Fishing fast, furious at Kennedy Creek

THE OLYMPIAN | • Published November 12, 2009

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Anglers looking for some fast and sometimes furious action should consider fishing Kennedy Creek and in front of the Hoodsport Hatchery.

Impressive numbers of migrating chum have been moving into both areas and fishing has been pretty good.

Fish checkers at Kennedy Creek on Sunday counted 66 anglers with 70 chum and at Hoodsport 81 anglers had 67 chum.

For anglers who desire a more table-quality fish, action and catching has been better than fair for coho and chinook in the Cowlitz, Kalama and Klickitat rivers and Bonneville Pool. Fair catches of steelhead also are being had in the Cowlitz and Kalama rivers.

River conditions are not the best on the Olympic Peninsula, but some action is being had in the Bogachiel and Sol Duc rivers and fishing is about the same in King County’s Green River.

Fishing has been slow in the lower Columbia for salmon and just a little better for sturgeon.

Some chinook are being caught in Marine Area 8-2 (Port Susan and Port Gardner). Sunday samplings taken at the Camano Island public boat ramp counted 15 boat anglers with four chinook and at Maple Grove six boat anglers had three chinook. At Everett, 101 boat anglers sampled had 30 chinook.

In Marine Area 11 (Tacoma –Vashon Island) fishing continues to be sporadic. Some blackmouth are being caught, but pressure has been light due to conditions, said Jake DePoe of Point Defiance Boathouse and Marina. The blackmouth are still holding at depths of about 150 feet with slack tides the best bite periods.

South of the Narrows Bridge angler activity has been almost non-existent. Except for action taking place in front of the Hoodsport Hatchery there have been no reports of angler activity in Hood Canal.

Lake fishing has been mixed, but generally slow due to conditions.

Rivers

Puyallup: Running high with color. There have been no reports of angling success.

Nisqually: Not in the best condition. Flow isn’t too bad, but very muddy with zero visibility.

Skookumchuck: Water conditions clearing with a visibility of four to five inches. About 1,000 adult coho have returned to the hatchery, but the run is winding down.

Johns: Some chum are being caught near the mouth, said Walt Harvey of Verles Sports in Shelton. Anglers are reminded single-point barbless hooks are required.

Humptulips: Coho are being caught from the Highway 101 Bridge down to the mouth.

Satsop: Blown out.

Willapa: High and dirty.

Chehalis: Some winter-run steelhead are starting to show. Flows are not too high, but the river is dirty and there hasn’t been much in the way of angler activity.

Grays: The mainstem will open to fishing for winter steelhead from the Highway 4 Bridge upstream and West Fork on Dec. 1 and beginning Sunday the mainstem below the Highway 4 Bridge opens for winter-run steelhead.

Cowlitz: Bank and boat anglers have been averaging slightly better than one fish every two rods with a mixture of chinook, coho, steelhead and sea-run cutthroat being caught. Most of the chinook have been caught near barrier dam while coho, steelhead and sea-run cutthroat are being caught downstream of barrier dam. Most of the chinook are dark and being released plus some coho along with wild fish.

In the lower river, fishing has slowed, probably due to turbid water conditions, said Jarrod Ligh of 4 Corners Store in Castle Rock.

Tacoma Power reported 7,599 coho, 572 jacks, 117 fall chinook, 30 jacks, 96 summer steelhead, 11 winter-run steelhead and 188 sea-run cutthroat returned to the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery last week. Also Tacoma Power employees released 1,117 coho, 115 jacks and one early winter-run steelhead into Scanewa Lake.

Through Nov. 4, more than 64,000 hatchery coho and just over 5,000 wild coho and 18 winter-run steelhead had returned to the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery. In addition, nearly 1,100 hatchery sea-run cutthroat had returned to the trout and salmon hatcheries.

Skykomish: Chum, coho and a couple of steelhead are being caught, but fishing hasn’t been great, said Craig Holman of Sky Valley Traders. With river condition changing daily, anglers need to adjust to be successful.

Kalama: A mixture of coho and steelhead are being caught. Last week, the majority of the fish caught were steelhead. Overall, fishing has been pretty good with bank anglers averaging a fish per every two rods. The first winter- run steelhead returned to the Kalama Falls Hatchery on Nov 4.

Lewis: Bank anglers near the salmon hatchery averaged nearly one fish for every two rods when including fish released last week; however, fishing has slowed due to higher flows, said Elaine Byrnes of Anglers Workshop. There have been no reports of winter–run steelhead in the river.

Washougal: Angler effort light. Through Nov. 4 the first two winter steelhead of the season returned to the Skamania Hatchery.

Green (King County): Full of some ugly and beat-up pinks, said Todd Rock of Auburn Sports and Marine. Some chum are being caught above the log jam located downstream of Highway 18.

Olympic Peninsula: Fishing has been tough at times because of changing water levels and turbid conditions, said Bob Gooding of Olympic Sporting Goods in Forks. Overall, catching has been fair in the Bogachiel and Sol Duc, but the Hoh is not fishable.

Lower Columbia: Effort and catches have been light

Bonneville Pool: Boat anglers at the mouth of the Klickitat have been averaging nearly a coho per rod. A few chinook and steelhead also have been caught.

Klickitat: Boat and bank anglers have been averaging about 1.5 fish each. Some fish are showing color and released. Some chinook are being caught and dark fish released. Flows at Pitt were just over 800 cubic feet per second Monday which is close to the long term mean to date. Flows are expected to decrease slowly over the next several days.

Sturgeon

Bank anglers just below Bonneville Dam averaged a keeper per every 14 rods last weekend. Some legals also have been caught in the Gorge and Longview areas. Through October, an estimated 4,300 (38 percent) of the 11,268 fish from this year’s guideline for above the Wauna powerlines had been taken.

Olympian outdoors correspondent Bob Brown can be reached at robertb1285@fairpoint.net