Outdoors Report: Solid chinook run across state promises a satisfying summer

They're chasing the king all over Washington right now, and finding him in enough places to provide a generally optimistic outlook for the summer season.

Anglers in the ocean off Westport have been finding close to limits of chinook for several days, although catches dipped a bit Monday and Tuesday. The Strait of Juan de Fuca and San Juan Islands opened to fishing for chinook Tuesday, and encouraging numbers of kings were taken in both places. South Puget Sound has not been hot, but better anglers down there are scoring chinook consistently.

"There aren't great numbers of kings around, but good numbers," said Tom Mathews, a South Sound catch sampler for the Department of Fish and Wildlife and an avid chinook angler himself. "I think it's going to be a darned good year. I fished the Clay Banks Tuesday and on the first drift, we got two. We ended up with three, all around 11 pounds, and lost another one, a real burner."

At the same time, there are some places where chinook are not being found in good numbers. Catches have declined off Neah Bay over the past week, despite a decent appearance of the fish the week before. The fish seem to be a bit scarce locally in Marine Area 10 of the Central Sound, too, which is now open for coho and will open July 16 for marked hatchery chinook, along with Area 9 just north.

"(Wednesday) we caught one fish," said Keith Robbins of Spot Tail Guide service, who catch-and-release fishes for chinook in Area 10. "There is so little bait. It's very weird."

The lack of bait, as anglers refer to smaller forage fish like herring and sand lance, might well be the key, of course. Anglers fishing the San Juans opener reported good signs of bait, and there's no lack of it also down south in the Point Defiance region.

"Despite what appeared to be less than favorable tides, they did quite well in several spots in the early morning on the opener," said Bob Ferber at Holiday Market sporting goods in Burlington, referring to the San Juans.

Chinook in the 10- to 20-pound bracket were taken at Point Lawrence, Thatcher Pass and Obstruction Pass, Ferber said.

The tides are ripping right now, with some of the lowest of the year through the holiday weekend. The low-to-high exchange Friday at Defiance, for example, will be 16 feet.

"With the big tides, you want to fish the first two and last two hours of either tide," Mathews said. "The fish have been right on the bottom. Jigging and mooching has been the best. It's been tough for trollers."

The Clay Banks have been best in the Tacoma area, on the ebb as usual, while Point Dalco on the south end of Vashon Island has produced some chinook on the flood. The Gig Harbor shoreline has also produced a few lately.

In the strait, seas were reportedly rough Tuesday, but anglers in boats seaworthy enough to tough it out did catch chinook at Sekiu. In fact, anecdotal reports indicate some anglers did very well, with chinook to at least 24 pounds, and chinook were taken Wednesday as well.

Back in Area 10 locally, anglers are also reporting some coho, but not a lot, since it opened for those fish Tuesday.

In the ocean, although some chinook and coho are being taken now off Umatilla Reef on the north coast, the best catches are coming from the south coast off Ilwaco and Westport. Anglers averaged about 1.5 salmon each daily last week off Westport, with very few coho. Off Ilwaco, about 60 percent of the catch lately has been coho, the rest chinook, with anglers averaging a respectable 1.5 fish each.

Some charter operators are voicing concern that the strong chinook catches could lead to restrictions soon, since those catches are likely nearing the south coast catch quotas. State catch managers are meeting Thursday to review the catch.

Meantime, a few chinook are being taken in at least two other places, the Skykomish and Skagit rivers. However, catches have dipped lately because of high and turbid flows, the result of the warm weather and snowmelt. The state catch sampler last week on the Sky checked 228 anglers with 18 chinook (and 22 steelhead).

And a few sockeye are being taken in two places, the lower Columbia River and the Skagit below its confluence with the Baker River. On the big river down south, the best catches have come from the Woodland area, no doubt because of high flows. On the Skagit, the sockeye catch has also slowed because of those high, dirty flows.

QUICKLY: And what about those steelhead catches on the Sky? Not bad, considering the high flows. And if the weather is not sunburn-class this weekend, steelheading could be a good bet there, as well as in the Snoqualmie, Stillaguamish and Green. But it's better down south in the Cowlitz River. ... Another decent option this weekend would be kokanee fishing in lakes Stevens, American, Merwin and elsewhere, or cutthroat fishing lakes Washington and Sammamish, both good lately. ... Shellfish gathering will be good this weekend during those minus tides. With the weather warming, the Department of Health is cautioning shellfishers about the risk of vibriosis if they eat raw oysters. See more here: www.doh.wa.gov/Publicat/2008_news/08-106.htm. Find out about good clam and oyster beaches, along with season dates and limits here: wdfw.wa.gov/fish/shelfish/beachreg.