There is a mini-war brewing within WDFW and the legislature centering around funding for WDFW. Director Koenings has shot the first volley with his threat that the upcoming Sockeye season in Lake Washington this summer will not happen for sports fishers. The reason given is that there is not enough money available to fund the fish counting to allow a season. This is despite the fact that estimates put the run size at near 1 million fish..that's right ONE MILLION fish. The escapement minimum is 350,000 to allow a fishing season. Predictions are that a season of 4 or 5 weeks is possible. With current funding a 2 day season for sports is all we can expect. That scenario would mean 7 day a week tribal netting. No season for us does not mean no season for the tribes. It means they get the forgone opportunity and will net the living hell out of those fish. Just imagine the ads for WILD fresh Sockeye at Safeway!

The new legislative session starts this week and it is time for all those of you who care to write letters to the governor and to your respsective representatives in congress. Common sense would say that such a high rate or return will bring out a huge number of fishers to the lake and that it would be the biggest fishing related money maker in our state. That is exactly why the politicians target it. They go after the most popular fisheries for closure so the public will get up in arms and approve more funding. That way they can do like Governor Locke is doing and propose even more taxes for his social programs and propose even more bloating of state government while very worthwhile and profitable things go unfunded.

The time is now to write letters. Politicians believe that one letter is worth 1,000 votes. Emails and phone calls are ok but nowhere as effective as a personal letter. No form letters.
Get busy if you care.

Grandpa,

I think you mentioned this once before. Thanks for bringing it up again, now that the legislature is about to begin its session. We've seen this kind of hostage-taking before, and I wonder if Koenings is making this "pre-emptive" warning as he competes with other state agencies for what is sure to be tight money. I'm thinking we ought to also write directly to Koenings, recommending alternative fund-saving measures, such as cancelling the lower Columbia R. springer gillnet fishery. That is sure to cost a lot of management funds, observing all those tangle nets and recovery tanks. Since the return to the state's economy is miniscule compared to the LW sockeye fishery, he ought to be receptive to ideas like this.

I do agree with you that this is a call to action.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Koenings is a true politician. At the Port Townsend commission meetings it was startling to find out how much money WDFW is required to pay for non-WDFW agencies as their "share". The Washington State government bureaucracy under Gary Locke has grown to one of the largest per capita in the United States. Unfortunately WDFW has to pay millions for things that are not fishing or hunting related. The jockeying for dollars is beginning. Locke has fired off his lame duck proclamations to grow government even bigger before he leaves. These sneaky rats always go for the sacred cows when they threaten cuts. It makes me ill but it is true politics in the raw.

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot though. Shut down a potentially huge moneymaker like the Lake Washington Sockeye fishing season to prove a point or score political capital.

In between getting a boat show booth ready and sportsmens shows I will definitely be writing to my representatives about this and other funding issues.

Apparantly, Gov. Locke has already allocated the money needed for the fishery in this year's budget. Probably the only good thing he's actually done as governer. If, for some reason, there is no fishery even with numbers like that, I think sportsmen should fish anyway as a form of protest. When was the last time a commercial fishery was canceled because of lack of funding? Hell, a few years ago on the Columbia, there was a general commercial slaughter because funds weren't allocated to put monitors on the boats. Was the fishery canceled? Of course not.

Jacob..you better dig a little deeper..Gov Locke allocated only $150,000 in the budget. The estimated cost of the monitoring is around $750,000. There is a major shortfall at this time. Gov Locke simply did what was politically expedient and not adequate. I'm not sure why the fish counting to verify run size is so costly since I always thought the Muckleshoots counted at the locks so they could make sure to justify their net fishery. This merits keeping a close eye on it and staying vigilant or we will get bent over by the tribes again.

Grandpa,

Good point. Maybe we should ask Koenings how much it costs (750K) and why, and request a line-item accounting. Maybe there's some smoke being blown here.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

A friend of mine believes that the government gets a lot of pressure from Lk. Washington residents who are against a season. They all have money and they don't like the extra hassle a sockeye season causes. He said he was talking to a Kirkland resident the last year there was a season and somehow the subject came out. The guy said that various communities on Lk. Washington try to block fisheries because they're considered "disruptive".

$750,000.00 to monitor the season? Yes, let's see the breakdown on that. The WDFW monitors I have run into on the area waters certainly don't appear to be paid that well!

So somebody with free time today find out why the study is so expensive or if it is yet another gust of smoke up our Azzes

I thought the tribe also had a fish counter down there. You know the co-manager thing. For $150K I'll sit down there & count em. $750K seems a little high. Since the state does not know how to manage it's funds maybe we could have volunteers to count fish? As to the residents who don't want to be disrupted by boats on a lake ???, well they can just move.

I would say the tour boats that run up and down in front of the expensive homes all summer are more disruptive...no question there are a ton of boats on the lake when the occasional season happens. Call WDFW to find out about the study

I thought the tribes counted the fish at the lock's and if it were'nt for them we would never get a season!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.This is just what I've heard in the past.
Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

Remember to be a state quality operation they need 1 person counting with 7 people standing around supervising.
1 for the GAO,
1 for the Feds,
1 for OSHA
1 for the lablor Unions
1 low level manager,
1 mid level manager and
1 top level manager.

x 3 shifts and a equal number on call. Then the consultants and staff to do the 5000 page report on the findings. Add in the weekend and holiday pay and it's a steal at $750K.

To find your Congressional Representatives, click here

I can't wait to get out on Lk Washington with my kids.

From what I have been told the tribe will put up the funds and will count the fish. I have contacted my rep and let her know how I feel about this!! Mr Jeff needs a wooden shampoo!!

There might be some confusion here.

The tribe counts the fish at the ladder to see how many make it past the nets in the bay near shillshoe and in the waterway below the locks to estimate run size. That data helps determine the harvestable numbers. I think they get reimbursement for this expense but I'm not sure. It is not paid for out of the $750,000 in question.

The $750,000 expense is to count the number of sport anglers, the hours on the water, the success rate etc. It pays for the dockside counters, aircraft surveilance and data analysis to determine total harvest in order to satisfy the tribal claim that we might be taking more than our 50%.

You can find the data analysis on previous openers at the WDFW website.

Locke did approve $150k the problem is $150k only covers 2 three day seasons.I met with keonings 2 wks ago,the states estimate is 450-500k the tribe who controls the fishery thinks 750-900k.the highest daily recorded catch is 12k. If we need 350k for escapement and we split 250k with the tribes thats 125k each that should give us about a 10 day season.the problem is $150k only pays for 6 days of enforcement and monitoring.If the sporties only catch 60k fish what do you think is going to happen to the rest of the surpluss

In my humble opinion...

If the state is required to pay $2.50 per fish
just to count how many were caught...

The System is BROKEN!

Of course any surplus will go to the tribes. Why do you suppose they want it to cost more to run the season? How about a $2.00 Sockeye stamp?

Don't bother with Koenings or the Commercial Fish Commission, they want the fish to go to the tribes or any other commercial fishery. Go after your senators, reps, mayor, city council, and county commissioners. Enlighten them on the millions of dollars and thousands of votes they are not going to get if they stand by and let the sport fishery die.

By the way Gov Locke simply put the $120,000 in his supplemental budget request. It still has to pass in the legislature.

DO YOU WANT TO FISH FOR SOCKEYE SALMON IN LAKE WASHINGTON THIS SUMMER?

Your help is needed to make sure sports anglers are not sitting on the beach this summer when a very large run of sockeye is expected to return to Lake Washington. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has said that without an additional $120,000 they will not allow a sports fishery to take place. Governor Gary Locke has included this amount in his supplemental budget request to the legislature. However, the legislature must agree and include the funds in their budget. Please, immediately, contact your Senator and two representatives to request their support for this funding. You can do this by calling 1-800-562-6000 and ask that a message be given to your legislators requesting they "Support including $120,000 in the supplemental budget for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to manage the 2004 Lake Washington sockeye salmon sport fishery." Under the new system, a toll-free call takes less than two minutes and all you have to provide is your name, address and phone number and give the above message. The receptionist will know your legislators and will send them an e-mail message for you. However, if you have a personal connection with one or more of your legislators, please call them directly. Time is of the essence so call right away.

Also leave the above message for Senator Joseph Zarelli, chair, Senate Ways and Means Committee; and Representative Helen Sommers, chair, House Appropriations Committee.

thanks Mike for reviving this one...I think it is important to clarify that the $120,000 in the Governor's supplemental budget will only finance a 4 or 5 day season and not the 3 week season that the run size would support. This money is for WDFW personnel.

Something is really broken when we pay the WTO protestors a $250,000 settlement for violating their rights to protest , taunt the cops and cost the city millions and businesses even more millions. And we spend millions to build and maintain fancy toilets for the whinos in Pioneer Square to throw up in. But we have to beg to come up with $120,000 so we can have a 4 day fishing season on Lake Washington. A season that will bring in millions to the economy of the region. When was the last time a drunk bum or a WTO protestor brought in a cent to our economy?

Makes me want to SCREAM!!!

If we do not get a season it will be time for another on the water protest. Just like the one that was in Elliot Bay several years ago. Troll as a group with all of our gear in the water, just have NO hooks on the set-ups. That should get some media attention.

You would think in today's world of high technology, the WDF could buy some kind of sonic reader or come up with a statistical algorithim to due this job for years with what they're asserting for in the budget for this year......

C'mon all you brilliant WDFW scientists, can you say SUBSAMPLE Surely you can get one of your biometricians to design a sampling scheme that produces close to 90% confidence by limited randomly sampling of different landing locations over a 4-5 week period - a 100% sample is not necessary here. Neither is a 100% boat count. I'm sorry, but 120K is enough to the job adequately with the luxury of the record sample size that is predicted. And with all the other things that have to "fall off the plate" in todays government funding climate, it will have to be enough, won't it? Quit whining and do your jobs

I would be willing to volunteer myself to do creel samples at the boat ramp in Bellevue if, ofcourse, if I can spare the days.
I'd like to see the oppurtunity for a substantual sport harvest, even if I don't get to take part of it.
Seriously, I think I could spare some time to do some counts at that launch (only).

Hellava idea JD, and I'll sweeten the pot. What say we work out a deal with WDFW to train volunteer samplers, and each sampler gets a fishing trip from one of us as payment? Then all WDFW would be out is supervision and data compilation. Surely they can do that for $120K. And sockeye fishing I can fish 4 easily, and they bite better with more gear in the water anyway, so I'm usually shopping for partners anyhow. Save our tax money, save our fishery, and get some deserving folks a fishing trip - this almost sounds too good to be true I'll contact WDFW directly about it.

Right on. I've beat you to it, as far as contacting the WDFW. But by all means do it.
Got a couple of fishing buddies in the Monte. (right near you spawnout) office that I've talked to in the last week. So far I haven't got any responses concerning my willingness to do this, but we'll see. Then in my case, I got to decide on how much time, and on what days, and if actually volunteering would impact the outcome of a possible Sockeye season on Lk WA this summer. But we won't get a set season soon.
If anybody else is interested, start inquiring with your WDFW office asap.
Just the show of concern my actually help in deciding the outcome in this matter.
And if people are willing to spare some free time, and the powers that be agree that a substantial sport harvest is possible, then maybe we'll get at least one more day of sockeye fishing.

I don't know. I don't think that the state is exactly rich. Libraries are cutting hours, museums are closing on certain days of the week to save money, cops and firemen are being laid off. Plus they have a lot of settlements. Seems that everyone wants to sue the local government over the slightest things, which may not even be their fault.

Could they come up with the money? Probably, if you cut something else. There's no one here that loves fishing more than me. I've been fishing for almost all of my 28 years here. But frankly, I would rather have the libraries stay open all year than have two or three weeks of sockeye fishing that only some can take part in. You can all blame Mr. Eyeman.

Arklier,

You can blame anyone YOU want. I'm personally pointing the finger at the director of the department running the show there. Same guy is screwing up the C. River and the Cowlitz too. The guy wants commercial fishing to get the lions share and is willing to play politics to get it done.

Seems like maybe the fish is rotting from the head down, and not from an initiative that the PEOPLE of WASHINGTON STATE passed. Yea, so Eyeman pushed an initaitve onto the ballot, BIG DEAL. The PEOPLE of WASHINGTON STATE passed the law by a majority vote, and the legislature has come back for more funds in various ways, gas tax increase and user fees come to mind.

If you think that Koenigs is doing a great job, go back to the library and read some history books. Pulleeeze!

Oh, and the libraries? Good God man, have you seen the Taj Mahal that is being built in downtown Seattle that is being called a library? No wonder that we can't can't afford to keep 'em open!

And why, oh why does the Lake W. fishery have to have an exact count of bonked fish? Where else in the state is that actually done? Extrapolation is used everywhere else to pull a number out of the sky that is used to measure sport impact. If it works for the C. River, Sekiu, Puget Sound and elsewhere, what's the difference on the lake?

Difference is the director is too chummy with the commercial fishing interests.

Arklier, no offense intended but I sure get tired of the Eyeman exuse. It's not the reason that the department can't get their act together.

God, I am putting my fire suit on right now....

Nah, no worries. I was more responding to later posts. Of course there's always room for improvement, and the bias that the council shows towards the commercials is frustrating. Who takes most of the fish? Them. Who gets most of the regulations? Us.

But IMHO, griping about the Governor and the amount of money that's been put aside is rather pointless when libraries are closing early and cops and firemen are being laid off. Everyone wants more money to be put up for the Lake Washington sockeye, but where will that money come from? The state and local governments aren't exactly rolling in the dough.

WDFW has had to fork over millions to the general fund from their budget as their share of the bulging state bureaucracy. Our state has the distinction of having the largest number of state employees per capita in the USA if I'm not mistaken. And it is getting larger all the time. I heard today that Gov Locke signed a semi-secret deal with Boeing agreeing to provide 8 or 9 state employees for the exclusive use of Boeing to help handle the permitting processes and other various corporate welfare schemes we came up with to keep Boeing in our state. WDFW will have to pay a share of that too. So the WDFW budget that comes from our license fees for the most part is helping to finance a bunch of other pork barrell stuff....Or should I say you, the taxpayer, are helping to pay for this garbage instead of fishing related things that you thought you were paying for....Get a copy of the Friday Port Townsend commission meeting from a few weeks ago to see what the WDFW has to endure.

This state and their head up the butt politics makes me want to puke! I just can't figure out why in the world they turn their heads and try to ignore us sport fishermen. There is so much money to be made for buinesses off of the sport. Is it not the responsibility of government to try and promote economic growth?
What goes through these peoples mind?
Oh,........ it's what goes through their back pocket!
I did take the time to call and voice my disgust
to my Senator.

well, what i see what we need is a intitiative by the people to allocate all monies from fishing license sales, boat tabs, to be for hatcheries and other fishing realted options.. and another intiiative to appoint proper fish managers, instead of the jokes we have now, some who are in " fish clubs" and they still vote for wild steelhead kill..

Did anyone else get this response?


Dear Mr. Davis:

Thank you for your recent communication to the Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Director Jeff Koenings, Senator McAuliffe, and
Representatives O'Brien and Edwards regarding funding the Lake
Washington Sockeye season. Director Koenings has reviewed your
correspondence and asked me to respond.

This is a very popular fishery that takes place when the sockeye run is
of sufficient size, and a harvestable run is expected this year. WDFW
has requested that the Legislature allocate funds to monitor the
anticipated fishery this year. This subject will be addressed by the
Legislature during this 2004 Legislative Session, and we are hoping for a
favorable decision.

We appreciate citizens like you who take the time to write letters of
support. Thank you for your interest in Washington's fishery.

Sincerely,


Lew Atkins
Assistant Director
Fish Program

Even though this is a canned letter that goes to everyone it is still well written and to the point. The point is that governor put a line item in the budget and now the legislature needs to approve it. I don't know if it is in the budget in the typical pork barrell fashion that would require the legislators to approve other stuff they may not agree with in order to get the Sockeye money.

I talked directly with the Fish Program, and what I was told was that they fully intend to have the fishery, that the wording of the request to the legislature was designed to stress the importance of approval of the $120K to their ability to manage the fishery, were aghast that their request was interpreted as holding the fishery hostage and that this was never intended, and that they are indeed working on sampling schemes to allow full sport allocation within the sampling budget. They also said that the preliminary adult sockeye return estimate was at this point 450K, but that if it was more they would still be able to sample properly to allow full utilization. Sounded pretty sincere and reasonable to me. Maybe we over-reacted a little here - like that could ever happen - and if so I will be the first to apologize

I never thought that WDFW was playing games necessarily but I think Koenings is savvy to the game of budgets in Olympia. If the Sokeye fishery is a bargaining chip in the big game to get money for WDFW then fine...Just don't play the game too long and get alot of the constituents mad. The legislators for the most part are really undereducated about fisheries issues and probably know alot more about all the lawsuit settlements sucking the budgets dry.

By the way I think a figure of 450,000 is very conservative for a run size estimate.

What size red hooks do you use for sockeye . GI JOES has Gamakatsu's on sale right now.
Thanks for the help
Dan

2/0

OK, with all of this being said, is there or isn't there going to be a sportsman season on the big lake for sockeye this year? I did'nt take the time to read all of the posts regarding this issue, but , being the narrow minded sort that I am, (shame on me!), I would really like to know if I can fish for these critters this year. Before everyone passes judgement on me as just another meat fisherman, please understand that I get few chances to fish for salmon or steelhead over the course of the traditional seasons, so any opportunity I get to fish for any salomonid, when there is the potential for a sucessful outing, I jump at the chance.Last go 'round, due to ineptitude on my part, we launched the boat without the benefit of having anyone on board or in control,causing an unplannned, and therfore unprepared fisher to have to go wading after a boat that got away. Before you say STUPID!, take into consider that ,yes, what happened WAS stupid, and I am fully prepared to accept that label. My fishing buddy was sure to remind me all the way home about how the wind was up and the boat would have eventually made it back to the beach on it's own. Wading out to beyond my chest to retreive the boat was not part of the plan for the day. So I live and learn. Anyways, I would sure like another chance at those tasty morsels, so back to the original question, WILL THERE BE A SPORT SOCKEYE SEASON ON THE BIG LAKE THIS YEAR???

A season for everyone except you I'm afraid.

Here is my State Rep's reply.

Thank you for your email. I appreciate you taking the time to contact me.

I agree with you and support funding for Lake Washington Sockeye Sport
Fishery, as included in the governor's budget. This funding will provide
monitoring and sampling to ensure that fish listed under the Endangered
Species Act are adequately protected. Preliminary forecasts indicate a Lake
Washington Sockeye salmon return of roughly 600,000 fish. In the event that
sufficient sockeye return to Lake Washington, this additional funding will
allow the Department of Fish and Wildlife to open this selective fishery and
create more fishing opportunities in our community.

Please feel free to contact me with any additional comments or concerns. I
value the input I receive and hope that you will continue to share your
thoughts with me.

Best Regards,

Ruth

I think you've at least got Ruth's attention. Before you sent her a message, she I doubt that she had given any consideration to the Lake Washington sockeye season.

Good job.

If you live in the Kent area, or this guy runs for governor, vote for Rep. Geoff Simpson. Here's what he says:

Thank you for your message. As someone who has personally enjoyed the fishery you refer to and who loves salmon fishing in general, you can be assured that I will support the budget proviso. I really appreciate you taking the time to write to me about this subject and hope you will feel free to contact me anytime you have a question or comment. Thanks again.
Sincerely,

Geoff

Just so everyone knows. The 120k for this fishery has survived into the House and Senate budgets. Every Legislator I have spoken with is quite supportive and surprised that the Department has not been proactive with this request by contacting them first. Keep up the good work of contacting your Legislators .

Oh please, it is just a money game. I hate having my fishing affected by politics. They'll get the money and we'll have a season, hopefully more than a 2 day stretch. I have fished opening day since a kid (got to miss a little school) and it is irritating to watch the fishing time reduced every year. Supposd to be a huge run this year and I hope the open days reflect it!

why not sponsor a take a legislator fishing program. get them in your boat, a mile from any land and then express your views to these fine, over payed under worked-educated beyond thier ability to under stand anything, individuals.

How many realize that there were more than enough fish last year to support a two week plus fishery? While at the Sportsman's Show I was talking to a WDFW agent who was telling me about the numbers last year. There were Sockeye running all the way into Dec. So many fish that there was no room for them to spawn in the rivers.. The last fishery that we got a 3day fishery had enough of a run to support a 12 to 14 day fishery... The WDFW agent stated that he was not sure he should talk about this however he had heard someone else mention it....

grandpa has hit the nail on the head.. We have and do pay in More than enough to support the department and enforcement. However they have to pay so much out to the general fund.. It sounds like it may be time for another dedicated fund allocation. Kinda like the warmwater fisheries fund..

Rivershrk-
You may wish to review the information found on the following site.
http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/sockeye/lkwashintro.htm

The 2003 locks count was roughly 200,000 fish and the escapement goal is 350,000. I’m not sure how much of a fishery we should have a run that was 150,00 below the escapement goal.

The 3 day fishery in 2002 was estimated to have caught 36,000 fish or 12,000 per day. To support a 2 week sport fishery with a catch rate of 12,000 fish per day the run size through the locks would have to be in the 650,000 range (350,000 escapement, 150,000 for the tribal fishery and 150,000 for the sport. As I recall the 2002 run was a couple hundred thousand short of that level.

It is normal for to have some sockeye spawning well into December.

Tight lines
S malma

Smalma,

I am only restating what was told to me by somebody within the department.

Why do the counts stop at the end of July? The person I had spoken too apparently lives on one of the return rivers and has some first hand information on the subject. He stated to me that there have been allot more fish than what is being reported runs that are lasting into Dec? That is allot of uncounted months?

RiverShrk-
As state in the site I referenced “…the Muckleshoot Tribe and WDFW will conduct formal sockeye counts from June 12th through the end of July. Counts conducted during this standardized time period are the basis of the update model.” The counts are made from those dates annual so that it is done in a consistent manner. That period covers the majority of the lake entry time with an expansion for the remainder of the fish that enter the lake prior to or after that period. In a perfect world the counts would continue from the first to last fish however that would require additional cost with little gain in the accuracy of the runsize estimate.

I think that your source of information maybe confusing the difference between run entry timing and spawning timing. The fish entry the lake from late May/early June into August however the spawning is later with a few fish beginning entering the Cedar for spawning in late August on through much of December. Peak spawning activity would typically be in October. Those fish entering the Cedar for spawning would have been counted past the locks weeks to months earlier.

Again I encourage you and others to take the time to educate yourselves so that you can determine what makes sense and what doesn’t. In this electronic era access to information is easy and abundant – though not always correct.
Tight lines
S malma

There are substantial numers of fish netted outside the locks on the saltwater side....Go to lunch at Ray's Boathouse on a nice late June day and see for yourself. Those fish are definitely not counted.

The real issue here is whether the WDFW will have funding to operate the fishery beyond a few days. If at all.

Simple questions, no attacks intended...why do they start counting on June 12th? Smalma, I understand that they want to keep consistency with what dates they are counting every year, makes sense. However, why not start earlier, like May 1? Is it a $$$ thing, not enough funds or do the bulk of the fish really start showing in June? Why June 12th? That seems kind of random to me. Do they take in account fish showing prior to June 12th? Just curious, looking forward to the season, whatever it turns out to be. I'm sure I'll see some of you out there.

Kev

Traditionally counting before June 12th would not gain much data as the run doesn't usually get going until mid June. They are not hiding anything by waiting

Kev- to answer your question, yes they do take into account those fish entering before June 12 and after the end of July. The model they use is just that a model. It is a formula that counts the main portion of the run directly and they then extrapolate those numbers to estimate how many have already entered and how many will enter after they stop formal counts. It does save quite a bit of $$$ because they don't have to have counter on those early and late days where there is only small amounts of fish going through. Hope this clarifies some things!
CM

Thanks Grandpa and CM, I had a feeling that was the case. No conspiracy theory here , was just wondering.
My daughters are looking forward to this season, it's a great opportunity to get the entire family out on the water, during the nice warm and sunny weather.

Kev

Anybody have the inside scoop on when the season might be?

Yo Gang!

A couple of things that I learned at the Pre-season Forecast Meeting in Olympia on Monday...

1 - The $120K that have been tossed about for monitoring would be enough to cover a 30 day season if it came to that...!

2 - They are only expecting about 400 wild chinook to come back to the Cedar this year. That is a threatened run and DFW has to manage all fisheries - including sockeye in the lake - to limit impact on those fish.

3 - Based upon #2, DFW would prefer to run the season as early as possible - before chinook would be expected in the lake - they said it might start as early as July 1st

4 - The City of Renton has asked that they NOT allow fishing on July 4th because of planned fireworks and even more traffic at Coulon Park - don't know if they mean the whole weekend or not.

Get those red hooks now!

I got a question....

If hook color only matters when you are fishing in less than 5 feet of water (according to Mr. Herzog) then why the bigg fuss about red hooks, obviously in lake Wa you are fishng in deeper water than 5 feet. Any answers?

the hook color isn't always red. black works too. the effect of the bare hooks is to look like krill which sockeye feed on...these are really miniture shrimp.

Grandpa, Ya know, I keep hearing that from people, but I can't seem to be able to find any evidence of that! Can you (or anyone else) tell me which "krill" look like little red hooks?

Thanks!

FP

I will be going to Canada This summer and will fish the ocean. What are my chances of catching a scokeye? I have never caught one before and would like to. What method might produce the best results? Thanks in advance.....Ross

They are caught in saltwater incidental to coho and chinook, but infrequently. I suppose if you targeted them with the same rig as we use for Lake Washington, you might catch some. I have a feeling, though, that when they are out in the ocean they are either dispersed, or far out on open waters. There is also the rationale of, why bother scraping for 4-5# sockeye when you can get gobs of 8-10# coho, and some 20-40# chinook? That's in Alaska at least.

How Do you fish for them In Lake Washington

I jut Want to catch one I don't know Why

krill are the diet of many whales and are plankton...huge clouds of krill are scooped up by whales and strained threough their gills. Herring and sardines also feed on krill. I have fished in the ocean in the middle of acres of krill. Taken one at a time they are tiny. I suppose the Sockeye see the slow movement of the bare hooks and think it is krill...not sure on a scientific or biological basis but I know it works.

In terms of fishing for Sockeye in the ocean I talked to a commerical soskeye troll fisherman one day in Campbell River in Canada and he gave me a mini squid in red and said that he runs lines full of those to catch Sockeye commercially. I never did try that but have caught Sockeye in the ocean on darts...go figure.

We have caught Mackarel (sp) In schools of krill

I think they were krill They looked like tiny shrimp

Why Lake Washington sockeye?

1. They are Yummy to the Tummy -- possibly the most flavorful of all the salmon
2. You can take your 6 YO niece out with you and she won't get seasick or pulled into the water by the fish
3. 15-minute drive (for me at least) instead of 1-3 hours
4. No tides or current to watch out for
5. You get to meet the other 99,999 Seattle-area boat owners, all in the same day!

LOL Finegrain, Tap Tap Tap!