Weather keeping South Sound anglers off the water; clam dig starts Thursday

SALT WATER

South Sound: The staff at the Point Defiance Boathouse Marina suggests fishing in front of the marina with a flasher and a spoon or artificial squid. But action is slow, according to state creel reports, which shows anglers leaving from Olympia, Point Defiance and the Narrows Marina landed no fish over the weekend. An angler departing from Harstine Island caught a coho over the weekend.

North Sound: Anglers leaving from Bellingham and Everett caught salmon over the weekend. State counts show the action was better for those leaving from Port Townsend and Anacortes. Sixty-six Port Townsend anglers combined to catch 28 chinook, while 52 leaving from Anacortes caught 26 fish. The San Juan Islands area has reopened for salmon fishing. Twenty-six anglers leaving from Friday Harbor combined to catch 19 chinook on March 26.

Razor clams: The next razor clam dig will start Thursday at Mocrocks. These will be the first digs after moving to morning low tides. Morning digs are planned for Thursday and Saturday at Mocrocks, and Friday and Sunday at Copalis. Low tides at Thursday at 8:58 a.m. (-0.6 feet), Friday at 9:47 a.m. (-0.6), Saturday at 10:40 a.m. (-0.5) and Sunday at 11:39 a.m. (-0.1).

LAKES

American: Action is slow as wind and rain keeps away anglers, said David Anderson of Bill’s Boathouse.

Offut: Stocked last week with 4,600 rainbows.

Spanaway: Bud Herlitzka of the Spanaway Lake Boathouse says anglers are limiting quickly when weather permits. He recommends trolling near the bridge with a Wedding Ring tipped with a worm. Fishermen are having luck using worm and marshmallows on a 3-foot leader. More than 9,000 rainbows were added to the lake last week.

Hicks: This Thurston County lake was stocked last week with 100 rainbow trout.

Kapowsin: Last week, 14,000 rainbow trout from the Puyallup Hatchery were added to this lake.

St. Clair: The state added 6,622 rainbows last week.

Steilacoom: The state added 2,266 trout to the lake last week.

Tee: The Mason County lake was stocked Monday with 2,860 rainbows.

Trails End: The lake in Mason County was stocked Monday with 3,750 rainbows.

Whitman: Stocked last week with 1,800 rainbows.

RIVERS

Calawah: Boat anglers are having better luck catching wild steelhead than bank anglers.

Chehalis: The river is closed to salmon fishing and won’t open to spring chinook fishing April 16, as previously planned. The forecast for returning chinook is lower than required to allow fishing.

Columbia: Anglers are catching chinook in the Longview-Cathlamet area. Twelve adult spring chinook were counted at Bonneville Dam through March 25. Flows at the Bonneville Dam (459,600 cfs) on March 25 were the highest since at least 1950. The Bonneville and The Dalles pools are closed to the retention of white sturgeon because the winter guideline has been met. The Dalles Pool is producing walleye.

Cowlitz: Last week at the salmon hatchery, Tacoma Power recovered 149 winter-run steelhead adults, two steelhead jacks, 13 spring chinook adults and a cutthroat trout.

Sol Duc: Last week, 77 anglers — mostly in boats — combined to catch and release 64 wild and one hatchery steelhead.

This story was originally published March 28, 2017 at 11:01 AM with the headline "Weather keeping South Sound anglers off the water; clam dig starts Thursday."