Gig Harbor Fishing

If you were getting the Email version I will be setting this up on the new host as soon as I can.

The new site is www.gigharborfishing.com

Thank you for your patience.

Kerry


Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen

We appear to be up to our necks in Chum. There are quite a few stacking up in front of Al's Grocery in Ollala and people are catching in front of the harbor too. I'm sure there are other places to fish them also as they spawn in several of the small creeks in the area.

So the question is how to catch them and once we catch them what to do with them.

The answer to the first is green and flashy just like for Coho but unlike Coho we want to troll slowly. these fish are not really motivated to feed but they will strike if you annoy them enough. This also makes them great candidates for a buzz bomb in green or pink. The Ollala fishery is especially good for fly fishing. My friend Blake at Gig Harbor Fly shop has a couple classes scheduled for this. Check them out here.

Now once we catch some what do we do with them. First they are GREAT in the smoker. Chum tend to be a little oily so they don't dry out in the smoker and they hold smoke very well. If you need a recipe I will have a great smoked salmon recipe in my newsletter next week so be sure to sign up here.

These fish are also great with a sauce or strong rub. They strong flavor so you want to make sure you use something that will compliment that. 


Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen

The lower river chinook stocks have moved out of the mainstem Columbia and there are harvestable numbers of upriver fall chinook available for harvest based on the current run-size projection.

Effective Oct. 15, the entire lower Columbia River downstream of Bonneville Dam will be open for chinook retention.  As per permanent rules the area from Beacon Rock to Bonneville Dam will be closed to all salmon angling from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, 2010.  Daily limit is six salmonids of which no more than two may be adult salmon or hatchery steelhead or one of each.  Release all salmon other than chinook and hatchery coho.  Any chinook, adipose fin clipped or not, may be retained.

Read the release here  
 




Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen

I'm in town having lunch with some guys a couple days ago and this friend of a friend of mine comes up and tells me he's been catching lots of jack coho's under the bridge. Reports like this always peak my interest but in this sloww year this one was especially interesting.

Guy tells me he caught eight before lunch and six or eight yesterday. That "kicks ass" says I and he says ya I got a picture right here on my phone. He shows me the picture and uh oh, staring back at me was a beautiful about 18" cutthroat that he's holding by the lower jaw. First I ask him "you didn't keep any of these did you?" no he says "they were too small".

I tell this guy I got good news and I got bad news. The bad news is those aren't salmon. The good news is they are nice sized cutts. I explained a little about safe catch and release proceedures and find out he was using worms on a spin rod.

Again today I get an update from my friend area 10 Ben that they are catching good numbers of cutts up there too. Time to dig out the fly rod.

Photo courtesy of Northwest Fly Fisherman



Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen