[mb]

it's summer time and the living is easy. the fish are jumping and the weather is fine. but where? there are lots of famous large salmon runs in northern BC and Alaska, but how about around Seattle? Are the locks the best place? they're full of fish right now, but how about small streams further up? Or is that kind of like intruding on someones bedroom?

[salish]

You should fish the sockeye run that's opening today, tomorrow, and Sunday only, in Lake Washington. This season may be extended at some point next week, though. I'm fishing Sunday south of the 520 bridge. There is good info on the run, fish, and angling tips on the WDFW web page. On Wednesday & Thursday I purchased a few fish from the Suquamish people who are selling their fish at Dock A at Shilshole (Fishermans Terminal) in Ballard. They were selling anywhere from $7.50-$10 per fish, which, after the buyer gives them .50 per pound it ends up at Larrys Market at $6.99 per pound. This is the absolute best eating salmon you can get. Also, a friend reports seeing lot's of huge chinook traveling throught the window at the locks. I saw several large chinook in the North Fork Stilly a few weeks ago while fishing for steelhead. Good luck.

[Tom]

Salish, do they sell fish every day at Dock A? Any specific hours?

[salish]

Tom, they were fishing around the clock on Thursday and Friday, and I think you could probably show up at Doc A from 6am on and get fish. There always seemed to be someone there ready to sell. On thursday there were a bunch of Suquamish people around with fish on ice, which we bought, then yesterday at noon we saw only one or two tribal guys near the doc, and one of the guys sold us some fish, but we had to wait about 40 minutes for him to take care of some business and then he had to motor out to his nets and retrieve the fish. My understanding is that the Suquamish were fishing up until 10pm last night, so they probably have fish to sell today. They are trying to sell fish because the buyers are offering them practically nothing. The Muckleshoots are fishing up above the ship canal, but I don't know if they are doing over the bank sales, but if they buyers are offering them the same crappy deal they probably are selling. Just don't know where....

[Tom]

Thanks for the tip, I think I'll swing by and see if they have any.

[Dslayer]

There's a huge steelhead run in the Cowlitz right now-size and numbers-below the barrier dam-guess that's not real close to Seattle, though--it is strictly combat fishing.

[salish]

Thanks DSlayer. Although I've threatened to fish the Cowlitz for years, I really prefer to fish traditional wet flies on smaller rivers (not a fishing snob, I just like it better). If any of you folks fish gear, though, you are almost assured nice bright steelhead if you like shoulder to shoulder fishing.

[kleet]

Fishing was pretty good last week in the Enchantments. We managed to catch some nice Brookies in Upper Snow Lake and a few Cutthroat in Leprechaun Lake using spin tackle. Lakes above that were either frozen over or too cold to have much fish activity, though the bugs were there for feeding!

[Tom]

Salish, not sure which dock you're talking about. Is it shilshole or the fisherman's terminal? I went to the fisherman's terminal (just south of the ballard bridge) and didn't see anything. If it's actually shilshole, I'm not sure where the fisherman's terminal is.

[mb]

Thanks for all the response. What I am really curious about (though it's not clear from the original post) is if there are any good hikes where which have the 'destination' value of seeing lots of fish going over waterfalls/swimming in upstream/whatever. Just like you might pick a hike for flowers, this is both place and time dependent. The fish in the locks are pretty big. I'm pretty close to the fishermans terminal but have never actually stopped to look around.

[salish]

Tom - sorry. If you see me at a Hi Lakers meeting or someplace else you can box my ears or smack me around - I didn't mean to say Fisherman's Terminal. I meant Doc A of the Shilshole Marina, smack dab in the middle of all the beautiful sailboats, etc. I think I got confused because my coworker kept saying (over and over) Fisherman's Terminal. Sorry to make you waste your time. The Muckleshoot are fishing above the locks so I'm surprised you didn't see any of them at Fishermans Terminal. Anyway, there's my correction.

[Dslayer]

Salish-I'm not a flyfisherman, though I've been out in the yard trying to cast quite a bit lately, but my dad was catching fish using red yarn-he was in a boat--now that seems pretty close to something like a fly to me--we used to catch steelhead in the Klick with a fly called lunch-something black with an orange head to it that worked best with a grasshopper hooked to it. We learned this from an old guy named Harold who owned a house with the best hole on the river and didn't mind teaching some kids how to fish for steelhead---those were good times. My dad used to fish on the Rogue R. in Oregon-we lived there until I was 4 then moved to Bend. He said he could go down to the river everyday and count on catching two salmon when they were running and two steelhead when they were in the river. He's 80 now and still likes to catch those steelhead-I never had quite the afinity for it--I'm kind out weirdly hooked on catching large trout in high lakes with a could of mosquitoes hovering about my head I guess.

[brownster145]

mb- I'm not sure exactly what you want to find. There are no sights like the salmon rivers of Alaska in Washington- that I know of. I do have a couple of suggestions for you I guess. Many of the Lake Washington Sockeye are headed for the Cedar River. They don't make it up too far, but its still fun to go into Renton and see all the bright red streaks shooting upstream in late september-october. One place where you may see some big fish jumping up some rapids is on the upper Skykomish River. The wild summer-run steelhead make it upriver a long way. You can drive up highway 2 and find a variety of points where they will come through. They are not all too plentiful and I can't really give you a specific time. It really depends on water levels. It's kind of hit and miss.

[salish]

DSlayer: The Klickitat is rapidly becoming a popular steelhead river, although Ive heard it's always been pretty good. Two of my fishing buddies hit it every year and come back with nice fat hatchery fish. They fish from pontoon boats. The one who fishes gear does better, but the other guy catches some on flies, too. I will probably be fishing it this year. I fished it when I was about 19, but that was high up on the flanks of Mt. Adams on the rez, where's it just a small stream. I'll surely remember the description of the fly you are talking about and ask some of my oldtimer friends about it. Thanks for the tip. Yes, the old days on the northwest rivers - during the historical big runs of the 50's, 60's & 70's were incredible. I didn't start fishing for steelhead until I was an adult, but my grandma lived literally on the banks of the Puyallup and as a kid in the early to mid 60's I recall huge runs of fish up the river. An old man who lived next door to her would go down every day with his rod and come back with two fish - just like your dad (I've traded emails with your dad by the way, he's a character and really brags about you two!). Anyway, thanks for the tip on the Klickitat. MB: I think Brownsters advice is pretty good. The Cedar River watershed might be a place to look, and the upper Sky might have some spots, too. I agree that you probably won't find places that look like Alaska. You might try calling the biologists at Region 4 (Mill Creek) WDFW and asking them about this. They may not tell you anything because they may feel you are a potential poacher, but then again they may have better advice than us. The number is 425-775-1311.

[Dslayer]

Salish-at one time I thought had a bunch of those flies still around and I looked for them but am going to have to do an extensive search I guess then I'll send you one and you can get some made-the ones I have are in pretty bad shape probably not worth using if I can find them at all--but they were killers in the Klick with a grasshopper-we caught salmon on them, too...a real simple thing I used in the Klick with great success was a black Rooster tail with a silver blade--in fact, I've used that up and down the Columbia with good success for steelies. I'll let you know if I find one and I'll get your address and send you one or some.