Fishing Reports for February 15

By on February 15, 2017

Washington

Marine Area 1 (Ilwaco)

no report this week

Marine Area 2 (Westport)

no report this week

Marine Area 3 (LaPush and Forks)

no report this week

Marine Area 4 (Neah Bay)

no report this week

Marine Area 5

no report this week

Marine Area 6

no report this week

Marine Area 7

no report this week

Marine Area 8.1

no report this week

Marine Area 8.2

no report this week

Marine Area 9 (Admirality Inlet)

AREA 9 OPENS!

February 16 will be a big day in Puget Sound as Area 9 finally opens. Area 8 has been doing very well putting out some fat blackmouth. The new TWO-Face spoons have worked well for us both in the Islands (Area 7) and at Hein Bank over the past few months.

Time to break out the tackle and sharpen those hooks. I took a pic of our go to lures for Area 9. Start out with a 3.5 inch Two Face and a Coho Killer on the Scotty. 46 to 50 inch – 20 lb leaders really let the spoons give out all their inner action. Stay “in the mud” from 90 to 140 feet of water.

If you get a “short” or two on spoons, switch up to the Ace-Hi Flies or Hootchies. Still “shorts” in the Area ? Pick up your speed and pull some nice bright glow plugs. You may pull up a 25 pound SPRINGER !

We are so happy to burn some fuel and get back out on the water !

Report submitted by Nelson “Spud” Goodsell – Salmon for Soldiers, IGFA Life Member, FISHTALE2. 

Marine Area 10

no report this week

Marine Area 11

Area 11 has reopened but the North winds and weather has restricted anglers from getting out. The salmon fishing for Chinook has been very slow since opening 2/01/17 but should improve, try Trolling the Quartermaster Harbor area on the high tide, the slag area and shelf area on the outgoing tide in about 120’ to 150’ of water near bottom. The most popular gear to use this time of year is a flasher and artificial squid or spoon when trolling and Jigging can be productive off of the shelf on high water or the low water change. A key is to try to find the bait and work that area. In MA 13 there has been a few legal Chinook caught around Fox Island mostly near Pt. Gibson, Green Pt. and the entrance to Wollochet Bay.   For an up to date report call 253-591-5325.
Learn fall fishing opportunities and how to pursue them Basic Fishing Youth/Adult April 8, 2017 Saturday 10 am to 12 noon Cost $15 Point Defiance Marina Basic Fishing Adult 15+ March 4, 2017 Saturday 10 am to 12 noon Cost $15 Point Defiance Marina Basic trailering and launch Ages 18+ April 15, 2017 Saturday 10 am to 12 noon Cost $20 Point Defiance Marina
Peer Pier in Tacoma …..See  and touch marine life as you see a diver bring up creatures you typically cannot see from the deep.  Do a plankton tow and scoop creatures to view up close as oyu learn about the life in Puget Sound.  Enjoy hot drinks from the marina.  Register for the next event on March 11, 2017 from 7:30-9 pm on www.metroparkstacoma.org/pier-peer Cost is $8 and is for ages 8 and up.  Each child must have an adult supervisor present.

Report submitted by Point Defiance Marina. For more information contact: Art Tachell, Boathouse Marina Technician, 253.591.5325 art@tacomaparks.com www.pointdefiancemarina.com.

Freshwater – Lake Chelan

Sonny & Pat Clemmer of Springdale, WA with their friends Caroline & Don Renz of Loon Lake and their epic catch of Lake Chelan Mackinaw.

Sonny & Pat Clemmer of Springdale, WA with their friends Caroline & Don Renz of Loon Lake and their epic catch of Lake Chelan Mackinaw.

And the beat goes on… Lake Chelan continued hot, trolling for Mackinaw in the Trench and Kokanee on Colyar Ledge.

Trolling for suspended Kokanee continues terrific. Pull Mack’s Lure’s Mini Cha Cha Squidders in Orange on a short leader behind their Double D Dodgers in the 7.6 size. Bait the Mini Cha Cha’s Corn soaked in Pro Cure’s Bloody Tuna scent. We have caught these landlocked sockeye anywhere from 45 to 200 feet deep.

Laker fishing has been terrific in the Trench. Fish within 3 to 5 feet of the bottom and keep your speed around .8 to .9 mph. Jeff Drift rigs in glow colors fronted with a Mack’s Smile Blade and baited with a piece of Northern Pikeminnow has been our best pattern.

Your fishing tips of the week is to keep track of small details when fishing kokanee. The most important of these is depth. You see the fish on your sonar at 115’. How do you know your gear is there? If you don’t have your downrigger ball showing on the screen it might be a challenge to know. Sometimes the balls being in the sonar cone can be too much and obliterate fish signals. So you adjust your transducer to eliminate the downrigger balls you better “zero” your downriggers. Maybe touch the balls on the bottom at a known similar depth and change your counter to match your depth. Then you only have “Kentucky Windage” to adjust for as you increase depth or speed… To be precise can be difficult. More importantly, keep your mind open to the “less is more” doctrine. If you are trolling through an area that holds a large number of fish for an extended distance, fishing the maximum number of rods makes sense. If you are trying to hit a small area very precisely, minimizing the number of rods could actually improve your catch. Where we know certain small spots hold concentrations of fish, we will troll through working one rod precisely, and another rigged and ready to go. Hook a fish on the one rod, make your turn and drop ready rod down. Net the hooked fish, hook another fish, re-rig that one, etc. Sometimes less rods can allow you to fish more precisely and effectively.

The kid’s tip of the week is to use the open discussion time that fishing affords to help them explore their problem solving skills. Doing it with open ended questions also develops critical thinking skills. These are both things that modern life rarely affords us the time to develop appropriately. For example asking the 8 year old how we should steer around that log up ahead. Then asking follow ups like,” What do we do if the wind changes, or what about that outside fishing line?” “ Would it catch the log doing that? “ The simplest of life’s situations can be very teachable moments.

The safety tip of the week is to remember to unplug those electric downriggers before working on the cable. The cable moving unexpectedly while your hands are on it can be a very unwelcome surprise.

For more info call Anton & Sandra Jones of Darrell & Dad’s Family Guide Service;darrellanddads.com; antonj@aol.com or call (509)687-0709 or toll free at (866)360-1523. The cover image of this week’s fishing reports was also contributed by Jones. It shows the venerable Pepe out with the intrepid Jeff to get their Kokanee fix.

Freshwater – Potholes Reservoir

Winter continues here at Potholes with nighttime temperatures in the teens or low 20s. We are seeing daytime temperatures in the md 30s. We are getting limited melting during the day time and at night freezing over. All the main roads are clear with secondary roads still with some ice. All lakes are still froze over with no one fishing. With any luck we might see some ice going away very soon. I have been told by a person that has lived here 42 years and this is the longest period with snow on the ground that he has seen. I am starting to miss the rain.

Report submitted by Tom Pollack. 

Vancouver

Billy with a big winter fish landed last week.

A good haul of spot prawns, dungeness crabs and winter chinook!

Fishing has been pretty good in our local waters for the last couple weeks. Most of the legal fish are in the 7 to 12 pound range, but we have hooked some larger fish in the 20 pound range as well.

We have been focusing our efforts in Howe Sound, the Gulf Island’s and Vancouver Harbour. With the herring spawn approaching we should see increased numbers of larger winter chinook salmon into local waters.

Prawning and crabbing has been good as well. We are dropping traps on all of our 8 hour charters. If you are looking to get on the water, please check out our website for our winter charter special that we are offering until the end of March!

For more info call Jeff or Jason at Bon Chovy Fishing Charters (604) 763-5460,bonchovy.com email: info@bonchovy.com.

Becher Bay

Salmon fishing was GOOD this past week. Springs are all throughout the area and the Trap, Aldridge Point, the bay and Church Rock all produced fish. More large fish came from the inside of the bay rather than in the strait. The largest salmon of the week was a 15 lb spring caught inside the bay. The fish haven’t been too picky about what they will strike.  Most of the anglers are using artificial lures and are trolling close to the bottom. Spoons, especially G-Force and Skinny G spoons, in Bon Chovy or Outfitters’ colours have been very effective. Anglers using bait are catching their share of salmon and are finding anchovies in glow teaser heads have been working best. For flashers, the Betsey, Lemon Lime and Green/Silver Hot Spot have been good.

Submitted by Tom Vaida, Island Outfitters, 3319 Douglas Street, Victoria, BC (250) 475-4969 info@fishingvictoria.com; www.fishingvictoria.com

Oak Bay

Salmon fishing was FAIR recently. There are lots of small springs on the flats but not too many keepers. Fishing out at the border bank was really hot on the weekend. All of the anglers have been bottom bouncing or trolling close to the bottom. Good trolling lures have been Coho Killers, Bon Chovi or Outfitters Skinny G spoons or AP Tackleworks needlefish spoons.

Halibut fishing was SLOW this past week.

Submitted by Tom Vaida, Island Outfitters, 3319 Douglas Street, Victoria, BC (250) 475-4969 info@fishingvictoria.com; www.fishingvictoria.com

Pedder Bay

Pedder Bay Marina reports salmon fishing was GOOD. The bay entrance and produced lots of winter springs up to 7 lbs in size. Most of the anglers have switched over to artificial lures and are trolling close to the bottom, but bait is also producing well. The fish haven’t been too picky about what they will strike Spoons, especially G-Force and Skinny G spoons in Brass/Silver, Bon Chovy or Outfitters’ colours, have been very effective. Hootchies and squirts with a green and glow color combination have been good plastic baits to use, especially with a 28” to 32” leader. Anchovies were still working this past week. Good choices for teaser head colors are UV Green, Chartreuse, Bloody Nose and Purple Haze. Flashers that are popular include the Betsey, Lemon-Lime and Madi.

Submitted by Tom Vaida, Island Outfitters, 3319 Douglas Street, Victoria, BC (250) 475-4969 info@fishingvictoria.com; www.fishingvictoria.com

Sidney

Salmon fishing was FAIR this past week. There were a few keeper springs coming from Wain Rock, Moses Point and Fairfax Point. Anglers using spoons found Coho Killers, Gibbs Needle G and AP Tackleworks spoons the most successful spoons this past year. Anchovies and Tiny Strip were the good producers of fish.

Submitted by Tom Vaida, Island Outfitters, 3319 Douglas Street, Victoria, BC (250) 475-4969 info@fishingvictoria.com; www.fishingvictoria.com

Sooke

The salmon fishing has been GOOD for springs. Most of the fish are still less than 10 lbs in size. The best fishing has been from the harbour entrance westward to Otter Point in 110 – 150 feet of water. The salmon are holding close to the bottom so you have to troll deep. Most of the anglers have switched over to artificial lures but the largest fish have been caught on bait. There are large herring in the area and the bigger fish are keying in on them. The top spoons for Sooke anglers have lots of green, glow or Moon Jelly as the primary color. Anchovies are still a good choice for bait though and good choices for teaser head colors are UV Green, Chartreuse, Bloody Nose and Purple Haze. For flashers, you can’t go wrong with a Super Betsey, Madi or Bon Chovi Flasher. Hootchies in White, Glow/Green and Purple Haze have been effective recently. We did hear that one halibut was caught in Sooke waters.

Submitted by Tom Vaida, Island Outfitters, 3319 Douglas Street, Victoria, BC (250) 475-4969 info@fishingvictoria.com; www.fishingvictoria.com

Victoria

Fishing for salmon was FAIR this past week. Constance Bank was where most of the action was happening, with seals as well as salmon. Most of the salmon have been in the 3 to 9 lb size range but there are some larger ones into the teens around. Closer in, the 50-130 foot depths have been best off the waterfront. Good areas have been Finlayson Point, Clover Point and Brotchie Ledge. Your lure should be close to the bottom when trolling off Victoria. The same depth and technique has been working well out at Constance Bank. Spoons have been very successful in getting hook ups. Green Spatter Back UV Coho Killers, 3.5” Cop Car spoons or AP Tackleworks herring spoons have brought good results.

The Esquimalt Anglers’ coffee club had a small derby with 21 boats participating. Wayne Zaccarelli was the derby winner with a 13 lb 8 oz chinook caught near the harbour entrance. Second was Ed Beatty with a 7 lb 1 oz spring and third was James Pollock with a 6 lb 14 oz fish.

Halibut fishing was SLOW this past week. We did hear of on 43 lb halibut that was caught at Constance Bank.

Submitted by Tom Vaida, Island Outfitters, 3319 Douglas Street, Victoria, BC (250) 475-4969 info@fishingvictoria.com; www.fishingvictoria.com

Lakes

Fishing was SLOW in most lakes for trout and SLOW for bass. Winter run steelhead are now n most rivers on both sides of the Island.

Submitted by Tom Vaida, Island Outfitters, 3319 Douglas Street, Victoria, BC (250) 475-4969 info@fishingvictoria.com; www.fishingvictoria.com

Oregon

Tillamook Bay

no report this week

Willamette River

no report this week

Great Lakes

Lake Michigan

no report this week

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Salmon University Staff
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