Northwest Fishing Reports

Looking at the hatchery releases, 2017 returns were to be expected because there were no smolts released from Tokul in 2015. After that, releases are at or under 75k per year, which I believe is a substantial reduction from prior to the lawsuit that cut back all steelhead releases except on the Sky ...

The only thing you're missing is data from the previous 10+ years. Granted, yes, logically one would think that the returns this year should be better than last, but overall they're all still quite dismal compared to what used to be normal and highlights that there is a serious issue in the pipelin...

The numbers are low, but they are about double this time last year: ----------------- 2020 - 2021 Kendall Creek: - 12 - 47 Whitehorse: ---- 18 - 35 Tokul Cr.: ------- 41 - 28 Wallace: -------- 4 -- 36 Reiter: ---------- 20 - 49 The only decline I see is Tokul Creek hatchery, which went down by about...

What sort of rods should you use for plunking? The rods that are specifically made for plunking tend to be long and fairly heavy, so they can easily cast the weight you need to get you presentation to stick on the bottom. This varies dramatically by river, but on the Fraser river, it is not uncommo...

For cloudy water, go ugly - clown patterns are good, and black wings. I like the pink/chrome tiger stripe for clearer water, and the pink/black clown for cloudy water, or the frog pattern. In clear conditions go small and peach with white wings.

It's still early, but there are no signs of any fish at all. I just walked the 100 yards from my office to the wall - the creek looks good, fairly high flow (but not too high). Tide was high, but there were no signs of fish in the usual spots right below the rapids. No seals, no fishermen (not even ...

The released only one hundred juvenile kokanee - they are calling it a "Ceremonial" release. They will be lucky if even one of those fish returns as an adult.

Hopefully they keep every fish for Baker Lake broodstock and if they have to short anyone, it's the Skokomish transfer plan that get shorted. Has anyone see a count or estimate of tribal harvest for this year?

Interesting - definitely a smaller average size this year. The 6 I got in the river probably averaged less than 5 pounds each - a couple were under 4.

You could head up to the upper Skagit river soon, I saw on the hatchery escapement reports there are still a few kings returning up there. It’s a bit of a drive up to marblemount though. I would wait until the next escapement report comes out tomorrow, and compare it to the number of fish the marbl...

https://www.rco.wa.gov/salmon_recovery/2019-SalmonConference/ConfHome.shtml It is in Tacoma on April 8-9. Has anyone here attended this conference in the past? "This year’s conference marks the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Salmon Recovery Act in Washington state. The conference brings tog...

And as expected the closure was just announced. Today is your last shot if you are going to go - it is closed effective 11/15.

Stopped by to have a look a couple hours ago - still nothing. No fish on, very few anglers, and nothing I could spot in the ponds. Only 1 seal. Maybe they have given up.

I expect it will be closed soon due to a lack of broodstock. Ironically, most of the fish bypass the fish ladder anyway, so that won't really help. We need anglers there to put them in the hatchery tube. They should just close retention and make it catch and release into the hatchery tube only.

According to the escapement reports, the hatchery has only received 20 chum as of 11/7. That is dismal. What's worse is that 18 of the 20 are listed under "mortality", which means they only have 2 fish on hand. People need to be very careful when transporting their fish from the steps to the tube - ...

What is your budget, and are you planning on using the setup after this trip? An easy option would be to stop somewhere like Fred Meyer (the local Kroger megastore all over Washington) or Wal-mart and purchase a cheap medium-weight spinning setup for the weekend. Then leave it at your cabin rental f...

Where are you located?

Lake Daiblo, or if you can arrange the portage Lake Ross. On the eastside you could try Palmer lake (bunch of remote lakes in that area if you want to get farther out like Chopaka) or someplace on Lake Roosevelt. I was camping and Kayaking at Diablo last week - although beautiful, it is fairly busy...

Think Baker Lake but unfortunately the best area is closed in support of orca socializing. You can probably find more info on BC fishing forums because in years when the Fraser River sockeye are open, they troll for them in the ocean near the river mouth. In some years, the majority of the Fraser s...

At the Cedar River Watershed meeting last month, the state biologists had some pretty hard evidence that the low returns were mainly driven by the low fry survival rate. Now many people point fingers at the cutthroat in the lake as the main cause, but I can tell you for certain they they aren't the...