Fishing report for Jan. 26

LAKES

Chelan: The lake trout fishing remains good in the Barrens, with the fish holding 165-200 feet down. Tipping your lures with pieces of northern pikeminnow has been leading to more strikes. Mini Cha Chas from Mack’s Lure are working well for suspended kokanee.

Potholes: Some anglers were able to get on the water and caught their limits of walleye. They were fishing with Rapala Jigging Raps in 40-60 feet of water off Medicare Beach. Others are using blade baits.

Sequalitchew: Bass anglers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord have been successful in landing some large fish, including some weighing more than 5 pounds. Orange plastic worms have also been effective.

Spencer: The rainbow trout are hanging deep. Still-fish with your bait right off the bottom, or if you are trolling, go very slow and get your lure on the lake floor.

RIVERS

Cowlitz: The steelhead fishing has been very slow, based on state creel samples. A check of 14 bank anglers showed they had kept just one hatchery steelhead. Three boat anglers had no catch.

Olympic Coast: Hatchery fish have been moving into the area rivers in good numbers. The question will be the state of the rivers themselves. Heavy rain — including 2-3 inches possible Wednesday night (Jan. 27) — is in the forecast along the rivers, which have just become fishable again.

Tilton: During the past week, Tacoma Power employees released 69 coho adults, eight jacks and 12 winter-run steelhead adults into the river at Gust Backstrom Park in Morton.

Wynoochee: The river had dropped back into shape, but heavy rain Tuesday likely will make it and others nearby unfishable.

Yakima: The trout fishing remains fair, with the best action from about 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Good flies to start with are tan stoneflies, brassies, pheasant tails and black Copper Johns. If you want to swing a streamer, try an olive sculpin.

SALT WATER

Clams: The current razor clam dig ends Wednesday (Jan. 27) at Long Beach. Low tide time will be at 8:05 p.m. Tuesday and 8:39 p.m. Wednesday. Digging is best one to two hours before low tide.

Fly fishing: People are catching resident coho and coastal cutthroat trout off South Sound beaches. Look for the fish holding in current seams during tidal changes. Try using an olive-over-white Clouser Minnow with some ultraviolet flash material, fished on an intermediate sink line.

North Sound: For Duke Fisher of Burlington, 10 ounces meant winning the 2016 Roche Harbor Salmon Classic and $10,000. Fisher won the event with a salmon weighing 17 pounds, 12 ounces, a fish he hooked 30 minutes before fishing closed for the event. In second, and winning $5,000, was Peter Nelsen of Shaw Island with a salmon weighing 17 pounds, 2 ounces. Blake Stiller of Anacortes took home the $3,000 third-place prize with a fish weighing 14 pounds, 7 ounces. Ralph Thomas of Puyallup won $1,000 with his fifth-place fish weighing 14 pounds, 1 ounce. Overall, 345 anglers aboard 100 boats weighed in 92 fish.

South Sound: Salmon fishing in Marine Area 13 remains very slow. Some fish are being caught around Anderson Island and just south of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. From Friday-Sunday, there were 47 anglers checked by the state, and they brought in a lone coho. Marine Area 11 will reopen Monday.

This story was originally published January 26, 2016 at 1:12 AM with the headline "Fishing report for Jan. 26."