HOOK AND FUR By Bob Brown This year's Puget Sound salmon fishing prospects are looking good, according to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) forecasts. In a WDFW news release March 2, Ryan Lothrop, Puget Sound recreational fish manager, said another solid run of coho is expected to return to Puget Sound rivers this year. More than 891,000 coho, up 20,000 from last year, are forecast to return to Puget Sound. Central and south Sound areas are anticipated to be bright spots for coho. The forecast for summer/fall chinook is 208,000 fish (down somewhat from last year). Hatchery raised chinook make up the bulk of returning fish. More then 6.5 million pink salmon are expected to return to the Sound this year, which is comparable to the number that returned in 2013. Most pink salmon return to state waters only in odd-numbered years. The forecast for sockeye is 165,000, short of the 350,000 million needed to consider a recreational sockeye fishery for Lake Washington; however, fish managers will consider sockeye fisheries in Baker Lake and the Skagit River. The fall chinook return is expected to be 900,000 fish, the third-largest total since 1938. Roughly 70 percent of returning chinook (about 626,000) are expected to be upriver Brights headed for areas above Bonneville Dam. The ocean abundance of Columbia River coho this year is expected to be about 777, 000 fish, down from 964,000 in 2014. Also, about 255,000 hatchery chinook are expected to return to the lower Columbia this year. Known as "tulesGÇ¥ they are the backbone of the recreational fishery. While the forecast of returning coho is down about 20 percent from last year's return, the forecast for lower river chinook is up slightly from last year. As in past years, salmon fishing prospects in 2015 will vary by area. Joe Hymer of the WDFW reported the first spring chinook counted at Bonneville Dam had a Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag. The wild fish was tagged at the Crooked Fork Creek Trap in the Lochsa Sub basin in Idaho on Oct. 7, 2011. Hymer also reported department fish checkers have yet to sample a spring chinook caught in the lower Columbia. Angler pressure was high in the lower Columbia during the February 1-March 1 weekend with nearly 100 boats and 200 bank anglers during a Saturday flight count. Anglers fishing the Cowlitz continue to be dealing with flows in the 5,000 cubic feet per second range. Flows March 2 were 5,060 CFS with a water visibility of 10 to 11 feet. Karen Glaser of Barrier Dam Campground said fishing "has been picking up. We have been seeing nice big steelhead now. On March 4 we weighed in a 20.5 steelhead and there has been a few in the 13 to 15-pound range." Bank anglers have been using a lot of jig and bobbers, topped off with a little Loonie Coonie Tails or sand shrimp. Some anglers are using corkies, Blue Fox spinners and Little Cleo's, while other have been just drifting sand shrimp and eggs or a combination of sand shrimp/ eggs and Cowlitz Cocktails. A few spring chinook have been reported caught. Sampling last week counted 12 boat anglers with eight steelhead kept and 21 bank anglers with three steelhead kept and one released. During three days of operations, Tacoma Power employees recovered 19 winter steelhead at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery. Fishing in the Skookumchuck has been fair to good with decent water conditions. Angler pressure-á has been heavy at times. -á Bob Brown lives in Roy and is a freelance outdoors writer. He can be contacted at robertb1285@fairpoint.net
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment