by Dale, January 01, 2002

Dale's Hot Washington Fishing Spots

Checking my computer, here's my list of the most productive fishing options in the NW.

FYI: I live in Puget Sound, so I know this list is biased, but I do try to go where ever the fish are.

Firstly, SW British Columbia (Harrison River, Chilliwack/Vedder, Fraser, Squamish/Cheakamus, Stave, etc.) generally has better river fishing than Washington State. It’s mostly where I go for river salmon.

I reviewed Washington State’s catch statistics pamphlet for salmon in a recent year, and the Columbia River (lotsa water, however), Sekiu (saltwater), Ilwaco (saltwater), and the Samish River (consider it’s tiny size, folks!) jumped out at me as some of the most prolific salmon fisheries in Washington state.

The Columbia River is arguably the "best" spring-time King salmon fishery in Washington. Bright spring fish. During the peak, at the best spots, 5 or more kings for some guide boats has not been terribly unusual in 2001 and 2002. Some of it’s river mouths can be great, too. Drano "Lake" is good. In Oregon, try the Willamette R. Many people think Vernita area has the best AUTUMN King river-fishing in Washington.

50-100+ smallmouth bass per day around July 22nd is no big deal on scenic Umpqua and John Day Rivers. I saw two guides who "guaranteed" 75-100 per day in late July on the Umpqua…where else have you ever seen that before! Snake R. and Columbia R. can be outstanding too. Fly-fishing is more fun, but often not as productive as "gear fishing." Be careful on the John Day R. in summer, however (sometimes 100+ degree air temperatures, and low flows mean you might have to DRAG or row your boat for a total of miles.) 30+ SHAD per day on the Umpqua May 30th is no big deal either.

30-100 smallmouth per day, during it’s peak, is not unusual on St. Mary's Lake on Saltspring Island. This is just north of the San Juan Islands.

Where locally can you catch EIGHT-FOOT long fish with consistency?…specifically it’s Bonneville in June, from a boat, for oversized sturgeon that can run 6-10 FEET…..I got a 9 footer my first day out. Shad is the best bait for the BIG fish. Sometimes catch a shad almost every cast, then later that same day catch a fish that’s longer than any human alive…if this isn’t world-class fishing, I don’t know what is.

If you want to fish with a real young kid, forget salmon/steelhead/trout and take him to Lake Terrell near Ferndale Washington. My 5 year-old nephew averages MORE THAN ONE tiny panfish PER CAST when we use 3 baits/hooks on his line. Yes, it’s legal. Little kids don’t mind tiny fish…they want action. Fish from a boat, in theWARMEST months of the year. Use a bigger bait/lure on the bottom of the 3 baits/lures if you want to also catch the occasional decent sized bass, too. Fish the deepest water on Terrell if you do want the largest panfish. My last 2 solo trips in September I found two spots where it usually took no more than FOUR SECONDS for a tiny panfish to strike. So far, winter fishing completely stinks, however.

At Moses Lake I almost had one tiny panfish per cast in September 2002, standing on the north side of the I-90 bridge.

Fish Moses Lake the 3rd week in March, w/in 200’ of the NW side of the I-90 bridge, and you can see your line twitch often…sometimes just from so many huge perch bumping into your LINE down below!…where else have you ever heard of that happening? One guy caught 80 fish himself the day before I got there, and he felt the fishing had slowed down.

Real easy for a Seattle-based salt-water angler is pink salmon at Humpy Hollow by Mukilteo. Our boat always hooked 15-30 humpies per day there the 3rd week of August 2001. Troll 50-100’ down on the downriggers. "F15" mini-squid, behind a "0" LJ white dodger. Have your trolling speed "over the water" (I’m not talking about your trolling speed "over the ground") be only 0.7 knots. Always troll in the direction that is towards Point No Point (SW probably) as opposed to trolling towards (NE probably) Everett…trust me.

Big Sabin Lake in British Columbia, w/in 90’ of the outlet. I was getting fish w/in 4-7 SECONDS after my chironomid hit the water there May 29, 2001. More often than not, while fishing lakes on Douglas Lake Ranch, we’ve had the entire lake to ourselves, the entire day, if you can believe that. I know of two people who have had 2 fish on at once, before. 30 trout per day is LOW for a knowledgeable fly-fisher w/experience on this lake, in the spring. One man, who’s opinion I trust, said he got 200-300 one day. Mid-summer water temps are too warm for the best fishing, however.

Jameson Lake in central Washington, around April 30th, is often considered the best trout lake in Washington, for numbers of fish especially.

Detroit Res. is arguably the most "planted" lake in Oregon…..and yes, folks catch gazillions of trout there. Action can be pretty fast at times.

Memorial Day weekend, Omak Lake in central Washington is great if you like catching/releasing lots of monster 3-5+lb. cutts with no one else around (and who wouldn’t!)

Brownlee Res. May 8th (100 "big" crappie/day not uncommon in the Powder R. arm), Silver Lake in Cowlitz County (100 crappie/day not uncommon when water is 63 degrees in spring - by those "bushes" in Streeter’s Canal, or sometimes November can be good too), Henry Hagg in Oregon, Potholes/Banks/Moses, and Willamette R. sloughs are often considered the top warm-water lakes around. Brownlee also made the list of top 15 catfish spots in the nation, and it’s smallmouth are real hungry too…two more reasons why it’s the best warmwater lake in the NW.

For Kokanee, among the best are Odell in Oregon, Dworshak and Cour D’ Lane in Idaho, and Loon and Rimrock in Washington. There are a ton of good ones in Central Oregon, where 40/day isn’t unusual.

Maybe my top local reply to my informal internet survey of "best fishing in North America" was the Chilliwack/Vedder River (only 20 minutes north of Sumas Washington.) Except for the crowds of people, it's truly world-class salmon fishing, folks! I got 36 chums one day 200’ below the VC bridge. Dave Vedder got a King every 5 casts or so one trip…I believe that. Go October 8th through November 3rd, in my opinion.

The best Dolly fishing is on sections of the Upper Pitt River (launch on Pitt Lake which is only 45 minutes north of the Washington border) in March, or around November 1st. Thirty per day is not uncommon then, and you probably will see more bear tracks than human-beings in a day. I’m glad it’s catch and release only. Very scenic!

Within about 80’ from the "Shad Rack’s" pilings, below Bonneville, we’ve hooked hard-fighting 3+- lb. shad on almost every cast if we back-bounce red/gold "0" Dick Nites the 2nd week in June. Sometimes I can get TWO fish on the same rod at once (using 2 lures.) On the Columbia, a boat helps keep the crowding down.

The Willamette R. w/in 100’ of the fishing deadline by the falls can be almost unbelievable. In 1997 I saw a kid toying around, and he scooped 2 shad out of the water in one "swoop" of a short-handled trout net, while standing on shore. I bet you’ve never seen a fishermen do that with fish that aren’t minnows (shad are often around 3lbs.) I fair-hooked 5 shad in 5 casts once where my "bait" was just a bare hook….that’s right, just a hook…there are a gazillion very dumb fish there! These fish are as big as 90% of the trout or warmwater fish that most people catch, I believe. They fight as hard as almost any species, pound for pound. In most years, the mouth of the Clackamas in 19’ of water is usually the hot spot, however.

At John Day dam, from the Oregon shore, 70’ downstream from that painted fishing deadline, I hooked into 124 shad the first day I ever fished there. Most of the trips I can get them every 3-4 casts. Move downstream a bit if flows are above 290 KCFS. I don’t do well if the shad counts on the RIGHT-SIDE John Day fish ladder are not over 8,000/day, however. Don’t look at a calendar, look at the daily shad counts on the right-side of the river.

In the park at Cascade Locks, about 200’ downstream from the parks’ bridge, I average 50-70 shad per day. But I only go when the flows are between 385 and 440 KCFS, and when Bonneville shad counts are at least 30,000 per day...otherwise I almost get skunked.

Many people don’t know this, but w/in maybe 20 minutes from Lynden Washington is the MOST PROLIFIC salmon river in the entire world (according to National Geographic magazine and at least one other source!) On an odd numbered (pink salmon) year, on a year when the sockeye run is also near the peak of it’s cycle, something like 25-40 MILLION salmon try to return to this one river. Is this more than all of the salmon species in ALL the rivers in the entire state of, say, Washington, COMBINED!? I honestly don’t know, but for fun, somebody might check on this. I saw a guy hook 101 salmon (he counted) there by 4:30 PM one day, and a guy upstream of him seemed to be doing even better. Ken Kristian hooked 100+- sockeye one day there. In 2001, my dad and I hooked into a total of 92 pinks in one day where the Harrison R. hits it. That wasn’t even my personal best day there. In 2000, I saw maybe over 160 sockeye/kings hooked w/in about 60’ of me one day. The fishing can stink when there’s real low water-visibility, however. For sockeye go August 24th. I’m talking about the FRASER RIVER.

In 2001 we caught/released pink salmon, often every 2-3 casts or so, on the Skagit R. in that first really long hole downstream of Gilligan Creek. I like around September 12th. Jig 1.5" cerise curl-tail jigs from a boat! Skykomish can be great for pinks too…I saw pictures of TWO different alleged all-tackle all-time world’s record pink salmon that were caught there in 2001!

For pink salmon, the Harrison R. a bit north of Sumas Washington is arguably even BETTER than these...it's my top fishery of all!! Once I had nineteen strikes in eighteen casts (yes), with a fly-rod. Once, in a gigantic school of pinks I saw eight different fish strike at my lure on one cast, as I very very slowly reeled my lure through the water, just enjoying watching all the fish go for my lure. We catch and release almost everywhere we fish, by the way. Sometimes I don’t even need to let line off my reel. I can sometimes just flip 7’ or so of line (w/out even opening the bail on the spinning reel) over the side of the boat and the fish hit it every 12 seconds or so…w/in about 5’ of the boat…these are some dumb fish! Sometimes, those curl-tail jigs out-fish spoons and flies by at least 5:1. I can’t do squat if I fish in water that’s less than 5’ deep however (they won’t touch it, for some reason!) Go September 30th, and fish w/in 50’ of that spot where the Harrison current meets the Fraser’s current. People can’t retain pinks above the bridge, by the way.

The east side of Tatoosh Island (300’ of water) west of Neah Bay is so good the last week of August for COHO that I've put my cut-plug herring six inches under the surface, trolled only THREE FEET behind the boat, and SEEN a coho hit it every 3 minutes or so! Fun! Gotta put a dummy flasher off a downrigger about 30 inches below the herring.

Looking at WDFW catch-rate statistics, Sekiu and Neah Bay out in the strait for PINK salmon around August 16th might be the most prolific saltwater salmon option in the state, for many people at least. If you don’t like the taste of pinks, consider Bouy 10 around that same time for Kings/coho.

A boat hooking into 50-80+ black rockfish ("black sea bass") a day, the 3rd week in May, near Tatoosh Island, is no big deal. Three to four lbs. often. Why should I fish for largemouth bass in a lake when you can hook more bass, and bigger bass, here?

Opening day on Lake Padden, straight out from the east-side restrooms, I've sometimes had THREE trout on the same rod at the SAME time when I use 3 (it's legal) lures on one line at once. 100/day for our boat is not out of the question, if we don’t go later than the first Wednesday after the opener. It’s important to troll a floating fly-line (not mono) as your mainline, with a 20’ (mono) leader.

By that big rock at the mouth of the Harrison River, near the 21st of October I often average a chum salmon every 4 casts (sometimes better) using #10 Rocket Red corkies…but only when the Harrison doesn’t have low-water.

You won’t believe this, but by my calculations, looking at 1998 WDFW data, something like 30% of ALL the freshwater chum caught in thousands of miles of rivers in the ENTIRE STATE in the month of November in 1998 were caught in ONE POOL, ON ONE CREEK (it’s not even a "river"!)…it’s Whatcom Creek in Bellingham. That’s right, one POOL. (You can only keep salmon in that one "pool" by the Maritime park, basically.) Tell me if I’m wrong about this! Fish w/in 20’ of where the creek’s flow hits the "estuary" and levels out..that’s where they stack up. I’ve seen 7 people with salmon on at the same time….I can’t remember seeing that anywhere else in my life. Sometimes fishing is "too good", as the fish’s backs sometimes stick out of the water when they are so densely packed together….probably unsporting to fish for them right there.

Hood Canal salt-water creek mouths, around November 14th, for chums, can yield some of the highest fish-checker catch rates for salmon that I’ve seen. I’ve also seen some boats play 25 to 40+ chums per day. Not all fish are fair-hooked, however.

For those who don’t mind someone else sometimes fishing THREE FEET from you, then the Samish River in late Sept. has very high catch rates, especially considering it's no bigger than some "creeks". Park at the lower bridge and walk upstream 2 "pools". Chinook and coho. 1900 salmon hooked a few years ago, in the fall.

I know that Lake Washington is hot (& crowded) for sockeye trolling in some years. As with everything, you gotta hit them at the right TIME! To my surprise, my informal internet survey of "best panfish lakes in the NW" voted it the #1 panfish lake in the NW too. (Good sized perch by the bucketful sometimes – but mostly only in the summer.)

Clearwater/Salmon Rivers in Idaho can give you 10-20 steelhead hooked per day, at it’s peak.

If you’re bank-bound, then getting a 20’ semi-v jet boat will put you miles ahead in catching more fish, at many fisheries anyway! Can’t afford one?…there’s no law that says you can’t spend you kids’ college-education fund on a boat!

If shoulder-to-shoulder crowds are a problem, then also use the above-mentioned boat to hit the saltwater….or hike well away from the main bridges on rivers.