DESPITE AN EXTENDED run of sunny weather, the first week of the seven-days-a-week salmon season had been hampered by steady winds in Marine Areas 3 (LaPush) and 4 (Neah Bay).
Private anglers and even charter boat operators stayed close to shore, leery of heading out to attempt to fish in water conditions that made it tough to stand, let alone cast and reel.
Those winds dipped considerably Wednesday, and boats left both ports for trips to the Pacific Ocean.
I caught up Randy Lato of All-Ways Fishing (360-374-2052) in LaPush as he was bringing his boat to shore after a day of fishing for chinook and bottom fish.
“I hadn’t even left the marina the past two days because of the winds, but today was gorgeous and calmer,” Lato said.
“The fishing was good. We started out mooching with herring and got three kings in the boat around 10-12 pounds, and then the bite went off.
“Then we switched to trolling with hoochies and flashers, and the three on board, they limited on kings.
“After that we came in and loaded up on sea bass.”
Lato said he was finding fish in about 200 feet of water.
In Marine Area 4, Michael Lawrence of Big Salmon Resort (360-645-2374) in Neah Bay had similar good news for salmon anglers.
“It’s finally calmed down out here after a lot of wind, and guys are getting out to Swiftsure [Bank] and finding fish,” Lawrence said.
“They are in the 7- to 12-pound average range, and the largest I’ve heard of is 18.”
Lawrence said anglers heading northwest to Swiftsure Bank are using “big downriggers with flashers and hoochies.”
The Prairie, a fishing spot about 35 miles west of Neah Bay, also has produced good numbers, at least for commercial anglers.
Lawrence and his fishing partner stuck close to home and fished the area around the Green Buoy at the entrance to Neah Bay’s protected harbor.
“Myself and a buddy have been out fishing on the kicker boat and we are getting them,” Lawrence said.
“We started at the can and ventured out around the can to the tip of Waadah Island.
“We just went down to about 120 feet and started hitting.
“They’ve been pretty nice fish, 11 to 16 pounds.”
Lawrence said he hadn’t heard any reports of fishing near shore south of Neah Bay or farther out at popular spots like Blue Dot or 72 Square.
Rivers running low
Drift fishing is out the window with water levels low on West End rivers.
“It’s so low on the Sol Duc, it’s tough to even get a raft down the river,” Lato said.
Anglers will need to be stealthy and find some good bank access if they wish to fish for summer steelhead or chinook, unless there’s some radical interference weather-wise in the form of rain.
Then again, the rain would have be fairly significant to lift river levels that have dipped precariously low as a result of the lack of snowpack over the winter.
Chinook seminar
Fewer than two weeks remain until chinook season opens in the more populated areas of the North Olympic Peninsula.
Area chinook fishing expert Rick Wray will discuss how to catch kings during a seminar at Brian’s Sporting Goods and More, 609 W. Washington St. in Sequim, next Thursday.
The seminar begins at 6 p.m.
“Wray will discuss using mooched herring as bait, jigging, techniques to find them on the bottom, and many other king-related topics,” Brian’s Sporting Goods and More owner Brian Menkal said.
Menkal said Wray will touch on fishing spots in Marine Areas 5 (Sekiu) and 6 (Eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca), but will focus more on Marine Area 6.
“These are techniques you can use anywhere for kings,” Menkal said.
The cost for the seminar is $20.
Anglers should bring a notepad, something to write with and a chair.
A July seminar will discuss fishing for coho.
To sign up, phone Menkal at 360-683-1950.
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Outdoors columnist Michael Carman appears here Thursdays and Fridays. He can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5152 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.