THE LURE OF the short halibut season has drawn the first wave of trailered boats and the pickups that pull them into Port Angeles in advance of today’s opener.
Halibut is the most attractive of a host of sport fishing opportunities available on what is forecast to be a sunny and warm weekend.
Brian Menkal of Brian’s Sporting Goods and More (360-683-1950) in Sequim says halibut anglers need to stay grounded.
That’s good advice in life and in fishing.
“There are lots of ways to fish and the No. 1 thing is to have constant contact with the bottom,” Menkal said.
The species is an opportunistic, ambush predator with a varied and voracious appetite.
“You can use herring, mackerel, squid octopus, clams, basically anything as bait, but if you see your line going at an angle you need to get more weight on the line and send it down,” Menkal said.
“They eat so many types of food, there’s no need to match the hatch [like salmon or trout],” Menkal said.
Match the hatch means to attempt to catch fish using knowledge of what earlier fish have been feeding.
Menkal recommends finding a flat stretch of sea floor and said most flattie anglers will try in deep water, between 200 and 300 feet.
But that’s not the only depth to hook a halibut.
“You’re going to be looking for flat spots and laying on the bottom straight down,” Menkal said.
“People think of halibut as a deep-water fish, but you can get them in water as shallow as 60 feet.”
Anglers near Sequim are likely to hunt for halibut off Dungeness Bar and Dallas Bank around Protection Island.
“There’s a nice triangle around Protection Island that most of the big halibut are caught,” Menkal said.
He added Eastern Bank, a series of rocky pinnacles in Marine Area 6, as another spot near Sequim to target.
Just find the flattest stretch, Menkal added.
No surprise that Midchannel Bank gets Menkal’s recommendation for a halibut location near Port Townsend.
He also mentioned McCurdy Point, off Port Townsend on the Strait of Juan de Fuca side, of the Quimper Peninsula as another likely spot.
Off Port Angeles, anglers will cluster at The Humps, 4 miles northwest of town; Green Point about 5 miles east of Ediz Hook; the Rock Pile, 7 miles north of Ediz Hook, and Coyote Bank, straddling the U.S.-Canada border about 13 miles north of the hook.
It’s a brisk business, this halibut season, lasting just 11 days in Marine Areas 6 (Eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca) and 9 (Admiralty Inlet).
Halibut fisheries are open today and Saturday; Friday and Saturday, May 15-16; the Thursday through Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, May 21-24; and Thursday through Saturday, May 28-30.
Marine Areas 3 (LaPush) and 4 (Neah Bay) will open for halibut next Thursday.
The season is even shorter out west. It will only be open Thursdays and Saturdays through Saturday, May 23, provided the halibut allotment has not been met.
If there is available quota, the fishery will re-open June 4 and/or June 6.
That reopening, however, is unlikely based on previous years’ success.
Marine Area 5’s (Sekiu) halibut fishery will open Friday and Saturday, May 15-16, and again Thursday through Sunday, May 21-24 (Memorial Day weekend), and Friday and Saturday, May 29-30.
Anderson Lake closed
High levels of the potent nerve toxin anatoxin-a were detected in a water sample taken from Anderson Lake on Monday, necessitating the state Parks Department to issue a recreational closure of the lake to fishing, boating and swimming.
The toxin level climbed to 17.8 micrograms per liter, which is above the Washington State recreational criteria of 1 microgram per liter.
Trace amounts of the toxin microcystin were also found.
Visitors also are urged to keep pets out of the water.
The rest of Anderson Lake State Park remains open for hiking, biking and horseback riding.
Lake Leland and Gibbs Lake have not shown signs of blue-green algae so far this year.
Toxins stop razor digs
This weekend’s razor clam dig has been canceled on all Pacific Ocean beaches because of public health concerns, state shellfish managers said Thursday.
Levels of domoic acid, detected through routine testing, have been on the rise since late Monday and could exceed state health guidelines this weekend.
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife canceled the digs today through Sunday as a precaution, said Dan Ayres, coastal shellfish manager with Fish and Wildlife.
Domoic acid, a natural toxin produced by certain types of marine algae, can be harmful or even fatal if consumed in sufficient quantities.
“Warm ocean water temperatures have created ideal conditions for the algae that produce domoic acid,” Ayres said.
Salmon, steelhead
Menkal will offer his popular two-part salmon and steelhead class Tuesday, May 19, and again May 26.
He’ll cover where to go, what to use and how to land salmon and steelhead.
Cost is $25.
Anglers to meet
Commander Brian Edmiston, the Executive Officer of Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office in Port Angeles, will speak at the North Olympic Peninsula chapter of Puget Sound Anglers meeting Thursday, May 21.
The meeting will be held in Sequim at Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 S. Blake Ave., at 6:45 p.m.
Edmiston will discuss Coast Guard search and rescue capabilities, area response assets, helicopter hoisting and recreational boating safety, followed by a question and answer session.
For more information, visit tinyurl.com/PDN-PACoast or www.uscgboating.org.
For information on Puget Sound Anglers, visit www.psanopc.org
Send photos, stories
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Send it to sports@peninsuladailynews.com or P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362.
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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.
