If you’re a chum salmon aficionado, you might be interested to know that the dogs have shown up in force at the Hoodsport Hatchery on Hood Canal. Unfortunately, chums will be off limits this fall on most of our area rivers, and if you enjoy tangling with these ornery critters, you’ll have to look farther afield.
Chums must be returned to the water this season on the Skagit, South Fork Nooksack, Cascade, Stillaguamish, Snohomish, Skykomish, Wallace, Snoqualmie and Carbon rivers.
A state Fish and Wildlife Department employee at Hoodsport said Tuesday that “there’s a bunch of chums out there” off the mouth of the hatchery stream and added both recreational and tribal commercial fishermen have been working the area for a week or so. The tribes will be netting Tuesdays and Thursdays for the duration of the run, the hatchery tech said.
Most of the salmon will go 10 or 12 pounds and will be in decent shape if you get them early in the season. Anglers wade and cast steelhead-type gear, keeping terminal tackle light.
“You don’t want to go too heavy,” the tech said. “The area is shallow, and heavy tackle will drop to the bottom before the salmon have a chance to see it.”
The most popular setup, he said, is probably a Corky/yarn combo, in green, orange, chartreuse or purple. While terminal tackle should be kept light, rod and line should be heavy enough to move a fish out of the crowd quickly, before it can foul a half-dozen other lines.
The tech said early results have been pretty good and that the fishery should get even better over the next two or three weeks.
River coho
Kent Alger at Three Rivers Marine in Woodinville said that while coho action on the Snohomish system has shown “nothing stellar” so far, there are some fish being caught.
“The guides have been doing OK,” Alger said. “Results have been up and down, with the Skykomish probably the most consistent, around Sultan and below.”
He said one boat on Monday, however, took three nice fish while sitting over plugs on the incoming tide, a mile or so below Snohomish.
Bank anglers are casting various lures, Alger said, with spinners a good bet, often rigged with a pink or chartreuse mini squid ahead of the hook.
“You have to get down where they live,” Alger said, “so if you’re going to use one of the lighter spinners, like the Vibrax, you’re going to need to add weight. A better idea is heavier gear, like the RVRFSHR.”
Most of the coho being caught so far in the Snohomish system have been smallish fish in the 6-pound range, but Alger said there are heavier silvers being boated farther out in saltwater.
“A guide that stops by here, Deborah Stevens, took four on Monday off Port Angeles that she said would have averaged 12 pounds,” he said.
Local pheasant
Belinda Schuster, state manager of the Skagit Wildlife Area, said the planted pheasant program has been going well since it opened in late September, with good turnouts and few problems. Plants are made at release sites on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday evenings, for hunting on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
The Lecque Island site (the “Smith Farm”) west of Stanwood gets 45 to 60 birds each plant. The newer Bow Hill site, north of Burlington, has had issues with surrounding landowners, however, and Schuster said she has cut the releases there to 25-30 birds per plant. The planting schedule at Bow Hill is the same as that at Lecque Island.
Schuster said she plans to “put a few more birds out” around Veterans Day, Nov. 11.
Schuster also said the waterfowl opener on Oct. 11 was a good one on the Skagit delta, with dirty weather pushing ducks off the bays. Washington Waterfowl Association president Rone Brewer hunted Skagit Bay on the opener and did very well, saying there was lighter pressure than usual, and more ducks flying than he’s seen in four or five years.
Steelhead clinic
The annual free Steelhead and River Fishing workshop sponsored by the Everett Steelhead and Salmon Club and Everett Parks runs 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Nov. 8, at Floral Hall in Forest Park in Everett. This will be the 30th year for the venerable event, according to coordinator Jim Brauch, and he says coverage of jig twitching, along with an expansion of the fly fishing portion, will make the clinic the best yet. There should be something of interest to both experienced and novice anglers, including methods and techniques, tackle, hook tying, rigging and casting, reading water and a lot more. For more, call EvParks at 425-257-8300, ext. 2.
Eastside salmon
The Yakima River fall salmon fishery closed Wednesday on a high note, with state samplers checking 211 fishermen with 49 adult chinook, one chinook jack, and four coho for the week. Anglers averaged one salmon for every 11 hours of fishing time, according to biologist Paul Hoffarth.
The number of anglers fishing the Hanford Reach portion of the Columbia River for fall chinook has started declining, but the action remains excellent. The average number of kings caught per boat last week, according to Hoffarth, was 2.7, and there were an estimated 1,576 boats fishing the Reach for the week.
The most productive portion of the fishery, from the old Hanford townsite upriver to Priest Rapids Dam, closed Wednesday, but the portion below that, down to the Tri-Cities, remains open through the end of the month. Hoffarth said that for the season there were an estimated 4,300 angler trips to the Reach, and they harvested 25,600 adult chinook, plus jacks and a handful of coho.
Razor clams
The current coastal razor clam dig schedule is as follows: Oct. 23, minus 0.1 feet at 7:07 p.m., on Long Beach and Twin Harbors; Oct. 24, minus 0.4 feet at 7:44 p.m., on Long Beach, Twin Harbors and Mocrocks; Oct. 25, minus 0.6 feet at 8:22 p.m., on all beaches except Kalaloch; Oct. 26, minus 0.6 feet at 9:03 p.m., on Long Beach, Twin Harbors and Mocrocks; Oct. 27, minus 0.4 feet at 9:47 p.m., on Long Beach and Twin Harbors; and Oct. 28, minus 0.2 feet at 10:36 p.m., on Long Beach and Twin Harbors.
The next dig series runs Nov. 4-11, and includes a minus 1.2-foot tide on Nov. 7.
Game management plan
The latest version of the draft 2015-21 game management plan for the state is available at wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/game, and the state will accept public comments on the plan through Nov. 17. Key issues addressed by the latest draft include predator/prey relationships, deer and elk predation, and wolf, cougar and bear management.
Eastside hunting
The waterfowl opener in the Columbia Basin was a duck hunter’s dream, according to Mike Meseberg at MarDon Resort on Potholes Reservoir, with winds gusting to 40 mph keeping ducks on the move. Call the resort about its “Duck Taxi” operation, which involves boat travel on the reservoir to established blinds, at 509-346-2651.
And don’t forget the fee access for pheasant hunters on 28,000 acres of private land near Royal City, benefiting youth activities in the area. A season pass costs $300 and a 3-day pass runs $120. For more information, call the above number.
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