Because of expected poor returns of wild winter steelhead, river fishing opportunities targeting hatchery steelhead are being cut short in five greater Puget Sound river systems as well as seven smaller Strait of Juan de Fuca streams.
Emergency orders mandating these closures were issued Friday, Jan. 6, by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and are slated in most cases to take effect at the end of this month.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officials characterize the projected 2011-12 returns of native winter-run fish to these streams as likely to be far short of target levels.
The first of the early closures (Monday, Jan. 16) will be reaches in the Puyallup River system including the White and Carbon rivers together with the Puyallup mainstem above the mouth of the Carbon.
Originally slated to run through mid-February -- or later -- most other winter fisheries on reaches of the mainstem Nooksack, Skagit, Stillaguamish and Snohomish rivers and selected tributaries plus selected Strait of Juan de Fuca streams will now close to all fishing Wednesday, Feb. 1.
Not all steelhead angling halts at the end of January, though. Selected reaches in the vicinity of state hatcheries in the aforementioned big river basins will stay open through Thursday, Feb. 16.
LOCAL REACH BY REACH
Stream reaches open under permanent regulations for winter hatchery steelhead fishing that are now set for closure Wednesday, Feb. 1, are:
- The Nooksack River from the Lummi Nation boundary upstream to the confluence of the North and South Forks.
- The north fork Nooksack River from Maple Creek to Nooksack Falls (note the lower North Fork stays open).
- The middle fork Nooksack River from its mouth upstream to the City of Bellingham diversion dam.
- The south fork Nooksack River from its mouth upstream to Skookum Creek.
Closing elsewhere Wednesday, Feb. 1, are:
- The Skagit, Sauk and Cascade rivers, except the Skagit's Rockport-Marblemount mainstem reach and the lower nine-tenths mile of the Cascade River.
- All of the Stillaguamish River system, except the north fork above Whitehorse Hatchery.
- All of the Snohomish River system, except short portions of the Skykomish, Wallace and Snoqualmie rivers as well as the below-hatchery reach of Tokul Creek.
- Strait of Juan de Fuca streams in Clallam County including the Dungeness, Pysht, Clallam and Sekiu rivers together with Morse, Salt and Deep creeks.
Anglers also should note that the Skagit River's popular March-April catch and release session in the upper mainstem Skagit and lower Sauk rivers will not take place as scheduled and that winter fishing in the Samish River has permanently ceased.
Managers say the closure is warranted because the Samish no longer receives hatchery winter-run steelhead smolts so returns of adult "catchable" fish are not expected and angler interactions with wild fish are no longer acceptable.
OPEN A LITTLE LONGER
Anglers will get additional time (through Thursday, Feb. 16) in the vicinity of state fish hatcheries on the following stream reaches:
- The north fork Nooksack from its mouth upstream to Maple Creek (Kendall Creek Hatchery).
- The Skagit mainstem from the Highway 530 bridge in Rockport to the mouth of the Cascade River (Marblemount Hatchery).
- The Cascade from its mouth upstream to the Rockport-Cascade Road Bridge (Marblemount Hatchery).
- The north fork Stillaguamish from French Creek upstream to the Swede Heaven Road Bridge (Whitehorse Hatchery).
- The Skykomish River from Highway 2 Bridge (the Big Eddy Access) to the confluence of the north and south forks (Reiter Pond).
- The Wallace River from the lowest BNSF railroad bridge to 200 feet above the hatchery intake (Wallace River Hatchery).
- The Snoqualmie River from the Plum Access upstream to Snoqualmie Falls and the mouth-to-cable-boundary marker section of Tokul Creek (Tokul Creek Hatchery).
Doug Huddle, the Bellingham Herald's outdoors correspondent, since 1983 has written a weekly fishing and hunting column that now appears Sundays. Read his blog and contact him at http://pblogs.bellinghamherald.com/outdoors.
REOPENINGS
The Nooksack River's north fork from Mosquito Lake Road Bridge upstream to the yellow post at the northeast corner of Kendall Creek Hatchery and Whatcom Creek from its mouth to Woburn Street Bridge were reopened to angling Thursday, Jan. 12.
These fisheries target trout 14 inches or longer and adipose fin-clipped hatchery-origin steelhead as well as other gamefish.
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