- Publish date:
fisherman's CALENDAR
SO season opens
SC season closes
C clear water
D water dirty, roily
N water normal height
SH slightly high
H high
VH very high
M water muddy
L low
R rising
WT50 water 50°
FG fishing good
FVG fishing very good
FF fishing fair
FP fishing poor
OG outlook good
OVG outlook very good
OF outlook fair
OP outlook poor
SAILFISH: FLORIDA: Charter boats out of St. Petersburg now adopting outriggers, have started going 25 miles into Gulf of Mexico after sails. Pioneering Captain Wyly Flint of Pass-A-Grille has four fish credited to his boat. Six sails boated, several hooked and lost in four-day period has West Coast astir in anticipation of sailfish bonanza. FG/OG. FG also out of Mayport on East Coast.
TEXAS: Port Aransas boats, also now fishing for sails, report FG/OG in Texas Gulf waters. Mrs. Icy Thomas, Houston, hauled in a 7-foot 3½-inch sail on her maiden fishing trip last week. One Freeport-based boat caught three sails in three hours, and Port Aransas boats have observed the sails schooling.
TROUT: IDAHO: Lake Pend Oreille yielding fair-size Dolly Vardens and Kamloops, the latter hitting lures fished deep. FVG on Selway around McGruder where few anglers present. Morning and evening fishing rewarding on Trapper Creek and Lake Cleveland but limited to jeep owners due to poor road access. Impassable Canyon yielding rainbows to 16 inches on Nos. 12 and 14 Grey Hackle Yellow. But Idaho spy confides real sport in Canyon is fall-run jack salmon on a light rod using Mepps size 2 brass. FVG in high lakes and statewide OVG.
NEW MEXICO: FF with unusual number of showers keeping most mountain streams H and M. However dogged bait fishermen taking limits of pan-size brown and rainbows. Best flyfishing is high in Pecos country, Canjilon and Trout lakes. OF.
CALIFORNIA: Hot weather has slowed lowland fishing, but streams above 7,000 feet near season's peak. Best bets on east slope Sierra: Big Pine Creek lakes, Hilton lakes, Bishop Creek, Grant Lake, Bridgeport Lake, East and West Walker rivers.
BRITISH COLUMBIA: Paradise, Duffy, Lejeune and Mimpo lakes steady producers, but generally FF/OF.
MONTANA: FVG for dry flies. George Ewing, Pittsburgh, Pa., fishing 48 miles up the Gallatin from Bozeman, where a 2-pounder is considered large, took three trout in 5-pound class on dry flies. FVG on Madison for big trout, and FG in Yellowstone for small to medium-size fish. Lakes improving as weather cools, with Tiber Reservoir best for trout to 15 inches.
STEELHEAD: OREGON: Lower Deschutes around Stiles L, C. Summer steelhead buffs report success as far upriver as Maupin on red and white wobbling spoons. FF/G for fly fishermen on north Umpqua in early morning and late evening. OG here as more fish seen going over Winchester Dam daily. Try Umpqua Special, large Grey Hackle, Palmer or Royal Coachman bucktail with size 6 or 4 hook.
TUNA: MASSACHUSETTS: School tuna to 150 pounds plentiful four to eight miles off Race Point, and to 110 pounds on colored feathers off Pollock Rip. Giants reported in Cape Cod Bay early in week. Allen Jones, Scarsdale, N.Y., fishing from Charlie Mayo's Chantey III, caught a 707-pounder in 4 hours 40 minutes. Jones's bluefin was hooked off Wood End Light, as was the 474-pounder taken from same boat, same day by 18-year-old George Rutherford of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. OVG for schoolies, uncertain for giants.
NOVA SCOTIA: Outlook improving at Wedge-port. Altogether six tuna have been taken on rod and reel there this season—four of them last week. Largest was a 658-pounder boated in 1 hour and 20 minutes in Soldier's Rip by Eugene G. Kirk of Morgantown, W. Va. Other tuna weighed 515, 533 and 175 pounds.
ATLANTIC SALMON: MAINE: SO until Sept. 30 on chief salmon rivers. Maine agent reports Machias still singularly angler-free, and 204 fish of a total 413 salmon that have passed through researchers' traps at Machias are scot free in a five-mile stretch between Whitneyville and Machias. Water C, OVG.
NEW BRUNSWICK: FVG on main Southwest Miramichi, FF on Little Southwest, FP on little Northwest where water L, WT high. Dry flies recommended. FG on Restigouche, Matapedia, Upsalquitch. Outlook improving as rain raises water level.
PACIFIC SALMON: WASHINGTON: Fabulous fishing has slowed a bit in sound waters but straits still hot. Neah Bay hottest. Best areas Waddah Island along Midway, Slant Rock, Mushroom Rock and Oles Hole to eight miles out at sea. In San Juans, Waldron Island's Point Fisheries and Point Hammond circled with boats taking hooknose silvers to 14 pounds and springs on herring strips. Anglers limit so fast they are handing over rods to usually neglected 6-year-olds and grandmothers who go along with dad to increase day's sport and take. Nook-sack and Skagit rivers full of humpies, but FP.
CALIFORNIA: FP outside Golden Gate. Veterans lament worst fishing this time of year in 20 years. FP also in Monterey, Santa Cruz bays, but FF/OG in Humboldt Bay, off mouths of Klamath and Trinity rivers. Thirty-pounder taken from Sacramento near Tehama where FG.
BRITISH COLUMBIA: FG/OVG as weather improves and runs build up. Campbell River tyee run picking up as eight fish to 45 pounds recorded in one day. FF at Rivers Inlet, but George Peterson of Tacoma, Wash., proved the exception last week with a 71-pounder. FG at Port Alberni, Gold River and Muchalat Arm. FG for silvers off Campbell River, Comox, Qualicum, Gibsons and Texada, and FVG at Brentwood and Goldstream in Victoria area.
OREGON: Calm seas have been ideal for small boat anglers off Newport where FVG for silvers to 18 pounds, chinooks to 40 pounds. Anglers still warned to avoid danger areas in offshore fishing. Herring, mooched or trolled, producing limits offshore. Inside fishing on Columbia improving, and OG for main run of chinooks yet to come.
MARLIN: NEW YORK: White marlin providing fine sport in four-mile-square area off Long Island's Shinnecock Inlet. One private boat had 13 marlin on in one day and lost them all. Eleven-year-old Gregory Weiss of Hampton Bays did much better when he took a 52¾ pounder, and Albert J. Capuco of Bronx, N.Y. topped them all with a 101-pounder. OVG.
HAWAII: Last week eight blue marlin totaling 2,495 pounds were taken off Kona (see page 53). Herb Morioka, fishing from William Hill's boat the Miss Kona took the week's largest, a hefty 744 pounder.
SWORDFISH: NEW YORK: 17-year-old John Isacs, of Bridgeport, Conn., fishing from his father's boat out of Montauk, brought in a 514½-pound swordfish southeast of Block Island early last week. Young Isacs used 24-thread line and a 9/0 Fin-Nor reel for his 2-hour 25-minute battle.
