Fishin' Reports

I drove over to the National Fish Hatchery in Leavenworth to check on the coho salmon fishery. I spotted a few anglers below the hatchery and around the corner below the bridge. Then I walked onto the hatchery grounds. I could see a bunch of coho stacked up at the intake to the holding ponds and quite a few fish in the ponds. I ran into Greg Wolfe, who works with the Yakima Tribe on the reintroduction effort. I learned that, with the help of the Fish and Wildlife Service, who manage the hatchery here, that 500,000 coho are reared and released at the facility. Another 400,000 are released from acclimation ponds near Plain and even further up the Wenatchee River. There is another reintroduction effort being made in the Methow River. Although there have been some coho taken on the Icicle River, which opened on October 1st, angler success should really improve with the recent heavy rain in the Leavenworth area. Wolfe suggested anglers should Blue Fox spinners to catch coho. I observed many coho being taken by anglers twitching jigs to catch them the last time the fish showed up below the hatchery here in Leavenworth.