Skykomish Kings

Tomorrow June 1 st marks the opening of the Hatchery Chinook season for the Skykomish River from the mouth of the Wallace River downstream to the Lewis Street Bridge in Monroe. Though with the warming weather the river has come up a lot the last few days with the river at 12,200 cfs at about noon today. The river reaches peak flow around midnight every night and drops all morning and again starts to rise all afternoon and evening once again. Though a little high it would be worth a bet to give it a try in the AM.

Shad Numbers Soar! - Bonneville Dam

If you are interested in catching a lots and having a "Great" time with something tugging at the end of your line then its time to head to the Columbia below Bonniville Dam.The shad numbers have exploded the last couple of days over the dam. Here's some of the count for the past few days!

05/28/09 - 24,886
05/29/09 - 63,192
05/30/09 - 83,492

As you can see the numbers have just soared! It's time to plan a trip sometime during the next couple of weeks.

If you haven't tried this fishery you have missed out on alot of fun. Though not the best on the table they do make "Great" crab bait for this upcoming crab season or you can save a few for sturgeon bait.

We have lots of "Shad Darts" and spoons in Stock.

Have a "Great" time.

Shad - Columbia River

Shad counts over the dam have really started coming on strong the past couple of days, with numbers in the 20 - 30 thousand range the last few days. With numbers that high it is time to plan a trip in the next few weeks. Though not much on the table, they are a lot of fun on the line. This is a great fishery to take the kids to as they will have a fantastic time catching them.

We have lots of shad darts in stock in various colors.

Lake Stevens - Kokanee

Fishing Lake Stevens for kokanee continues to be quite good! I have talked with lots of the regulars the past couple of days and all are still doing quite well on these land locked sockeye. Most all of the successful anglers are fishing downriggers or lead core line and keeping their gear in the 20 - 3o foot zone. Silver Horde Kokanee Dodgers or Sep's Sling Blades with a wedding ring tipped with Gulp maggots, real maggots or shoe peg corn. Some anglers are fishing small #14 Spin-n-glo in a variety of colors behind their attractors, make sure to tip your hook with bait. Try to fish in the 1 - 1.2 mph range. If you are not doing well watch the ones that are and try to emulate them the best you can. These fish have been averagin in the 13 - 14 inch range with an occasional one pushing the 17 inch range.

This fishery has been extremely popular lately with as many as 50 boats on the water. Get there early to make sure to get a good parking spot or be perpared to park on the shoulder of the road!

Kings - Edmonds Pier

There have been a few kings hooked off the Edmonds pier this past week! Not every one was landed, but at least there have been a few hooked! There was a 10+ pound king landed yesterday off the pier. If you want a chance at a king in the saltwater before the opener on the 16th of July then this is the only game. The fishing should only get better with every week. Try fishing any lead minnow in the 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 ounce range. Point Wilson Darts, Mega Baits, Laser Minnows etc will all do the job - colors in pearl white, pearl green or silver / black back are all normal fair for the pier. Make sure to change your hooks to single barbless hooks and don't forget your pier net to land that fish.

Fly Fishing - Lake Chopaka

"Great" fly fishing reports coming from this popular Okanogon lake. Most everyone we have talked with are all touting how good the fishing has been . Lots of nice rainbows from 14 - 21 inches, with the average fish in the 17 - 18 inch category.
Numbers of fish hooked has also been quite good, with good fishermen landing 20 - 30 fish a day. Fly patterns have been very diverse, with chirnomids in black, olive and maroon being perhaps the best. There has been a little may fly action starting with Calibaetis adults hatching out in the late morning into early afternoon. When the fish are not on the chirnomids or may flies then drag out a leech pattern in black or olive and it should produce. If you decide to go this weekend be prepared for lots of angles as there will be a couple of fly club outings over the three day weekend.

Fly Fishing - Pass Lake

Reports over the weekend were fairly good for the fly guys fishing Pass Lake. There seemed to be good numbers of fish caught in the 14 - 21 inch range. The individuals that I talked with were doing well fishing leech patterns on a type 2 sinking line. Most were anchoring up and casting parallel to the drop offs or weed lines, casting out and counting down so that they were fishing just off the bottom or the tops of the weeds. A slow hand retrieve on the fly seemed to do the trick. Others were productive fishing chirnomids just off the bottom utilizing strike indicators.

Most fish that we heard of were rainbows with an occasional brown trout thrown in.

With the improvement in the weather we should start seeing a little dry fly action. Look for a little may fly hatch or if you hit it correctly the flying black ants.

Kokanee - Lake Stevens

With Wayne Kruse's article on Kokanee fishing at Lake Stevens in this past Thursday's Hearld put lots of pressure on the lake today. Ted Oden said that the parking lot at the launch was full early this AM with anglers trying their luck on these tasty landlocked salmon. Though there was lots of competition on the water today both Ted and his fishing partner did not have any problem catching their limits (ten kokanee each) in a couple of hours of fishing time. Ted mentioned that their were two sizes to their fish, about half were in the 13 -14 inch range and the others were around 11. Small #14 Spin N Glos in Rocket Red with Silver Mylar wings fished behind a Silver Horde Kokanee dodger, the hooks were tipped with Berkley Gulp Maggots were their ticket to success. Fish were in the 25 -30 foot zone. This fishery is just getting started and should only get better over the next month.

For additional waters to fish Kokanee in the local area you can give Samish, Cavanaugh or Watcom lake a try. For the most part these fish are an under fished resource in many of the lakes in the state.

Drano Lake Chinook

We have had some "Good" reports from Drano Lake the first part of the wee. Seems like the fishing has gotten a little better. We have seen some nice fish in the teens to low twenties this week. Most of our customers have been happy with the results that they have been having, most averaging at least a couple of fish per day for the boat. Though not exactly red hot, it is still the best bet if you are looking for Chinook. Most of the customers are doing just fine fishing a smaller plug cut herring (Red or Green) by itself. There are a few anglers that are fishing the herring behind a small in-line flasher (Fish Flash or Cone Zone) and are getting fish also. A few are trolling plugs such as Magnum Brad's Wigglers or Magnum Wiggle Warts in flame, flame herring bone, pink or fire tiger color patterns. The bank fishermen have been tossing a combination of Vibrex Spinners or the same plugs as the boaters are towing.

Weather has been the typical Spring weather we have been contending with up this way - just wait five minutes and it will be something else. Go prepared with everything from rain gear and warm jackets to sunscreen.

Fishing should continue for awhile as dam counts have still been good.

"New" Flashers

Just in time for summer Salmon fishing we have just recieved a new flasher from Hot Spot. "Mountain Dew" in 3 colors is now available and it looks like it is going to be a good flasher for both Kings and Coho. http://www.tedssportscenter.com/Mountaindewflasher.htm

Shrimping Closed - Area 8-1 & 8-2

Just received an e-mail form WDFW and areas 8-1 & 8-2 are now closed - so no shrimping tomorrow in these areas. Wish the WDFW could give us a little more notice that that.

Shrimping - Areas 8-1 & 8-2

Looks as if we are going to get another day of Spot Shrimp fishing in areas 8-1 and 8-2. I did not see any closure information on the WDFW website this morning. So if you are able to get out tomorrow it would be worthwhile to harvest a few more of these fantastic crustaceans, as we don't know how much time we have left.

Hood Canal will also be open!

If you are in need of bait - we had another shipment of Super Bait Pellets come in yesterday.

Lake Chopaka - Fly Fishing

Lake Chopaka in the upper Okanogon has been producing some fantastic fly fishing in the past couple of weeks. The fly guys that we have been taking with have all had "Great" reports of both numbers of fish landed but also good sized fish. Fish have been averaging anywhere from 14 to over 20 inches in size with 20 to 30 fish days not being out of the question. Chironomids have been the number one producer fished under a strike indicator and small olive or black leeches following a close second. Weather has been typical for this time of year - just wait 5 minutes and it will change. Go prepared for just about everything - there was even snow on the hillsides just a few days ago.

Angling pressure has not yet been severe with about 20 boats on the lake on an average day. I am sure that the numbers will increase as the weather continues to get better and with the Calibaetis hatches, which this lake is known for are just around the corner.

Kokanee - Lake Stevens

Kokanee fishing at Lake Stevens is really starting to turn on. One of our customers stopped by on the way home to show off his catch that he and his son caught this AM. Though they didn't have a ten fish limit, they did have 15 really nice 13 -15 inch kokes. They did best fishing Sling Blade Dodgers with silver spinner blades and red beads fished behind with corn. Jim talked with a couple of other guys and they too were having fair luck. Looks like with the improving weather and warmer waters this fishery should just get better and better.

Chinook - Drano Lake

The Chinook fishing at Drano Lake seems to be improving. We have had some "Fair" reports coming from both boat fishermen trolling plug cut herring, plugs or spinners with prawns. The bank fishermen have been throwing Mag Warts or Brad's Magnums in Fluorescent Red, Fluorescent Red Tiger Stripes or Fire Tiger color patterns as well as #5 or #6 Vibrex Spinners in Gold Blade / Flame Body or Silver Blade / Chartruse Body.The fishing has been off and on from day to day. If you spend a couple three days fishing you will be there for a day or two of the bite. Fish have been averaging from around 8 - 15 pounds with an occasional fish in the high teens to low twenties.

If you happen to have any "Red Label" herring make sure to take them as this has been the ticket (at least that has been the word from some of the boys we have talked with).

We have heard of some 30 plus fish days caught amongst the bank anglers this week.

Make sure to read your regulations on this popular fishery as the WDFW has imposed some "No Boat" zones to alleviate conflicts between boat and beach fishermen.

Kokanee - Lake Chelan

Jeff Witkowski reported in today from Lake Chelan and shared a good kokanee report with us. Though the weather hasn't been any better on the east side with winds up to 40 MPH, Jeff managed to get out between squalls and found some nice Kokanee to 17 inches. Flash Lite trolls with Wedding ring spinners seemed to do the trick. You can see by the photo's that these are some very nice fish. If you haven't eaten Kokanee before you'll be in for a surprise, as they are without a doubt one of the finest of the freshwater species.


You can contact Jeff (Big Dog Fishing) at (509) 860-7345 if you would like to book a trip with him.

Kokanee - Lake Stevens

Kokanee fishing has started at Lake Stevens! Though it has been a little spotty on a day to day basis the fishing has had some "Good" days in the past week. The fish have been averaging from 10 - 16 inches, and are in really prime shape. Anglers have been finding them anywhere from the surface down to 30 feet. Gear that has been productive is across the board, from a dodger / wedding ring / white corn combination, to small hot pink squids and small spoons have all connected with these landlocked sockeye. This fishing should do nothing but improve as the weather stabilizes.

Spot Shrimp Closure - Areas 9 & 10

Wednesday May 6 will be the last day for recreational spot shrimp fishing in areas 9 & 1o. The areas will be open from 7:00 AM - 3:00 PM. The WDFW has determined with the amount of participation the quotas will be reached.

However, with the predicted weather that we are to experience tomorrow there might be a remote chance that the WDFW will have another opener; providing that the amount of pressure is less than they anticipated.

Lingcod Reports

With lingcod opening this last Friday, I thought that we might do a little run down on what we heard over the weekend.

Here in Puget Sound we heard less that fantastic reports for most of the anglers that we talked with. Not only did they not find good numbers of legal ling cod, generally we heard that they didn't find that many at all. There were a few legal fish taken off the rock pile area of Sachet Head and off the wreck just west of the Possession buoy. The fishing was not that much better in the Double Bluff area either.

We had better reports out of the the Saun Juans where we had good reports coming out of the Iceberg Point area of Lopez Island and up north in the Cone Islands areas. Anglers that stayed closer to home found a few fish in Deception Pass and off of Burroughs and Allen Island areas south of Anacortes.

Those that fished the rocky areas of the offshore banks did quite well on the lings over the weekend. Generally they had good numbers of sub legal lings but most managed to bring their fish home.

Halibut - Partridge Bank

One of the customers just stopped by to show off photos of the nice 80 pound halibut that they took off Partridge Bank yesterday. Roger said it was the only fish they had but was very happy with what they caught. The fish took a large jighead and white scampee tail tipped with a herring offering.

We heard of a number of other fish coming from this area over the weekend.

Lone Lake - Whidbey Island

One of the customers stopped by this afternoon after fishing Lone Lake and said the fishing wasn't too bad! He was fishing Hale Bop Leeches in olive to connect with rainbows to 17 inches. He said the pressure on the lake was slight, with just a few fishing this morning. With all the other waters that are now open it leaves lots of choices for anglers to pick from.

Earlier in the week we had good reports from a couple of the guys that had done well fishing small (70 series) hot shots in frog patterns. They caught good numbers of fish up to 18 inches.

Remember, this is a selective fish regulation lake. You are able to fish flies or lures that are rigged with barbless single hooks - no bait! no scent!

Spring Chinook - Drano Lake

Reports from Drano Lake have been a little on the slow side so far. There are a few fish being taken, but it definitely has not been what it should be for this time of year. It should be getting better day by day. Try fishing medium sized plug cut herring (green) or troll Brads Magnum plugs in Flour. Red, Fire Tiger or Pink.

Make sure to read the "New" fishing regulations for the popular piece of water as there have been some changes.

Puget Sound - Spot Shrimp Opener

Needless to say, all of the popular spot shrimp fishing spots were inundated with high concentrations of boats and gear all trying to catch their limits of these fantastic tasting crustaceans. We have talked with a number of our customers that had fished the Edmonds / Brown's Bay area and all had no problems in getting their limits. In fact, they said that they had to dump their additional gear as they had limits in their first couple of pots. They said without a doubt that it was the best shrimping that they had seen. We also talked with people in the Clinton area that had done well also, though there seemed to be a little gear conflict. There were a number of individuals that did not leave enough room between pots that resulted in a lot of gear getting tangled! Make sure that you leave enough room between gear to alleviate this problem. It seemed that there was a lot of participation in the fishery this year. Joe took a drive down the hill and said that there must have been at least a 100 or more boats in the Brown's Bay area alone!

The WDFW will crash the numbers in the next few days and we'll see how many additional days that we recieve to fish.

Halibut - Partridge Bank

Halibut fishing continues to be good for anglers fishing all of the normal spots. Generally, I would have to say we have seen a "Good" start to the season. There have been a number of really large fish caught on the banks since the opener. We have heard of a number in the 100 plus range and even one that pushed the 200 range. Lots of the preferred eating sized fish in the 20 - 40 pound range have been landed in good number. Most fishermen we have talked with have been doing well enough at least to be keeping their interest up and not getting discouraged. Tides are looking better for the time being and we should see some better fishing for the short duration, until the next minus tide sequence.

Ted Measor called this morning from Partridge Bank and had landed a nice one of 35 pounds.

Lingcod - Edmonds Pier

Lingcod reports from the Edmonds fishing pier were quite bleak this morning. We have had a couple of individuals that spent the AM down there today and said that they saw just a single undersized ling landed! Generally there are a number of fish that are landed each and every opening day by pier anglers. What makes this opener different one can only guess. Hopefully, this is just an odd day and fishing will improve. There are a multitude of different methods for approaching this fishery, 1. Lead heads and plastic worms (1 - 1-1/2oz lead heads with 6 - 8 inch curl tail worms in black, root beer, chameleon or motor oil colors are preferred) 2. Fishing live bait, such as live herring, shiner perch, blennies, gunnels or small sole or flounder. 3. Large swimming plugs such as Magnum Saltwater CD Rapalas in CD 14's or CD 18's that are cast and cranked over the kelp and rocks of the breakwater.

Lake Chelan Kokanee

Here's Jack with the last koke of our limit, fishing Chelan yesterday. Water temp hit 50 degrees so the fish are moving in to Lakeside area but weather has been cold, rainy and windy last few days, front after front has been blowing through, barometer is all over the place... creates slow fishing, only averaging 3-4 fish on per hour, fishing with one stick (lose lots, even with snubbers!) A few days of high pressure and that per rod average should at least double. Used Mack's flashlites, wedding ring tipped with shoe-peg corn yesterday but 4/0 dodger and kokanee killer has been effective also. By the way, thanks for the advice of canting the hook 15 degrees on my flys when trolling Roses. Only fished it twice since you suggested it so not enough numbers for absolute proof but, so far, hook-up % has almost doubled

Average size so far this year is better than previous years, so far, they are running 12-14 inches with plenty in the 14" range. I have heard of some 17 and 18" fish caught but have yet to see any of that size myself. I have been fishing Lakeside and Mill bay, use riggers, watch the electronics for fish anywhere between the 30' and 70' lines and have been doing most of the fish at 20-25' deep. When dragging wedding rings and flashlites, I troll at .8-1.0 mph, when dragging a dodger and koke killer or imperial spoon, I go at 1.2-1.6 mph. Hits/hook-ups versus fish in the box is a problem, I'm doing less than 50%...The other day, had 27 hits to get 10 fish in, I'm working on it.

Thanks Jeff for the report....

For those interested in fishing Lake Chelan Kokanee you can contact Jeff at 509-860-7345