Fisherman Hooks $10,000 Prize

Four of the five men who won the big money during the Big One Chinook derby at Lake Coeur d’Alene Sunday were Washington state anglers, Jeff Smith, owner of the Fins & Feathers Shop, reported.

The big winner was Bob Oberg of Electric City. His 23-pound, 4-ounce chinook caught on the third day of the derby was the largest boated. He will receive $10,000 in cash at an awards ceremony at 6 tonight at the Coeur d’Alene Inn.

Others who will take home thousands of dollars include Jim Hasenoehrl, Garfield, 22-pound, 8-ounce chinook, $5,000; Harold Crawford, Spokane, 22-pounds, $2,500; Donald Houk, Rathdrum, Idaho, 21-pound, 12 ounces, $1,500; and Barry Pipella, Spokane, 21 pounds, 8 ounces, $1,000.

Smith said sponsors of the derby will pay out $32,000 at the awards ceremony.

He said fishing was good the first three days of the derby, then slowed down dramatically. The majority of the salmon were caught off the mouth of the Coeur d’Alene River, primarily from East Point to Spokane Point.

Most of the salmon were caught on dodgers and flies. Oberg caught his winning fish on a dodger and a Frisky Jenny fly off Arrow Point.

The salmon are still in good condition, he said, and he predicted the fishing will peak during the next three weeks as the chinooks stage near the mouths of the streams they will enter to spawn.

Hunting season expanded

This spring’s bumper crop of ducks and geese allowed the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department to approve expanded hunting seasons and limits for this fall, including a goose hunt that opens in September.

The early goose season will run Sept. 1 through Sept. 15 in Clark, Cowlitz, Pacific and Wahkiakum counties. For Asotin, Columbia and Garfield counties, as well as parts of Benton, Klickitat and Whitman counties, the early hunt will run Sept. 7 through Sept. 13.

The limits will be three geese a day and six in possession.

The general goose hunting season in Eastern Washington opens Oct. 12. Detailed regulations are available at state hunting license dealers.

Thank the Muckleshoots

Fishermen savoring the thought of eating the sockeye salmon they caught in Lake Washington might want to thank the Muckleshoot Tribe.

There would have been no sport fishery - or a very reduced one - on the huge run of sockeye unless the tribe’s fishery managers had alerted the state Department of Fish and Wildlife that tribal counts showed more than 490,000 salmon were returning, according to Muckleshoot officials.

Citing budget constraints, state officials had dropped their labor-intensive fish-count program at the Ballard locks after 1991. There weren’t that many fish anyway, they told the tribe.

But four years ago, the Muckleshoots decided to spend the money to keep collecting information on fish runs into Lake Washington and the Green River.

“If things are bad, you need more data,” said Mike Mahovlich, the tribe’s assistant chief of harvest management.

From June 12 through July 31 this year, Mahovlich said, tribal employees labored 13-hour days counting fish at the locks. State help promised last year never materialized, he said.

The Muckleshoots’ payoff came last month with the first sockeye season on Lake Washington since 1988, providing a sport fishery and commercial fishery for three tribes, including the Muckleshoots.

“The fishery put millions of dollars into the industry,” Mahovlich said.

But instead of praise, he said the Muckleshoots found themselves again getting hammered by sport fishermen for netting fish, and the state patting itself on the back for the great fishery.

Bruce Sanford, who handles salmon and steelhead runs in Puget Sound for the state, agreed the tribe’s efforts made a significant difference.

“I would like very much to see them get credit in this,” Sanford said.

, DataTimes