Outdoors Report:
Chinook fishing also holding up around Sound
By GREG JOHNSTON
P-I REPORTER
You might consider doing some holiday shopping this weekend, since the fishing scene appears to have reached a lull.
Winter-run steelhead are trickling into many rivers, but it's early yet and nobody's crowing about the action. River fishing for chum and late coho is fading, and never was spectacular anyway. Chinook catches on the marine waters have taken a bit of a dive over the past week, and some key northern areas close at the end of the day Friday. Probably the best bet lately has been chinook fishing on the saltchuck, and the best of that has been in central and south Puget Sound.
Jefferson Head produced decent catches over the weekend, and the Point Defiance area is experiencing its best fall chinook fishing in a long time.
"On Monday it seemed like it slowed down, I think because of an east wind, and it seemed like the baitfish moved out as well," said Tom Mathews, a Department of Fish and Wildlife catch sampler who took some time off to fish the Defiance area over the past several days. "But Sunday was good. We were out for a few hours and got two keepers (8 and 10 pounds) and had several others on, and we saw another boat get one about 12. I don't know where they went Monday, but it's been the best fall fishing there in 15 or 20 years."
Possession Bar on the north Sound -- in catch area nine, which closes after Friday -- has slowed lately. Jeff Head is in catch area 10, which along with areas 11 and 13 to the south remain open. Areas 8-1/8-2 in the Everett area and north also remain open, and the best fishing there lately has been on the northern part of Saratoga Passage. The green buoy at Oak Harbor and Snatelum Point just south both produced blackmouth from 7 to 10 pounds.
One item of note is that regulations in area 10 change beginning Saturday to wild release on chinook. Only marked chinook lacking an adipose fin may be kept, but the daily limit also increases from one to two.
In the rivers, there are a few chum and late coho being taken in the Skagit, Stillaguamish and Snohomish system locally. To the south, the Satsop and Cowlitz are producing some late coho.
But most anglers' attention in the rivers is shifting to winter steelhead, which looked promising after the heavy rain about two weeks ago. Since then rivers have dropped and chilled and the fishing has slowed. A better read on how the steelhead run will shape up will come after the next big rise in the rivers.
http://www.gosalmonfishing.com
http://www.rifles-n-rods.com
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/
Chinook fishing also holding up around Sound
By GREG JOHNSTON
P-I REPORTER
You might consider doing some holiday shopping this weekend, since the fishing scene appears to have reached a lull.
Winter-run steelhead are trickling into many rivers, but it's early yet and nobody's crowing about the action. River fishing for chum and late coho is fading, and never was spectacular anyway. Chinook catches on the marine waters have taken a bit of a dive over the past week, and some key northern areas close at the end of the day Friday. Probably the best bet lately has been chinook fishing on the saltchuck, and the best of that has been in central and south Puget Sound.
Jefferson Head produced decent catches over the weekend, and the Point Defiance area is experiencing its best fall chinook fishing in a long time.
"On Monday it seemed like it slowed down, I think because of an east wind, and it seemed like the baitfish moved out as well," said Tom Mathews, a Department of Fish and Wildlife catch sampler who took some time off to fish the Defiance area over the past several days. "But Sunday was good. We were out for a few hours and got two keepers (8 and 10 pounds) and had several others on, and we saw another boat get one about 12. I don't know where they went Monday, but it's been the best fall fishing there in 15 or 20 years."
Possession Bar on the north Sound -- in catch area nine, which closes after Friday -- has slowed lately. Jeff Head is in catch area 10, which along with areas 11 and 13 to the south remain open. Areas 8-1/8-2 in the Everett area and north also remain open, and the best fishing there lately has been on the northern part of Saratoga Passage. The green buoy at Oak Harbor and Snatelum Point just south both produced blackmouth from 7 to 10 pounds.
One item of note is that regulations in area 10 change beginning Saturday to wild release on chinook. Only marked chinook lacking an adipose fin may be kept, but the daily limit also increases from one to two.
In the rivers, there are a few chum and late coho being taken in the Skagit, Stillaguamish and Snohomish system locally. To the south, the Satsop and Cowlitz are producing some late coho.
But most anglers' attention in the rivers is shifting to winter steelhead, which looked promising after the heavy rain about two weeks ago. Since then rivers have dropped and chilled and the fishing has slowed. A better read on how the steelhead run will shape up will come after the next big rise in the rivers.
http://www.gosalmonfishing.com
http://www.rifles-n-rods.com
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/