Northwest Fishing Reports

Well Im ready gear and boat wise. I have moorage on the lake for a month or two. Im hoping for a long season with 3-6 fish limits seeing Im giving the persons dock I'm tieing to gets one fish a day while I fish. Im hoping my knee is fixed enough and heals quickly so I can go out and fish. There are alot of fish comming through to the Lk. Seattle Times had a whole article on the Sockeye and their big returns this year. Im keeping my fingers crossed.

Funny you should mention that! I was just trading comments on Lk Wa yesterday....... Need 326,000 more sockeye to reach escapement. I didn't know about Seattle Times article.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/counts/sockeye/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
What am I missing? I don't see an opener based on what WDFW wrote: "surplus fish above the escapement goal of 350,000 sockeye, sport and Tribal fishing seasons will be opened", "pre-season forecast for the 2012 sockeye return is about 45,871".
It looks about 300,000 short of escapement. IDK I hope either my interpretation is wrong or WDFW information is.

Hey Marky!! No opener yet. I am crossing my fingers at this point. I love the Lk Wa Sockeye fishing cuz its in my back yard. Im just hoping. There was average of 3,000 fish a day last week so the Times said. Im just really hoping.

This year's fishery is still a pipe dream. In reality, we need at least a couple of weeks with 20,000+ fish days over the ladder to meet the escapement goal before a season can be opened. I will give you this, the conditions for survivability through the Ship Canal and Lake Union are much better this year than past years. It won't help the counts, but it sure will help increase the number of fish that make it to the spawning grounds.

Howdy Ralph, yeah, Leonard D, your hood, is hoping for an opener as well! He hooked one fishing for cutts the other day, released. Yes the daily fish count at the ladder looked pretty good at the above link, WDFW. Look on the right hand side and watch the number head northward. Pray it hits the sky!

G-Man wrote:This year's fishery is still a pipe dream. In reality, we need at least a couple of weeks with 20,000+ fish days over the ladder to meet the escapement goal before a season can be opened. I will give you this, the conditions for survivability through the Ship Canal and Lake Union are much better this year than past years. It won't help the counts, but it sure will help increase the number of fish that make it to the spawning grounds.

I agree. The last Lk WA sockeye I fished, the water was bathtub warm! Can't be good for survivability.........

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/counts/sockeye/archives.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
If you look at the 2006 block at this link, there's the numbers we want to see. It coincides with the last Lk WA sockeye opener according to the pictures on our kitchen/dining room wall.

I have a bag of red hooks just in case a miracle happens..

Red hooks,Blue hooks,Dodgers, Those are the basics. I still have my Flat fish from 20 years ago in red ,and silver. Like I said while Im on down time I'm preparing.

racfish wrote:Red hooks,Blue hooks,Dodgers, Those are the basics. I still have my Flat fish from 20 years ago in red ,and silver. Like I said while Im on down time I'm preparing.

The Baker Lake fishery offers an option, but, it is a drive.... It was a great experience last year!

Ah yes, the Lake Washington Sockeye fishery brings out anglers out of every nook and cranny in the northwest. Traffic on 520 slows down as motorists can't believe that some of those boats actually float. That said, one of my first fishing memories is going out with my dad in a tiny fiberglass boat to fish for Sockeye in the mid 80s. I even remember in '88 when the bare hooks changed the whole paradigm. I don't really have much desire to go out in that nightmare of a crowd anymore, but it is some good memories.

I will have to agree it would be nice to fish Lk Wa again for Sockeye. If it does happen it will be near the end of July. On the WDFW site http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/counts/sockeye/index.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; They have 31,368 fish in the lake. Going back through the archives we have good numbers coming in lets just hope they hold and dont peter off. If you cant find the lake info off the WDFW link I type in Lake washington in the search window in the upper right corner off the main home page. I also look up baker and as of the 25th they have 321 at the trap and 168 transferred to the lake. So heres to hoping.

he fishery itself is fun but there are also other aspects of opening fishing up in Lk wa such as small struggling businesses around the neighborhood thrive.f rom grocery stores to gas stations.Restaurants and other services. There are alot of good reasons to have a fishery like this. Im sure it has helped Baker the same.

I don't get it. They open up baker when they get 25,000 fish, in a natural run of fish, but with the Lake Washington fish we need 350,000 fish. We've already got more fish in Lake Washington than are forecast at Baker, but they're even opening the river for sockeye.

The whole way the fishery is managed is a mess. If you put 350000 fish in the all the creeks, rivers and streams that feed the Lake Washington system, you will have fish digging up other redds just to find a place to spawn. This is why a spawning channel was to be built quite some time ago, however that solution proved to be too simple and was shot down by our legislators. The other factor one needs to keep in mind is that the Muckleshoots have to get their cut as well. I'm sure that they have or are still netting Shilshole Bay as we type, I saw "fresh caught local sockeye" at the stores last weekend.

The Natives do get whats called Ceremonial Fisheries. Which seems funny seeing the original run was wiped out. These Sockeyes are here thanks to us buying them through licences ,punch cards and state levies. Back in the early days Lk Wa and the Ship Canal werent even connected till the Montlake cut was made. So calling it a ceremonial fisheries is really just away to get the bleeding hearts to agree and say "Poor Natives". They used to come in from Black Creek From what I was told.

natetreat wrote:I don't get it. They open up baker when they get 25,000 fish, in a natural run of fish, but with the Lake Washington fish we need 350,000 fish. We've already got more fish in Lake Washington than are forecast at Baker, but they're even opening the river for sockeye.

Thank you Ron Simms.

After re-reading my post I didnt mean to be so negative about Native rights. If I offended anyone Im sorry. I wasnt bashing the Native Americans.

racfish wrote:After re-reading my post I didnt mean to be so negative about Native rights. If I offended anyone Im sorry. I wasnt bashing the Native Americans.

No worries Rac i've lived up here on tulalip rez for 12 years now seen things that will make you sick...Theres the good, bad and ugly....Remember it was white man that made the deals....