Fishing | Last week's bust aside, fish will still be biting

The statewide lowland lakes trout opener last weekend was for the most part a bust, but that equates to good fishing for weeks to come since plenty of lakes are still loaded with fish.

"Because of the late spring, the waters remained cool, and catches tended to be lower in many lakes," said Jon Anderson, a state Fish and Wildlife fish program manager whose staff checked more than 3,500 anglers with about 6,000 trout from 100 lakes across the state.

In the Puget Sound region, Chad Jackson, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist, reported that fishing was "incredibly slow, [but] if the temperatures remain high over the next couple of weeks, fishing at opening-day lakes will improve and lots of fish should be left over."

Jackson said even though the north lakes (Skagit and Whatcom counties) had pretty good averages of 3.5 fish per angler kept, most worked pretty hard for those fish. In the south lakes (Snohomish and King counties) it was 1.9 fish per angler kept.

The best producers on the west side of the state were McMurray, Heart and Sixteen lakes in Skagit County; Cascade in San Juan; and Howard in Snohomish.

Other local lakes or ponds worth trying are Pine, Cottage, Rattlesnake, Wilderness, Gissburg, Deer, Goss, Mineral, Geneva, Langlois, Mission, Bay, Ohop, Crescent, Armstrong, Bosworth, Ki, Martha (Alderwood Manor), Riley, Storm, McIntosh, Cain, Padden, Silver (Whatcom County) and Toad.

East of the Cascades, some lakes remain covered with ice or inaccessible due to lingering snow. Fish size was also noticeably smaller than normal at lakes where cold water and ice cover delayed foraging.

"Some of our traditional 'success stories' for opening day were off substantially," said John Whalen, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist in Spokane. "It is anticipated that fishing success will pick up significantly within the next couple of weeks as water temperatures warm. Some lakes in Pend Oreille County were iced over."

The east side's top lakes were Deep and Rocky in Stevens County; Williams in Spokane; and Blue and Warden in Grant.

Others worth a look are Wapato and Clear in Chelan County; Deep, Park and Perch in Grant; and Alta, Conconully Lake and Reservoir, Jameson, Leader and Spectacle in Okanogan.

Fishing reports

• Razor clams on the coastal beaches: This will be the last chance until fall for diggers to take advantage of what has turned out to be a very good winter and spring season.

Long Beach and Twin Harbors will open Saturday through May 7, and Copalis and Mocrocks will open Sunday and Monday only. Digging is allowed from 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 a.m. only. Low tides: Saturday, minus-0.3 feet at 5:27 a.m.; Sunday, minus-1.2 at 6:16 a.m.; Monday, minus-1.9 at 7:04 a.m.; Tuesday, minus-2.3 at 7:51 a.m.; and Wednesday, minus-2.4 at 8:39 a.m.

• Spot shrimp in Puget Sound and Hood Canal: Go quick, as the Puget Sound season isn't expected to last long, and catches should be excellent right out of the starting gate.

Saratoga Passage and northern and central Puget Sound (Areas 8, 9 and 10) open Saturday. They close when the quota is reached or on May 31, whichever comes first. Fishing is allowed 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays only. South-central Puget Sound (Area 11) is open Saturday only from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., and won't get additional openings after that.

The San Juan Islands (Area 7) open Saturday, then go to a Wednesday-to-Saturday fishery and close once the quota is attained.

The Hood Canal shrimp fishery will open Saturday, and also on May 7, 10 and 14 from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. each day. Southern Puget Sound (Area 13) is open daily starting at 7 a.m. Saturday, to May 31, or closes sooner if the quota is reached. Check the regulation pamphlet for specific rules.

• Halibut and lingcod in open marine areas: "The lingcod fishery opens [today] and we'll go out and see if we can find them off the south side of Hat Island or the south side of Whidbey Island," said Gary Krein, owner of All-Star Charters in Everett.

Some extreme minus low tides could make it tough for halibut fishing this week, but places that have produced some fish are Green Bank and the humps near Port Angeles, Freshwater Bay, Partridge, Hein and Salmon banks, Mutiny Bay and off Fort Casey on Whidbey Island.

Very good for lingcod and rockfish off Westport, La Push, Neah Bay and Ilwaco, and all are open today for halibut. All areas east of Sekiu into Puget Sound are open for lingcod.

• Spring chinook and steelhead in Columbia River above Bonneville and its tributaries: "The Bonneville Dam fish counts are creeping upward and [Tuesday] it was six fish short of 4,000 [spring chinook], and water temperatures have increased to almost 50 degrees," said Joe Hymer, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist.

"What we are seeing in the fisheries is that it appears to be building one day, and then goes back into a slow mode which applies to the Cowlitz, Kalama and Lewis rivers, and the Wind River and Drano Lake," Hymer said. "The Wind River is cold and the water temperature is 44 degrees."

Boat anglers in the Wind averaged one chinook per every 14.6 rods, and at Drano, boat anglers averaged one per every 12.8 rods this past week.

• Salmon in southern Puget Sound: South of the Narrows Bridge, there have been a few fish caught off Point Fosdick, Fox Point and Gibson Point on the east side of Fox Island.

Mark Yuasa: 206-464-8780 or myuasa@seattletimes.com