Fishing Report

[Dan Hall]

This was in today’s Times.   Dan   The best winter steelhead options are occurring along the northern coast, mainly in the Quillayute river system. "There should be lots of hatchery steelhead stacked up in the rivers, and fishing should be pretty good over the holidays," said Bill Freymond, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist. "The Quillayute is looking pretty darn good with about half a fish per angler average last weekend. In the Bogachiel over the weekend, we checked 256 anglers and they had 129 hatchery fish, plus another eight wild fish either kept or released."     "This is absolutely one of the best steelhead fishing seasons I've seen in a long time," said Bryan Nelson at Three Rivers Marine and Tackle in Woodinville. "I've gotten good reports from Tokul Creek (on Snoqualmie), Reiter Ponds (on Skykomish) and from Fortson (North Fork of Stillaguamish)." The Green River has been spotty for steelhead, and the Skagit has been fair at times. "The Skagit has been OK for steelhead and Dolly Varden trout, and the best area seems to be near the Cascade River mouth," said Mike Chamberlain at Ted's Sports Center in Lynnwood. In Southwest Washington, "the steelhead run is more spread out in the Cowlitz and the run timing has shifted to a more later arrival," said Joe Hymer, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist. "I did hear of a 23-pounder caught below the Toledo Bridge this past week." Other rivers kicking out some fair steelhead fishing are the Grays, Elochoman, Lewis, Kalama and Washougal.  Coho in southern Puget Sound: "I spoke with Mike Croft, a Tacoma based fly-tier who uses the Tacoma Narrows as his field-testing area, and he is finding good numbers of small but chunky and spirited Coho snapping at his flies," said Les Johnson, a local fly angler. "Krill patterns and very small baitfish patterns should be the ticket. A black Knudson spider can also be deadly." Good Coho areas are near the Narrows Bridge, Point Fosdick, the sand spit west of Fox Island Bridge, and Purdy and Penrose State Parks.   Slow beach fishing for steelhead at Bush Point, Lagoon Point and Fort Casey.