Chambers Creek silvers

Has anybody fished this area for coho the past week???  Heard anything??

Where's Chambers Creek?

Z

It's down in the Tacoma Narrows, past the Narrows marina.  THere's a hatchery on the creek, good king and coho returns, the kings average about 12-14# and are sometimes called the "cookie-cutter" kings.  Some guy at the Island Thriftway said silvers should be present now...

sprtsmans warehouse info board today said they are hitting spinners, large colored corkies and yarn, and some other things there now..i must have been misled, i was under the impression that chambers creek hatchery was closed down, and the area was closed to salmon fishing


http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=44.023938~-99.71&style=h&lvl=4&tilt=-89.875918865193&dir=0&alt=7689462.6842358

hope that map opens for you
Rich

 

I was doing a bit of research on hatchery returns.  Went to the WDFW forecast page.  Here it is for Coho ... http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/northfalcon/coho.htm

I didn't see a mention of Chamber Creek returns.  But I did notice Minter has a nice return, 26, 635 expected.  Then I went to the WDFW hatchery escapement page and looked up this week's ... http://wdfw.wa.gov/hat/escape/e091808.pdf.  Not a lot of coho returning yet, but Minter has  3.453 returns vs. <200 for the other hatcheries listed. 

You see where this is going ... where can one intercept the Minter fish?

BTW, Minter traditionally gets a large chum return too.  And South Sound is expected to get more than half a million Fall Chum returns ... http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/northfalcon/chum.htm

-Allen

There are a ton of coho in the south sound right now and for the past few weeks, but getting bites can be tricky.  Your at the mercy of their whims and this year they seem mostly uninterested.  Especially the Minter fish, they will mill around in Carr Inlet where it is quite shallow and the fish are spooky, you'll get fish following your offering, but not striking. 
Chambers is a tough fishery too, in the estuary you have the nets and quite a few snaggers to contend with, and in the salt you need to catch the silvers in transit as they tend to just shoot on up into the estuary.

Bottom line the fish are out there and in decent numbers, the trick is finding a biter or two. 

     You probably won't find any marked Coho outside of Chambers Creek. They do not raise Coho anymore and the ones you do see, are dumped into the creek by selected schools that get to raise them in the classrooms for education. They have been doing this for quite some time and you would think that a certain percentage would survive. The hatchery does trap them though and then transports them upstream. Skonebone

Here's some info on Minter from the DFW site.  I called the hatchery, they are expecting about 14,000 marked coho back this year.  You need to be 1,000 feet from the mouth of the creek, BTW.  I am also posting this as a separate item.


OLYMPIA – Beginning Nov. 1, anglers will get their first opportunity ever to fish for chum salmon downstream from the Minter Creek Hatchery on the Longbranch Peninsula near Purdy, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) announced today.

Anticipating a large return of chum salmon to the hatchery over the next two months, the agency will allow anglers to catch four chum salmon per day below the hatchery from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31. All other species must be released.

The open area extends from the mouth of the creek upstream to markers located approximately 50 feet downstream of the Minter Creek Hatchery rack.

"This fishery will be a first for Minter Creek," said Chuck Baranski, WDFW fish biologist. "All indications are that considerably more chum salmon will return to the creek than we need to meet the hatchery escapement goal, and we want to give fishers every opportunity to catch those excess fish."

Last year, 18,000 chum returned to the creek – considerably more than the number needed by the hatchery and for natural escapement, Baranski said. While this year's return is not expected to be quite that high, Baranski said there should be plenty of fish to provide a good fishing opportunity.

"Recreational chum fisheries at the mouths of rivers in Hoodsport and elsewhere in south Puget Sound have proven to be quite popular," Baranski said. "My guess is that Minter Creek will be too."

Baranski said parking and access to the fishery will be available at the Minter Creek Hatchery and that additional fishery information will be recorded on the hatchery phone line, (253) 857-5077.

To reach Minter Creek Hatchery, take State Route 16 to State Route 302. Follow State Route 302 west approximately 4.3 miles, turn south onto 118th Ave. N.W. and follow it approximately one-half mile to Creviston Drive. Turn west onto Creviston and follow it approximately one-half mile to Minter Creek.