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News › Weekender Update November 15 - 28, 2006
 Weekender Update November 15 - 28, 2006 Posted by glock on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 (02:26:33) (7884 reads)
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Weather permitting, opportunities abound to fish.
Anglers in many areas of western Washington are waiting for their favorite rivers to drop back into shape for fishing. "With these recent heavy rains, it's tough to say when that will be," said Tim Flint, WDFW statewide salmon manager.
Even so, some waters have remained productive for fishing. On Hood Canal, anglers have been catching nearly two chum salmon per rod in front of the Hoodsport Hatchery. On the Cowlitz River, 69 anglers caught 26 adult hatchery coho while fishing just below the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery. And on the upper Columbia River, anglers fishing above Wells Dam have been catching an average of one steelhead for every seven to eight hours of effort.
In fact, fish biologists point out that all that rough weather in early November wasn't all bad news:
Heavy stream flows may have swamped some chum salmon fisheries, but they are also drawing increasing numbers of steelhead up rivers around the state.
Bank anglers fishing below Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River are averaging one legal-size sturgeon - which are energized by high, dirty water - for every two rods.
North Puget Sound
Fishing: The chum salmon return to many area rivers was nearing its peak when recent heavy rains swelled the region's waters. Once river levels get back to normal, the fish might not be as abundant, but anglers should still have a decent chance to hook a chum. "When we finally get a break in the weather and the rivers have a chance to drop back into shape, anglers should find some chum and even some coho salmon," said Tim Flint, WDFW salmon resource manager. "Although, with these recent heavy rains, it's tough to say when that will be."
Saltwater fisheries are an option for anglers waiting for river conditions to improve. Effort has been light, but stalwart anglers that braved the recent rain and wind did find some salmon in Puget Sound. One bright spot was Nov. 8, when three anglers were checked at the Everett Ramp with four chinook.
Anglers participating in the selective blackmouth fishery in marine areas 8-1 (Deception Pass, Hope Island and Skagit Bay) and 8-2 (Port Susan and Port Gardner) can keep up to two hatchery chinook per day, so long as the fish measure at least 22 inches in length. Wild chinook salmon, which have an intact adipose fin, cannot be brought aboard the boat.
In marine areas 9 (Admiralty Inlet) and 10 (Seattle/Bremerton) anglers can keep one chinook as part of a two-salmon daily limit in each area. Anglers in Marine Area 7 (San Juan Islands) also have a two-salmon daily limit but must release chinook.
Seven marine areas of Puget Sound also are open to recreational crabbing. Marine areas 4 (Neah Bay), 5 (Sekiu), 6 (eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca), 9, 10, 12 (Hood Canal) and 13 (south Puget Sound) are open seven days a week through Jan. 2 unless catch quotas for those areas are reached before then.
Marine areas 7S (San Juan Islands), 7E (Anacortes to Bellingham), 7N (Bellingham to Pt. Roberts), 8-1, 8-2 and 11 (Tacoma-Vashon Island) will remain closed to sport crabbing for the season.
Back on the freshwater, about 3,000 hatchery rainbows - averaging approximately three pounds each - are scheduled to be released into Beaver Lake near Issaquah the third week in November. Beaver Lake, which is one of several westside lowland lakes open to fishing year-round, is best fished by small boat, although anglers can also be successful fishing from shore, said Chad Jackson, WDFW fish biologist. The daily bag limit is five fish, and bait anglers must keep the first five trout they catch.
Anglers should check WDFW's 2006/2007 Fishing in Washington pamphlet (http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/regs/fishregs.htm) for more information on those and other fisheries in the region.
South Sound/Olympic Peninsula
Fishing: In a sure sign that the dog days of summer have given way to the dog days of fall, thousands of chum salmon are now moving into fisheries throughout the region. "We've got schools of chum out front and they're being caught," says the phone message (360-877-5222) at the Hoodsport Hatchery on Hood Canal. That's something of an understatement. A creel check conducted Nov. 11 counted 84 bank anglers with 170 chum salmon taken in the "hatchery zone," where the daily limit is four salmon (with a maximum of two chinook) per rod. "That's pretty good fishing by any measure," said Hal Michael, a WDFW fish biologist.
While high water in mid-November temporarily stalled chum fishing in area rivers, Michael said catch rates should pick up quickly once those rivers drop back into shape. "We're just approaching the middle of the run in most rivers," he said, adding that recent updates indicate many runs are exceeding pre-season forecasts. "There will still be a lot of opportunities to catch chum salmon in the weeks ahead," said Larry Phillips, another WDFW fish biologist. Most chum salmon caught in area waters range from six to 15 pounds, he said.
Both biologists pointed to Kennedy, Perry, McLane, Johns, Schneider and Skookum creeks in the South Sound area as good bets for chum fishing, once water levels drop. Other areas now open to chum salmon fishing include the Dosewallips River and Duckabush River in Jefferson County, and Minter Creek in Pierce and Kitsap counties.
Michael recommended that bank anglers fishing the estuaries near the mouths of those creeks and rivers start casting just before high tide for best results.
Anglers are also advised to check the Fishing in Washington rules pamphlet (http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/regs/fishregs.htm) for boundaries, catch limits and other regulations for each area. In doing so, anglers targeting chum salmon should also check the regulations for other fish species before they cast a line, Michael said. "There are still a fair number of late-running coho in many of these waters," he said. "Also a lot of `egg predators' such as char and sea-run cutthroat. You may be fishing for chum salmon, but it's important to know the rules for these other species before you get one on your line."
Anglers should also start watching for winter steelhead, said Mike Gross, a WDFW fish biologist for the Olympic Peninsula. Although heavy rains render most area rivers "unfishable" in early November, Gross expects to see early steelhead in the catch once the rivers fall back into shape. "The steelhead fishery on the Olympic Peninsula traditionally gets under way around Thanksgiving, but all this water could bring early-run steelhead in sooner," Gross said. He noted that WDFW will release a pre-season forecast for steelhead returns in early December and that the department will start conducting creel surveys soon on many area rivers. All anglers planning to fish for steelhead should check the Fishing in Washington rules pamphlet for regulations applicable to specific rivers before they go.
Rather catch crustaceans? Recreational crab fishing reopened Nov. 1 for the fall season in four marine areas of Puget Sound, including marine areas 6 (eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca), 12 (Hood Canal), 10 (Seattle/Bremerton) and 9 (Admiralty Inlet). Crab fishing in those area will be open seven days a week through Jan. 2. Also open seven days per week are marine areas 4 (Neah Bay), 5 (Sekiu) and 13 (south Puget Sound), where fishing has continued uninterrupted since those areas opened June 18. Marine Area 11 (Tacoma) will remain closed for the season along with several other areas in Puget Sound where area catch quotas were reached during the summer season.
Clam diggers should note that the next razor-clam opening is tentatively scheduled Dec. 2-3 at Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks and Kalaloch beaches if marine toxin tests show the clams at those beaches are still safe to eat. Twin Harbors would be open one additional day, Dec. 4. Copalis Beach will again remain closed to digging those days due to the low number of clams in the total allowable catch. Clam digging will be restricted to the hours between noon and midnight each day.
In addition, WDFW has tentatively scheduled a dig over the New Year's holiday, pending the results of upcoming marine toxins tests. If those results are favorable, evening digs will be held Dec. 31 at all five ocean beaches - including Copalis - and continuing Jan. 1 at four beaches: Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks and Kalaloch. One beach, Twin Harbors, would also remain open for an evening dig Jan. 2.
Again, digging will be restricted to the hours between noon and midnight each day.
Southwest Washington:
Fishing: High, muddy water has put a damper on fisheries around southwest Washington in recent days, but sturgeon anglers aren't complaining. A creel check conducted Nov. 9 on the lower Columbia River helps to explain why. Of the 60 bank anglers surveyed that day from the Wauna power lines to Bonneville Dam, nearly one in two had taken a legal-size white sturgeon.
"The past couple of weeks have provided some of the best bank fishing for sturgeon I've ever seen," said Joe Hymer, WDFW fish biologist. "Sturgeon actually like high, dirty water, producing high catch rates for anglers who brave the weather."
As usual, some of the best fishing was right below Bonneville Dam, although Hymer noted that anglers also have been taking legal-size sturgeon downriver to Woodland. Sturgeon between 42 and 60 inches may be retained Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays through the end of the year. Through Oct. 31, anglers had caught and retained only 6,700 sturgeon of the 12,000-fish annual quota for the area between Bonneville Dam and the Wauna power lines, which means that part of that quota may be rolled over into next year, Hymer said.
Eager to catch some winter steelhead? While the fishery traditionally starts in earnest around Thanksgiving, a number of steelhead have already returned to the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery, Hymer said. "All this water ought to start bringing more fish into area rivers," he said. The Grays River opens to fishing for hatchery steelies today (Nov. 15) from the mouth to the Highway 4 bridge.
However, those same high-water conditions have also made fishing tough for salmon anglers in many areas, Hymer said. The Lake Scanewa Day Use Park was closed while the lake was drawn down but is expected to open shortly as the lake refills. High flows have also blown out the hatchery coho fishery on the lower Cowlitz River, although anglers have been doing well right below the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery, Despite tough conditions, 69 anglers pulled 26 adult hatchery coho out of the river during the week ending Nov. 12. Hymer reminds anglers that night closure and non-buoyant lure restrictions are in effect in waters between 100 feet to 400 feet downstream of the hatchery barrier dam.
On the north fork Lewis River, 53 anglers surveyed in a creel check caught 12 adult hatchery coho that week. Nine anglers caught 16 adult coho on the Klickitat River during the same period.
Whether fishing on the Columbia River or one of its tributaries, boat anglers should be especially cautious during a high-water event, Hymer said. "Boat anglers need to stay alert to floating debris, which can present a real hazard. Sturgeon anglers and others fishing on the mainstem lower Columbia River also need to keep an eye - and ear - out for barge traffic. Listen for horn blasts from tugs. Regardless of conditions, fishing vessels must yield to traffic in the shipping lanes."
Eastern Washington:
Fishing: Snake River steelhead fishing appears to be improving in all upstream stretches of the mainstem and in most tributaries, according to the latest steelhead creel survey conducted by WDFW fish biologists and their colleagues in Idaho and Oregon. The best catch-rate was on the Tucannon River where anglers averaged less than six hours of fishing per steelhead. Steelheaders checked on the Walla Walla River averaged less than seven hours of effort per fish. On the Snake mainstem, the stretch from Little Goose dam to Lower Granite dam saw an average of just over seven hours of fishing per steelhead. On the Lower Grande Ronde River, from Bogans to the Oregon border, the average catch rate was less than 10 hours per steelhead. See http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/creel/snake/index.htm for all the details from the latest creel survey.
Glen Mendel, WDFW district fish biologist, reminds Snake River steelheaders that the season, which runs through mid-April, is only for retention of hatchery fish - those fish with a clipped adipose or ventral fin and a healed scar at the location of the clipped fin. All wild steelhead, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, must be released unharmed. Barbless hooks are required when fishing for steelhead to protect wild steelhead that are caught and released.
Mendel also reminds anglers that sections of some tributaries in the Snake River basin - Grand Ronde, Touchet, Tucannon, Walla Walla - are closed to trout fishing but remain open to hatchery steelhead fishing through April 15. Check the fishing rules pamphlet for section details.
Recent WDFW enforcement patrols of Lake Roosevelt indicate angler numbers and harvest of the reservoir's net-pen-reared rainbow trout were low. But that was likely due to recent rainy, windy weather that kept the trout from biting and the anglers at home, said WDFW Fish Biologist Heather Woller. As more wintry conditions settle in and water temperatures drop, Lake Roosevelt fishing will improve. "Our best catch rates are usually recorded in December and January when anglers have to brave freezing weather," she said.
Opening Dec. 1, are the region's four winter-only rainbow trout lakes - Fourth-of-July on the Lincoln-Adams county line, Hog Canyon in southwest Spokane County, and Hatch and Williams lakes in Stevens County. Chris Donley, WDFW central district fish biologist, said he will have more data on what anglers can expect at Fourth of July and Hog Canyon later this month after pre-season sampling. But he indicated that last season's good fishing at those lakes might not be repeated due to infestations of baitfish like fathead minnows.
North Central Washington:
Fishing: Upper Columbia River hatchery steelhead fishing has been good, said Bob Jateff, WDFW district fish biologist. "Steelheaders above Wells Dam have had catch rates of one fish for every seven or eight hours of effort," he said. "Boat and shore anglers are doing the best around the docks at Pateros, drifting jigs tipped with whole shrimp." Jateff said hatchery steelhead are averaging six to eight pounds, with some fish up to 12 pounds. Recent flooding on the Methow River slowed participation and possibly success rates in the Wells pool area, but fishing should pick up again as conditions moderate.
The steelhead fishery is currently open from Rocky Reach Dam upstream to 400 feet below Chief Joseph Dam. Only adipose-fin-clipped, hatchery-origin steelhead can be retained, and the daily limit is two fish. Statewide gear rules apply and a night closure is in effect. All steelhead with an intact adipose fin and steelhead with an anchor (floy) tag must be immediately released unharmed without removing it completely from the water.
Jateff reminds angler that both the Okanogan and Methow rivers are closed to fishing for all gamefish at this time.
Rat Lake near Brewster and Big and Little Green lakes near Omak are still open for catch-and-release trout fishing until Dec. 1. "Then all three lakes will switch to a catch-and-keep season," Jateff said. "Rat Lake fishing should be excellent for rainbows ranging from 11 to 14 inches."
Potholes Reservoir is producing large rainbow trout for bank anglers and largemouth bass for boat anglers, who can now reach the sand dunes area because of high water levels. When Columbia Basin irrigation canals are shut down in early November, the reservoir water level rises and the year-round fishery improves.
South Central Washington:
Fishing: The Columbia River steelhead fishery in the Ringold area (from Hwy. 395 Bridge at Pasco to Old Hanford townsite wooden powerline towers) has been productive. According to the latest weekly creel report, the estimated 139 steelhead caught this month exceeds last year's catch for the entire month of November. WDFW Fish Biologist Paul Hoffarth said the current catch rate may even be larger than 2004, a banner year for Ringold steelhead. "Boat and bank anglers also continue to pick up an occasional chinook salmon," he said. The number of boats in the Ringold area has declined with the closure last month of the salmon season above the wooden powerline towers, Hoffarth said. The Ringold bank fishery continues to be popular. For the week of Nov. 6-12, bank anglers averaged one steelhead for every six hours fished. Boat anglers averaged one steelhead for every 14 hours fished.
The Ringold bank fishery is defined in the fishing rules pamphlet as the water of the Columbia River adjacent to Ringold Hatchery from WDFW markers one-quarter mile downstream of the Ringold wasteway outlet to WDFW markers one-half mile upstream of Spring Creek. Only the hatchery side of the river is open for bank fishing.
Hoffarth reminds steelheaders that as of Nov. 1, all hatchery steelhead with just clipped adipose fins may be retained, up to the daily catch limit of two. Last month only hatchery steelhead with both adipose fin and ventral fin clips could be retained.
"This is a reproduction of a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife document and is not the official document or regulations of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The accuracy of the reproduction cannot be guaranteed by WDFW."
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