February 18-March 2, 2004

Contact: Margaret Ainscough, (360) 902-2408

With fishing opportunities popping up across the state, the toughest decision facing outdoor enthusiasts this month may be which direction to go.

Razor clam digs are on at Long Beach and Twin Harbors, where clamming will be allowed after noon each day from Feb. 19 through Feb. 21. Meanwhile, waters of the San Juan islands have been serving up some super-size blackmouth. And across eastern Washington, dozens of hatchery-trout-stocked lakes open to fishing March 1.

Wildlife viewers also have plenty of choices-bald eagles remain in the upper Skagit Valley and geese and swans are still on hand in the lower valley. Birds that wintered in milder areas-including spectacular sandhill cranes-are beginning to return in parts of the state. Plan a trip to the Columbia Basin to coincide with the cranes' stopover. See the northcentral regional wildlife viewing report, below, for information on the upcoming annual Othello Sandhill Crane Festival activities.

For ocean salmon fishers who want to participate in the season-setting process for 2004, WDFW staff will provide a brief overview of expected abundances for chinook and coho salmon at a meeting March 1 beginning at 9:30 a.m. at the General Administration Building Auditorium, 11th Avenue and Columbia Street in Olympia. Besides conducting work sessions on regional fishery issues, WDFW will solicit ideas from the public about fishery preferences that are consistent with conservation objectives and treaty Indian allocation requirements. For more information about the March 3 meeting and the season-setting process, see the North of Falcon section of WDFW's website.

Here is a round-up of recreational activities across Washington:

North Puget Sound:

• Fishing: Blackmouth fishing has been decent in several spots within the region. Anglers have reported finding hefty fish hugging the bottom along the east side of Rosario Strait, East Point of Guemes Island and water between Hat and Camano islands. For the best results, anglers are advised to watch for tide changes that concentrate baitfish and bring in the blackmouth. Marine Area 10 (Seattle-Bremerton) closes to blackmouth on Feb. 29. Hatchery steelhead fishing has been slow in most rivers, with the terminal areas of the Skykomish producing some of the best results. Steelheaders had best hit the rivers sooner than later, as many river systems - including the Sky - will shut down March 1 to protect weak wild returns. The Skykomish closes March 1-May 31 to all fishing, including the scheduled catch-and-release season, from its mouth to the Sultan River. The Skagit River closes to all fishing from March 1-31 from the mouth upstream to the Dalles Bridge at Concrete, including Fisher Slough. Beginning April 1, the area from the mouth upstream to the Highway 536 bridge in Mt. Vernon re-opens for trout, Dolly Varden and other game fish, but will remain closed to fishing for steelhead. The fishery will be open under selective gear rules, however it will be legal to fish from a motorized vessel. The north fork of the Stillaguamish River also closes to all fishing March 1-May 31, including catch-and-release fishing, while the Puyallup and Carbon rivers are closed to all fishing March 1-31. Salmon anglers should remember to mark March 11 on the calendar. That's when WDFW fisheries managers will meet with interested citizens at the agency's Mill Creek office to discuss possible Puget Sound salmon fisheries for 2004. The meeting, which is part of the larger annual salmon planning process, is set to run from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at WDFW regional headquarters, 16018 Mill Creek Blvd. There's more information on the season-setting process at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/northfalcon/ on the Internet.

• Wildlife viewing: The Skagit Valley and surrounding agricultural areas are still playing host to an amazing array of big birds. Noisy snow geese can still be counted by the thousand in fallow fields near the mouth of the Skagit River, while big trumpeter and tundra swans are scattered in small groups throughout the region. Bald eagles continue to congregate in big riverside trees along the Skagit, Nooksack and just about every other river north of Everett. It's also a great time of year to check out woodpeckers in the area. Look for pileated woodpeckers - the biggest ones we've got - with their unmistakable crimson crest and loopy, undulating flight pattern - going from snag to snag in search of insects. Smaller woodpeckers that are common to the region include the downy woodpecker, the hairy woodpecker and the colorful northern flicker. Even the "dullest" member of the woodpecker family has a bit of bright color to it, or at least an interesting coloration pattern. Either way, the birds are a welcome relief from the Pacific Northwest's generally subdued palette of wintertime colors.

Olympic Peninsula/South Sound:

• Fishing: Two coastal beaches will open for razor clam digging on evening tides Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 19-21. Digging will be permitted after noon all three days at Long Beach and Twin Harbors Beach. Surf conditions, however, could pose a challenge for some diggers, said Dan Ayres, WDFW coastal shellfish manager. "We want to urge everyone to exercise caution out there on the beach," Ayres said. "The surf is up on the coast right now, so diggers may have to work a little harder for their clams." Meanwhile, anyone looking for encouragement about this year's blackmouth season might want to check the winners' roster for the Discovery Bay Salmon Derby, held during President's Day weekend. Of the 30 top prizewinners, more than half scored with fish over 10 pounds. Brad Alexander of Bremerton took top honors with a blackmouth weighing 20.4 pounds. "That's a big fish," said Steve Thiesfeld, WDFW recreational salmon-fishing biologist. "You don't see many blackmouth over 15 pounds." But anglers caught four whoppers over 15 pounds that same weekend at a separate derby sponsored by the Sekiu-Clallam Bay Chamber of Commerce. There, Murphy Rhodes of Lake Forest Park took first place with an 18.61-pound fish. Less encouraging was fishing in Marine Area 11 (Tacoma), which opened for blackmouth Feb. 14 along with marine areas 5 and 6 on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Marine Area 8-2 (Ports Susan and Gardner) and Marine Area 12 (Hood Canal). Forty boats left Point Defiance Boathouse in Marine Area 11 on opening day, but returned with just five blackmouth. Steelhead fishing, on the other hand, was surprisingly good on the Olympic Peninsula over Presidents Day weekend - given high water due to recent rains. Anglers fishing the Sol Duc River had the best luck, averaging half a fish per rod. The Calawah River was next in line with 0.43 fish per angler, followed by 0.39 in the lower Hoh, 0.19 in the upper Hoh and 0.13 in the Bogachiel/Quillayute system. "Those are the best checks we've seen for the Hoh River this season," said Bill Freymond, WDFW fish biologist. More than 80 percent of the steelhead caught in north coast rivers were wild fish, said Freymond, noting that wild steelhead are continuing to move into all of the coastal rivers. Farther south, the Wynoochee River has been teeming with both fish and anglers in recent days, said Scott Barbour, another WDFW fish biologist. Barbour said a friend recently caught six steelhead in the Wynoochee in one day, although he had to release the four wild fish he caught under the rules for that river. "The Wynoochee is definitely the star attraction in the area right now," Barbour said. "It's come up pretty high in the past few days, but it's still `plunkable'." In Pierce County, the Puyallup and Carbon rivers are set to close March 1 through March 31 for steelhead and other fishing to reduce hooking mortality on wild fish. Most types of fishing - except salmon trout, clams and oysters - have already been closed on Hood Canal, where low levels of dissolved oxygen continue to take a toll on bottomfish, herring, smelt, anchovy, octopus, squid and other species. "Current wintertime dissolved oxygen levels are the lowest ever recorded in the canal," said Grey Bargmann, WDFW marine fish manager. "The current closure is necessary to prevent extra stress on the fish and shellfish most affected by this condition."

• Wildlife viewing: Marty Ayres of Aberdeen used to tell friends that he had always wanted to see a cougar in the wild. Earlier this month, he got his wish. During a bicycle ride around Lake Sylvia State Park, Ayres dismounted to cross a bridge when he suddenly found himself eye-to-eye with an adult cougar perching on a log on the opposite bank about 25 feet away. "I was trembling and couldn't stop," Ayres told a reporter for the Aberdeen Daily World, which carried a story on the encounter. Fumbling for his cell phone, Ayres dialed 911 and reached a dispatcher for the Montesano Police Department, who assured him that an officer would call back soon. "As soon as I hung up, I felt like the loneliest person on Earth," Ayres told the newspaper. Then, he decided it was time to make some noise. With the cougar still watching him, Ayres whistled loudly and yelled "hey!" "It jumped up in the air and did a 360," he said. "He landed on the log in the same position and stared at me." Then the big cat walked back off the log the way it came. Since then, WDFW has posted signs around the lake to notify visitors about the cougar, but the department does not have immediate plans to remove the cat, said Sgt. Matt Nixon of WDFW's enforcement division. "Mr. Ayres made it very clear that the cougar was not aggressive," Nixon said. "In cases like this one, we don't remove a cat just because it gave someone a start. Mr. Ayres took the right actions, and recognized that there's always a chance of seeing a cougar in the woods." Just the same, Ayres said once was enough. "I would rather be awed from a distance," he told the Daily World. For more information on cougars, WDFW management strategies and how to avoid unwanted encounters with Washington's big cats, see http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/cougar/cougar.htm or http://wdfw.wa.gov/do/feb04/feb0504a.htm on WDFW's website.

Southwest Washington:

• Fishing: River fishing in transition as anglers await late-stock steelhead and spring chinook, making this a good time to head for the lakes for some trout fishing, suggests Joe Hymer, regional fish biologist. Recent stocking operations have added angling opportunity at Klineline Pond in Hazel Dell (2,500 catchable size rainbow trout; 1,000 half-pound trout; 424 trout weighing 2.5 pounds apiece, and 183 four-pounders); Kidney Lake near North Bonneville (1,000 half-pound rainbow trout; remains open through the end of February); Icehouse Lake near the Bridge of the Gods (1,026 catchable-size rainbows, 155 one-pound cutthroat trout); Little Ash Lake near Stevenson (1,000 catchable-size rainbow trout); and Kress Lake near Kalama (54 surplus hatchery winter steelhead). A check at Klineline Pond during the second week of February turned up 114 bank anglers who had kept 59 catchable-size rainbows and 40 brood trout, and had released 84 catchables and 54 brooders. Meanwhile, the season's first spring chinook at Bonneville Dam was logged Feb. 10. Some hatchery spring chinook reportedly have been caught in the mainstem Columbia from the I-5 Bridge downstream, which is now open. Late stock steelhead are beginning to show up in rivers such as the Elochoman, Cowlitz, and Kalama, Hymer says. Boat anglers in John Day Pool averaged nearly three-quarters of a walleye per rod (counting fish released) during the week of Feb. 9-15. Columbia River sturgeon fishers are likely to find the best luck in the plume of the Willamette River, where water temperatures are higher. Sturgeon fishing is reported to be picking up in the Columbia Gorge. From the Wauna power lines upstream to Bonneville Dam, anglers may keep their catch on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays only. Dramatically lower commercial smelt catches on the Cowlitz River in mid-February indicated the run had tapered off, but it's too soon to tell whether it was a just a pilot run or not.

• Wildlife viewing: WDFW staff report that early morning hours should be fruitful for spotting the local elk herd on the Davis Lake unit of the Cowlitz Wildlife Area. Bald eagles have returned to the Tilton River forested corridor across the highway from the Cowlitz Wildlife Area office. Waterfowl are abundant on area ponds and inundated fields. Meanwhile, a Tweeters website correspondent reports sighting more than 300 tundra swans, as well as ruddy ducks, cinnamon teal, tree swallows, yellow rumped warblers, American kestrel, bald eagles, rough legged hawks, northern harriers, red tailed hawks, western scrub jay and a hooded merganser on a Feb. 14 birding trip to the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.

Eastern Washington:

• Fishing: Seven man-made impoundments off the Tucannon River in southeast Washington's Columbia County - Beaver, Big Four, Blue, Deer, Rainbow, Spring, and Watson lakes - will open March 1 to fishing for hatchery rainbow trout. If mild weather continues, all but one of them should be stocked before the opener, reports Doug Maxey, WDFW Tucannon Hatchery manager. The exception is Big Four Lake. "That's our fly-fishing-only lake," Maxey said. "It's always the last one to thaw and we have to pipe the fish 220 feet across the river from the access area to the lake." Trout are stocked as "catchables" (six to nine inches) or "jumbos" (one pound or more) throughout the season, which runs until Oct. 31. Here's what's scheduled for stocking before the opener this month: Beaver - 500 catchables; Big Four - 3,000 catchables, 300 jumbos; Blue - 3,500 catchables, 100 jumbos; Deer - 1,000 catchables; Rainbow - 3,000 catchables, 100 jumbos; Spring - 2,000 catchables, 100 jumbos; Watson - 2,500 catchables, 100 jumbos. Also opening March 1 is Pampa Pond in Whitman County, which will receive 2,000 catchables now, and Fishook Park Pond in Walla Walla County, which will receive 3,000 catchables as soon as possible in March. Year-round waters in southeast Washington will also receive hatchery trout this month: Walla Walla County's Quarry Pond is due for 5,000 catchables, and Bennington Lake gets 4,000; Asotin County's West Evans and Golf Course ponds each receive 4,000 catchables and 100 jumbos, and Silcott Pond gets 2,000 catchables; Columbia County's Dam Pond receives 1,000 catchables and Orchard Pond gets 1,500 catchables. Three lakes in the central district of the region that have been well-stocked with trout fry and other fish over the years also open on March 1. The brightest star, said WDFW district fish biologist Chris Donley, will be Lincoln County's Coffeepot Lake, provided the ice has cleared. "Coffeepot will provide good fishing on rainbows from 12 to 20 inches, plus yellow perch, bass, and bullheads." Donley also noted that North Silver Lake in Spokane County will have sizeable fish to catch for the first time since the lake opened to public fishing last year. "Anglers need to remember that North Silver is open only through the good graces of private landowners," Donley said, "so everyone needs to play by the rules." Those rules include walk-in access only (with parking across the road at the Silver Lake parking lot), selective gear, a minimum 14-inch size on rainbows, a daily limit of two fish and a requirement to release all trout with clipped adipose fins. The marked fish are part of a growth experiment with triploids, Donley explained. If it's not iced up, Amber Lake in Spokane County will open March 1 for a catch-and-release season until the general fishing season opener in late April, when Amber has limited catch-and-keep fishing. Donley said anglers can expect to catch cutthroat and rainbows in the 10 to 20-inch range. Farther north in the region, WDFW district fish biologist Curt Vail reminds anglers that popular Waitts Lake in Stevens County closes after Feb. 29. "Fishing opportunity may improve a little on our winter lakes - Hatch and Williams - if the ice melts before they close March 31," Vail said. Other WDFW field staff report good boat fishing at Lake Roosevelt, where big rainbows are hitting in the Grand Coulee Dam area and other spots.

• Wildlife viewing: The birding "season" is warming with the weather and longer daylight hours, with more migrants arriving and breeding rituals beginning for some. "Be on the lookout for hawks pairing up, establishing territories, and putting on some good aerial displays," said WDFW district wildlife biologist Howard Ferguson. "Early migrants are showing up at backyard bird feeding stations and other spots, including red-winged blackbirds, robins, bluebirds, killdeer, even some swallows already." Juli Anderson, WDFW Swanson Lake Wildlife Area manager, cautions that birders out and about should be prepared for near-spring like conditions on back roads. "Rural gravel roads in Lincoln County are very soft and rutted with lots of slush and mud right now," Anderson said. "Wildlife watchers should use extreme care, and slow down when traveling through these areas." WDFW ungulate researcher Woody Myers says it's a great time to watch deer throughout the region on south-facing slopes, where snow is now gone and vegetation is greening up. Myers said this late wintertime period is a critical feeding time for hungry deer, so viewers should be careful to avoid disturbing them. Many are near roads, too, so motorists should slow down; where there's one deer crossing, others are likely to follow. Road-killed deer carcasses are drawing coyotes, bald eagles and ravens, he noted, so be on the lookout for those scenes.

• Hunting: Blue Mountains spring black bear hunting permit applications are due March 14. A total of 105 permits are available across seven southeast units for the season that runs April 15 to May 31. After purchasing a permit application from a license vendor or online, hunters must submit applications by phone (toll-free 1-877-945-3492) or Internet (http://fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov.)

North Central Washington:

• Fishing: Many Columbia Basin lakes that are stocked with hatchery rainbow trout open to fishing March 1, although most are currently ice covered. Even when they do open up, many offer only fair fishing opportunity due to the need for lake rehabilitations to address non-trout fish infestations, said WDFW district fish biologist Jeff Korth. "Our major lake fisheries are being propped up by stocking hatchery-grown catchable-sized fish that can survive predation and competition from other fish," Korth explained. "While the hatchery catchables are nice fish - running nine to 10 inches and up to a quarter pound - lake-grown fish from fry or fingerling plants are generally larger and more robust, 10 to 12 inches and up to half a pound." Most of the March 1 opening waters are in Grant County. Quincy and Burke lakes should be the best of that lot if the weather cooperates. Survival of the 20,000-some rainbow fingerlings stocked in these lakes last spring will be poor, with growing populations of sunfish and perch, Korth said. But the survivors ought to be 12-inchers now, plenty of catchable-size rainbows will be stocked by the opener to make up the loss. Quincy and Burke lakes will each receive at least 5,000 nine to 10-inch rainbows. The Caliche lakes should also provide decent opportunity, especially at Upper Caliche where catchable-sized trout have been added. Last year fingerling rainbow plants totaled 17,000 for the Caliche system (Upper, 10,000; Lower, 6,000; West, 1,000.) Martha Lake was rehabilitated last spring and should be very good in this year, since extra fish were stocked late last year after fish-eating cormorants departed the area. However, Dusty Lake will not be stocked until late spring to allow the lake to recover from rehabilitation efforts last fall to rid it of speckled dace and goldfish. Anglers should remember that regulations on Dusty change May 1, when selective fishery rules (no bait, single barbless hook, one-fish limit) go into effect. Other waters with selective gear rules that open March 1 are Lenice and Nunnally, both of which are in good shape. Yearling trout at both should be 14 inches, Korth said, with plenty of carryovers from 16 to 24 inches. "The larger fish from stocking four years ago were mostly triploids," he said, "so the possibility for some true monsters is very real." Both lakes were again stocked with rainbow fingerlings last spring, (Lenice, 7,000; Nunnally, 9,000), half of which were sterile, triploid fish. Among the two-year-olds, only the normal, diploid rainbow are adipose-clipped; the triploids are NOT clipped. There are also brown and tiger trout (brown-brook trout crosses) stocked in small numbers. Lake Lenore also opens March 1 for catch-and-release fishing through May. "Angling is usually a little slow at Lenore this time of year, since the Lahontan cutthroat stocked here don't really seem to get active until April," Korth said. "Lenore appears to have recovered last year from the serious fish kills of 1998. Annual stocking rates were increased from 40,000 to 70,000 fingerlings the last few years to replace the lost fish. Three to four-year-old fish at about three to five pounds should be numerous this season." Several small walk-in lakes on the west side of WDFW's Quincy Wildlife Area open on the first for variable success on nine to 12-inch yearling and 14-to-18-inch carryover trout. Crystal, Cup and Spring lakes have been the most consistent in the past. Fingerlings were stocked as follows: Cascade, 500; Cliff, 1,000; Crystal, 1,000; Cup, 1,000; Dot, 500; Scout, 600; Upper Spring, 1,000; and Lower Spring, 500. Korth reminds anglers that several waters on the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge or in that vicinity, which have traditionally opened on March 1, are now on an April 1-opening season. These include Hampton Lakes (Upper and Lower), Hen Lake, Coot Lake, Para-Juvenile Lake, McManaman Lake Pillar-Widgeon Lakes (Pillar, Gadwall, Shoveler, Lemna, Poacher, Snipe, Cattail, Sago, Hourglass, Widgeon). In addition, Dollar, Dabbler, Marie, Hampton Slough, Scabrock, and Royal Lake and Slough are all either closed to angling or no longer stocked.

• Wildlife viewing: Spring must be on its way, says WDFW wildlife biologist Jeff Heinlen, since red-winged blackbirds are back in the Okanogan Valley. Lots of other birds that winter farther south are being spotted throughout northcentral Washington, even the first sandhill cranes in the Columbia Basin. The seventh annual Othello Sandhill Crane Festival is March 26-28, but now is the time to make reservations for the popular festival's tours and seminars. Cranes are the "main event," but field trips include other species, from prairie grouse to waterfowl, and presentations range from birding basics to agriculture's role in the birds of the Basin. This year's festival banquet keynote speaker is world-renowned wildlife artist Robert Bateman, who will talk about the cranes he's painted. For more information call 509-488-2802 ext. 100 or the registration line at 866-726-3445, or see Sandhill Crane Festival.

South Central Washington:

• Fishing: Franklin County's year-round Dalton Lake will receive 6,000 catchable-size rainbow trout this month from WDFW's Lyons Ferry Fish Hatchery. Marmes Pond, another year-round water in Franklin County, is getting 1,000 catchables. Both of these popular year-round waters will continue to receive hatchery trout throughout the spring, and many more of this region's waters will soon be re-stocked from other WDFW fish hatcheries. Watch the South Central Washington page of WDFW's website for an updated list of the numbers and sizes of fish going into specific waters in early March. WDFW fish biologist Eric Anderson reminds anglers that March marks the last month to fish North Elton Pond in Yakima County, which is on a Dec. 1-March 31 season.

• Wildlife viewing: Local birders have been busy spotting everything from blackbirds and bluebirds to swallows and wrensElk feeding and viewing continues through the month at WDFW's Oak Creek Wildlife Area southwest of Yakima. Area manager John McGowan notes that, with elk and deer beginning to shed antlers now, the "treasure hunting season" for shed antler collectors will soon be under way. "Just remember that large areas of the range above our elk winter feeding sites are closed to public entry during March and April to protect these concentrated elk as they transition their diet to early spring grasses," McGowan said. "Disturbance during this critical time can be extremely stressful, even fatal to animals weakened from the long winter." The areas will open to public access May 1.