Skokomish Salmon Time
By Chester Allen, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.
Aug. 2–SKOKOMISH RIVER — Big chinook salmon fresh from saltwater are making anglers’ hearts thump, but they’re heartbreakers when hooked in a small river clogged with downed trees and other snags.
And that’s how it was Wednesday on the Skokomish River for 11-year-old Sawyer Barlow of Lacey.
Sawyer hooked two big chinook by noon
but lost both big fish to nearby snags.
But Sawyer kept on fishing.
“Every time I hook a salmon my heart goes booma, booma, booma,” Sawyer said.
Sawyer, along with his dad, Steven Barlow and family friend Branden Sallee, jammed onto the Skokomish with hundreds of other anglers for the first day of chinook fishing on the Skokomish River this summer.
The Skokomish, which flows into Hood Canal south of Potlatch and near the Skokomish Reservation, is a popular fishing spot because schools of bright chinook are easy to see in the small, clear river.
Skokomish chinook kick off the late-summer and fall river salmon fishing season for many Puget Sound anglers.
Sallee landed a bright 15-pound chinook early in the day
and then spent the rest of the outing helping Sawyer learn how to drift a Corkie-and-yarn rig through the deep, snaggy holes.
Corkies are foam balls that rise up from the lead weight that is ticking along the bottom. The Corkies wave a yarn-shrouded hook right in front of the salmon. The irritated fish snap at the lure and get hooked.
Usually, the fish roar right into the deep snags and wiggle off the single, barbless hooks that all anglers must use.
Losing fish to snags is part of the deal on the Skokomish. So is fishing very close to other anglers.
It’s all worth the drive from Everett, Todd Gearhardt, who landed a nice salmon said.
“I’ll probably fish here two times a week for the next three weeks,” Gearhardt said. “I like fishing here because you see lots of salmon in the clear, shallow water
and fish to them.”
Poaching
The Skokomish River also has a dark side
it’s a place where some anglers illegally snag fish.
State Department of Fish and Wildlife officers patrolled the river on Wednesday to drop the hammer on snaggers
and make sure all anglers were using single, barbless hooks.
Single, barbless hooks makes it easy to release salmon with a minimum of harm.
Anglers must stop fishing each day after they keep one chinook salmon.
Pete Swain, of Everett, said catching is more fun than keeping.
“I released two fish today, and I didn’t keep any,” he said. “I wanted to keep fishing, and once you keep a fish you have to stop fishing.”
Steven Barlow, Sawyer’s dad, lost of couple of big salmon to the snags before he hooked up to a fish that exploded out of the water.
The chinook salmon jumped a few times, and Barlow was able to coax it away from the nearby snags.
After a 10-minute battle, Barlow eased the tired fish to shore, where Sallee was waiting with the net.
Seconds later, a 16-pound chinook was in Barlow’s hands.
The fish was perfect for dinner, and Barlow quickly killed the salmon and put it in a cooler.
His son, Sawyer, kept fishing.
“I love the thrill of catching them,” he said. “They are so strong
it’s just the thrill of doing it.”
Olympian Outdoors reporter Chester Allen can be reached at 360-754-4226 or callen@theolympian.com.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.
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