The much anticipated opening of trout fishing in lowland lakes across the state is Saturday. State Department of Fish and Wildlife hatchery crews have been busy stocking area lakes with tens of thousands of trout in the last couple of months.
There are a number of opening day derbies including at Mineral Lake and Offut Lake Resort. The Offut derby starts Friday and ends Sunday at 6 p.m. and is open to all Offut Lake guests and customers. The cost is $1 in addition to the resort admission, camping or lodging costs. The prize for the biggest trout is a MinnKota trolling motor.
RIVERS
Cowlitz: The salmon fishing is picking up. Marshall Borsom at Fish Country said he has had a few good reports of fish being caught by from boat and bank anglers. Boaters are using divers with eggs and shrimp, Kwikfish with herring and back-bouncing eggs. Bank anglers are throwing big gobs of eggs with a shrimp tail. People are catching steelhead near the trout hatchery.
Kalama: People are catching some spring chinook and steelhead, said a state report.
Lewis: Boat anglers in the North Fork are catching some spring chinook.
Rocky Ford: The spring creek has been fishing well. Fly anglers have to switch through scuds, woolly buggers, San Juan worms and leeches to find the best fly.
Wind: The state has expanded the popular fishing area at the mouth of the river by moving the outside boundary about 250 yards out into the Columbia River. The fishing area was expanded to help relieve crowding, where up to 200 boats a day often compete for space during the peak of the spring chinook season in late April and May.
Yakima: The weather has been great, maybe too good. Hot temperatures have started the snow melting, making the river unfishable. Flows were at 9,650 cfs Tuesday morning and rising.
LAKES
American: The lake has been producing some good catches of rainbow trout and some limits of kokanee. For trout, try trolling a Dick Nite spoon tipped with a piece of worm.
Cady: The trout fishing has been good. People are using chironomids.
Chelan: Fish the deep water above the Narrows, said Anton Jones of Darrell and Dad’s Family Guide Service. He is using T4 purple glow Flatfish and Cha Cha Squidders, trolling at 1.6-1.7 mph early in the morning.
Nahwatzel: The trout fishing has been fair. People are catching two-three fish a person, mostly using Power Bait fished off the bottom.
Offut: The resort released 11,000 trout, ranging from 10-12 inches long, Monday night.
Riffe: People are getting their limits in no time near Mossyrock Dam. Try using worms, cocktail shrimp and corn about 6-10 feet under a bobber, Borsom said. People also are casting Kastmaters or Roostertails. Another good spot is the east end near the fishing bridge.
Tapps: It sounds like the smallmouth bass action is heating up with the water temperatures. Anglers over the weekend were finding plenty of smaller fish in shallow waters, hooking them on tube baits.
SALTWATER
Fly fishing: The action has been good to very good for searun cutthroat trout, said Anil Srivastava at Puget Sound Fly Co. Use small fry patterns to mimic chum and pink salmon fry coming out of streams.
South Sound: The salmon fishing is still slow. There were 33 anglers checked by the state at ramps over the weekend and they had caught just three fish.
Jeffrey P. Mayor, jeff.mayor@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/adventure
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