Hunting + Fishing

Salmon and steelhead

Salmon anglers preparing for this year’s season off the coast and in inside waters have several dates to remember in the next few weeks. Starting June 30, marine areas 3 (LaPush) and 4 (Neah Bay) will be open to salmon fishing Tuesdays through Saturdays. Salmon fisheries then open July 1 on a daily basis in marine areas 5 (Eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca), 6 (Western Strait), 7 (San Juan Islands), 10 (Seattle/Bremerton) and 12 (Hood Canal). The last two ocean areas – marine areas 1 (Ilwaco) and 2 (Westport) – open for salmon fishing on a Sunday-through-Thursday schedule July 3.

Nearly all of the 3.5 million fall chinook salmon smolts scheduled for release from the Ringold Springs Hatchery on the upper Columbia River have died – most likely of botulism poisoning. Those 5-month-old fish represent about 20 percent of the chinook salmon smolts scheduled for release by WDFW hatcheries in the upper Columbia River this year. The smolts – originally scheduled for release next week – were expected to return as adult salmon in 2008 and 2009.

Salmon season on the Columbia near Wells Dam opens July 1 and the fish are starting to show, reported Rod Harmon of R&R Guide Service in Brewster, Wash. The Okanogan River is cool and high. With luck, fish won’t continue to run upriver instead of stacking at the mouth.

Fishing for spring chinook salmon on Chelan County’s Icicle River closed Wednesday after the theft of broodstock fish from a federal fish hatchery last week. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife ordered the early closure to preserve remaining fish for broodstock.

The steelhead season is starting in the lower Columbia’s tributaries. Bank anglers are having the most success on the Cowlitz River, while anglers along the Kalama and Lewis rivers are doing fairly well.

On the lower Columbia’s mainstem, summer chinook are starting to arrive, and the hot spot for anglers is just below the Bonneville Dam. Beginning today – the official start of the summer chinook fishery – anglers fishing from Tongue Point near Astoria, Ore., to the Priest Rapids Dam can keep chinook with or without an adipose fin.

Trout and kokanee

The region’s many trout-stocked lakes are still a good bet, especially early mornings and late afternoons, between rainstorms. Fly fishing for cutthroat and rainbows at Amber Lake is reported to still be good, but the fish are deeper.

Chunky Lake Chelan kokanee averaging 12 inches are biting consistently at 20-50 feet off Rocky Point, Wapato Point and Willow Point, but Anton Jones at Darrell and Dad’s Guide Service said anywhere in the lower 15 miles of the lake will produce.

On Coeur d’Alene Lake, the cold spring and 100 percent snowpack with prolonged runoff have created murky water, but fishing for kokanee and chinook is picking up. The kokanee population is lower than optimum, but fewer kokanee will mean larger-than-average size.

Smaller lake trout in the 15- to 24-inch range are dominating the catch for anglers at Priest Lake.

Spiny ray

Post-spawn perch, crappie and bluegill have moved into deeper water and provided some action at several waters, including Clear, Eloika, Long, Silver and Sprague lakes. Sprague has also given up some walleye and bass this week. Eloika is another good bet good for largemouth. Bonnie Lake, off Rock Creek near the Spokane-Whitman county line, has good crappie and bass fishing, but access is up a creek channel by small boats only.

Smallmouth bass continue to expand their range and numbers in the Coeur d’Alene system, providing excellent fish along rocky shorelines. Anglers will find better largemouth bass fishing in the southern end of the lake. Northern pike are well distributed and will be concentrated in areas where beds of curly leaf pondweed are found.

Water is dropping fast and smallmouth bass fishing is improving on the Grand Ronde River, said Bill Vail at Boggan’s Oasis. With five continual days of dry weather in the forecast, Vail predicts the river will run in the low 4,000 cfs by next weekend.

The Spokane arm of Lake Roosevelt and the upper stretches of the reservoir above Kettle Falls, from Gifford to China Bend, are producing good walleye catches.

Walleye continue to bite at Moses Lake, reported Gary Russell of Quackers Guide Service. He suggests fishing the weeds for the bigger fish. The recent Moses Lake Walleye Classic tournament yielded one 10.8-pound fish and another 9.08 pounds. Walleye fishing at Potholes Reservoir is hampered by wind, rain and high water, but has improved in the sand dune area where Russell said largemouth action has exploded.

Other species

Crab fishing in three areas of Puget Sound will begin Sunday. Those waters – which include marine areas 4 (Neah Bay east of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line), 5 (Sekiu) and 13 (south of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge) – will be open seven days per week through Feb. 28.

Eight areas will open to crab fishing July 1. Two other marine areas near the San Juan Islands open later in the summer. Marine Area 7 East will open from July 15 to Sept. 30 on a Wednesday-through-Saturday schedule, and Marine Area 7 North will open from Aug. 16 to Sept. 30 on the same schedule. As with other Puget Sound waters, both of those areas will be open to crab fishing the entire Labor Day weekend, Sept. 2-4.

Shad continue to show in large numbers in the lower Columbia River. Because the river is running higher than normal, the fish are forced toward the banks. Bank anglers are having the most success just below Bonneville Dam, where shad stack up before passing upstream.

Hunting

Application instructions and details on permit hunts for deer, elk, mountain goat, moose, bighorn sheep and turkey are in the 2006 Big Game Hunting Seasons and Rules pamphlet. The deadline is June 28. All applications must be submitted via a toll-free telephone number (1-877-945-3492) or the Web site at https://fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov.

Applications for early fall turkey permits must be in by June 28, but the new late fall turkey permit applications will not be available until August and are due Aug. 31. The early fall turkey permit season is Sept. 23-Oct. 6 in units throughout the state. The new late fall permit hunt is Nov. 20-Dec.15 in northeast GMUs 101-124 only. Details in Big Game pamphlet.