COASTAL ANGLERS CAN look forward to a more kingly fishery this summer.
Puget Sound anglers, on the other hand, can expect more of the same, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The state’s 2010 salmon fishing seasons, developed by Fish and Wildlife and treaty Indian tribal co-managers, were approved Thursday during the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (PFMC) meeting in Portland.
The good news for the North Olympic Peninsula: the Marine Area 3 (LaPush) and 4 (Neah Bay) chinook fisheries will receive a hefty boost.
Nearly 653,000 fall chinook are forecast to return to the Columbia River this season, about 234,000 more than the number returning last year.
As a result, the PFMC adopted a recreational ocean quota this year of 61,000 chinook for the state.
That’s nearly three times as large as last year’s quota (20,500).
The abundant run also led to a pilot mark-selective fishery for hatchery chinook (translation: hatchery-only retention) along the state coastline for June 12-30.
“This is the first season we will have a selective fishery for hatchery chinook in the ocean,” Fish and Wildlife Director Phil Anderson said in a news release.
“By using this management tool we can meet our conservation goals and give anglers an additional opportunity to fish for hatchery chinook in the ocean.”
Unfortunately, those chinook numbers will not be supplemented by the same strong coho run experienced last summer.
Nearly 390,000 Columbia River coho are projected to make their way along the coast this summer, compared to one million in 2009 (the largest return in nearly a decade).
That meant the coastal recreational coho quota dropped from 176,400 in 2009 to 67,200 this year.
The LaPush fishery will actually have a smaller coho quota (1,700) than its chinook guideline (2,450) in 2010, a bit unusual, to say the least.
Neah Bay’s quota for coho (6,990) is only slightly larger than its chinook guideline (5,400).
Recreational salmon fisheries for chinook and coho off LaPush and Neah Bay will run from July 1 to Sept. 19, or until the quota is reached.
There will again be a late season bubble fishery in Area 3 from Sept. 25 to Oct. 10.
Both areas will have a two-salmon daily limit, one of which may be a chinook. As in past years, only hatchery coho salmon can be retained in ocean fisheries.
In Puget Sound, most salmon fisheries in the marine areas will be similar to last season, said Pat Pattillo, salmon policy coordinator for Fish and Wildlife.
Specific dates for those fisheries were not released Thursday.
Those will be available next week on Fish and Widlife’s North of Falcon Web site (http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/northfalcon/).
Ling fling
They aren’t very sexy.
In fact, they’re high in the running for ugliest fish in the Pacific Northwest.
(Unofficially that list goes like this: 5. Spawning pink salmon; 4. Halibut; 3. Lingcod 2. Insert rockfish here; and 1. Cabezon.)
But lingcod are not without their charm.
The Marine Area 4 (Neah Bay) ling season kicks off today, and is considered by many to be the best fishery of its kind in the state.
Some dive and spearfish for the lings near the coast, but most like to bounce pipe jigs off the bottom in places like the Garbage Dump, Umatilla Reef and near the southwest corner of the bottomfish closure zone off the coast.
The Rock Pile is always a favorite in Area 3 (LaPush).
And it has been producing lings at a steady clip in recent days, according to Randy Lato of All-Ways Fishing (360-374-2052) in Forks.
“It was really good Sunday, and then Monday was really good, too,” he said. “We had three that were around 25 [pounds] and the rest were 15 to 20.
“There is a spot across the canyon that guys have been going to, but they were getting no bigger fish than what we had [at the Rock Pile]. So there was absolutely no reason to go that far.
“We got our bass out there, too, coming off those big seas they were pretty scattered along those rocks, so it just happens.
“We just stayed out there and switched over to darts.”
The minimum size for lingcod in Area 3 is 22 inches, while the minimum size in Area 4 is 24 inches.
Both areas are open seven days a week.
Steelhead slows down
The Hoh River is closed, and everybody is heading down south to the Columbia.
It’s the perfect recipe for an intimate date with the steelhead (or spring chinook) of the Sol Duc and Quillayute rivers.
“The pressure is way off,” Lato in Forks said. “People-wise it’s not bad at all.”
So even if fishing isn’t so hot, which has been the case of late on both rivers, one can enjoy the serene scenes of the West End the way they were meant to be: in solitude.
There should still be a few bruisers swimming around, so it’s not like it would necessarily be a fruitless exercise, either.
One could also head east and pull a true fishing feat.
The way fishing tackle supplier Ward Norden of Quilcene tells it, anglers have recently run into a few clipped steelies in Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet).
Yes, we’re talking about steelhead fishing in the salt.
All it takes is a short ferry ride.
“Anglers living around Bush Point and Lagoon Point on Whidbey Island are catching unusual numbers of summer steelhead by casting off the beach,” Norden said.
“Two I know have gotten nine fin-clipped [steelies] in the last couple weeks along with a few very large fish with adipose fins.
“Those fish have to be going around Point Wilson and Marrowstone Point as well.”
Norden recommended using pencil lead with a size six Spin-N-Glo and orange squid covering the hooks.
“The key is not to cast too far since the steelhead migrate right along the beach,” he said, “often in water less than three feet deep.”
Lake woe-be-gone?
The biggest question hanging over next week’s lowland lakes fishing opener (April 24): What’s up with Anderson?
The 68-acre lake, located just west of Chimacum, has been subjected to annual fishing closures ever since elevated levels of toxic blue-green algae were detected there in 2006.
Anderson endured the same cycle each year: Opening to fishing in late April before closing a few weeks later.
Jefferson County Environmental Health officials declared that the once-popular lake would likely run the same course every spring for the foreseeable future.
Then Anderson didn’t even open — not even for one day — in 2009. This despite the fact it received thousands of trout plants weeks before the scheduled opener.
So what are we to expect in 2010?
Well, the lake water samples provided on Jefferson County Public Health’s Web site certainly aren’t promising.
Anderson’s status as of March 24 was already at “caution.”
Environmental Health officials are currently collecting samples from Anderson and expect to have the results available sometime between April 21-23.
Results for the samples will be posted on the Web site at http://tinyurl.com/yyg7mlb.
Pond ponderings
Life is all about settling.
How else do you account for the popularity of marriage?
So don’t let the Anderson doubts get you down. There’s always options . . . even if they are a little less attractive.
This week alone, both Gibbs and Teal lakes (open year-round) in Jefferson County, should be teeming with trout.
Gibbs received 400 jumbo rainbows averaging one-pound in size and 40 broodstock hovering around the 3.5-pound class on Monday. Teal was planted with 600 broodstock the same day.
(Caveat: Gibbs is a selective gear, catch-and-release lake. Teal is selective gear only as well, with a one-fish daily limit.)
“It depends on where you’re fishing [but] if you’re fishing for the plants, basically they are just looking for a little flash . . . something bright and colorful,” Brian Menkal of Swain’s Outdoor in Port Townsend said.
“You can use flat fish, you can troll red [Carey specials], triple teasers. They are not really picky.”
Norden said the bite has yet to truly pick up over at Leland, despite the fact it received several thousand trout a few weeks ago.
“As of [Wednesday] morning there was still no sign of a regular trout plant at Lake Leland,” he said. “But bank anglers at the county park are still averaging about a fish per two hours on power bait or worms on or just above the bottom.
“They continue to be all nice quality fish, including holdovers from last year’s plants.”
Shrimp seasons
Roundup all that unwanted seafood.
Spot shrimp season is but a few weeks away.
And nothing gets those coveted little critters crawling your way quite like a mashed up mess of salmon, shrimp pellets, cat food and fish oil.
If it smells, it sells.
Shrimpers can test that theory out come May 1, the opener for spot shrimping in several Peninsula Marine Areas.
That includes the once-wayward Discovery Bay Shrimp District, which will reopen to shrimping for the first time in five years.
Here is a list of shrimp dates on the Peninsula:
• Discovery Bay — Opens May 1 and 5 from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Areas 4 (east of Bonilla-Tatoosh), 5 and 6 — Opens on May 1 at 7 a.m. Will remain open to until Sept. 15 or when the quota is reached.
• Area 9 — Opens May 1 and 5 from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Area 12 — Opens May 1, 5, 8 and 12 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
In the case of Discovery Bay, Admiralty Inlet and Hood Canal, additional harvest dates will be added if sufficient quota remains.
Coastal fishers in Areas 3 and 4 are open year-round. Good luck with that one.
For more information on shrimping, visit http://tinyurl.com/y2gou6w.
Also . . .
• Nina Carter, former executive director of Audubon Washington, will discuss the impacts on birds by the state Growth Management Act at the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society’s monthly meeting next Wednesday.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. inside the Dungeness River Audubon Center, 2151 Hendrickson Road, in Sequim.
• Dungeness River Audubon Center will host a four-week class on birding by ear from April 22 to May 13.
The class will meet each Thursday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the River Center, with classes preceded by morning trips to hear the dawn chorus.
The cost is $40 for River Center partners or $60 for non-members.
To register, contact the River Center at 360-681-4076.
• Waters West Fly Fishing Outfitters will hold a free fly-tying seminar focusing on saltwater cutthroat patterns April 24.
The seminar begins at 10 a.m. in its Port Angeles shop, located at 140 W. Front St.
For more information, call 360-417-0937 or send an e-mail to info@waterswest.com.
• Don Rice of Dungeness Kayaking will hold an introduction to sea kayaking class April 24-25.
The cost of the class is $135, with Olympic Peninsula Paddlers Club members receiving a 25 percent discount.
For more information, visit www.dungenesskayaking.com, or contact Rice at 360-681-4190.
• The Sequim Irrigation Festival will bring back its bicycle poker run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 1.
Riders will take a 38-mile circuit along eight local farms and shops to get a five-card poker hand. First prize is 50 percent of the pot.
Registration will begin at 9 a.m. at the Sequim Dog Park Pals tent at the festival. The cost is $20.
For more information, contact Dave Neidhardt at 360-683-5373.
• David Beatty will lead a birding trip looking for early arriving migrants at Jefferson County’s Anderson Lake on Saturday morning.
To register for the trip, contact Beatty at 575-534-1450.
• Lake Crescent Lodge will be offering rooms at discounted rates from May 7 to June 15 as part of its grand opening under new management.
To book a room with the lowered rate, call 866-297-7367. (The promotional code is “OPENRATE”).
Send photos, stories
Want your event listed in the outdoors column?
Have a fishing or hunting report, an anecdote about an outdoors experience or a tip on gear or technique, why not share it with our readers?
Send it to me, Matt Schubert, Sports Department, Peninsula Daily News, P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362; phone, 360-417-3526; fax, 360-417-3521; e-mail matt.schubert@peninsuladailynews.com.
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Matt Schubert is the outdoors columnist for the Peninsula Daily News. His column appears on Thursdays and Fridays.