GOOD SALMON FISHING on the split openers along the Strait of Juan de Fuca off Sekiu (Marine Area 5); from Sunday on and Port Angeles (Marine Area 6); from Tuesday on likely boosted the table fare offerings at Fourth of July picnics around the North Olympic Peninsula.
Catch totals were solid in creel reports for Port Angeles and Freshwater Bay after opening day with an average of 0.54 and 0.55 chinook, respectively.
A total of 61 chinook were brought in by the 112 anglers in 57 boats counted at the Ediz Hook ramp on Tuesday.
Freshwater Bay fish checkers counted 34 chinook brought in by 62 anglers in 34 boats the same day.
Brandon Mason of Mason’s Olson’s Resort (360-963-2311) in Sekiu said the salmon season has started in good shape out west.
“… Fishing is good though. We have some coho that are coming in and kings are coming in,” Mason said.
The majority of the kings are right around 10 pounds. It’s been kind of few and far between for bigger kings in the upper teens.”
And there’s been some smaller coho showing up as well, Mason said.
“Quite a little bit of coho right around the 5-pound mark,” he said. “That’s nice for us as we haven’t had the chance to get after them.”
Mason went out Monday and caught a couple of nice kings.
“Got out for about an hour and it was pretty fun,” Mason said.
“I was just fishing a Herring Aide Coho Killer with a green flasher.”
Mason and his partner were trolling with two poles on the downriggers.
“We were running one about 45 feet down and the other about 75 deep down trolling about 2.2 knots fishing over by the caves in 90 to 120 feet [of water]. We picked up a few shakers then a few kings we were able to keep.”
It’s been an early morning bite as well.
“We open at 3:30 a.m. and it seems like folks have been out and are getting back by 10:30 a.m. or 11 a.m.”
Tides should produce some good action for the next few days as well.
“We just got off minus tides, so king fishing should get better. Those minus tides pushed in a new school of fish, so I feel like we are locked and loaded for a good stretch of fishing before the next minus comes in.”
Crabs opt for chicken
Mason said it’s been “hit and miss with the crabbing,” recently. “We always use fish carcasses for baiting the traps, but right now grocery store chicken is outperforming the carcasses,” Mason said.
Fun Days July 14
Sekiu and Clallam Bay will celebrate with the yearly Fun Days Saturday, July 14, with music and food and good times capped with a big fireworks show at 10 p.m. off the jetty at Mason’s.
“Next weekend is our big fireworks show at 10 p.m. July 14.
“We’ve [Clallam Bay-Sekiu Chamber of Commerce] have had some big donations and the show should be about 20 minutes complete with a laser lights show, music and fireworks. We line that whole jetty with fireworks, big old 10-inch mortars, the tribe comes in to help with it.”
You get that percussion from the water and it shakes your chest.”
Spot shrimp closure
Recreational fishing for spot shrimp will close at 9 p.m. Friday in Marine Area 6 (Port Angeles Harbor, eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca, excluding the Discovery Bay Shrimp District), but it will remain open for coonstripe and pink shrimp fishing in waters 200 feet or less.
The target share for recreational spot shrimp quota has been taken in these two areas.
Only Marine areas 4 (east of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line) and 5 (Sekiu) remain open for spot shrimp fishing.
Fly Fishers meet
Keith Allison of Olympic Peninsula guiding business Chrome Chaser’s Fly Fishing, will speak at Monday’s meeting of the Olympic Peninsula Fly Fishers.
The meeting will be held at the Campfire USA Clubhouse, 619 E. Fourth St. in Port Angeles, at 6 p.m.
Allison will present “Fishing the Olympic Peninsula: The Other Seasons (spring and fall for summer steelhead and salmon).
Following his presentation, Allison will offer a fly tying demonstration of one of his productive steelhead and salmon flies.
Anglers meet Monday
The East Jefferson Chapter Of Puget Sound Anglers will hold their next potluck and silent auction fundraiser Tuesday starting at 5:30 p.m. in the Marina Room at the Point Hudson Marina.
Attendees are asked to bring a dish and a fishing or marine items for an auction.
Streamkeepers’ training
Streamkeepers, Clallam County’s volunteer stream monitoring program, will begin its annual volunteer training with two consecutive evening sessions from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday and again Tuesday, July 17.
The sessions will be held at the I.T. Conference Room 042 at the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St. in Port Angeles. Enter the Courthouse basement via the outside stairs on the east end of the building.
Trainees will learn how watersheds serve fish, wildlife, and people; what threatens watersheds; why and how Streamkeepers monitors them and what happens to the data.
The indoor sessions will be followed by hands-on field training later in the month.
Streamkeepers volunteers work in teams throughout the county to collect, verify, analyze, and share watershed data, used by a variety of agencies and organizations to protect and restore local water resources since 1999. Volunteers are needed for both outdoor and indoor work. There is no set time commitment and no prior experience is required.
To register, contact Streamkeepers at 360-417-2281 or streamkeepers@co.clallam.wa.us.
