Fishing report for March 25

LAKES

American: Anglers are reporting little to no luck when fishing for smallmouth bass. People are catching some rainbow trout, however.

Chelan: People are catching limits of kokanee by trolling silver Wedding Rings, tipped with Pautzke’s Fire Corn, around Colyar Ledge. Lake trout are being caught in the barrens area.

Offut: Rainbow and cutthroat trout are hitting Power Eggs, tipped with a bit of a night crawler and fished off the bottom, or people are finding success by trolling with spinners, sometimes tipped with a night crawler.

Potholes: The walleye action has slowed as the spawning period is coming to a close. The action should start to improve beginning next week. Anglers are using a night crawler harness, blade baits and lures such as a Shad Rap or Skittle Shad. The bass fishing has been slowed by a drop in water temperatures.

Seep lakes: The lakes on the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge, near Potholes Reservoir, open April 1. That gives anglers headed to the state’s east side more options for trout and other species.

Spanaway: Lots of limits of recently planted rainbow trout, weighing about a half-pound each, are being caught. Trolling with just about anything, such as Dick Nite spoons and Roostertails, has been working, but keep your offering in the top 2 feet of water. Some brown trout, weighing 5-7 pounds, have been caught by people fishing down about 20 feet.

RIVERS

Olympic Coast: After anglers had excellent fishing last weekend, river conditions might make it tough this weekend. River flows were high Friday morning, and there was more rain in the forecast. Last weekend, anglers had some of the best fishing of the season. On the Sol Duc, for example, 176 anglers were checked by the state, and they had hooked 119 wild steelhead.

Yakima: Pack your skwala dry fly patterns and hit the river. The Solitude bullethead skwala has been very effective in getting trout to strike. Anglers should note that the Ringer Road boat launch is closed indefinitely because of a washout on the road.

SALTWATER

Clams: A three-day razor clam dig at Mocrocks started Friday. The low tide times are: Saturday, 9:06 a.m., 0.6 feet; and Sunday, 9:42 a.m., 0.7 feet. Long Beach is open through Thursday, also on morning low tides. No digging is allowed after noon at both beach areas.

North Sound: There were 125 boats competing in last week’s Everett Blackmouth Derby, with 70 fish being weighed. Patrick Monroe won the event with a 14.51-pound fish.

South Sound: The salmon fishing is slow, although an occasional blackmouth is being caught when the weather allows people to hit the Sound. Look for fishing in the Quartermaster Harbor area, and off the clay banks and slag pile. The fish seem to be holding within 10 feet of the bottom in water 150-210 feet deep.

Westport: When the weather and ocean conditions allow, the fishing has been good to very good. Many charter boats are bringing in limits of ling cod and rockfish. Some ling cod are topping 25 pounds. Look for fish in water 80-160 feet deep. Ling cod are hitting bait in the deeper water; rockfish are going after flies.

This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 2:46 AM with the headline "Fishing report for March 25."