Best action for chum salmon is off the Hoodsport hatchery

LAKES

Black: Trolling with a red spinner tipped with worms has been producing good catches of rainbow trout. Most of the fish being caught are measuring 12-15 inches long.

Munn: Fly anglers have been using woolly buggers, cast toward the lily pads lining the shoreline, to hook rainbow trout.

Nahwatzel: People are catching rainbow trout, many in the 13- to 16-inch range, by trolling with an orange fly with a couple of beads and a Wiggle Fin disk.

Phillips: The state-owned boat ramp at this lake in southeast Mason County will be closed Monday and Tuesday. The state is adding a 10-foot extension to the ramp to make it easier to launch watercraft when water levels are low.

Potholes: The fishing for largemouth bass has been very good, with one angler reporting landing a 6-pound, 8-ounce bass. Walleye action has been best early or late in the day. People are using blade baits or jigs tipped with a grub and night crawler.

Sammamish: The cutthroat trout seeming to be willing biters this week, with multiple reports of people catching a good number of fish. Look for the fish holding about 45 feet down. Wedding Rings and Smile Blade Slow Death rigs, trolled behind a flasher, have been effective.

RIVERS

Columbia: Beginning on Saturday, anglers will be able to catch and keep coho and steelhead on the mainstem from the mouth to the U.S. Highway 395 bridge in Pasco. Fishing remains closed from Beacon Rock to Bonneville Dam. With protected Snake River chinook having cleared the river, the state said there are still coho and hatchery steelhead available for harvest.

Green: Anglers can now keep coho, wild and hatchery, caught in the river from the First Avenue South bridge upstream to the water pipeline walk bridge a half-mile downstream of the Tacoma headworks dam. The change runs through Dec. 31. Anglers must, however, release steelhead and chinook. The fishing, however, has been very slow.

Grays Harbor area: When the water is fishable, the rivers have been producing a mix of coho and chinook. Some people are backtrolling with cured salmon eggs, while others are using Kwikfish wrapped with baitfish. The Humptulips was producing good catches of coho earlier this week.

John’s and Kennedy: The chum fishing has been slowed by the rain that raised the creek levels.

Puyallup: As of Tuesday, nearly 24,000 coho have returned to the Voights Creek hatchery. The river flow was down to 3,850 cubic feet per second late Thursday. The mainstem of the river is open from the 11th Street Bridge to the mouth of the Carbon River.

Yakima: Fishing with small nymphs has been the most productive method for fly anglers. Try using two tungsten beadhead nymphs, in sizes 14-20, to get the flies close to the river bottom.

SALTWATER

Clams: The next razor clam dig is scheduled to open Nov. 12 at Twin Harbors, if tests show clams are safe to eat. The dig there would run through Nov. 19, while Copalis and Mocrocks would be open Nov. 17-19. Long Beach will not be open because toxin levels there are too high.

Hood Canal: The fishing was pretty good last Sunday, with 42 anglers checked by the state landing 90 chum salmon at the Hoodsport Hatchery. Green is the popular color for lures and corkies and yarn.

South Sound: There have been some fish caught near Point Gibson, Green Point and the mouth of Wollochet Bay. Trolling with spoons — or artificial squid behind a flasher — has been working. Squid fishing has been fair to good.

This story was originally published November 4, 2016 at 10:31 AM with the headline "Best action for chum salmon is off the Hoodsport hatchery."