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Squid Showing Up in the Sound Already
Tim Bush at Outdoor Emporium (206-624-6550) says the squid fishing in Puget Sound has been excellent since late August. Bush says Pier 86 is the best place to target squid because they have power plug-ins built right into the dock for lights. He also recommends Seacrest Pier, Des Moines Pier, Edmonds Pier, and the A Dock in Ballard for squid. The hot squid jig lately has been a Colman glow in the dark squid jig and they’ve got plenty of them ready to go at Outdoor Emporium down on 4th Street just south of Safeco Field.
Skagit River Levels Yo-Yo’ing
John Koenig at Johns Guide Service (360-708-3166) is reporting great numbers of silver salmon in the Skagit River. He says the only thing keeping him from getting limits every day is river flows, which have been yo-yo’ing up and down this past week with the heavy rain fall. John’s been getting all of his silvers twitching a 3/8th ounce Warnie jig in pink and purple in the back eddy areas on the upper Skagit. John has also seen quite a few chums in the Skagit already this month. Bank fisherman should take a look at the Cascade River, which Koenig says is “stuffed” with coho right now.
Skagit Good, Samish Slow on Waterfowl Opener
Kevin John at Holiday Sports in Burlington (360-757-4361) reported good numbers of ducks on Skagit Bay for the hunt opener last weekend, but very poor shooting on Samish Bay just to the north. He said most of the action has taken place on the bay front because nearby fields have yet to accumulate any water. Kevin said the water level in the Skagit River came up enough with the rains to allow hunters to access the Skagit River delta from the Conway boat ramp. 5,000 to 6,000 snow geese were in the Skagit Valley prior to the opener and Kevin reports a lot of Canada geese are also in the valley right now. The migration will bring thousands more snow geese into the Skagit Valley in the coming months. Kevin mentioned that Holiday Sports has cases of Federal Powershok waterfowl loads on sale right for $100, which is a $30 savings over the regular box price.
Potholes Opener Solid for Local Ducks
Levi Meseberg at Mar Don Resort (509-346-2651) on Potholes Reservoir reported very good hunting on the lake on the opener last weekend. He said hunters had really good shooting last weekend for both mallards and pintails. Meseberg said he’s never seen so many local pintail this early in the season. Ducks Unlimited is reporting a 58% increase in northern pintails this year and we should see an increase in just about all the other duck species in the Pacific Flyway this year also. If Washington gets any foul weather this winter the duck hunting could be some of the best in years.
Humptulips River Slow, Slow, Slow for Salmon
Phil Stephens of Mystical Legends Guide Service says the salmon fishing on the Hump has been far from spectacular this past week. He says there are very few coho in the river and he’s been spending all of his time targeting king salmon. Stephens has been catching a few king salmon every day backbouncing eggs cured with Pro Glow and says his biggest king so far on the Hump has been 36 pounds. In regards to the slow fishing he thinks the silver fishing should improve dramatically in November when the late run of hatchery silvers hits the river.
Deer Harvest Similar to Last Year
The rains helped deer hunters sneak around the woods a lot quieter last weekend, but it didn’t exactly translate into a lot more deer tags being filled. State game check stations saw about the same number of deer being this year as they did last year. The Winthrop game station in popular Okanogan County checked 127 hunters with 17 deer. These numbers are almost the same as last year. WDFW staff noticed a drop in the numbers of hunters again this year. High fuel prices may be keeping some hunters from going to their traditional hunting areas. The Deer Park check station in Northeastern Washington checked 114 hunters with 12 deer last Sunday, which was very similar to last year’s numbers. A 4 point minimum requirement in GMU’s 117 and 121 are keeping a lot of hunters out of those areas.
Rob Endsley
The Outdoor Line
710 ESPN Seattle
www.theoutdoorline.com