A small summer run salmon fishery opened in the area this week but hopes for additional fisheries this summer are diminishing. Fortunately, there are a lot of great opportunities for anglers throughout Central Washington and Northern Idaho. Summer fun fishing on the water is just getting started!
If you haven’t heard, the Entiat River opened to summer Chinook fishing. Here are the details:
Location: Entiat River (Chelan County) from the mouth (railroad bridge) to the Mad River Road Bridge crossing the Entiat River (near Ardenvoir). Salmon Rules: Minimum size 12 inches. Daily limit six Chinook. Release all salmon other than Chinook. Night closure in effect. Reason for action: On July 6, the U.S. versus Oregon Technical Advisory Committee met and downgraded the Columbia River summer Chinook run size to 38,600. This downgrade also decrease the recreational harvest allocation to the point of being unfeasible to open a mainstem Columbia River fishery. While the harvest allocation is insufficient to offer mainstem fishing opportunities, WDFW can open the Entiat River which typically harvests between 100-400 fish. This fishery also has a conservation benefit of removing hatchery-origin summer Chinook from the spawning grounds to reduce impacts to ESA-listed spring Chinook. I am getting questions about whether or not a bubble fishery would open at Chelan Falls this season. The latest downgrade pretty much puts an end to any speculation. I thought the run was stronger than last year until I learned the process of run estimation. My report for Wednesday explains how the run estimates and season setting is done.
As you all know I have been watching the fish counts over Bonneville Dam, to see what the sockeye and summer run returns look like. I think we all know that the sockeye season is a bust, with the forecast now downgraded to 87,000. The summer run numbers are better, but as Chad Jackson, Fish Manager for Region 2 points out, you can’t just look at the total number over Bonneville to understand what a season would be like on the upper Columbia. “The number of Chinook that passed over Bonneville from June 1st to June 15th don’t count towards the run/forecast in the eyes of US vs OR. Those fish fall within the spring management period and count as “springers”. The pre-season forecast and all in-season run updates for summer Chinook are during the summer management period of June 16th to July 31st. What I am hearing is that summer Chinook are essentially tracking at the pre-season forecast of 41,000. That means that the Priest Rapids harvest allocation is still around 775”. Now you know probably more than you wanted to know about how the summer run return is managed within the constraints of US vs OR.
My friend Calder Fiske is a very avid angler. He enjoys it so much that he organized a free kids fishing day at Blackbird Island Juvenile Pond in Leavenworth last year. Every kid should learn the joy of catching fish like he has, he says. The 13 year old had a very successful derby with lots of kids winning prizes that he received from the sponsors of the event that Calder put on. It was such a success that he is doing another one this year. So, mark your calendars for Sunday, July 26th and plan on bringing your kids to the pond to catch trout. Young anglers from six years old to 14 years old can participate in the derby. The event will kick off at 8 am. Bring your own fishing gear, bait will be provided. Calder is able to conduct this event because of the amazing response from the Leavenworth community to restore the pond and pump system that was severely damaged in last winter’s windstorm and flood. Donations of time and heavy equipment and funding through local grants and a GoFundMe page made it happen. By the way, the WDFW planted 2,000 trout in the pond.
One of the benefits of working with Mark’s Marine in Hayden, Idaho, is that it opens up the opportunity for me to explore the many terrific lakes in North Idaho. I recently experienced the kokanee fishing on Lake Coeur d’ Alene and found it to be outstanding. Kokanee are exceptionally large in the lake this year and I hope to make more trips on Coeur d’ Alene to stock my freezer with these dandies. They are great smoked, and I also like to make fish cakes with kokanee—Yum! On my last visit I spent some time checking out a few of the lakes in the area. I wanted to see where the boat launches were, that sort of thing. Included in the lakes were Hayden, Twin Lakes, and Spirit Lake. All of these lakes offer good fishing for a variety of species. One species that has been on my list for years is northern pike, and I want to scratch that one off my list this summer. I want to ask my readers, followers and listeners what other lakes I should try, and which Northern Idaho lakes are your favorites. I will be sharing what I learn. Let me know your thoughts through my website or Facebook.
If you like bass fishing as much as I do, you will want to participate in the WDFW’s celebration of the sport with Bass Week, July 13th through the 17th. The department will share tips, tricks, where to go, where to begin and answer your bass fishing questions through blogs, videos and posts. There is also a photo contest, and you could get a chance to win some prizes with your bass photos. Just submit your bass photo to the WDFW photo submission page between July 13 through the 16th. There are three categories with one winner each. Winners will be announced on the WDFW Facebook and Instagram pages on July 22nd. The three categories are: Best all-around bass photo, the best pose, and the most excited angler. Include any information you would like to provide about the photo. I checked out the Bass Week page on the WDFW website and found a huge amount of information to help people get out after bass and have a great chance at getting some. I will share some of my favorite lures and places to catch bass before the contest ends. Good luck everyone! This week’s photo was taken on Moses Lake where largemouth and smallmouth bass get big!
