Lakes might be the best bet for catching fish this weekend

LAKES

Offut: The action has picked up, with some 2- and 3-pound trout being caught.

Roosevelt: The trout and kokanee fishing has been slow, in large part due to very cold weather keeping people at home instead of on the lake.

Sammamish: This remains a go-to spot for cutthroat trout. The waters around the weather buoy have been producing consistent catches the last two weeks or so. One angler reported online have success with a purple-and-pearl Wiggle Hoochie.

Spanaway: Still fishing the southeast side has been producing browns and rainbow 2-foot leader with a worm. Some brown trout are reaching 24 inches, and rainbows are 14-18 inches long. Check your leaders for frayed line after catching some brown trout so you don’t lose a fish to a broken line.

Tanwax: The lake has been producing some limits of cutthroat trout. Trolling with spoons has been effective.

RIVERS

Olympic Peninsula: The rivers from Forks down to the Humptulips and along to the Wynoochee and Satsop have been doing a roller coaster when it comes to flows. The Hoh, for example, jumped from around 1,100 cubic feet per second mid-day Wednesday to almost 18,000 cfs 24 hours later, then dropping to 10,700 cfs Friday morning.

Yakima: River levels were quite low, even for this time of year, heading into the weekend. Look for the trout to be holding in deeper pockets where the water is moving at a walking pace. Nymphing with a Pat’s stonefly trailed by a San Juan worm or swinging streamers will work best this time of year.

SALT WATER

Clams: The current razor clam dig will continue through Sunday at Mocrocks and Twin Harbors. Low tide times are: Friday, 6;16 p.m., -1 foot; Saturday (Feb. 11), 6:57 p.m., -0.8 feet; and Sunday, 7:34 p.m., -0.5 feet. Digging is best an hour or two before low tide.

Fly fishing: Pink-and-white or chartreuse-and-white Clouser minnows have been producing strikes from resident coho.

Hood Canal: The state has lifted a 13-year ban on fishing for squid, according to the Kitsap Sun. The issues, however, are the prime season is about past and there is a lack of public docks to make jigging easier.

North Sound: Salmon fishing in Marine Area 7 (San Juan Islands) will temporarily close on Saturday (Feb. 11). Projections indicate anglers would exceed the allowable number of chinook encounters prior to the April 30 planned closure. The state will review numbers in hopes of reopening the fishery later this spring. Salmon fishing in Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet) will reopen Thursday and run through April 15. Test fisheries and sufficient capacity within the guideline of 6,081 chinook encounters will allow the fishing to reopen. Also beginning Thursday, anglers in Marine Area 6 (East Strait of San Juan de Fuca) will allow anglers to keep just one chinook as part of a two-salmon daily limit.

South Sound: The weather has been making fishing difficult in the waters off Tacoma and Olympia. Fox Island has been a good spot to try for some chinook in Marine Area 13. Beach anglers have been having some success catching coastal cutthroat trout. Seahurst Park near Burien has been a good spot to try. Some squid are still being caught from area docks, while the bottom fishing for flounder has been good.

This story was originally published February 10, 2017 at 3:56 PM with the headline "Lakes might be the best bet for catching fish this weekend."