SALT WATER
Hoodsport: Action at the hatchery has finally turned very good. State creel samples over the weekend showed people were averaging more than a fish taken home per person. On Friday, the average was two fish per person.
South Sound: There has been some improvement in the salmon fishing, but the action remains just fair. Over the weekend, people fishing Tacoma waters caught mostly blackmouth and just a few chum. Crab fishing in Marine Area 13 has been good but has not produced a lot of limits. Set your pots at Wollochet Bay and in the Nisqually River delta.
RIVERS
Cispus: Last week, Tacoma Power employees released 639 coho adults, 458 jacks and one fall chinook adult into the river above the mouth of Yellow Jacket Creek.
Cowlitz: Anglers are catching fall chinook, but they are being released due to their condition or they are wild fish. People also are catching coho, primarily near the salmon hatchery. Some searun cutthroat trout and steelhead were caught around the trout hatchery.
Green: People are catching coho and chum all over the river, as well as some trout. There are plenty of fish between Metzler Park and Flaming Geyser State Park. Try swinging purple-and-pink leeches.
Klickitat: Bank anglers on the lower river are catching coho.
Lewis: Despite flows that reached 11,000 cubic feet per second last week, some boat anglers on the North Fork Lewis did well for hatchery coho. Fishing from the bank near the salmon hatchery was generally slow.
Minter: More chum are starting to show up but still not in great numbers. There are reports of some big fish in the stream. Anglers are reporting a lot of foul hooks, meaning the fish has to be released.
Nisqually: People are catching an occasional coho or chum, but the action is fairly slow.
North Sound: The Cascade River near Marblemount produced some good coho action recently. People were fishing floats with eggs or drift-fishing corkies, yarn and eggs. The upper Skagit River would be a good option when the water clears up. On the Skykomish and Snohomish, people are using jigs tipped with sand shrimp under a float for coho and chum.
Olympic Coast: The rivers have been decent but got blown out by rain Sunday. The salmon fishing has been fair this season. Anglers should find some coho in the Sol Duc.
Tilton: There were 982 coho adults, 278 jacks, 313 fall chinook adults, 26 jacks and four cutthroat trout released into the river last week at Gust Backstrom Park in Morton.
Yakima: Nymph fishing during midday and then using streamers later in the afternoon have been producing good catches of trout in the upper canyon. Try size 10 flies such as an olive bunny leech and a black sculpin.
LAKES
Alder: Fishing has been best later in the day, with kokanee hitting trolled Wedding Rings tipped with white shoepeg corn.
American: The rainbow trout fishing has been steady if not hot. People are reporting consistent catches of fish measuring around 12 inches at the Northwest Adventure Center on Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Try using yellow Power Bait about 4 feet off the bottom.
Merwin: Folks are catching a few kokanee. People are trolling the section near the Speelyai boat launch.
Jeffrey P. Mayor: 253-597-8640 jeff.mayor@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/adventure Contributing to this report: State Department of Fish and Wildlife, gamefishin.com, Mike Chamberlain at Ted’s Sports Center, washingtonlakes.com, Joe Rotter at Red’s Fly Shop, Art Tachell at Point Defiance Boathouse, Verle’s Sports Center, Anil Srivastava at Puget Sound Fly Co., and Curt Reed at Waters West.
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.