W ell, that’s sportfishing for you, folks. Just when it appeared that a really good bunch of ocean silvers had found its way to local waters, in time for the big Everett Coho Derby this weekend, the fish up and vanished. Or they got lockjaw, or they all sped right through the area and on up the rivers, or something.
Whatever the problem, “they turned around and bit us like a snake,” in the words of All Star Charters owner/skipper Gary Krein in Everett.
Krein referred to the substantial dropoff recently in the local coho catch rate since ocean fish first appeared early last week. Fishing was very good for several days, and some nice-sized silvers in the 14- to 16-pound range were taken, leading to high fives and rampant enthusiasm all around. But coho being coho, they smiled, tipped their hats, and faded from the scene.
“It’s not what we had started to expect,” Krein said. “we (charters) have been scratching early this week for two or three fish a day.”
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife checkers at the Port of Everett ramp tallied only 59 coho (plus 4 pinks) for 414 anglers on Saturday, and 75 coho (plus 4 pinks) for 449 on Sunday.
There are more silvers coming, but catch rates on the Strait of Juan de Fuca have also dropped – from over a fish per rod two weeks ago to checks at Van Ripers Resort in Sekiu Saturday showing 158 fish for 234 anglers and, on Sunday, 67 for 141.
That’s not great salmon fishing, but it shouldn’t it be a reason for not buying a derby ticket ($20 for both days at most area tackle shops and G.I. Joe stores). For one thing, hordes of hungry coho could hit the Mukilteo-Edmonds shoreline tomorrow morning, inhaling everything in sight. It’s happened before, and there is even a late report or two that suggest some fresh fish were coming east from Possession Bar on Tuesday.
Everett resident and past president of the Everett Steelhead and Salmon Club, Jim Brauch, hit a bunch of nice ocean coho Tuesday morning, trolling a line from the shipwreck across to the green Possession buoy. Way out there, in the shipping lane. The largest was about 12 pounds, Brauch said, but they were averaging about 9 pounds. He took the bulk of his fish on flasher/squid, but hit a couple on a “flatline” rod with diver and plug-cut herring. All the gear was fishing at only 30 feet or so, he said.
Another report Tuesday morning from the shipwreck proper had two anglers landing four nice silvers by about noon, on flasher/squid.
That’s coho fishing, up and down; on the bite and off; but whether the numbers are up or down, the cash and merchandise prizes, including two boat/motor/trailer combos, will still be given away and you might score big, even with a smaller fish. Net proceeds of the event, expected to draw close to 3,000 anglers to areas 8-1, 8-2, and 9, and the Snohomish, Stillaguamish and Skagit river systems, go to enhance local fisheries and to benefit youth activities, so you can’t go far wrong ponying up for a ducat.
Full rules on the Internet at www.everettcohosalmonderby.com.
Need a suggestion on where and how to fish? Krein said to head down to the “shipwreck,” between Mukilteo and Edmonds, and start trolling south with a glow green flasher, 32 to 34 inches of leader, and a glow green spatterback squid, light green on a bright day; dark green on a cloudy day. Start at about 35 feet deep early in the morning, going to between 40 and 60 feet later. If you should happen to hit a big hooknose of, say, 171/2 pounds, remember where you heard all this.
Rob Endsley of Pacific Northwest Sportfishing (360-676-1321) said coho have just started showing this week in fishable numbers in both the Snohomish and Skagit rivers, and they’re already scattered widely through both systems. He’s been doing well casting Wee and number 1 Dick Nite spoons in 50-50 pattern, and number 5 Vibrax or Mepps spinners in chartreuse/silver or orange/silver. Still a bunch of pinks in the rivers too, he said, including a few in reasonably good shape.
Guide and Arlington resident Sam Ingram said the Skykomish isn’t hosting any coho yet to speak of, but that there are still plenty of pinks available – maybe one in 12 or 15 keepable.
“If I were going to fish the Snohomish system for the derby, I think I would hit the lower Snohomish, from the town down, because we really haven’t had enough rain to pull big numbers of fish far up the system,” Ingram said. “I would drift and cast a Wee or number 1 Dick Nite spoon in 50-50 or the newer frog/nickel pattern.”
Chinook: If you prefer chasing the big guys, pretty fair chinook fishing continues in several places north of us, for mostly Canadian kings. Bob Ferber at Holiday Market Sports said the Indian Village on Guemes Island and Eagle Point on San Juan Island have been producing some really big chinook the past three weeks, up to and including fish of 44 and 46 pounds. The largest fish was caught by retired WDFW officer Bob Forbes off Eagle Point in 110 feet of water, on a plug-cut herring.
The point should produce chinook well into October, Ferber said, since the Harrison River (B.C.) run will be moving through, and Canadian biologists are expecting a record return.
The lower Samish River has been very good for a mix of small and much larger chinook, from time to time and depending on weather conditions. Ferber said a 30-pounder came through the shop last week from the Samish. In addition to working the river proper, on incoming and high slack tides, Ferber said jiggers are scoring off Samish Island’s Fish Point, where the river channel winds through the flats. Yellow or green jigs in the 1 1/2 to 21/2 ounce range are popular.
Waterfowl issue: The Washington Waterfowl Association needs support in its fight to save public hunting access on the Skagit Wildlife Area from a zealous consortium of groups, including tribes, Ducks Unlimited, and the WDFW, intent on removing dikes and restoring intertidal fish habitat. It’s not that anyone is against improving salmon and steelhead habitat, said spokesman Rone Brewer, but to do it on the back of 50 years of traditional waterfowl hunting usage and countless hours of hunting club involvement, without providing equal or better hunting access, is not going to fly if the club can help it.
Dike removal and salt marsh restoration would involve Wylie Slough, Leque Island (the island just west of Stanwood where pheasants are released), and the “Headquarters Unit” on Fir Island, just west of Conway. This is arguably the best, and most heavily used, public waterfowl hunting access in Western Washington – an area where generations of duck and goose hunters have cut their teeth.
The restoration would, Brewer said, effectively end walk-in public waterfowl hunting access between Mount Vernon and Marysville.
Club directors have agreed to bring suit if the members of the consortium do not adequately address hunters’ needs, Brewer said. He urged concerned waterfowlers to contact the state Wildlife Commission (commission@dfw.wa.gov) and the Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation (info@iac.wa.gov), to oppose the Leque Island and Wylie Slough restoration projects.
For more information contact Brewer at 360-629-4213; e-mail nwducks@snohomish.net.
Columbia Basin: Your humble scribe took a quick two-day run to Brewster early this week with Jim Brauch (above) for a combination chinook/walleye trip. We fished with guide Rod Hammons of R&R Guide Service, a trip I did last year at this time and thoroughly enjoyed. The Basin is such a great place to visit in the fall that catching fish is pretty much a bonus, but the salmon fishing has been good and dropping water temps have put walleye on the bite.
We hit the chinook in the Bridgeport area on an off-day and Brauch was the only one who could manage a hookup, landing a 10-pound hen on a backtrolled Kwikfish with anchovy wrap. The walleye cooperated a lot more fully, and between noon and about 1 p.m. we landed six fish, including our limit of three over 22 inches. Half-ounce jig heads with root beer and motor oil curly-tail worms did the job, working the gravel bars.
Columbia River steelhead season opens Oct. 1, Hammons said, and the outlook is good.
Biologist Joe Hymer in the WDFW’s Vancouver office said salmon fishing for fall chinook in the Yakima is picking up, and that the average last week on fall kings in the Hanford Reach, above the Tri-Cities improved to one fish for each 3.4 boat fishermen.
Dry, sunny fall weather is also pulling more anglers to Lake Chelan, where Mackinaw fishing has been consistently productive. Guide Anton Jones of Darrell &Dad’s Family Guide Service said the fish are beginning to hold in areas adjacent to rocky rubble and stream mouths in preparation for the spawn and to feed on staging kokanee. The Yacht Club, Lake Chelan State Park, and Mac Bar have all put out fish, running typically 2 to 6 pounds, but with a sprinkling of larger Macs. Flatfish in the U-20 size and FST spoons have offered the best success, Jones said.
Chris Schultz of Shoreline and Ralph Stevens of Lynnwood were members of a party which fished Saturday, taking 12 lakers to 9 and 11 pounds, Jones said.
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