ANGLERS IN MARINE Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet) are waiting with breathless anticipation for their salmon opener Sunday while hearing of the good chinook reports coming from neighboring areas like Marine Area 6 (Eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca) and Area 7 (San Juan Island).
Even the Tulalip Bubble fishery near Marysville is producing good-sized chinook.
Nothing like an itch you can’t scratch, huh?
With kings close to the best spots like Midchannel Bank and Possession Bar in Area 6, catch totals should start off solidly.
“The increased quota for the mark-selective fishery is primarily due to the larger run size we forecasted, and there should be more hatchery chinook, which extrapolates to good fishing,” said Ryan Lothrop, state Fish and Wildlife Puget Sound recreational salmon manager. “I also think the mark rate will be pretty high.”
In northern Puget Sound the hatchery chinook catch quota is 5,599 compared to 3,056 in 2016. The season will run until Aug. 15 or until the quota is reached.
There is one stumbling block for Sunday. The morning tide is nowhere near the best, a weak flood with high tide coming about 10:30 a.m. So anglers should hit the lunch rush pretty hard from about 10 a.m. to 2 or 3 p.m. for the best water and shot at hatchery chinook or coho, a stray sockeye or a pink.
Anglers can keep two salmon combined, only one of which can be a hatchery king.
The minimum keepable size is 22 inches.
Other saltwater reports
Jerry Wright of Jerry’s Bait and Tackle (360-457-1308) in Port Angeles echoed recent reports of good salmon fishing off Ediz Hook.
“Saltwater fishing has been good out in front,” he said. “Some guys have been having good results using needlefish [spoons] behind the flasher. There seems to be a good amount of needlefish bait out there, so it’s match the hatch situation.”
But Wright said using fresh bait will only bring headaches.
“Can’t use bait out there because there’s so many dogfish,” he said. “They’ll bite and you’ll have to fight them off all day.”
The tide shifts in the morning have been productive and anglers who like to jig have been doing well at the Winter Hole the past few days, according to Wright.
“They’ve been catching some nice ones, but a lot of them aren’t clipped,” he said.
Sekiu got off to a slower opening than surrounding areas, but Wright expects that to change.
“Sekiu was slow at the start, but the bait is starting to move back in, so I expect Sekiu to be going off anytime now,” Wright said.
And Neah Bay continues to do well for kings.
“Swiftsure has been on fire with most guys trolling bluefin herring. You don’t have to worry about dogfish that far out.”
Freshwater Bay better
Port Angeles angler and lure designer Pete Rosko let me know during my vacation last week how slow the salmon fishing had been at the kelp line along the Strait of Juan de Fuca near Freshwater Bay. Not quite tumbleweeds crossing the road, but close.
That is until he went out earlier this week.
“Went to Freshwater Bay and killed them today,” Rosko said. “All good fish in rough water until we were blown off. “The best lure was a Kandlefish in all glow.
“I love spin-casting the 1 or 1 1/2 oz Kandlefish with the current where it has a great swimming/darting action against the flow resistance. The rougher the better as those big kings rise towards the surface.”
Big old Beardslee
Recently, I spied an enormous Beardslee trout on the Facebook page of Jerry’s Bait and Tackle and had to know the details.
Due to Lake Crescent’s catch-and-release only policy, it’s tough to find people who fish the lake and catch these genetically-distinct subset of rainbow trout endemic to the lake.
Wright said his fishing buddy Will Hart caught the monster Beardslee in the above photo.
“We don’t know how much it was officially, obviously [because of catch-and-release), but I can guarantee it was over 13 or 14 pounds,” Wright said.
“We were trolling plugs and just got lucky fishing during the evening’s magic hour. There was nobody there on the lake.”
Wright said the pair went fishing in the evening after he closed his shop for the day.
“We would be out salmon fishing in the salt [water], but it’s blowing 30 miles per hour every night I get off work,” Wright said. “So we decided to fish Lake Crescent and get away from the wind and just go fishing.”
Wright said they were rigged up with Mack’s Squid plugs and using the maximum two ounces of lead weights.
“We were down in about 80 feet of water over by Fairholme,” he said.
“We’d troll, then cut the motor and let the lines sink and they were biting on the sink using two ounces of lead. We’d get a bite and then just cut the motor, let it settle, just get the motor going and making them chase us slowly.
“It was fun, I think we hooked 14 that night. There were quite a few that were 7 or 8 pounds but that one was the biggest.
“They fight a lot like a lot like a steelhead, probably cause they are [genetically similar]. A beautiful fish.”
River fishing
Wright hit for the fishing equivalent of the cycle a few weeks back on the Sol Duc River.
“I hooked a springer coho, sockeye, king, a steelhead and a cutthroat [trout],” Wright said.
“The full-meal deal. I haven’t done that in awhile, since they planted the Sol Duc.”
Wright also said he had heard that “some steelhead are finally in the Calawah [River].”
Squid for the kids
Wright said he had plenty of squid jig setups for those interested in trying to catch some squid off a well-lit pier, City Pier in Port Angeles being the best spot around.
“That’s a fun fishery to take the kids along,” Wright said.
I would have enjoyed the neon lights and excitement of being near the water later at night as a kid. Heck, it’s fun now.
Anglers meet Thursday
Port Townsend’s Steve Tucker will present a fisherman’s guide to caring for your boat and motor at Thursday’s meeting of the North Olympic Peninsula chapter of Puget Sound Anglers.
The meeting will be held at Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 S. Blake Ave. in Sequim.
Tucker is a member of the East Jefferson chapter of Puget Sound Anglers, a Port of Port Townsend Commissioner and has taught many courses in boating safety, maintenance, navigation and electronics through the Coast Guard Auxiliary and the Point Wilson Sail & Power Squadron.
The evening begins at 6:30 p.m. with viewing of raffle prizes and telling of fish stories.
A short club business meeting begins at 7 p.m. and Tucker will follow.
Refreshments will be served, a raffle of fishing gear will be held and a $75 drawing for membership (must be present to win) will be held.
The public is welcome to attend.
Also, our members are having some success with Chinook off of Port Angeles. Ron Casscles was able to get his daughter, Kris Godwin, on this nice fish.
Green crabs
We’ve run a series of articles on the detection of 87 invasive European green crabs on the Dungeness Spit.
This is not good news, these foreign critters crowd out our Dungeness and rock crabs, so in the public interest if you spot an invasive European green crab, here’s what Washington Sea Grant recommend you do:
• Take several pictures from different angles and distances for identification with a common object next to it for scale.
• Leave the crab in place because it’s illegal to possess one without a special permit.
• Email photos to crabteam@uw.edu and wait for a response.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
North Olympic Peninsula Puget Sound Anglers member Ron Casscles was able to get his daughter, Kris Godwin, on this good-sized hatchery chinook off Port Angeles.
