If the only fish you catch are small fish, this was your year to enter the Everett Coho Derby.
Most everyone knew going in that the coho arriving in local waters this month were not as large as usual, and the derby served to prove the fact. The winner was caught by Gary Hamlin and weighed just a shade under 12 pounds. That’s a nice silver to be sure, and any salmon worth $10,000 does not need to be Moby Coho. Still, last year’s winner weighed 15.5 pounds; in 2012 it was 17.28 pounds; and in 2011, 16.55 pounds.
“Overall, I’d rate the fishing as below average, and the size of the fish substantially smaller than in past derbies,” event coordinator Mark Spada said.
Everett Steelhead and Salmon Club member Jim Brauch said last year it took at least a 9-pound fish to win a prize, while this year prizes were still being awarded for coho in the 5-pound range. There were 34 fish weighed last year over 12 pounds, he said.
Second place and $5,000 went to Matthew Thoura at 11.82 pounds; third and $2,500 to Lillie Ludwig at 11.63 pounds; fourth to Rusty Breedlove at 11.10 pounds; and fifth to Nevin Booth, at 10.48 pounds, worth $500. The event sold 1,940 adult tickets, and had 253 youth entries, putting more than 2,000 anglers on the water for the event. Adults weighed in a total of 766 fish, and youth, 105 fish. Samantha Bratton won the youth division and $300 for a coho of 8.34 pounds.
Two boats were awarded at the Everett Coho Derby by drawing, sponsored by the Northwest Marine Trade Association’s Salmon Derby Series. Joel Clark of Monroe won the adult boat, worth about $65,000, and Jackson Girard won the youth boat package. Another substantial prize, an Alaskan fishing trip, was won by Kane Ayling.
Brauch said the word going around was that Hamlin nailed his derby winner off Humpy Hollow, trolling south from Mukilteo, using an Ace Hi fly.
“Probably 60 percent of the entries were caught on that lure,” Brauch said. “The rest were pretty evenly divided between plug-cut herring, spoons, and green spatterback hoochies.”
Brauch said not as many entries were caught in local rivers as there were the past couple of years, leading him to believe the bulk of the run hasn’t hit freshwater yet. In the salt, he said, fish were scattered all over the board. A lot of coho came from the west side of Possession Bar, toward the shipping channel, but also many from the traditional spots such as the shipwreck, Brown’s Bay, Edmonds and others.
Methow River
The substantial rain this week could have put the popular Methow River out of fishing shape, particularly with the bare watershed created by this summer’s wildfires, but to this point trout fishermen have been doing well.
The river is open to catch and release fishing, selective gear, from Gold Creek upstream to Foghorn Dam — about 15 miles of fishing water. Most anglers have been looking for big cutthroat, up to 18 or 19 inches, and most have been fly fishermen, using surface or just sub-surface flies, state fish and wildlife department Okanogan-area biologist Ryan Fortier said,
A lot of Methow regulars, Fortier said, also are waiting for the steelhead fishery to open, and for some word on how the run is shaping up. The river closes Sept. 30, then reopens for the steelhead season in mid-October.
“This year’s steelhead run is supposed to be a pretty good one,” Fortier said, “maybe 85 or 90 percent of last year’s and the 2013 fishery was productive. We were able to schedule a good, full season of fishing.”
He said in another week or so he’ll have a pretty good idea of how many steelhead he’ll be dealing with this fall and winter.
Hanford Reach
The fall chinook fishery on the Hanford Reach portion of the central Columbia River is picking up steam, according to state biologist Joe Hymer in Vancouver. Both harvest and effort increased last week, with anglers working on a record or near-record run of autumn kings in the big river.
Hymer said chinook counts at Bonneville Dam have been holding steady at 20,000 adult fish per day, and that an in-season run update completed this week said the Hanford Reach return appears to be meeting the forecast of around 200,000 fish.
State personnel interviewed 2,429 anglers on 1,834 boats last week, and said the average catch was running about a king and a half per boat. Some 182 bank fishermen at Ringold were also contacted, with 17 chinook and a scattering of coho.
Yakima River
Fall chinook fishing on the Yakima remains slow, but should pick up over the next couple of weeks as more fish enter the river. Hymer said 120 anglers were checked last week with seven adult chinook and two jacks. Daily chinook counts at the Prosser Diversion are still running below 100 fish, he said.
Waterfowl clinic
Six-time Washington State Duck Calling Champion Shane Rossen will offer a free pre-season presentaton on Northwest waterfowl from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. October 9 at the Tulalip Cabela’s. He will cover a wide range of factors of interest to the waterfowl hunter, including calling techniques, blind placement, blind concealment, how best to avoid detection by approaching birds, and much more.
Space is limited, so RSVP by calling 360-474-4880.
Don’t forget other hunting-oriented seminars in the upcoming series: Big Game Camp, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 27-28; free classes and activities to get you ready for your big game hunt; and Field Dressing and Processing Big Game with an expert meat cutter demonstrating how to properly field dress and debone your big game animal for maximum success, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 5, Free to attend, but RSVP for the live demonstration by calling 360-474-4880.
For more information on any of the above, go to www.cabelas.com/tulalip.
Quality hunt information
The Northwest Chapter, Washington Waterfowl Association, will meet at 7 p.m. Oct. 14 at the Conway Fire Hall, with featured speaker Cole Caldwell of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Caldwell will discuss the state’s private lands hunting access program (formerly known as the “Quality Hunt Program), going over the locations of blinds and hunting tracts and changes in the program for this season.
Attend and get the scoop on quality public hunting opportunity on the Skagit Delta and other spots.
Buoy 10 silvers
Fishing remains hot for coho on the bottom end of the Columbia River, where state sampling showed an average of 3.9 silvers and 0.10 chinook per boat over the weekend. The lower Columbia coho catch from Aug. 1 through Sept. 21 of 4,919 silvers kept is a record, beating the previous high of 4,027 fish in 1986.
For the same period, anglers caught 22,483 chinook and 6,842 steelhead in 119,885 angler trips.
The angler trips and chinook kept are the fourth highest on record but, with a month to go, could still set a new standard. The steelhead catch is the third largest on record.
Salmon closure
Salmon fishing closed last weekend off Westport and Ilwaco, the end of an outstanding season. Catch quotas were expected to be met in marine areas 1 and 2, where the season had been scheduled to run through Sept. 30.
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