Attn: Washington Anglers

JEFFREY P. MAYOR; The News Tribune
Published: July 25th, 2006 01:00 AM

Recreational anglers will be able to fish Saturday,
Sunday and Monday for sockeye salmon on Lake
Washington.

State and tribal officials agreed Monday to open the
recreational fishery after updating the estimated run
size to 411,000 fish. The preseason forecast was for
211,000 fish to pass through the Ballard Locks, well
below the 350,000-fish threshold at which the
co-managers consider opening fishing seasons. Sport
and tribal fishermen will split a surplus of 59,200
fish.

The rules will be similar to those in place in 2004,
the last time the run was large enough to allow
recreational fishing. That year, anglers caught an
estimated 27,626 fish in three days of fishing.

There will be a two-fish limit per angler, with a
minimum size of 15 inches. Fishing will be open from
one hour before sunrise until one hour after sunset.
Daily limit will be two sockeye at the 15-inch
minimum. Any other salmon caught must be released.

No fishing will be allowed within 100 yards of the
floating bridges. Waters within 1,000 feet of the
mouth of the Cedar River in Renton also will be closed
to all fishing.

Anglers must carry a freshwater or combination fishing
license and salmon catch record card. Any salmon that
is not released must be immediately recorded on the
catch record card. Anglers may fish with only one rod
and must stop fishing once they have reached their
personal daily limit.

Department director Jeff Koenings said the
Muckleshoot, Suquamish and Tulalip tribes helped turn
the proposed 21/2-day sport fishery into three full
days, during which 34,000 sockeye are expected to be
harvested.

The tribes are giving 4,400 fish from their allocation
so sports anglers can fish all day Monday.

Also deserving credit is the hatchery on the Cedar
River, said Frank Urabeck of the Puget Sound Anglers.

"The temporary hatchery did make a difference. We
wouldn't have had the fishery in 2002, 2004 and this
year without the temporary hatchery," Urabeck said.

The hatchery, opened in 1991 near the Landsburg Dam on
the Cedar River, can produce up to 17 million sockeye
fry a year. Urabeck said 20 to 25 percent of the fish
in the annual run come from the hatchery.

The popularity of the fishery shows the need for a
permanent hatchery, an issue which is currently tied
up in litigation after initial approval. Plans for
that facility call for a production capacity of 34
million sockeye fry a year.

"If we had that new hatchery, we would be fishing
earlier and longer, basically more time on the water,
kind of like the good old days," Urabeck said.

"WDFW supports the construction of a larger, permanent
Cedar River hatchery that would maintain and improve
the consistency of future sockeye returns to Lake
Washington without changing the lake's ecosystem,"
Koenings said in a press release announcing the
fishery.

Jeffrey P. Mayor: 253-597-8640

jeff.mayor@thenewstribune.com

http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/st ... 6227c.html