Saturday, April 30, 2016

Puget Sound Sea-Run Cutthroat Fly Fishing Reprieve


Your Olympic Peninsula fly fishing guide.
Catch & Release, Fly Fishing Only.


Puget Sound Sea-Run Cutthroat Fly Fishing Reprieve.

   I am happy to share with you here that the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife has updated us on our Puget Sound sea-run coastal cutthroat trout fishing season rules this year. This is what I received from them yesterday afternoon:


 
WASHINGTON DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE     Print Version
NEWS RELEASE
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091


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April 29, 2016
Contact: Larry Phillips, (360) 870-1889;
Ron Warren, (360) 902-2799



Several Puget Sound-area marine,
freshwater fisheries to close May 1


OLYMPIA – Five lakes and the lower sections of most rivers that flow into Puget Sound will close to all fishing beginning Sunday, May 1, when salmon and steelhead fishing also closes in the Sound.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) officials said today they are closing state fisheries in waters where salmon migrate while they work to secure the federal permit required to hold salmon fisheries in Puget Sound. Typically, the state and tribes jointly obtain the federal permit for the Sound, where some fish stocks are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. The current permit expires April 30.
However, many fishing opportunities remain available in and around Puget Sound. WDFW has posted a list of rivers and sections of rivers that are open to fishing on its webpage at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/pugetsound_salmon_update. That page also has a list of Puget Sound area lakes that are closed to all fishing.
“Since we didn’t reach an agreement with treaty tribal co-managers on this year’s Puget Sound salmon fisheries, we have to close fishing in areas where we know salmon will be,” said Ron Warren, head of WDFW’s Fish Program.
For the next few months, those areas include several Puget Sound-region lakes and the lower reaches of streams where salmon smolts will travel on their way to the Sound.
Lakes that will close May 1 to all fishing include Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish (King County), Monte Cristo Lake (Snohomish County), Lake Cushman (Mason County), and Barney Lake (Skagit County).
Examples of rivers where at least sections, if not all, are closed to fishing include the Skagit, Stillaguamish and Snohomish rivers, north of Seattle. Today’s action also applies to Puget Sound-area rivers that typically open to fishing in early June, though fishery managers will be evaluating those rivers to determine whether any can open on schedule.
All non-tribal commercial and recreational Puget Sound salmon and steelhead fisheries, including those in Marine Area 13 and year-round fishing piers around Puget Sound, will close May 1 to salmon and steelhead fishing until further notice. More detailed information about marine area closures can be found online at https://fortress.wa.gov/dfw/erules/efishrules/.
The department is working with federal authorities and doing everything possible to re-open Puget Sound marine and freshwater fisheries, Warren said.
“We regret having to close these fisheries,” Warren said. “We know this is a hardship on many communities around Puget Sound and disappoints many anglers.”
In the meantime, Warren urged anglers to consider trying new fishing waters, emphasizing that most Puget Sound area lowland lakes remain open to fishing.

Also, he said recreational fisheries in Puget Sound marine areas that are not affected by the closures include bottomfish, such as lingcod, Pacific cod and cabezon, as well as sea-run cutthroat trout and halibut. These fisheries are covered under a separate permit and are open as scheduled. Anglers should check the 2015-16 Washington Sport Fishing Rules pamphlet, available online athttp://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regulations/, for details.

Salmon fishing will continue as scheduled in the Columbia River and Washington’s ocean waters and north coastal rivers. Information on those fisheries can be found on WDFW’s webpage at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/northfalcon/.


   I am emphasizing the last paragraph for you here:

"Also, he said recreational fisheries in Puget Sound marine areas that are not affected by the closures include bottomfish, such as lingcod, Pacific cod and cabezon, as well as sea-run cutthroat trout and halibut. These fisheries are covered under a separate permit and are open as scheduled. Anglers should check the 2015-16 Washington Sport Fishing Rules pamphlet, available online athttp://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regulations/, for details."

   So, Until we hear differently from official sources, I think it is safe to say that our  saltwater sea-run cutthroat fishing season is secure. I don't know about you, but the last few weeks of insanity and uncertainty, propagated by the annual salmon season setting negotiations process breaking down between the tribes and the state, has had me losing sleep and stressing out. It's nice to get this reprieve. I am still waiting for the new annual / seasonal rules to be published before I stick my neck out on river fishing here this year.  If you do plan on fishing a river, make sure to check the sport fishing rules pamphlet, and the sportfishing hotline: 360-902-2500 for closures and changes, 

  One thing that I do know for sure is that w.d.f & w Law Enforcement Game Wardens will be watching anglers closely this year, to see if anyone is attempting to fish for salmon illegally, during the closures, while pretending to be sea-run cutthroat fishing. They intend to come own hard on this behavior. We all should. 

Don't be afraid to turn in poachers. But learn how to do it correctly here: 



   Last fall, when early in the season it was becoming clear that the coho runs had failed to materialize, and rivers and marine areas were being closed under emergency rules all over the region, I had already decided to stop fishing for coho. I won't be fishing for them this year either. And I certainly won't be guiding for them on the beaches. It's going to take some years for them to recover. I think we should just give them a break for a few years. If you want a lot of fish around, you need to let them spawn. That's going to be pretty hard to do if they are hanging in a net, or dangling from a hook somewhere. 

   So let's go trout fishing, where we can. And let's not take it for granted. We don't need to catch every last living fish out there to make our days worthwhile. And remember that catch & release fishing is the reason we have any sea-run coastal cutthroat in Puget Sound at all. 


This is probably the most relaxing way to fish for sea-run cutthroat.
One angler, maybe two, one day. Call or write for details.


Your Olympic Peninsula Fly Fishing Guide and Instructor

    I am guiding fly fishers on the Olympic Peninsula beaches, rivers and streams. We walk and wade, or row along the shorelines in the dory, fly fishing for sea-run Coastal Cutthroat trout in freshwater and saltwater, and in the rivers for Cutthroat trout and summer steelhead. This is all strictly catch and release, traditional, barbless single hook, fly fishing only. Lunch, snacks, soft beverages, and use of some equipment is included. I also offer personalized and private fly fishing and fly casting instruction for beginners through advanced casters. I would be happy to help you plan your Olympic Peninsula fly fishing adventure, for all levels of ability, beginner to expert. Public presentations, Naturalist Guide, rowboat picnics, tide pool and  river trail day trips. Please call, write or email for booking details. Now booking for April through October and beyond. 


Bob Triggs
Little Stone Flyfisher
P.O. Box 261
Port Townsend, WA
98368

Licensed Washington State Guide 
Certified Fly Casting Instructor
Trout Unlimited Aquatic Educator Award
2006 W.S.U.Beach Watcher / Water Watcher graduate
U.S.C.G First Aid/CPR/BLS/AED/BBP/HIV Certified

Phone: 360-385-9618




Saturday, April 23, 2016

Full Cry For Sea-Run Cutthroat Trout!



Your Olympic Peninsula fly fishing guide.
Catch and Release, fly fishing only!

Full Cry!


They posted these all over the place last week.
  When I was a young teenager I discovered the magical world of horses. Every chance that I got to ride a horse, or just be around horses, helping out at the farm and stables, etc., I was there. By the time I was sixteen years old I had left school, left home, and I was working with horses. I was in "full cry." That's an old foxhunting term, for the baying of the hounds, when the hounds have scented the fox, and they are hot on the trail, running hard and chasing down the fox. They won't give up, and nothing can stop them. It is an electrifying sight.You would never forget the sight of thirty or forty big hounds, racing across the countryside, spilling over the hills and leaping the fences and stonewall, filling the air with their mad, blood lusting, saliva slinging baying. 

   Right now our sea-run cutthroat trout fishing season is in jeopardy, due to being mixed up in the permitting process between the tribes, the state, and the federal government. And so far the co-managers have not been able to come to an agreement about the seasons, etc. Our salty cutthroat fishing is stuck in there somewhere, between the coho, and chinook, and the endangered species act, and a few centuries of hate between negotiating parties. Despite the fact that almost no one ever catches endangered or listed salmon species while they are sea-run cutthroat trout fly fishing, there are concerns about encountering those fish with our barbless hook flies. One thing that I have heard mentioned is that cutthroat fishermen may be hooking juvenile salmon on trout flies. I have seen that! 

  In my 15 + years of guiding on the saltwaters here, maybe six times we have caught salmon smolt. That's six smolt, total. I have a rule: If you catch a salmon or steelhead smolt. Stop fishing and move! Do not continue fishing when you know that there are smolt moving through an area. It's that simple. In the thousands of days of fishing that we have put in cutthroat fishing here, in the tens of thousands of hours, in the hundreds of thousands of casts, we have seen only a half dozen or so of real, ocean run salmon, caught on trout flies from the beaches. They all swam away handily, keeping the fly, after snapping off our four pound test tippets. One or two were easier to get into shallow water, in a minute or two at most, for an easy release. That's the threat?!
   
Here's a few notes on this:

Background:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/news/apr1916c/

http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/state-and-tribal-fishery-managers-at-an-impasse-on-puget-sound-salmon-fishing-season/

This one is being updated frequently: 
http://nwsportsmanmag.com/editors-blog/puget-sound-salmon-talks-back-on/


   So here's what I think we need to do. We need to show our support for our Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife managers, who have stuck their neck out in this process, refusing to sign off on stopping our catch and release cutthroat fishing in the saltwater. This time they have been working to protect our fishery, and our fishing.

    If ever there were an opportunity to demonstrate to our state fisheries managers what the significance and extent of the sea-run cutthroat trout fishery is here, the importance it holds for our community of conservation anglers, and the financial importance it holds for our state, this is the time to do it. They have been working to keep our catch and release game fish season open, for sea-run cutthroat trout, through this mess. They have continued to negotiate with the tribal co-managers. They have stood up for us. We need to make sure that they know that we stand in solidarity with them.
    I am sharing contact info for our Governor and WDFW managers. Please let them know what sea-run cutthroat trout fishing means to you, and what it would mean for you to lose it. If they can't come to an agreement, that could happen. They need to know how much you want to see them manage the gamefish season separately from this salmon war.

Let loose the hounds!! 



   Please write in support of our WDFW managers, thank them for their efforts on behalf of the angling community, and request that they keep our catch and release sea-run cutthroat trout fishing season open!

Governor Jay Inslee 
https://fortress.wa.gov/es/governor

WDFW Director James Unsworth 
jim.unsworth@dfw.wa.gov

Ron Warren Assistant Director Fish Program 


John Long WDFW Salmon Policy
john.long@dfw.wa.gov

P.S. I am optimistic that this is going to work out. So far we are having a great spring season for cutthroat on the beaches. Give me a call, or drop me a note, and I will tell you all about it.

This is probably the most relaxing way to fish for sea-run cutthroat.
One angler, maybe two, one day. Call or write for details.



Your Olympic Peninsula Fly Fishing Guide and Instructor

    I am guiding fly fishers on the Olympic Peninsula beaches, rivers and streams. We walk and wade, or row along the shorelines in the dory, fly fishing for sea-run Coastal Cutthroat trout in freshwater and saltwater, and in the rivers for Cutthroat trout and summer steelhead. This is all strictly catch and release, traditional, barbless single hook, fly fishing only. Lunch, snacks, soft beverages, and use of some equipment is included. I also offer personalized and private fly fishing and fly casting instruction for beginners through advanced casters. I would be happy to help you plan your Olympic Peninsula fly fishing adventure, for all levels of ability, beginner to expert. Public presentations, Naturalist Guide, rowboat picnics, tide pool and  river trail day trips. Please call, write or email for booking details. Now booking for April through October and beyond. 


Bob Triggs
Little Stone Flyfisher
P.O. Box 261
Port Townsend, WA
98368

Licensed Washington State Guide 
Certified Fly Casting Instructor
Trout Unlimited Aquatic Educator Award
2006 W.S.U.Beach Watcher / Water Watcher graduate
U.S.C.G First Aid/CPR/BLS/AED/BBP/HIV Certified

Phone: 360-385-9618


Saturday, April 9, 2016

A Sea-Run Spring


Your Olympic Peninsula fly fishing guide.
Catch and release, fly fishing only!


A Sea-Run Spring


I have been waiting for this all winter . . .
    Ever since the spring equinox I have been feeling that itch to get back to the beaches again for the spring cutthroat fishing.  I managed to get on the water with friends a few times this winter, and it was always hit-or-miss as far as the catching went. And one develops a kind of stoic mindset when doing this fishing, much like winter steelheading, that it may be a while before the next tug. So you pace yourself, to get through the long dark winter, one swing at a time. There's just enough action to keep you coming back for more, though you may have to wait between storms. And then the spring equinox comes along, and the sun has been returning to noticeably warm the northern latitudes for a few months already, the little buds and blossoms are opening up, the storms are fewer, farther between. You are gaining strength and hope for the spring fishing again. 



Back in early March we headed down south for a little early spring fishing . . .

    The chum salmon and pink salmon fry have been emerging from their river gravel incubation, since around early to mid February depending upon where you are on these waters, and they are entering the estuaries all over the Puget Sound and Olympic Peninsula region. So it will pay to have some juvenile salmon fly patterns in your fly box. These fry will range in size from one inch to over several inches long by now. The larger ones will be in the southern waters, while up here in the North Sound region they will be around 1 to 2 inches long. The longer that the season goes on, the faster they will grow. And they are all migrating northward, toward the sea. So, being up here in the northern area, you can see some chum fry that are an inch and a half long, drifting by on the tides, and then you'll see some fry go by that are almost three inches or longer, all in the same day. I tie my salmon fry imitations from one to three inches long in the spring. 


Chum Baby flies. A very successful pattern in Puget Sound country.
You can find them at:

 Orvis Bellevue Store, Peninsula Outfitters Fly Shop,
The Confluence Fly Shop 

  But it's not just about salmon fry. Sea-run coastal cutthroat trout feed on a variety of forage year round. In contrast to the focus on smaller flies that we use in the spring, like shrimp, squid, juvenile bait fish, fry etc., here's a look at a few flies that work all year in these waters, for trout and for salmon:  


Classic flatwing streamer, by Jack Devlin
Clouser Minnows, bait fish style.
    I went into greater detail on spring and  summer sea-run flies HERE.

   
This is probably the most relaxing way to fish for sea-run cutthroat.
Call or write for details.



Your Olympic Peninsula Fly Fishing Guide and Instructor

    I am guiding fly fishers on the Olympic Peninsula beaches, rivers and streams. We walk and wade, or row along the shorelines in the dory, fly fishing for sea-run Coastal Cutthroat trout in freshwater and saltwater, and in the rivers for Cutthroat trout and summer steelhead. This is all strictly catch and release, traditional, barbless single hook, fly fishing only. Lunch, snacks, soft beverages, and use of some equipment is included. I also offer personalized and private fly fishing and fly casting instruction for beginners through advanced casters. I would be happy to help you plan your Olympic Peninsula fly fishing adventure, for all levels of ability, beginner to expert. Public presentations, Naturalist Guide, rowboat picnics, tide pool and  river trail day trips. Please call, write or email for booking details. Now booking for April through October and beyond. 


Bob Triggs
Little Stone Flyfisher
P.O. Box 261
Port Townsend, WA
98368

Licensed Washington State Guide 
Certified Fly Casting Instructor
Trout Unlimited Aquatic Educator Award
2006 W.S.U.Beach Watcher / Water Watcher graduate
U.S.C.G First Aid/CPR/BLS/AED/BBP/HIV Certified

Phone: 360-385-9618