Cowlitz census shows this is best coho season since 1990

THE OLYMPIAN | • Published November 05, 2009

Comments (0)

Last week, 13,556 coho returned to the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery which is nearly 1,500 more fish than the previous week’s return. Through the end of October, more than 50,000 coho had returned to the hatchery, the best return since at least 1990.

The robust return of migrating coho doesn’t mean fishing has been a cakewalk in the Cowlitz, but it has been pretty good with bank anglers averaging a coho per every four rods and boat anglers one each in the lower river. The Cowlitz hasn’t been the only river producing better than average catches of coho. Fishing also has been good in the Lewis, Kalama, Skykomish, Humptulips, Klickitat and Bonneville pool.

Fishing has been pretty good for coho and chinook in the Bogachiel and Sol Duc, said Bob Gooding of Olympic Sporting Goods in Forks. Fishing in the Hoh has been a hit-and-miss venture because of erratic water conditions.

Saltwater fishing has been better than fair in Marine Area 8-2. Sunday, samplings taken at the Camano Island public boat ramp counted 52 boat anglers with 35 chinook and at Everett samplings taken the same day counted 116 boat anglers with 78 chinook.

In Marine Area 11 (Tacoma-Vashon Island), there has been a slight improvement in fishing. Anglers mooching and jigging in the clay banks area during tide changes have been catching some blackmouth using 3.5 ounce Point Wilson Darts at depths of 150 feet, said Jake DePoe of Point Defiance Boathouse and Marina.

Good numbers of chum are congregating in front of the Hoodsport Hatchery and are being caught in equally good numbers. Anglers have been averaging better than a fish per rod. Green corkies and yarn and anchovies are favored baits. Tribal gillnets are in place Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Some chum are being caught in the Hammersley Inlet area, but there hasn’t been much pressure. Overall, angler activity has been pretty light south of the Narrows Bridge.

Rivers

Deschutes: Fly fishing has been excellent the last couple of weeks for sea-run cutthroat. Water levels have been high at times because of recent rains, but the river hasn’t been so high it couldn’t be fished, said Tom Bolender of Fishy Business Guide Service. Egg Sucking Leeches have been the best producer.

Skookumchuck: The river is loaded with some pretty scruffy-looking coho, which in the opinion of some anglers are not worth catching; however there has been some angler activity and catching near the hatchery. Spinners and black corkies and yarn have been preferred baits. Water levels are low with about 4 inches of visibility.

Nisqually: Muddy and low. There has been very little angler activity above and below the Mount Road Bridge with no catching reported.

Puyallup: Fishing has been decent at the mouth of the Carbon, said Todd Rock of Auburn Sports and Marine. Chum are starting to move into the lower river.

Cowlitz: Last week, 13,556 coho, 714 jacks, 293 chinook, 34 jacks, 138 summer steelhead, nine winter steelhead, 40 sea-run cutthroat and three sockeye returned to the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery. Also last week, 126 sea-run cutthroat were recycled downstream to the boat launch at barrier dam.

At barrier dam, catching has been off and on for novice anglers while knowledgeable and experienced anglers have not had problems catching, said Karen Glaser of Barrier Dam Campground. At Blue Creek, the story has been the same. Sea-run cutthroat, winter steelhead and coho are being caught in both areas.

Fishing has been fair to good in the lower river above the mouth of the Toutle, said Jarrod Ligh of 4 Corners Store in Castle Rock.

Kennedy Creek: Samplings taken Saturday counted 33 anglers with 24 chum.

Satsop: Anglers have been catching fair numbers of native coho below Schafer State Park, said Casey Weigel of Casey of Waters West Guide Service.

Tilton: Last week, 538 coho, 37 jacks, 150 chinook and 29 jacks were released into the river at Gus Backstrom Park in Morton.

Lewis: Bank anglers have been averaging a coho per every four rods while boat anglers averaged one per three rods. Some chinook also are being caught and released. Monday, flows below Merwin Dam were increased from 2,500 cubic feet per second to 4,200 cubic feet per second.

Skokomish: A lot of chum are in the river and being caught plus a few “B” run silvers, said Ron Adams of Verle’s Sports in Shelton.

Kalama: Anglers have been catching coho and steelhead from the canyon down to Beginners Hole. Also the fly fishing only area (from the natural gas pipeline crossing to the deadline at the intake to the lower salmon hatchery) is now open to all angler activity.

Skykomish: Pink catches have slowed and coho catches have been decent, said Craig Holman of Sky Valley Traders. Chum are starting to show and some winter-run steelhead are being caught near Reiter Ponds.

Humptulips: Fishing has been excellent for coho with good catches below the hatchery. Chum are in the river and if caught must be released.

Washougal: Angler effort has been light and no catches have been observed, although nearly 1,000 coho returned to the hatchery last week and more fish have been observed in the lower river.

White Salmon: Under permanent rules, the section from the powerhouse to 400 feet downstream from Northwestern Dam reopens to fishing for game fish and salmon Nov. 15.

Klickitat: Fishing has been excellent for coho with bank anglers on the lower river averaging 1.5 fish per rod while boat anglers averaged one each. Some chinook (adults and jacks) and steelhead also have been caught.

Lower Columbia: Effort and catch has been declining. In the Camas/Washougal area, just over a dozen boats were counted on Friday. Overall, boat anglers have been averaging a coho per every 16 rods.

Bonneville pool: Anglers are averaging a coho per rod. Sunday, there were approximately 65 boats counted at the mouth of the Klickitat. Spring, summer and fall chinook jacks passing over Bonneville Dam set a record last week. A total of 218,631 have passed over the dam, which beat the 1986 count of 200,114 fish.

Hanford Reach: An estimated 1,648 steelhead were caught between the Highway 395 Bridge and Pasco and the old Hanford town site during October, said Paul Hoffarth, WDFW fish biologist in Yakima. Total catch to date is 1,873 steelhead with 1,244 hatchery steelhead harvested. Boat anglers averaged one steelhead per every 6.4 hours of fishing. Bank anglers averaged one steelhead per every seven hours.

Sturgeon

Angler effort has been fairly heavy in the immediate area below Bonneville Dam. Nearly 200 bank anglers were sampled there Saturday and 128 were counted on Friday. Overall, bank anglers fishing just below the dam averaged a keeper per every 15 rods. Effort and catch in the rest of the lower river remains generally light.

Lakes

Offut: Trout fishing has been pretty good lately with limits being taken by knowledgeable anglers and periodically by novice anglers. Bright-colored Power Bait and worms have been the preferred baits with best bite during mid-morning and late-evening hours.

Scanewa: Last week, Tacoma Power employees released 1,378 coho and 103 jacks into the lake. No fishing report was available.

Spanaway: Some limits of 1.5-pound trout are being caught at the south end of the lake by boat anglers still fishing using a variety of colored Power Bait and worms. Trolling has been improving, but still is slow, said Bud Herlitzka of Spanaway Park boathouse. Bank angling has been very slow.

American: Little angler activity and not much in the way of catching.

Riffe: Some medium size silvers are being caught near Mossyrock Dam. Catching hasn’t been hot, but it has been steady.

Spencer and Isabella: Limits of trout are not being caught in either lake, but the quality of fish being caught has been excellent.

Outdoors correspondent Bob Brown has lived in Washington for 35 years and got serious about fishing the region’s rivers and lakes in the mid-1970s. He can be reached at robertb1285@fairpoint.net.