Skagit County Report

[House]

FRESHWATER
Baker Lake sockeye fishing held up pretty well according to a few fishermen that have been hitting it hard all season. The crowd is way down , probably due to the increased fishing opportunities in other areas. One fisherman fished last week on a weekday and managed to catch his limit with only about ten boats fishing around him. Some of the fish are starting to darken up but there are still quite a few bright ones to catch. Even the sockeye that are a little dark are good tasting and have bright red meat.

The Skagit has been producing good amounts of humpies. Plunkers are managing to land fish in most of the popular areas including Gardner Rd, Railroad Bridge, Youngs Bar and the Spud Bar. There are plenty of fish throughout the entire system right now. If you have a boat, look for slots with plenty of jumpers, anchor up and cast into them. Expect to get plenty of action! A few early silvers have started to show. Expect silver numbers to continue to increase over the next month and a half.

The Samish River is now open for chinook fishing. A few fish have started to come out of there. These early fish should all be chrome bright.

SALTWATER
Marine Area 7 has still been reportedly plugged with humpies. The Frazier River is expecting millions of them and they are filtering through the islands. A few fishermen trolling at Eagle Pt on San Juan Island have reported doing really well on kings. They have been trolling larger cut plug herring to help keep the humpies off. The inner portions of the San Juans should be providing good action as well. The Samish River fish should be filtering in over the next four weeks. Places like Indian Village and Secret Harbor should start to pump out fish. Trolling and jigging Pt Wilson Darts both work well in these areas. Samish Bay will also start to turn on. There have been some reports of fish being caught already although there has been a good amount of tribal gillnet pressure on certain days.

The beach fishermen in Deception Pass, West Beach, Keystone, and Bush Pt have not been doing very well yet on humpies. Hopefully things will turn around as more fish start to show up.

Crabbing is still great throughout most of the popular areas.

HUNTING
The new waterfowl regulations just arrived! WDFW only sent us one case but we have more on the way.

Anthon Steen
Holiday Sports Center
Burlington, Washington
(360) 757-4361