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation meets the third Thursday of each month. The meetings are at 6:30 p.m. at Petosa’s restaurant on Broadway in Everett. For more information, call Darrell at 425-337-4131.
* Greg’s Custom Fishing Rods in Lake Stevens is offering a Coho/Humpie Seminar at 10 a.m. on July 23 (12405 20th St. NE ). The guest speaker will be local fishing guide Sam Ingram. Preregistration is required. For more information, call 425-335-1391.
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 Monday.
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