Northwest Fishing Reports

Is it me or the rivers not producing much this year. From skok, Puyallup, to Nisqually - the sound run has been slow to say the least. Come to find out that there are nets in the sound everyday while there are now closures for rivers for netting - it seems to be one sided for all fisherman. Do we all not buy licenses in protest in the future?? Never caught so few fish heading into October.. my thoughts

Fairness? HECK NO!!! And you can thank judge bolt for that, and all the judges since then that don't have the balls to overturn his STUPID decision.

last year was a pink run, hook up like crazy . more fish.
This year theres no pink run. less fish, but better eating

There are fewer fish. The Nisqually closed to Kings early due to lack of numbers. There is no possible way to know how many were lost to the nets, but I can tell you it is/was WAY more than the sporties could fathom. I was just going to post a new thread about the lack of reporting. It seems that nobody is posting reports anymore. They are so far and few between. There are no reports for the skok, puyallup, carbon, nisqually and very few on the Duwamish and green. There are not any for any OP rivers either! Heck, there arent even many lake reports. Just unreal. I have been hearing all summer that we were supposed to have this magical, historical and record breaking run of silvers. Ok. Where are they?! We got some rain. And we are still wondering where the fish are!

I'll give it a week or two till I start thinkin negative things.they're definitely in the systems but not thick.....yet.

I'm not familiar with the south end rivers, but we're just reaching the starting point for north end coho. I'm not happy about tribal nets either, but "our" 50% is split between us (in the salt and rivers) and the non-tribal commercials. Seeing cowboy commercial openings near my home waters is just as bad as seeing tribal openings. At least they're not getting a ton of time YET.
http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/commercial/salmon/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There are still hordes of coho coming down from the Strait. The bulk of the fish aren't even in the rivers yet. Mid October, through November and we will forget this conversation even happened.

Fish are in the rivers right now. Just not interested in anything because our hot and dry summer heated the water in the rivers beyond the fishes preferred comfort zone. Also, with the dry conditions and low flows, fish have been staged in the lower portions of the rivers, just waiting for a rise in water level so they can make their dash. I can tell you that after that last hard rain, a TON of kings ran up my favorite coastal river. Most are already colored up because they were staged in the lower river by the thousands just waiting for the signal to move. Once the weather cools, and in turn the river temps cool down...game on. It's right around the corner. The bulk of coho river fishing is in October (into November and December on certain rivers). Just sit tight, more fish are coming in, and the weather is cooling off so the fish that are already in the rivers are going to start looking for some snacks.

And for reporting...I hate to say this, but forums see to be a dying breed with all of the Facebook groups that are now out there. That seems to be the next wave in the digital fishing evolution. I personally don't report much anymore because I saw firsthand how it affected my favorite fishing holes after posting a report. I don't mind saying the body of water, but that's about all I'll say anymore, unless I personally know you.

For the nets, my buddy and I were just talking about that last night and he made some good points. There really isn't anything we can do about it. We need their money to keep a lot of the hatchery programs going. They dump millions into these programs and if they weren't helping fund them, WDFW would just shut them down because they can't seem to manage their budget correctly. In return for their financial support, and beside the fact of the treaty, there ain't crap we can say about their netting. Until WDFW pulls their heads out of their keesters and manages their money and programs effectively, we need outside funding or we ain't fishing!

I guess the short answer is...another week or two and it's gonna pick up. Look at the weekly escapement reports...there are tons of fish in every river right now, and plenty more on the way in.

On my fave coastal river, I had one of the most magical days ever yesterday. Non stop egg bite all day long with big kings. Most were colored and released, but some chrome did push in and were caught. It was catch and release on and off for most of the day, and all on eggs! It was the most epic, and longest egg bite I've ever seen. There's action out there, you just gotta go find it. Don't wait on reports...go make some of your own! Let's fish!!!!!!

Great write-up mizm. Would you fave coastal river's name rhyme with JumpthruLips? ;)

It's on the coast...I'll give ya that.

seattlesteban wrote:Great write-up mizm. Would you fave coastal river's name rhyme with JumpthruLips? ;)

mizm05 wrote:It's on the coast...I'll give ya that.

seattlesteban wrote:Great write-up mizm. Would you fave coastal river's name rhyme with JumpthruLips? ;)

Right-o ;)

But seriously, your old reports are great writeups as well without spoiling spots. Thanks for posting them.

I still love the Hump...it will always have a special place in my heart...but I've done a whole lot of exploring since then. There are many magical rivers out that way.