The recreational salmon fishing seasons options for Washington were made today (March 11) at the Pacific Fisheries Management Council meeting in Sacramento, Calif., and the chinook end looks very good, but marginal for hatchery coho.

The high sport catch quota option is 55,000 for chinook and 92,400 for hatchery-marked coho. This will have a selective fishery for hatchery-marked (only those with a missing adipose fin) chinook from June 12-30 with a 19,000 catch quota. The ocean fishing seasons would open July 1 at La Push, Neah Bay and Ilwaco, and July 4 at Westport.

The middle sport catch quota option is 47,500 chinook and 75,600 hatchery-marked coho. This has a nonselective chinook fishery from June 19-30 with a 7,000 catch quota. The ocean fishing seasons would open July 1 at La Push, Neah Bay and Ilwaco, and July 4 at Westport.

The low sport catch quota option is 40,000 chinook and 58,800 hatchery-marked coho. There would be no directed chinook fishery in this option during June. The ocean fishing seasons would start June 29 at La Push and Neah Bay, and June 27 at Westport and Ilwaco.

State Fish and Wildlife will host a coastal fisheries meeting 6 p.m. March 11 at Montesano City Hall, and the next statewide Washington meeting is 9 a.m.-3 p.m. March 16 at the General Administration Building in Olympia. Final seasons will be made at the Sheraton Portland Airport Hotel on April 11-15.

State Fish and Wildlife salmon and steelhead biologist Steve Foley passed away on Sunday, March 7, from an apparent heart attack at the age of 57.

Foley worked for almost 30 years at state Fish and Wildlife with the majority of those years at the regional Mill Creek office.

"He was all that was good about fish management," said Curt Kraemer, a longtime friend and retired state Fish and Wildlife biologist. "We did a lot of the same things, and our life together was a long blur of great times. Foley lived life at a passion and no one lived life more fully than he did."

"It is a huge loss across the board, and he was a passionate outdoorsman," Kraemer said.

A celebration of life will be held 2 p.m. Thursday, March 11, at the Nile Country Club, 6601 244th St. S.W. in Mountlake Terrace.

There will be a card and condolence book at the state Fish and Wildlife regional office, 16018 Mill Creek Blvd. in Mill Creek.

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Weather in the Tri-City area was warmer than usual for much of February, and angler effort was more than double the six year average but slightly lower than January.

An estimated 317 steelhead were caught in January, but only 151 of the steelhead were harvested.

The number of unmarked steelhead in the fishery increased this year, and in February 165 of these unmarked steelhead were caught and released.

Based on the percentage of adipose absent steelhead returning to the Ringold Hatchery, 56 of the 165 steelhead caught were of hatchery origin, but the percentage was likely much higher as these fish are returned to the fishery and the adipose clipped steelhead are retained.

The February 2010 catch and harvest was higher than any of the past five years, and the remainder of the fishery should follow this pattern of slightly above normal catch and harvest.

Boat anglers averaged 8.9 hours per fish in February with bank anglers a bit behind at roughly 15 hours of angling per steelhead.

For the season, 3,992 steelhead have been caught with 2,583 harvested. An estimated 352 wild steelhead (8.8% of the catch) have been caught and released during the fishery through the end of February.

This burst of good news came from state Fish and Wildlife that should make trout anglers across the state happy this coming spring when the lowland lakes opener occurs on April 24-25.

The state Fish and Wildlife Commission sent out a news release today (March 5) that approved a plan to plant 58,118 large rainbow trout - 16,708 over last year's total - into 104 lowland lakes statewide.

The commission voted to modify the stocking plan developed by the state Fish and Wildlife staff to more closely balance stocking percentages between eastern and western Washington.

Under the approved plan, 55 percent of the fish will go to western Washington lakes, and 45 percent will go to eastern Washington waters. The adopted plan will partly offset lost fish production resulting from the closure of Bellingham Hatchery.

Triploids - trout bred so that they cannot reproduce and are just honed in on feeding all their life - average 1½ pounds apiece.

State Fish and Wildlife purchases the popular triploids from a private grower under a program authorized by the Legislature in 1999.

Triploid trout, along with "catchable" size trout produced by hatcheries, provide fish for lake fisheries statewide.

(Photo taken by Seattle Times staff photographer)

The Eastern Washington March 1 trout opener went off with a bang, and anglers turned out in strong numbers and catches were good in general.

"There were lots of folks out considering that the opener fell on a Monday," Chad Jackson, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist said in the state's Weekender news release. "As far as performance, it was a bit of a mixed bag with some good, some bad, and some underutilized lakes."

Jackson says the greatest effort and catches came from Martha, Upper Caliche and Lenice lakes.

Martha and Caliche lake generated five trout daily limits with several anglers scoring limits in less than an hour. Most rainbow trout at Martha averaged 13 inches with a few winter-carryovers in the 16- to 24-inch range. The Caliche trout were smaller averaging 10 to 11 inches.

Lenice Lake was the most popular draw and the selective gear lake found most anglers catching and releasing about six trout apiece in two to four hours on the water. Most trout were 19 to 21 inches with a few up to 24 inches. A few anglers released some tiger trout, known for their stunning colors, that were planted last year.

Nunnally and Merry lakes, both selective gear fisheries with a one-trout daily limit, were not checked on the opener. Nunnally and Lenice will be restocked with trout in the spring.

Quincy and Burke lakes were very slow, and each one failed to generate a catch of at least one trout per angler. Both were planted were catchable sized trout recently and are expected to improve in the coming months. Trout at Burke averaged 12 to 24 inches, and at Quincy averaged 20 t 21 inches.

Dusty and Lenore lakes didn't draw too many anglers. At Dusty eight anglers had two trout, and at Lenore (catch and release only through May) 13 anglers released seven trout averaging 14 to 22 inches.

Lakes in the Quincy Wildlife Area worth checking out are Cascade, Cliff, Crystal, Cup, Dot, George and Spring.

The seven impoundments off the Tucannon River in the Wooten Wildlife Area in Columbia County were good for rainbow trout. They were Beaver, Big Four, Blue, Deer, Rainbow, Spring and Watson. Best time was in the morning, and Spring had the highest catches with just over three fish per angler. Big Four had the least with just one fish apiece.

In the Spokane area, Liberty Lake bank anglers averaged one fish apiece, and boat anglers scored three fish per rod. At Medical Lake anglers averaged three fish apiece. Amber Lake, open for catch and release only, gave up five to six fish per rod.

In Stevens County, Deer Lake anglers averaged less than one fish per rod, but the lucky ones who caught fish averaged a whopping 24 to 34 inches. Chilly water could have affected fishing and it should improve once it warms up.

Coastal razor clam diggers should be able to bring in spring with some additional digs scheduled later this month and in April.

The final approval to open the beaches are dependent marine toxin testing that show the clams are safe for human consumption.

"The digs planned this month span the seasonal change, when the lowest tides shift from evening to morning hours," Dan Ayres, the head coastal state Fish and Wildlife shellfish biologist said in a news release. "As in past months, razor-clam digging will be allowed after noon for the first three days of the opening, but will then switch to morning hours starting March 29."

The Ocean Shores Razor Clam Festival is March 27.

Planned digging dates are:

Friday, March 26, (4:29 p.m., +0.1) at Long Beach, Twin Harbors and Kalaloch.
Saturday, March 27, (5:19 p.m., -0.1) and Sunday, March 28, (6:04 p.m., 0.0) at Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks.

Monday, March 29, (6:35 A.M., -0.1), Tuesday, March 30, (7:22 a.m., -0.7),Wednesday, March 31, (8:07 A.M., -1.0), and Thursday, April 1, (8:52 a.m., -1.0) at Long Beach and Twin Harbors only.

More digs are planned for:

Friday, April 16, (8:32 A.M., -0.7) at Long Beach and Twin Harbors only.

Saturday, April 17, (9:12 A.M., -0.7) and Sunday, April 18, (9:56 A.M., -0.6) at Long Beach, Twin Harbors and Kalaloch only.

More digs could occur in late April or early May on most beaches, noting that several natural events have left more clams than usual available for harvest in spring.

Those events include stormy weather in December, a marine toxin closure in January and last week's tsunami advisory on the coast.

"Razor-clam diggers have had a bumpy ride this season, and we're doing everything we can to add some additional digging opportunities," Ayres said.

More good news continued to flow out of the first preseason salmon season setting process meeting hosted by state Fish and Wildlife in Olympia on Tuesday (March 2).
According to Mark Cedergreen, the Westport Charter boat Association president, the allowable exploitation rates for chinook will be 38 percent again this season.

"We were fearful that it might have been lower than that, but we are holding onto that 38 percent again," Cedergreen said.

The Lower Columbia River coho exploitation rate will be 15 percent for coho, and Cedergreen says it could have been higher.

"Under those circumstances we will be looking at reasonable fishing opportunities with the highlight being chinook," Cedergreen said.

Those who sat in on the coastal panel say the range of options of catch quotas would 100,000 coho and 100,000 chinook, plus or minus when you include the nontribal commercial fishery into the mix.

"It could range from a low around 80,000 for both species to up around 120,000 for coho on the high end and maybe 110,000 for chinook," Cedergren said. "We will also look at some selective type fisheries this year for chinook, but not for the entire season and it might be just for part of it."

Cedergreen expects the fishing seasons to start in late June and go through September under a five or seven day a week season, plus a two fish daily limit.

"We still have a long ways to go on nailing down the specifics, and this is just the start," Cedergreen said. "This year, I think the take home message is when you are out fishing the chinook fishing will be very good."

The Pacific Fisheries Management Council will meet March 7-12 in Sacramento, Calif. to develop three fishing options for the coastal areas off Washington.

(Photo taken by Seattle Times staff photographer)